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A picture of Erika Lust

Erika Lust

Erotic film maker (Lust Cinema)

in film, mac, sex

Who are you, and what do you do?

I'm Erika Lust, and I'm an erotic film maker. I'm from Sweden but based in Barcelona, where I live with my partner and two daughters. I've been making adult independent cinema for 10 years. My production company Lust Films is always open to new ideas and technology. My project XConfessions.com allows users from all over the world to share their fantasies and erotic memories on the site, and I then handpick two stories each month and turn them into short films -- it's crowdsourced Erotica. The sharing economy has revolutionized my way of working and has made my job more exciting than ever. I also run Erikalust.com, Lust Cinema and Lust Store.

What hardware do you use?

Lots of Apples! We use iMacs in the office, reinforced with a special server storage system, and I use a MacBook Pro at home. And I've got an iPhone 6 glued to my hand pretty much all the time! It's pretty basic, but I like to post personal stuff on Instagram, stalk people on Twitter and stuff like that. As a Swede living in Barcelona I like to keep up with both Swedish and Spanish news and cultural conversations, or at least I like to feel like I'm keeping up by constantly scrolling on my phone! Does a coffee machine count as hardware?

At home I love to read on my iPad, and my girls love to play with it too. When shooting I use an ARRI ALEXA Mini camera. It's a camera I can really trust, and I can take it anywhere. The ALEXA allows me capture everything surrounding the sexual encounter... the context that makes up the exciting narrative! I shoot beautiful settings, a lot of little details... I don't actually direct the actual sex act that much at all as I like to let the performers do what comes naturally.

And what software?

As we do adult cinema we spend a lot of time on both pre- and post production. For editing we use Final Cut, DaVinci Resolve for colour grading and Handbrake for video compression. In the office we use Basecamp for different projects and Highrise for our paperwork and contact bases, and things like Dropbox, Google Drive and WeTransfer. Skype is of course useful for interviews and casting conversations. At Lust Films we try to get to know our performers as well as possible before casting them in a film, and Skype is great for that. I also meet a lot of performers on Twitter - a good example of how social media has transformed the way we work.

We use Prestashop for the Lust Store, where we sell a wide range of sex toys and films. WordPress allows users to post their sex confessions on the XConfessions website, and for us to add content to erikalust.com.

We use Celtx to write the scripts and then to breakdown and create schedules to prepare the shootings. We also use Transmit with FTP protocols as we move a lot of photos and video with partners.

What would be your dream setup?

In all honesty, I'm not very techy, but thankfully my team is. I could live only with my bed and my iPhone in my hand, and with my MacBook on the bed so I can watch Girls, Bored to Death and House of Cards... oh, and Bron!