Standing and ‘survival’ in the adult film industry

It is conventional wisdom that knowing the right people is essential for one’s career. This claim is supported in the literature on social capital. However, the empirical evidence in this field remains ambiguous. While the literature recognizes that ‘connections’ help finding any job at all, it remains unclear if long-term benefits exist. In contrast to other industries, collaborations between performers in adult films are easily observed. Consequently, a collaborative network can be constructed which serves as an input in order to estimate the effect of a person’s centrality on individual success. Unfortunately, success is not easily observed either. Hence, in this manuscript, the survival in the industry is used as a proxy for professional success. This assumption is justified by the economic argument that, in the absence of lock-in effects, performers will remain in the industry as long as it remains profitable. The profitability does not only depend on monetary aspects but also includes costs from social stigma and adverse effects on health and mental well-being. Using a combination of network analysis and duration models, the results indicate that there is a strong correlation between network centrality and survival in the adult film industry.