Inked Dory is smart and very clued-in, financially savvy and with advanced marketing skills. Rosalinda decided on a profession in which she could “find herself” after getting out of an abusive relationship, together with her son. Tinix, meanwhile, is severely lacking in confidence and has an unfulfilling job selling motor insurance, and so wants to run a sideline business from her home.
All three are content creators on the enormously popular OnlyFans website. The content they provide is titillating and involves nudity, the level (and graphic nature) of which is determined by the increasing “tips” which are donated by online subscribers to the women’s individual profiles.
The OnlyFans subscriber base is estimated at somewhere between 210 million and 370 million registered users worldwide, with over 4 million creators. If you want to follow as a user, then you need to know the creator’s handle or specific identity, which is why creators have to be particularly active in getting their profile out there, although (as with FB) frequent posting generates more shares from the website. OnlyFans takes a 20% commission on all earnings, leaving the creator with 80%. Revenue is generated via subscriptions, tips, and pay-per-view content.
At the beginning of Virtual Girlfriends we meet Dory, who also hosts advisory sessions for other potential content creators. Two of these are Rosalinda and Tinix. The story of all three intertwine as the toll of maintaining an online profile and earning a wage, paired with the differing reactions of their respective partners, begins to prove difficult. For the sensitive Rosalinda, herself a young mother whose new partner is very supportive, there is an additional question of whether to reveal her true identity online, having always worn a mask on screen.
Rosalinda’s story intertwines with that of Davi, her most loyal subscriber, who becomes convinced that their bond is real. He is also prepared to spend significant amounts of money on increasingly valuable presents for her.
Dory meanwhile becomes disillusioned with the amount of effort needed to make a proper living, and the requirement to be on call 24:7 for her increasingly tight-fisted clientele. Tinix, on the other hand, is facing problems getting her business off the ground in the first place, and therefore considers making her online presence a lot more “spicy,” in the process breaking up with her boyfriend.
By the end of the film, all three women arrive at both emotional and professional crossroads (as indeed does subscriber Davi) as each must determine which future path to take…
Tabloids the world over are filled with the salacious stories of OnlyFans creators and their increasingly lurid attempts either to profit or to shock. (Earlier this year, even the BBC reported on actress Bonnie Blue’s reported salary of $2 million per month, and her decision to have sex with over 1000 partners in a day).
Barbora Chalupová’s film is altogether less sensational, and decidedly non-judgmental, as producer Pavla Klimešová tells Business Doc Europe. “It’s consensual from both sides, so that’s why we decided that we want to do it in a very observational way,” she says. “We just wanted to shoot the situation and make the viewer make the decision about what they think about it.”
Yes, we read some of the typed responses of punters online, as well as see the suggestive emojis they send, but the film is as much about the increasingly challenging mechanics of the trade as about the lives of its practitioners.
One of the major stumbling blocks is the difficulties in online marketing. As soon as most social media sites detect the word ‘OnlyFans,’ they will ban the post, which has ironically affected Klimešová’s own ability to market her film. This means that she must, like regular users, resort to emojis and emoticons to circumvent restrictions. “In the word ‘fans’, instead of the ‘a’ you put a heart.” she says. “I didn’t know that if you mean ‘porn’, then you use the emoticon for ‘corn’. Everybody knows that apparently. You kind of talk in this code.”
Rosalinda’s quandary as to whether she should reveal herself is fascinating on a number of levels. She seems to have a genuine concern for many of her followers, and hence the revelation takes on a personal dimension. Also, the mask and the attendant mystery over her identity is one of the professional USPs which would no longer be available to her. Klimešová points out, however, Rosalinda’s brave decision to be in the film in the first place, which is the most pertinent act of unveiling, and one which trumps the performative removal of the mask onscreen.
The ostensibly sweet-natured and non-threatening Davi also provides much of the film’s emotional substance, in the devotion he feels for Rosalinda. “We always wanted to have a fan in the film, because we thought that it’s very important to actually see and talk about the motivation, and to [observe] the other side of the screen,” Klimešová tells BDE.
So she asked Rosalinda who in turn asked Davi, who eventually agreed. “We actually showed him the film, me and [director] Bara,” says the producer. “He came to our editing room and we played the whole film for him. We talked about it with him and he was okay with it. He was grateful that he could see it before other people.” He had been pre-warned by Rosalinda that she had a boyfriend, so that this new revelation wasn’t overly upsetting. “Of course, we would not have it any other way, because we feel that we deserve to treat the protagonist this way,” Klimešová adds.
After Ji.hlava the film will be released theatrically in the Czech Republic (November 6) and then in Slovakia on November 13. Klimešová hopes to announce a world sales agent by the end of the festival. Right now, she is receiving offers from VOD platforms and international festivals, she confirms. She is also looking to cut a shorter, less explicit version for educational screenings in schools.
After the project was pitched at CPH:DOX interest was piqued among TV stations, that she is now looking to convert into solid international broadcast business. “It doesn’t really matter if the girls are from Czech Republic or Slovakia because the platform is international and the similar patterns happen everywhere.”
There are many who argue that the OnlyFans platform offers professional, pimp-free control, and that a “fair-trade” description can be applied. What’s more, because of their talent for making money online, many of its content creators have earned the “respect” of some folk for whom such financial acumen is important, irrespective of the trade. “For example, with Rosalinda, thanks to this exploitation that she does to her body, she gains financial independence and she feels that she is in control of her life,” says the producer.
“But is it possible that emancipation can be reached through objectification?” Klimešová ponders. “From a certain point of view, yes. But in general, I would say no,” she affirms.
