To start off, I'm Dawn Brooks, I'm a camgirl and I've done porn in the past. I was contacted by John Stevens (the man who runs Matrix Models) on one of the sites I work on. He promised me tons of money, and since I live close to LA, I was able to give it a shot without risking everything.
John does everything himself. He used to have other people work for him but not anymore. I did a few shoots with him, but he never brought up a contract with me. At first he was very professional, but he kept telling me "I'll have shoots for you the week of ___" and expect me to plan a week long trip, but when I'd get up there, he wouldn't have anything and it was $900 down the drain. A lot of the other models also warned that John liked to "take you out to lunch" or let you "stay at his 'model house" (which was actually his apartment. The one he lived in. There was one other bedroom that had two beds in it. Here's a picture of the bedroom that I took: http://i.imgur.com/tx872gg.jpg but then, at the end of the month, he'd hit you with a huge bill for the things he bought "as gifts" or gas for driving you around.
I caught on fairly quickly and insisted on staying in my own hotel and driving myself, and I told him that I wouldn't leave for LA unless he could have a shoot confirmation for me at least 3 days in advance. After telling him that, I didn't hear from him again for months. Every call I made went to voicemail, never answered a text. I finally told him that I thought it was unprofessional for him to abandon me like that and left it at that. I got other jobs myself. A few months later, I noticed my picture was still up on his website. I sent him a text asking him to take it down, and he said "not until you pay me $3000." That was the first he had ever mentioned wanting money from me, and I didn't have a contract with him, so I told him absolutely not. He then told me his lawyer would "be in contact with me shortly."
Needless to say, as I never signed a contract, I never heard from "his lawyer," and told him that if he didn't take my picture down, I would report his agency to the CA Labor Commissioner. My picture was then removed from his site.
Here are the last few texts exchanged between John and myself. Notice the dates: http://imgur.com/a/99Jgq
My story is very common in the porn industry. A lot of people are looking to take advantage of young people looking to make easy money. They will pressure you into doing things you aren't comfortable with and screw you over if you hold your ground. I took a lot of precautions and didn't let anyone bully me, and at the end of the day I decided that porn isn't right for me anyway.
I hope this story is useful to anyone who wants to go into porn. I'm open to answering questions too. Thanks for reading!
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