Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Polonsky.
Rob, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started acting when I was 8-years-old. I got cast as The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz at Lake Forest Children’s Theater in Illinois. I still remember my first line and my character of Oz was portrayed in the styling of Elvis. There’s a tape that exists of this performance, but I’ll never tell you where.
As I got older and continued my run through the local children’s theater system, my Mom cut out an ad for a brand new Improv School that had opened up nearby called The Improv Playhouse. This was my first foray in doing improv and I loved it and continued in the program for many years. The staff was made up of improvisors from The Second City and the school took us into participating in TheaterSports and Comedy Sports performances. It was such a great experience!
In high school, I discovered my love for making videos. I put it together with my love of performing and bam — I started making videos for the school’s morning announcements. I made sketches, man-on-the-street segments and even music videos.
That discovery carried over into college. I attended Columbia College Chicago and graduated from the Television Writing & Producing program. All through my college career, I made videos on the side and as part of my curriculum. My senior project I produced a variety sketch show TV pilot, which was inspired by Late Night TV called Call It A Show! Each segment derived from bringing ridiculous scenarios to people out in the streets. I walked around the streets of Chicago as Moses having people help him come up with The Ten Commandments. I rode around on a miniature bicycle pretending to be a bike cop (you’d be surprised about how many people thought I was really a cop. Not sure why…) I even attended The All Candy Expo to try out some of the latest candy and meet the vendors. Everything serviced from making people smile and finding the comedy in reality.
Four days after completing my last college class, I moved to Los Angeles and started an internship at William Morris Agency (now William Morris Endeavor) where I worked in the MoPic Lit department and had no idea what I was doing. I was quickly thrown into the middle of the Hollywood system and it was terrifying. Maybe it was the button up shirt and tie I had to wear each day or having a “desk job”, so I needed something to elevate that feeling.
I started taking Improv classes at The Groundlings Theater where I met a couple of guys, Chad & Matt, and we started a YouTube Channel together naturally called Chad, Matt & Rob. We uploaded our first sketch comedy videos to Myspace and were able to grow a little bit of a following. But it wasn’t until our Alien Prank Video for when things changed for us. We initially uploaded it to Break.com and it got 2 million views over a couple of days. We then uploaded it to YouTube along with all of our older videos and our channel exploded the following weeks after. The Alien Prank video revived over 30 million views and our channel gained 130K subscribers. We were the first to tell interactive stories on YouTube creating 5 “Interactive Adventures”. It was our way to tell long-form stories on the platform to showcase our filmmaking skills.
With the growth of YouTube and online video, I found myself very interested in the business side and got a full-time job working with YouTube as part of the initial team to build out and open the YouTube Space in Los Angeles, a free production facility for YouTube Creators to come make videos.
My first job there was as a Production Manager for productions that came to work in the space. This facility was a huge investment for Google, but the problem was, the company had no idea what we were up to. So to try and get some corporate buy-in and awareness, my boss and head of the Space started creating a weekly vlog called Quick Hits where he’d go around the space interviewing creators to show what was happening in the space each week. But then…he went on vacation for a few weeks and asked me to take over.
Again, making videos and performing finds me. I began hosting the internal video series Quick Hits and 60 episodes in, the series had become so popular that the CEO requested for me to produce an external version. I partnered with the Creator Marketing team and I was able to create a full-time Host/Producer role for myself and for the next year and a half produced The Creator Show where I interviewed top creators on the platform and collaborated with them on fun bits and moments that aligned with a Late Night Show’s style and feel.
My corporate producing career then took me up to Seattle for a couple and a half years where I worked on an internal production team, but my call to get back to acting grew stronger and stronger.
I started taking acting classes in Seattle and produced a TV pilot called Everybody’s Watching which was a half-hour comedy about wanting to be an actor but stuck in a tech job (life story? yes.) I was able to raise $100K to produce the pilot in Seattle and worked with a wonderful team to put the whole thing together.
I learned so much about myself through my corporate working journey. 1.) I love to act and to make videos and no matter what I did, they always seemed to find me. 2.) I needed to be back in LA pursuing acting full time. So… I did that.
I moved back to LA with a year’s savings in tow and committed to pursuing Acting & Producing full time. I signed with a Manager and a Commercial Agent just as the pandemic hit.
Remember when I said making videos and acting always finds me? Well, it found me again. I started making videos in my STUDIO Apartment (get it?) A new version of Call It A Show was born.
The concept of the show started from my love of Late Night tv. My favorite parts of Late Night are the times the host would leave the studio to do a field segment where they’d perform some sort of task alongside a person in a specific job/topic. So I wanted to take my favorite component of late-night TV and develop a show out of it. But I wanted to find a way to frame the show.
My struggles with ADHD constantly drive me to be in constant pursuit of new and exciting things. So, I’ve set out on a journey to let my mind wander, diving deep into the worlds of interesting people and businesses, to take on ambitious endeavors.
Whether it’s becoming a Stand-Up Comedian, getting back in touch with his Jewish roots by having a re-Bar Mitzvah or becoming a food delivery driver with Postmates for the day, anything that comes to my mind is fair game. Whether or not I succeed or fall flat on my face, I’ll always (try) to leave you laughing.
Born out of the pandemic is this show that I couldn’t be more excited about. It’s my new baby and I look forward to continuing to develop it and producing new episodes with the goal of making this thing TV ready and finding funding and distribution.
Hosting and producing videos has been my through-line. And the Pandemic has really reminded me of that and I’m excited to continue my journey as a Host, Actor, Writer & Producer.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve always told myself that if it’s not fun, then I’m not doing it right, which has paved the way to so many pivots, twists and turns in my career to get myself on the track that I’m on today.
I’ve made so many mistakes along the way. Some big. Some small. But they’ve each served a purpose and I would never take any of them back.
My biggest struggle was finding clarity in my path. I loved working full-time jobs, but when behind a desk (even though I was doing something I enjoyed) I always felt like something was missing.
I’ve acquired such a diverse set of skill sets throughout my journey. I write, produce, shoot, edit, act. host…I make a killer budget, manage a corporation of my own, balance books, do business development. I have all of these skill sets because I’ve bounced around so much.
Looking back maybe some of this is due to my ADHD, but I think a lot of it is just due to not being complacent and not fully satisfied with where I was at in my life. It’s such a hard thing to see and understand clearly when you’re in it.
There were so many times while working at my full-time jobs, and I’ve worked some hella cool full-time jobs, where I had convinced myself that “I’ve grown out of acting and that I should focus on my job and move up the corporate ladder”. It was so confusing!! And having really awesome jobs certainly made it more difficult. I’d always ask myself “why do I feel this way? Why can’t I just be satisfied with what’s in front of me, do a good job, get a paycheck and just go home and relax, play video games and live a normal life.” Well, I figured it out. I’m an artist. It’s not in my DNA to do that.
I can tell you that through the course of this journey of discovery, I’ve hit a lot of walls, both mentally and financially.
I can proudly say for the first time in my life, I’ve found a balance that I feel content with. I’ve launched a freelance video editing business (called See More of This) where I edit short-form, easy to consume content for companies and brands. It’s a full-time job owned and operated by me. I’m able to do something I love doing that also provides me with the flexibility to pursue the other thing I love doing. Producing Call It A Show and going out for Commercial and Hosting work.
How did I get here? Honestly, I have the Pandemic to thank for allowing me to take the time to see things more clearly and to put all the pieces together. For that, I’m grateful. But still, this Pandemic sucks.
Contact Info:
- Website: youtube.com/rob
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: robpolonsky
- Facebook: robpolonsky
- Twitter: robpolonsky
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