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"I haven't run across anybody I haven't been able to deep-throat," brags Jake Andrews as he takes an impressive bite from his turkey burger at the French Market Place in West Hollywood. The muscular porn star agreed to an interview over lunch to discuss what he calls "the home video industry." It's a generalization of his profession that seems lofty, as if Andrews is in the very same business as work-out queen Jane Fonda. Nevertheless, the six-foot-two specimen of masculinity has managed to make a very comfortable living since 1992, the year he made his first video for Mack Studios, titled appropriately The Swallowers.

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"I was dating a guy who confessed he did gay porn videos," says the 32-year-old, explaining how his on-camera career began. "The relationship was competitive, so I started doing videos, too."

Since then, Andrews has showcased his oral prowess in over 30 gay flicks, including Jaw Breakers, The Redemption, Conflict, and Stripped. And while Andrews makes from around a grand to $1500 per sex scene (high on the gay video pay-scale, as Andrews is on the current "A-list" of today's talent), his take-home pay is dramatically increased by his off-screen work.

"The vast majority of actors-- or models, as I prefer to call them-- supplement their incomes by hustling," says Gino Colbert, a veteran pornographer. Colbert certainly knows of what he speaks: the 39-year-old director (of Night Walk, Matinee Idol, Secret Action Man, Brotherly Love, and A Scent of Man) has spent two decades in the biz. He first showed his versatility in front of the camera (in now hard-to-find videos such as Best Wishes, Busted, and Black Jacks ) before retiring as a model and becoming a full-time director. In his current vocation, Colbert has directed the likes of Jeff Stryker, Ryan Block, Blue Blake, Randy Cochran, B.J. Slater, and Rob Cryston in the art of kissing, solo and mutual masturbation, fucking, sucking, rimming, and verbal abuse. As one of the most respected and sought-after directors in the gay video business, the boyish Colbert knows how these models maximize their checking accounts. "Any model who denies prostituting himself at one time or another is simply lying," Colbert says matter-of-factly. "One cannot survive on videos alone, because the career of a gay porn model is extremely short. Consumers want to see new faces all the time and get tired of the old ones after two or three years. If they're smart and have a marquee name, there's a lot of money to be made for a porn star."

A marquee name. The term, in legitimate Hollywood, means a big star who can draw movie-goers to the neighborhood multiplex on their name alone. Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Michelle Pfieffer are marquee names; the title of their films always appears below their names. In the world of gay porn videos, however, a marquee name has two meanings. Like his stage- and screen-actor counterpart, the name of a gay porno actor will be used in the marketing for a new video if the model is well-known and well-received. (Ryan Idol, for example, was the selling point for his latest flesh-fest, Idol in the Sky. His name appears above the title on the video box.) In addition, the owner of a marquee name can use his brand identity with gay consumers for additional profit. In other words, a lot of men will pay big bucks to have sex with a porn star. It is this fact that makes a gay porn video simply an infomercial for a hustler.

"I'm much more marketable because of my film work," explains Andrews. "I took out an ad in the 'models and escorts' section of the Bay Area Reporter [a San Francisco-based gay newspaper] in '92. I had made a couple of videos, but they weren't out yet, so that first ad was not lucrative because I didn't have name-recognition."

Once his first two videos hit the stores, Andrews found himself in big demand at $300 to $400 an hour. "The next ad I took out said, 'Jake Andrews, star of The Swallowers and Jaw Breakers' at the top of it. My pager went off constantly. And it was a lot easier to get the price I wanted. It came down to my film work-- that's the only reason I get escort requests, even with my high prices."

High prices were also garnered by the late Joey Stefano, the first true "bottom" to become a marquee name and the star of Songs in the Key of Sex, Revenge: More Than I Can Take, and Sex, Lies, and Videocassettes. "The shocking thing is Joey never earned more than $1000 a scene," says biographer Charles Isherwood, author of Wonder Bread and Ecstasy: The Life and Death of Joey Stefano. "He made a huge volume of videos, but the lion's share of his money was made doing more private, one-on-one performances. At the very end, his ad in Frontiers, a Los Angeles-based gay newspaper, was for just a couple of hundred dollars. He had certainly charged a lot more when he was at the height of his fame. I mean, he was getting a thousand dollars, sometimes more, per hustling gig."

Colbert, who directed Stefano in Tijuana Toilet Tramps, agrees with Isherwood, noting that Stefano "knew he could get thousands by dollars by selling himself as the famous porn star."

In addition to their high fees, most porn-stars-for-hire enjoy the high life. Case in point: versatile model Rob Cryston, who has appeared in over 90 videos-- including Desert Drifters, Just Men, and Sex in Tight Places-- after just five years in the business. "With my clients, I got to travel most of the world, including South America, most of Europe, and the West Indies," Cryston says over morning caffeine in a Hollywood coffee house. "One guy took me on the QE2 to England. Coming from a small, middle-class family that didn't have too much money, I got to do and see so many different things that most people will never see or do." Capitalizing on his porn-star status, the five-foot-eight Cryston commanded handsome fees. "Basically, I charged $2500 for a two-day weekend, plus expenses. Longer trips were more, and my by-the-hour fee started at about $300."

Might as well enjoy it!

Hustling on the side does have its drawbacks, such as sexually unappealing-- or even repulsive-- customers. "It's true," says Blue Blake, the star of over 35 videos including Black and Blue, Night Walk, Cockfight, Lube Job, and The Blake Twins: Twinfest. "The men who pay for sex are usually, but not always, the older, overweight, and balding stereotype. So basically, you just lay back and let them suck your dick. It's not totally awful. I mean, how bad can a bad blow-job be?" And although Andrews admits that he has worked for up to three customers a day, the work is not something he ever really enjoys. "It's just odd to go to someone's house or hotel and do a sex act," he notes. "Some of the guys can be pretty gross. I'm not real comfortable with it-- I don't like that kind of work." Fortunately for Andrews and other gay porn stars, there is another way to cash in: dancing in gay clubs around the world and doing "the circuit."

Circuit Noize magazine defines "The Circuit" as "a series of queer parties that gives gay men the chance to escape the pressures of day-to-day existence and to enter the altered world where man-to-man sex is not only accepted, but is celebrated." The Florida-based publication, which boasts the subtitle "A rag custom designed for crazed party boys," covers such legendary circuit parties as Montreal's Black and Blue Party, Miami's White Party, London's Red Heart Party, and Fire Island's Morning Party. "A well-timed, advertised appearance by a porn star can elevate a circuit party from a no-interest event to something special that everyone just has to go to," says Circuit Noize publisher Gary Steinberg. "Hiring porn actors as a draw is smart business. After all, they can be considered the stars of our community. We spend many private, intimate moments with them."

How a model is utilized at a circuit party-- and how he's compensated-- varies. "I have seen porn stars do everything from simply dancing on a speaker and signing autographs," notes Steinberg, "to modeling live in a condom fashion show."

"A porn star can make a fortune doing the dance circuit," states Blake. "I've made more money than God by dancing for $2500 for a 15-minute set." It's an expense, he says, the clubs can easily afford. "Club mangers and promoters will hire a porn star to dance or strip on a given night and then heavily advertise the model's appearance at the club. It's simple but it works in packing in the crowds. And since my name got out there through gay videos, I've been in demand for in-person appearances." Blake has danced from London to Paris, from Budapest to Berlin, as well as all over the US and Canada, which reveals just how far and wide his video work is appreciated. While the uncut, six-foot, 220-pound London native says he "won't do the jerk-off shows or bath house appearances," Blake does admit that it's his home-video persona that allows him to reap the financial rewards of a dancing gig.

"Frankly, you don't make the good money dancing or stripping at any party unless you're a porn star." Cryston, too, has done circuit parties as well as many US strip clubs, such as New York's Show Palace and San Francisco's Campus Theater. "For $2000, it was easy to do a strip tease for a 20-minute set," says the 30-year-old model. "I'd sign autographs afterwards."

As circuit parties flourish and the number of gay bars rises, the demand for porn-star appearances at these venues also grows. "Every circuit party tries to out-do the ones before it," says Circuit's Steinberg. "A truly great party has the hottest and most attractive men who are celebrating being as queer as they can possibly be. And porn stars, obviously, are both extremely attractive and as queer as possible." In turn, more gay men are striving to become a draw at the door of next year's Black and Blue Party. "Since the dance circuit has become hugely popular, I've seen many guys do porn just to build up a name so they can go out and dance," says Colbert. "A video career makes an immense difference. Male strippers who have been at it for years cannot make the kind of money that they later make once they do a couple of porn movies."

The prize for ingenuity in cashing in on his gay porn-star fame belongs to Cryston, whose bank account balance grew as the tattooed model became more creative in selling himself. "I sold clothing, personalized videos, and locks of hair," Cryston says with a slight grin. "You know, guys would ask me to wear the same underwear for a week and then have me send it to them. I had different ads in the Advocate Classifies offering a lot of different things. The clothes that I wore in my movies were for sale, and so were scripts from movies signed by the cast." For a $200 personalized video cassette, Cryston would videotape himself in his at-home mini-studio, and follow his customer's written instructions.

"I'd look right at the camera, say their name and talk to them as if they were right there," says Cryston, who was often asked to repeat his famous commercial video "snarl" for personalized videos. "These were really popular, and a lot these videos came from referrals."

Perhaps his most unusual request-- which Cryston was happy to fulfill-- took about an hour with a buddy and a razor. "This guy paid me $1000 to shave my entire body and send it [the body hair] to him, only not all together. He was very specific. I sent him separate envelopes full of hair marked 'chest,' 'legs,' 'crotch,' and 'right armpit.' It was kinda funny."

Fans of Cryston will be disappointed to learn that he has made his last video, now lives with his boyfriend, and works full-time as an office manager. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm retired from porn," he says. "I'm happy with my life where it is right now. The industry allowed me to make a load of money, most of which is now in Mobil stock. Some of that will go to my little brother's college education. When I got into porn, I was curious and got what I wanted out of it-- money. And I'm grateful for that." **