Brandon Scott Schantz (July 26, 1980 - December 6, 2007) was a broadcaster,

sports director The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. Director Director may refer to: Literature * ...

and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...

. He was, perhaps, best known as an on-camera host for

Movies.com Movies.com was a website; the URL now redirects to that of its owner, Fandango Media. It was acquired from The Walt Disney Company in June 2008. The site was home to the award-winning webshow '' Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony'', a bi-we ...

and for producing

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the rock band

Rooney Rooney may refer to: People *Wayne Rooney, English football manager and former player *Rooney family, of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football franchise *Rooney (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Rooney (given nam ...

. Schantz had previously become the youngest local news station sports director in the history of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

network and its affiliates.

Biography

Early life

Schantz was a native of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and graduated from

San Ramon Valley High School San Ramon Valley High School is a four-year public high school located in the East Bay neighborhood of Danville, California, United States. It is a part of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. It is a National Blue Ribbon school from th ...

in the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

neighborhood of

Danville, California The Town of Danville is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California. It is one of the incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their names instead of "city". The population was 43,582 at the 2020 census ...

. Schantz graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

in 2002. He worked as a production

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

with

KEYE-TV KEYE-TV (channel 42) is a television station in Austin, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios on Metric Boulevard in North Austin and a transmitter on Waymake ...

, an

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

affiliate from 2000 until 2002 while attending the University of Texas. Additionally, Schantz also interned within the sports department at

KXAN KXAN-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Austin, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Llano, Texas, Llano-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KBVO (TV), KBVO (channel 14); Nexstar also provide ...

as an undergraduate.

Career

Schantz was hired as the

Sports Director The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. Director Director may refer to: Literature * ...

KGWN-TV KGWN-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Television, and maintains studios on East Lincolnway/East 14th Street/ I-80 BUS/US 30 in Cheyen ...

, a

affiliate in

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistical ...

, upon his graduation from college. In doing so, Schantz, who was 22 years old when he was hired by KGWN, became the youngest local news station sports director in the history of the

network. He also appeared on camera at KGWN as a sports reporter and Sportscaster. Schantz departed KGWN in the mid-2000s and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to pursue a career as a

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. He established a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

at the age of 25, Brandon Schantz Productions and established a production headquarters with partners Kevin Dobski at Santa Monica Studios in Santa Monica, CA. Collectively Schantz produced projects, music videos and live television events during 2006 and 2007, including a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the

single, "I Should've Been After You", a

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

based

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

. Brandon Schantz Productions (BSP) specialized in

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, and short form digital web content. Schantz was also hired as an on-camera host and producer for Movies.com, which was acquired by the

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Death

Schantz was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

in the Spring of 2007, and underwent surgery for the disease in October 2007. He continued to work on his production company and Movies.com while undergoing treatment. During this time, he made a brief appearance in the seventh episode of '' The Real World: Hollywood'', which was filmed in 2007, and aired June 25, 2008. Schantz, who was working as a host and producer for Movies.com at the time, gave internships to three ''Real World'' cast members, Kimberly Alexander, Nick Brown and Sarah Ralston, who sought to become on-air hosts. Schantz died on December 6, 2007, at the age of 27. His death, and Brown's reaction to it, was chronicled on-camera.Video of ''The Real World: Hollywood'', Episode 11 at mtv.com
/ref> He was survived by his parents, Sean and Kim Schantz, his siblings, Ryan and Kaylee, and his grandparents.

References

External links

Brandon Schantz on the Real WorldBrandon Schantz Productions

The Daily Texan: UT alum left mark on TV, producing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schantz, Brandon 1980 births 2007 deaths American television journalists Moody College of Communication alumni Businesspeople from San Francisco Television producers from California American television news producers American sports announcers American male journalists 20th-century American businesspeople