In 1998, Shine
Louise Houston received her film degree from the San
Francisco Art Institute. Who knew the 33-year-old founder of
Pink and White Productions would turn queer porn into
a must-see?
W e always knew
that hot dyke porn could exist. And now San Francisco
auteur Shine Louise Houston has made it happen. Her
beautifully shot body-positive videos feature a
diverse cast and run the gamut from butch-femme
strap-on play to boi-on-boi action. What’s more, the
participants look refreshingly like real people having
sex—if those real people actually knew how to
get each other off. But the cherry on top may be the
tongue-in-cheek premises: In Superfreak a succession of
dykes at a party are haunted by the randy ghost of
Rick James. In Search of the Wild Kingdom follows
members of a documentary film crew as they roam the
streets of San Francisco looking for “real lesbian
sex.”
What made you say, “Oh, God, I can do better than this?”
I worked at Good [Vibrations, a San Francisco sex
products store] for 51⁄2 years, and our
selection was so small. Customers would come in and
ask, “What’s good lesbian porn?” and
I’d be like, “Eeh, we have these three
videos.” Having a film degree and doing nothing with
it at the time, I just decided to take a stab at it.
What sets your videos apart?
There’s this attitude in the porn
genre—go, go, fuck really hard! And the
gynecological close-ups, that’s interesting, but is
it hot? A lot of what I’m doing is focusing on
things you wouldn’t necessarily peg as
hot—a giggle, a hand movement. You sprinkle those
things in, and all of a sudden, whoa, it’s way
hot.
Give me your one-minute critique of mainstream porn.
For a lot of people, it works. For me, I find it mostly
lacking in the production value, the level of
intimacy, and hotness. Somebody was saying to me that
L.A. porn is as stylized as kabuki. There’s a
FORM-U-LA. Oral and more oral and then penetration and then
come shot.
You use both amateurs and pros in your videos. Do you
have a preference?
It’s just…different. With
professionals— especially if they’ve worked
in L.A.—you tell them to make out, and they do it and
then stop. [Laughs] But when you’re working
with amateurs you’re like, “Why don’t
you make out?” and they do it for about two
seconds, and then they’re off to something
else. And it’s our job just to try and keep up.
Your videos show diverse body types. Is there a point
beyond which audiences will not go?
If you go beyond certain points, you get dumped into a
fetish niche. I want to reach a large
market—straight people, queer people—anyone
who wants to see really hot sex.
You also try to get real orgasms. Can you give me a
success rate?
One hundred percent.
Really?
Nobody has faked it. Trust me.
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