Different Strokes: Or, How I Wrote, Directed and Starred in an X-rated Movie

Introduction A Word From John Warren Wells

The book you now hold in your hand is in many respects a unique contribution to contemporary sexological literature. It contains in one volume the screenplay for a pornographic movie, a day-by-day production diary kept by the author of the screenplay (who is himself a performer in the film) and an interview with the film’s leading lady.

The book is thus sufficient unto itself, and surely self-explanatory, and originally no introduction was considered to be necessary. This is no longer the case. Circumstances have since dictated an explanation of why, although you can buy this book, you will very likely never see the movie chronicled herein.

In June of 1973, shortly after the filming of Different Strokes was completed but before the film had been edited, the Supreme Court of the United States of America did one of two things, depending on your point of view; either the Court struck a great ringing blow for public decency, or it effectively repealed the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The Court’s decision, in effect, holds that local communities may determine what is or is not obscene, and hence what may or may not be read or viewed in its confines. This would seem to contradict a principle established early in the past century that state and local governments may not take action in violation of the Bill of Rights, but this is hardly a place for a discussion of the legal aspects of the decision. On the practical side, the effects may or may not be far-reaching and long-enduring.

It is unclear at present just how many erotic efforts will fall victim to the Court’s ruling. It seems certain, though, that the chief victims will be the more expensively produced erotic films, of which Different Strokes had hoped to be an excellent example. Already several theaters throughout the country have wholly abandoned their policy of showing porn flicks, and it seems inevitable that a great many others will follow suit.

It also seems inevitable that a great many works of more enduring merit will be similarly banned or otherwise deprived of an audience, since this is always the case when censorship is given its head. But here the author’s own bias is showing; I am, as shall be made clear herein, unalterably opposed to censorship in any form, and for a variety of reasons.

Perhaps this will all blow over. Perhaps Different Strokes will one day be given final processing and cleared for theatrical release. Perhaps one day you will see it. If this never happens, you will not have been deprived of a major artistic breakthrough. You will have missed few major moments in the development of cinema.

But I do hope you get to see the film some day. And, in the meantime, I hope you find the record of its production interesting and amusing.

John Warren Wells

New York City, 1974