Why I've become a Hater

loganimlach

loganimlach

Active member
Staff member
Recently many of you have noticed that I have become a salty son of a bitch on this website. Looking back, I didn’t make a conscious decision to become a hater; I’ve been slowly slipping in that direction for some time now. The Margetts debacle really was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, and ever since then I’ve had no filter when it came to sharing my opinion on everything surrounding the Olympics.

I fucking hate what the Olympics are doing to us.

Everyone talks about how good it’s going to be for our sport, and how we will see an influx of money, and blah, blah, blah. Well my question is: where the fuck is it? At first I thought, well it must be getting pumped into all the Olympic athletes. Then I see one of the top Canadian half pipe skiers begging for money, and he has some of the largest sponsors in the game. Well then it became apparent that the money for the Olympic athletes to train is coming from their respective governments and not sponsors. You know where that leads me to believe the money in our industry is? Shhhh, it’s not really there. Our industry is fucking broke. And the Olympics isn’t going to fix it.

You know when our industry was at its peak? In the 70’s and 80’s When Warren Miller films were selling out 20,000 seat theatres and coked up mogul skiers were ripping bumps and banging hookers in hot tubs. Ski films were broadcast to huge audiences, not just the niche group we are in now. You know how we got to that point? A large portion of the money was poured back into the ski film industry, allowing them not only to produce, but also to promote their film every year. Sure, having the X-Games broadcast on ESPN might get some kid stoked on skiing, but it doesn’t have the allure to draw in the audience like Warren Miller narrating a piece about flying a bush plane onto a glacier to ski powder. Even now days, can you imagine if Into the Mind had a national TV spot for their US tour with dates and shit during half time on Monday Night Football? (Incoming blatant assumption) They probably have the biggest film budget in the game and couldn’t afford to do that.

I think that there is a serious misallocation of funds in our industry.

It’s fucking atrocious the amount of money that film companies and skiers get paid. This became most apparent to me when I was reading a blog entry or some shit Martini put up talking about Cam needing to borrow money from him because he was fucking broke and couldn’t get his travel reimbursements yet to keep going on. For fucks sake, that was after two years of parts filled with some of the burliest urban in the game. And he doesn’t have enough money to get an Egg McMuffin and a cup of coffee? Why is there this idea at the corporate level that the guys at Stept don’t deserve as much money as some dude that finishes 7th at the X-Games?

Can anyone here tell me (without looking it up) who won the X-Games three years ago and how you felt when they stomped the money booter? Probably not. But I’m sure a many of you here can remember how you wanted to jump out of your fucking seat when the screen shifted from black and white to color on Pep’s opening cork 7 in 1242, and that segment is 10 years old! Why isn’t the money in the industry going to the people that are leaving legacies instead of people that are just adding 180 degrees of rotation or another flip every season?

(Again, blatant assumption incoming) I’m willing to bet that’s why a lot of your favorite movie companies are being forced to shift to two-year productions. They aren’t able anymore to afford to put out the production that they really, really want to in one season, but when you spread those funds out over two years, voila, you’ve got enough to make a banging film. It costs less for the riders too, so when your sponsor has to chop two grand off of your travel budget it’s not a huge deal because you are going to have another entire season to make up for that one trip you might have missed, plus a few more. Ultimately, I feel, it does you the viewer an injustice. Everyone might sell it as, “Oh man, it’s gonna be twice the movie you’ve ever seen!” But in reality you, then end user, is receiving half the content.

The second terrible fact is that surviving as a start up film company is next to impossible these days. Who are the only ones to come up and have been able to sustain in the past 5 years? Stept and Sherpas are all that I can think of. And look at all of the side work they have to do to stay afloat. Martini takes on tons of projects like that Network A shit and editing Ingrid’s X Games edit, and Sherpas did that giant IMAX project for the Canadian Tourism board. Now look how many companies we’ve lost in that time. Toy Soldier, Rage and Dendrite are three incredibly talented players just off the top of my head. Where is the incentive to invest in going from filming your friends to taking the next step and trying to become a production company? It’s great when you’re a young adult without serious bills, but once you break that threshold you need to make a living out of it the support for start ups just isn’t there.

It doesn’t have to be like this. The industry as a whole will hopefully see after Sochi that we have been focusing on the wrong thing. They will see that we need to make an investment in the future of freeskiing, back into the people that become legends like Shane and Schmidt. Hopefully they’ll see that the allure of showing someone dodging gangs and crackheads in Detroit or camping for a week on a glacier and earning every turn every day is FAR greater than watching someone take a 1 minute long slopestyle run. If Tom wins the Olympics that will be fucking awesome, and he will go down in the history books, but I guarantee you I will think about that fucking GIANT dub ten he did in the Rutherford waaaaay before I think about the dub ten that he’s going to stomp in his slopestyle run in Russia.

I’m fucking sickened by the obsession surrounding the Olympics and how it is straight up fucking a lot of people that frankly deserve better. And before any of you idiots go off about me being jealous because I have to work and they don’t, cram that shit right up your ass. Ask anyone that’s ever filmed with me or has been around me, I don’t complain about coming to work. In fact taking a break from skiing is healthy for me, it keeps skiing solidified as my escape from the real world and my love for it strong. Plus, I don’t need the money from sponsors, I'm completely comfortable. But there are tons of people who do. And not only do they need it, they fucking deserve it and aren’t getting it. That’s why I’ve been such a salty ass hole. I still think Margetts copped out, I still think Walter Wood is a glorified gymnast, and I still think that the Tucker Perkins hair commercial is fucking disgusting. But I probably wouldn’t have been so vocal about it if I wasn’t boiling over with disdain for the Olympics.

tl;dr: fuck you, read it.

 
The money will follow the games but wont necessarily be evident before it. The money comes from the extra exposure to the general public our sport will receive. That may translate into more full beds in hotels, more passes purchased and more skis purchased. All this will feed the industry and help it get stronger.

So the impact will be there it will just take some time after the games. As you say the industry is pretty broke right now, so manufactures dont have a ton of money to pump into the athletes. They have to hope the exposure will translate to growth.

And regarding the xgames yes I can remember. It was bobby sending big air to a new level. Honestly I would think way more people will remember that then pep in sessions (even though that was if anything more memorable) as it had way more exposure.

Overall, I agree you wont see much change straight away, but give it time, it will follow the games.
 
Instead of not going along with it and badmouthing it, why not just stay true to the side of the sport you love. From what I understand, it's like comparing world cup downhill, to rampage. It would help my analogy a lot if you know a bit about mountain biking, what i'm trying to say is, just keep doing what you like. There's no need for hostility.
 
I agree. but I feel as though you need to look past the olympics. Skiing is an individual sport, its not soccer, or cricket or hockey where you rely on an entire team to follow strict guidelines. And this, in my mind, makes it so much more special as every skier can look at skiing in different perspectives. To me, its about spending time with friends, goofing around and most likely being drunk. I could care less about money in the sport, sponsorship, or even what the Olympics do to the sport. Because in my mind, no matter what happens, skiing will always stay the same for me. I mean fuck, worst case scenario, every olympic skier gets super fucked up the night of the comp, sleeps in and completely misses the olympics. All money, all sponsorship, all "professionals" are erased from the sport that I love. Would that stop me from riding the lift with my friends, having a cigarello race on the chair while I hold a 40 in the other hand, giggling the entire way down the hill and repeating once im at the bottom? Hell no. Skiing is much deeper then contests, or even the olympics.
 
what blog was martini talking about cam needing money in? thanks

also lots of what you said is true but i think the most important factor in a lot of this is that money comes from advertising, and even though film segments are a thousand times cooler and more important than contests, it's the gapers buying rossi skis cause they see them on espn that fund this industry for the most part, not people like you and me who actually know about skiing
 
But there was skiing in the Olympics when Warren Miller was filming movies....even the same genre he filmed. For example moguls. He filmed moguls, there was moguls in the Olympics. Warren Miller also filmed a lot of backcountry as you mentioned, there was no back country in the Olympics, but people still went and watched his ski films....not sure I understand your thoughts.

If you keep this mind set you might as well retire and move onto a different industry.

If you want change in the industry, do something about it beside bitch and hate to a bunch a 13 year olds on newschoolers.
 
...you are not going to make much money if you choose to make ski films with your friends instead of "getting a real job". also, if you think warren miller 80s films had an edge because they were able to put themselves out there and market skiing, but the olympics are a bad thing? its pretty obvious to most people why cam riley could end up in the situation he was in. everyone here fucking loves stept, but its not like joining that crew is a financial boon. really it comes down to choices and circumstance, but pointing a finger at the industry is counter productive.
 
talking about the old warren miller and even johnny decesare movies, and just the huge hype they made about them back then is kinda thought provoking. i never really considered that freeskiing is being divided into "niche" markets, but thats a good point. i hate to think of it like we are "past our prime" though.

I guess we will have to see if the olympics do have much of an effect, positively or negatively. its a pretty big milestone for the sport but i do see what youre sayin. perhaps the problem with so many small production companies like Rage folding is just due to oversaturation of a relatively small market. A lot of people are great skiers and filmers and a production company is their dream job, and thats just the problem. its too bad, but really if everyone makes a movie, who's left to watch them
 
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wow. very nice read. thanks for sharing.

also. definitely miss the old film companies.. especially plehouse! whiteshine is still one of my favs.
 
You need to check your history brew, Mogul skiing wasn't an official Olympic sport until 1992. Before that it was for loose cannons, kind of like us.

Also, insinuating that there are only 13 year olds on this site is starting to become asinine. There are TONS of intelligent people that have thought provoking conversations.
 
Reasons I don't like the fact that Slopestyle and Halfpipe are in the Winter Olympics: It's taken away the FREE aspect of freeskiing, it's pretty much forcing the people that want to compete into camps and paying for coaches/coaching and for the people that want to take this up, it'll be almost impossible to get into, unless you have a large amount of money behind you.
 
that's precisely the point i'm trying to make though. why don't they make the money? why is the "status quo" that the competition skiers get most of the money? why don't ski movies get giant promotion budgets to buy TV spots to play in huge theatres like Warren Miller used to?

I fully realize that I'm being naive and idealistic, but I just really cant figure out how and why we got to where we are.
 
Alright. I agree with everything OP said but what is your solution. What do you say we do about it? Its not sarcastic it's an honest question. What is the solution?
 
You're post made me think of an interesting theory. Could it be possible that the rapid progression of our sport has kept people from getting into it recently? I remember being amazed when I was younger just watching edits of guys straight sliding urban and I was so pumped when I learned how to slide a rail because I was comparing myself to the guys I saw in movies. But now the main part of or sport that gets showcased is triples and insane rail tricks and when kids consider trying park skiing they get discouraged because they think they have to be doing triples to be "good", as opposed to 10 years ago where if you could k fed and cork 7 you were the best skier at your local hill. Just a thought
 
It doesn't matter. Your still not doing anything productive to help the industry your in by hating on NS.

You can blame your self and all the other production companies for helping get our sport in the Olympics. These production companies product have help popularize our sport which led it into the Olympics. This is probably what happened with mogul skiing. You mentioned mogul skiing made into the Olympics in 92, after warren miller filmed it and made it popular. Essentially this is what happen with our sport. People filmed it, it became popular enough for the Olympics.

I'll say it again, if you want change in your industry, get off NS and go out and do something about it. Hating and bitching to the TONS of intelligent and thought provoking people who make up NS is not your answer to success in the ski industry.
 
i guess they could have slipped a few 30 second McDonalds ads into Mutiny, right? but then wed all call them sell outs and tell them to go ski with Torin
 
I remember distinctly in that blog post how they'd all (Jordan, Riley, Flynn and Vila) though not Martini, had spent a ton of their money on weed. That's their own fault, they could have spent it on food or gas, but no, they had to get high.However, I agree, filming pros do not get enough money to survive on, and that needs to change.
 
Part of the sad reality is the average person isn't too impressed by skiing anymore. The average fuckboy is way more into a double backflip on a motorcycle or a car driving a loop. The extreme sports circus has grown even faster than skiing.

Also movies in general have 'progressed' a lot in the last 20 years. If you want the average person to watch your movie you need to compete with hollywood too. Art of flight did a pretty good job at this and im pretty sure it did real well on itunes.
 
I'm pretty sure he was just sparking a conversation about it all and explaining why he has been 'hating' of late - he wasn't suggesting his 'hating' was getting anywhere.

What would your suggestion of doing something about it be? that's what should be discussed.

I have no idea
 
Lets re-negotiate all of cam rileys sponsorship contracts for him, lets find him some better ones, lets start a stept productions mcdonalds fund? give me a few days ill be back with more ideas.
 
I do think the olympics won't be worth the trouble though. It's already looking pretty bleak with those gay ass promo videos and rope skiing photos. Plus the chance of the extra money going to skiing's 1% is very high.
 
To take a somewhat defeatist stance on the issue, what else is there to do?

I think the first step in enacting change is to start discussing it - which is exactly what's happening here. Even if Logan left this thread and went out and protested in the streets, nothing would change. One guy with one opinion on an online forum isn't going to change anything, that's obvious. But if he is able to make even a few other people see it his way, then momentum starts to build.

In my opinion, if nothing else is working, then spreading awareness is the next best option. And to be fair, Logan practices what he preaches.
 
This was a fantastic read; I think you perfectly explained what a lot of other industry folks are afraid to admit. I, for one, love the salty attitude and find it refreshing. Keep doing what you're doing
 
I didn't say that you fucktard 12 year old. Fuck you. I think filming skiers should get more budget and be able to only focus on skiing. You need to read more you fucking idiot. Do you think true snowboarders like myself have been disenfranchised by the Olympics? No, and if you stick to yourself and true skiing, Olympics will not affect you or others.
 
So my NS Yearbook came in yesterday and I was reading the article about the Inspired Demo Tour and henrik said something along the lines of "I didnt practice much this year. Going out and skiing every day was my practice" and thats why he was successful at XGames. And i feel like thats the true meaning of FREE skiing. Henrik got to ski whole bunch of places that most pros dont give a shit about, and then went and threw the gnarliest trick weve ever seen. Not only that, but there was another article in the mag about Douglas and company wanting to break away from the Olympic and competition scene and thats when Douglas dubbed it "freeskiing" Basically what im trying to say is that imo the olympics are taking freeskiing away, and its just going to be a competition with future spins and no creativity. And creativity is what makes us free

So I completely agree with you and Logan. Fuck the olympics.
 
seriously, when i bought skis i got my first skis, i got domains because i saw clayton riding them. anything i buy skiing related is because i saw someone who makes video part riding them. my decision is not based on what i see in a competition ever
 
I have an Idea. How about every person on this website STOPS supporting Dinosaur ski companies. Only support ski companies that are focused on supporting or creating media.

Freeskiing will die in the next 10 years if we do not make conscious consumer decisions.
 
petit is rich as fuck i dont think he was ever in x games, The sport truly only rewards those who are taking it that one step further and im pretty stoked that lots of companys arent paying people to ski ghetto ass urban rails haha anyone can go hit a hand rail but yes urban is gettin gnarly thats why stept is the first company to make a full urban movie and props to them making the industrie realize there is a bit of potential there but ya if you want to make money skiing you gotta be a fucking legend
 
The difference between the X-Games and olympics is that the olympics targets everyone, while the X-Games only really targets people whoa re already interested in, well, action sports. When skiing comes on, there's plenty of people watching that aren't action-sports specific. It's like the difference between the World Swimming Championships and the Olympics. Nobody has any clue who won the Swimming Championships, but people have a pretty good idea of who won the Olympics in the 500m or whatever the hell they do.
 
I completely agree, as much good as a company can try do for their riders it's not really enough when there is not major financial backing. I previously rode for lines local command team(claim) haha and it was a hell of a fun time. I was also a full time student taking 15 hours and working a full and part time job to be able to make ends meet while I had my rep trying to get me to go to various competitions. Loved the company to death but I felt it was hell and ruined the fun when I was failing classes and being miserable trying to do so much. Now I am also not saying I deserved to get paid for how low I was on the totem pole. However I understand the frustration.
 
shit, now I feel old considering that Im twice that.

Anyways, so if stept, similar companies, and skiers need to make more money, the only way to do it is more exposure (more demand for movies). You're right that these segments, while doing more for the sport of skiing, are for a niche group. That's precisely the problem. No sponsor is going to reallocate limited funds from a high exposure event like the x games or olympics to fund a segment for a movie only a few thousand will see(not sure on the numbers, but you get the point).

The increase in exposure is a reason the olympics can be beneficial. After the olympics are done and if someone from the US wins, a lot more people will start paying attention to skiing. Hopefully that will bring more people into the sport and more money for skiers and film companies. It might take more than 1 olympics. The one thing I could see as very beneficial is for sponsors to take advantage of the olympics as a way to bring in additional support of the industry (like a commercial during a break of the slopestyle qualifications saying, "Hey, these aren't the only skiers on our team, check out this movie...blah blah blah."

Also, I appreciate you bringing up 1242. That's when I started freeskiing. Comparing the industry now to then, its clear its much better now(for most reasons)

In the 1242 Era you had these film companies: TGR, MSP, PBP(2 movies), Lvl 1, 2track, Plehouse, Push films. Now it seems there are a lot more film companies out there doing a lot more different things. Back then, those were the days you would see the same shots between the PBP, Lvl1, and MSP movies, 2004 being the worst with segments being the same between X=ten and NASM, and some others. Back then, there were maybe a group of about 40-50 pros. Now, there are a shitload of good pro skiers all doing different stuff. (This may be another reason things are tough as sponsors have to divide more money between more skiers) Looking through an old Freeskier gear guide, each company had many 2 pairs of twins, max, and there were only the main ski companies + Armada, Line, 4Frnt. Now it's impossible to keep track of all the different skis. My point is, freeskiing is growing, not shrinking. While it sucks some athletes aren't getting paid what they should, we are a lot better off than before.
 
That is freesking, but not everyone is as naturally talented as Henrik. There's nothing wrong with practicing, especially if your paycheck could depend on how well you compete in an event.
 
I feel like it will just take some time. As the olympics happen, kids are going to see freestyle skiing that have never dreamed of seeing it. There will be an influx of popularity, kids will be asking for a pair of twin tips instead of hockey skates, or a curling broom or whatever. As time goes, the sport will grow but slowly. If you compare it to some sort of business, lets say Twitter since they just IPO'd. They weren't making ANY profit whatsoever until this launch. Yet they grew steadily to over 230 million active users, without making a dollar. It was a much shorter time span, but as newschool freestyle skiing becomes more spotlighted, the user base will grow exponentially, and over time the money will come. This sport is still pretty young. There is plenty of time for growth and change. think positive!
 
I also think the sport is spreading out to thousands and thousands of now new skiers. 10 years ago, the sport consisted of 20-30 pros whom everyone glorified. But now theres 100s of pros and amateurs all doing the same stuff, so the money and sponsors are spreading out to a much larger group of people than just those original 20-30. Nothing can be focused anymore. Instead of one pro getting say 1000$, that 1000$ is now being spread to 10 pros. So not as much anymore
 
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