What is the process? KevOnStage helps to build a more successful entertainment industry

"I think the best way to tell the story of how I got this position is to talk about one person at a time and one film at a time" is comedy and author Kevin Fredericks - better known as his online name KevOnStage. Kev is speaking in his studio and office located in Los Angeles, the epicenter of his largest creative project up to this point: KevOnStage Studios. The digital artist hasn't landed Hollywood-style production spaces overnight. Kev's venture grew from an occasional side job to full-time job in nearly 10 years of digital grind.

"Before it was a comedy career, the only option was to move towards L.A., get on The Tonight Show, and hope an agent catches you," he says. "Now due to the evolution of the internet it is possible to reach an audience of your own and create yourself into a superstar." Since the year 2011, KevOnStage has slowly but surely amassed over 1M+ Instagram followers , and over 800K YouTube followers, sharing candid bits of comedy to his loyal online followers and is affectionately referred to as The Stage Crew.

"I think charting your own destiny, for me, is so vital," adds Kev. "Right now, I'm making my own show that I produced and shot, and paid for that nobody from Hollywood needed to accept. I'm able create all of it and then present direct access to my viewers."

 The basics of HTML0

Kev has been developing his online community more than a decade ago. However, he says things took a time to get going. "I haven't seen any genuine success as KevOnStage up to probably 2017" says Kev. "Before that, I was just working extremely hard, but not getting much views like many others."

In that period Kev had to figure out his ultimate north star when it came to making content that was true to him and his values. "When individuals don't make content with their hearts, their achievement is exhausting," states Kev. "I had always felt comfortable in not exploding, but just being okay to make content that I loved. In my opinion, because of that, I've seen more success instead of doing what was working."

As his career began to gain momentum, Kev took to touring throughout the United States with comedians from the same genre. However, the pandemic brought these in-person gatherings to a grinding to a halt. Keen to come up with new methods to keep the momentum going the brother of Kev came to Kev with an idea of his own which was to launch streaming.

 Reclaiming the power

Kev is the first person to admit an OTT service wasn't not on his radar as a next business move. "We started out by trying to create our own independent films and then my brother told me, 'Yo, I've got a way that we could do this on our own app in the future,'" he says. "I didn't think about that as an option."

Kev reached out to business partner and producer Brennon Edwards and asked if he'd go in on launching an OTT application. "It was an obvious choice," says Brennon, now President of KevOnStage Studios, because it allowed them to create (and make money through) their content at their own pace. "We live in an age that the bar of being able to being able to be a creator is so much less. It has changed the game for us."

"We were able to step beyond what we had been waiting for Hollywood to accomplish for us, and begin to take on the task ourselves," he says. "We work directly with our audience, which we have. They're the ones who give us the funds that allows us to create what we want. It gives us all the ability to create again, and we are creators."

 Helping other creators become empowered

Since the launch of KOSS, Brennon, Kev and co-founder and Co-CEO Melissa Fredericks have consciously created a supportive and creative environment to encourage others Black creators to explore their work. "I only feel grateful for this place and that there are people working here, that people get to chase their dreams in this space," says Kev.

The most appealing aspect of this adventure is that we are going beyond what traditional Hollywood claims, and putting it to our own," she adds Melissa. "We're having an impact on people. We're not waiting around for Hollywood to anoint your name. That is deciding, we made this decision by ourselves. Period. And we can do this for ourselves. Period. In addition, we are able to provide opportunities that they wouldn't otherwise get. Period."