The last issue of "Sports News" discussed sports film, video, and CD-ROM production. Here's a closer look at three sports film and video companies:
In 1950 Miller started renting arenas, selling tickets, and showing the film himself. He narrated as the film played, using phonograph records for background music. By 1960, he was showing his films in 103 cities, but still narrating it in person.
Today Miller, in his seventies, is no longer involved in day-to-day operations, but still writes and narrates the voice-over for the annual ski movie. The soundtrack includes not only Miller's familiar voice, but also rock music--selected to appeal to a younger audience than in the past.
In 1984 Miller sold half his company to an entertainment company specializing in concert promotions. "I started the business because I loved to make movies. Then the company got so big I didn't have time to make movies, I had to run the business. So when the opportunity to have a partner came along, I jumped at it." (1)
In 1989, Warren's son, Kurt, and company president, Peter Speek, bought the company. It has a full-time staff of 16 and has expanded beyond ski movies to include industrial films, sports videos, and commercials. The company has produced over 600 films (including 47 annual ski films). Its video "How to Ski Better" is the best selling ski video of all time.
The annual ski movie takes more than a year-and-a-half to produce. Crews fly an average of 640,000 miles every year. Film (not video tape) is still used. More than 30 feet of film is shot for every foot used. Production costs (approximately $1 million) are kept down because the skiers who appear in the film do it for free. And the film is sponsored. (Sponsors have included Budweiser, Nissan, Evian, Visa, and DirectTV.)
Once the film is edited, focus groups come to the company's headquarters in Boulder, Colorado to critique it. The film-in-progress is screened once a week for nine weeks. Viewers are asked to rate a series of film sequences on paper and also discuss them as a group. The next day the tabulated surveys are discussed by the company's executives and production staff.
This attention to detail has kept Warren Miller Films at the top of the industry. The company has an estimated two-thirds to 90% of the ski film and video market.
" ... our objective is to find niches in the sports marketplace where we can merge sports and entertainment in this multimedia world. For example, our first project was Northwest Airlines Halloween on Ice which was an event we did at the new Fleet-Center here in Boston where we had television, a home video and in-flight coverage on Northwest Airlines." (2)
He is producing five "Fairy Tales On Ice" starring his wife, skater Nancy Kerrigan. Each is expected to cost $500,000, mostly for technical expenses and performers' fees. Some of the skaters, including Kerrigan, agreed to take a share of gross sales instead of higher salaries.
The income is expected to come from long-term video sales, not from broadcast rights. "He does need all the other elements--the CD-ROM, the multimedia--because the secondary media are probably going to be his profit. He's probably just breaking even, getting on the air. These things aren't hugely profitable," said Craig Braasch, director of corporate advertising for Northwest Airlines which has sponsored some of Solomon's projects. (3)
ABC Video is one of Solomon's partners and will distribute the videos. According Barry Mendelson, president of On Ice Inc., a tour promoter and another of Solomon's partners, "a good 'sell-through' would be 200,000 tapes a year at $14.95," but they hope to see sales three or four times that amount. (4)
Solomon has also formed StarGames Music to develop original music for athletes, events, and multimedia properties. "We could go to the promoter of an event, or a team owner, and say, 'We want the rights to develop specific theme songs for you.'
"Say, a gymnastics tour right after the Olympics. We'll write a piece for two gymnasts to do their floor routines to. The tour promoter will pay for the music production, we'll own the publishing rights, and we'll market it jointly. Sell a three-song CD at every stop on a 35-stop tour. We'd use it in all the promotions and ads, really introduce the songs. Maybe even do a music video." (5)
"I was always getting phone calls from Sandlot and Little League coaches asking why we didn't cover their games. They said it would mean so much to the kids--and right then I knew there was an untapped market out there." (6)
He started Via Video to provide professional video production to sports groups of all sizes. He tapes games, edits them with ESPN-style graphics and music, and sells the 30-minute tapes to parents and coaches for $15 each. He takes a VCR-TV with him to the games so that he can show them what he has taped.
- Frizzell has covered a number of state-level competitions including the Virginia high school wrestling championship and the Commonwealth Games. He has also produced highlights tapes, team documentaries, and instructional tapes. He is a one-man operation, handling everything from answering the phone to marketing himself.