Page 26 - AVN August 2016

WHO’S WHO
AVN SHOW | |By Dan Miller
Double Trouble
Behind the Scenes of the 2017 AVN Awards Ad Campaign Shoot
paths to today’s high-stakes shoot,
A spen Rae and Riley Reid took different
but now they’re working as a team
in more ways than one. Rae made a
name for herself as one of the most bankable
live-cam models on the internet, cutting
the ribbon to open the 2016 AVN Adult
Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas in January;
Reid, meanwhile, carved her place in porn
history this past January with a record haul at
the 2016 AVN Awards, where she won Female
Performer of the Year among other honors.
But even though they only met a few weeks
ago, they’re warming up to each other on
this steamy afternoon in the San Fernando
Valley as they shoot the national ad campaign
for the 2017 AVN Awards Show, sponsored
by Chaturbate and MyFreeCams. The pair
will co-host the 34th annual ceremony
that has become the biggest night in adult
entertainment on January 21 at The Joint
inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Rae, who modeled for the 2016 AEE
ad campaign, also tasted the AVN Awards
spotlight as a presenter at this year’s show.
“I was up there for 30 seconds to give one
of the awards out and I was so nervous,” Rae
recalls. “I was like oh my god this is huge and
able to build an actual friendship and we’re going to
”With Riley things are just easy. I think we’re going to be
have that real chemistry that is so important on stage.
— Aspen Rae
came from her career performance in Being Riley, the
remarkable showcase produced and directed by Greg
Lansky for his Tushy imprint distributed by Jules Jordan.
In addition to Female Performer of the Year, she won
Best Girl/Girl Sex Scene, Best Anal Sex Scene, Best Star
Showcase and Best DP Sex Scene as well as fan-voted
awards for Favorite Female Performer and Social Media
Star.
She and Rae look sensational together moving slowly to
the progressive house music filling the new studio space
at AVN’s Chatsworth headquarters, while Munyan snaps
away and the pro behind-the-scenes crew documents the
action.
Just a couple days ago Rae was flying a helicopter as
she continues her training to be a pilot. These days the
25-year-old is either practicing her aerial skills, web-
camming or staked out in the gym, where she is training
for her next bodybuilding competition in October, when
she will debut in the figure category.
“Those are like my three things in life—helicopters,
gym and either porn or web-camming,” says Rae, who
then next year I’m hosting it. It’s going to be really fun.”
Veteran still photographer Keith Munyan is working
closely with the campaign’s creative director, Gavin Antill,
on the look and feel of the shoot, which will feature the
girls in lacy black lingerie juxtaposed with glittering gold
and sultry red backdrops.
“I want it to be glamorous but at the same time feel
more personal,” Antill tells me as the girls do some test
shots for Munyan, the go-to photographer for AVN’s
ad campaigns, whose adult industry résumé includes
numerous feature box covers for Wicked Pictures’ award-
winning movies.
“I’ve worked with him many a time,” says Reid, the
25-year-old native of Miami Beach who started her career
in 2011 and has performed in more than 400 movies
en route to reaching the pinnacle of the profession in
January. “I’ve shot at his house a bunch. I feel like I
know him more on a personal level. I love him. He’s so
great the way he motivates you and gives you really good
direction.”
Reid in January won seven AVN Awards, four of which
26 | AVN.com | 8.16