What celebrity sex tape ‘stars’ really get paid
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When ‘Teen Mom’ star Farrah Abraham admitted she made a sex tape with porn star James Deen, TMZ reported she had inked a deal with porn distributor Vivid for close to $1 million.
Not quite, according to others.
One source close to the situation tells FOX411 the former “Teen Mom” star only got about 1/100 of that amount.
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That’s right: $10,000, not $1 million.
And Kevin Blatt, who has brokered several celebrity sex tapes himself, said Tami Erin, who once portrayed “Pippi Longstockings,” got the same offer.
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“Tami Erin was offered $10K up front which is standard for Vivid,” Blatt told FOX411. “It is what they offer every celebrity, not a million dollars.”
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Another adult entertainment industry insider backed up Blatt’s claims.
“In reality she (Abraham) got $10,000 upfront and 30 percent of sales, minus the cost of production," the source said. “The entire celebrity sex video genre is a lot of unsubstantiated marketing with very little truth behind it…. It’s all publicity. It’s all hype.”
(FOX411 reached out to Abraham, who had no comment.)
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Indeed in the era of free Internet porn and the decline of the DVD, porn insiders say celebs are making less and less for having sex on camera.
“Paris and Kim made millions, but that’s because it was a different time,” Blatt said. “People were buying DVDs then.“
Our sources say Paris Hilton made over $13 million for her tape, released in 2004, while Kim Kardashian made over $8 million for her 2007 sex tape with hip hop singer Ray J.
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President of Vivid Entertainment Steven Hirsch would not talk numbers, but said: "I think after doing these deals for so many years I know how to properly structure them. We aim for fair deals for all involved and if they weren't profitable, we wouldn't be in business for almost 30 years. I'm happy with our track record."
Jasmine Waltz, a sometime actress and model most famous for dating celebrities like David Arquette and Ryan Seacrest, released her sex tape, "Real Jasmine," for Exquisite in 2011. She told us anyone looking to parlay her 15 minutes of fame into a big sex tape payday better watch out.
“Vivid told me they would give $125,000 and 25 percent of the back end, all the sales that are made. Basically, you’ll never see the back end after advertisement. You won’t get the money. It’s a very untrustworthy business,” she said. “Lawrence Fishburne’s daughter got burned really, really bad. She got $60,000 dollars and never saw another penny.”
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Our industry insider confirmed Waltz’s story, adding: “Montana Fishburne’s tape sold pretty well. That was a completely different time. It was $60,000 up front, but she didn’t get 70 percent of the tape sales.”
Fishburne, the daughter of actor Lawrence Fishburne, who at 18 years old made her own porno and had Vivid distribute it in 2010, advises young women to think twice before having sex on camera for money.
“I don’t encourage people to go into the porn industry. You’re not going to be famous, or be a movie star. You may end up having a really sucky life,” she said. “If you look at the celebrity sex tape, these girls are not your average girl next door jumping into porn and for the average girl to get into porn and have those results won’t happen. You have to look at where you come from. My idea is go to school and have life experience but don’t just jump into something blindly and have a big pay day. If you’re going to be going into porn, you have to have a very clear head.”
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Newly minted celebrity sex tape star Myla Sinanaji – “famous” for dating Kris Humphries after he was dumped by Kim Kardashian -- and who released her video with VividCeleb in September -- disagrees.
“It’s not a big deal to me. Everybody does it. I have friends that do, it but I profited on my tape,” Sinanaji said.” I feel like if other people were given the opportunity to make a tape for that amount of money they wouldn’t be so quick to judge. We’re going into 2014. Schools are handing out condoms now.”