Hi Dan,
I may be a minor player in the business, but I'd still like to comment on this topic.
Most of the candidates I got over the last year answered ads I posted on college campus billboards. Others answered the occasional ad I placed in local papers. Recruitment through contacts has the potential to be a great method, but I haven't had much luck that way, for some reason.
When I advertise I get a fair number of calls, and a good percentage actually take apppointments. However, many eventually call to cancel or don't show up at all. Then some drop out after the first contact. Finally, many of the few who go as far as a video session turn out not to be ticklish enough. So in the end I have a very small success rate. The fact that I live in a city of moderate size at best and that has a relatively conservative attitude doesn't help.
It is essential to have legal documents to sign with the models a the beginning of each session, even if it's only an audition. I paid a lawyer to come up with the appropriate clauses. Each party keep a signed copy of each document. This protects both myself and the models.
As for this being an awesome job, I guess it depends on each person, and I can only speak for myself, but while it can be fun at times, overall it's more a hassle than anything else. Doing this requires a lot of work, time and money. It also requires a lot of patience and a very thick skin, because it offers a lot of opportunities for embarrassment and frustration.
Many people are open-minded enough to find the concept of tickling videos at least tolerable, in some cases even intriguing. Still, most of them wouldn't consider posing for a video. At least they're not offended by my activites. Other people aren't quite as understanding, and I must always be prepared to deal with close-minded, prejudiced, somewhat ignorant people. I don't often get negative feedback from people around me, but sometimes I still feel a certain level of lack of respect, even if those people aren't actively hostile. And we're talking about very down to earth videos here, with girl next door models and no nudity. I also do a very good job of being professional yet reasonably personable and casual at all times, being perfectly kind and honest with candidates and caring for them. I can't imagine what people would think if I did something a bit more racy.
Candidates tend to be very unreliable, stalling all the time, not calling back, not showing up at meetings, etc. Ok, so it's not everyone, but many are like that, often just because they don't really understand the project, not giving me a chance to explain it to them, even after taking an official appointment. And like I said, many who do show up and do a session turn out not to be ticklish (or sometimes not quite attractive) enough. Even people who are usally very ticklish in everyday life can have sensitivity problems due to the specific circumstances of a session. After all, it's very unlike a normal spontaneous tickle like in everyday life. Tickling is very psychological, and any number of factors can prevent a model from reacting in her usual way. It's really heartbreaking when a cute, natural, open-minded, playful and perfectly willing candidate doesn't have what it takes ticklishness-wise.
I'm not saying that it's not worth it in the end, but I personally find that the results aren't always satisfying considering all the trouble I go through to find models. I can't even say that I enjoy the actual sessions most of the time (at least from a ticklephile's point of view), because I'm too busy acting as professionally as possible, figuring how to do this or that scene, handling the camcorder, guiding the models, worrying about how the models are feeling or if we're bothering the hell out of a neighbor, etc. It's an essential part of the job, in my opinon, and it can be very rewarding, but it can also be a bummer sometimes. Fortunately, when I do manage to find decent models, produce the video and release it for sale, then get positive feedback from people, it's encouraging enough to make me hang in there and work some more on the projet.
Still, to be perfectly honest, part of the reason why I stick with it is to one day make back the money I invested in this venture. It's not my main motivation, as I also enjoy managing an unusual projet, meeting different people, getting good results during sessions, messing around with the footage I produce, as well as knowing that some ticklephiles enjoy my work. It can all be very satisfying and is reason enough to run my business. I certainly don't botch the job, doing it just to make some cash. However, fun or not, the reality is that I can't afford to lose a lot of money over this thing.
I'm not trying to deglamorize tickling video making. It can be quite satisfying at times. And I'm sure other vendors have more positive experiences than I do. I'm happy for them, though I wish I had as much success as they do. I'm actually quite curious to know how well the recruitment process works for Jeff and other vendors.
By the way, I must point out that my small "company" (if you can call it that) isn't at all my regular job. It's just a minor sideline for me.
As for alerting people due to intense laughter or screams, I believe Jeff did have the police drop by at least once, if I remember correctly. In my case, I've had the super of my apartment building come to my place to ask if I heard someone screaming. I explained the situation to reassure him, asking him to reassure anyone who comes to him about it. Realizing that insonorisation isn't nearly as good as advertised in here, I decided to contact the other tenants around my apartment, informing them of the harmless nature of the sessions and the strange sounds and asking them if the noise was enough of a problem to have to come up with a compromise. It's somewhat of a hassle, but it's better than having neighbors knocking on their ceiling, knocking on my door, calling the super or calling the cops.
I actually had two sessions interrupted by my downstair neighbors, before I made sure they were aware of what was going on. They banged on their ceiling. I went to see them both times to explain, though they didn't quite get it the first time. In one case we were able to do the rest of the session without problems. But the second time it intimidated the model enough that we had to stop. Quite frustrating, but I understand both the model and the neighbors (even if I wish the latter had been more subtle in their approach). Now they know better, and I warn them in advance whenever I have a session so they know what to expect and have a chance to ask me to move the session to another time if it's an especially bad time for them. I also agreed to be more discreet during exam weeks. Fair enough.
