Recent Posts
Entertainment July 1, 2019
"You really have no choice, unless you want to live in misery."
Photo via Abel Armas/@abelarmasphotographyWhen was the last time you heard of someone who was a writer, actor, producer, composer and even made an appearance on “Jeopardy!”?
I didn’t even know being this talented was possible. That is until I met Jonah Platt.
I recently sat down with Platt at a juice bar in West Hollywood. Dressed in casual pants and a comfortable t-shirt, he gave off a persona that was completely unassuming. But as soon as we started talking, it quickly became clear just how talented and extraordinary he is.
Platt comes from a family of entertainers. And while he said he felt no pressure to pursue a career in the industry, he recognized that his passion for entertainment was heavily influenced by his early exposure to musical theatre.
“That’s what we listened to in my house as a kid,” he said. “[It’s] what we went to go see, what we watched on tape – it was all musicals, all the time.”
Platt’s parents put him in piano lessons at age 6, and he took up guitar when he was 8 or 9. In high school, his band played all around town, and he realized quite young that he loved being on stage.
“It’s the energy of being with the audience and the feeling of anything can happen,” he said.
But Platt’s career actually began off the stage. Immediately after college, he tried marketing a spec script he had written. He ended up meeting with TV comedy icon Greg Daniels, who told him that while he didn’t have any positions open in the writers’ room, he was looking for a driver to drive him back and forth from the office of a new show he was working on. He hired Platt to give him a foot in the door and a chance to hang around the team.
That new show became “Parks and Recreation,” and Platt was soon hired as a junior writer’s assistant.
Platt recognizes that in the industry, you never know what will end up being your “way in.” For him, it was being someone’s driver, but no two people’s paths are the same. For that reason, he advises young people to take any opportunity that comes their way.
“Always say ‘yes,'” Platt said. “At the beginning, just say ‘yes’ to everything. ‘Oh, I’m doing a crappy reading of some musical.’ ‘Yes, I’ll be in it.’ ‘I’m writing a really terrible digital short – will you be the central guy?’ ‘Yes.’ Whatever it is, you’ve just got to start building out the community.”
While he enjoyed his time on “Parks and Recreation,” Platt left the show after a year because there wasn’t a lot for him to do. He heard that “Arrested Development’s” Mitch Hurwitz was starting a new show called “Running Wilde.” As a diehard “Arrested Development” fan, Platt knew he had to be a part of Hurwitz’s new show.
“‘Arrested [Development]’ was my bible,” he said. “It was the whole reason I wanted to write for TV. So I was like, ‘I have to do whatever it takes to get hired on this show.’”
So he reached out to everyone he knew who could help him get the job, and as he put it, they all “screamed [his] name in Mitch Hurwitz’s face.”
And lo and behold, he was hired.
Platt’s perseverance to pursue his dream takes a lot of strength and determination. His advice to aspiring writers is to never be embarrassed to use every possible way you can to get an edge because that’s what the rest of the industry is doing.
“Especially on the writing side, if you want to get your foot in the door, somebody’s somebody is getting that job,” Platt said. “They’re hiring their writer’s cousin. They’re not hiring from a personal want ad.”
“Running Wilde” was canceled after a year, but Platt had built up enough credentials that he immediately landed a job on “Family Guy.” He stayed there for a few years, and then began writing for a show called “Mr. Robinson.”
Still, during my meeting with him, he got visibly excited every time he spoke about his stint on “Running Wilde,” and it was clear that he was saddened by the fact that it didn’t work out long-term. But, as Platt put it, “this is the nature of the beast.” Some projects work out, while others don’t.
While what he has accomplished in his writing career is astounding, Platt’s acting and directing resume is no less impressive. He played Woof in “Hair” at the Hollywood Bowl, Homer in “Floyd Collins” at La Mirada, Jason in the Los-Angeles production of “Bare,” and so much more. Most recently, he appeared in “Jesus Christ Superstar Live!” on NBC. He is also the co-founder and former President of Starlight Studios, an L.A.-based production company that has allowed him to direct and produce a variety of film projects.
But perhaps what Platt is best known for is his role as Fiyero in “Wicked” on Broadway.
“What I loved about it was I got to go deeper and deeper into the character,” he said.
To this day, he travels back and forth between Los Angeles and New York City, sometimes even for a single audition, which poses its challenges.
“In LA, if I have an audition, by the time the audition is over I’m back at home, onto the next thing,” he said. “When I have an audition in New York, I’m going there just for the audition. It puts a lot more pressure on it and highlights it in a way that can be distracting from the kind of energy that you want to be going into an audition with, which is ‘I don’t care, and I’ve done it and I’m over it and I’m out of here’ … it’s a little harder to maintain that headspace when you’re flying across the country expressly for this purpose.”
The nonchalant, resilient attitude is one that Platt thinks is instrumental for anyone’s success in the industry, as the amount of no’s you’ll get is extremely high.
“You really have no choice, unless you want to live in misery,” he said. “You have to put your blinders on and say, ‘I’m doing my own thing in life, I’m going at my own rate of development, my path is unlike anyone else’s, and what I’m bringing is unique to me as a human being – no one else can bring that.’”
I challenged Platt on that assertion, since while it sounds beautiful in theory, the harsh reality is that Hollywood is competitive – sometimes excruciatingly so. How, I asked, does he reconcile the importance of forging your own path with the nature of the industry?
“It’s definitely not for the faint of heart,” he said. “It takes a lot of inner strength and it takes a lot of external support. I can’t understate how important that external support can be, because you’ll go through a day where you audition for three things, you get none of them, you have nothing lined up for the next week, and you’re like ‘What the hell am I doing? I should stop.’ But then … you hear the voices of those people saying ‘Hey, we believe in you, just keep going – you’re going to get there.’”
Even now, as an established entertainer, Platt’s life is ever-changing. His newest project is a musical he co-wrote based on Lois Lowry’s “The Giver,” which is currently in development. And, of course, this past March, he became a dad to his son Joseph!
How does he juggle it all? He credits his family and friends for their unwavering support.
“If I didn’t have other people around me, spurring me on … I wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said. “And I’m very lucky. I have that from my friends, I have that from my family, and I have that from my fans.”
