Adin Kolansky on the Dark Side of the Entertainment Industry

The entertainment industry has its bright side and its dark side.

On one hand, entertainers bring stories to life, share creative visions, encourage new worldviews, and make people laugh. Artists—filmmakers, painters, singers, writers, comedians—are in many ways the heartbeat of society. We make the world our muse. And the entertainment industry offers a professional space for us to translate creative thought into deliverable content.

Whether it’s TikTok comedy reels or HBO feature films, the soul of the industry is in its art-making meant to affect audiences. And by that logic, entertainment adds tremendous value to society and can profoundly change the world.

But, on the other hand, the entertainment industry is not without its darkness. From scandalous court cases to tragic celebrity overdoses, I’m sure examples come to mind.

It’s an industry after all, and industries are measured by success. So even though artists are out here doing the creative work, there is added pressure once artistry is monetized and publicly shared. It’s easy to compare yourself to others, second guess your choices, and decide you’re not doing enough or delivering good enough work. Especially when social media tracks your progress and reps your lifestyle, it’s easy to scroll a little too long and spiral down a slippery slope of doubt.

“With all the entertainment at hand, it’s really easy to fall into some dark times if you’re not careful and self-aware,” Adin Kolansky tells LATV.

Adin Kolansky, an artist on the rise, moved to Los Angeles to professionally pursue music and content creation. He reflects on the dark side of social media on LATV’s You Me and Joe.

“So many of these people, they see a highlight reel on social media and they think, ‘this person is living this life, they’re doing all these things, I’m not doing anything with my life,’ but the truth is people are only posting their wins [and] they’re not posting their losses,” he says on the show. “The only person you should really compare yourself to is yourself and who you were and who you want to become.”

Originally from New Jersey, Kolansky has always been making people laugh. It came naturally. As a kid, he would purposefully do outlandish things just to get a reaction out of his family and friends. As a teenager, he took his comedic timing to YouTube and grew a following. From there, his professional career unfolded.

In Los Angeles, where going out is part of the culture, Kolansky encountered the dark side of entertainment head on.

“You can go out and get destroyed any night of the week if you want to,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, what hour, so if you’re trying to get sober when all your friends are going out and partying all the time…it’s tough. The temptation’s there.”

WATCH: Adin Kolansky shares a life-changing experience during a spiritual retreat

Across competitive industries, particularly in entertainment, it’s encouraged to keep schedules at capacity with work, events, parties, shows, cocktail hours, and impromptu nights with friends. Approaching the bar is procedural.

Everyone has a unique relationship with drugs and alcohol. Some people are sober, some people drink and plan to get sober, and some people drink and don’t plan to stop. Regardless where you fall, self-reflection is key.

Now sober, Kolansky found inner-peace when he attended a meditation retreat in the North Carolina mountains. He studied with gurus like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar—who insists on finding positivity from within.

Kolansky got to know himself better, and returned to Los Angeles, returned to the industry, with more grounded intentions.

“Presence is so important,” he says. “Your mind can sometimes wander to a lot of different places, so if you’re telling [yourself] to get into your body, out of [your] mind and into [your] body, that can really help with being present.”

Watch the full episode of You, Me, and Joe on the LATV+ app featuring Adin Kolansky.