We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Raj Belani. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Raj below.

Raj, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

The best thing my parents did was never stand in the way of pursuing anything I wanted to, regardless of how “out of the box” it was. When I was 13, I wanted to be a storm chaser. When I was 16, I was so sure I was going to be a magician. At 19, I wanted to become an actor. At no point throughout my childhood did I hear “No”. It was always “Ok, but whatever you decide, just put your heart & soul into it”. That was very liberating, especially growing up as a first generation Indian in the 80’s where all of my friends were pushed to become doctors, whether they liked it or not. My parents gave me the freedom and space to really grow creatively.

Raj, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Raj Belani. I started my production company, FFTLProductions, when I was 20 years old and have been doing that full time ever since. We create ads for brands, specifically for TV. I’ve always found directing fascinating, but the thought of directing a full length feature always gave me way too much anxiety, so I naturally fell into directing 30 sec tv spots.

I also co-founded Phoodstyle along with my partner Kaitlyn Alkass, where we create photo and video content for food brands. This company was a “covid baby”. When the world shut down during the pandemic, we had to find a creative way to still utilize our talents without working face to face, so we started to film videos of food recipes. This has since turned into a full time content agency.

I am also a stand up comedian and have been performing all over the country.. And yes, I’m another comedian with a podcast, Raj Against the Machine, so check it out. I’m not sure what “the machine” is that I’m so against, but come with me on my journey as I figure it out.

I think being a stand up comedian is what really sets me apart from other production companies. I’m constantly writing comedy in my spare time and look at all of my creatives from the lens of “trimming the fat and getting straight to the punch”, which is an extremely valuable tool, especially in the tv commercial world.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think anyone in the creative field, whether it’s filmmaking or comedy, are constantly met with resistance due to the uncertainty of it all. But I also think that’s what makes it so exciting, you never know what challenges are going to come your way, and the fact that I’m still here pursuing it is a testament to my resilience. Having confidence in myself and continuing to grow that confidence is also a vital part of my resilience. There have been many times throughout my career where I just wanted to give up because I worked so hard on onboarding a new client, just to have them go somewhere else or I see my peers booking stand up gigs that I feel like I deserved more. It’s at those moments where I have to take a step back and remind myself that it’s ok and that something else is around the corner. There’s always a “next” thing.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the biggest lessons I’ve had to unlearn, especially as I evolved over my career, is to not take everything that comes your way. Know your worth and look at the bigger picture. Sometimes there’s more value in saying “no” to a gig. Not everything is worth your time. There is so much power in turning down projects. That goes against everything I’ve learned growing up where people would say things like “Work hard!” “Hard work pays off!” “Being busy is good!”. That’s not necessarily always true. This is also one of those lessons I have to constantly remind myself of because it’s very easy to forget.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fftlproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rajbelani/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeCkof54/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fftlproductions/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RajAgainstTheMachinePod