Voices of Experience: Francesca Le

The May issue of AVN magazine turns the spotlight on 10 bold, confident and assertive female performers who talk about why life gets better after 35. Interviewed here is Francesca Lé, who runs the production company LeWood with partner Mark Wood. Click here to see a copy of the digital edition. Francesca Lé is pictured above in Francesca Lé Loves Young Boys (/LeWood Evil Angel). How did you decide to go into porn? I just kind of fell into it, because me and my friend used to do bachelor parties, and we weren't caring to do that anymore, and she knew a girl that did bondage videos, and said, "Let's do some bondage videos," and I said, "That sounds like fun." We went in and met the only agent at that time, Jim South at World Modeling, and we went in saying we only wanted to do bondage movies and girl/girl videos, and of course, Legend at the time came to me with the leading role in Cockateer 2, which was an AVN Award-winning movie. They wanted me to do two scenes and be the lead in the feature, and that I had to do boy/girl and girl/girl, and I said I'd do it. Actually, I told them "I'm not sure I can really do it because I don't know if I can have sex with a guy on camera; could you send me to somebody more amateur to make sure I can do it, because I don't want to waste everybody's time and money." He said, "Sure, I have this guy Paul Little [now Max Hardcore], him and his brother are shooting just amateur stuff, so why don't you go over there and see if you can work with him?" So I worked with him in my very first scene, which ended up being The Anal Adventures of Max Hardcore 3, which starred me and Tiffany Mynx. He wasn't in his character yet, so it was a bit tamer than it would be now. So that was my actual very first scene, and I figured, 'If I can have sex with Max Hardcore, I can have sex with anybody; I'll take the job." How long were you in before taking a break? I was in from '92 to about late '94, then I took a break for ten years, but I wasn't out of the business. I was house-dancing at the strip clubs around L.A.; I still did wrestling videos, bondage videos—I did everything but hardcore, so I was still shooting; I just wasn't doing hardcore, so I was still technically in the business. I started to do sales for a start-up company in 2000, so I started doing that, and I met Mark Wood at the company, he was working as talent, and we started dating, and I really didn't have any interest in being in front of the camera again and performing, but we talked about it and thought it would be a really cool idea to have our own production company, since I had been in the business so long and knew so much about it, and he was directing and shooting camera and being talent, and we decided that with our experience, we could have a kick-ass production company, so we started LeWood Productions in 2002. As part of our marketing campaign, I decided to come back and shoot again, and so that way, we launched LeWood Productions with my comeback. I think in a couple of months we'll have 200 titles. Do you have tips on how enjoy longevity in the biz? Well, I think that you have to adapt. I've been around for a while, and I think the performers now have a misconception that they're going to shoot their entire time. I've had 18-year-old girls tell me, "I'm gonna shoot 'til I'm a MILF." Well, actually, the MILFs mostly came in being MILFs; they haven't shot us for 25 years. I think they have the misconception that they're just gonna be talent the whole time, and I think that you should be able to adapt in the business. There's always going to be something else you can be doing besides being in front of the camera. I'm lucky that Mark was able to teach me how to shoot camera. I shoot my own stills, I shoot camera, I do post-production work, I direct, and in 2000 I was doing sales. I've also worked in the JM Productions offices as an office manager for many years; I ran JM Productions' mail-order company for many years, so I've done, I think, all—besides editing, which I don't really want to do, I've done everything I can to learn the business. I think a lot of the talent, being as they're young, they don't learn about the business as much as they should; not just their social media. I always tell people, the top MILFs, none of them are mothers. Lisa Ann, Julia Ann, India Summer, myself, all not moms. Veronica Avluv is a mom, Alana Evans is a mom, but most of us aren't moms. What are your favorite types of movies? Least favorite? It's always changing for me, what I really am into. At this time, I love shooting my tranny movies that I shoot for LeWood Productions; my She-Male Perverts, which is a series I just started last year. I'm really enjoying shooting my trans performers, because, you know, that's what really gets me off at the moment. But I'm always changing; my personal tastes are always changing. Back in the day, I used to love shooting girl/girl, being in girl/girls films, and now I really enjoy getting gangbanged and other stuff. Myself, I'd rather do straight sex. I've never been a very good actress, acting wasn't my strong point, so I'm a straight gonzo girl; I've always preferred doing the gonzo. I also now enjoy—LeWood shoots a lot of brand-new girls; brand-new girls that are anal girls. That's always fun, because I love finding the next 'It' girl, shooting her when she's fresh and loving it and it's all new to her and she's really enjoying herself. How long do you want to stay in the business? You know, we have 200 titles, so we're going to sell those for years. But I guess I'll stay in until I'm not really fulfilled with the business anymore, is when I'll be done with it. For now, I still really enjoy it. I still enjoy shooting the new girls and seeing what they're going to accomplish, taking them from their first scenes in L.A. to seeing them becoming Best New Starlet. It's great doing that. For now, I continue to shoot until I don't enjoy it anymore, I guess. ... I'm really lucky because sometimes I want to be in front of the camera and I can shoot a bunch of scenes—I just shot Francesca Lé Loves Young Boys, and I did all the scenes in my movie. I really had a good time. I worked with all brand-new guys I hadn't worked with before: Alex Jones, Jessy Jones, Brad Knight and Logan Pierce. So I'm lucky: when I want to be in front of the camera, I can, and then when I get tired of it, I go back behind the camera and shoot my movies and direct, so I'm very blessed with that.