Research notes (Louis Theroux Documentary)

Louis Theroux - Dark states: 2. Trafficking sex (BBC iPlayer)

Ideas/discoveries from watching this:

  • To show dirtiness/messiness: close up of litter (montage)
  • Online profiles for each girl, shown in our toilet seen 'Back Page'
  • Have to ask pimp for permission, 'no' means no.
  • "Families" the group in which prostitutes work within 
  • "Renegade" girl without a pimp, walks the streets alone
  • Likes the attention from the pimp as she hasn't received attention like this before (family problems)
  • "The wife" the top earner of the pimp's. Used to keep the other girls in line because girls respond to other girls better than they would with a man.
  • Multiple a night 
  • Cant answer to phone to pimp, hasn't made enough money

Dialogue ideas:
"It makes me feel sick how much he can control me, and I fall for it every time"
"That's my daddy he takes care of me"
"Couldn't wait to put that money in his hands because I knew I was gonna' be praised"
"It's like a plague almost"
"At the time to me it sounded better than what my life was. He explained to me that I would be getting a car, a house, and all the clothes I wanted and I never had to be sad again and I wouldn't be hurt"
"Want a ride baby?"-"To where?-"Wherever you want, TO HEAVEN"
"I don't have what he wants and he's not gonna' be pleasent about it"
"I didn't achieve my quota"
"I respect him a lot, and I make a lot of sacrifices for him"
"He gives me everything"
"I can't show that I'm sad. I've got to be happy for my clients"
"He won't just hit you"
"You haven't made enough money yet"
"You have a vision, its just too dark to see it out here"

Ammetuer Prostitution in America - Extraordinary Documentary 2017 (Youtube)


  • Resort to prositution because the pimp makes them feel 'safe', 'better than being alone'
  • Girls develop a crush for the pimp, one girl describes herself as being 'obsessed' with him
  • Scared to tell anyone "If I told my mum, I was gonna' get killed. If I told the cops, I was gonna' get killed.'
  • The internet is the BIGGEST tool, makes it much more accessible and quick. "Unprotected and undetective" 
  • "I can get a girl as quick as I could get a pizza"

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