Making money in Ski Industry - MESSAGE TO PROS + Amateurs Alike

icantskiiFILMHello,

I am very much a Full Sail University student and am learning stuff like broadcast and video and audio production both in a studio and live. I know that competitions go down and there are things such as the Olympics and X-Games that do winter sports that include skiing.

There seems to be an even smaller group of elite skiers and all i can think of is Evan Heath and I'd like to know how to make money in the ski industry while skiing with cool heads and filming edits and possibly getting into Audio for films that require high quality on mountain audio and foley sounds. Are there companies that produce these films or are they backed by clothing apparel and more!?!?

Where is everyone in media making money in the skiing industry?!

I am Nick Bogannam

Here is my website... http://www.nickbogannam.com

I'd like to bring music festivals and speakers to entire mountains, would that be cool?!?!

Thanks

Oh, that's a tough one. I don't know the answer.

I'm sure one need to have super gear and know how to use it.
Need to prove yourself.
Then it may depend on who you know as well.
I'm sure it's a long row to hoe, but if it's your dream, pursue that puppy!
You schooling for it is a really good first step. Credit for that once finished will go a long way I'm sure. Good luck. (That helps too) (Right place, right time) (lots of money)

DominatorJacquesOh, that's a tough one. I don't know the answer.

I'm sure one need to have super gear and know how to use it.
Need to prove yourself.
Then it may depend on who you know as well.
I'm sure it's a long row to hoe, but if it's your dream, pursue that puppy!
You schooling for it is a really good first step. Credit for that once finished will go a long way I'm sure. Good luck. (That helps too) (Right place, right time) (lots of money)

The first part here is kinda right, the second half is not correct.

You don't need "super gear" obviously you have have more opportunities if you own a red vs a t2i but no one just buys a red when they start. Also, renting gear is a very realistic option when shooting freelance gigs. Sometimes the client wants a certain product and they'll pay extra for you to rent equipment, but I think were getting ahead of the topic here.

OP you called my name out specifically so I will tell you my experience.

First off I went to school for business at first, then I switch to comm so I could graduate from college and pursue freelance videography. I didn't study film, I have friends who do what I do (even co workers) that studied film, they're pretty indifferent if their schooling helped. You learn lots of good techniques in school that could help you if you decide to brand out of skiing, but as for ski filming, the only way you can learn is to practice/gain experience. I also know plenty of filmers with zero schooling. TLDR school isn't necessary unless its something you really want to do.

I bought my first camera when i was 18, spent like 1200, what most people spend on their beginner setups now. I filmed my friends, made some edits, most of them sucked HA.

The next year I upgraded cameras, previous camera broke,i fixed it and sold it, didn't want it anymore, got an hvx (only because i had some cash flow from selling a snowmobile I won, couldve gone cheaper). Anyways, kept doing the same thing, I filmed some clown school edits that year that definitely got me alot of attention. Did that for another year and started to gain some relationships with brands.

The first brand I ever did anything for was surface, went out and made an edit with ware banks and josh bishop (when he used to ski) and they gave me a pair of skis. Yahoo! free shit, nothing better than that. This relationship slowly turned into them paying me some cash to make an edit at hood, free trip to film with them at the orage masters and then they paid me to film at surface week at windells. This is the classic way to work your way up in the industry, basically every filmer I know started out doing this same basic transition.

This then led me to working with ON3P in 2011, made my first spring edit with them, started with product and evolved into cash, i made a video for them 3 seasons in a row including a "mini movie" the last year.

But, the biggest turning point for me was being invited to join the NS producer program in 2011/2012. I made revenue on my views, I pulled in a few grand from the program that winter, the next winter I produced two series' for NS, 5 questions with and On Both Sides of the Lens. I got paid a pretty hefty amount of money at this point, like enough to support myself solely on the money I got from these series'. Before I usually had to either hustle some side gigs and part time jobs to continue to commit my time to doing basically "free work", everyone I know has done this and you will do this too. It can be a tough time but you just have to hustle through it.

The year after I made those two series' I got a job at a TV station in park city, all of my experience I had gained in the previous 4-5 years of filming brought me to a full time job. Now, that might not be your exact direction, I could have continued to hustle and do freelance work/series'/work for brand etc but I wanted to try something new and branch out of the ski industry, so I took this job. I still film skiing and do fun filming projects outside of work, I wish i could do more but when you have a full time job, you find yourself wanting to do things other than film in your spare time.

Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions man

eheathThe first part here is kinda right, the second half is not correct.

You don't need "super gear" obviously you have have more opportunities if you own a red vs a t2i but no one just buys a red when they start. Also, renting gear is a very realistic option when shooting freelance gigs. Sometimes the client wants a certain product and they'll pay extra for you to rent equipment, but I think were getting ahead of the topic here.

OP you called my name out specifically so I will tell you my experience.

First off I went to school for business at first, then I switch to comm so I could graduate from college and pursue freelance videography. I didn't study film, I have friends who do what I do (even co workers) that studied film, they're pretty indifferent if their schooling helped. You learn lots of good techniques in school that could help you if you decide to brand out of skiing, but as for ski filming, the only way you can learn is to practice/gain experience. I also know plenty of filmers with zero schooling. TLDR school isn't necessary unless its something you really want to do.

I bought my first camera when i was 18, spent like 1200, what most people spend on their beginner setups now. I filmed my friends, made some edits, most of them sucked HA.

The next year I upgraded cameras, previous camera broke,i fixed it and sold it, didn't want it anymore, got an hvx (only because i had some cash flow from selling a snowmobile I won, couldve gone cheaper). Anyways, kept doing the same thing, I filmed some clown school edits that year that definitely got me alot of attention. Did that for another year and started to gain some relationships with brands.

The first brand I ever did anything for was surface, went out and made an edit with ware banks and josh bishop (when he used to ski) and they gave me a pair of skis. Yahoo! free shit, nothing better than that. This relationship slowly turned into them paying me some cash to make an edit at hood, free trip to film with them at the orage masters and then they paid me to film at surface week at windells. This is the classic way to work your way up in the industry, basically every filmer I know started out doing this same basic transition.

This then led me to working with ON3P in 2011, made my first spring edit with them, started with product and evolved into cash, i made a video for them 3 seasons in a row including a "mini movie" the last year.

But, the biggest turning point for me was being invited to join the NS producer program in 2011/2012. I made revenue on my views, I pulled in a few grand from the program that winter, the next winter I produced two series' for NS, 5 questions with and On Both Sides of the Lens. I got paid a pretty hefty amount of money at this point, like enough to support myself solely on the money I got from these series'. Before I usually had to either hustle some side gigs and part time jobs to continue to commit my time to doing basically "free work", everyone I know has done this and you will do this too. It can be a tough time but you just have to hustle through it.

The year after I made those two series' I got a job at a TV station in park city, all of my experience I had gained in the previous 4-5 years of filming brought me to a full time job. Now, that might not be your exact direction, I could have continued to hustle and do freelance work/series'/work for brand etc but I wanted to try something new and branch out of the ski industry, so I took this job. I still film skiing and do fun filming projects outside of work, I wish i could do more but when you have a full time job, you find yourself wanting to do things other than film in your spare time.

Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions man

Hell yea, That was a good read, Appreciate you posting that!

eheathThe first part here is kinda right, the second half is not correct.

Okay, I'm an amateur who shoots for fun. Just think it's nice to provide some words of encouragement.

I think what Evan said was great. I come from a bit of a different background than skiing when it comes to filmmaking, so I'd like to shed some light on this topic as well.

Filmmaking for me started as a hobby when I was about 15. At a young age I started filming action sports, nature, and just having ridiculously good times with my friends. I made cool montage style edits and my friends loved them. A few years later after filming as a hobby, I was approached by one of my friends father, who was a personal trainer. He wanted to create a video series for his training techniques. It was my first paid gig, I was excited! I was paid a small amount for how big the job ended up to be, but in the end it was something more professional I was able to add to my portfolio.

After I had completed my first paid job, I wanted more but was still young and didn't know where to start. I felt that I still didn't know much about the entire filmmaking process, so I decided to go to film school to learn more about... well everything. The school taught us everything! Editing, lighting, recording clean sound, sound design, animation, various camera techniques, broadcasting, acting, script writing, the list goes on and on. Every week I would have a new film assignment to do. I took full advantage of film school and the payoff has been great. While in school I built myself a professional portfolio and website, created a nice resume/cover letter to hand over to potential employers in the future. I then took my portfolio and resume and looked for internships. By the time I finished film school, I had experienced two internships with production companies in my city.

After graduating from film school, I was approached by a production company in my area who had came across my work. They liked my work and was looking for a full time video editor/shooter to be a part of their company. They offered me a full time job, and I took it. They paid me a low wage per hour. I worked in the companies offices for two years (while also doing freelance work on the side), and decided it wasn't for me anymore. I branched out and did freelance editing from home for several clients of mine. It was a lot of work, a lot of frustration meeting deadlines and little pay, but in the end it was a good experience.

A year into freelancing from home, I also decided that it wasn't what I wanted to be doing. I decided to job search again, got in with another company and have been working with them ever since.

My story might not be as exciting as Evans, but heres the deal. You need to build yourself up into being a professional. Start small, work for free, build your portfolio and resume, look and be professional, do lots of freelance work, find a company who you think will be a good fit for you. If you have a nice film reel, resume, website, business cards, have the experience and you are professional you'll have a good chance of finding a film job pretty much anywhere. You have to work hard to get what you want, nothing comes easy.

Hope this advice helps in some sort of way. Keep pushing yourself harder and harder in film school. You'll learn more as life goes on.

threads, interesting stuff in here, thanks for making this thread.

For me, my career in media started just like most people in this forum. I began filming my friends skiing when I was 15 or 16. When I was a senior in high school Asian_Allen hit me up to collab with him and a couple other midwest filmers on a Minnesota based ski film. Allen and I worked together on a couple fun projects over the next 2-3 years while I partied my way to an Associates degree at a small community college.

While in college I co-produced a couple ski films, and worked on some series'. I also shot some freelance videos for a few local businesses and had an internship shooting content and running social media for a local ski hill. I worked up just enough of a media resume to land a Summer seasonal job at Woodward Copper shooting recap edits. I worked hard my first summer and produced a ton of content and ended up getting hired back to keep shooting through the Winter.

3 years into working for Woodward Copper and my role has turned into a year round position producing content, running social media, developing content and marketing strategies, coordinating athletes and filmers and photographers etc. I've moved into more of a marketing role than I ever could have imagined. I still get to ski and create original content with talented people, but I also have to attend a lot of meetings, create reports, and stare at spreadsheets. I've had to make some sacrifices and take on a lot of responsibilities to get to a point where I make a comfortable living, but it's all been worth it.

I'm in high school right now freelancing and even though i'm young here's my personal experience. I started getting serious about film almost a year ago to date. I still have the camera I started with and the first thing I'll tell you is that the camera really does NOT matter, you can always rent gear. Second thing, look on craigslist and do shit for free, without free work i would be no where. Third, get an internship, I have an internship right now that isnt necessarily film related but they never hurt to put on resumes and i have another internship lined up with a ski resort for marketing. Lastly, have a back u. Mine's marketing, yours could be anything you're interested in. Now that i'm done with advice or warnings whatever you want to call them i'll move on to my little annectode. My first real gig was shooting a presentation for JLev, I got insanely lucky with it, one of the biggest things in freelancing is luck and timing. The day after I shot for Jason I shot for the New York State Rugby Championships. After that I got in contact with a training company and asked if they would like a serious of videos following their trainings. This was maybe a 40 hour project. I offered to do it for free for purely exposure and experience. At the end of the project they gave me some cash which was unexpected. Now after freelancing my way through craigslist, connections, and a fuckton of free jobs I'm finally making some money. There's some steps i skipped inbetween but they really arent important. A lot of this industry is about how much work and time you're willing to put in. In about a year I have made an almost full return on investment with my equipment and I am currently in negotiation with a real estate company to shoot their listings for a hefty amount of money. Why am I telling you this story? I'm just trying to get the point across that you need to be willing to work your ass off, fail, network, and just hope that you make ends meet. If you think it's the right path for you go for it, if not go to school for something else and minor or double major in film, that's what i'm doing. Currently I'm looking into a double major in marketing and communications. I totally dragged on but I hope this helped you in some way man. I'm not sure how old you are but if you wanna ask me any age related questions feel free to.

Love this thread, sick to hear everyone's stories starting in video industry. SO here is mine......

At first I was planning on getting a degree in engineering or business. With business being my choice I started college. After a year I realized it really wasn't for me. I have always had a thing for video production and photography, even though I never really picked up a camera to film. I always watched videos, devin graham, eheath and poor boyz, and wanted to get into it and for photography, I was always more interested in the photos in magazines and how they managed to capture that image.

Sophmore year of college I decided to study Visual Communication Technology, purchase my first camera and pursue video production. That year I knew I was in the right industry. I do not film a lot of skiing but hopefully with sometime I will get more and more chances to.

Since then I have had internships mainly in college and professional athletics. It started filming my brother racing, gaining a few freelance opportunities in professional racecar series'. Working with the BGSU Athletics department doing motion graphics and video production. Graduating and interning at Cedar Point in the Marketing Department, gaining full time employment at a small sports media company, laid off due to lack of financials. And NOW interning in broadcasting with the Detroit Lions.

eheathIt can be a tough time but you just have to hustle through it.

Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions man

Hey this is awesome man, sorry for just getting back to you. After working a couple gigs doing Audio and filming for the US Waterskiing Open and Paintball World Cup this month, I see just how you're climb is like everyone else's and mine too, just at different sports. This is all great advice so thanks a lot.. I am very excited about getting out of florida and going to a place where I can ski! That's super sick about a full time job thats kind of the big time stuff right there!

icantskiiFILMHey this is awesome man, sorry for just getting back to you. After working a couple gigs doing Audio and filming for the US Waterskiing Open and Paintball World Cup this month, I see just how you're climb is like everyone else's and mine too, just at different sports. This is all great advice so thanks a lot.. I am very excited about getting out of florida and going to a place where I can ski! That's super sick about a full time job thats kind of the big time stuff right there!

That's awesome man! If you can, post up some footage I'd love to see it!

Aidin954That's awesome man! If you can, post up some footage I'd love to see it!

idk where to find footage.. i only filmed for the Live webcast!

Aidin954That's awesome man! If you can, post up some footage I'd love to see it!

http://www.nautique.com/events/us-open

when it goes to the on camera shots, thats me!

I just want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. something to always reflect upon