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Sam Benjamin

Goodreads author profile

url

http://www.goodreads.com/SamBenjamin

gender

male

website

http://sambenjamin.tumblr.com

twitter username

sambenjamin1

genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Humor

member since

May 2009

About this author

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Sam Benjamin attended Brown University from 1995 to 1999, where he spent his time deciphering post-modern theory, drawing comic books, and making self-indulgent videos.

Post-school life led Sam to Santa Cruz, California, where he discovered an impressive network of marijuana farmers but not much in the way of a contemporary arts scene. Yet it was in this town that he first hatched his pornographic destiny. A stoned midnight revelation led him to believe he would produce “feel-good” erotic films and sell them on eBay, garnering a modest fame for his efforts, revolutionizing a dying genre, and making a small killing in the process.

Sam’s first year producing “intelligent porn” was marked by low production values, financial blundering, and gene...more Sam Benjamin attended Brown University from 1995 to 1999, where he spent his time deciphering post-modern theory, drawing comic books, and making self-indulgent videos.

Post-school life led Sam to Santa Cruz, California, where he discovered an impressive network of marijuana farmers but not much in the way of a contemporary arts scene. Yet it was in this town that he first hatched his pornographic destiny. A stoned midnight revelation led him to believe he would produce “feel-good” erotic films and sell them on eBay, garnering a modest fame for his efforts, revolutionizing a dying genre, and making a small killing in the process.

Sam’s first year producing “intelligent porn” was marked by low production values, financial blundering, and generalized sexual unease. He produced his first film, We Always Want, on a dime, but sold it on eBay for even less. His next effort necessitated a last-minute “stunt penis” that was, unfortunately, his own. His search for tractable hippie actresses within Santa Cruz County, more often than not, came up empty.

Hungry to play with the big boys, Sam swallowed hard and moved down south, to Los Angeles, where he found himself living in squalor alongside of a methamphetamine-sniffing iguana saleswoman and a desultory Mexican conceptual artist. Poverty was here; but so were the big-leagues, with the real porn-stars. He sniffed of them enticingly.

Sam worked a host of demeaning jobs (most memorably as a go-go dancer in a West Hollywood bar) before catching on as a director for a major pornographic production company. At night he dreamed of sweet porno love, and creating a “new” kind of adult cinema; but by day he shot crap and admitted it his own.

For three years he climbed the ladder. Gaining riches and accruing sins, he spent a summer living inside a porn mansion in Malibu; grew his hair out; found porn love, after all; broke his heart; aged; burnt out; quit the biz; escaped to Southeast Asia; fasted; got boils all over his body; cleared his head; atoned for his sins; returned home; applied to graduate school.

Sam Benjamin graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2005, with a degree in Critical Studies.(less)

46 posts
Sam Benjamin's Blog

Admit You've Paid for It: The Savage Honesty of David Henry Sterry

This interview appears in The Rumpus, and centers around my friend David Henry Sterry. You can read all about him and his many exploits below, but I’ll just mention that David has been more supportive to me than likely any other writer I’ve ever met. David’s one of those people who always has time for another writer and is honestly looking out to share tips for success, happiness and (relative)... Read more of this blog post »

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Published on May 17, 2013 12:47 • 2 views

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Sam Benjamin's Books

Average rating: 3.19 · 93 ratings · 29 reviews · 3 distinct works · Similar authors

	American Gangbang: A Love Story 3.07 of 5 stars 3.07 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Confessions of An Ivy League Pornographer 3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life in Rock by Stephen Pearcy, Sam Benjamin (Goodreads Author) 3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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Sam is Currently Reading

Sam Benjamin rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968-1976

by Hunter S. Thompson

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Sep 09, 2009 02:11pm

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Sam's Recent Updates

Sam Benjamin wrote a new blog post Admit You've Paid for It: The Savage Honesty of David Henry Sterry This interview appears in The Rumpus, and centers around my friend David Henry Sterry. You can read all about him and his many exploits below, but... Read more of this blog post »
May 17, 2013 02:03pm · like
Sam Benjamin made a comment on File Under: Makes your Ears Bleed "Amazingly, yes! I'm working to use the same non-pitch pitching technique in my romantic life, next."
Jan 09, 2012 11:19am · see blog post
Sam Benjamin rated a book 3 of 5 stars Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 09, 2012 11:15am
Sam Benjamin rated a book 5 of 5 stars Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968-1976 by Hunter S. Thompson	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 09, 2009 02:11pm
Sam Benjamin added The Crossing (The Border Trilogy, #2) by Cormac McCarthy read in July, 2009	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2009 06:53pm
Sam Benjamin added Rock stars by Timothy White	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2009 06:53pm
Sam Benjamin added On Photography by Susan Sontag	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2009 06:51pm
Sam Benjamin added Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2009 06:51pm
Sam Benjamin added Porno by Irvine Welsh	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2009 06:50pm
Sam Benjamin added Filth by Irvine Welsh	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2009 06:50pm