Kip Kay Masters the Viral Video Business

Viral Video Phenomenon: Kip Kay

Our readers have expressed interest in learning about other producers - their trials and tributes and how those made their businesses work for them. This is the first of several Producer Profiles that Videomaker will bring you throughout 2008. Each profile will highlight a different type of producer. Kip Kay is a web producer and does a pretty good job at it. In the future, you'll read about documentary producers, one-man-band producers and more.

A high-tech electronic spy stethoscope made from $25 in spare parts. A futuristic-looking gun that shoots vivid violet-blue laser beams, made from an old toy retrofitted with the laser assembly of a Playstation 3. A way to boost the power of your remote control with electrical tape and tinfoil. Those are the sorts of things you can learn to build at www.kipkay.com, home to Kip Kay and his wildly successful internet videos. Using the Metacafe Producer Rewards program, Kay has made over $76,000 with his short instructional films.

Though he has no formal scientific background outside of standard college science classes, Kay's interest in gadgets is lifelong. "I've always enjoyed tinkering with things," he says, "and I learned a lot from my father, who taught me about mechanics and electronics. I'm just resourceful, I guess." His video production career started in high school, with some vocational TV production and broadcasting classes that eventually led to a job in radio. Additionally, Kay worked as a computer technician and part-time media director for his local church, a position which he still holds.