The Business Model of Modern OnlyFans

I'm Leon Nefok, best known as the co creator of Slowburn and Fiasco . I'm a forty one year old writer, podcaster, and dad. I had of course heard of only fans, but always with a distant and quiet skepticism, a silent judgment, you could say. Who was actually using this platform? So when I found out that my own sister had started an OnlyFans account, my journalistic curiosity got the best of me, and to my surprise, it led me down a year long reporting journey. Luckily, I found the perfect co pilot for this wild ride. Hi, I'm Gracie Canan, only fans creator and comedian, not Leon Sister, I might add. Let's just say I had a different POV on Only Fans and why people use it. Our podcast, Only Fantasy, is a show about the changing nature of adult content, sex work, and human intimacy itself. We're about to play a clip from Only Fantasy. You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, and Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Only Fantasy ad free right now. Start your audible subscription in the Audible App or on Apple podcasts . Oh, it's definitely that house which is funny because it's like all the houses around it are just regular ranch homes . Last summer, our team flew out to Los Angeles, the home of the adult entertainment industry . Look at that, whoa. That is not discreet . And in this moment, we were pulling up to a huge house in the middle of an unassuming neighborhood in the valley. To anyone not in the know, it might have looked like any regular old mansion . But to me, it was the modern playboy mansion. Over here . There's it . When we walked up to the house, we were greeted at the gate by a woman in California casual attire. Pink jean cutoffs, Doc Martins, and a Creator's Ink Baseball cap. And don't forget the most important LA accessory of all , a dazzling, perfect smile . Welcome to Creator's Inc. I'm Kayla Parcells, co founder and CO L. Where are we Kaya? We're at our content house here in Encino, California. Creators Inc is an agency that represents some of the most successful creators on only fans . And this was their content house. Imagine a weew work, except it's a mansion with photogenic lighting and a pool. A pool that no one was actually swimming in, by the way, which was telling, because more than anything, this place was a set designed so that every corner, every room could serve as an attractive backdrop for photos and videos. We can kind of do anything in this space and just having it be that canvas for what our creators want to do and use their vision and ideas and we make that come to life for them. We were here to get a glimpse of the day to day operations of elite creators and the teams of professionals who support their careers . We wanted to see how the business of Only Fans was conducted . I've never been one to covet the glamorous influencer life, but in the weeks leading up to this trip, we've been reading about and talking to creators who are bringing in wheelbarrows of money each month. And seeing those numbers made me hungry , not just to make money so I could pay the bills but for real wealth , like prosperity . Because as an OF creator, it actually felt within reach for me for the first time in my life . So stepping into this house, I was like Eve looking at the apple, which I guess made our girl Kayla the ultimate creator. I never do interviews. I'm strategically the person out of the picture I hide in the background. It's not about us, it's about our creators and letting them shine and making sure we give them the best opportunity. Kayla, a former gymnastics coach at MIT turned entrepreneur , presided over the scene kind of like a benevolent RA S. She gave us the grand tour of the place, where on any given day you can find young women from the Creators Inc. roster and a few men working out, shooting videos, and lounging. This is our spa. So if you're into the cold plunge and the infrared sauna, this is your place . The cold plunge is a very popular spot, especially today when it's a hundred degrees. I couldn't help but notice Grace's eyes light up every time Kayla showed us another amenity at the house. A few feet from the cold plunge, there was a pop up shop of creators ink bikinis because apparently it was LA SWIM Week. I thought you were coming to see wear. I thought you were like someone from the middle There's so many people who are asking since you're here, we'd love to have you, but I really thought that's great. If my coworkers weren't right here, I'd feel like we're doing like, do you guys want to go away for forty five minutes? No, but I'll be literally like, I'm here often, so I'll hit you up. And maybe you want to process this. Yeah, okay, Gracey, be honest, how badly did you want to do this photo shoot when Kayla asked you? Oh my god, could you tell? Yes. I couldn't help it. I was so embarrassed how badly I wanted it because it was like one bikini away from being a creator's anchor girl. That's right. ten feet from Stardom. Ten feet picks from stardom. Sorry . Not to ask a weird question, but like, do people film sex here too? No. Okay . Is that a rule? I prefer it that way . It was funny how awkward it felt to bring up sex, as if it wasn't at the center of the creator's ink business model. Though, honestly, walking around the house with its pastel color scheme and its ample nooks, you wouldn't know porn had anything to do with it. I mean, ample nooks sounds pretty porny to me , but to be clear, I don't think Kayla meant there was no nudity allowed in the house, just that actual sex on camera was frowned upon. They definitely keep the creators ink house clean on purpose . Kayla told us she regularly invites family members of creators to come see the house so they can be reassured that their daughter or sister isn't being forced to work out of some shady brothel. There is a dark, scary place that women can fall into and this is a really wonderful, safe, supported Fifth Wave Feminism is what I like to call it. Fifth way. Yeah, where we're kind of flipping that and you are making this something much more positive . I'm going to be honest, this house wasn't really giving me Audrey Lord vibes. And much like those parents Kayla mentioned bringing to the house, we were definitely getting the shiny rosy version of Only Fans. But still, I believed Kayla when she said she wants more for her clients than just being famous as Only Fans creators. She told us Creators Inc has helped women launch skincare lines and fashion brands. She even introduced us to one woman who had used her only fans income to start a trucking company back home in Texas. The way Kayla sees it, OF is simply the best way for these women to bankroll their ambitions, whatever they may be. This is the new Hollywood and basically, you know, if you're going to set yourself up for the rest of your life, like this is your opportunity. Hollywood felt like the opposite of what I thought only fans was supposed to be. Instead of focusing on building one on one genuine connections between creators and subscribers, here was a factory churning out hyper curated and highly produced images of so called authentic living. Of course, that didn't mean Kayla was wrong, it just made me think only fans stardom was more complicated than I'd realized. Binge all episodes of Only Fantasy, add free right now on Audible. Start your Audible subscription in the Audible App or on Apple podcasts.