Frankie LaPenna
He is known as “the green screen guy.” His character was born during the COVID pandemic and has taken social media by storm. Frankie LaPenna has found his niche on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram and has turned those boring Zoom meetings into something fun and comical. Let’s find out what makes LaPenna tick.
FRANKIE LAPENNA STARTED AS A VIDEOGRAPHER
Frankie LaPenna was born on September 21, 1997, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From an early age, LaPenna had an idea of what he wanted to do but wasn’t sure exactly how to get there. So he started off by being a self-taught freelance videographer.
Because of his interest in creating content, LaPenna enrolled in Grand Valley State University, an institution only 12 miles from his Grand Rapids hometown, where he majored and received his bachelor’s degree in cinematography and film/video production.
FRANKIE MOVED TO HOLLYWOOD
Frankie LaPenna’s first venture outside of Grand Rapids was a part-time gig in 2017 editing content for Parker Nirenstein of Virgin Vehicles in Los Angeles. Not long after, LaPenna moved to Calabasas, California so he could edit full-time for Nirenstein.
LaPenna wrote about his time editing for Nirenstein on his LinkedIn page saying, “I began editing videos for Parker Nirenstein, founder of Vehicle Virgins, on October 5, 2017. I edited his video content for roughly 8 months. In June of 2018, I then moved to Calabasas California to shoot and edit his YouTube content full-time. During this period, I learned how a large-scale YouTube influencer operates on a personal level. In total, I edited well over 150 videos for Vehicle Virgins.”
It was a great experience for Frankie LaPenna, as he was finally beginning to see where his talents could eventually take him. After gaining experience with Vehicle Virgins, LaPenna moved on to The La Penna Group Incorporated where he worked restoring, preserving, and organizing old 1940s documents, letters, and photographs. While working for La Penna, he also found himself in Wisconsin conducting an interview with Art Kasperski, a World War II veteran.
From there, Frankie LaPenna then took his talents to the Point O’Pines Camp for Girls where he was their Video Director. While at the camp, LaPenna taught video classes for girls ranging from 11 to 15 in age. He also got much more experience as he shot and edited videos daily, turning that into an hour-long recap of the experience at summer camp. Here Frankie also learned how to operate within a large-scale media operation.
For over two years after his employment at Point O’Pines Camp for Girls, Frankie LaPenna was the Director of Photography for Launch Kit. While at Launch Kit, Frankie still had his eyes on the social media influencer prize and explained to 98 Rock in Baltimore how he planned to move from corporate videos to a full-time social media influencer.
“I’m in a transition right now from doing corporate video work. I have a degree in filming video and I was doing client video on a long level, not these short-form videos. I’m transitioning from that to being a full-time influencer.”
You can see and hear his entire YouTube interview below.
HE GAINED STARDOM DURING THE PANDEMIC
You can’t mistake Frankie LaPenna for anyone else once you catch a glimpse of him. He loves to keep his hair short, sometimes like a military high and tight, but he sometimes likes to frost the tips of his hair and has a mustache that simply won’t quit, which he also doesn’t mind frosting.
All of this is on full display on his social media channels, along with a very pronounced, albeit fake, butt. Before we get into that, though, let’s find out how Frankie LaPenna worked his way into social media stardom.
It all started for Frankie LaPenna as the COVID pandemic forced school closures, work closures, and any other closure one could imagine. Zoom meetings became the norm and while they were workable at first, they eventually became a scourge across the country. So many of us were wishing we could be anywhere but sitting in front of the computer on a Zoom call.
Frankie decided to have fun with it. He crafted a large green screen and would be anywhere but home while in a Zoom meeting. The trick to it was, if he was out say, for instance, bike riding, he would green screen in what looked like his home office. Of course, he did this all for laughs, and boy did it catch on.
Frankie LaPenna’s schtick was so popular that the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens reached out to him to partner up. They did so and LaPenna created a video that dreams are made of – being in a boring meeting while at the same time, being at the football game. LaPenna first went live across the Ravens’ social media accounts, where it was shared across the NFL landscape as well as LaPenna’s own social media accounts.
HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL HAS 2.11 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS
It was a massive hit. Major sports outlets such as NFL on Fox, ESPN’s Sportscenter, and Bleacher Report all picked up Frankie LaPenna’s routine and his legend began to grow.
At the moment, Frankie’s YouTube channel boasts 2.11 million subscribers, his Instagram account has 857,000 followers, and his TikTok has over 6 million followers. Those are some very nice numbers.
When Frankie LaPenna first started grabbing bigger social media numbers, he was not monetizing his videos. At the time, he hadn’t gone full-time as a social media influencer and was waiting for that before he’d start monetizing.
He said, “There is a lot more monetary value in these TikToks, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and my time is much more valuable spent making them. I have a fantastic portfolio and videos that are extremely, extremely, high performing. This past month across my YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, I’ve done over 300 million views.”
Now, Frankie is a full-time influencer. He makes his money on brand deals and according to some reports, he nabs $3,000 for every TikTok post, $4,000 for any of his YouTube videos, and he also has a brand-sponsored Instagram collaboration worth $3,000.
FRANKIE LAPENNA IS ALSO BUBBLE-BUTT FRANKIE
On top of Frankie LaPenna’s “green screen guy,” he also has another comical character that is all ass. We are not sure if this character has an official name, though it has been referred to as “Bubble Butt Frankie.”
“Bubble Butt Frankie” is a big winner on TikTok, as his views routinely go well past the 10 million mark with some as high as 91 million. If you like funny, then check out Frankie LaPenna on any of his social media accounts.
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