"And if I were Mark, I would not have hired him yet again as Mark did to appear on the LOGO series DTLA playing Bobby, after his contract with Broke Straight Boys had expired?"
Well alright my friend,
Let's start there. I could be wrong here. My memory is not perfect. But the way I recall it, JJ was hired (and filmed) for the tv show while he was still working here. Many of us assumed it would be JJ chosen for the DTLA show as soon as Mark told us a
Broke Straight Boys model would be cast for it. His contract hadn't ended before he was cast for the show. I don't know where the claim comes from that JJ was hired for DTLA after both his contract and his year here were over. I don't remember it that way.
It's possible that the show itself didn't air on tv until a later date after JJ had left the site. But that's not the same thing as saying that Mark was so pleased with JJ's work here, that he hired him again for DTLA after his contract here had ended. If Mark and the powers that be were really so happy with JJ's work here in the first year...then they would have quickly renewed his contract. Instead, they purposely didn't renew it.
"Additionally, I checked out men's website and I see that Jimmy appeared in 24 scenes between 5/19/13 and 5/3/15. Between his 27 scenes on Broke Straight Boys and his 24 on Men.com, he did 51 scenes over four years. I would consider that a successful gay for pay porn career. You can say that you don't like him or enjoy his work, as other's are saying about Ethan today, but to say that he did not "make it" in gay for pay porn is factually inaccurate."
Now when you are right Mikey, I will admit it. haha (Even if part of me doesn't want to. lol) That is indeed your strongest argument in defense of your boy JJ. haha
When you go by the numbers, that equals a successful career in porn. On paper at least. But you're right that he had a successful career in porn based on the number of scenes he did, and probably the obscene amount of money he raked in.
All I will say though is that as far as his time here at
Broke Straight Boys, quantity in numbers does not axiomatically equal quality. Just because he got a ton of scenes here and made a lot of money, doesn't necessarily mean that he earned or deserved all of those breaks. Walking in the door with an exclusive one year contract doesn't equate to having what it takes to "make it" in porn. To say that someone "makes it" in porn strongly implies that they achieve this through great looks, exceptional talent and hard work.
I never saw JJ display exceptional talent or hard work in his 27 scenes here on
Broke Straight Boys In my opinion (and yes, it's only one opinion), he showed up on set, went through the motions, phoned in many scenes, let his scene partners do the majority of the actual work, and got paid a premium for it as an "exclusive" contracted model. I'm happy though that some other people were pleased with his work here so that that money was not completely squandered.
But getting back to the original premise of our mutual friend Rep (where this started), I merely state that I don't agree with the premise that JJ had what it took to "make it" in gay porn (if the presumption again is that he achieved this success based on looks, talent and hard work) whereas Ethan probably does not have what it takes. I don't even know if Ethan wants a long career in porn. But even though Ethan has underwhelmed and struggled in the ratings and reviews here in his opening scenes, if a model like JJ can "make it" in porn, then I believe a model of Ethan's looks and potential talent can also.
Rep did qualify his statement by making mention of the fact that the porn industry has changed a lot since JJ's day. And of course he's absolutely right that the whole climate and marketplace for the porn industry is much tougher than it used to be. It's less and less easy for a porn model (no matter how beautiful, talented or hardworking) to "make it", become successful and make good money in the process.