Arkade: So like Lick The Cat can be just as pivotal as say the Olympics in the grand scheme of things? Well, shit, I guess that really isn’t the best example with the Sage overlap there. Pat: Yeah, I mean for myself I remember as a kid I didn’t even connect with the big pros because New Hampshire was so far removed from all of that you know. Whatever the pros were doing wasn’t leaving as big of an impression on me as the local crew of older riders were. I found style and music through our own scene and I think the local guys whether they be pro, am, flow, or whatever, they have a profound impact on snowboarding that is just as important as some mainstream or huge contest. Actually if you remember the “we live Forum” project that was something I was really invested in. Basically the idea was that we would be working through local shops and Ams to really try and build snowboarding on that local level. It is critically important. Arkade: Totally shifting gears here. You mentioned filming with Forum a good bit and that sort of very traditional organized way of getting a product to market each year. How has branching out post-Forum been different? Has it been more of a challenge, more fulfilling, or has it been harder than anticipated? You’ve made one traditional style video (Mr. Plant) but also two highly successful web series. Do you foresee the death of traditional video format in lieu of the web series? Pat: I don’t think we will see the death of traditional videos but I think you’ll see them be less frequent. That yearly video platform with a large accompanying premiere tour is a lot of money with little return, and unfortunately a lot of times that is what these decisions boil down to. I think you’ll still see team videos but with more time between films. I do think the web series model is under utilized in snowboarding. That may sound crazy but if you look at skateboarding and how well they have handled that shift to web, snowboarding is really far behind. Like I go to Berrics and Thrasher pretty much every day and there is an amazing amount of content, and then every couple of years there will be a big video drop, like the Vans video just came out, but the vast majority of content even from the professionals is web based. Snowboarding isn’t there one because it is such a seasonal thing and also I don’t think anyone has really committed to it, like REALLY committed to it. It takes a lot of time and effort to produce a web series, and most riders just want to focus on their snowboarding and their parts. But I do see a shift happening because there are a lot of benefits to that extra work. Arkade: You mentioned the seasonal side of snowboarding. Do you think the seasonal aspect has put the industry into a rut that it needs to work its way out of? Maybe it worked ten or fifteen years ago but not so much anymore? Pat: Yes and no. I think the bigger projects are rad, and brands that can afford a two-year project usually benefit from that extra year of production. For myself however I am more interested in things like Drink Water’s Mediocre Madness. Those types of projects take a few weeks to film and there is less production, but they capture my attention more than the big projects. Snowboarding has pigeon holed itself seasonally with everything dropping at once; videos, mags, product, everything comes out at the same time. It has worked to this point, but things are changing and kids want to see things sooner. That is where things like Mediocre Madness offer that new platform. A two week trip, we get what we get, take a week to edit, and then it goes up. I feel like I’m just rambling at this point though. I think as far as being a rider those seasonal expectations can be rough. It is the main reason people get burned out or that
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