- Mon Mar 19, 2018 8:41 pm
#402803
A lot of folks much wiser than myself have been wrestling with this issue of how we will bring newer generations into hang gliding. (I have a short documentary that I will be releasing soon that captures some of these conversations, the teaser is on my website.)
Mike Meier, of Wills Wing, very succinctly exposed this conundrum to me when I interviewed him several years ago: “They [pilots] look at people who don’t fly and they have a hard time understanding: how can anyone know that this is available to them and not want to do it? And this is one of the...the mysteries really within the hang gliding community.”
He also pointed out, “It’s almost as if hang gliding was something that happened to...one group of people, at one, relatively brief moment in time and that a relatively smaller percentage of future generations have been inspired by it.” (I use this in the preface of my book WIND, you can read this excerpt in full on my website should you so be interested.)
I think it would be the understatement of the year to suggest that hang gliding is in real trouble as sport.
My answer is the same as it was 10 years ago: this is a hearts and minds thing; we need to capture people’s imaginations. And I believe very much in the power of filmmaking and story telling to accomplish this.
After having looked into producing a film that was hang gliding centric once before (Hang Dogs) and having co-produced a pilot for a HG/PG reality show I have come to realize that Hollywood just isn’t that interested, particularly in view of our meager numbers. But that doesn’t mean the project isn’t worthwhile, it just means that bean counters, count beans; and having the imagination to know how profound a hang gliding movie could be isn’t in their skillset.
That said, Point Break, The Mighty Ducks, and even The Hunger Games have had (accidentally though they may have been) very profound effects on the sports associated with those films.
There are a lot of magic ingredients that would need to go into the making of a hang gliding film that would inspire people to get involved. It’s tricky enough just making a good film let alone one that touches people’s souls in just the right way. But this is it; this is the only hope that I can see. Everyone has tried everything else. It is up to us, and for me it starts with my book/script, WIND.
We’re building it right now (the book is out to the printer’s as I write) we know how to produce it, we have the gear and we know that there are people in hang gliding that want to see it. And more importantly for our sport, people outside of hang gliding want to see it.
So our plan is simple: get the word out about our book, WIND, through our networks of pilots and use that buzz and success to generate interest with an outside market. Even modest successes within our community will provide a strong network inside and outside our community to crowd fund the film.
This is something we must do. You know what they say: do something, do anything even if it’s wrong, just don’t do nothing.
I believe; I truly believe that we can do something for hang gliding and if anyone would like to help push this boulder up the mountain with us, we’d be grateful for any support we can get—it’s pretty heavy, as you all know.
Petros
Mike Meier, of Wills Wing, very succinctly exposed this conundrum to me when I interviewed him several years ago: “They [pilots] look at people who don’t fly and they have a hard time understanding: how can anyone know that this is available to them and not want to do it? And this is one of the...the mysteries really within the hang gliding community.”
He also pointed out, “It’s almost as if hang gliding was something that happened to...one group of people, at one, relatively brief moment in time and that a relatively smaller percentage of future generations have been inspired by it.” (I use this in the preface of my book WIND, you can read this excerpt in full on my website should you so be interested.)
I think it would be the understatement of the year to suggest that hang gliding is in real trouble as sport.
My answer is the same as it was 10 years ago: this is a hearts and minds thing; we need to capture people’s imaginations. And I believe very much in the power of filmmaking and story telling to accomplish this.
After having looked into producing a film that was hang gliding centric once before (Hang Dogs) and having co-produced a pilot for a HG/PG reality show I have come to realize that Hollywood just isn’t that interested, particularly in view of our meager numbers. But that doesn’t mean the project isn’t worthwhile, it just means that bean counters, count beans; and having the imagination to know how profound a hang gliding movie could be isn’t in their skillset.
That said, Point Break, The Mighty Ducks, and even The Hunger Games have had (accidentally though they may have been) very profound effects on the sports associated with those films.
There are a lot of magic ingredients that would need to go into the making of a hang gliding film that would inspire people to get involved. It’s tricky enough just making a good film let alone one that touches people’s souls in just the right way. But this is it; this is the only hope that I can see. Everyone has tried everything else. It is up to us, and for me it starts with my book/script, WIND.
We’re building it right now (the book is out to the printer’s as I write) we know how to produce it, we have the gear and we know that there are people in hang gliding that want to see it. And more importantly for our sport, people outside of hang gliding want to see it.
So our plan is simple: get the word out about our book, WIND, through our networks of pilots and use that buzz and success to generate interest with an outside market. Even modest successes within our community will provide a strong network inside and outside our community to crowd fund the film.
This is something we must do. You know what they say: do something, do anything even if it’s wrong, just don’t do nothing.
I believe; I truly believe that we can do something for hang gliding and if anyone would like to help push this boulder up the mountain with us, we’d be grateful for any support we can get—it’s pretty heavy, as you all know.
Petros