What is the process? KevOnStage can help build a stronger entertainment industry

"I consider the best method to describe how I came to be this position is to talk about one person at a time and one film at a go," tells comedian and creator Kevin Fredericks - better known under the online moniker KevOnStage. Kev is speaking in his studio and office located in Los Angeles, the epicenter of his most creative venture to date: KevOnStage Studios. However, the creator of digital media didn't land Hollywood-level production digs in a matter of hours. Kev's venture grew from an occasional side job into a full-time career in 10 years of digital grind.

"Before the path of a comedian was to go towards L.A., get on The Tonight Show, and try to convince an agent," he says. "Now thanks to the growth of social media it is possible to reach your own audience and essentially create yourself into a superstar." Since the year 2011, KevOnStage has slowly but surely amassed over 1M+ followers on Instagram and more than 800K YouTube subscribers, by performing candid moments of comedy and his dedicated online audience and is affectionately referred to as the Stage Crew.

"I consider that charting your personal path, in my opinion, is very vital," adds Kev. "Right moment, I'm putting together my own show, which I created and directed and funded that no one in Hollywood had to okay. I'm able to create all of it and then present it directly to my audience."

 Learn the ropes

Kev has been creating his community online over 10 years ago, however he says things took a long time before they took off. "I haven't seen any genuine results in the form of KevOnStage until probably 2017," states Kev. "Before this I had been working hard, not getting many views as many other people do."

In that period, he had to find his ultimate north star 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 had always felt comfortable in not exploding, but just being okay to make content that I loved. And I think this is why I've seen more success as opposed to doing whatever worked."

When his comics career started to take off in earnest, Kev took to touring the country with fellow comics - but the pandemic brought the meetings in person to a halt. Keen to discover new strategies to keep the momentum going his brother approached Kev with an idea of his own: streaming services.

 Reclaiming the power

Kev is the only one to admit that an OTT service wasn't not on his radar as a next business move. "We started out by trying to make independent movies, and then my brother told me"Yo, I've come up with a method by which we might be able to make this happen on our own platform in the future,'" Kev shares. "I was not even considering that 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 obvious choice," says Brennon, now President of KevOnStage Studios, because it provided them with the ability to create (and earn money through) their content on their own terms. "We are living in a time in which the barriers to being able to being able to be a creator is so much smaller. And changed the game for us."

"We could step beyond what we had been waiting for Hollywood to provide for us and instead to do it ourselves," he says. "We are in direct contact with the viewers we've. They are the ones giving us the cash that allows us to create whatever we like. This gives us the power back, as creators."

 Enabling fellow creators

Since the launch of KOSS Brennon, Kev, and Co-Founder and Co-CEO Melissa Fredericks have consciously created an environment that is supportive and inspiring for the other Black creators to try their creative work. "I just I am grateful that the space is there and that there are people working in this place, and that they are able to pursue their goals in this space," says Kev.

The beautiful thing about this journey, is that we're taking things, regardless of the conventional wisdom of Hollywood suggests, to our own," Melissa says. Melissa. "We're creating a positive effect on people. That is not waiting for Hollywood to accredit you. We have done this ourselves. Period. And we can do this for ourselves. Period. And we can give people the opportunities they couldn't get. Period."