THE CASTING COUCH_(1)

Anton didn’t mind the economic recession. Sure the revenues from his companies were down, but only slightly. It struck him as strange that in these difficult times the public would sacrifice a lot, but not their habit for porn. His business was still profitable and he had healthy reserves in his bank accounts.
No, these were good times. Some of the ratbag competition would be blown away and the supply of talent was expanding and the prices were cheaper. With employers not hiring, youth unemployment was high and there seemed to be an unlimited supply of beautiful young women who were happy to consider a career in porn.

This was Anton’s annual summer pilgrimage to Moscow. The Russian women had two real attributes for him. Many were exquisitely beautiful and most wanted to escape the poverty and depression of their day by day lives.

Anton was a 20 year veteran of the porn industry. Long ago he had studied photography and lucked on a contract with a down-market porn magazine. As a 19 year old he couldn’t believe he could be paid to take close-ups of stunning, naked girls and often have his choice of them afterwards. Three years later he had the contacts, had a reputation as a creative photographer, a creative business mind and he set up on his own.

He started a small magazine and the quality of his photography and the girls and his sexual inventiveness resulted in it soon finding a lucrative niche. He kept up with, and at times, was ahead of the trends. His models were among the first to have Brazilians, where the law permitted he was the first to picture sex. He saw the video market coming and the DVD and the internet. He was among the first to feature anal sex and DP.

“Actresses” as Anton always referred to his stars liked working with him. He never called them sluts or whores or bitches and indeed he never thought of them like that.
“Think of Michael Phelps, the greatest swimmer of all time,” he explained to a new recruit. “Michael has been blessed with the perfect body for swimming and has the mental desire to work hard to excel. And so he makes a fortune from his talents.
“You have been blessed with a perfect body for sex and the mental attributes of loving to fuck. It is only right that you also should make a fortune from your talents.”

Olga, Anton’s Moscow lawyer, sat beside him at the table in his luxury hotel suite as they studied the photographs. She was the same age as Anton, a slightly fading beauty whose waist was thickening just a little. But when Anton had embraced her as they met he saw that she was still a sensual, all feminine woman.

Olga and Anton’s relationship went back 18 years. She was one of the first models in his magazine and had followed him into porn movies and the internet. Porn had been her escape and she had loved the life. She loved sex, she had seen the world and lived a high-life completely outside the dreams of her contemporaries. There had been no ill-will when 10 years before she had told Anton she was retiring and had returned to Moscow to study law and build a new life with all the money she had saved and the retirement fund Anton gave her.

“The same routine as last year and all the years before,” said Olga. “I advertised that you were a famous photographer looking for new modeling talent for intimate shots. But this year I must have got twice as many applicants as before. I interviewed almost 100 and you’ve seen the shots of what I thought was the best 30.”

Anton nodded. All the girls had been stunning. Olga knew his taste for slim girls with smooth complexions and dazzling smiles. Tattoos and implants were no-no’s. He had reduced the 30 to 10 and they looked at each girl in a variety of poses. Many were fully clothed but there were a number of shots of each girl wearing only bikini briefs. Anton spent more time looking at the girls’ faces than their bodies in these shots. He had been looking for the right balance. He didn’t want girls who were totally confident in showing their bodies; that didn’t suit the innocence that his up-market videos required, but he also knew that the girls who had too many inner battles to show themselves like this would have problems further down the track.

“Demure, but confident of their bodies,” was the way he had described it to Olga. And indeed all the 10 he had chosen seemed to meet these requirements.

Olga had arranged for five interviews on each of two days. They would spend around 90 minutes with each of the girls except when Anton shook his head and Olga would know that he wasn’t interested.

“What time is this girl coming?” he asked, pointing to a tall and willowy blond beauty.

“Ah, that’s Kristina. I thought she would appeal to you. She’s the last today, coming in at 5.”

“How did she react when you asked her to pose topless?”

“She had a battle, I think. She’s quite shy, not a virgin but inexperienced. Like most of them she’s here for the money and the possibility of escape. I’m not sure that she will be prepared to do everything.”

“You’ve explained to all of them the financial terms and what’s expected of them?”

“Yes, they’ve all signed agreements and I’ve got proof that they are all 18.”

“And they know that they can leave at any time. There’ll be no pressure.”

“Yes, I explained, but I’m sure that some might not trust us at first.”

“That’s often the way.”

Anton set up his video and still camera and over the next hours he and Olga interviewed and photographed three girls. One had decided not to show, but that didn’t surprise Anton as usually some girl’s nerve failed at the last minute.

“The first and the third won’t make it,” said Anton. “Neither could relax in front of the cameras. They weren’t comfortable showing their pussies.”

“I agree. Number two surprised me. She was up for anything. I had thought she was a quiet girl, but she couldn’t wait to get her clothes off.”

“Yes and she had a great sense of fun and laughed a lot. She might work in the down market product. See if she wants to do a screen test with Boris and Josef.”

“I’m sure she will want to,” smiled Olga as she took notes. Boris and Josef were two of Anton’s well endowed male leads who would soon find out if number two was up to a vigorous DP.

“Kristina has just texted me. She’s waiting in the lobby.”

“Fine. Ask her to come up please.”

Kristina saw Olga’s text and nervously went over to the lift. She had to fight the urge to turn and run away. Olga had explained what would happen in this interview and had gone through the legal agreement with her. Kristina knew she would be able to leave at anytime, but still wasn’t sure. She had looked up Anton’s website, seen his girls, looked at some of the videos.

“What am I doing here?” she asked herself as she pressed the button for the penthouse in the lift. “This isn’t me.”

But she knew why she was there. She was the youngest of two children, her father had died young from alcohol abuse and her mother had lost her job. Her sister was 10 years older than her and was an example of everything she didn’t want. Her sister was married to a man like so many Russians who drank too much, they lived in a dreary two roomed apartment in a dreary tenement building. Her sister, who used to be so beautiful was now aged far beyond her years, struggling to find every ruble to eke out a miserable existence and somehow feed and clothe her two children.

“Wear what you would wear going to the movies,” Olga had instructed and Kristina had followed this to the letter. She wore a dress which came to her knees and and a loose fitting sweater. Her long blond hair was tied in a tight pony tail and apart from lipstick she wore no make-up.

Anton watched as Olga led Kristina into the suite and directed her to sit on the sofa. He noticed her unflattering choice of clothes, her pony tail, the absence of make up and her nervousness.

“Yes, Kristina, you may have some battles to fight,” he thought.

But he also noticed the grace with which she walked, her lovely straight posture, the immaculate glowing complexion, the generous red lips and the big blue eyes. “Some Slavic blood,” he thought approvingly as he saw her strong cheek bones.

Kristina sat awkwardly on the sofa. She recognized Anton from his website. About 40, hair thinning a bit, not fat but certainly not slim. It was strange to be in the room with this man who was always surrounded by beautiful women and indeed who she had seen fucking some of them on the videos. But he had a kindly looking face with a gentle smile and wasn’t leering at her.

She looked around the suite and realized that it would cost more for one night than a Muscovite would earn in a month.

“Hello Kristina. I’m Anton. Do you speak English?”

“Just a little.”

“Good. Olga will translate for you if you don’t understand anything.” Anton looked through her photographs then looked at Olga, frowning as he did so.

“Did Yuri take these shots of Kristina, Olga? He’s slipping. Kristina is far more beautiful than these show.”

Olga managed to smile, but she was used to it as Anton cracked it with most of his girls.

Kristina even managed a nervous smile for a moment.

Anton asked her about her life and seemed interested in her answers. She was a student at the academy had a married sister and lived with her mother.

“Did your father leave your mother?”

“No, he’s dead.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You must miss him.”

“No I don’t. He was an alcoholic and he used to hit my mother and me.”

“He didn’t molest you?”

“No, I was only 8 when he died. But I hate to think what he did to my mother.”

Anton knew enough about Russia to know that this was not an unusual scenario. In one way he sympathized with Kristina, but selfishly he also thought that she would have a good reason for wanting to change things.

He asked more questions about her studies about her hobbies and interest in music and under his gentle questioning she started to relax. He always looked at her face, never her body.

“Thank you Kristina, you are a very lovely person.”

Her timid smile lasted a little longer.

“I just want to run over the business details. You know what I do.”

“Yes, Olga told me about your website and I’ve seen it.”

“What did you think?”

Kristina screwed up her face as she tried to think of a polite answer. Although Anton’s site was more tasteful than most porn sites she didn’t like the thought that someday she might be featuring on it.

“It’s better than most porn sites.”

Anton laughed.

“Do you look at a lot of porn sites?”

Kristina looked embarrassed. “Not many.”

“Do you look at them with your boyfriend?”

“I don’t have one now but I used to.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have a boyfriend, a beautiful girl like you.”

“The boys I’m interested in don’t seem to be interested in me.”

“Ah, these Russian men. Sometimes they can be so stupid.”

Kristina laughed for a moment then her nervousness returned.

“Did you and your boyfriend have sex after you looked at porn sites?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“Did you like it?”

She nodded more eagerly, but Anton suspected that it had been less than overwhelming.

“Where did he do it. In your pussy?”

“Do I have to talk about my sex?”

Anton’s frown was genuine this time. “Kristina. I’m in the sex business. You’re applying for a job as a sex actress. So yes, we are going to talk about your sex life. Did your boyfriend fuck you in your pussy?”

An embarrassed nod.

“In your bum?”

Kristina appeared not to understand so Olga translated and Kristina quickly shook her head, frowning a little.

“In your mouth?”

Kristina nodded her head after Olga translated.

“Did you like that?”

A bored shrug.