Charlie Spats

Charlie Spats

Charlie Spats was used as Jessie Anderson’s moniker when operating within the adult industry. A nickname that emerged from Jessie’s high school years spent in daily formalwear, it refers to both the real-life actor Charlie Chaplin and the fictional character “Spats” Columbo, the well-dressed mob boss from the classic Marilyn Monroe film, Some Like it Hot.

For Charlie Spats’ performer and production credits, please refer to Jessie’s CV.

GOOD DYKE PORN

When Jessie tweeted to @GoodDykePorn about an interest in performing for the company someday, Bren Ryder reached out and offered to meet for coffee.

While the immediate performance plan fell through, Jessie was offered an opportunity to work under Bren as the Good Dyke Porn [18+ link] intern. This was a fluid position that increased in responsibility over time: what began as a role as a secondary camera person evolved into casting, directing, performing, and attending the AVN Awards and the Feminist Porn Awards as a representative of Good Dyke Porn. Jessie was also recruited to maintain Bren’s Good Queer Porn blog (now Queer Porn Review [18+ link]), keeping readers updated on newly-released scenes across the queer porn industry.

Travelling for awards shows and out-of-town shoots allowed Jessie a unique opportunity to mingle with the Bay-area majority of the queer porn industry. Networking with QueerPorn.tv [18+ link], FTM Fucker [18+ link], Doing It Online [18+ link], and other production companies allowed for Jessie to expand Charlie Spats’ career as an independent performer and producer.

STEAM & FIST.

The sTeam all-genders bathhouse parties were initially thrown in 2011 by Miss Pussy Liquor and T-Bodies as a fundraiser for the T-Bodies Manamorphosis calendar. After two events at Hastings Steam & Sauna – with Jessie offering helping hands from the sidelines as an organizer’s partner – the party was moved to M2M, owned at the time by Jessie’s employer at F212 Steam. After consideration of his participation in finding a more accessible location, Jessie was welcomed to form the sTeam Collective with the other organizers. sTeam continued every three months until August 2012, in part due to the closure of M2M.

The owner of M2M later opened 8×6, another underground playspace. Interested in creating a similar all-genders event to sTeam, 8×6 staff launched an all-genders night and invited Jessie to help promote it. However, the event was poorly attended due to the community’s unfamiliarity with the organizers.

Not wanting to see this offered space go uninhabited by the queer community, the sTeam Collective reformed to create FIST., a queer play party for all genders. Unlike sTeam, FIST. came with a party vibe versus a bathhouse one – nudity was less required; sexy costumes and dancing were encouraged. The space was fully rented out versus operating simultaneously as a cruising ground for cisgender men, and a Femme Corner was facilitated to encourage femme-identified guests to explore this usually off-limits environment.

The parties were a great success, but the FIST. Collective disbanded after three events due to personal conflicts within the organizers, and the resonating effect those conflicts would have on the community.

PORN FOR EVERYONE!

Jessie began working in the queer porn industry in part because he preferred to work for porn than to pay for it. With the understanding that not everyone can consider working in the adult industry as an alternative to a monthly subscription, Jessie began working on Porn For Everyone!, an experimental adult website that offered free streaming alongside high-quality downloads that you could pay for if you wanted to, at sliding scale rates.

At the time of the launch, there were three scenes available for $0, $5, $10, or $15 dollars each: FemmeFuck featuring Courtney Trouble and Arabelle Raphael; (Trans)Men’s Room featuring James Darling and Charlie Spats, and Cupcakes, a crowd favourite featuring Montgomery and Danny Magnum. A fourth scene, Dirty Words, featuring Tobi-Hill Meyer and Rowan Broadway was shot, but due to a series of technical difficulties on the Porn For Everyone! website once its video host crashed, the scene never went live.

The launch party for the website was a huge financial success, but motivating consumers to pay for their free content on a daily basis required far more active upkeep than Jessie could keep up with. When its first year of sales didn’t come anywhere close to covering the costs for further credit card processing, Jessie left the now-defunct site up as a free archive as long as its initial structure allowed.