Wasteland Tackles Viral Age in New Release

MANCHESTER, N.H.—Wasteland.com has debuted its newest release, a ripped-from-the-headlines short film titled “Sex Addiction In The Viral Age—A Corona Virus Film,” starring Sicilia Ricci and co-starring studio head and director Colin Rowntree. Ricci and Rowntree also collaborated on the script. In “Sex Addiction In The Viral Age—A Corona Virus Film,” a sex-addicted female epidemiologist working on a COVID-19 pandemic becomes anxious, then aroused, about the state-mandated “social distancing” protocols. Ricci plays Dr. Sarah Connor, a scientist with a Ph.D. in public health who works as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Sarah’s sex life is voracious and she engages a variety of random IRL sex partners to satiate her sex addiction. Now stuck like everyone else at home, staring at a screen in an endless cycle of Slack messages, SMSs, DMs and video screens-within-the-screen, Sarah decides to also take her sex life online. Her strategy: while on cam, do as the cam girls do. Except that her original idea, which was to do naughty cam shows for a selected number of trusted partners, suddenly goes off the rails, as nothing in what used to be called “the world wide web” is really private — and nobody, certainly no body,  is to be trusted. When Dr. Jack Moriarty, a program coordinator for the surgeon general in Washington DC, (played by director Rowntree), slips into Sarah’s DMs—or is it her work Slack?—the lines between personal and public, and work and play, become hopelessly blurred. Star and co-screenwriter Sicilia Ricci, a Wasteland veteran recently seen in the George Bernard Shaw/My Fair Lady parody “Fystmalion,” had a personal connection to the project. “Being that I do have a PhD and work in the field of viral immunology, this was a fun script to write!” she said. “Colin called me up on a Sunday and by that evening we had a workable script.” The creative collaborators thought they were merely working in the now popular genre of near-future dystopia (think “Black Mirror”) but then reality stuck in its sullied little hand. “We almost thought the whole thing was a wrap, when Colin’s doctor advised against traveling,” said Ricci. “But through the lovely advent of technology, we were able to get it done remotely via the help of Skype and FaceTime!” The story intrigued Ricci, who said the whole reason she went the route she did in education was because of the 1994 non-fiction best-seller The Hot Zone, which was recently adapted into a 2019 National Geographic miniseries. The subject of that book, the Ebola Zaire outbreak in 1989, said Ricci, “happened when I was 6, and the carryover of that into media over the next few years definitely caught my attention. All my inquisition quickly was focused on viruses and parasites.” Rowntree said he was “supposed to fly out to St. Louis, where Sicilia is, to direct it, using her cameraman [Director of Photography OHG Photo] who lives there. But, checking with my doctor, he said, as I am turning 61 next month and am a smoker, it would not be totally wise to make this trip.” The veteran BDSM specialist then had a “Voila!” moment: he decided to direct the entire shoot from his office in New Hampshire over Skype video/audio chat using a phone on a tripod that Ricci and her DP had in St. Louis. “We got the entire thing shot in one full day and it is looking like it will be a winner!” Rowntree explained, who turned around the film in a record 5 days (shot: March 10, released March 15) while both him and his star were practicing the hot new public trend of the Spring of 2020: social distancing. “A virus porn film that is serious in nature, has a lot of kinky solo girl sex, and offers an alternative to the current flood of gonzo porn coming out with people in gas masks and hazmat suits?” Rowntree added, “what’s not to like?” As a producer and director, Rowntree said he truly believes that adult (as in sex) films can be a vehicle for adult (as in serious) messaging on topics such as the current pandemic, climate change, the corruption of the news media and other hot button issues in society and culture. And of course, as any David Cronenberg or Hammer Horror vampire fans could easily tell you, the connection between lust and disease has a long history, both on and off set. “It will be interesting to see what happens to the porn industry as this outbreak progresses,” Ricci, a scientist and sex performer who speaks here with dual authority, said. “Hopefully performers will be able to make a lucrative switch to cam shows and selling media online. One thing is for sure, thanks to this movie, all the sex addicts in quarantine will know where to go for all their ‘medical’ needs—Wasteland.com!” “That’s right,” Rowntree, in his best Dr. Moriarty baritone confirmed. “Wasteland.com—Just What The Doctor Ordered, since 1994.” See the full movie at Wasteland.com.