In a world where fan-subscription performers are increasingly upping their game in terms of production quality, it’s not exactly clear what role gay porn studios fill in the evolving landscape of adult entertainment.
According to Daddy Patrick – chief marketing officer for Ducati Studios – the future of studio productions may lie in ambitious storytelling – long-form narratives featuring recurring characters.
I caught up with Daddy Patrick to discuss his creative vision and how that has translated into Drifters – an erotic drama that celebrates the allure of American cowboys.
In Drifters, you’re telling the story of Handsome and the men he meets along the way. Why was this a story that you wanted to tell?
I wanted to create a big cinematic production. I wanted to create a world that people could tap into – with characters that they would fall in love with and identify with – but also featuring great sex.
I grew up in Hollister, California. In the 4th of July parades, there were always these young bucks on their horses – wearing rodeo shirts and cowboy hats. They looked so incredibly hot. They were my sexual awakening – I was about eight years old at the time.
With Drifters, we’re leaning into the mid-20th century images of masculinity and sexual desirability, and how cowboys became an iconic part of gay culture.
The world of Drifters is a place out in the western desert where these men can find each other, with the sexual freedom to hook-up with whoever they want. I also wanted to show the duality of wanting freedom but also looking for a connection of some kind.
In terms of wanting what you don’t have?
Yes, but the central point for me is that our lead character, Handsome, realises that he wants the guy that he finds attractive to want him. He wants to be chosen.
Drifters feels like it has a bit of a vintage porn aesthetic – a sort of timelessness. Were there any vintage porn influences that you were drawing on in the creative process?
Absolutely – it wasn’t just porn, also gay male erotica.
I wanted to reclaim our history, our heritage, and our culture – as gay guys. I wanted to embrace who we are as gay men and embrace the things that culturally bring us together and the things that are uniquely within the gay experience.
Bob Mizer is a big influence. He was a photographer who created Physique Pictorial magazine. In some of the pictures, you have these hot young guys wearing cowboy hats and jock straps and belts and boots. It was the gay version of a cowboy.
We recreated one of Bob Mizer’s cowboy photos. Trenton Ducati was a rodeo star as a kid – he had the lasso. We used that image featuring Ryan Orion and Derek Kage as the poster for Drifters – it just really took off.
The other reference was George Quaintance – a painter who often featured cowboys, showing them as very desirable men in a desert setting.
Then there’s influences such as Honcho magazine, and Ramrod magazine. I was deliberately trying to pull various things from across the decades, looking for common threads and themes.
As well as writing and directing the series, you’re also playing the character of Daddy. How challenging was it to direct yourself in this context?
About 80 percent of the collabs that I film happen in my house. My husband is the cameraman and my editor is in Thailand. While I’m in the scene, I’m also directing – organising everything in my head. I know what I’m looking for.
But when filming Drifters, I needed to be able to stand back and actually see what was happening. I was also very lucky that the cast and the crew are all really great – really collaborative and very generous. Plus there was Trenton Ducati – he’s not only a great cheerleader for the project but he’s really lifted the production. I’m very fortunate.
In terms of other projects in the pipeline, beyond Drifters you’ve got Hustlers and also American Playboy in production. Are you building the Daddy Patrick cinematic universe? Do all of these characters exist in the same timeline?
This is the Ducati Studios cinematic universe.
There’s a lot of content out there – much of it made by really talented, amazing content-creators. They’re all getting better and more proficient with camera-work and editing and pushing their content out there.
My marketing background tells me, when everyone does one thing, you have to do something else.
Studio porn has this unique and wonderful opportunity. We don’t need to create collab-style content. They’re doing great – why compete?
What we need to do is something that you cannot do as one-off collabs – we can go back to the roots of cinema, we can get back to storytelling.
How has your work in adult entertainment shaped your relationship with your body?
I didn’t start doing adult films until I was 60 – about two years ago.
I felt that I was still sexually attractive and still sexually desirable. I didn’t want to be put on the shelf.
When I was growing up, there was absolutely an anti-aging vibe within the gay community – nobody found older guys attractive. It felt like when you got older, your friends would stop calling you and nobody would want to dance with you at the club – you would be alone and unwanted and you would die that way.
I wanted to show that there was no shame in getting older. I’m fit – I love working out. I want to be fully vital and active and doing fun things. I have a libido – I want to connect with guys and explore that side.
The thing is that when you get into your 60s, the aging process is on the move. I can see myself on camera and see that I’m getting older. I have to be okay with it – it is what it is. I can just be the best version of myself because I think that’s what people find attractive.
In Drifters, we cast some of the world’s most desirable men – they’re young and beautiful and the camera just absolutely loves them. I was filming a scene with Serg Shepard – I found myself thinking, what if we focus the camera just on him? You have to have a sense of humour about yourself.
What do you hope that people feel when they’re watching Drifters?
They’re there to get off. I hope that they’re turned on by these guys and have mind-blowing cum-shots. We’re creating porn that people can use to find sexual pleasure.
But I also hope that it touches them emotionally – that they see themselves somewhere in this.
Porn isn’t something that should be hidden or something we only do by ourselves – it can be part of our culture. We can celebrate it and enjoy it – we can find fun and humour in it.
When guys are watching Drifters, I want them to feel: “this is for me”.
Watch Drifters on Ducati Studios.
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