Wyndotte Street

Los Angeles-based Wyndotte Street is an experiment in monetizing online content. They have a library of self produced sketches, series, live music and standup comedy videos. Early next year they will come out with their new comedy and dramatic series. We have conducted an interview with  Adam Fike from Wyndotte Street.

Who are involved in the production of your library of self produced sketches, series, live music and standup comedy videos?

Christian Monzon founded Wyndotte Street and wrote the Clocking Out series, which I edited and did the post on. We got to talking and found we have similar goals, to make good stuff and also make a business out of it. Next we did the Naked Man series and it went on from there.

The performers are the important part. Los Angeles is overflowing with talented people looking for a way to show what they can do. We just happen to be friends with some of the best of them. A major reason we're doing this is to showcase the amazing people we know and love working with.

What are your team's key talents and personal strengths?

Christian and I compliment each other nicely. He's an experienced writer and producer. My background is in production and post production. We've been able to create a broad collection of material in a very short time. However, we're not the world's greatest self promoters. It's been a real learning curve, building a proper site and then finding the best ways to reach out through social media. In this department, we could use all the help we can get.

What is Wyndotte Street and how does it work in terms of monetizing online content?

Wyndotte Street is original series, sketch, standup, music and more. We are approaching the site like a blog, with three posts a week, including new material, a video clip from our library and a roundup of fun stories we find around the web.

Early next year we'll begin sharing our new comedy series, Billy Tupper's Knockout Bout, as well as clips from a dramatic series we're developing called High Desert.

It's now much safer for advertisers to invest online. And much simpler for content creators to supply the ad companies space to operate on their site. While the mechanics of it are complex, there are also companies in place that make it all a lot easier.

We were fortunate to meet up with Epiphany Digital Consulting, which put together our ad tags and video into one super-solid player. We get our ad tags from Social Reality and do an affiliate program with Clickbank. Most of all, Troy Stiner from The Networking Solution coordinates everything and makes sure it all runs smoothly.

Why are you experimenting this?

This is one of those in-between times in filmmaking, with independent film moving online. It's not so much broadcasting as it is publishing. There is already a solid infrastructure in the way blogs and readers find each other online. When navigating the web on your television from your couch becomes one button away, and everybody buys one, we want to be there with something for them to watch.

What are your motivations?

We are surrounded by great people. We see them in classes and comedy clubs, playing open mics and joining improv teams. It's not always easy to find the opportunities to do stuff like what we're doing. So I guess we're making those opportunities for ourselves. We see right now as a particular time in the development of things that all this is possible.

How different will Billy Tupper's Knockout Bout vs High Desert be?

High Desert is a television show idea we're developing with cinematographer Dean Mitchell. It's a Western, with cars instead of horses, shot in the desert outside L.A. We've filmed several scenes as a test and are very excited about it.

Billy Tupper is a comedy series about the worst boxer in the world fighting seven trained killers in one night. It's the most ambitious thing we've done yet. Billy will be ready early next summer.