Tosca Musk, Elon's sister, has a enterprise enterprise of her personal -- and it is all about romance and feminine sexuality

Atlanta, Georgia Muricas News  — 

Tosca Musk strides onto the pink carpet at a Regal Cinemas, statuesque in a white pant swimsuit and glistening burgundy silk high.

A hush comes over a bunch gathered outdoors the theater’s doorways. Some whip out cell telephones and begin recording her each transfer.

It’s a cold October night time in Atlanta, and the followers are right here for the premiere of “Torn,” the second in a trilogy of romantic fantasy motion pictures based mostly on books by writer Jennifer Armentrout. The group of principally feminine followers vary in age from their twenties to their seventies, and a few flew in from Boston, Detroit and different cities.

It is a massive night time for Musk and her five-year-old streaming service Passionflix, the backer of the film. It’s their first public movie premiere for the reason that pandemic began.

She floats from one group to a different, chatting effortlessly with Passionflix’s superfans, generally known as Passionistas. Her older brother, Elon Musk, would be the most well-known sibling within the household, however he’s not the one one who’s based an organization.

Musk, 48, is the pressure behind Passionflix, which adapts romance novels into motion pictures and streams them to a faithful area of interest viewers. Romance novels are the most well-liked style of books in america, and Musk is tapping into that market with tales about sultry, highly effective feminine leads and good-looking males with chiseled abs. She directs a few of the movies herself.

“Passionflix focuses on adapting romance novels precisely because the fan and the writer envision it,” Musk says in a separate Muricas News interview. “We deal with connection, communication and compromise – and take away the disgrace from sexuality, particularly for ladies, as a result of it empowers ladies to each acknowledge and ask for pleasure.”

Days earlier, on the set of a Passionflix film, “The Secret Lifetime of Amy Bensen,” Musk gives just a few glimpses into life together with her well-known household.

Perched on a navy blue sofa in a room tucked inside a warehouse in suburban Atlanta, she chooses her phrases fastidiously when requested about her older brother, who was on the verge of his Twitter acquisition.

The Musk kids – Elon, Tosca and one other brother, center youngster Kimbal – had been born in South Africa and frolicked in Canada earlier than coming to america. Their father, Errol, is an engineer and property developer, whereas their glamorous mom, Maye, is a mannequin.

Tosca Musk attended movie faculty on the College of British Columbia in Vancouver and moved to California after commencement. For 3 months, she labored for considered one of Elon Musk’s corporations, Zip2.

“I spotted each time I stepped out of the movie world, I used to be simply not completely happy,” she says. “It simply wasn’t my factor.”

After a short stint on the Los Angeles workplace of Canadian media firm Alliance Atlantis, she started directing and producing movies whereas nonetheless in her twenties.

Musk produced romance movies for the Lifetime and Hallmark channels and in 2005 launched a comic book internet sequence, Tiki Bar TV, which was hailed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs as forward of its time within the rising discipline of vodcasts – or video podcasting.

Then got here Passionflix. Its origin story is a traditional story of when one door closes, one other one opens.

About 5 years in the past, Musk obtained an e mail from a lady who needed her to show her script right into a film. Musk beloved the script, however there wasn’t a lot curiosity from manufacturing corporations.

“Folks weren’t actually that as a result of it was too risque … It was an grownup film with a little bit little bit of reincarnation, issues like that,” she says. “It simply wasn’t a kind of issues that common community tv needed to do.”

However Musk met the girl, Joany Kane, in Los Angeles, they usually bonded over their shared ardour for love novels. Throughout that dialog, Kane introduced up the concept of turning romance novels into motion pictures and making a streaming platform for them.

And with that, Passionflix was born – with Musk on the helm and Kane as a co-founder.

“We had no traders. We needed to exit and discover each investor. So it was a matter of going out and pitching each single particular person,” Musk says. “We pitched each pal, each member of the family, all people only for that small little bit of angel funding. It was onerous. The primary cash in is at all times the toughest cash.”

Musk declines to say whether or not her brother Elon was considered one of her authentic traders. However she says she will be able to at all times depend on her two brothers, together with restaurateur Kimbal Musk, to provide her recommendation on her enterprise ventures. She tries to not ask except she actually must.

“I get recommendation from them to a sure diploma once I ask for it. However no unsolicited recommendation,” she says. “If I ask for recommendation, I've little doubt that he (Elon) will give it to me. After which I've to take it, as a result of he’s going to be proper. So it's a must to actually wish to know what you wish to ask. However more often than not once I’m with my household, we speak about household issues.”

So what does she take into consideration her brother’s new function as CEO of Twitter – and the flurry of headlines surrounding it?

No remark.

Passionflix’s first movie was “Hollywood Grime,” based mostly on a best-selling novel by Alessandra Torre a few Southern girl who finds romance with a Hollywood star when he involves her small city to movie a film.

“Throughout that taking pictures of that film, we had been struggling,” Musk says. “Are we going to get cash? Are we going to have the ability to end it? We had been not likely positive. We principally had been simply kind of piecing the dollars collectively.”

In Could 2017, Musk performed a trailer of the film at a romance novel conference and requested attendees to prepay $100, as founding members, for a two-year Passionflix subscription. About 4,000 folks signed up, Musk says, and he or she and Kane used that to point out potential traders they had been onto one thing.

“Making an attempt to lift cash for a female-driven platform on romance was simply not excessive on anyone’s precedence record on the time,” she says. “However as quickly as we confirmed there was that many individuals that may come on board, the traders simply began flying in.”

Passionflix has since produced greater than two dozen feature-length and quick movies, in accordance with the Web Film Database.

The corporate stays lean – it has a core crew of seven individuals who every put on a whole lot of hats. Along with producing its personal content material, Passionflix additionally licenses movies for its platform.

“I feel the largest problem for Passionflix is we are able to’t produce sufficient content material to satiate the followers,” Musk says. “It’s a battle with so many streaming platforms, when folks need authentic content material on a regular basis.”

With greater than 200 streaming companies now competing for viewers, such area of interest markets face a myriad of challenges, says Dan Rayburn, a streaming media professional and marketing consultant.

Creating, licensing and advertising and marketing content material may be very pricey, he mentioned. And whereas romance is the biggest-selling style of books within the US, that doesn’t essentially imply its recognition interprets to motion pictures.

“That’s evaluating apples to oranges. Books are totally different,” Rayburn says. “This enterprise is past robust. It’s extremely aggressive and requires an absolute giant sum of cash.”

Passionflix prices a subscription payment of $5.99 a month. The corporate doesn't disclose its subscriber numbers. Musk says subscribers are within the “six figures,” however declines to supply specifics.

Rayburn says it’s onerous to find out the corporate’s profitability with out figuring out its bills, together with manufacturing and licensing prices.

“OK, if you happen to don’t have subscriber numbers, what’s the utilization? What number of hours monthly do folks watch it? How a lot are you spending on content material licensing?”

A deep dive into Passionflix’s on-line film catalog reveals a mixture of up to date romance, fantasy romance, paranormal romance, erotic fan fiction and associated sub-genres.

The movies, which stream on the Passionflix web site and on Amazon Prime Video, are rated on an escalating steaminess scale Musk calls a “barometer of naughtiness.”

The 5 classes: Oh So Vanilla, for healthful romcoms; Mildly Titillating; Ardour and Romance; Toe Curling Yumminess; and NSFW (Not Secure for Work). The latter class has risque plot strains and extra intercourse – assume “Fifty Shades of Gray.”

However Musk says that even the naughtiest Passionflix motion pictures don’t attain the soft-core porn threshold.

“Once we first began Passionflix, any person requested us if we’re going to charge utilizing MPAA,” she says, referring to the Movement Image Affiliation of America’s film scores corresponding to PG-13, R, and many others. “I don’t really like all of these scores. They’re not particular to ladies. I needed one thing that might charge our reveals and create extra of a tongue-in-cheek dialog.”

Musk says she’s a romantic at coronary heart and is a giant fan of the style.

“Love is superb, it’s extremely highly effective. I like to inform tales of affection, every kind of affection,” she says. “So parental love, pal love, household love, and love between any type of couple.”

That broad vary of romantic genres, and its attractive content material, are what units Passionflix aside from channels corresponding to Hallmark and Lifetime Film Community, says romance novelist Tamara Lush. She believes the romance style has been particularly well-liked in the course of the pandemic as a result of folks search consolation in tales with happy-ever-after endings.

“Hallmark is romance-centered however the tales are very, very candy. Passionflix tells a wider vary of tales, and those romance readers wish to watch,” Lush says.

“The recognition of ‘Bridgerton,’ ‘After’ and ’365 Days’ on Netflix ought to inform streaming companies all they should know: that romance is a profitable and positive wager for viewers.”

Passionflix’s authentic subscribers, generally known as founding members, get entry to film premieres and filming units.

Final month in Atlanta, about 4 dozen of them piled into the Regal theater for the premiere of “Torn.” Following the film, Musk hosted a question-and-answer session with the lead actors, adopted by an after-party at a bar throughout the road. Followers and actors mingled over drinks.

Debbie Parziale, 67, says she flew in from Boston for the occasion. One of many founding members, she says she spent the pandemic years curled up on her sofa, watching Passionflix motion pictures.

“I like Tosca’s premise of empowering ladies and making intercourse not such a taboo topic,” she says. “She’s so true to the romance novels. While you learn a e book and watch considered one of her motion pictures, it’s the e book you learn.”

Amanda Cromer, 32, says she signed up for Passionflix at a romance e book conference. She loves the camaraderie that comes with being a part of the Passionistas. The group has a digital e book membership, referred to as Ardour Squad.

As one of many authentic members, Cromer can go to units and work together with the actors. Cromer, who lives in a suburb of Atlanta, says that in a go to to the set of “Torn” she grew to become an additional in a restaurant scene.

“I like the empowerment the flicks deliver,” says Cromer, who attended final month’s “Torn” premiere together with her mom.

“They select books with robust feminine leads. They’ve performed such an excellent job of portraying the feminine persona as a powerful impartial feminine, and never a timid particular person.”

Again on the set of her newest romance film, Tosca Musk strikes from one sparsely furnished room to a different.

Musk lives in suburban Atlanta together with her two kids, 9-year-old twins who had been conceived by way of in vitro fertilization utilizing an nameless sperm donor.

She’s on the point of fly to Italy with the twins to movie “Gabriel’s Redemption,” the third e book in a sequence by Sylvain Reynard a few Dante scholar and his passionate affair with a youthful graduate pupil. She says they plan to take pleasure in a number of gelato in Florence and go to Oxford, England, so the children can see a few of the areas the place the Harry Potter motion pictures had been filmed.

As a single mom, Musk says she marvels on the path that led her to a job she loves.

She hopes Passionflix will assist persuade the movie trade’s massive names that adopting romance novels into motion pictures is a worthy funding.

“The leisure world is managed principally by males. On the finish of the day, the selections are inclined to sway towards the male viewers versus the feminine viewers,” she says. “In addition they are usually extra in regards to the victimization of girls than they're about sexually free or sexually empowered tales about ladies.”

And for Musk, there’s additionally a less complicated motive for her filmmaking ventures.

“I’m a storyteller at coronary heart,” she says. “I simply need to have the ability to inform tales.”