Patrik Ian Polk

Co-Executive Producer, P-Valley | Inside the Writers Room with P-Valley

Patrik-Ian Polk is an award-winning filmmaker, gifted storyteller, performer and visionary. With his dynamic ability to create art examining the gay experience from an African-American perspective, he has been called a true Hollywood pioneer. Born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Polk fell in love with art, music and films as a child, and knew early on that visual storytelling was his calling. He studied theatre acting at Brandeis University and received an undergraduate degree in film and theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi before attending film school at the prestigious University of Southern California.

After a stint as a development executive at MTV’s then-new feature film division MTV Films, Polk was tapped by Kenneth ‘Babyface’ and Tracey Edmonds to serve as VP of Production for the couple’s Fox Studios-based production company Edmonds Entertainment, working on such films as Soul Food, Hav Plenty & Light it Up. Leaving behind his executive career, Polk made his writing and directorial debut with PUNKS, an independent feature co-produced by the Edmonds’. The first Black American gay-themed feature film, PUNKS debuted at Sundance Film Festival, won numerous accolades and garnered Polk an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Continuing his mission to shine a light on the Black gay experience, Polk created the groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind Black gay TV series NOAH’S ARC. The series put the fledgling Logo network on the map, and for the first time ever, gay Black America had a television show to call their own. After two successful seasons, Polk wrote, directed and produced the feature film spin-off entitled NOAH’S ARC: JUMPING THE BROOM. The surprise-hit movie won the GLAAD Award for Best Film and received three NAACP Image Award nominations -- Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Polk released his third film THE SKINNY, a romantic comedy about five Brown University classmates attending gay pride in NYC. An accomplished singer and songwriter (he sang lead in the popular art pop band Fol Chen), Polk also wrote and performed the film’s soundtrack. He was rewarded for his efforts with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the film’s premiere at the Outfest Fusion Film Festival in Los Angeles. His fourth film was BLACKBIRD, based on the groundbreaking Black gay coming-of-age novel by Larry Duplechan. The film stars Oscar-winner Mo’Nique as the religious mother of a Mississippi teen struggling with his sexuality. The critically acclaimed film received the Founder’s Award at its premiere at the Pan-African Film Festival.

Polk was a Producer-Writer on season 4 of BET’s BEING MARY JANE– starring Gabrielle Union– and wrote/showran the two-hour series finale. He served as Co-EP of Starz’ new hit series P- VALLEY and penned a movie adaptation of the novel THE EX FILES for Lifetime. This summer, Polk wrote and directed an original scripted episode of NOAH’S ARC to celebrate the series’ 15th anniversary. Titled “NOAH’S ARC: THE RONA CHRONICLES”, the episode catches up with the popular characters 10 years after we last saw them—only now they’re in the middle of a pandemic and a social justice movement. All original cast members returned for the reunion special along with special guest stars Wanda Sykes, Tituss Burgess and Wilson Cruz.

The episode was streamed over 500,000 times—proving that Polk and the series have an ever-growing and loyal fanbase. He is represented by manager Brad Kaplan at Link Entertainment and attorney Tara Kole at Gang, Tyre, Ramer Brown & Passman.