Tosca Musk, Elon's sister, has a business venture of her own -- and it's all about romance and female sexuality - CNN

Atlanta, Georgia CNN  — 

Tosca Musk strides onto the reddish carpet astatine a Regal Cinemas, statuesque successful a achromatic sound suit and glistening burgundy silk top.

A hush comes implicit a radical gathered extracurricular the theater’s doors. Some whip retired compartment phones and commencement signaling her each move.

It’s a chilly October nighttime successful Atlanta, and the fans are present for the premiere of “Torn,” the 2nd successful a trilogy of romanticist phantasy movies based connected books by writer Jennifer Armentrout. The radical of mostly pistillate fans scope successful property from their twenties to their seventies, and immoderate flew successful from Boston, Detroit and different cities.

This is simply a large nighttime for Musk and her five-year-old streaming work Passionflix, the backer of the movie. It’s their archetypal nationalist film premiere since the pandemic started.

She floats from 1 radical to another, chatting effortlessly with Passionflix’s superfans, known arsenic Passionistas. Her older brother, Elon Musk, whitethorn beryllium the astir celebrated sibling successful the family, but he’s not the lone 1 who’s founded a company.

Musk, 48, is the unit down Passionflix, which adapts romance novels into movies and streams them to a devoted niche audience. Romance novels are the astir fashionable genre of books successful the United States, and Musk is tapping into that marketplace with stories astir sultry, almighty pistillate leads and handsome men with chiseled abs. She directs immoderate of the films herself.

“Passionflix focuses connected adapting romance novels precisely arsenic the instrumentality and the writer envision it,” Musk says successful a abstracted CNN interview. “We absorption connected connection, connection and compromise – and region the shame from sexuality, specifically for women, due to the fact that it empowers women to some admit and inquire for pleasure.”

Days earlier, connected the acceptable of a Passionflix movie, “The Secret Life of Amy Bensen,” Musk provides a fewer glimpses into beingness with her celebrated family.

Perched connected a navy bluish sofa successful a country tucked wrong a warehouse successful suburban Atlanta, she chooses her words cautiously erstwhile asked astir her older brother, who was connected the verge of his Twitter acquisition.

The Musk children – Elon, Tosca and different brother, mediate kid Kimbal – were calved successful South Africa and spent clip successful Canada earlier coming to the United States. Their father, Errol, is an technologist and spot developer, portion their glamorous mother, Maye, is simply a model.

Tosca Musk attended movie schoolhouse astatine the University of British Columbia successful Vancouver and moved to California aft graduation. For 3 months, she worked for 1 of Elon Musk’s companies, Zip2.

“I realized each clip I stepped retired of the movie world, I was conscionable not happy,” she says. “It conscionable wasn’t my thing.”

After a little stint astatine the Los Angeles bureau of Canadian media institution Alliance Atlantis, she began directing and producing films portion inactive successful her twenties.

Musk produced romance films for the Lifetime and Hallmark channels and successful 2005 launched a comic web series, Tiki Bar TV, which was hailed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs arsenic up of its clip successful the emerging tract of vodcasts – oregon video podcasting.

Then came Passionflix. Its root communicative is simply a classical communicative of erstwhile 1 doorway closes, different 1 opens.

About 5 years ago, Musk got an email from a pistillate who wanted her to crook her publication into a movie. Musk loved the script, but determination wasn’t overmuch involvement from accumulation companies.

“People weren’t truly that funny due to the fact that it was excessively risque … It was an big movie with a small spot of reincarnation, things similar that,” she says. “It conscionable wasn’t 1 of those things that regular web tv wanted to do.”

But Musk met the woman, Joany Kane, successful Los Angeles, and they bonded implicit their shared passionateness for romance novels. During that conversation, Kane brought up the thought of turning romance novels into movies and creating a streaming level for them.

And with that, Passionflix was calved – with Musk astatine the helm and Kane arsenic a co-founder.

“We had nary investors. We had to spell retired and find each investor. So it was a substance of going retired and pitching each azygous person,” Musk says. “We pitched each friend, each household member, everybody conscionable for that tiny spot of angel investment. It was hard. The archetypal wealth successful is ever the hardest money.”

Musk declines to accidental whether her member Elon was 1 of her archetypal investors. But she says she tin ever number connected her 2 brothers, including restaurateur Kimbal Musk, to springiness her proposal connected her concern ventures. She tries not to inquire unless she truly needs to.

“I get proposal from them to a definite grade erstwhile I inquire for it. But nary unsolicited advice,” she says. “If I inquire for advice, I person nary uncertainty that helium (Elon) volition springiness it to me. And past I person to instrumentality it, due to the fact that he’s going to beryllium right. So you person to truly privation to cognize what you privation to ask. But astir of the clip erstwhile I’m with my family, we speech astir household things.”

So what does she deliberation astir her brother’s caller relation arsenic CEO of Twitter – and the flurry of headlines surrounding it?

No comment.

Passionflix’s archetypal movie was “Hollywood Dirt,” based connected a best-selling caller by Alessandra Torre astir a Southern pistillate who finds romance with a Hollywood prima erstwhile helium comes to her tiny municipality to movie a movie.

“During that shooting of that movie, we were struggling,” Musk says. “Are we going to get money? Are we going to beryllium capable to decorativeness it? We were not truly sure. We fundamentally were conscionable benignant of piecing the dollars together.”

In May 2017, Musk played a trailer of the movie astatine a romance caller normal and asked attendees to prepay $100, arsenic founding members, for a two-year Passionflix subscription. About 4,000 radical signed up, Musk says, and she and Kane utilized that to amusement imaginable investors they were onto something.

“Trying to rise wealth for a female-driven level connected romance was conscionable not precocious connected anybody’s precedence database astatine the time,” she says. “But arsenic soon arsenic we showed determination was that galore radical that would travel connected board, the investors conscionable started flying in.”

Passionflix has since produced much than 2 twelve feature-length and abbreviated films, according to the Internet Movie Database.

The institution remains thin – it has a halfway squad of 7 radical who each deterioration a batch of hats. In summation to producing its ain content, Passionflix besides licenses films for its platform.

“I deliberation the biggest situation for Passionflix is we can’t nutrient capable contented to satiate the fans,” Musk says. “It’s a conflict with truthful galore streaming platforms, erstwhile radical privation archetypal contented each the time.”

With much than 200 streaming services present competing for viewers, specified niche markets look a myriad of challenges, says Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert and consultant.

Creating, licensing and selling contented is precise costly, helium said. And portion romance is the biggest-selling genre of books successful the US, that doesn’t needfully mean its popularity translates to movies.

“That’s comparing apples to oranges. Books are different,” Rayburn says. “This concern is beyond tough. It’s highly competitory and requires an implicit ample sum of money.”

Passionflix charges a subscription interest of $5.99 a month. The institution does not disclose its subscriber numbers. Musk says subscribers are successful the “six figures,” but declines to connection specifics.

Rayburn says it’s hard to find the company’s profitability without knowing its expenses, including accumulation and licensing costs.

“OK, if you don’t person subscriber numbers, what’s the usage? How galore hours per period bash radical ticker it? How overmuch are you spending connected contented licensing?”

A heavy dive into Passionflix’s online movie catalog reveals a premix of modern romance, phantasy romance, paranormal romance, erotic instrumentality fabrication and related sub-genres.

The films, which watercourse connected the Passionflix tract and connected Amazon Prime Video, are rated connected an escalating steaminess standard Musk calls a “barometer of naughtiness.”

The 5 categories: Oh So Vanilla, for wholesome romcoms; Mildly Titillating; Passion and Romance; Toe Curling Yumminess; and NSFW (Not Safe for Work). The second class has risque crippled lines and much enactment – deliberation “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

But Musk says that adjacent the naughtiest Passionflix movies don’t scope the soft-core porn threshold.

“When we archetypal started Passionflix, idiosyncratic asked america if we’re going to complaint utilizing MPAA,” she says, referring to the Motion Picture Association of America’s movie ratings specified arsenic PG-13, R, etc. “I don’t really similar immoderate of those ratings. They’re not circumstantial to women. I wanted thing that could complaint our shows and make much of a tongue-in-cheek conversation.”

Musk says she’s a romanticist astatine bosom and is simply a large instrumentality of the genre.

“Love is amazing, it’s incredibly powerful. I emotion to archer stories of love, each kinds of love,” she says. “So parental love, person love, household love, and emotion betwixt immoderate benignant of couple.”

That wide scope of romanticist genres, and its sexy content, are what sets Passionflix isolated from channels specified arsenic Hallmark and Lifetime Movie Network, says romance novelist Tamara Lush. She believes the romance genre has been particularly fashionable during the pandemic due to the fact that radical question comfortableness successful stories with happy-ever-after endings.

“Hallmark is romance-centered but the stories are very, precise sweet. Passionflix tells a wider scope of stories, and the ones romance readers privation to watch,” Lush says.

“The popularity of ‘Bridgerton,’ ‘After’ and ’365 Days’ connected Netflix should archer streaming services each they request to know: that romance is simply a lucrative and definite stake for viewers.”

Passionflix’s archetypal subscribers, known arsenic founding members, get entree to movie premieres and filming sets.

Last period successful Atlanta, astir 4 twelve of them piled into the Regal theatre for the premiere of “Torn.” Following the movie, Musk hosted a question-and-answer league with the pb actors, followed by an after-party astatine a barroom crossed the street. Fans and actors mingled implicit drinks.

Debbie Parziale, 67, says she flew successful from Boston for the event. One of the founding members, she says she spent the pandemic years curled up connected her couch, watching Passionflix movies.

“I emotion Tosca’s premise of empowering women and making enactment not specified a taboo subject,” she says. “She’s truthful existent to the romance novels. When you work a publication and ticker 1 of her movies, it’s the publication you read.”

Amanda Cromer, 32, says she signed up for Passionflix astatine a romance publication convention. She loves the camaraderie that comes with being portion of the Passionistas. The radical has a virtual publication club, called Passion Squad.

As 1 of the archetypal members, Cromer tin sojourn sets and interact with the actors. Cromer, who lives successful a suburb of Atlanta, says that during a sojourn to the acceptable of “Torn” she became an other successful a cafe scene.

“I emotion the empowerment the movies bring,” says Cromer, who attended past month’s “Torn” premiere with her mother.

“They take books with beardown pistillate leads. They’ve done specified a bully occupation of portraying the pistillate persona arsenic a beardown autarkic female, and not a timid person.”

Back connected the acceptable of her latest romance movie, Tosca Musk moves from 1 sparsely furnished country to another.

Musk lives successful suburban Atlanta with her 2 children, 9-year-old twins who were conceived done successful vitro fertilization utilizing an anonymous sperm donor.

She’s getting acceptable to alert to Italy with the twins to movie “Gabriel’s Redemption,” the 3rd publication successful a bid by Sylvain Reynard astir a Dante student and his passionate matter with a younger postgraduate student. She says they program to bask tons of gelato successful Florence and sojourn Oxford, England, truthful the kids tin spot immoderate of the locations wherever the Harry Potter movies were filmed.

As a azygous mother, Musk says she marvels astatine the way that led her to a occupation she loves.

She hopes Passionflix volition assistance person the movie industry’s large names that adopting romance novels into movies is simply a worthy investment.

“The amusement satellite is controlled mostly by men. At the extremity of the day, the decisions thin to sway toward the antheral assemblage arsenic opposed to the pistillate audience,” she says. “They besides thin to beryllium much astir the victimization of women than they are astir sexually escaped oregon sexually empowered stories astir women.”

And for Musk, there’s besides a simpler crushed for her filmmaking ventures.

“I’m a storyteller astatine heart,” she says. “I conscionable privation to beryllium capable to archer stories.”