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?
