What is the process? KevOnStage is building a better entertainment industry
"I consider the best method to explain how I got to where I am today is just one person at a, one video at a time," tells comedian and creator Kevin Fredericks - better known as his online name KevOnStage. Kev is speaking to us from his workspace and studio in Los Angeles, the epicenter of his biggest creative endeavor up to this point: KevOnStage Studios. The digital artist didn't land Hollywood-level production digs in a matter of hours. Kev's business grew from a side hustle to full-time job in nearly 10 years of digital grind.
"Before, a comic's path was to go towards L.A., get on the Tonight Show, and try to convince an agent," he says. "Now, with the proliferation of social media and social media, you'll be able to find an audience of your own and become a celebrity." Since the year 2011, KevOnStage has slowly but slowly amassed over 1M+ Instagram followers and 800K+ YouTube subscribers, by posting candid comedy clips to his loyal online followers who affectionately call him The Stage Crew.
"I think charting your own destiny, for me, is very important," adds Kev. "Right moment, I'm putting together my own show that I shot and produced and financed that nobody in Hollywood had to okay. I'm in a position to make the whole thing and give it directly to my audience."
The basics of HTML0
Kev began building his online community over 10 years ago, however he says things took a time to get going. "I did not see any significant growth as KevOnStage prior to 2017," states Kev. "Before that I had been working extremely hard, but not getting much views like many others."
In that period, he had to find the north star of his life in order to create content that was authentic to him and his values. "When people don't create from their core, the achievement is exhausting," states Kev. "I was always okay in not exploding, but just being okay to make content that I loved. In my opinion, due to that I've seen more success instead of doing what was working."
When his comics career started to grow in a rapid manner, Kev took to touring the country with other comics, but the pandemic brought these meetings in person to a stop. Keen to find new ways to sustain the momentum his brother approached Kev with an idea of his own: a streaming service.
Giving back the power
Kev is the first to admit an OTT service was not considered by him as a next business move. "We initially tried to create independent films, and my brother said"Yo, I've got a way that we might be able create our own platform in the future,'" Kev says. "I wasn't even thinking about this as possibility."
Kev approached his business partner and producer Brennon Edwards and asked if he'd go in on launching an OTT app. "It was an easy decision," says Brennon, now President of KevOnStage Studios, because it provided them with the ability to produce (and make money from) their content according to their own rules. "We are living in a time that the bar of access to becoming creative is significantly smaller. And changed the game for us."
"We have been able to move over what we'd been waiting for Hollywood to accomplish for us, and begin to do it ourself," he says. "We work directly with the viewers we've. They are the ones giving us the cash that allows us to create what we want. They give us our ability to create again, and we are creators."
Helping other creators become empowered
Since the launch of KOSS Brennon, Kev, and Co-Founder as well as Co-CEO Melissa Fredericks have consciously created an inviting and supportive environment to encourage others Black creators to try their creative work. "I simply am thankful for this place, that people are employed in this place, and that they are able to follow their dreams in this space," says Kev.
What's so wonderful about this journey, is that we are going beyond what conventional Hollywood says, to our own," adds Melissa. "We're having an influence on the people around us. We're not waiting around for Hollywood to accredit you. We did this by ourselves. Period. And we can do this ourselves. Period. And we can give people opportunities that they wouldn't otherwise receive. Period."