Andre Labous

Coming Around Again

Andre Labous
Florida Community College, Class of 1987

As a senior at Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, Andre Labous already knew that he was interested in a career in film. Still, he took the career interest inventory test along with the rest of his classmates. Doing so must have put him on a mailing list, because soon after, brochures from various colleges promoting their film and television programs began to fill his mailbox. One of those brochures was from Florida Community College.

Growing up in Vermont with his French father and French Canadian mother, Andre’s family moved to Jacksonville in 1980 when his father, a chef, accepted a job. The opportunity to attend college so close to home was Andre’s primary reason for choosing FCCJ, but he also came to appreciate the small classes. “I had friends who went off to the bigger schools right away, and they really did have classes with 200 or more people. Some of my classes had ten people,” he says.

Instructor Ron Morrisseau was a “huge mentor” to him. They stayed in touch long after Andre graduated and started working professionally as a camera operator. “He taught us about the business — about the reality; how we’d probably start out wrapping cables and getting drinks for people.” Now retired, Ron Morrisseau was in television for twenty years before coming to teach at FCCJ. “He had professional experience, so he had perspective.”

Andre graduated in 1987 with both an associate in arts degree and an associate in science degree in what was then called “television production” (a precursor to the Digital Media A.S. degree program). But instead of immediately transferring to a university, Andre went to Europe, spending six months in London. He feels that the “real world” experience was helpful in preparing him for the larger, less personal experience of a big university. “It gave me the time to get my head ready,” he explains. Andre ultimately earned a bachelor’s degree in film and television production from the University of Central Florida in 1989.

As a free-lance camera operator and director of photography, Andre has traveled extensively for his work throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. Considering his French background, it’s only natural that his favorite place destination is Paris. “I would love to live there in the summer,” he says.

He’s worked on such diverse projects as covering sports for the NFL and the PGA, filming U.S. presidents and working on the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Iakovos: A Legacy.” He recently finished the documentary “Music Farmers,” which takes place along the Suwannee river at the music festivals Magnolia and Spring Fest, featuring such bands as Derek Trucks, Mofro and Vassar Clements, and will air on PBS this fall, as well as a travel documentary on Scotland.

And proving that what goes around truly does come around, Andre just finished putting the skills he learned at Florida Community College to work on television commercials now airing locally — for Florida Community College. And he’s not getting anybody’s drink.

To see other students and faculty members that have been featured on the College’s home page, visit our Spotlight archive.