NYC sex worker Lily Lady looking for clients to invest in film project

She’s looking for people to get in on the action.

A 24-year-old New York City sex worker turned director is financing a feature film partly through her clients, who fork over at least four figures a pop for the pleasure of her company — earnings that she’s now devoting to the $34,000 project.

“It’s expensive to make a movie, and there’s no getting around that,” said Lily Lady, who is gearing up to shoot the film in Manhattan next month.

“In these crucial pre-production days, some of the compensation from clients I’m receiving is being used to fund the film.”

Lady, who dropped her given name and has a master’s in global studies from UC Berkeley, quit sex work in 2018. But a month ago, she decided to get back in to finance her dream project — and, hopefully, talk a few patrons into investing.

“If it’s a client and we’re speaking, I’ll bring it up just like I would with anyone else,” she said. “If a wealthy investor came along, we would negotiate their equity stake.”

So far her regulars have not yet invested, said Lady, who has also launched a GoFundMe campaign.

She has, however, secured financial support from producer Dan Lalor, who is not among her clientele but agreed to kick in half of the $34,000 pre-production budget.

Lady has written and will direct the 90-minute feature film, “Sam’s World,” and stars as the title character — a sex worker whose relationship is strained by her career as well as a potential pregnancy.

“It’s such a personal story. It’s close to the heart,” she said.

It’s not a porno, though: According to Lady, there are no sex scenes in the movie, which she hopes to enter into film festivals.

She added that her parents — Kevin Cook and Pamela Marin, both accomplished writers. — are fully behind her. Cook wrote a book that became the critically acclaimed 2016 film “Tommy’s Honour,” and Marin wrote the screenplay. Directed by Sean Connery’s son Jason, the movie won Best Feature Film at the 2016 BAFTA awards.

“They’re really good people,” she said. “They worry about me but they’re incredibly supportive.”

Marin will play an angel in “Sam’s World,” said Lady. “We made a special costume for her.” 

Lady said that sex-for-pay has always been a side gig for her, and not a main source of income, as she’s been a researcher in the tech industry. She started with “cam work” — sex online — as an undergrad at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.

“I’m lazy, so it became easier to have in-person interactions,” she said of the decision to move from online sex to actual, in-person sex, though she added that some paid encounters with clients are platonic. “Dates are often non-sexual — more about companionship than intimacy.”     

Since getting back into the work, she has a roster of regulars and takes new clients exclusively through referrals, adding, “I am very picky about who I see regularly.”

And she’s enjoying rekindling that part of her past.

“It’s kind of healing to get back into the game. It’s purposeful and a lot more positive,” she said. “It’s almost a form of gonzo method acting. It’s going to make the film better, ultimately.”