Last week, a young woman called me to conduct a survey about my use of Adobe software products. At the end of the survey, she posed the usual demographic questions, including the age bracket I fall into. Generally, I fall into the 45-54 or 50-54 category. (I’ll be 53 in January. I’m not shy about my age probably because I have my mother’s youthful skin and hair genes and am generally guesstimated about 8-10 years younger. Thanks, Mom!)

When I gave her my answer she said, “Wow, you don’t sound that old.” What was she expecting — a creaky, croaky bleat?

I’ve been kicking around the topic for months now, so bear with me. This isn’t a post about copywriting per se, but its core is the reframing of perception, the focus on women in the entertainment business. Specifically the adult entertainment business.

Now it comes as to surprise to no one that the career lifespan of a beautiful Hollywood actress is distressingly short. The trip from ripe, dewy ingenue to crackly old crone, [with a short side trip to wife/mother/mother-in-law] is short. In Hollywood years, an actress like Meg Ryan - cute as a button for almost two decades - hits her mid-40s, gets nipped/tucked badly, and promptly disappears from public view. I hope Reese Witherspoon is paying attention.) Susan Sarandon, on the other hand, has remained sultry as she’s moved from the cougar-in-training, batter-up babe in the film, Bull Durham to uber-cougar status on TV’s Rescue Me. Still gorgeous, but always a bit dangerous and unsavory.

Those are the A-list celebrity gals. Now let’s take a brief trip to California’s “valley” where the “other” movies get made.

Actresses in the adult entertainment generally have the career lifespan of a gnat. No surprise here. If actresses are generally seen as product in by the Hollywood money men, well, you can make up your own words to describe how “straight to DVD” actresses are viewed. Nothing pretty or respectful, I’m sure. A few gals may bubble to the top, make a name for themselves of some repute and extend their careers a little longer. But for the great majority work dries up pretty damn fast.

Now as a woman who has gained personal inspiration from smart, sassy dames in the movies (Thelma Ritter, Mae West, and Eve Arden remain three particular favorites), I understand the power of persona. That’s why the career path of these two adult (erotica, porn, call it what you like) entertainers fascinates and even encourages me. (:: Snap out of it. Nothing untoward is going to happen here ::)

Candida Royalle and Nina Hartley both started as what I’ll call line actresses. After a few years, especially since we’re talking pre-internet days — before anyone with a video cam and broadband connection could be a porn star — their careers should have been, for all intents and purposes, over. Yet without leaving the adult business behind (oops, I said “behind“), they both found new ways to take their experience, reframe it and profit from it — and on their own terms.

What’s interesting about these women is that they didn’t have to be in the adult movie business. Both were smart, well-educated and apparently not hard up for cash. I won’t speculate here as to why they chose to go into porn. But it is interesting to me how they both took charge of their careers at a certain point (I’m guessing at an age-driven point) and found ways to parlay their experience into a new place where they could be in charge of their own “product” at long last.

Now pushing age 60, Candida directs “couples friendly” video erotica and, as you’ll read on Wikipedia, was the first member of the adult entertainment community invited to join the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. Nina, closing in on 50, continues to act in her own series of video “guides” on various safe, sex-positive topics.

I just love how these women reframed their professional personas on their own terms. They’re not cootchie “has-beens” relegated to some xxx-rated version of VHI’s “Where Are They Now?” series. Nope, these smart business women have taken their skills and expertise to a brand new level of respect, even achievement in an industry still dominated by the money men. (Yes, I know everyone talks about Madonna as the ultimate persona reframer. But her writing children’s books is just plain icky.)

I’ve been a copywriter for over 20 years. I started in direct mail because that’s what there was. Over the years, as the online world grew from its beginnings in the 1980s, I made sure I grew along with it - reframing my experience and skill set - because I knew it was going to change everything.

Today, 80% of my work is for the online medium.

A few months ago, I ran into a copy colleague. She and I are about the same age, equivalent direct marketing experience. She shared that business wasn’t so good, clients hard to come by. I asked her why. I’m paraphrasing but basically she said, “Everyone wants online work, I don’t do that.” She asked me how I was doing. “Um, pretty busy”, I replied. Very busy, I thought to myself.

I used to be a direct mail copywriter. Now I’m The Copywriting Maven. Now that’s reframing!

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[tags] personas, reframing, perceived value, in praise of older women [/tags]