Eli Cross On Long Days Lasting Careers And Making Porn That Works

“It’s not the Wild West like it was when I first got in,” he says. “But it’s still not stifling. When I work on mainstream projects, it’s like, ‘Don’t talk to anybody. Just do your job and don’t exist otherwise.’”

On those projects, Cross typically serves as DP, though he occasionally directs — including several TV episodes for a network that he wryly describes as “extremely popular with very old people who are close to death and love their Westerns.”

As for his primary gig, Cross first entered the industry in 1989, when he began operating adult retail stores in Arizona. That led him to magazine publishing and eventually his first directing job for Vivid.

“They hired me to shoot two movies in three days with no money,” he recalls. “They just said, ‘Have fun!’”

As it turned out, Cross was up to the challenge. It didn’t hurt that he had previously directed ultra-low-budget movies for Roger Corman.

Quiet on Set

These days, Cross’s work leans a bit more high-end, shooting regularly for Gamma Entertainment and working with creators like Charlie Forde and Casey Calvert — who also happens to be Cross’s spouse.

He often works out of his own studio in Irwindale, about an hour east of Los Angeles.

“It has an office set, which is nice,” he notes. “And I can do Nuru there because it’s just concrete floors, so we can either make it pretty or make a mess. It has a dungeon space, which I use when I shoot for Kink.com.”

When a project does require going on location, Cross says he tries not to shoot at the same porn houses everyone else in the industry uses. He typically wakes up around 5 or 6 a.m. on a shoot day and arrives on set “hauling cameras and half the lights,” he laments.

“Ricky Greenwood is way smarter than I am,” he quips. “He just shows up with a binder and an energy drink, and he’s ready to go.”

Next, he has to figure out the layout.

“I’ll say, ‘Let’s put makeup in the guest bedroom and craft services over here — not in the kitchen, because I actually want to shoot in the kitchen.’ Then I’ll start building camera setups, going over scripts with talent and making sure everybody’s happy with their makeup and wardrobe.”

From there, the day settles into its usual rhythm.

“We used to take sex stills and things like that, but in general, we don’t do that anymore, so that speeds things up,” Cross says. “Now we do the consent talk, which is one of the more significant parts of the day. You’re going over everything to the nth degree to make sure everybody’s happy and comfortable.”

With that foundation in place, he focuses on maintaining momentum. Cross says he tries to start shooting at 9 a.m. but is happy if cameras start rolling before 11.

“You want to shoot as much of the narrative as possible and get as much coverage as you can while still keeping things moving,” he notes. “In theory, the first scene can be done and wrapped by 2 p.m., and then we can take a 30-minute lunch break before moving on. On a two-scene day, it’s usually 11 or 12 hours on set, which means we aren’t packed and ready to leave until 8 or 9 p.m.”

He jokes that he’s become “somewhat of a cranky old man” about efficiency on set.

“Sometimes the talent for the second scene will get there a little early and they’ll be hanging out and either watching videos or listening to music while we’re trying to work,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Go in the other room with your headphones or go out to your car.’” <p“ The crew I work with all the time always hates working with me during big sporting events because I don’t care,” he adds with a laugh.

When possible, Cross prefers shooting on the weekends because there’s less traffic and gardeners typically aren’t making noise.

Weekends also offer another advantage: Shaun Rivera, his go-to gaffer, is more likely to be available. During the week, Ricky Greenwood is usually monopolizing Rivera’s time.

“Ricky doesn’t work weekends — he must be royalty,” teases Cross, who actually holds his fellow helmer in high regard.

Cranky or not, Cross shows no sign of slowing down. When we speak, he is prepping to serve as DP on Calvert’s newest feature, which he says will be heavily stylized and feature a lot of camera movement. He’s also developing a feature at Gamma with Michael Vegas and Siouxsie Q, and planning a content trip to Portland and Seattle, where he’ll shoot fetish content with local models and do some on-camera topping for Kink.com.

“I love it all until I’m doing it,” Cross laughs. “And then I love it again when it’s over.”

A Never-Ending List

Once a shoot wraps and Cross finally makes his way home to his partner and pets, is it finally time to relax?

“I’d love to have a nice meal when I get home, but I don’t have the luxury of that,” Cross confesses. “I have seven other life things to do because owning a house is just a ticket to having a never-ending list of shit to take care of. Then even on days I’m not shooting, I’m eating at my desk because I’m working all day.”

For one thing, there’s post-production. Except on Gamma projects, Cross generally does his own editing. In that department, he reports, he’s constantly behind.

“I love deadlines,” he says, quoting Douglas Adams. “I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

There are also the usual unexpected snags that can pop up at any given moment.

“When I get a text at 6:45 in the morning on a shoot day, that’s never good,” says Cross. “That means I have to find a last-minute replacement. That’s one of the things I love about porn that never changes: This is the Island of Misfit Toys — but that will bite you in the ass once in a while.”

On top of all that, the self-described workaholic has recently been spending what little free time he does have on making a microbudget feature, which he’ll be shooting through February.

“It’s never going to make a nickel,” he shrugs. “But I want to do it because it’s important to me. I love when I get to do things that are cool and fun and a little bit creative or inventive, and working with people who are really committed and excited to be there.”

The More Things Change

After being around the industry for decades, Cross has seen plenty of changes — a cycle he says has been accelerating.

“Now it changes every three or four years,” he affirms. “Starting in the 2010s, the industry started doing this flush-and-reset thing, where it just constantly becomes something else. The last cycle was OnlyFans.”

Despite such seismic shifts in the business, Cross says he doesn’t see a lot of “breaking new ground” when it comes to actual content.

“It’s all been done,” he says. “It’s just about how you put the pieces together — and I don’t believe that’s the purpose of the adult industry. My experience is that fans aren’t looking for anything new. In fact, they’re looking for the exact same thing.”

He points to fan behavior as proof.

“For years, companies would say, ‘This girl is shot out.’ And I’d always say, ‘What are you talking about?’ Now the fan sites have really put the nail in that coffin, as they’ve proved that there are porn fans who literally want to watch the same girl do the exact same thing day after day, and they’ll continue to pay her for it.”

For Cross, innovation in porn is less important than achieving a very specific practical goal.

“Porn is a masturbatory tool,” he explains. “It's no different than a hammer. I may go into Home Depot and be really attracted to the $37 Estwing hammer with the chrome vanadium head and the lacquered hickory handle. But if I get home and I can't drive nails with the fucking thing, it's no good to me.

“Sometimes a 99-cent tack hammer will do the job just fine,” he adds.

The important thing, Cross observes, is understanding what audiences want and why they want it. He connects this with a lesson he learned when he was in retail.

“Sexuality is like a fingerprint,” he says. “It’s unique. Back in the days of VHS and DVD, you’d see people looking at the pictures on the back of a box, and what they were trying to find was their 20 seconds — something that squarely hit their button, whatever their button is. Everybody has their own unique button. Once they find their 20 seconds, that’s what they’re looking for from then on.

“Everything else is just a bonus,” he concludes. “The rest is gravy.”