The Decade In Porn: Tera Patrick Looks Back On 2000-2009

As the first decade of the 2000s draws to a close, Fleshbot's sitting down with adult industry influentials to learn how the business of pleasure has changed over the past ten years. Today's expert: Tera Patrick.

One of the biggest stars of the adult industry, Tera's made a name for herself as a performer, model, business owner—and, come this January, as an author, as well. Lucky for us, Tera was able to take time out of her busy schedule to chat with us on the phone about the changes she's seen in the adult industry over the past ten years. Click through to read her thoughts.

Fleshbot: Adult entertainment in 2009 looks a whole lot different than it did in 1999. In your opinion, what's been the single biggest change this decade?
Tera Patrick: I got into the industry in '99 actually, and it's kind of funny that I've been in for ten years because, I never thought that I would be doing anything for ten years. But I think that...there's been a couple changes. One, the amount of talent that's in the industry now has grown immensely. When I started in '99 it was a small group of people. Everybody kind of knew each other, and now I don't
know anybody. And it's really weird. There's not really any stars anymore in the industry, you know? There are so many girls that come in and out and...you don't really get to know anybody. [And] there's free porn all over the internet now. That's been one of the biggest things – the YouPorn. It's changed the way people
view porn. You know, now guys are like, "Oh, why do I have to join websites? I can just go join a free porn site and see whoever I want." And that's devalued the business, I think, quite a bit.

At left: "18 and Nasty #11," one of Tera's earliest movies, released in 1999.

In terms of the talent: you said there are a lot more performers. Do you think that performers get in with a different goal now than they did ten years ago? Have the type of people getting into the industry changed?
Oh yeah, there is no goal (laughs)...When I first got into the business, it wasn't about treating the business like a business. It was just about having fun and making money. And then as I got more famous I realized,
"Oh, you know, I need to have a plan." I mean, if I'm going to get anything out of the business I need to start treating the business like a business. And I tell the girls to do that today because the girls just get chewed up and spit out, you know? They shoot for hundreds of sites or hundreds of companies and then they don't save their money and then they're out of business. And their image is everywhere, blasted everywhere, and they have nothing to show for it.

I tell girls today if you want to get into the business don't shoot for everybody. Open your own website and keep your image exclusive. I think that's the best advice that any girl could take right now, and I think that if you have a goal, the goal is to just come in, make money and you know, treat the business like a
business.

At left: "Island Fever," released in 2000.

Has the business end of the industry changed? There's a lot of talk about porn getting more mainstream—do you feel like it's professionalized, or is it mostly the same as it's always been?
I think mainstream's always been fascinated by porn. I think that the porn industry [is] other Hollywood. Everybody's a fan of porn: it doesn't matter where you go, who you meet, everybody loves a pornstar, you
know? I always say pornstars are the new rock stars. I was at the AT&T store today and everybody's like, "Oh my God, Tera!" Everybody knows who I am. You know, I'm not trying to sound like I'm the example, but...everybody knows who Jenna and I are. It's not just me and Jenna, a lot of people are starting to recognize more and more pornstars, not just because the industry's becoming more mainstream but because porn is so out there. It's all over the internet, it's all over HBO, it's all over Showtime, it's all over the news. You can turn on the news and something's being done, some big deal's being done or...I don't know if it's becoming more mainstream; it's just becoming more into business.

At left: "Tera, Tera, Tera," featuring Tera's first hardcore girl-girl scene. Released in 2004.

You've integrated adult work with mainstream work. Do you think it's becoming easier to do that?
I don't think it's easier for everybody. I don't think it's necessarily easier. I think it depends on the performer, I think it depends on who you are. I think if you're mainstream marketable, yes, it could be easy for you. But I think that most of the girls in the industry can't cross over, and not just because they're not pretty enough...it's just, it's about having the right agent, it's about being in the right place at the right time and it's about what you can contribute. You know, it's not easy to break into mainstream even if you haven't done porn. Think about all the girls that have never done porn that are moving to Hollywood, moving to New York to be models and actresses and they're waiting tables...the entertainment industry as a whole is just a brutal industry to get into, period.

At left: "Flawless," released in 2007.

How has the work that you, personally, do changed over the past ten years?
From '99 to 2001, I shot probably about 50 movies, maybe 60. And then I signed an exclusive contract with a video company and did about four movies, and then I started my own company and shot about 15 movies. And I stopped shooting in 2006. And ever since then I've focused more on—I don't want to use the word "retired." I don't like to say that I'm retired, because to me retired means you don't work at all. I would say I've retired from porn. I will never shoot another porn movie again.

Well, I say that, right, and then you see me in some huge feature. You're supposed to never say never, so I'm never gonna say never. As of today, as of my plans for today, I don't have any plans to shoot any more adult movies. I just wrote a book that I'm very proud of. I have a mobile deal with Giant Mobile. I have a Mistress Couture clothing line, I do a lot of mainstream press and media. I've taken my career in another direction. I don't want to do porn anymore...I've been focusing on doing more mainstream modeling and more mainstream things, and that's just because I—I'm not turning my back on the industry, but I don't believe that you can do porn forever. God bless Teri Weigel and Amber Lynn—they're still beautiful, and there's a lot of beautiful women in the industry that are older that are still doing porn, but it's just not for me. I just want to go in another direction.

At left: Sinner Takes All, Tera's memoir, coming out in January 2010.