Join the Kinky Club: An Interview with Fetish Director/Producer Dee Severe

Great Times Are Had at Severe's "Kinky Fantasy Club"!

Fetish producer/director/dominatrix Dee Severe has recently released her latest BDSM comedy Kink Fantasy Club through Severe Films, the production company that she owns/runs with her fetish performer husband Jimmy Broadway. Severe always takes her productions to different, non-stereotypical BDSM places in her productions and every fetish fan should give her movies a look. 

What kind of woman were you back in high school? Did you always love using cameras?

"Actually, I had a whole previous career as a rock journalist, and then as a mainstream magazine writer and screenwriter. So I was a nihilistic punk rock girl. ;) Cameras came later."

Were you a porn fan before you got into the industry? Who were your favorite porn stars/favorite porn movies?

"I definitely enjoyed porn, would watch it with several of my ex-boyfriends. I’m old enough to have actually seen a Traci Lords movie before they became illegal via the whole age scandal; she was pretty great. Also seem to remember Seka and Ginger Lynn were really hot. It was such a thrill to be on Ginger’s radio show years later and get to be friends with her. And I remember when I was first coming out as a kinky person in the late '90s, Wasteland was one of the few sites I visited that had really well-done content. (More about that later.)"

What do you think shaped you into the director that you are today?

"Well, for starters, I’m a Dominatrix so am used to being a pushy bitch control freak (or “control enthusiast” like they say on that commercial ;) ), which you need to be as a director—you need to be able to control your set. Also, my husband/business partner Jimmy Broadway and I used to belong to a mainstream short film collective. We worked on dozens of mainstream short films, so I got to do all the jobs—lighting, production design, camera assistant, continuity, etc. It was a great education." 

Who is your favorite male performer/female performer to shoot and why?

"I don’t have a single favorite, although we do have a little repertory group of people we use over and over again. I love performers who are genuinely kinky, passionate about what they do, and can act."

What can you share about Kinky Fantasy Club?

"It’s an idea I’ve had for a while. I love the idea of taking traditional romantic comedy and date movie themes and giving them a BDSM twist. I did it for the first time with FemDom Dream Date and people really responded to it, and also it was very different from what everyone else was doing. I also wanted to add a fantasy element because with fantasies you can do whatever you want—you can have unbelievable events amid an otherwise realistic plot. So Kinky Fantasy Club follows the exploits of four guys who are having problems with women and go out for a night at a strip club—that goes very, very wrong…"

What is one thing that you think that a lot of fetish directors get wrong about the way that they create a scene?

"I think most of the problems lie in casting and skill sets. I’ve said this before, just because you put a girl in latex and give her a flogger, that doesn’t make her a dominatrix. Real fetish fans can tell when performers don’t have BDSM training. Also, having rough sex on a dungeon set with a lot of red lights, that’s not BDSM either."

What do you love most about your production company?

"First of all, I love working with Jimmy, we’ve been together more than seventeen years. We are definitely a 'whole is greater than the sum of its parts' situation. I also love that something we’ve worked so hard on and put everything into, is finally paying off. I heard someone say on a panel at an adult convention that they originally didn’t think a particular production company was going to make it because they were only starting out with $100K. I had to laugh. When we started out we had nothing, we had borrowed cameras and some pro Domme friends who wanted to do content share. And there were so many times we paid performers instead of the phone bill and the rent. And it was all worth it, wouldn’t trade a thing." 

How did you choose your casting on Kinky Fantasy Club?

"We definitely chose Kira Noir for her amazing pole dancing skills; I saw a video of her dancing online and that was the deciding factor. Tommy Pistol was my first choice for his scene because I knew he could really act and is a great top. With the real-life situations we have in a lot of our features, I want to make sure male dom action doesn’t come off looking like we’re encouraging domestic violence. So in Kinky Fantasy Club I wanted to make the Casey Calvert character the villain, so the audience would be on the husband’s side, and I knew Tommy and Casey could pull that off. We had been wanting to work with both of them for quite a while, and this turned out to be the perfect opportunity. Lily Cade, Ela Darling, Dominik Kross, and Kiki D’Aire have been in a lot of our movies—once we find kinky people who can act we tend to work with them again and again. Charlotte Cross we got because the original person for her part turned it down for being too fetishy, but I’m so glad that happened because Charlotte is awesome, a super kinky crazy girl—we’re going to hire her again soon. Alura Jenson is like a Russ Meyer girl for the new millennium, so when we were casting the dream girl for the guy who was obsessed with big tits, she was the obvious choice. Brad Knight we’d worked with before and he did a good job, and I generally like to have people I’m familiar with in bigger productions so there aren’t any unpleasant surprises. And Tony Orlando was our new guy, he’s an awesome sub who will return for future projects."

What have you seen change most in the fetish porn market since you first entered it?

"Ever since the advent of Fifty Shades (which I just can’t stand as a piece of fiction but it really did the fetish porn market a HUGE favor) the audience has gotten way bigger, which means that budgets and production values have gotten bigger too, and the movies are technically much better. I remember when I was first coming out, I watched a lot of fetish porn and I was downright shocked at how bad the production quality was on some of it. Like, do you not see that bright orange extension cord going to that light that’s also reflected in the mirror above the bed? That kind of thing."

Who are your role models in porn and how/why do they inspire you?

"In terms of production values, I really aspire to make fetish movies that look as great as Jacky St. James’ do. In terms of innovation, I really admire Joanna Angel, her content has a real point of view and an identity. And, Colin Rowntree of Wasteland, they’ve been producing awesome material for twenty years."

What else can we look for in your upcoming releases?

"Kinky Cuckold 3: Gangbang is up next. (Our first gangbang with real penises! ;) ) We’re going to be continuing with our Kink School instructional series; since we just did Tips from a Dominatrix, Tips from a Master is coming soon. Our guest director Lily Cade, who did such an awesome job with Heartbreaker vs. Obscura, will be making another feature titled Blasphemy. And—drumroll please—we just made a deal with Wasteland.com to put their beautiful content on DVD for the first time ever, so there will be one of those a month starting in May. Also, I’m starting to plan another Kinky Fantasy Club-type feature, I love BDSM comedies. It’s still in the planning stages but it’s going to have a crazy ex-girlfriend theme."

What is the best mainstream movie you have seen recently?

"The Big Short. I thought it brilliantly explained exactly how Wall Street fucked America during the housing crisis. I was also a huge fan of Nightcrawler. I love movies that give you a villain you secretly envy. Like, on one hand I recognized that the lead character was a terrible person, and on the other hand I kept thinking, damn, if I was 20 years old, I would so want to be him! (Well, not the murdering your employees part, the being one of those people who roams the night looking for crime scenes to film for news outlets.)"

How has your love for BDSM evolved through your time as a producer/director?

"Honestly, I think I’ve become more jaded, but that’s inevitable. I remember when Jimmy and I first got together, we made a personal sex tape of pegging, and we thought we were so extreme! Now, I can tell you all the angles you need to shoot a great pegging scene, what to look out for in lighting, etc. When you analyze everything, it’s still something I love and that’s a part of me, but it’s not quite as exciting as when it was a brand new adventure."

What do you like to do for fun?

"I’m a workaholic, so to me, the most fun thing is to make movies. Other than that, we have rescued dogs and I love to play with them, and I’m involved in advocating for animal rights/rescue. And I like to go to the gym, and the beach, and to shoot pool. But mainly, I love to direct movies."

If you could cast any celebrities to do an epic BDSM scene for you, who would you cast and what would the scene be?

"I’ve always thought Jillian Michaels and Stephanie Beatriz, the tough cop on Brooklyn 99, would make fantastic Dominatrixes so I’d like for them to really beat the crap out of someone who deserved it. There are so many worthy candidates. Trump would be good! ;) Also, Rihanna. You can tell she’s a kinky girl, and so hot, I’d like to have her as the submissive in a romantic, sexy scene. Also, you could give the entire plot of House of Cards—one of my favorite shows—a BDSM twist and it would fit perfectly."

Is there anything you want to say to your fans here at Fleshbot?

"Just that we really, really appreciate you! This is my dream job, we have fun every day, and it’s amazing to make a living doing what you love. And we couldn’t do that if people didn’t buy our movies, so, people who pay for your porn, we love you!"

All of the images here appear courtesy of Severe Films. Click right here to go watch "Kinky Fantasy Club" right now!