“We champion the eccentric, the bizarre, the kooky, the outlandish, the subversive, the outcast, and all things that exist on the fringe of society. We believe that the underground of today is the mainstream of tomorrow.”
That’s World of Wonder’s “manifesto” and the L.A. – based multi media artists have been working it like a charm. The company butters their bread with reality based cable series ranging from "Property Ladder” and “Million Dollar Listing.” to "Debbie Does Dallas Again," "I, Videogame," "Wife Mom Bounty Hunter" and "Sex Change Hospital."
At the same time, they produce edgy indie films, infamously casting McCully Culkin as a New York City drag queen / killer in 2003's fact-based “Party Monster.”
Now, WOW has launching wowtv.tvaimed at helping like-minded fans create their own branded networks online with options to give away or sell video downloads.
The site includes a "channel" from Boy George, rare clips of Madonna's first live performance and a "Mercedez Bends" short culled from WOW's documentary about porn producer Vivid Entertainment.
"We were viral before viral," says WOW co-chief Randy Barbato, referring to "Manhattan Cable," the public access-based TV show he and partner Fenton Bailey created in 1991.
"The weird thing about World of Wonder is that everything from day one, when we started licensing public access stuff, we've built a business out of respectfully acknowledging that real people have talent, that within everyone has a masterpiece within them, Barbato says. "Some have a whole series, or a whole network. Everything else we've done before the net exploded has been leading to WOW TV.
Since its soft launch last month, the site has attracted more than 100 channels, drawing a quarter million visitors in its first week and generating 300,000 page views and 1,000 registered users who've downloaded over 90,000 videos.
Barbato says, "It's weird because on the one hand, there is a business model in that we're trying to create an opportunity for people to control their own content and have a sense there will be like minded people searching for their kind of material, but also create opportunity for them to generate income."
Though Barbato and Bailey are savvy entrepreneurs, they're not looking to make a boatload of dough from the site. "It doesn't even matter if it translates into a money proposition," according to Barbato.
"We can make a living and produce these TV shows and sprinkle just enough of that (eccentric stuff) in there that we feel good about it, but we don't have to worry about executives titling us to 'Cut the freaks out,' or whatever. The reality is the audience is so much more sophisticated. There will, I hope, be no more mainstream gatekeepers." he whispers: "And that would be a beautiful day."
