Porn Valley- I spoke with Gabriella Banks last week at the Naughty Modeling, www.naughtymodelingxxx.com open house. As Banks reminded me on a Skeeter Kerkove shoot, www.bkmax.com, it was about four years ago when we first talked, Banks being brand new to the business at that time.
"I remember," said Banks. "I just got hit by a bus- not me, my car. I talked to you and the interview was a day after the whole thing happened. It was a bad time, let's say. It was a disaster. That's how I remember that time period." According to Banks, she subsequently stopped doing scenes to assume the whole boyfriend drama. "He wasn't comfortable with me doing movies and I just moved up here," she says. "Let's just say I'll never make that mistake again. That's done with. I don't talk to him and I'm back. The arguments weren't that bad. We broke up for other reasons altogether. Porn wasn't a big deal to me and I didn't mind giving it up at the time. I do like working in the business but at the time it wasn't as important as him. Things are different."
Banks has been back in action a little more than six months and feels more comfortable going to shoots. "And I'm more social now," she adds. "I have more friends as far as before. I've even ended up living here. Before I was commuting to do movies. Once I moved here is when I stopped. Now it's definitely fun to live here."
Banks grew up in San Diego and always got teased about her boobs, she says. "They've been the same size since I was young and I've always gotten teased about that. I was, like, wait, I'll make money from these some day. I was half joking. Then a friend of a friend has a bog boob website. He was like, hey, you want to make cash? it's just pictures. I said no video" He said just solo pictures. I did one shoot for a busty amateurs. They said you want to come to Vegas. I said what's Vegas? They said sign for us. I said sign what. Next thing you know 18 year-old Gabriella is in Vegas. That's what happened."
Banks did this shoot called Wild Girls Fight Club. "It was about a year ago that I did it for a website," she says. "It was a bunch of random girls. One or two from the industry but most of them are normal and average. You have to be topless. But that's all that shows. We had 8 weeks to train in a gym and work out. We filmed once a week. The fight part was totally real and they had sexy girls dancing around. It was some big place venue where they have fights on occasion but I forget what it was called. It was definitely a fun-thing. I won and that's what was fun for me."
I ask Banks what it is about the business that she loves and pisses her off. I can't get her to stop chortling. "Where do I begin?" she says. "Just the fact that people don't treat it like a business. Some people do but either they're all or nothing as far as being professional or not being flakey. I know lots of girls have reputations for being flakey. But that seems it's almost everyone. And there are the assholes. You have to learn to avoid them right away."
Banks has never walked off a set, she stresses, but did have instances where she wanted to choke a director. "It was a horrible situation," she says. "It was two guys, a girl with a strap-on and the situation was way too hardcore. I was screaming and crying saying stop but they were loving it. It was perfect for the scene they wanted but I was totally unaware. I shot for the same company two days prior. It was a perfect, easy scene. Two days later it was just awful. It was a very uncomfortable situation and I always hate an uncomfortable situation. Then I feel like bad talent. But don't book me for something I don't do. With what I do I do a great job. I try."
I ask Banks if the scene she did with Chris Charming for Skeeter Kerkove a couple of weeks ago http://adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=9140 fell into those category.
"It wasn't a very good scene," admits Banks. "I know that. I wasn't exactly into the talent. But I can usually deal with that easier. I don't know. It was just a bad day for me. Sometimes you have bad days."
Banks was athletic and a tomboy growing up. "I always played a lot of sports in high school- basketball was my main one and water polo. I had always been outgoing and always had lots of friends. I was a bad kid, also. A little bit. Everyone's got to be bad." Banks says her first sexual experience was very boring. "I was 16 which is old compared to nowadays. And it was totally planned. I had just gotten my license. I told the guy I was dating at the time I can drive to your house. He was, like, my dad's gone, come over. He lit a candle and it was really fast. I was like, sex? That's what it's about? It wasn't bad but it wasn't good. I didn't know."
Banks is not attracted to women. "I don't do girl-girl and everyone thinks that's so odd," she says. "But that would be horrible. You wouldn't want to see that. It would be awkward scenes because I'm just not into it. If I'm never comfortable, I don't like to shoot when you're not comfortable. You already have it in your head that this is not going to be fun." The same thing held true for high school, says Banks. "It's not because I couldn't. I didn't want to." And Banks wouldn't say it was that common that she'd be hit on by other women. "I'm not a bitch but if a girl hits on me, I won't be mean, I'm just not into girls." Banks' immediate family knows what she does. "They don't love it but they'd rather me not lie about it. And my extended family doesn't know at all."
Banks has three older brothers but dismisses the idea that they've acquired a porn cache featuring her. "If anything I've probably prevented them from ever wanting to look at porn again," she laughs. And porn is far from boring, says Banks. "That's what I love the most. It's not routine and the money is great, obviously, for the time spent. I'm also enjoying going out and being single and just having fun in L.A. right now. It's fun as far as socializing."
Banks moved to L.A. from San Diego. While she loves San Diego a lot she definitely prefers here for the time being. "When I'm ready to have kids and all that, I'll raise them down there," she says. "I wouldn't mind doing that. But until then it's not nearly as exciting. The summertime is great there but it's better to visit." On a personal note, Banks is taking a test the end if May to be a personal trainer. "I'm not going to quit porn and just go for that," Banks states. "I want to see how it works and weigh other options. But I have no intentions of quitting the business any time soon." Banks had to take classes over a few months. "There's different certifications to get," she says. "But the one I'm getting is the most widely accepted, per se."
