The Couple Who Make Bespoke Porn - And The Bizarre Requests They Say Yes To
Dan and Rhiannon have run Anatomik Media for the past decade and no request is too taboo
When you think of a 'kink' or 'fetish', it most likely conjures images of leather, whips and chains. In other words, BDSM.
But the spectrum of fetishes is much more than spanking and safe words, and it's probably things you never imagined were even remotely sexual, like stamps or swatting flies. Yes, really.
This is where Dan and Rhiannon come in. For years the Los Angeles couple and their company Anatomik Media have been at the forefront of 'bespoke porn', which scratches the itch traditional porn just can't reach.
Basically, if you can think of it, they can make it. And according to their site, "no request is too small or large - or weird!"
"'Crazy' is so subjective, the requests we get really run the gamut," they tell me over what at best can be described as a patchy Zoom call.
"One of the most benign we've had was a fully-clothed woman swatting flies. Another guy also sent in a vacuum cleaner request once.
"He wanted a canister vacuum cleaner, it couldn't be an upright, those aren't sexy, it had to be the 60s canister, and he wanted her to vacuum the floor a little bit, but not too much, but mostly the couch, so she just cleaned the couch."
The couple started Anatomik about 10 years ago. Rhiannan had previously worked in non-porn animation and Dan had always made his own adult films, but as the internet started to mushroom and tube sites began to dominate the landscape of the sex industry, they moved into porn by request.
This is where someone writes in with an idea for a film, often with a script, scene directions, specifics about the kinds of props used, etc. then Dan and Rhiannon give them a list of model options and make it a reality. Erotic dream weavers, if you will.
And with them usually booked out a couple months in advance, business is booming.
"Our most expensive movie isn't out yet but it's called The Bride," they say.
"That had a cast of 25 people and cost about $30,000. And to be perfectly honest, we were really surprised that the guy wanted to go along with it.
"We just kind of assume that guys who come to us with larger production ideas probably won't go through with it.
"The concept was someone getting married, a younger woman marrying an older man, and then at the the reception she starts flirting with best man, the son-in-law, the step-son gets involved, and then attendees of the wedding get involved, and everyone is taking videos."
With a rye smile, they add: "It's a good one, to be honest. We can't wait to put it out there."
Another of their regulars has even been working on an entire fantasy series with them.
"We love the big, story-driven stuff that's just epic, and one of our clients is amazing," they say, already grinning at what they're about to tell me.
"It's like a sci-fi story where a scientist... Ok, there's a disembodied demon that talks to this scientist and tells him that he's corrupted his cum, so that every time he cums - we made a synthetic, cum-like substance - and it gets on someone, they become his sex slave.
"We've shot three of the seven episodes he's looking to make and we've had such a fun time with it."
Adding: "Some of our clients kind of see themselves as a writer, a creative type, and this guy is for sure. It's not always,'I want this sexual thing'.
"They've got this story and they want it to come to life."
But it's not all big, glossy productions. In the world of bespoke porn, things can get messy.
And they both agree that one particular project was a real assault on the senses.
"There's a series we've been doing called the '$240 Condiment Game'," they say, "which involves industrial strength condiments being poured over these girls' heads: beans, ketchup, chili, mustard, etc.
"But when barbecue sauce comes in and starts mixing up with everything... URGH!"
Visibly repulsed at the mere thought of it, as if struck by a strange kind of PTSD, they say: "Barbecue sauce is just brutal.
"It overpowers everything, it really smells. You have no idea what it smells like, it's like nothing you can imagine."
Adding: "But it's a fun one."
Many of the requests they receive aren't for your run of the mill peccadilloes, they're deeply personal and, for many, Dan and Rhiannon are the first people they have ever told.
"Some people are really apprehensive about contacting us because they've never said this to anyone before, like, what their fetish is.
"We're the first people they talk to about it.
"It's really cool when people come and share these details with us, and so often they will say, 'I've never, ever put this into words before, I've never spoken to anyone about this'.
"Even their spouse. It's a secret that they're telling us for the first time."
And while it might seem to be a cliche, with such a great amount of power comes an enormous weight of responsibility to make sure it's perfect.
"Oh, yeah, we feel it," they tell me, "it weighs heavy on us, because we get clients who are so particular about every single detail of their video, and that puts a lot of pressure on us to get every single thing right.
"And a lot can go wrong on a shoot.
"The biggest example was when a model didn't work out and we swapped them out on the fly, without telling the client - we've only done that a couple of times and it's worked out both times. Thank God."
This is a very rare occurrence, though.
"It's more important to make them happy than to lose a few bucks, because that's what we enjoy the most, when we deliver that video, someone watches it and comes back to us and says, 'That was amazing', it's a great feeling.
"And we like making crazy movies."
They are clear that their films aren't just about people having sex, although it does of course happen. It is porn after all.
But sometimes it can also have a profound impact on people, helping them overcome deep-seated traumas.
"So this gentleman contacted us and he seemed a little bit apprehensive," they say.
"He told us that he had built this stamp collection over 40 years, 40 years! And he said, 'I want to send this stamp collection to you, this is my concept, I really want this to happen'.
"And we were talking, like, 'should we do this, we're gonna destroy this guy's 40-year-old stamp collection?'
"He had done it eight times before. He had a total of 10 books of stamps, so we were number nine, and we think he still has one book left."
They go on: "The three women we were directing felt awful, 'like, are you sure we shouldn't just photocopy this and cut it out?' 'Nooo! That's not what he wants, he wants it destroyed, so we're destroying it'.
"And you can't do that again, that's one take. 'Oh, get the book out of the fire, we're gonna have to do another take on that!'
"It hurt our hearts for a while."
However, it turned out that there was actually a quite tragic truth behind this particular request.
"It was really kind of sad," they tell me. "The reason that he was destroying his stamp collection, I think, was because his therapist had told him it was a ridiculous hobby to have. His therapist. They must have been the most terrible therapist ever.
"But it seems as though he ended up taking it and internalising it in a positive way, and it does seem as though having this happen really did unlock something for him that made him feel better. And that's all that matters.
"We're like therapists."
One request, however, has stuck with the couple more than any other, leaving its mark.
Pausing for a moment, they both look at each other before they begin. "There was one major one," Rhiannon says.
Taking a breath, Dan explains: "Ok, so someone contacted us and wanted a video of a girl sitting, facing the camera and saying 'everything is ok, it's gonna get better, you're loved, your friends love you, it's ok'.
"It was basically a 'don't kill yourself' video, that's literally what he requested.
"And we cast the perfect person for it, she was incredible. It was quite personal for her, too. Everyone treated it like it should have been treated.
"That was the heaviest film we've ever done. He actually stopped contacting us but we made it anyway and sent it to him. He never responded.
"I just hope he saw it and it helped, we just honestly don't know."
This is the side of the porn industry, an industry self-proclaimed 'outsiders' Dan and Rhiannon say they don't really belong to, that most people don't see.
While bondage and butt plugs might be what most people and websites deem to be kinky, for Dan and Rhiannon this couldn't be further from the truth.
Yes, they cater for anything from 'catfights' and 'latex' to 'tickling' and 'female domination', but Anatomik is also a bizarre sanctuary for would-be filmmakers to see their wacky spoof come to life about a scientist with mind-altering semen or for someone on the edge looking for a glimmer of hope.
"For us, the latex and the pretty girls with the whips and stuff, that's not even fetish. It's not real.
"The everyday elbow kinks and armpit fetishes, that's when you're getting hardcore. Not to discount those who enjoy BDSM, but that's just one aspect of fetish, like, people see that and think that's what fetish is, but it's just one part of it."
Featured Image Credit: LADfilesTopics: Entertainment, lad files, TV and Film, US News, US Entertainment
Dominic Smithers