Chris Belanger owes all of his recent career success to his mom. Sort of. Belanger is quick to point out that it was she who first directed him to the Full Sail website, where he first encountered the school that would later help to launch his career in the entertainment advertising industry at Kandoo Films in Los Angeles. Credit where credit is due – that’s Chris’s attitude.
As the sales and marketing assistant / production coordinator for Kandoo – whose client list boasts names like FOX, CBS, UPN, and MIRAMAX – Chris is responsible for overseeing the booking and production process for network television on-air promotions, like a recent campaign for America’s Next Top Model. “I didn’t plan on being in television, but now I love it, it’s so much fun. I enjoy being able to work with all these great television actors and see the differences between their on-screen and off-screen personalities.”
Belanger originally intended to go into audio postproduction for film, enrolling in Full Sail’s Recording Arts program. He was looking for a school that would teach him exactly how to use the gear, after an educational false start at another college. “The reason Full Sail is so great is that they just throw you right in there. They’re like, ‘Here’s the machines you’re going to work on and here’s how to work them.”
After finishing his studies in recording arts, Belanger decided to take his education to the next level with the Entertainment Business Bachelor’s program. “I thought, ‘Where else can I get a Bachelor’s Degree in nine extra months and be done with it?’ Plus, I’ve always been … increasingly interested in the administrative side of things.” Once in the program, his horizons began to widen. “I saw so many more opportunities and possibilities,” he says. “So much so that I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do anymore, but it definitely broadened my view of things and let me see other career avenues I might want to take.”
Armed with his diploma and a passion to get his career underway, Belanger headed out to Los Angeles. “I did a weekend internship on America’s Most Talented Kids, waited tables, and worked at IKEA for two weeks, and then I immediately found my current job at Kandoo.” Although he impressed them in the interview, it was his willingness to go the extra mile that helped him get his foot in the door. After his interview, he called up his would-be boss and told her that he had designed new mock-ups for their website. “They offered me a trial week and at the end of that week they offered me the job.”
Although he’s largely working on the business side of things, he also gets a chance to flex his audio chops from time to time. “I learned a lot of technical skills from Full Sail,” he says, “and they really help me with the industry lingo. I know how to use Pro Tools … and I use a lot of the skills I learned in EB (Entertainment Business) daily because I have to execute a great deal of business tasks, like non-disclosure agreements. Sometimes I don’t even realize it while I’m doing it, but it’s all what I learned in school.”
He’s only been in the industry a short while, but Belanger is enjoying the ride. “It’s really neat to see how the things that I saw on TV growing up are done. Basically, every night on primetime television, I get to see my work.” And, of course, so does his mother. “My mom is incredibly proud of me. She likes to brag to all of her friends about it. She calls me every day and asks what we’re working on this week and asks when she can watch it on TV. She loves it.”
