Not everyone would want to have a camera following them around documenting their career achievements and failures, but if your career is all about exposing yourself, literally, on camera, you seize the opportunity. For Maxine X, an established fetish porn star wanting to move into mainstream porn, and her business partner and husband Scott, it’s a dream come true. More specifically, it’s a Webdream, as Maxine X and Scott are two of the characters we follow in Webdreams: Season 3, a series all about the world of Internet porn, which premièred on Showcase this fall. I chatted with them by phone from their suburban home near Toronto.

Why did you get into porn in the first place?

Maxine: Scott and I met nine years ago and were both into exploring things sexually. I had only watched porn once before, but we started watching porn together, and I realized I was really turned on by fetish, kink and bondage. I’ve always had an exhibitionist side — I liked watching myself in the mirror or videotaping our sex. I tried modelling, but it was hard in Canada as so much of the industry is in the U.S. When I applied for Playboy and didn’t get it, Scott, who worked in corporate video at the time, made me feel better by convincing me we’d be better off doing our own stuff.

What’s the best thing about doing what you do?

Maxine: My husband and I get to continue to explore our fantasies. I want him to make a porn film based on ’80s horror movies. You know, a couple of girls getting naked and playing in the water while some masked guy lurking in the bushes kidnaps them and ties them up. I’ve already written the script.

What’s the worst thing about the business?

Maxine: Not always feeling like you look good or have the energy to perform. Working out so I feel good about my body. Keeping up my wardrobe and making sure I don’t get filmed in the same outfits. Sometimes you get a little fed up seeing yourself onscreen and naked all the time. There are good days and bad days.

Scott: I can’t remember my last day off. Guys always tell me they want to do what I do, but they only see the glamour, not the 20-hour workdays, running three websites, editing, filming, designing, etc.

What’s the biggest misconception about being a porn star?

Maxine: That we’re wild women having random sex all over the place. When someone saw my YouTube video diaries, they said, “Ew, you’re a porn star, gross, who would want to be with such dirty sewage?” But there are people outside the business who have more sex with more guys than I do. We live a very normal life, and the professional sex is very planned. And the sex industry is actually safer than most sexual encounters outside the industry. In a scene where there are bodily fluids, everyone is tested and has to share their results. That doesn’t always happen when you meet someone casually in regular life.

How do your family and friends handle what you do?

Maxine: I’ve been in the industry for five years, and my family is comfortable with it. OK, my aunt saw my website and had a conniption, but my sister, who is a lesbian, thinks it’s cool and kinda funny. She asks me things like, “Hey, are you tying up any girls today?” Scott’s family doesn’t approve, unfortunately, and he doesn’t speak to them. But the people that matter in our lives think it’s cool, and those who don’t, we don’t shove it in their faces. If they don’t like it, they don’t like it.

Where do you see yourself going in this business?

Maxine: During our first year, we were the only Canadian ma-and-pop shop who were nominated for an AVN Award [Adult Video News, the nomination was for best dominatrix scene in a fetish video]. We want to be the biggest in Canada, the ultimate in what we do. We’re about to launch a new line of products that are going to revolutionize the industry, but I can’t tell you about it yet. Again, as a contract performer, you have a shelf life. When I’m a grandma, I’ll still be behind the scenes running this business with Scott.

To see Maxine X in action, go to maxinex.com. Webdreams airs Fridays at 10 p.m. on Showcase.