Pull Together

by Rich Moreland, February 2015

At the recent Legends of Erotica event in Las Vegas, a well-known male actor expressed his gratitude for induction into its pantheon of stars but confessed he wishes he had saved his money.

Someday Derrick Pierce may reach that pinnacle, and why not? According to Casey Calvert, he is “smart [and] a good actor.” She also mentions he “has some awesome cars.”

In our interview Derrick talked about his vehicles—a Monster Truck, a Silverado with lifted suspension, an Avalanche, and a Challenger RT— and his three motorcycles.

By the way, Derrick owns real estate where he can keep his brood of machines.

In other words, he’s investing his money.

Self-discipline is part of Derrick’s makeup, as evidenced in his study of martial arts. But he adds, “As you get older, it gets more difficult to stay in shape.” So to fight father time, Derrick “stumbled” onto Crossfit. The sport offers him a community of like-minded people and the opportunity to “stay competitive and not get [his] head kicked at the same time.”

As is true of most successful male actors, Derrick is not a youngster. Male performers are a small loyal fraternity who can produce reliable “wood,” treat girls with respect, and “pop” on cue. The best can work many years.

This XBIZ Male Performer of the Year nom, who has built an image he describes as the “anti-hero, bad guy,” got into the industry in 2008 somewhat by accident. He accompanied his girlfriend at the time, Lexxi Tyler, to the AVN show where anonymity shielded both of them because neither was in porn at that point. That changed quickly.

Derrick took several pictures of Lexxi at the show and “when we left,” he recalls, “everyone knew who she was and soon she was doing girl-girl shoots.”

Derrick stayed in the background; he had his own business as a personal trainer to maintain.

But Derrick’s sweetheart suggested he consider the industry and step up his “money game.” Though the prospects of working behind the camera were daunting, Derrick got offers to go on-screen. At first Lexxi was reluctant to see him have sex with other women, but realizing that the business is just that, a business, she agreed that if he could “get booked,” he should “try it.” A little innocent deception got him on his first set (“‘Have you shot before? Oh yeah, lots of times . ..'”) and once Derrick Pierce experienced success, the porn flood gates opened.

No Patience for It

Among all his talents, Derrick Pierce is in demand to shoot BDSM scenes. He’s shot well over one hundred times for Kink.com and estimates another eighty or ninety for it’s sister company, Twisted Factory.

However, his take on the bondage genre is not necessarily how the porn fan might define it.

“I’m not interested in tying somebody up,” Derrick begins. He does like “aggressive play, [but] that’s not necessarily BDSM.” Derrick can do the tying up stuff, it’s just that he doesn’t “have the patience for it,” he confesses. On the other hand, great riggers impress this Massachusetts native, what they do is “so cool” he says. As for Kink.com, Derrick reinforces what others say. “Kink is the most respected company in the business. I don’t know another company that would pay for a partial scene.” He contrasts Kink with other porn companies whose hard-line position is “buck up or leave!”

Derrick Pierce is a reliable, dependable performer and men who breathe that rarefied air aren’t milling around every hobby shop in Pornoland. When he broke in with Kink, Derrick was also hired by Twisted Factory, a rival company at the time, and Dungeon Corp, sometimes all three in the same week. A real advantage, he remarks, because “the top people [in the BDSM genre] were guiding me.”

Sticking with the bondage theme, I drop everybody’s favorite sub, Casey Calvert, into the conversation. “She’s awesome,” Derrick beams. “What’s not to like about her? She’s beautiful, she’s cute, and she’s funny!” He then adds something that distinguishes the Florida lass from the herd. ” She’s refreshing because she’s one of the few [performers] that seems really responsible and cares about what she does . . . which is not all that common in this business.”

I suspect the same words describe Derrick Pierce.

A Control Tactic

Our chat switches to the new condom initiative facing California voters in 2016. It’s an updated version of Measure B, the law that now requires prophylactics in LA County shoots. If citizen polling is any indication, the statewide proposal is certain to pass, though the logic behind it continues to befuddle even the most well-meaning voter.

Derrick is familiar with the bill and believes it’s more onerous with stricter standards than its predecessor.

In fact, the bill is “pretty scary,” he declares, but “at the end of day it comes down to enforcement implacability.” He likens the potential law to putting a 35 mph speed limit in the desert. Somebody has to monitor the roadway.

What is more egregious, the money to pay for film set supervision must come from the adult industry. In the end, Derrick predicts studios and performers “would just leave” the state and most likely move to Nevada.

Like other industry people who live in California, Derrick would travel back and forth, which he does now. “Come out and do two or three scenes, and go back,” he says.

Then he gets philosophical. “I don’t think there’s a politician that would go against this bill, but I don’t think there’s one that’s gonna jump on board [either.]” In short, political will is tepid on condom regulations.

Knowing that, what does Derrick see in the future?

“If we can’t pull together as talent and crew,” Derrick believes, then big problems are on the horizon. “Everybody in the industry knows that we’re four or five times more safe that anybody you meet on the street. We’re down to fourteen-day testing. If they had weekly testing, I’d be up for it. Hike up the price and get rid of anybody who can’t afford to be in this business.”

Derrick’s position makes sense. Reducing the performer pool weeds out those whose income is marginal. Ofttimes they will look for extra bucks beyond the set and the easiest, but most risky, part time paydays come with escorting. Because johns are not tested, an STD can find its way into the performer population virtually overnight, violating the trust performers have in each other.

On a more practical note, Derrick points out the last AIDS outbreak was Darren James in 2004, who contracted the disease while filming out of the country. “There are parameters to this. It’s not a rampant epidemic.” Rather, Derrick sees HIV as an easily manipulated “fear factor” the initiative’s proponents can use to drum up support for 2016.

Asked about the architect of the new bill, Michael Weinstein, Derrick believes the AIDS Health Foundation leader is in it for profit, making money on the back-end. In other words, Weinstein thinks “if we [AHF] control testing, we’ll be able to better facilitate people’s medical needs.” Derrick also mentions that AHF has a vested interest in the condom industry, or as he puts it, “a potential stake in prophylactics.” Weinstein is “going to front it out as though he’s ‘for the people.'”

“It’s a control tactic,” Derrick says, “a fear tactic ultimately for financial gain.”

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Derrick Pierce is represented by Star Factory PR. They can be reached at 818-732-0191 or via email at Info@StarFactoryPR.com
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