Actor Kevin Pollak Reinvents Himself With Web Video

In his 30-year career, Kevin Pollak has appeared in more than 60 films and created indelible roles in such modern classics as A Few Good Men and The Usual Suspects. His Internet awakening occurred in 2009, when he started his Streamy Award winning weekly talk show Kevin Pollak Chat Show backed by Jason Calacanis (Mahalo). He ventured into the world of Web video with his acclaimed original Web series Vamped Out (it was his directorial debut and he wrote and starred in it as well). Vamped Out returns for season 2 on Babelgum this fall. In a series of interviews about his projects, Pollak shares the story of his evolution and what he loves about this new entertainment medium.

Fast Company: How did Kevin Pollak Chat Show start?

Kevin Pollak: About a year ago, I was visiting Jason Calacanis at Maholo's offices. He was doing a live streaming thing with his disciples, he pulled me into the Q&A, and we did that for about 45 minutes or so. When it was over, I said, 'What the fuck was that?'

During the chat, Calacanis signed me up for Twitter, and I was like, 'What's a Twitter?' And he's showing me around the offices, and he shows me a small studio that he'd been using to shoot This Week in Startups.

In the recesses of my brain, out popped an idea. You know, I'd like to do a Charlie Rose thing, involve the fans--something real, live, no censorship, no time limits. As an actor, I've done all the shows back to Johnny Carson. The only one that's a conversation, the only one without a pre-interview where they ask you what you did on vacation or whatever, is Charlie Rose. Carson was the master, but it was still a performance. Tom Snyder's old show came close, but still a pre-interview. Bob Costas's old show came close to a conversation.

Jason said to me, 'You know you said that out loud, right?' It came out of nowhere. And I wanted to hit the ground with my feet racing. Our mantra from the beginning has been: "We're Not Ready." We did a live streaming Twittercast of the Oscars, and we've been doing a show almost every week since.

FC: What was the first sign that this might be working?

KP: After about eight weeks, the LA Times did a front-page, above-the-fold story on us. They found us. We haven't done any publicity whatsoever. That was physical evidence that we were doing something unique and special.

FC: In that LA Times piece and on the show, I've heard you allude to how you'll make money off Kevin Pollak Chat Show. What can you tell me about that?

KP: I ask myself, is this something that I enjoy doing? If so, I can't be that concerned about the notion of monetization.

That said, I have thought about the model being the earliest days of television: 'This hour is brought to you by ... .' The show I was always reference is the old 1950s Colgate Comedy Hour. Who's our Colgate?

Ustream came in within a month and they're a financial sponsor and handle our live streaming. But when I start to get serious about thinking about other sponsors and wondering when you go out looking for advertisers, I say, 'Let's just keep doing it a bit more, get a little bit better.'

[Update: Since our conversation, episodes of KPCS are available on DVD via Amazon for $9.99 apiece.]

FC: That interview you did with Jason Reitman [director of Up in the Air] was really amazing. I got the sense that everyone knew within 30 seconds that this guy got it.

KP: When it was over, I told everyone, 'I think we just shot the pilot.' That was the first time in 40 shows where I wanted someone to burn a DVD of the interview for me.

Every show we've done, I get a follow-up email the next day saying two things: 1) I can't believe how fast it went. We're talking for sometimes two-and-a-half hours. Eddie Izzard holds the record with two hours and thirty-one minutes. This is the longest, most in-depth interview any of them have ever done. And 2) It felt so loose and natural. But with Jason, he also wrote me and thanked me because he had never expressed the father-son thing in that way before. [Jason's father is writer-producer-director Ivan Reitman, perhaps best known for the Ghostbusters franchise.]