The other day someone asked me, "Do AV actresses only receive a share of the profits after filming?"
Well... of course not!
Why? Several reasons: First, remember what I told you before? The agencies don't actually know how many of the actresses' films have sold. The production companies only provide information like "profitable," "break-even," or "loss-making." Calculating profit sharing based on the number of films sold would essentially conflict with the production companies' policies. Plus, why do AV actresses even enter the industry? Of course it's about the money! Whether it's an agency or the actresses, what they care about most is how much they'll get paid for each film. If you say you don't get paid for filming or offer a very low base salary plus a high commission, they'll think you're not sincere and are just making empty promises, and they basically won't accept it.
So, even top sellers like Yua Mikami and Rara Anzai (安斋拉拉) are the same?
Yes, that's right. Actresses like Mikami and Anzai, whose works sell very well, pursue salaries several times higher than others because they deserve it. However, those who observe this industry know that an actress's sales performance is heavily influenced by the subject matter of her roles. A NTR project might sell very well this month, but a "Absolute Territory" project released next month might not be to everyone's taste...
Therefore, rather than pursuing the exciting life of a base salary plus commission, everyone prefers to receive a fixed amount of money upfront. Furthermore, neither agencies nor actresses can tolerate payment delays, so payments are usually settled within a month at most. The agency will calculate its commission and immediately pay the actress.
Hopefully, this answers everyone's questions. Although there are many secrets and unknown secrets in this industry, there is a consensus on the issue of payment: the simpler the better. The kind of no-base salary or low base salary plus high bonus is too troublesome and would expose the sales of actresses' works, so basically no one would consider it.
