By Amanda Domurad
It is 2:55 in the afternoon and Ryan Denehy sits in Mass Media 125 when his cell phone alerts him that he has a text message. His eyes dart for his phone amidst his notebook, textbook and recently purchased Red Bull; he promptly flips it open to find a message from the president of Banquet, an action sports media company, Rudd Davis. The message reads: “If you’re in class, leave.”
This kind of message is not surprising to Denehy, a 22-year-old who attends the University. It is actually quite typical. As a senior mass media studies major, he divides his time with extreme thought and care between two worlds: school and work, a task that doesn’t come easily to most, and admittedly hasn’t always been so easy for him.
Luckier than most, Denehy is already doing well in the work world. While most students struggle to find jobs and internships, Denehy has found a way to successfully balance college, and a professional life in the action sports media world.He makes it look as easy as a mountain biker would make balancing while flying through the air. It’s no surprise that he has such an agile grasp on his own life; he grew up around the sport.
Growing up in Connecticut, Denehy had always developed an interest in filmmaking and media. After a short stint at the filmmaker’s club at Fairfield High School, where Denehy and his friends debuted several short, amateur clips on random subject matter, they were told to never come back. “I thought, if I’m not good at filmmaking, like not naturally good at it then what’s the point? So, going forward I went out with my friends and filmed everybody riding their bikes and skateboarding. I’d be out there every day just shooting and then go home at night to edit all the footage.”
He adds, “I would do that day after day, and the first year I started noticing that I was getting good at it. Once I realized that, I started to try emulating the same style, the same production value that I was seeing in these big-budget action sports videos.”
With a newfound, self-taught knowledge of shooting and editing inspired by videos from Thor Wixom of Invictus Productions and Josh Berman of Level 1 Productions, Denehy decided it was time to really do something amazing on his own. That would require even more practice and higher-quality technology, as opposed to the camcorder he was borrowing from his step-dad.
“My first broadcast-quality digital video camera was the Cannon GL-1, and I think I spent $1,800 on it, which at the time was all the money in the world, at age 15,” Denehy says. With the right camera, and the right software and a friend, Andrew, who was “basically a professional mountain biker,” Denehy was now filming with such ease and talent, that he even amazed himself.
Soon, he decided he would get in contact with his inspirations of the action sports DVD world, Josh Berman and Thor Wixom. Some might stop dead in their tracks before approaching big names like theirs, but Denehy proceeded with zeal. After e-mailing both of them, and explaining how he hopes to be at their caliber one day, as well as sharing some of his own footage, Denehy heard back from Berman in a week and was surprised to find he sang him praises for his work at such a young age.
From there, Denehy was on the fast track of action sports media. He joined Wixom at a shoot in New Hampshire, where he took advice and met many professional bikers. He eventually made it to Boston after being invited by Wixom to film at a Red Bull Bike Battle, and, at the time, Denehy was only in his sophomore year of high school. With supportive parents, Denehu made it to Boston and got a lot of footage of the event, which he later used in a demo reel when he decided he wanted to make his own DVD.
“I thought, wait a second, with the Internet and everything else, I can just release a video myself. What I can produce is just as good as anything else out there,” says Denehy. And that is what he did.
The next year and a half was a whirlwind of business deals, world travel, filming and editing, culminating with the release of Denehy’s first mountain biking DVD, “The New Deal” in his senior year of high school. The project was unique by all accounts. Promoted almost entirely online before the advent of YouTube and other popular video sites, with a minimal marketing budget, the film was a breakout success.
After dabbling in the action sports DVD arena, Denehy was asked to join action sports media company Banquet, which is now owned by USA Today. His work caught the eye of Rudd Davis, president of the company. Denehy recalls, with vivid color, the letter that came in the mail.
“It had a wax seal on the envelope, and had the logo stamped in, like in old foil, and the president of the company had written something like, ‘we’ve seen ‘The New Deal,’ we’ve seen ‘The Big Deal,’ and you’re one of the few action sports producers doing this stuff on the Web. We really want to work with you.” He was stunned, and realized his work had paid off. First, Denehy started off as a content producer, bringing photos, videos and articles to the site, as well as minor business development.
Now, Denehy’s title at Banquet is Director of Business Development and Managing Director of Network Operations. He has already moved up in his career and he has yet to throw the graduation cap off his head.
It is important to note, that while Denehy seems to have stepped into a pot of gold, in terms of the career he has always wanted, the same situation is not prevalent among the majority of students graduating college, with the economic downfall. Floyd Norris, the Chief Financial Correspondent of the New York Times reports, “The ones who are suffering the most are the young. Unemployment rates are not rising much for older workers, but they are soaring for the youngest ones, who are often the least skilled.”
It is hard-pressed to find someone who has a job from an internship connection, let alone finding his dream job on his own. Doug Smith, a colleague of Denehy says, “He has a great understanding of new media and the added value that can come from that…which is always great as those channels of communication continue to grow.” And grow you must in the constant morphing economy.
Cody Whitman, the Content Director of Banquet, places Denehy in a league all his own. He says, “Ryan’s work ethic is fantastic. The guy handles his own with work for Banquet while going to school full time. I like to think that I work hard but I can tell you that there is no way I would have been able to handle my current job and my college course load at the same time. Ryan is incredibly unique in that respect,” Cody met Denehy a while back and continues, “I had no idea how old he was, I just assumed that he was older. Ryan’s position within the company is constantly evolving but he has always shown the drive and dedication to do whatever it takes and we owe a large degree of our success to him,” says Cody. Other people like Nick Brandreth, a photographer and fellow action sports enthusiast says, “It’s awesome to be tight with someone like Ryan who helps provide creative and business insight whenever I need it.”
Right now, Denehy is on the top of the game in the media world, even with the tough economy, and is way ahead of the bell curve. Only months away from graduating, his future is brighter than ever- but wait, maybe that is the glare from his massive Banquet chain, which is sterling silver, with the logo stamped in it, filled with 18 karat gold, dangling from his neck. Either way the view isn’t bad at all.