Today we’d like to introduce you to Kurt Tocci.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in Littleton, Colorado, and lived there all the way until I graduated high school in 2010. I have a ten years background in musical theater, having performed in 25+ shows until I left Colorado. I always loved to perform and make people laugh, so musical theater was the best outlet in the location I was in. But I had always dreamed to be in movies. So, after I graduated HS, I moved out to CA to chase that dream. I didn’t know anyone. Didn’t have a single friend. I was all alone. I chose not to go to college, so I could jump straight into building a career, which was tough, having to watch all my friends around me experience “the college life”. But my eyes were too set on much bigger goals. I was working part-time at a restaurant to support myself, as well as delivering for Postmates, and at one point, even dancing on the streets of Hollywood dressed as Spider-Man, for tips, just to make extra money any way I could. I served tables for seven years, all while working around my acting gigs, I would land thru the years.
Fast forward nine years in LA of an amazing journey. Having landed seven national commercials, two co-starring roles on network television, including Nickelodeon and Disney, a feature film, and four seasons of a web series, I was on cloud 9. I couldn’t be more grateful for the experiences I had over those nine years. After being dropped by agents and managers, people telling me I was “too musical theater”, hearing “no” after “no”, it didn’t matter, cause I would never give up no matter what, because this was all I wanted to do.
I had always liked making videos on the side, trying to keep my comedy chops sharp and also post videos to entertain my friends and family in other states. But I never really thought anything could realistically come from it. I couldn’t post often enough to make any sort of momentum with it because I was always working, so I could only make one, maybe two videos a month. But then in 2017, I had my first viral video.
I had posted a silly video of me dancing with my cat (@DancinZeus) in my room, and it. Went. NUTS. I had people from London calling me on my phone to get the rights to use the video for their page. Celebs shared it, popular Facebook pages, Cats Of Instagram, you name it. I had become a meme. It was really great and from my original post, my Facebook page was able to gain a respectable 14k followers, as well as get me to 20k on Instagram.
I had never felt such a rush.
How cool the feeling was to receive such kind comments and messages from people ALL OVER the world that MY VIDEO made their day. Made them smile. Made them laugh. It was more rewarding than any sort of film shoot I had done up until that day. So then, I decided to make a commitment. I was going to force myself to put out one, ONE minute video per week. No matter what it was. I had been given this momentum, this audience, so I was going to do whatever I could to keep them entertained, all while working part-time.
So. I started to make videos….with my cat. Funny 1 minute joke vids as if my cat was my roommate and the different scenarios we would experience together. It started to get us more and more exposure over time! Having pages like Cats Of Instagram, and Meowed, reaching out to ME to share my content on their page, it was such a rewarding feeling. So, I thought this was what my life was going to be. I was going to be working as a server, and making vids with my cat, and be (kinda) known as that cat dad guy, and I was totally cool with that.
Then, in March of 2019 I met Markian. (@Markainb) Markian is a successful social media content creator who had DM’d me on Instagram, asking me if I would want to grab coffee sometime. At the time, he had 360k followers on Instagram and 3.2 MILLION on Facebook. I was so confused. Why was this guy reaching out to ME? I was a small fish in a VERY big ocean of creators, but I said sure! Why not! So we met for coffee and had talked about what I do and where I came from, basically everything I have already told you. He told me he had come across my content and had thought we had a lot of the same values and mission to make people smile. So, he told me to come up with a video idea, write 20 or so jokes, and we would get together and shoot it!
Game on. I decided to compile all my vids that I had made with my cat and turn it into one BIG video idea, “When Your Friend is Obsessed With Cats” He came over to my place, we shot it, then about a week and a half later, he posted it on his Facebook, and it did 10 MILLION views in less than four days. I had never been more excited in my life. It was so surreal. After the video, Markian had asked me if I wanted to be in another video. I didn’t even hesitate, and I stopped submitting for any acting jobs that day. This was now my focus.
Markian was already shooting four vids a week for his page, so I would drive down to his house once a week to be in one of those four videos. I did that every week from April on. We really hit it off. Our on camera chemistry was just really well balanced, and his audience loved us together. Then, around July, he took me to my first VIDCON, it was such an incredible experience, I met so many other creators and even made and became best friends with some. My life was on such a high.
Then, after VIDCON, Markian asked me if I would want to be a creator on his team for his page. To do what he did and shoot videos with actors 3 or 4 times a week, but from my own home, and be the FIRST other person to be a creator on his page, beside himself. He was going to pay me to shoot videos for his page. I couldn’t believe what was even happening. So, as of August of 2019, I had started to shoot my own videos every single week and had become an official creator for Smile Squad. As of March 2020, one year after meeting Markian, Smile Squad had allowed me to quit my serving job for good, allowed me to be a full-time content creator, and had grown my following on Facebook, from 14k to 180k followers, and 20k, to 100k followers on Instagram. Life. Wasn’t. REAL.
Everything with Smile Squad had been going amazing, and, since I was able to quit my serving job, I was also able to allow time to shoot MY OWN content, as well as the vids for Smile Squad. My Facebook page was able to be monetized with Ad revenue on my videos, and I had been able to post them more often to start making my own income as a creator.
Enter, Quarantine, 2020. Life was weird. But being a content creator couldn’t have been more perfect of an occupation during this time. People were consuming more than ever cause the WORLD was at home, looking for entertainment. I was still able to shoot Smile Squad vids on my own with no actors during that time, but I also had a LOT of time for my content as well. Enter Disney Characters In Quarantine. I was writing all sorts of videos, and I remember seeing an article online that said, “Disneyland Closed Due To COVID”. And I jokingly thought to myself, “I wonder how quarantine will be for all the Disney characters….”
LIGHTBULB. So I started to think, what if I dress like the characters, but with whatever I can find in my closet, and sing their most popular songs, but change all the lyrics to make them COVID themed, kinda like how Weird Al would parody songs. So, I wrote eight characters and the songs to go with them, made some make shift costumes, and shot the video. I posted the video on March 30th, and it. Went. INSANE. Completely off the rails. Gaining almost 5 million views before the day was even over. I went to bed and woke up to over 30 million views overnight. I was speechless. It was EVERYWHERE. Every country, every news article, everyone was sharing it. It was completely out of control. It hit 50 Million views before the end of its second day. It wasn’t slowing down at all. My following on Facebook had doubled in less than three days, gaining over 400k followers. My Instagram, over 100k new followers. Getting the attention of KTLA News, People Magazine, Buzzfeed, LAD bible, EVERYONE wanted this video. The video currently sits at 78M views. And that was just part 1, yep, I made two more after that, creating a Disney In Quarantine trilogy. My life had been changed once again.
Fast forward past quarantine, my videos had allowed me to get verified on Instagram, as well as achieve 100k subscribers on Youtube and get their award for hitting the milestone. As of today (October 26th 2020) My Facebook is currently at 868k followers, my Instagram, at 323k, as well as 173k on Youtube! With my Facebook on track to hit 1M followers by the end of the year!
So, here we are today. It is so amazing how one moment can change your life, but also how every decision I have made and everything that has happened to me has led me to this point in my life, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I finally found my true purpose in life, and it feels like a dream every single day. No matter how many followers, or views or likes I get, I will always do my best to create the best possible videos for all those who support me and my journey because I love what I do, and I can’t wait to see what’s next, and I will continue to keep myself grounded and grateful, no matter what.
It doesn’t matter if you have 1k, 5k, 10k, or 100k, the most important K is kindness.
Has it been a smooth road?
I have lost friends, been dropped by agents, been fired from jobs, danced on the street, the journey hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. But all those moments have helped me become exactly who I am.
What else should our readers know?
I’m an independent content creator, building a brand and a message that is built into my content and myself as a person!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The social media world is always ever-changing, new trends every day. I feel like thats one of the reasons I love it so much. There will ALWAYS be something to make a video about something to challenge my creativity. I feel like the social media industry is just growing bigger and bigger every day, and it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @KurtTocci
- Facebook: Facebook.com/KurtTocciOfficial
- Other: Yoututbe.com/TocciProductions
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