CASTING CALL
Induction: Carmen Maria Machado
Casting Call for HAUNTED
Thank you for your interest in being part of this project! ***Please take a careful read through the full post before applying.*** After reading the full document, please direct any unanswered questions to helloAORTA@AORTAfilms.com.
We are looking for queer performers ages 21+ with solid acting chops who have previous porn, sex work, and/or kink experience. We would suggest that first-time performers who are looking to break into porn not apply to this project unless they can make a strong case for other relevant experience, including strong acting experience.
For all roles unless specified otherwise, all races, sexes/genders, sizes, body types, and abilities are encouraged to apply. Anatomical details relevant to the sex scenes will be noted in each description, along with the specific explicit acts performed by each character.
Want to Stay In Touch with HAUNTED?
we’ll keep you up to date through the life of the project
including casting, crowdfunding, production, and premiere!
AORTA films is currently casting for the for the following roles:
applications due by 11:59pm EST September 22nd, no late applications accepted
+ click here to apply +
AJ (they/them, 20’s-30’s long haired butch)
About:
AJ is the central ghost & haunting presence of the film. Looks like they could absolutely ruin your life, and you’d very happily let them. Big fuckboy energy, and a slow, lurking gate. AJ is a long-haired butch (potentially nonbinary, gnc, trans, lesbian, etc.) with a mysterious cat-like smile and penetrating eye contact.
Narrative Scenes:
Low-acting role; some general lurking and haunting, no verbal acting
4 Sex Scenes:
- first sex scene: AJ fucks Elis with their hands;
- second sex scene: AJ engages in a turbulent threesome with Jane & June (mostly groping and making out, non-penetrative);
- third scene: AJ haunts Sam, jerks Sam off and has their hands all over Sam’s body;
- fourth scene: another sex scene with Elis in which Elis fists AJ’s front hole and rides AJ’s face
Elis (she/her, 20’s-30’s, chapstick femme)
About:
Elis is a queer femme being visited by a ghost (AJ) who is possibly the best fuck of her life. She’s answered a lex ad to participate in a documentary about queerness and ghosts, and is more than happy to share about this mysterious occurrence.
Narrative Scenes:
Low-acting role; short interview scene where she describes the haunting, and a few lines of interaction with various members of the cast.
2 Sex Scenes:
- first sex scene: Elis masturbates with her hands and gets fucked by AJ with their hands;
- second sex scene: Elis fists AJ’s front hole and rides AJ’s face.
Sam (they/them, 20’s-30’s nonbinary/gnc trans femme)
About:
Sam is a shy gnc trans femme who is a camera person and runs the tech for the documentary crew: way more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it.
Narrative Scenes:
Low-acting role; general establishing and interview scenes with Elis and the documentary crew, as well as a central scene where AJ’s haunts Sam by lurking in the corners of screens and devices.
1 Sex Scene:
- One sex scene: masturbation scene where Sam strokes their cock, which leads into AJ’s and their own images haunting themself from TV monitors in front of them, as an orgy of infinite hands grope them, jerk them off, and make them watch themself, to their growing delight.
Jane (she/her, 20’s-30’s high femme)
About:
Jane is the group’s resident woo-woo queer and boss bitch, who brings ghost-hunting equipment to an otherwise normal documentary interview (she just…had a feeling.) Calm and patient, she’s long since worked through her feelings around her last breakup (who also happens to be June’s most recent ex), and she’s doing her best to diffuse the tension between herself and June and keep the documentary on track.
Narrative Scenes:
Acting role – General establishing and interview scenes with Elis and the documentary crew, as well as a scene interviewing the Neighbor. Jane and June also have a scene shooting b-roll in the basement together where their tension amplifies before AJ arrives.
1 Sex Scene:
- One sex scene: a tumultuous threesome erupts when AJ shows up as the ghost of Jane’s and June’s mutual ex–June wants AJ, AJ wants Jane, and Jane wants June to let her in. AJ’s sudden disappearance recasts the scene directly between June and Jane, and Jane gets her cunt eaten by June.
June (she/her, 20’s-30’s, any gender presentation)
About:
June is the group’s resident skeptic; she’s brash, ambitious, and white-knuckling her grief over a recent breakup (who happens to be an ex of Jane’s.) She’s trying her best not to feel anything (while nonetheless feeling intense tension with Jane) as the documentary team conducts their interviews.
Narrative Scenes:
Acting role – general establishing and interview scenes with Elis and the documentary crew, as well as establishing scenes interviewing the Neighbor. Jane and June also have a dramatic narrative scene shooting b-roll in the basement together where their tension builds to a peak before AJ arrives.
2 Sex Scenes:
- first sex scene: June’s grief over her ex and tension with Jane spills over into a tumultuous threesome when AJ shows up as the ghost of Jane’s and June’s mutual ex–June wants AJ, AJ wants Jane, and Jane wants June to let her in. AJ’s sudden disappearance recasts the scene directly between June and Jane, and June eats Jane out like her life depends on it;
- second sex scene: masturbates to completion alone in a standing position
The Neighbor (50’s-60’s cis woman, any gender presentation)
About:
A queer elder who is quite a character, a lifelong resident of the building in which the haunting is taking place who’s seen and heard it all. (Think bathrobe, bunny slippers, and hair in rollers.)
Narrative Scenes:
Strong acting role – Delivers a central long monologue about her youth living through the AIDS crisis, lusting after a caretaker dykes in her building and experiencing a mysterious haunting in the basement.
1 Sex Scene:
- one explicit masturbation scene, in a bathtub with wine and candles as she listens contentedly to the other sex sounds happening in the apartment.
To Apply:
Round 1
Please apply using this form no later than September 22nd at midnight (late submissions will not be accepted!)
We’ll ask you to share:
- Your performer name (we do not need your legal name at this point) and contact info
- Your birth year, pronouns, and how you identify
- A short video telling us a bit about yourself and what interests you in this project
- Relevant experience you have in acting, performance, porn, etc.
- Which character(s) and scenes call to you as a performer
- Your limits, preferences, and desires as an erotic performer
- Your availability for all production dates
- 1 face photo and 1 full body photo
- Your vaccination status
Round 2
Applicants that make it to the second round will be notified by September 30th, and sent a portion of the script. They will be asked to self-tape a read of the script (doesn’t need to be shot in HD, fully memorized, staged, etc – we just want to get a sense of you in character) and submit it by October 31st.
Round 3
Finalists will be notified by November 17th, and asked to schedule a zoom meeting with the production team between November 20th-30th. We will confirm casting status with all Round 3 applicants by December 1st.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
Production Timeline:
August 31st Casting call and application go live
September 22nd at 11:59pm EST Casting call closes *no late applications accepted*
September 30th Second round applicants notified, asked to send in test reads
October 31st Test reads due from second-round applicants
November 17th Finalists notified
November 20th-30th Finalist Zoom meetings/reads with production team
December 1st Casting finalized, applicants notified
Mid-December Casting publicly announced
Early 2024 Pre-Shoot meetings
Early 2024 4-6 day shoot in NYC (dates & shoot length to be confirmed)
Late 2024 / Early 2025 Film Premiere
General AORTA films casting info:
All actors will be required to sign a 2257 form stating that they are over the age of 18 at the time of shooting (please note, for this project, we are only open to working with performers who are 21+), and provide two forms of photo ID, as well as procure full STI testing panels in advance of the shoot. AORTA will own all content produced, and retain full distribution rights. The film will be distributed via AORTAfilms.com, distribution partners, and at film festivals. You can find more information about shooting with AORTA films here, and additional information about AORTA films as a company here.
Compensation:
Actors will be paid for their roles, and all cast and crew will have a chance to transparently discuss compensation before signing a contract. General range of $1-3k per performer depending on the role and number of scenes, spread across 4-6 days of rehearsals and shooting, with local transportation and set meals provided. Performers must be local to NYC or able to arrange their own travel and lodging during the shoot.
About Haunted
a short film written by Carmen Maria Machado, produced by AORTA films & directed by Mahx Capacity
When the resident of an apartment reports a haunting, a team of documentary filmmakers arrive ready to record the unquiet spirit—or debunk its existence. There’s Sam, the introvert who’s more interested in being behind the camera than in front of it; June, a grief-stricken skeptic who refuses to play nice; and Jane, the woo-woo ringleader of the crew who happens to share an ex with one of her co-workers. It’s a tense situation, made more so by the presence of a trickster spirit with a few mind-games up their sleeves. But no one is prepared for the gratification that comes from being held in the camera’s gaze, or letting down your defenses, or opening up for an adversary—and the intensely pleasurable revelations that will follow.
About the Induction Series
AORTA films’ Induction Series invites brilliant thinkers, makers and doers from adjacent fields into the queer porn underground as honored guest collaborators. The Induction Series is designed to ignite larger conversations about the role of queer pornography as a cultural instigator, media of merit and art form of significance. Inductees are encouraged to bring their unique understandings of sex, identity and pleasure to the creation of these projects. Known for her bestselling memoir In the Dream House and short stories Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado is AORTA films first Inductee. For Haunted, AORTA films will adapt Machado’s script to create a collection of media: a central erotic short film, as well as extended pornographic cuts of each of the films’ sex scenes.
