• by Melynda Fuller , June 14, 2018

INTO, Grindr’s millennial-oriented LGBTQ digital publication, has launched a digital content studio in its West Hollywood Campus in the Pacific Design Center.

The studio, which is the first of its kind for a queer media company, provides a new platform for LGBTQ content, without being subject to the censorship of sites like YouTube and Facebook.

This new venture will allow content producers to make and distribute both short- and long-form video for the LGBTQ community.

Zach Stafford, the newly named Chief Content Officer for INTO, stated: “The launch of the content studio is significant on so many levels, and ... will give the LGBTQ community the queer content they have been asking for.”

Stafford had previously served as the publication’s editor-in-chief, but this new role will allow him to directly oversee the development and implementation of digital content for INTO and its brand partners.

Since its launch in August 2017, INTO has already released several popular and award-winning queer-themed videos and short films, including the viral hit “Old Gays Try New Gay Slang” and the Shorty Award winning series “What the Flip.”

INTO premiered their first docu-series “CAMPer VAN” at the 2017 NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ film and arts festival.

In addition to its expanded digital content, INTO will participate in HBO’s The Studio, a seven-week pop-up community space in Provincetown, Mass., that will includes classes, screenings and workshops. INTO will host two conversations in early August at The Studio.

Separately, INTO announced that Rocco Kayiatos, the head of BuzzFeed’s video education department, has been named INTO’s new visual editor. Kayiatos, who has helped educate youth about trans identities in his time at BuzzFeed, will work with Stafford to implement relevant digital content for INTO and its content studio partners.