Montreal is home to the backend of the online porn industry, where IT gurus have been running A/B tests on desire. Stories about porn often focus on the morality and the economics of the industry, but we seldom talk about porn as a creative practice.

Esther Splett was fresh out of a creative writing undergrad when she got hired as a script writer for the premium adult film brand, Brazzers. She wanted to write porn that was inspired by her favorite classic genre films, but she found herself spiralling as the high fantasy, performative world of porn permeated her everyday life.

While working on the archives of feminist porn pioneer Candida Royalle at Harvard, Allie Oops discovered a lifetime of diary entries that allowed her to see a long future in sex work. These days, she collaborates with her friends to make raw, DIY documentary-style porn out of her Montreal apartment, and she pays them a living wage to do it.

Learn more about Veronica Vera’s School for Boys Who Want to be Girls

Sound design on this episode is by Jesse Perlstein