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		LISTSERV Archives
		SKIVT-L Home
		SKIVT-L December 1998, Week 4

Subject:

Warren Miller in Wall Street Journal

From:

Dan Barron <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Vermont Skiing Discussion and Snow Reports <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 28 Dec 1998 12:34:03 -0500

Content-Type:

multipart/mixed

Parts/Attachments:

text/plain (6 lines) , Advertising -- WSJ Interactive (175 lines)

Not sure how many Skavittlers read the Republican press, so I thought
I'd pass on their take on ski films.

--telenaut

[The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition] [Advertising]
[Section Navigation] [Advertisement]

In this Section:
                        December 2[The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition]
Marketplace Extra ---------------------------------------------------------
Small Business
Marketing/Media Advertising
Health & Science Perpetual Ski Bum Turns Films
                        Into a Money-Making Machine
Business Focus
Law By BOB ORTEGA
Who's News Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Columnists
Ê Precariously balanced atop a dagger-sharp peak in
Journal Atlas: Alaska's Chugach mountain range, snowboarder Dave
(New ways to explore Hatchett gazes at the 3,000-foot drop before him. Then
the Interactive he leaps, hurtling down an impossibly steep slope as a
Journal) thousand viewers gasp.
Table of Contents The audience, assembled in an auditorium in Greeley,
Headlines Colo., is watching "Freeriders," the latest
                        extreme-sports movie from Warren Miller Entertainment
Business Index Inc. By the end of December, more than half a million
Search enthusiasts are expected to pay $10 to $17.50 a ticket
ÊÊNews Search to see the film, making it one of the top-grossing
ÊÊPast Editions movies per screen in the film industry.
ÊÊBriefing Books
                        But the 90-minute film is more than entertainment.
ÊÊQuotes Packaged with its jaw-dropping footage are unsubtle
Ê promotional plugs aimed at selling resorts and equipment
New Features: to hard-core skiers and snowboarders. That means that
[Image] resorts, equipment makers, travel agencies, airlines and
Putting the focus on others are footing most of the movie's expenses or
business travel. paying for placements, cutting production costs

What's new at wsj.com significantly.
Ê
Related Sites: In addition to annual movies, Warren Miller
Publications Library Entertainment publishes books and a magazine and has an
                        advertising arm, which designs national and regional
Barron's Online marketing campaigns for such brands as Amstel Light beer
SmartMoney.com and Levi Strauss & Co.'s Dockers. A production arm
Careers.wsj.com recycles movie footage into TV shows, custom videos and
wsj.com Radio commercials.
Ê Kurt Miller, who with a partner bought the company from
Resources: his father, Warren, nine years ago, says he expects the
Help combined operation to take in more than $13 million in
Your Account revenue this year, with nearly half coming from the
Contact Us movie.
Special Reports
                        Warren Miller, now 74 years old, made his first ski film
Glossary in 1950 with a borrowed 16mm camera, driving around the
Ê country to provide live narration for local ski clubs.
Corrections At a showing in Los Angeles, he noticed workers passing
                        out brochures for local businesses and soon arranged to
                        pass out the brochures with his program for a small fee.
                        Eventually, that combination grew into Snoworld, a
                        glossy 240-page magazine passed out at most showings
                        that now generates about $1.6 million in ad revenue.

                        Soon after, Mr. Miller began asking filmgoers to fill
                        out address cards for door prizes, allowing him to
                        compile mailing lists to sell to advertisers.

                        By the early 1960s, his yearly tour was reaching 106
                        cities, forcing him to spend months on the road. "I fell
                        asleep a lot when I was driving, but I never hit
                        anything," he says. Finally, Mr. Miller added narration
                        directly to the soundtrack and the tour expanded to more
                        than 200 cities. Now shown in six countries, the latest
                        film, again written and narrated by the elder Mr.
                        Miller, is his 49th.

                        "There are a lot of people making skiing and
                        snowboarding videos, and a few making films, but there's
                        no one who does it on Warren Miller's level," says Paul
                        Witt, a spokesman for Vail Resorts Inc.

                        Fans say the charm of a Warren Miller production comes
                        from the founder's easygoing ski-bum persona, including
                        his stories about skiing every day one winter in the
                        late '40s by wangling free lift tickets and living in an
                        eight-foot-by-four-foot trailer in a Sun Valley, Idaho,
                        parking lot. In his films, he inevitably encourages
                        viewers to quit their jobs, move out to a ski town, and
                        take any work they can that will let them ski every day.

                        The films all follow a formula: Footage of some of the
                        best and seemingly most reckless athletes ever to bomb
                        down a mountain, along with scenic travelogues, goofy
                        interludes like nuns skiing in full habits or a doghouse
                        on skis exploding in midair, and blatant but humorous
                        product placements.

                        "Try the Canyons near Salt Lake City," says Warren
                        Miller in a typical resort plug, as a skier on the
                        screen flies off a crumbling cornice, "because if you
                        don't try it this year, you'll be one year older when
                        you do." As another skier plunges through waist-deep
                        powder at Jackson Hole, Wyo., Mr. Miller drawls,
                        "considering the fringe benefits, a night dishwasher job
                        here starts to look like a pretty good career move."

                        The movies have spawned some rivals. "Our films offer
                        more of a voice to the younger generation," says
                        26-year-old Todd Jones, who once skied for Warren Miller
                        with his brother Steve. After clashing with a cameraman
                        four years ago over how they should perform, the two
                        started producing their own movies. "We don't do the
                        corny stuff," Mr. Jones says. "Our films are more real."
                        But he concedes they're also less successful
                        commercially.

                        Greg Stump, a former national freestyle skiing champion,
                        introduced the concept of "extreme skiing" in his 1988
                        movie "The Wizard of Aaahhs" and was once the Millers'
                        biggest rival. But he couldn't get enough ski industry
                        support for his edgier fare and has mainly turned his
                        attention to commercials and music videos. Recently, his
                        first ski film in three years was released direct to
                        video. "I couldn't compete with the Warren Miller
                        marketing machine," he says. "They have exclusive
                        agreements with theaters, and they've locked up good
                        skiers."

                        He concedes that as long as Warren Miller is around, the
                        franchise will be secure. "I equate going to Warren
                        Miller films with going to church -- everybody does it,"
                        he says. "There's something so soothing and pleasing
                        about his voice."

                        Expert skiers, meanwhile, clamor to be included in
                        Miller films, willing to perform for minimal pay just to
                        ski or snowboard in exotic locales from Antarctica to
                        Kazakstan. Appearing in a Warren Miller film is snow
                        sport's equivalent of playing for the New York Yankees,
                        "a dream come true," says Canadian skier and guide Bob
                        Rankin.

                        Vail, Colo., skier Chris Anthony, who also grew up on
                        Warren Miller films, says that when he was offered a
                        chance to ski for Mr. Miller's cameras the week of his
                        final exams during his senior year at the University of
                        Colorado, he didn't hesitate. "I was willing to drop
                        every class and do the whole semester over again" -- and
                        did -- just to take advantage of that opportunity, he
                        says.

                        Ad Notes... .

                        OFFICE CLOSING: Envoy Communications Group's
                        Hampel/Stefanides said it will close its San Francisco
                        office, citing the recent account loss of the NEC
                        Computer Systems Division, a unit of Packard Bell NEC of
                        Sacramento, Calif. Three layoffs will result. The agency
                        opened the office in 1997 specifically to handle the
                        estimated $40 million account. The office's three
                        remaining clients will be transferred to the New York
                        office.

                        Y&R PRESIDENT RETIRES: Young & Rubicam said 58-year-old
                        President John McGarry will retire soon. Y&R said his
                        duties will be divided among Chief Executive Peter
                        Georgescu; Edward H. Vick, chief operating officer; and
                        Linda Srere, vice chairwoman and chief client officer.

                        ---------------------------------------------------------
                                             [Advertisement]

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                          Copyright © 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights
                                               Reserved.

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