We recently connected with Eternal Polk and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Eternal, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

It was 1991 and after flunking out Purdue University with a Mechanical Engineering major and attending another university to get my grades up, I re-enrolled to Purdue and went back to resume my degree. During that year I decided that I wanted to try out for a play even thought I had never acted a day in my life. I got the lead role in the play and did a great job, but during the rehearsals I found myself, much to the director’s annoyance, giving suggestions on how the scenes should go. Of course my director, who would become one of my mentors, told me to be quiet and do as I was told…LOL!

Later that semester I was informed I did not meet the requirements to remain in the school and would not be able to attend school the following semester. At that moment of frustration honestly fear, I thought to myself what could I do that I feel is meant for me. A little while later I called up my theater director/mentor and said I think I want to direct and she gave me a Super8 camera and a book of scripts and said go do it!

Eternal, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My introduction to the industry happened very soon after I arrived in New York to attend film school at NYU. I put myself through school by working at FedEx and one day while talking to my new co-workers they inquired why did I move to New York and I shared that I came to go to film school. After a few days, everyone knew the new kid came from Indianapolis to go to film school. One of my co-workers told me that he had a friend who was a producer and that he was working on a video for A Tribe Called Quest.

This is important because one of my influences and inspirations to come to New York was A Tribe Called Quest. I met this producer and started interning for him and within a few months, I was working on my first music videos.

From there I would go on to work on high profile music videos. commercials and eventually landed at NFL Films. I would go on to be nominated for Emmys and win other awards for my branded content and tv/brand commercial projects.

To say the least I have had many twist and turns in my career that have helped me to be a swiss-army knife when it comes to storytelling and filmmaking. As a writer, director, producer, and editor I have a unique perspective around the pratical execution of a project.

In addition to this my experince with a marketing agency that was the agency of record for a netwrok, I had the opportunity to interact with other agencies and creative directors, brands and network personnel. Understanding the ecosystem from front to back is practical knowlege that I pull from to help create and fulfill project objectives.

My relationships and cultural perspective is the secret sauce as well as my desire to elevate my storytelling opportunities with nuance and exploring the layers of conversations that are happening on screen and between the audience and the work.

I’m proud of all my work but I’m most proud of helping an agency become one fo the fastest growing agencies as recognized by AdAge and the collaborations that have lead to great results, with great collaborations that left everyone feeling good about the journey we went on to create the work.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

First I want to dispel the idea that there are non-creatives. Each area of our lives requires us to create something. Whether it’s a process, a result or an idea. As it pertains to what we traditionally call “creatives”, people should understand that our ideas and creations don’t just come out of thin air. I study lighting, architecture, fashion, and anthropology in addition to film and writing. I pull from all of these areas and my decades of experience to create an idea that can be executed under a project’s constraints.

So it’s not just simply art or being creative, it’s intellectual property that is embued with research, education and real-world experience.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think the greatest lesson or one of the greatest lessons a creative can unlearn is looking at others and comparing where you are at in your journey and comparing that to others. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and my semi-big break came 5 years ago or 25 years into the game. Be curious, learn a lot, stay focused on your journey. Coupled with this lesson is the lesson of ENJOYING the journey because when you get to what you think is THERE, you will realize that you didn’t appreciate the road you took and got joy from it. Often we lament where we’re at while envisioning what life will be like when we’re successful. In all honesty, I spent so much time hating the time it took, the obstacles and opportunities I didn’t get and I missed out on really enjoying a significant amount of my life and journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eternalpolk.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eternalpolk/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eternalpolk/

Image Credits
Ken West Eternal Polk