It is the turn of the decade and Nigerian entertainment has never been more prosperous. The craft of filmmaking has grown significantly and there is an air of confidence about the industry as Nollywood makes its way into international film culture. With new grounds to explore, another budding enterprise has begun to find its feet; the adult film industry.
Despite the moralist exterior of Nigerian society, the adult film industry is getting a piece of all the action. Eelive.ng took a dive into this relatively new scene recently; an interview with one of the pioneers of the porn scene in Nigeria.
We sat down with adult entertainment professional, Seyi Hunter, to talk about porn and its place in Nigerian entertainment. We asked, she answered. Stick around; you might learn a thing or two.
How did you get interested in adult entertainment? What drew your attention to it?
I actually love talking about sex, I enjoy it. The truth is most people avoid it and it is something everyone does behind closed doors. And maybe it’s because people do not like talking about it, that’s why I like talking about sex.
So then, I thought, since I like to talk about sex let me start to sell porn and that’s how Sinful Friday came on board. And so I started blogging about sex so as to let people know more about it. My viewers started requesting for practical videos of what I teach them.
But before then we started orgies, swingers party and then we do all kinds of adults 18 plus parties for people. Of course, from there we shot our first porn, but then shooting the porn you know the way Nigerians are generally, they are hypocrites. Everybody loves this thing and most people embraced it, but still, there are hypocrites that will always criticize. And it has become something I love and enjoy It’s a passion.
You love to talk about sex, I am curious about that…?
You know some people are having sexual issues and dying in silence. And it’s not everybody that likes to read or find out the facts about things, they like it when someone goes out there and does it. So I am making the move.
I have put myself out there to do the research to make things easy for everybody. I have so many married couples and singles who want to improve on their sexual skills, ladies and men. People do not understand there is more to sex than just banging up like Mummy and Daddy.
Like I tell people if you keep five ladies here they all will respond differently when you touch them, they do not respond the same way. Some men want to try the technique they use for A for B and C. Some men do not understand you need to ask a lady the way she wants to be touched, how she wants it to be done.
Is there something or an experience you had or something someone told you that sparked your interest in sex?
Way back then, whenever I was interviewed, l they focused on was my sex life. In fact, they focused on my sex life and I didn’t understand it. And of course, as an actress, whenever they come, they tell me I don’t hold back; that most people they ask or hold back on the issue. Then, from there, one of the interviewers told me I was very good at this sex talk, and I thought maybe I should start a sex blog.
How long ago was that?
It has been two years.
Why Sinful Friday, is it an agreement that what you’re doing is sinful?
No, no! You know when you go on Google, sinful and sin are not the same thing. Sinful stands for so many things, it stands for sexy, erotic, flamboyant, extravagant that’s where my own sinful came from.
When we say “sin”, we don’t mean “bad”. So mine came from erotic Friday. So Friday is the day I post my teachings on the blog, so instead of using erotic Friday, we used sinful Friday, you know just to make it a controversial.
Did you shot a porn film? Where is it and how did you distribute it?
We started by getting our own website sinful Friday. And we had to put our film on the internet; I meant to have our own video on the website to have a market. So we shot porn and put them on the website.
There is only one porn website in Nigeria, and it is Sinful Friday and that’s the only porn site in Africa every other website is just playing.
Can you tell me about that?
I am talking about the standard. I told you it’s been two years since we came in so, we didn’t just wake up and decide to shoot porn one day, it’s been a process. And before we went into it we did our research and we have people that we look up to, like the PornHub, and YouPorn.
After these two porn sites, it’s Sinful Friday. Personally, I don’t watch black porn. If it is not American porn I don’t watch it. The contents of Nigerian porn are very irritating. So we conducted a lot of interviews on social media and on the streets about what people wanted; they sent us links.
I just started watching porn like two or three years back, so I’m not the best person to decide what the porn film. The content of Nigerian is quite irritating. I don’t know how they do it maybe it is with their phone and in terms of the quality of the shooting and every other thing.
My girls and all my actors are world-class, although there are also professionals in Nigeria. I want Sinful Friday to be producing world stars. And I want them to go on a global and international level.
Now, you’re saying that your work is different from every other work can you give me to three things that you do differently? From what we gathered one thing that doesn’t make sense about porn in Nigeria is the filming in a relatively untidy environment. Are there specific things like that, that you are conscious of or deliberately looking after?
To be honest with you, that untidy environment is what some people want. There are people who send emails to me that when we are shooting the next porn, they want dirty environments. They complained that the one I shot was like they’re watching foreign porn. That if I’m shooting for African market, I should please shoot dirty. You know different people with different things that turn them on.
So, is there something you do that makes your own film different?
Yes, I use clean girls. I use girls who are new to the porn industry. A lot of people applied so we wanted fresh people because the quality is important to us.
Are there other things, the quality of filming, locations that use?
Yes, of course, the location, the actors, and the filming make Sinful Friday stand out.
You have said that Nigeria is a very critical society; people pretend these things don’t happen, and from your own experience how much do you think Nigerians appreciate porn and adult entertainment?
In all honesty, I will say 101%. If you check the market in 2017, Nigeria had the highest porn viewers in the world, not in Africa but in the world, we beat the record of the USA. So, we ask ourselves; who then are those watching porn? Who are they, ghosts?
So, what’s your average turn over from your investment since you launched?
We’ve not started making money because we just launched on the 27th of September, so it has not even been up to a month. We are still working to have a payment portal through integration on the website. So what most people do is to do a manual transfer we still have 1 out of 10 who are not willing to pay. And on Thursday alone we had over 2000 traffic on the website.
You’ve been talking about your girls, your girls don’t you use men. How do you source for actors?
We source for actors through audition; there is a man by the name Seun Faleye who helps out when we were sourcing for girls. So we look for those things we are looking. And for the guys we have Mr. Bombastic, Sambo, they are very good. I’m new in the porn industry, and we have what we look out for.
When it comes to casting, what do you look out for?
Okay, we always look out for girls who are already into adult entertainment but not porn to be precise. Although it wasn’t easy getting them especially as most of my girls are graduates and students.
And because I wasn’t expecting that, we asked if they were really sure. And they told us that they had gone for several porn auditions. That in most cases they were requested to be “sampled, “meaning the men wanted to sleep with them first.. So, we give them the job when they can twist, bend and we see they are ready to listen to instructions.
And the guys?
Yes, so many guys come because they thought oh, there’s free p*ssy. But for many days, they would be unable to get erections. And there are some like Mr. Bombastic who had a hard time getting rid of an erection. It was a pretty serious issue on set. And so we take them for all necessary tests from there.
What do you think the attraction is for these people? From the sense you get from especially the graduate and undergraduate girls, why are they in it?
It’s just like the same reason I’m in Nollywood. Being in Nollywood I don’t get a dime, I just love acting and they pay little or nothing. But it has been my passion that keeps me going on.
People may think these girls are loose, but they are not. They are very decent and don’t sleep with any man just to get engaged. So, it’s a passion for them too, it’s love. You see these girls coming on set multiple times, they enjoy what they do.
What’s the remuneration like, would you compare it to Nollywood?
You can’t compare it to Nollywood. They make more money than the Nollywood actors, unlike the Nollywood upcoming people who are told to still pay their dues before they can get properly paid. Our range is between 350k to 800k depending on the body and the class.
So, that’s what they earn for the period of the seven days?
Yes.
For the seven days are you on set throughout the whole period?
Yes, we are on set throughout the period. Sometimes when the girls are chilling there’s someone else doing something.
So do your actors cover their faces?
For the first production, they didn’t cover faces. And for this second one, some of them will use masks. It depends on our audience; we also do porn on request. For a subscriber, you tell us the kind of porn you’ve been imagining or fantasizing about, then we shoot it and put it on the website.
We’ve been talking about porn exclusively, what other things do you do?
Ok in November, we are organising an orgy party. Thus, whether male or female, you come together in one house, drink, eat, and get a blowjob. Anybody can have anybody.
And we do swingers for couples and others. There are bondage parties for those who like BDSM. For my birthday next month, I’m fulfilling sexual fantasies. I enjoy turning people on.
On average, how many people indulge in your orgy parties?
Okay, the last orgy party, we had twenty-five men, and so we double the number of ladies. For instance, for twenty-five men, we provide 50 ladies.
Is there anything you are doing to get the legal backing, and do you have a lawyer who advises you?
Yes we there’s a lawyer who advises me, and we’re working together on securing the business legally.
So how involved are you in the filmmaking? Do you direct, produce, or act in these movies?
Yes, I direct and produce but I don’t act, it’s not my calling.
So, operating in Nollywood and in the porn industry, you’ve indicated that it’s more lucrative, can you expatiate on that?
Yes of course, in Nollywood, DSTV is the only one that buys the movies so that the supply is 100 times more than the demand. But here, you have subscribers who come in every day to watch.
Also, you have those who want to place adverts. And you know a lot of people have a lot of sexual fantasies they want to bring to live before they die, and we are here to provide these services.
What other services does your company provide?
I teach and I counsel people and we organise various parties, and bachelors eve for adults. We have escorts and they’re not for prostitution, they go with our clients to events, to weddings even.
From the little you’ve seen, can you say it’s worthwhile your effort?
I tell people Sinful Friday is a multi-billion naira project. I actually sold my car because we needed funds. We worked both night and day. We were supposed to start in July. But you know it’s easy to think about an idea, but actualizing it is much more difficult.
We had some delays so we started in September. And in the process, I had to sell my car to put the funds into it.
Tell me, what are your goals for this business?
My dream is for me to put all my investment into this business and every other thing will have to be on hold. I see us earning N10 million in a day.
Our website is subscribers based, and the subscription rates are dependent on the length of the subscription.
The world market is here, and huge in Nigeria, so if there’s going to be any disturbances from the Law enforcement agencies, I do not even mind leaving Nigeria, I plan to relocate, because I have given my all to this business.
But you are not going to be having Nigerian artistes?
I’d brought someone from Brazil for my first production, then nothing stops me to bring all Nigerians to act. But I do not pray that that day comes when I would have to relocate, because I want the money to be here.
Tell me a bit about your background, what you studied, and what led you into acting?
I studied Performing Arts at Olabisi Onabanjo University. Before school, I used to be a dancer. I’d been into the entertainment from school when I was in Surulere in Julius Agwu Crack Ya Rib days when we sold tickets for him at the Muson Centre. I danced for a while and later on, moved to acting. I loved dancing and it wasn’t easy to drop it for acting.
What is your Nollywood experience?
Nollywood has been okay, but I would treat my actors one million times better than Nollywood has treated me.
Have you ever been through couch casting, sexual harassment and all of that?
How would I not have experienced it? I never intended going into film production, these are some of the reasons I went into it.
You also counsel people, can you share some of the issues that are rampant amongst men, women and some of the sexual problems that you’ve had to solve?
Yes, I have had to deal with men mostly and I have had like 2 or 3 women come for advice too. For instance, a husband complained he’s had sex with his wife only two times since they got married in 4 years, that the wife is always irritated during sex. I made her understand why she must understand and love her body.
I took her through the masturbation class to understand the art of masturbation, and then gradually she loosened up. Then I introduced her into sex toys, and for the first time, she had an orgasm. I sell sex toys too and she got a vibrator. Then, I counseled the couple and I had a testimony. Because of her, I did a video on female general mutilation.
Did you get any training?
Yes in 2018 I did a series of online courses.
Your clientele, are they mostly wealthy?
We charge 50 thousand naira for our sex counselling. But when those who do not have so much come, I do counsel them too.
As a Christian, you talked about masturbation; do you think it is a sin according to the Bible?
You have to be able to show me where specifically that part of the bible that wrote against masturbation.
Orgies, swinging, masturbation; don’t they run contrary to your faith?
No, they don’t. My faith is live and let live. Love God and man, and I haven’t gone against these.