Camgirl ellyn is a character that has emerged from this new world of fetish and pornography. She is an attractive young woman who, like many of the girls we see on the web, performs for men from the comfort of her own home. While men can choose to just watch and chat for free, some become regulars who pay a small amount of tokens each time they enter the room, while a few large spenders (“whales”) fund the girls’ entire operations. The girl does not know who the man is, but he feels as if he knows her and they often form an intimate relationship that can even turn into love.
The film was inspired by the real-life story of Katlyn Carter, who began camming in 2014 after responding to an ad posted on Craigslist from a fetish modeling studio in Van Nuys, California. For a few hours a night, she stripped and masturbated for online audiences who paid virtual tokens in order to view her and have her to themselves in private sessions away from other viewers. She found the work lucrative but also demanding and stressful, especially as she worked for a website that took a massive 65-75% cut of her earnings.
She soon found herself broken by an accident on an icy road, losing her art and her best friend Ellis whom she was in a toxic and codependent relationship with, constantly pushing and pulling each other apart. She was so engrossed in the work she did, she didn’t see what it was doing to her own mental health.
After a couple of years, she stopped performing, partly due to the stress of the industry and the fact that her body was being physically damaged by the repetitive action. However, when she is approached by two smooth entrepreneurs for a cam business, she can’t say no. She agrees to start anew and starts to develop a close bond with her viewer, Blue. But when he brings back a dark past, Vada is forced to confront the secrets she’s been running from. This is an interesting film that explores the ways we have monetised female beauty, in addition to the power of sexual fantasy and human connection in a digital world.