Justin Sisely, director of Thomas William Productions, has already released a surf doco called 4/3 and a short film about 24 hours in the life of a trio of country boys called Sunrise to Sunset, the Story of Myer Alexander. His latest project promises two virgins fame and fortune through a bizarre social experiment.

He aims to find a “female applicant who has not had the introduction by a person of his penis into her vagina or anus” and a “male applicant who has not introduced his penis into the vagina or anus of another person” and “not have had the introduction by a person of an object or penis into his anus” (see terms and conditions here).

The virgins get $20,000 apiece to appear in a feature-length documentary, “if and at such time that the film has recovered $40,000 AUS in funds”. Sisely will film the process of confirming their virginity and of them selling their virginity online; each virgin will get 90% of the proceeds of the “successful” sale, with the other 10% going to Sisely.

The Enthusiast: What on earth inspired this idea?

Justin Sisely: “I’ve been working on this concept for a year and a half. The idea of finding some virgins and following that journey. Are they really a virgin? Seeing doctors to ensure that they are a virgin. And covering the process of commodifying themselves and turning themselves into a product. That was a really interesting concept: the commodification of human beings.”

This has happened a couple of times already, people selling their virginity online.

“I think someone has tried to sell his soul. Someone’s tried to sell themselves as the perfect wife. But I don’t think it’s been documented from start to finish. It’s always been a voluntary thing, like ‘I’m willing to do this’. No one has gone out and searched for the people, which I’ll obviously have to do because I’m searching for the most interesting people. They’re going to be on screen for an hour and a half. They need to be entertaining.”

Have you got any responses yet?

“We’ve had a lot of interest. Some people think this is satirical or a parody, but it’s not. We’re for real: we’re offering $20,000 for people to come on board and take the journey, plus whatever they make for selling their virginity. There’s a girl in America, Natalie Dylan, who is selling her virginity on [the Nevada brothel] Moonlight Bunny Ranch [website] (obviously NSFW) and she’s been offered $5 million by an Australian businessman. So you have the potential, especially in this current economic climate, to make a lot of money.”

What sort of people have been getting in touch? Young people? People who haven’t had the opportunity?

“The oldest we’ve got so far is a 24-year old and the rest have been relatively young. Basically they’re just booking for an audition so we don’t have all their details yet.”

What does an audition consist of? You can’t have a casting couch!

“A casting agent, director and producer will ask them a series of questions, like in a beauty pageant, and some random ones thrown in there. We’re being provocative to see the response in people.”

How are they going to sell their virginity? eBay has been taking this sort of thing down.

“The first plan is to do it through Dennis Hof at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch. The crux right now is provocation and publicity so I want to start advertising before it even gets made. We want to create a little bit of media hype and attention throughout the public, they’ll follow the story and by the release date we’ll already have an audience.”

Have you looked into the legalities of this? It’s essentially prostitution.

“That’s why I can’t sell it myself on a website. You’d need a licence. That’s why we go through a brothel agency. It’ll be a matter of finding two willing participants.”

Okay, the brass tacks: how do you test to prove someone’s a virgin?

[Laughs] “That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? They’re going to visit doctors; a gynaecologist, a GP. From there it’s going to be interviews with family and friends, where they can talk about their previous relationships. If they were lying, I think we’d find out through a family outlet. Or even Facebook; everyone knows everyone. If there’s anything that seems odd I’d like to get undercover agents to question them about it, put the pressure on them…”

Holy hell!

[Laughs] “There’s a bit of controversy and suspense, I think it’d be really good for the film. I was thinking about putting them under a lie detector test.”

Sheesh, are you going to put them through a psychological test as well?

“Absolutely. I plan for them to see a sex therapist and a psychologist, just to see how they’re feeling about it and coping with the pressure. As it gets closer to the sale date I can imagine tensions would be high and they’d need someone to talk to. Which is also why I’m getting a guy and a girl, so hopefully they can share that experience. I can show the difference between the two sexes.”

Maybe they could both bid the same amount on each other and sleep with each other.

“If they developed a relationship on that sort of level, that’d be cool. Then it’d come down to, ‘Do we do it with someone we want or do we do it for the money?’ You get the tension again from a different angle. The audience will ask that question themselves, ‘Why don’t these two get together?’ and then it becomes a question of what we actually do for money.”

Uh, this is kinda exploitative.

“Exactly, it is. It’s exploiting human beings. Absolutely.”

You don’t have a problem exploiting a vulnerable virgin?

“It’s up to them what they choose to do. I will always be there and give them support if they need it but in the end it’s their decision whether they go through with it or not. Then it comes down to why they’re doing it, those questions will be raised which makes it really interesting.”

You’re not a virgin. Would you have done this if you had the opportunity?

“Absolutely, without a doubt. If I was a virgin I would do it.”

You would put yourself in a documentary and auction your virginity.

“I’d be a hypocrite if I wouldn’t do it. I wish I’d have saved myself. We’ve been handing out flyers at universities and there’s definitely an idea that it’s uncool to be a virgin. I think that mentality isn’t right. I guess everyone’s going to have an opinion on it but I think, people who are virgins, it’s not anything to be ashamed of.”

But this documentary is obviously going to trade on the salaciousness of virginity and the idea of commodifying ‘love’ and ‘purity’.

“That’s true.”

Right.