Community Corner: Community Center - Virtual Field Trip - Comedy Central

People: [click links for more info.]
On our field trip, we met with six different people and learned about many others.

Kendrick Reid - the Design Director for On-Air. He is responsible for coordinating the "look and feel" of the programs. He makes sure that when you watch the channel, you automatically know that you're on Comedy Central. This is called BRANDING. Branding means that some designs and color schemes are consistent across shows.

Kendrick has a college degree in biomedical engineering, but he always played on the computer and did art. He says that working in this industry is "about being aware of where you are and thinking creatively. It's about taking it all in and always thinking, wondering and trying to explore and express. He says, "You're always going to be asked to do something that's different from what you do in everyday life. You gotta be able to communicate. You gotta be able to talk, you gotta be able to write."

Mike Campbell is a Designer at Comedy Central and has been there for about five years. Mike has a degree in design from the School of Visual Arts (SVA). He organized our trip for us. Mike says that it's important to have ambition and work hard-not just to take opportunities that you're given but to make opportunities as well.

Susan Vuono is a Manager. She coordinates the schedules, work flow and money. She makes sure that that things are done when they're supposed to be done and that everyone gets paid. Susan explained that there were lots of people who work Comedy Central to make the TV shows possible. Among the different people are:

Not all of these people are regular employees of Comedy Central. Some of them, like the people who do voice overs for cartoon characters and the music composers, are hired on a job-by-job basis. They are free-lance workers like Mark and Greg.

Kiffer Keegan is a Junior Designer. He started as an INTERN with Comedy Central and worked his way up into the company.

Mark Boutges is a FREE LANCE DESIGNER. He studied fine arts at Parsons School of Design and worked at a number of internships before coming to Comedy Central. He encouraged people who were just starting out to try to get internships, even if they were not paid INTERNSHIPS. He said it was a good way for him to get on-the-job experience and helped make him competitive.

Greg St. Amand is also a free lance designer. He went to college at Cooper Union, which is a college for engineering, architecture and art and the only free college left in the U.S. Because it’s free, Cooper Union is pretty competitive, but Greg says “You just prepare for it.” Greg also advises young people to: “Think about what you like to do, think about how you’re gonna make money from it (in a positive way) and how to apply it to your studies. The worst thing is to feel frustrated and to go to work and not be motivated.”

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