(February 8, 2012 – Press Release, Burlington, VT) – Meathead Films, the award-winning East Coast ski media company, and Ski The East, the leading online community and clothing brand for eastern skiers, have announced the fully redesigned SkiTheEast.net and a year-round strategy for increased content distribution.
SkiTheEast.net’s new Ski The East-TV will showcase Meathead Films’ upcoming production with a behind-the-scenes webisode series released throughout this winter, segments of the feature production released for free in the late summer of this year, and a paid digital download of the complete movie released in the autumn. In typical fashion, all content will feature the usual Meathead crew of athletes with their colorful personalities and talented skiing. The autumn digital download release will coincide with the kickoff to the annual Meathead public movie tour.
“I’m not only proud of what Meathead Films has accomplished, but I’m proud for the East,” says Geoff McDonald, Founder and Principal Cinematographer. “During the last 10 years we’ve overcome the challenges that confront every eastern skier; up and down weather, staying creative with our mountain terrain, and for some of our urban filming, even dealing with police. This is what makes us who we are. Our company and our audience are connected by common challenges and contagious camaraderie. We’re pumped to keep cranking out our A-level content on a new highly accessible digital platform through SkiTheEast.net.”
This merger is in response to the growing demand of online content that’s being consumed in the action sports world, where DVD distribution has been slowing significantly throughout the past few years. Following 10 years of successful annual feature films and hundreds of movie tour events, Meathead Films will continue that tradition in partnership with its sister company, Ski The East, a media, events, clothing, and online community entity.
The Ski The East brand, founded by Geoff McDonald and Chris James, has enjoyed a rapid rise to popularity since its birth in 2005 when it was started as strictly a clothing and accessories brand. In 2008, the company expanded to become a news and community-based website. In 2010, the addition of the east’s first and only all-mountain competition series was born with the Ski The East Freeride Tour. Now in 2012, the Ski The East Pro Team has been officially established, which includes top freestyle and all-mountiain skiers who are all native of the region. Some team members include Will Wesson, Andy Parry, and LJ Stenio of the immensely popular Line Skis Traveling Circus production, and top competitive freeskiers Dan Marion and brothers Lars and Silas Chickering-Ayers who have been standouts in the Winter Dew Tour, X-Games, and Subaru Freeskiing World Tour. The overarching goal of Ski The East unifying the East Coast ski community is clear, and now with the addition of Meathead Films to the mix, the strength of the two brands should keep the region’s audience plenty entertained.
Marketing Director and Co-founder Chris James mentions, “We’re looking to engage the east coast skier in new ways with more content offerings. We’re all about establishing a connection from one like-minded skier to another, as well as the average skier to the ski films and events they enjoy. We’re aiming for a ski website that mixes a little bit of YouTube and Facebook functionalities, all while maintaining the radness that people have come to expect from Meathead Films and Ski The East over the past decade.”
The redesigned site is set to deliver loads of enhanced member features, a surge in exclusive year-round multimedia content from the Meathead Films team and slew of eastern contributors, upgraded sharing features and forum system, and new sponsorship and advertising opportunities. Additionally, the new site will allow almost anyone to contribute, whether in the forums, through the #skitheeast Twitter hashtag, or by commenting on our near daily news updates and exclusive weather bloggers.
The right hand side of North America is home to serious skiing and serious skiers. The east now also has a worthy online hub for all things skiing at SkiTheEast.net.
