ESM senior gains fans and money through YouTube, one click at a time

Eastport South Manor High School senior Eric Striffler leads a double life.

On the one hand, Eric is an average high school student: he has a role in the school’s upcoming production of “Les Misérables”; he just bought his first car; and he is searching for the right college to attend next year.

On the other hand, thousands of people know his face from his popular videos on YouTube.com, a website that allows users to view and upload videos, where Eric can make more than $2,000 a month.

The 17-year-old Manorville entrepreneur is part of the YouTube Partner Program, an initiative aimed at helping YouTube users get paid for their creative content.

YouTube sells advertising that is displayed inside or alongside the original videos that Eric uploads, and he gets a cut of the profit. Eric said that he is expecting a $2,500 check this month.

To date, he has earned about $8,000 from his creations.

Aaron Zamost, a spokesperson for Google, the company that owns YouTube, said that there are thousands of YouTube partners just like Eric all over the world, with the majority earning a few hundred dollars a month and a select few partners earning more than $100,000 a year. “He is obviously doing particularly well,” Mr. Zamost said of Eric.

The option to join the program is open to all YouTube users, but only those who make videos that are viewed repeatedly by thousands of people can earn partner status.

Eric currently has two YouTube “channels” as they are called, EricStrifflerVids, where he creates short films and skits and which has about 12,000 subscribers, and ErickWithNoK, his entertainment video blog that boasts more than 17,000 subscribers.

Between his two YouTube channels, Eric has received approximately four million hits since he first started uploading videos in December 2006.

Despite earning more money than some people do at their full-time jobs, Eric said that making movies is not about getting compensated. “I’d do it whether I was getting paid or not,” he said.

The young YouTube star said making movies has been a lifelong passion and that he began making films with an old camcorder as a child. “I used to make movies with my friends,” he said. “They were cheesy little things.”

The filmmaking process comes naturally for Eric, who says he is constantly brimming with ideas for new videos and skits. “I’ll think of something and I will text it to myself,” he said. “Then, I’ll put it in a [Microsoft] Word document.”

He said that he is frequently inspired by his 16-year-old sister Jillian, who stars in many of his short films. “We’ll just come up with things at home and well just do it,” he said. “She’s hysterical. It never gets boring.”

Eric uses a Macintosh and iMovie software to make video blogs for EricWithNoK and a Sony HDR SR5 to make his short films.

One recent short film involved Eric’s classmates surrounding a bottle of soda that was ready to explode and treating it as if it were a bomb. Another featured his friend, fellow senior Joe Sergio, describing his new girlfriend; when Eric sees a picture of the girl in question, it is only Joe wearing a wig.

“It really is great,” said Joe, who plans on studying acting in college. “Just the experience of people all around the world watching your videos and knowing who you are.”

The ESM senior said that when it comes to entertainment blogs, the YouTube user who breaks the story first gets the most hits and thus the most money. Recently, he said he was one of the first video bloggers to report on the scandal involving R&B singer Chris Brown, who was arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend, the pop singer Rihanna.

“I jumped on the story,” he said. “Whoever is first gets the most views.”

On Friday mornings at Eastport South Manor High School, Eric and his friends are also responsible for the morning news broadcast, for which he reports on the latest Hollywood and entertainment gossip. “We do entertainment news,” he said. “It’s similar to what I do on YouTube on my other channel.”

Eric said his parents, Stephen and Cris Striffler, are supportive of his work and noted that they do not try to influence how he spends his monthly checks. “They think it’s incredible,” Eric said. “It’s my job.”

“He’s got a really good head on his shoulders,” Ms. Striffler said. “He’s really self-motivated. I knew from an early age that he was going to be an entrepreneur or a convict.”

Ms. Striffler said that although she was wary at first about the exposure Eric was getting, she said she laughs when people recognize him in public. “I’ve been with him in the mall and people say ‘That’s Eric Striffler,’” she said.

Eric said it was difficult for him to adjust to the fact that some viewers recognize him while he is out in public. He said he has been approached by random fans, including one who just happened to be attending the same concert in New Jersey. “I had someone take a picture with me,” he said. “It’s pretty crazy.”

In addition to making videos, Eric is also a successful freelancer who frequently does web design and advertising work for various companies. He is also hard at work coding his website, Eric-Striffler.com, which is now under construction.

Eric has not let the success get to his head and said that he is looking at programs at New York University and Five Towns College for next year. Although he does not know what role he would eventually like to take behind the camera, he said that moviemaking will remain his focus.

“Obviously, I am going to go for film,” he said. “I’m really interested in people who are interested in the same things.”