what I know, and to pay close attention to the letters and e-mails and everyday comments I get from fans. Sure, some of the letters I get are moronic, self-serving, angry, greedy, or all of the above. Every celebrity has to deal with that. But if someone is willing to pay money for a product that has my name on it, and then takes the time to communicate with me about it, I’d be an idiot not to listen. It’s invaluable market research, and it’s free.
Dear Tony Hawk,
I’m in sixth grade. Seeing you on TV made me want to become a skateboarder. I can do a few tricks like an ollie, kickflip and shove-it. Me and my friends never say never. Do you have any special tips to give me? Do you get paid for being a pro? If so, what is your salary per year?
My Dad’s Home-Movie Hobby Pays Off
We used the profits from those first few productions to buy better equipment and take on other production jobs. In the first five years, we provided content for Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video games, a Bagel Bites commercial, the feature film xXx (starring Vin Diesel), a Powerpuff Girls commercial, a Fender Guitar spot, and one of the worst skate movies of all time, Grind.
In 2004, productions slowed down and we started pitching ideas around Hollywood, none of which flew. We were passionate about creating a 3-D movie, and also came up with a few ideas for American Idol –type shows for action sports that we pitched to MTV, Spike TV, Fox Sports, and ESPN. We self-financed a pilot for a show we wanted to call Fan Mail , in which I’d show up to surprise someone who’d written to me. In the pilot, I arrived unannounced at some poor kid’s high school, during an assembly that the principal had agreed to set up without telling anyone why. It actually went off pretty well, so even though the show never went anywhere, we repurposed the footage into a segment for the Secret Skatepark Tour DVD.
We also got hired to produce a one-off show for OP clothing called “King of Skate,” in which various skaters, including me, competed to see who could do the craziest stunt. It aired on iN DEMAND, DirecTV, and TVN. I skated through fire on a grind rail, but I was a wimp compared to Bob Burnquist, who won the thing (and $25,000) by riding a full loop with the top cut out, while riding switch-stance. In other words, he jumped a gap at the top of a full loop while riding backward. Truly gnarly.
By 2004, 900 Films was in pretty big debt from these speculative productions. To keep it afloat, I assumed the loans, bought out my partners, and took the company in-house. Jared Prindle, THI’s first full-time employee, loved to shoot and edit film, and had evolved into a great videographer and director. Matt Haring, the ex–high school intern, had transformed himself into a skilled editor with a wonderful creative gift. We paid for him to go to school to learn the finer points of the Avid system, and he really blossomed. Shortly after graduating from high school, he became 900 Film’s full-time editor. Irene Navarro stayed on as line producer, and I became executive producer on almost all projects. My sister Pat began to approach our corporate partners to seek work for 900 Films. Before long, the business was thriving again.
At the same time, I was in the process of building a facility in the city of Vista, in northern San Diego County. The idea was to create a place where I could to set up the HuckJam ramp for practice, house the THI operations, build a sound-proof studio for my new Sirius Radio show, and provide offices for the folks at the Tony Hawk Foundation. Now that I was sole owner of 900 Films, we decided to go all-in and build two editing studios and a film library as well.
We soon set out to digitize and archive all the footage that I’d accumulated through the years, including old Super 8 and low-res video my father had taken of me skating when I was a kid. We’ve ended up dipping into that archive often. My dad’s stuff has
Dear Tony Hawk,
I’m in sixth grade. Seeing you on TV made me want to become a skateboarder. I can do a few tricks like an ollie, kickflip and shove-it. Me and my friends never say never. Do you have any special tips to give me? Do you get paid for being a pro? If so, what is your salary per year?
My Dad’s Home-Movie Hobby Pays Off
We used the profits from those first few productions to buy better equipment and take on other production jobs. In the first five years, we provided content for Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video games, a Bagel Bites commercial, the feature film xXx (starring Vin Diesel), a Powerpuff Girls commercial, a Fender Guitar spot, and one of the worst skate movies of all time, Grind.
In 2004, productions slowed down and we started pitching ideas around Hollywood, none of which flew. We were passionate about creating a 3-D movie, and also came up with a few ideas for American Idol –type shows for action sports that we pitched to MTV, Spike TV, Fox Sports, and ESPN. We self-financed a pilot for a show we wanted to call Fan Mail , in which I’d show up to surprise someone who’d written to me. In the pilot, I arrived unannounced at some poor kid’s high school, during an assembly that the principal had agreed to set up without telling anyone why. It actually went off pretty well, so even though the show never went anywhere, we repurposed the footage into a segment for the Secret Skatepark Tour DVD.
We also got hired to produce a one-off show for OP clothing called “King of Skate,” in which various skaters, including me, competed to see who could do the craziest stunt. It aired on iN DEMAND, DirecTV, and TVN. I skated through fire on a grind rail, but I was a wimp compared to Bob Burnquist, who won the thing (and $25,000) by riding a full loop with the top cut out, while riding switch-stance. In other words, he jumped a gap at the top of a full loop while riding backward. Truly gnarly.
By 2004, 900 Films was in pretty big debt from these speculative productions. To keep it afloat, I assumed the loans, bought out my partners, and took the company in-house. Jared Prindle, THI’s first full-time employee, loved to shoot and edit film, and had evolved into a great videographer and director. Matt Haring, the ex–high school intern, had transformed himself into a skilled editor with a wonderful creative gift. We paid for him to go to school to learn the finer points of the Avid system, and he really blossomed. Shortly after graduating from high school, he became 900 Film’s full-time editor. Irene Navarro stayed on as line producer, and I became executive producer on almost all projects. My sister Pat began to approach our corporate partners to seek work for 900 Films. Before long, the business was thriving again.
At the same time, I was in the process of building a facility in the city of Vista, in northern San Diego County. The idea was to create a place where I could to set up the HuckJam ramp for practice, house the THI operations, build a sound-proof studio for my new Sirius Radio show, and provide offices for the folks at the Tony Hawk Foundation. Now that I was sole owner of 900 Films, we decided to go all-in and build two editing studios and a film library as well.
We soon set out to digitize and archive all the footage that I’d accumulated through the years, including old Super 8 and low-res video my father had taken of me skating when I was a kid. We’ve ended up dipping into that archive often. My dad’s stuff has
Similar Books
![MINE! [New World Book 8]](https://fs.ageofbook.com/503196/thumbs/152x264/mine-new-world-book-8.jpg)
