A theater kid, in the flesh, and a venturer to all opportunities he can get his hands on, Jacob Pollack (C, W ’25) is everywhere all at once. Literally. From studying cinema and management concurrently to backpacking through Patagonia, the horizons of Jacob’s ambitions and versatility see no end.
Name: Jacob Pollack
Hometown: Millburn, New Jersey
Major: Cinema and Media Studies and Business with a concentration in Management
Activities: Wharton Undergraduate Media & Entertainment Club, Kinoki, Simply Chaos, Penn Singers, Teaching Fellow for Grit Lab 101, Teaching Assistant for CIMS 2850, Research Assistant at Adam Grant’s Impact Lab, Theatre Arts Council, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, The Daily Pennsylvanian, and 34th Street Magazine
Where did your interest in media and entertainment come from?
I've loved movies growing up. In my family, we weren’t watching sports on the weekend; we watched a lot of movies. I spent all my weekend watching movies, that's how I grew my love. I loved Disney movies growing up. I still love Disney, but I think I've elevated my taste a little bit.
When I came to Penn, I knew I wanted to take at least a few cinema studies classes, but I definitely did not think I was going to major in it. I'm first generation so the first thing my parents and I both were thinking—after working pretty hard to get here—was not to watch movies all day. But, I knew I wanted to be involved.
I love the cinema classes I've taken. My favorite cinema studies class I've taken is Art of Business and Film, which I'm the TA for. If you speak to alumni, they always talk about that class. It teaches you how to make a film, and you learn about the business side. You start from the pitching development side, then you make the film, then you market the film, and then you present the film. I think that's such a unique class at Penn.
How did you end up doing an uncoordinated dual degree in Cinema and Business here at Penn?
I applied PPE and political science to every school, including Penn. I didn't get into Penn at first, I got on the waitlist. I remember in high school, I had an outdoor [theatre] rehearsal during COVID-19 and I was on Reddit for waitlisted Penn students as they were sending out emails that day, and then I got an email from Penn Admissions. I excused myself from my theater rehearsal. I had gotten off the waitlist. I came into Penn for PPE. I was very interested in political science and government when I was in high school, and then I took a couple of classes. Now looking back on it, I don't think I'd be suited for politics.
I knew I wanted to do something in the creative realm. I'm always reaching for creative, artistic outlets. I also wanted to tap as much as I could out of Penn through the College of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School. I definitely feel like I'm very happy with the decision to do an uncoordinated dual degree. It's a lot of work, but it's a great balance going from a statistics class to learning about romantic comedies. Penn is very interdisciplinary, and I don't think there'd be any other school that has such a good business program and a great cinema studies program. I didn't know Penn had a great cinema studies department before coming here, but I am so grateful that they do because I love it. I think management's cool. I really dig all of the classes I've taken from classes about family businesses to organizational behavior. I took a class with Adam Grant last semester called Synchrony at Work. Super, super cool classes. I transferred to Wharton, as I just wanted to do both, so I chose an uncoordinated dual degree program.
When was the first time you got into performance art? What has been a formative experience in your experience of performance arts?
I've always been a little bit of a theater kid since middle school. Since I've gotten into Penn, I've put more of my focus on theater because I really enjoy it. I'm not talented enough to do it full–time, but I do it just because I love it a lot. I have been very fortunate to be in a lot of great productions. It just brings me a lot of joy. I love performance. I love entertainment. I’m a big Broadway person here. I was listening to the Wizard and I on the way here. I get aesthetic chills when I listen to some Broadway music.
I also like musical theater. I'm very theatrical. I think I stick to musicals because—I may butcher the phrase—you sing because it's a heightened form of expression and emotions. I love to sing. I hope to continue doing that after college for fun. That's just a very theater–kid thing. I'll just sing how I'm feeling.
I'm in Penn Singers, and last spring, our director quit midway. I've never been in a show where our director quit and I remember all the chairs were just lined up and as we sat down, the music director said “Your director just quit." The show was in six weeks, but we went together, and we kind of directed the show ourselves. It was incredible. That was just one moment of many that shaped a lot of the respect I have for people who do theater at Penn. Because it's a lot of hours, people do it because they're passionate. Penn is not a theater school. You're not getting your MFA, but people are doing it because they love it. Like me, I love to be around people who love things that they're doing just for the sake of it.
How did you end up getting involved in stand–up comedy?
I love comedy. Probably my favorite show has been Saturday Night Live, I know everyone loves to hate on every current new season. For 34th Street, I wrote about how I waited in line with a friend for SNL, that was an insane experience.
Junior year, I thought about having two more years left at Penn. I thought "Why not just put myself into new territory?" So I auditioned for Simply Chaos. I just wrote jokes, I guess I'm a little bit funny conversationally—although anyone who says that they're funny is not that funny. I auditioned. It was just super nerve–wracking because again they are my stories about myself, my family, my life, what I've experienced.
It's a little different from theater. You're by yourself with a microphone. When you do theater, you play a character. When you're doing stand–up, it's all you. So when people clap—hopefully not when people boo or stay silent—that's all you. I was in Los Angeles last summer, and through a Penn alumni, I actually got to perform at Flappers Comedy Club in Los Angeles. I performed with other stand–up amateurs and then some professional stand–up comedians in front of a real crowd, not just a Penn crowd.
I think sometimes at Penn people think that the activities you do as a freshman are the ones you have to stay in, or you think that it’s too late to start anew. But I think Penn has so much to offer. My taste in what I've been involved with has changed so much during my time at Penn, for example, now I’m working in a research lab.
Tell me how you worked on growing the Wharton Undergraduate Media and Entertainment Club.
The first I remember, at the student club fair, I found UME, and I joined from the very beginning as a committee member. After my first semester, I joined as a professional development chair, and then I was on the board, and then after that, I became vice president. This past year, I was the president.
When you think of Penn, you probably don't think of its cinema studies and entertainment community. I think it's a small yet mighty and passionate group. Even though I'm going to consulting right after college, my long–term goal is to be in entertainment. I would love to be a producer someday, and make meaningful stories. UME teaches you about the business side. We've gotten to meet people who work behind the scenes. Last spring we hosted a full Barbie event, as it was one of the biggest movies last year. We had the head producer who literally brought the idea of Barbie to life with Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie. We had the people who were at the head of Warner Brothers Pictures, the head of marketing, head of distribution, head of film production. We themed the whole event like a Barbie conference.
The club has expanded a lot since I first joined, we've gained a lot of new members, I'm really proud of everyone on my board who helped make that possible. I really couldn't have done it without my board.
How have you interacted with communities and events outside of Penn?
During the winter of my sophomore year, I did the Wharton Leadership Venture which took me to Patagonia in Chile for 10 days with 10 other Wharton students. Patagonia is the most beautiful place in the entire world, in my opinion, and it's really special to go on a trip like this. I'm very into backpacking. I've sectioned parts of the Appalachian Trail before I came to Penn.
During the summer from my sophomore to junior year, I went to Cannes. The big film was Martin Scorsese’s Killer of the Flower Moon. I waited 13 hours in line to see that movie. There's definitely a hierarchy to access the screenings and Penn students are low on it. You have to wait in the standby line because you can't get into premieres by walking. Although, Penn people found very creative ways to get into the premieres of Asteroid City, the Wes Anderson movie. I actually got to meet Wes Anderson at Cannes!
I went to Argentina right after. So I had, like, literally 24 hours, and then I was in Argentina. I also went to the Argentinian side of Patagonia. Since I'm doing an uncoordinated dual degree I couldn't have studied abroad and graduated in four years. I would love to live somewhere international at some point. I really want to go back to Argentina. It was a really special time in my life. I would love to go back to hike Patagonia again. I really enjoy the people of Argentina. I love Chile. I want to go back to Valparaiso, a beautiful city. That was probably the best summer I've had in college because it was full of traveling.
What attribute of Penn do you hold closest to your heart?
People here are very much doing things they're passionate about. People don't really half–ass things, I would say, at least I don't surround myself with those who do. At least the ones who do well are not the ones who half–ass things. I have a lot of friends in performing arts groups. I love it when I see other people who, especially in the arts, are performing and you can just tell how much they love it. I love that because I love seeing people who love what they're doing actually actively pursuing it. I love seeing that, and that's something I'm gonna miss about Penn because there are at least two or three shows that I want to see each week that I have friends in. Once I graduate, even though I'll be in Los Angeles and there'll be arts groups to see, my friends won't be in them. People are very passionate here, and I like that. They're passionate unabashedly.
What do you have coming up looking beyond Penn?
I'm gonna be in Los Angeles. I'm very proud to be from New Jersey, and I'm so happy to go to Los Angeles. That was a conscious decision of mine. I was there last summer at another consulting firm. I loved it. It's a total change of pace from the East Coast. I'm excited to be in Los Angeles, surrounded by entertainment, even though I'm probably not going to be directly involved in that. But still being around entertainment, and artistic people is something I really value. The traits of creative people, where they are authentic, they're passionate, they are who they are, and they're gritty. I feel like you've got to be gritty to be a successful artist or a starving artist as well. You’ve got to be gritty.
Lightning round
If you were a fictional character who would you be? Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm
Favorite board game? Rat–a–tat–Cat, it's a British board game
Top four films on Letterboxd? Lady Bird, Taxi Driver, Brokeback Mountain, and Boogie Nights
There are two types of people at Penn … Those who are from New Jersey and those who are not from New Jersey
And you are? I’m from New Jersey
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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