Replying to Midwest Ski Resort Film -- Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan

Hello NS community,

I am a senior at Loras College in Dubuque Iowa, and I'm currently an intern with ABC in NY. In order for me to graduate in May I need to create a project that has a massive production value, and summarizes all that I have learned over the past 4 years. Please read the below email that I am sending to prospective resorts to see if your interested, if you are, please read further for what I’m asking of NS members

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To whom it may concern:

My name is Marcus Soukup and I'm a senior media studies major at Loras College in Dubuque Iowa. In order to graduate from Loras I have to create a final project that summarizes my studies in a major media project. The project that I would like to tackle is a Midwest Ski Resort television show; a singular episode that takes a look at the major resorts in the Midwest in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. This project is in its infant stages, but I am just testing the waters between all the resorts to see what the participation level will be.

My ideal projection for this project would be a spotlight on each resort with accompanied with a montage of clips of the area's best skiing and snowboarding talent, with possibly a local band's original music.

With the spotlight we would cover the brief history of the resort, why people should come to the resort, the different areas the resort has to offer, a tour of the runs, possibly even some behind the scene footage of your snowmaking ability or some other portion of your resort that you would like to spotlight.

With the montage if you would happen to know of some of the best talent in the area that I could get in contact with for the shoot. It would be ideal to line this up ahead of time with the local talent, but if not we'll be bringing a few of our own skiers, but would prefer the local edge.

The overall aim of this piece is to tell the viewers that although CO is the mecca of skiing in N. America, that they don't have to go the distance to get an amazing ski/snowboard experience at their local resorts. With these spotlights, I would project an increased interest of these local ski resorts across the Midwest. As I said this project is in its preliminary stages, but the end goal would be distributing this program in all the states involved to the local cable stations, as well as any broadcasting station that would air it.

Our timeline for the shoot will follow as such:  my internship will be over in the middle of January, which I'll then head out to CO with my friends family for a ski vacation for the rest of the month. During this time I'll be getting shots of CO from the various resorts and possibly having talent lined up to be there as well to shoot an intro about how CO is so amazing, but why travel all this way when you have so many hidden gems so close to home. Then when I come back for the semester starting on the 28th of January, I expect that following week and every weekend after that until the snow melts, that we will kick it into full gear and film as much as possible at all the resorts.

The only necessary monetary contribution from the resorts would be lift tickets and ski rentals for the crew on the day of the shoot. Some of us, including myself do have our own skis, but some do not. If you could contribute any more to help cover the cost of video equipment rental, tapes, gas, hotel accommodations (for those resorts that are many hours away). If you would happen to know if your sponsors are willing to fund such a project, or know of any businesses in the area that would be willing to contribute, that would be a great help.

If you're a little leery about a student doing a project on this scale, I am not your usual student. I am currently in NY because I was accepted as an intern with ABC for the show, Good Morning America. When I'm at home I freelance for the production company, Metro Studios(www.metrostudios.com), as well as Mediacom, the local cable company for the local access programming. Up until my leave for my current internship I directed our campus sports show, SportsZONE, which recently won the award for best college program in the Midwest. I have also participated in multiple projects/commercials which have one state and national awards.

This project will determine if I graduate or not, so trust me when I say, that I will put my heart and soul into the project. I am a avid skier and media student, and to combine my two passions into a project, such as this, will mean great things for those involved.

I hope you can find time to consider this project, I know I'm getting excited with the snow falling, my co-workers who live out in Jersey tell me about the 3inches on the ground they just received, and it's making me jealous!

I hope to be in contact with you soon .

Thank you.
Marcus Soukup
Namic56@GMail.com
(c) 319.202.0191

Loras College
1450 Alta Vista St.
Dubuque IA, 52001

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OKAY! So, if your on board, I’m looking for some on-camera talent that can kick some ass on the slopes, and be composed while in front of the camera. I’m also looking for local talent who can tear it up on their local hill and be filmed. ALSO if you have a band and some original music that you would like in the movie, I would love to hear it. This project is in its infant stages, but as I already see resorts in the Midwest opening up, it’s time to start planning my project. I am in NY until the beginning of Jan. which I’ll then be going to CO for two weeks or so, in which I will be getting some footage of the views up there for broll in the film.

Now some of you might be thinking, wtf is Loras College? Loras has an amazing media program, we have access to HD cameras, a stedicam, a 15’ jib, and we have an Apple Mac lab of 15 new desktop macs, which are backed by our 9TB SAN. We’ve won multiple awards across the state/Midwest and even a few of us have won some national awards. I hope that you take this as a serious request, and if you would like to participate, please let me know!

Also, if you happen to be a local company who would like their name attached to this film in exchange for financial support, please contact me as well.

Thank you all for your attention, I look forward to this ski season!