Joey Ray Returns to Porn Valley

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—After more than seven years of shooting all the content for over a dozen sites in the Bang Bros network, plus four years handling several of the sites in its gay sister network BigDaddy.com, veteran performer/director Joey Ray has pulled up his stakes in Bang's home turf of Miami and relocated to where he got his start, in this coast's San Fernando Valley. Here, Ray aims to bring the skills he honed with Bang to service for any and all porn capital-based companies that would retain them, in addition to offering his services as talent. "Being back in L.A. feels great," Ray told AVN. "A lot of the porn people do not know that I have been a director for seven years, so I am really trying to get started in directing and photography here in L.A. Directing for a big company like Bang Bros has really changed me as a person. I am not that crazy porn star on set acting like a kid anymore. I have learned so much in the seven years with Bang Bros." Ray said that the biggest lesson he gleaned during his time at Bang was "how to be patient with people and how to deal with talent in a nice way to get what you need out of them for the shoot. Kill them with kindness and treat them like human beings. I learned that from my boss, Olivier Cauldren. Olivier really changed my life and made me a better person." Asked how the production scene in Miami differs from the way things are run here in Porn Valley, Ray offered, "In Miami we take all day just to shoot one scene, because we first have to shoot on the street or at a location with extras and really have to take our time and make sure it's real and believable. Also, being in Miami we can shoot on the street without film permits." Ah, film permits ... the lynchpins of L.A. County's voter-ratified Measure B, which puts Ray's—and every other industry member's—ability to sustain employment here at serious risk. Which begs the question, might he foresee hightailing it back to Miami sooner than he can settle in here ... with the rest of the industry in tow? "I really cannot say what will happen in L.A. with shooting porn," Ray conceded, "but I really do not think Miami or Florida will be the next Porn Valley. What I do think is we, as a group, need to get together and fight this Measure B act." Amen to that. So then, what does Joey Ray want people to know, who either haven't seen him since he left L.A. to begin with, or who will now be meeting him for the first time? "I would like people to know that I am a very down-to-earth guy and fun person to be around," he said. "As a director on set I am very, very easy to work with; being talent and also working with Bang Bros has really made me a great director. As my boss at Bang Bros would say to me, you have to have your talent trust you and treat them like real people." Joey Ray is represented by LA Direct Models. His photography can be viewed at www.ryanmichaelsphotography.com. Photo courtesy of RyanMichaelsPhotography.com.