Papasteeze Posted September 21, 2009 Report Posted September 21, 2009 Saw a refreshing movie this weekend. what? you ask.... Warren Miller narrates through out this movie. So good to hear his voice over again after just too long of an absence. He hasn't been narrating the movies produced under his name. Such a cool stamp approval to park skiers. Warren Miller coming out of retirement is pretty cool by itself however, it gets better. the zinger... Tom Wallisch has the opening segment to Warren Millers narration! Say YEAH! A pennsylvania boy marks this historical milestone to back up what Warren was saying with his unbelieveable style of skiing. There is more.. Jon Brogan got a shot in the movie too! Made me so proud to be involved watching the growth of this sport. Epic. This one for the library. http://www.level1productions.com/movies.php Poor Boys quality is a notch above everyones. MSP open and closing segments make the monotonous middle worthwhile, I guess. Quote
Papasteeze Posted September 23, 2009 Author Report Posted September 23, 2009 Warren Miller Entertainment is not Warren Miller and what he embodies. Do not support this company. Warren narrated in Refresh by Level 1 - Warren Miller Entertainment is suing Level 1 for intellectual property What is wrong with this picture? read the update here: http://newschoolers.com/web/forums/readthread/cat_id/1/thread_id/484817/page/2/ 2 Quote
Justo8484 Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 Warren Miller Entertainment is not Warren Miller and what he embodies. Do not support this company. Warren narrated in Refresh by Level 1 - Warren Miller Entertainment is suing Level 1 for intellectual property What is wrong with this picture? read the update here: http://newschoolers.com/web/forums/readthread/cat_id/1/thread_id/484817/page/2/ just saw that you posted this, you beat me to it. i'm not sure how worthwhile it would be to try and get an across the board boycott of the showings of his film this year, but it's an option i guess. i know at NACC they show his newest movie every year, but it benefits their ski club, which i would feel bad for taking away necessary funds from that. i don't think i've ever bought a warren miller movie, but i certainly won't buy one any time soon. Quote
toast21602 Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 i'm confused about this.... Quote
Glenn Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 i'm confused about this.... Warren Miller the man made movies. In the process he made a company called Warren Miller Entertainment. Then he stopped doing the narration of said movies, and just collected money. Then he sold rights on his name to the company and removed himself altogether from the business. Now he has decided to narrate a Level 1 film which it seems may be in breech of contract and/or non-compete. I'm guessing it's all more complicated than is immediately obvious. Clearly the man should have the option to speak on a film assuming he is not bound by a non-compete. However, the marketing involved with his name is probably really bizarre. I'm guessing it's a lot like the whole Prince, artist formally known as prince deal. 2 Quote
Sno Mountain Skier Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 Clearly the man should have the option to speak on a film assuming he is not bound by a non-compete. However, the marketing involved with his name is probably really bizarre. I'm guessing it's a lot like the whole Prince, artist formally known as prince deal. There was no marketing of it at all. It was a suprise to everyone when the movie premiered at IF3 this weekend. Quote
Schif Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 I don't understand why Warren Miller would ever sign away his company. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. It's definitely cool that he decided to narrate another film though. Whether or not it was a good idea or legal, for the fans its good to have a legend back in the game. Quote
Justo8484 Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 my understanding of it was that once he stopped really being involved as much in the film making aspect of his business, he didn't really like the way things were headed, and just severed his ties with the company. more than likely, there was a non-compete signed. i've never seen a non-complete last for longer than 5 years, because at that point, you really shouldn't have any ties to the business anymore. since it's been more than 5 years since warren miller left WME, he wouldn't be violating the non-compete, and therefore could do whatever he wants in the ski industry so long as what he's doing isnt being promoted as a WME project, which Refresh was not. i don't know all the specific legal details, but it seems like WME should be out of luck on this one. 1 Quote
Glenn Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 I haven't seen the movie. I don't know what the Narration is like. If he opens it up "Hi, this is Warren Miller" uses his trademark lines "It will be one more year until you do" or the like, basically anything he's done for the WME organization including when he was calling the shots he could be in violation of copyright. I'm no expert, but I think thats what's at stake here. Warren Miller gave up his name, so it goes beyond just the marketing aspect. When he signed away the company, everyone WM included thought he was retired. Quote
Papasteeze Posted September 29, 2009 Author Report Posted September 29, 2009 (edited) I haven't seen the movie. I don't know what the Narration is like. If he opens it up "Hi, this is Warren Miller" uses his trademark lines "It will be one more year until you do" or the like, basically anything he's done for the WME organization including when he was calling the shots he could be in violation of copyright. I'm no expert, but I think thats what's at stake here. Warren Miller gave up his name, so it goes beyond just the marketing aspect. When he signed away the company, everyone WM included thought he was retired. There are some iconic sound bytes in the movie. He sold WME/gave it to his son who subsequently sold it a year later to the Bonner Corp which owns dozens of magazines. I imagine that's where/when the apparent disowning occurred. This is WME's 60th anniversary year. The non compete clause must have expired. I would think there would be a better case if Warren Miller was to bring suit for continued use of his name since obviously this action is contrary to his wishes. Vague but yeah. That would silence WME. I encourage those that would like to see this action stopped, that you write the sponsors of WME professionally and express your feelings and subsequently write Level 1's sponsors and your support. My emails to WME's associates and sponsors all started with my name, age, location and length of time skiing along with a short history of my involvement. I went on to say things along the lines that I will not support anyone associated with WME and intend on doing my best to educate those who view their films of this travesty. This is Level 1's statement: Level 1’s interview, and subsequent inclusion of Warren Miller in our new film, “Refresh,” was motivated by our desire to create a meaningful film that helped to bridge the generation gap and do something good for the sport of skiing. Level 1 has never, nor will ever, have any intention or desire to deceive our audiences into thinking that our films are in any way related to Warren Miller Entertainment, or further, that we are trying to capitalize on the brand and image created and purveyed by Warren Miller Entertainment. To the contrary, we have always gone out of our way to promote the Level 1 brand and our films, as entirely unique within the skiing community. Its disappointing that Warren Miller Entertainment would seek to put a stop to something that in all reality should serve to increase the reach and scope of the Warren Miller name, and in turn, the value of their own brand and films. BTW this thread was created before the suit. I need to make it clear that the warren miller narration is in the movie without use of advertising it. In other words Josh Berman is celebrating his 10 years of movie making and made mention of how he grew up on WM. and WM comes on to say "thanks Josh..................." WME is so missing the point. dumb asses. Edited September 29, 2009 by Papasteeze Quote
Papasteeze Posted September 29, 2009 Author Report Posted September 29, 2009 just an update: Warren Miller, the person, and his personal company, Warren Miller Company, put himself in the mix as a Quote
Papasteeze Posted September 30, 2009 Author Report Posted September 30, 2009 Nothing really came from the hearing yesterday, however from a reliable source: Believe it or not, our voice can be heard! WME is definitely feeling the pushback on this absurd course of action they initiated. They are quickly trying to resolve this in a cooperative manner with Level 1 in a way that can be spun through the media to end the PR nightmare they created. I cannot get into the specifics for a number of reasons, but just know that what we have been doing is working. In what they are doing, they are basically admitting their moves were a mistake and they are trying to mitigate the damage. Now we really need to release the hounds and push even harder and hope that they just drop the case. This is further evidence that they had no idea what they were getting into with this. They drastically underestimated the passion, comradery, loyalty, intelligence, character, and overall enthusiasm this group has. They also did not realize that in the age of social networking sites this sort of brand damaging information can spread like wildfire. All of this proves how out of touch with their market WME is. Don't let up, keep on em'.... Nothing really came from the hearing yesterday, however from a reliable source: Believe it or not, our voice can be heard! WME is definitely feeling the pushback on this absurd course of action they initiated. They are quickly trying to resolve this in a cooperative manner with Level 1 in a way that can be spun through the media to end the PR nightmare they created. I cannot get into the specifics for a number of reasons, but just know that what we have been doing is working. In what they are doing, they are basically admitting their moves were a mistake and they are trying to mitigate the damage. Now we really need to release the hounds and push even harder and hope that they just drop the case. This is further evidence that they had no idea what they were getting into with this. TThey drastically underestimated the passion, comradery, loyalty, intelligence, character, and overall enthusiasm this group has. They also did not realize that in the age of social networking sites this sort of brand damaging information can spread like wildfire. All of this proves how out of touch with their market WME is. Don't let up, keep on em'.... Quote
Johnny Law Posted October 1, 2009 Report Posted October 1, 2009 just an update: Wow what a cluster fuck, WME makes shitty movies as they pretty much phone it in every year so I really don't care if we never saw them again. However, if Warren Miller the man essentially goes and creates another Warren Miller company he has to a large effect made WME useless. I would imagine that is what the contract is all about hence WME assertion that Warren Miller violated his contract by doing work with Level 1. It sounds like total bullshit but they don't have to win in court, all WME has to do is make Level 1 spend more than they got and Level 1 will settle for some bs or go out of business. Quote
Papasteeze Posted October 20, 2009 Author Report Posted October 20, 2009 Another update... from Warren Miller himself... Truth Please people, do not support WME in any way. For so many of you who may not already know, I would like to clarify that I am not, nor have I been involved with Warren Miller Entertainment (WME) or their ski movies for quite some time now. When I sold the company to my son in 1988, I was excited about staying involved and helping carry the company forward. However, the company has twice since been sold, and it has been six years since I have had anything whatsoever to do with the films bearing my name. Read the rest of the story here Quote
librider Posted October 20, 2009 Report Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) haha saw this shirt at mt snow this weekend. Edited October 20, 2009 by librider Quote
Papasteeze Posted October 28, 2009 Author Report Posted October 28, 2009 Can we embed vimeo here? anyway. listen to this! Allstar on Warren Miller 1 Quote
Brian Posted October 28, 2009 Report Posted October 28, 2009 Can appreciate the attempt.. but I was only able to get 35 seconds into this. Quote
toast21602 Posted October 28, 2009 Report Posted October 28, 2009 i enjoyed that. haha saw this shirt at mt snow this weekend. haha nice. Wallisch was rocking one of those shirts too. Quote
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