Wish There Was a Netflix for Lesbians? Tune Into Tello!

If you've ever wished that there was a network where you could see a wide variety of shows that honestly depicted lesbian lives, consider Christin Baker your fairy godmother. Her online network Tello now features 15 amazing, original projects (with another 15 in the works) that you can access for less than $5 a month.

"We're like the lesbian Netflix, but we were doing original programming before they were," said Baker. "I'm really excited now about Season 2 of our series '#Hashtag.' What I love about this project is that it's only the second season on this popular series, but the growth and quality between Season 1 and 2 is really awesome."

"#Hashtag" follows the love lives of Liv and Skylar, two technology-obsessed best friends living in Chicago. Other faves are "Kiss Her I'm Famous," I Hate Tommy Finch" and "Gay Street Therapy," starring Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard.

One of their biggest hit series is "Nikki & Nora," which critics compare to the police procedural "Rizzoli & Isles." The show follows two female private eyes in New Orleans who are partners not only in work, but in love. The pilot about these former cops turned shamuses was pitched to now-defunct network UPN back in the day, but when they passed, it moved onto YouTube, and found legs.

"Liz Vassey and Christina Cox had great chemistry, and the lesbian community just went crazy," Baker recalled. "At that time, there was very little content for women. This created a huge fan following, and after 10 years, Nancy [creator Nancylee Myatt] got the rights back to her character. We were the first new media network to reimagine the unaired pilot as a web series. We crowdfunded $65,000 from fans and shot Season 1. It was unbelievably popular, and did great things for our site. It really lifted us up."

Other hit series include "Cowgirl Up" and "Rent Controlled." The network also features docu-series like Rolla Selbak's "Grrl's Guide to Filmmaking," "Never Give Up: God Des & She" and the popular "Brunch With Bridget" series.

Baker went to college to become a newscaster, but after an internship at a local news station, realized she hated it. That same summer, she worked as an extra on the set of a movie, and loved the vibe. She went back to school and focused on single camera work and editing, and went to Hollywood to pursue her dream.

"Of course, I ended up burned out in L.A.," said Baker. "So I worked for the Writers Guild of America and learned how to protect my work. I utilized my video experience making campaign videos, and as the Internet emerged, I thought there might be a space for me in this new media."

In 2007, Baker and a friend started Tello as a space for lesbian content. They initially thought it would just be a lesbian YouTube channel, but after a few years, they realized they couldn't survive on Google AdWords credits. They had to do something different. Before most people began talking about pay walls and subscriptions, Baker and her crew realized that their few 'angel investors' wouldn't be enough -- they needed dedicated subscribers.

"Everyone though no one would ever pay for content," said Baker, "but I realized that if I could just get 10 lesbians to give me $3.99 a month, that would generate more revenue than I could ever make on ads."

They approached Richard McManus and Nancylee Myatt, and asked them if they could put their best projects behind a paywall and give them a percentage of the money they made off the work. They also took their last angel investor funds and created "Cowgirl Love," a show about hot chicks on horses.

"We brought together a whole bunch of people and created a lesbian following, and that's when we started to get a little traction," said Baker. "We thought if we continued to make original content, we could do this. So we've just continued with that philosophy; having content creators give us their stuff, and giving them share of subscription fees. One hundred percent of fees go back to them."

Between 2010 and now, they have had more than 10,000 people subscribe -- about 4,000 a month. In December, they gave back $100,000 to their content creators in web residuals. And after all this time, the subscriber rate is just $4.99 a month.

"They're all female; that's the other thing I'm proud of," said Baker. "I am supporting female filmmakers in an industry that chronically underrepresents strong women behind the camera and in front of it. It's the real Bechdel test! That's not to say we wouldn't entertain something by a male creator, but women are who we've been working with."

Tello provides the audience with quality programming for an underserved lesbian community. And Baker loves to share tips for audience growth and digital entrepreneurship as a speaker at events like Toronto WebFest.

Another milestone Baker boasts of is her ability to hire two full-time staff people, Jessica King and Julie Keck of King is a Fink production company, about whom she says, "I wouldn't be able to do it without them." Baker encourages everyone to check out what they have to offer.

"People should go online and take a look. Content creators, too! If you have new projects that you're trying to fund, we'd love to be considered," said Baker. "You can forgo Tello to get a wider audience -- some people really want to make money -- but other people want to get picked up and become the next 'Broad City.'"