Answering the Burning Questions with Burning Angel Founder, Joanna Angel

If you get off on porn featuring wild hair, body piercings, and tattoos, then you’re a fan of Joanna Angel. She founded BurningAngel.com with the same ambition, raw charisma, rebellious spirit and inexperience with which many young musicians form punk bands. Beyond a porn site, Angel created a forum where her growing cult of followers could hangout online, browsing new bands and chatting with fellow fans. The primary factor behind BurningAngel.com’s consistent success is Angel’s hands-on approach, her willingness to play every role, from director and webmaster to the x-rated model getting slammed in the ass. As the figurehead for alt-porn, Angel has become the patron saint of aspiring pornographers everywhere who dream of forging a unique niche in the adult industry.

I caught up with Angel at an Exxxotica Expo where she was just as candid and enthralling as she is on Burning Angel. Meet Angel at the next Exxxotica Expo in Chicago, July 11 – 13.

Alfie: How did you come up with the series title, “Rock & Roll in my Butthole”? Was it just a stroke of genius?

Joanna Angel: Yeah, I’m a genius. Things just come to me.

Alfie: What are some of your favorite porno titles?

Joanna Angel: Recently, “Big Black Dicks & Tattooed Chicks.” Another one of our interracial movies is “School of Black Cock.” There’s also “Joanna Angel is a Filthy Whore.” I like titles that are straight to the point. When you’re looking for something to watch on Netflix or cable, you are just going by the title, so it’s nice when the title tells you exactly what it’s about. If it’s funny, that’s cool too, but mainly I’m going for something direct.

Alfie: What is your favorite creative part of making porn: editing, directing, acting?

Joanna Angel: Directing is so much fun. Writing is fun too. The whole process is fun. Having an idea and watching it come together is crazy. I have such a great crew so we always have fun on set, even when the days are really long. We’re like a weird, fucked-up family

Alfie: What do you think success in porn looks like in today’s market?

Joanna Angel: Most people equate success with money. I’m not the wealthiest girl in this industry, but I am very consistent and I think that is hard to find in porn. I’ve been very comfortable and consistent for a good amount of years and I don’t think it’s changing any time soon. I’m able to live comfortably and I haven’t lived paycheck to paycheck in a long time. To me, right now, I think that is success. It can be dangerous when you have severe highs and lows.

Alfie: When it comes to your financial strategy, do you invest most of your profits back into Burning Angel or do you have other side projects?

Joanna Angel: It all really gets invested back into the company. I recently put money into a bar in San Diego, on the beach. I’m one of many investors. That’s the first time I’ve really invested my money in something else. I’d really like to invest in other side projects in the future, so this was kind of a test. I live a very modest life. Everything I make just gets put back in. I’d rather make a really big movie than live in a really big house.

Alfie: When you come to porn conventions, what is your main goal: to sell products or to brand yourself?

Joanna Angel: Both. Obviously, you have to make back the money you spend to come to these things and if anyone can leave here who didn’t know who I was before I came, that is a success and that definitely has happened a lot over the years at Exxxotica. Burning Angel is a small company. We don’t have money to buy big ads, so doing appearances and stuff like this has really helped me get my name out.

Alfie: What insecurities has porn made you face about yourself?

Joanna Angel: I’m not an insecure person at all. If you’re insecure, you shouldn’t be in porn. I do get insecure when I see a movie that Digital Playground makes or something, and I’m like, “Oh my god, there are things blowing up and helicopters and shit. I’ll never be able to afford that.” When I see someone jumping off a fucking plane in a porno, I’m like, “Oh, in my last movie I thought it was cool that we had eight zombies. I thought that was big budget. They have a fucking car crash.”

Alfie: What do you think your films do better than big budget pornos?

Joanna Angel: I think the humor is charming and our girls are unique.

Alfie: Is there a fundamental difference in your male and female subscribers in terms of what they want or watch?

Joanna Angel: Honestly, there isn’t a huge difference. We have a lot of female subscribers and a lot of male subscribers. It’s a fantasy to everyone. I think in general, more girls like watching our content with someone, and a lot of guys like watching it alone. It’s not a huge difference. Everyone masturbates and thinks about their special thing. Most generalizations about porn are untrue. People always think that pornos with storylines are what women like and guys prefer films with just straight sex, but that isn’t really true. It’s hard to generalize.

Alfie: If the deals in the business world typically happen on a golf course, where do business deals happen in the porn world? Strip clubs, conventions, trade shows?

Joanna Angel: Trade shows is where you meet people, then you follow up online.

Alfie: What would be the best convention for an enterprising young starlet to attend?

Joanna Angel: The AVNs. It’s a really big, chaotic scene. Phoenix Forum is probably the best business show. There are no fans there. Xbiz does a bunch of business shows. I used to go to a lot of them. I don’t go so much anymore because I pretty much know everyone.

Alfie: Is your new film, “Vampire Cheerleaders,” a punkish Buffy the Vampire Slayer with anal sex?

Joanna Angel: Yes. How did you know? It’s pretty cool because I’m 33-years-old and I got to play someone in high school, and that’s awesome. That’s why I love my job.

Alfie: Who cast that movie?

Joanna Angel: Me. I’m the boss so I put myself in the movie. And I gave myself pigtails and I fucking wore pompoms and I rocked it.