It's the days of OnlyFans, where anyone with an iPhone can now be a porn director. Ricky Greenwood is someone who actually has experience being a professional director in the porn industry. As a result, he has worked for many studios and worked in every genre that comes to mind.
This week, I was happy to speak to Ricky Greeenwood, French-Canadian adult director. In 5 short years, he has won many awards including XBIZ Awards for Best Editing, and Director of the Year—Trans twice. Ricky has also taken the Best Feature Production—Fans’ Choice from the NightMoves Awards. He’s got over 70 award nominations for his directing, scenes, art direction, screenplays, cinematography, and editing in all the genres he works in from AVN, XBIZ, the TEAs, NightMoves, Urban X, and Inked Awards.
While anyone can direct porn with current technology, who else can currently tout over 70 nominations for their behind-the-scenes activity today?
Speaking with Ricky on the phone was light hearted and fun, a great insight on how he is on set. Incredibly personable and open to answering all of my questions, Ricky gave me tons of insight. Into how he got into directing gay porn, how he pairs men together, and how he jumped into it without knowing all the ins and out of gay sex. And, as a result, he learned about gay sex from his co-stars on set!
“Directed by Ricky Greenwood”
Coming from a professional background in filmmaking, it was quite easy for Ricky to adapt to the porn industry. A true professional at heart, Ricky jumped into it like he approached any other job, by just acting on it and learning along the way. Starting off in straight porn, he quickly moved to bi, trans and gay movies. Developing skills by saying yes to requests that came his way and learning what works with each scenario.
Relaxed in his approach, he admits sometimes he makes mistakes but remembers that the best approach is to adapt. He shared a funny story in working with Lance Hart and how usually cum swapping at the end of a scene works well in gay and trans porn but not so much in straight porn. A scene he filmed had Lance shoot in a woman’s mouth and cum swap with her by kissing her after he just finished. This scene (which I need to look up now) apparently didn't go well with the straight studio’s head honcho, but Ricky took it as a lesson learned. Remember the audience. He is very conscious about how people will react to his work and always questions if people will like it or not.
Behind Every Great Man is a Great Team of Gays
For Ricky Greenwood, sex is sex, and filming porn is just that – shooting two people have sex. So when Ricky was approached to direct for IconMale, he took the job with no hesitation. Just him and his whole straight crew shooting gay porn. Naturally, this lead to the crew and team being helped by the cast of bi and gay men to produce great content. Ricky shares that with the IconMale experience, it was a gradual process. He stayed very receptive to the support from the actors who were ready to teach Ricky on positions, slang, and the ins and outs of gay porn.
“Nick Fitt is part of my team who helps me a lot. I am friends with Dante Colle and Lance Hart so I can always ask them for advice…I always look at the model to make sure it respects the community to make sure everyone is happy.”
Ricky Greenwood
Nick Fitt 
Lance Hart
Dante Colle
His funniest story? Sitting off set with Dominic Pacifico who was explaining to Ricky the ins and outs of anal sex and the difference between straight and gay anal sex. While also learning new slang and terms including what a “gold star” means to the gay community. Apparently, Dominic is one who has never touched a pussy in his life–even at birth.
What makes a good performer?
From Ricky Greenwood's point of view, a good performer is one who can work with all types of people and all types of physiques. Someone who is on time, who takes the job seriously, and not someone who just has sex and leaves. He welcomes other actors who provide suggestions and is happy to get involved in the production rather than just making work feel like a burden. He applauded our friend Dante Colle for his passion and Pierce Paris for trying to always give him different sex scenes with different styles and positions. Ultimately, he respects someone who isn't doing it for the money but someone who likes what they do. I mean… how can these guys not love what they get to do?
If you ever wanted to promote yourself, promote yourself on Twitter. While Ricky doesn't do much in terms of talent scouting for male talent, he does sometimes find guys online and on Twitter. He also pairs people on who he thinks would have good chemistry visually. Two daddies together, two bears together, it doesn't matter for him. For Ricky, he will pair two actors based on who he thinks would look good together vs. the stereotype of a daddy and twink.
Studio vs. Amateur Porn
Answering to the ultimate new debate on Studio vs. Amateur Porn, Ricky praises both. For him, it's two different services. Ricky finds Only Fans to be more of an interaction with people, a more intimate platform for actors and their fans. He finds studio produced porn to be more of a cinematic movie. In a few words, OF is your fan club, while a porn movie is a primetime show that the actor is a part of. Sure, there are performers who create content that looks professional on OF, a lot of people–like myself as we now know–still enjoy love the cheesy lines, the story, costumes, and all that stuff that comes with studio porn.
Advice for anyone wanting to get into the industry?
His words: “Just do it. Stop waiting.” Ricky reflects on how people always want to wait for the perfect time to jump into the industry, but advises to just do it if you want. With all the technology and access available now, he urges anyone to just get involved. Obviously, there will be some bad moves like anyone in any new career. And at the end of the day that experience will allow you to become better than you are now. “Don't find excuses, just do it and jump in.”
What is in the future?
In the upcoming year, Ricky Greenwood wants to make a movie that doesn't fall into a specific genre. His dream is to create a movie that spans all genres. Mixing gay, straight, bi, and trans all into one movie that feels natural and more like real life. Sex and porn because is a matter of taste and ultimately what each person is drawn to. But Ricky would like a film that includes all types of sexual orientation, just as is in life. He believes as a community, we are slowly getting to a point where sexual orientation can be more fluid on camera. And if we can have more men like Gauge in porn, I'm all for it!
It was great speaking with Ricky Greenwood. He is very welcoming and it's clear he is one of the hardest working men in adult films. For more, follow him on Twitter at @RickyGreenwoodX and Instagram @ x_ricky_greenwood_x.
