WITH building supplies strewn around the entrance and a few blokes having a fag outside a car garage, it looks like any other industrial estate.
But one unassuming lot inside this depot in Hertfordshire is responsible for producing some of the internet’s most outrageous X-rated films, while training the UK’s next generation of audacious adult stars.
19
19
19
19
Welcome to Andy Lee‘s Porn Star University – famed for shooting saucy scenes with the likes of Bonnie Blue and producing more than 400 OnlyFans creators in just over two years.
With shocking viral stars like Bonnie – known for sleeping with 1,057 men in 12 hours – dominating social media debates in recent months, the adult industry has never felt more in the spotlight.
But considering these stunts are helping her rake in a reported £800,000 a month, it’s no surprise scores of Brits are escaping nine-to-five jobs to film explicit content in the hopes of cashing in too.
That’s why I’m spending a day training at the Porn Star University, where within hours – under my new alter-ego ‘Josh the naughty journo’ – I’ll be handcuffing a stranger, recreating a racy X-rated scene and learning the language of lust.
Here, aspiring adult movie stars are taught how to navigate the business, market themselves and learn vital filming tricks, as well as getting ‘hands-on’ training in how to perform on camera on one of the school’s many saucy sets.
In fact, hundreds of scenes are filmed here every month – with past ‘big hitters’ including a viral HMP Wandsworth spoof of a prisoner officer having sex with an inmate, Bonnie Blue’s controversial Australian Border Force video and the infamous porn series Fake Taxi.
Despite the nature of the ‘university’, head honcho Andy Lee, 36, who started out in the industry in 2010, insists surrounding businesses and residential neighbours are “fine” with it, surprisingly.
It’s just as well, because before long, lessons for the day begin – and I’m the apprehensive star of the show.
Schooled in sex
In a brightly-lit classroom, I’m sat beside glamorous Georgie Maria, 26, a single mum, from Kent, whose OnlyFans page is “completely dead” and “desperately” needs guidance.
Bookending us are Essex boys Charlie, a 6ft 5in muscle mountain known as ‘BIG Stacks’, and equally chiselled ‘Big Stevo’, real name Steven Anthony.
19
19
19
Lecturer Andy, who claims he is a multi-millionaire, tells us: “There’s no reason why anyone shouldn’t be able to make at least £3,000 a month on OnlyFans… no matter how they look.”
“Phew!” I think, as I compare myself to the competition.
Andy insists “the sky’s the limit” if we put in more effort, are clever with marketing, perform stunts and improve our cinematography skills with better lighting, clever camera angles and using a tripod.
Before we get to the practical lessons, he has a clear warning: “Remember, once you put a video out there, it’s out there permanently. Are you OK with the world seeing this?
“You can’t hide this stuff. Someone will see it and people are malicious. They’ll send it to your family members, WhatsApp groups and around your area.”
I’m not hurting anyone and it’s for my daughter’s future, so they can keep their noses out of it
Georgie Maria
Andy knows this all too well. In 2020, he was forced to quit his £38,000-a-year council job after a boss was sent a link to one of his X-rated antics, which was recorded a decade earlier.
“It got me fired but it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” the Dubliner says. “I’m a multi-millionaire and am set for the rest of my life now.”
Bonnie Blue’s ‘shock tactics’
While most of us might be horrified by the attention-seeking stunts of Bonnie Blue, Andy – who has filmed with the Nottinghamshire-born star twice – holds her up as an example to the class.
“The more people are talking about you and sharing your content, the more chance you’re going to win,” he says, adding that she is an “expert in rage-baiting”.
He continues: “Instead of saying she’s sleeping with 20-year-olds, she says ‘barely-legal teens’ and that she’s ‘here to f*** your husbands’. She knows what she’s doing.”
Andy speaks from experience. He once drove a taxi close to the Eiffel Tower to film a porn scene and regularly posts provocative videos online, including telling women “it’s OK to cheat” on your partner if they aren’t satisfied sexually.
19
19
19
X-rated Deliveroo films
After a couple of hours, we’re out of the classroom and it’s time to get to grips with making a film ourselves.
Roleplay is a big part of the game and the Porn University is packed with hundreds of costumes – ranging from Royal Mail posties to Army uniforms, airport security, firemen, builders and teachers.
“The Deliveroo outfits are really popular,” Andy says, much to my surprise.
“People relate to it, everyone’s ordered a pizza or food delivery and thought, ‘Woah, they’re really hot.’”
It got me fired but it was the best thing that ever happened to me, I’m a multimillionaire and am set for the rest of my life now
Andy Lee
When it comes to choosing my alter-ego, Andy weighs up the choices before handing me an extremely realistic police officer’s uniform.
Slipping on my stab vest and fluorescent high-visibility jacket, I remember impersonating a cop risks a six-month prison stint and a £5,000 fine.
Outside Andy takes us through a warm-up, warning we could “get seriously injured” and be left out of action for months if we don’t take stretching seriously.
Unsurprisingly, a lot focuses on thrusting and hip stretching.
Kinky BDSM handcuffs
Next up, I’m taught how to use real metal handcuffs as part of a BDSM lesson and learning how to work safely with a partner.
Leaning over a taxi bonnet, Georgie cringes as I clumsily drop the cuffs and fasten them the wrong way, before temporarily losing the key.
19
19
19
Despite her professionalism, sex appeal is rapidly draining from the room.
We take a brief break inside a council estate set, which is strewn with McDonald’s, Monster energy drink cans, empty Pot Noodles and Haribo, crisp and chocolate wrappers.
Here Georgie tells me she started OnlyFans four months ago to escape the long hours and poor pay of her horse riding instructor job so she can give her daughter, four, a better life.
“I couldn’t be the mum I wanted to be with my other job,” she says. “As a single parent, I felt like I was constantly fobbing her off on family members. I don’t want to do that.”
Georgie says she’ll tell her daughter the truth when she’s old enough to understand, but until then is she bracing for parents at the school gates finding out?
“Oh, 100 per cent,” she says. “I can already see it brewing but I’m not hurting anyone and it’s for my daughter’s future, so they can keep their noses out of it.”
My taxi ‘sex scene’
Back in class, it’s time for an ‘ad-lib and improvisation’ lesson. My role is a mean-talking Cockney taxi driver and Georgie can’t afford her £6.40 fare.
“I can’t find my purse anywhere, can I pay you another way?” she seductively states with a wink.
“Don’t worry about it lav…” I begin to say before correcting myself. “Erm, do you have an American Express card?”
19
19
19
A very loud “CUT” rings from the sidelines.
After more coaching, I’m fed an array of lines like, “Maybe, I’ll pull over and jump in the back with you for some fun?”
Take two goes slightly more smoothly, albeit punctuated with stifled laughter every time I’m labelled “big boy”.
I’m relieved the scene is over and Andy is kind with his feedback: “You need a bit more passion!”
Boobs ‘hanging in window’
Next on to the sex scene, for which we leave the full-sized cab – from the famous Fake Taxi series – and hop into one that’s been cut in half for better lighting and camera angles.
While nothing physical will happen today, Andy recounts the acts in a blasé manner: “Her on top then facing away, against the door boobs hanging through the window, then on the bonnet…”
What follows is an exhausting-sounding list of yet even more acts that are too graphic to recount in a family publication.
But it’s now clear why stretching is vitally important.
Andy tells us the common pitfalls, like stars blocking cameras with their hands and elbows and remembering it’s “not about your own pleasure, but the performance of pleasure for the audience”.
It’s clear there’s a lot more to being a porn star than many would believe.
Dark side of pornography
Like every industry, the pornography business has a darker side.
Suicides, drug overdoses and human trafficking form a seedy underbelly, which recently has made headlines in both Europe and the United States.
In January this year, porn star Thania Fields was found dead after sharing that she had experienced “sexual abuse” at the start of her career in porn.
She said at the time: “I have suffered sexual harassment and abuse after starting to create adult content. It’s very strong.
“Many thought that by hiring me they could do what they wanted with me, but then I came home, took a bath and cried.”
Recently deaths in the US include star Angelina Please, Dahila Sky and Olivia Lua.
Former director Tommie McDonald tells us he left the business after being confronted with some horrifying situations.
He says at least two models he knows off killed themselves while he was still producing, and many more simply seemed to disappear.
He said: “Over the years working in the industry, suicides were sadly fairly common.
“Often Eastern European women are brought into the industry at the hands of traffickers and forced into filming porn under threats of violence.
“It’s hard to work in this industry and not have your morals shift because so much goes on.
“I’ve also heard of rape allegations against top producers and suggestions that people have been drugged on set before filming.
“It was also commonplace for a bit in Europe that talent would forge clear tests so they could still work even if they had contacted something.
“There was a HIV outbreak in Europe about five years ago, which thankfully changed the way testing was done.”
As the day draws to a close, I’m guided around the remaining sets including a shower room where they use baby oil and a smoke machine to replicate steamy hot water.
Andy’s spent £220,000 so far renovating the former apprentices’ workshop into an ultimate porn studio with at least 22 sets including bizarrely, an old man’s living room.
He has also bought countless costumes and props like a paddling pool for oil wrestling, tools for a mechanics’ garage, workman supplies for a building yard and BDSM gear.
Back in the classroom, I’m called up to the front to accept my certificate – which for effect is rebranded a d***ploma – to cheers and chuckles from my fellow alumni.
What’s clear is that being a porn star is nowhere near as easy as it looks and for all the benefits and wealth the industry offers, it’s only suited to the brave, bronzed… and blokes with bulging biceps.
‘Josh the naughty journo’ better stick to his day job… for now.
19
19
19