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Patrik-Ian Polk

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Patrik-Ian Polk
Born (1973-07-29) 29 July 1973 (age 51)
Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA
Occupation(s)Actor, director, screenwriter

Patrik-Ian Polk (born July 29, 1973) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, singer, and actor. Polk, who is openly homosexual, is noted for his films that explore the LGBT experience and relationships.[1] Polk made his feature film directorial debut with Punks, an independent feature that he also wrote and produced. Often described as a male Waiting to Exhale, Punks had its world premiere in January 2000 as the Sundance Film Festival, as part of its American Spectrum series. The film won several awards at festivals around the world and was released theatrically in November 2001.[2] He is the creator of the TV series Noah's Arc, which has made its debut on the Logo television network in October 2005.

Education

Patrik-Ian Polk was born in 1973 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA. Polk was intrigued and fascinated by television and movies as a young child.[3] Polk attended Brandeis University in Massachusetts and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Film and theater. The University of Southern Mississippi is a school in Polk's hometown of Hattiesburg, and is known for its premier research. Polk also attended Brandeis University, where he was the arts editor of the school newspaper.He then went on to study at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinema-Television. While at the School of Cinema-Television, Polk wrote and directed many short films.

Early career

Partrik-Ian Polk served briefly as a producer's assistant for Amblin Entertainment's Television series known as “SeaQuest,DSV,”. Polk was then hired to work for MTV as a development executive at Music TeleVision (MTV), in the newly formed Paramount-based film division known as MTV films. Polk helped development of many productions including “Beavis and Butthead Do America” and “Election”. “Election”, a scandalous story about a high school election, was nominated for an Oscar in 1999.

Patrik-Ian Polk then began to work for Edmond's Entertainment, aka e2 filmworks. Under Tracey and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Polk worked as Vice President of production and development. Whilst, in his Tenure at e2, Polk worked on films such as “Light It Up” (1999), “Soul Food” (1997), and “Hav Plenty” (1998). Soul Food, told through the eyes of an eleven year old boy, is story about the plights of an African-American family who is broken by the death of their mother. Throughout the film, a struggle for stability and unity within the film is a major theme. The film eventually went on to be produced into a Showtime show that turned into a series based on the film. Playing for four years, Soul Food became the longest running drama featuring a predominately black cast. “Light It Up” grossed $6 million.

Punks

Patrik-Ian Polk's first feature film was “Punks” (2001), produced by Babyface. Polk directed, wrote, and produced the film independently. The movie, starring Rockmond Dunbar, Renoly Santiago, Jazzmun, and Devon Odessa, is a film about a group of African American Gay Friends. “Punks” first was shown in January 2000 at the Sundance Film Festival in the American Spectrum Series.[4] The film won the Black Reel Award (2002) for Best Independent Actor Rockmond Dunbar and the Cleveland International Film Festival's Best American Independent Feature Film. It also was chosen to open the Twenty-Fourth San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and is noted for its landmark achievement for it anecdotes in classic Hollywood art cinema.[5] In addition, it was nominated for the GLAAD Media Award and the John Cassavetes Award.[6] In November 2001, Punks was released to theatrical audiences at the Quad in New York City. The film acquired great attention, and had very good per screen revenue. This film's major themes were incorporated in Polk's later works.[2] Making its television debut, the film premiered on LOGO on August 7, 2011.

Noah's Arc

Main article: Noah's Arc (TV series)

Noah's Arc started as a television series about a gay black group of friends. The show addresses and integrates issues like same-sex dating, same-sex marriage, HIV and AIDS awareness, infidelity, sexual curiosity, promiscuity, homophobia, gay bashing, and same-sex parenthood. Often considered "the gay Sex and the City," the show aired for 2 seasons, making 17 episodes (plus the pilot). The series aired on the Logo cable-television network, and became extremely popular after its initial airing in October 2005. For a long time, the show was the network's most popular title. The 23-minute episodes take place in Los Angeles and shows the four black gay friends- Noah, Alex, Ricky, and Chance -dealing with everyday life in their situation through complex romantic and professional relationships.

Starring in the show are stars such as Darryl Stephans, Rodney Chester, Cristian Vincent, Doug Spearman, and Jensen Atwood.[7] After much anticipation, a second season was announced and aired eight episodes, ending with a cliffhanger. With the demand from audiences for a third season, LOGO announced canceled, but said that the series may return if the planned feature film was a large success. Polk is noted for saying that Noah's ark is both a “triumph and a let down”.[8]

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom (2008) was the film to follow the series, and featured Patrik-Ian Polk as director, writer, and producer of the movie. The movie was written in collaboration with fellow writer from the series John R. Gordon, and picks up after the cliffhanger in the second season. The film is about the marriage and wedding of the main character, Noah Nicolson, and his boyfriend Wade Robinson at Martha's Vineyard. In the movie, four groups of couples struggle for identity while attending four different bachelor parties where each relationship becomes more complicated. Near the end, Noah and Wade are not helped with their last-minute jitters by the tension of their friends.

The film was released on October 24, 2008, on a limited basis, performing at theaters in Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Palm Springs, and Washington, D.C.. On November 7, the movie showed in Ocean City, New Jersey, Detroit and San Francisco. The movie finally then began showing at theaters in Philadelphia and Dallas on November 28, 2008, and performed well on a per screen basis.[9]

Polk's work received much acclaim throughout the gay community. The film received three NAACP Image Award nominations: Outstanding Independent Feature Film, Outstanding Writing in a Feature Film and Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film.[10] The film was also nominated for GLAAD Award's for Best Feature Film (Limited Release), in which it won.[11] The film, however, received many critical reviews from other critics. For example, Time Out called it "ludicrous",[12] and Variety described it as "a lame feature",[13] and that the jump from the cable-television to big screen was too much. Jumping the Broom received a 43% on the website Rotten Tomatoes.[14]

However, despite criticism, according to IndieWire (October 27, 2008),[15] the movie opened as number 1 on the independent film box office report. Theaters reported around the block lines, and even though it only played for 7 weeks in no more than 7 theaters at once, took in over $532,000 despite its low mainstream marketing support.[16] The film took an estimated 5million to make, and is never expected to make back those costs even with its DVD release.

Life

Patrik-Ian Polk's strides in portraying and exemplifying the gay community of African-Americans has widely been considered one of his greatest achievements. Amongst other things, Polk notes one experience where he was confronted by one transitioning person that they were experiencing exactly what “Noah's Arc” characters went through and that they were extremely grateful to him. Polk said, when asked in an interview with “Shei” what his inspiration was to the series “Noah's Arc” that “I wanted to see black gay charters and there were none on TV. So I decided rather than complain about it, I'd do it myself.”[3] Amongst other things, Polk has a strong attitude towards a healthy life style, and goes to the gym often. Polk says he was inspired by Spike lee on television with the scene “She's Gotta Have It”, where there was a black face in film making. Patrik-Ian Polk is a strong believer that people should come out and not have a secret lifestyle as it leads to lies and deception.

In his free time, Patrik is found at the gym, watching TV or traveling. One destination common for him is London, where he goes to unwind. Patrik also updates his Twitter regularly.[17]

Polk has a website, http://tallskinnyblackboy.com/ which includes some of his videos, music, photos, and his news.

Polk has completed his latest project, "The Skinny," which debuts this fall.

References

  1. ^ Shapiro, Gregg (October 25, 2005). "Interview with Noah's Arc Creator Patrik-Ian Polk". AfterElton.com. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
  2. ^ a b "Punks - 2001". Variety. Retrieved 2008-11-30. [dead link]
  3. ^ a b http://sheifunmi.net/sheifunmi-interviews-hollywood-film-maker-patrik-ian-polk/
  4. ^ Kevin Thomas (2001-11-16). "Witty "Punks" takes romantic comedy into new territory". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-01-22. [dead link]
  5. ^ http://glq.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/12/4/614.pdf David, J. “GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. GLA 12.4 (2006): Print.
  6. ^ IMDb Film Accolades Page for Punks
  7. ^ Logo TV official site
  8. ^ Rastegar, Roya. “The De-Fusion of Good Intentions Outfest's Fusion Film Festival”. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Volume 15, Number 3, 2009, pp. 481-497
  9. ^ Richard Lieby (2008-10-31). "Noah's Arc Fills Theaters Two by Two". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  10. ^ http://www.naacpimageawards.net/40/nom_movies.php
  11. ^ http://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/20thAnnual/nominees.php
  12. ^ http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/86038/noahs-arc-jumping-the-broom.html
  13. ^ Koehler, Robert (2008-10-23). "Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom". Variety.
  14. ^ http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/1202578/?critic=columns&sortby=date&name_order=asc&view=text
  15. ^ http://www.indiewire.com/article/iw_bot_noahs_arc_shocks_amid_batch_of_strong_openers/
  16. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0955306/business
  17. ^ http://twitter.com/patrikianpolk twitter for Patrik-Ian Polk

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