Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Pearlman.
Victoria, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started out as an attention deprived theatre kid. I just wanted to be seen and applauded.
I grew up in a really small town in Texas, there was virtually no arts community there. We had one school play based on the Bible every year. I ended up at boarding school in Michigan at age 14 pursuing theatre, acting in particular. But I never felt confident or comfortable on stage, I was surrounded by the best of the best at my boarding school. But I learned the craft so diligently, and I’ve always been an A+ student with an attention to detail and a love for drama. So I naturally transitioned to directing, which suited my bossy nature (ask my twin sister, I was miss bossy pants as a kid).
In college I kept up the directing, but after graduating I needed to support myself. I did odd administrative jobs (one of which was at The Grove which I to this day cannot set foot in without transporting to that really uncomfortable time in my life where I was struggling to make rent and having to put my dreams to the side).
I ended up in an improv class to learn more about comedy, and to have some sort of creative expression. In that class I met a friend, artist, and businessman who owned a social media company. That company needed a producer who could run production for their celebrity clients. At the time they had clients like Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendez, and Zooey Deschanel. I started there and loved it! I had the background in working with talent and the eye for visual story telling, and the role was creative and fun AND paid the bills!
For the last 6 years I’ve been doing creative marketing on social media. I’ve now worked with all kinds of brands, but primarily I work on tv shows. All those snippets on social you see that make you think “that show looks cool, maybe I’ll check it out”, that’s me!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Coming out of college into the real world was such a rude awakening.
Most of my friends were able to have part time jobs and keep their creative pursuits front and center. I found it really difficult to pay rent on a part time salary.
Watching my friends have success in their early careers and be really doing the creative thing was difficult to witness from my corporate desk. I felt lost, directionless, and like I was wasting time.
I couldn’t take it after about 2 years and I quit with no plan. My savings lasted me 3 weeks maybe? Then I picked up like 10 odd jobs all at once. One of the weirdest ones was handing out tickets outside of the Pantages theatre for a ticketing company. Which was 2 hours of work an evening on weekends, so it completely ruined my social life.
I also signed up for central casting and was a background actor! I actually think everyone in the business should do this at least once. It was kind of fun and you meet so many people but you also are treated like animals and corralled to the pigpen, made to stay up all night in a crowded trailer or under a tent, and yelled at quite frequently. Every set was different and some were actually really nice and fun. But some made you regret all your life choices.
I think the biggest challenge is having faith in the direction you are going. We all know that careers paths aren’t linear and aren’t written out in a guide book. But for me, for instance, I got set on a path of doing theatre because I liked it as a kid. When I sensed that I wasn’t good enough because my teachers weren’t giving me big roles, I felt the need to “prove everyone wrong”, but after a few years in the real adult world I began to question if that was a strong enough reason to pursue a really difficult and thankless career path. As an adult it didn’t feel as fulfilling or natural as I wanted it to. At boarding school, they always brought in guest alumni who had “made it” which to them meant had booked a co-star on a series or starred in a Broadway play. I remember thinking that if you don’t “make it” as an actor or director, then the school wouldn’t be proud of you and you’d failed. Anyone who quit, failed. Anyone who changed career paths and had success somewhere else? Still failed. And that fear of failure haunted me.
To this day I don’t know if I’m on the right path. I wonder if I made a wrong turn somewhere, if I’d be happier doing something else. I love creative marketing but it is high stress and very competitive. We work long days for posts that sometimes get a couple hundred people’s eyes on them. Is it worth the stress and the overtime?
Some days I love it, some days I don’t know.
I’m truly so grateful to have found a stable job that’s both creative and reliable. But no I would not say the road was smooth.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a senior producer for social media in the entertainment industry. I work for an agency, and I’m on an account that’s confidential, but it’s a streaming service – one of the big ones.
What I do? Come up with creative ways to get shows talked about on social. Whether it’s pitching big activations and IRL events or creating bespoke social content with cast members or simply cutting clips and writing captions for Instagram.
I’m most proud of the breadth of huge name celebrities and brands I’ve worked with. I once directed a video campaign for a brand that featured Matt Bomer, he sent an email to the company afterwards complimenting my work. That was one of the most gratifying moments for me. I love working with talent and making something they can be proud of!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The ability to take criticism while simultaneously being able to know when or when not to champion an idea. Creativity is subjective, the best idea is subjective. Sometimes you have to fight for your vision but you also have to be willing to let other people’s opinions matter more at times.
I also think my background in working with actors taught me to be tactful, patient, and empathetic. I bring that to my work every day. Empathy may not always be rewarded in this industry, but it makes my work and my relationships stronger.
And making relationships! Make friends, get to know people, BE NICE! It really goes far in this world,
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @vicki.p.productions
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-pearlman?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Image Credits
The two photos of Zooey Deschanel are by Chris Shelley
