Teton Gravity Research’s Todd Jones discusses his son, Kai, new films, and working with HBO

Teton Gravity Research co-founder and Cape Cod native Todd Jones at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. (Nic Alegre/TGR)

Ski film titan Teton Gravity Research made its transition from DVD to digital in 2006, when company founder Todd Jones decided to sell TGR’s latest film, “Anomaly,” for only $1.99 on iTunes. 

Mike Hatchett, co-founder of Lake Tahoe-based Standard Films, thought Jones was crazy. 

“I was like, ‘Look, this is coming down the pipe. I don’t think I’m not going to sell any DVDs because people are gonna buy this for $1.99,’” Jones said. “But the model is shifting and I kind of want to have some data to be able to go around and experience it myself.” 

That sort of foresight has helped TGR remain at the forefront of the extreme sports movie business, allowing it to thrive while other outdoor sports mediums seek answers. Started in 1995 by Todd and Steve Jones, brothers originally from Cape Cod, TGR now boasts 32 films to its name, including the latest offerings; “Magic Hour,” starring Todd’s 15-year-old son, Kai, and “Pursuit of Soul 2,” a tour of Midwest ski areas done in the same vein as last year’s original film, which was largely based in New England. 

“It’s always a grind, right? Making anything in snow is a labor of love,” Jones said. “I think staying progressive and open-minded, trying to keep up with where the world is moving, we’ve been able to maintain stability and success.” 

We recently caught up with Todd to discuss the new films, his son’s emergence as one of skiing’s next, big stars, and TGR’s ability to remain at the head of the class by embracing technology and other unique avenues. 

New England Ski Journal: Twenty-seven years ago, when you and your brother founded TGR, did you ever imagine it would grow into the enterprise it has today?

Todd Jones: We had big, big dreams and visions. We were young and we were charged up. So yeah, we thought the potential was there. Having a dream and having a vision and a drive is one thing. But actually having them come together and work out is a whole other thing.

NESJ: Has the movie-making business gotten easier or more difficult today with the digitization of everything?

Jones: We started out with shooting film. It was $100, roughly every three minutes of film you shot. Editing stations were $30,000 to $50,000. Distribution was extremely limited. Someone had to go into a specialty retailer to seek out a VHS tape and film. The whole thing was more challenging. As a result of that, maybe it was a little bit more exclusive. 

But remember, we launched a website, in 1996, before we had a film (TGR’s debut movie, “Continuum,” arrived that same year). We were fascinated by the idea that the whole world could watch things online. And we weren’t completely reliant on walking into L.A. or New York, into an office and having people say, ‘no’ to things. We really embraced digital right out of the gate. 

As our site grew, I saw a vision to make it broader, to be all things outdoors, and feature all that content. So, all of a sudden, as we had this explosion of the web, YouTube and digital cameras, the distribution model was completely thrown on its head. We now had all this content that needed support and a home. So we jumped on that. Instead of trying to block it all out, we really embraced it. 

NESJ: Despite an impressive array of athletes (Michelle Parker, brother Jeremy Jones, KC Deane and Sage Cattabriga-Alosa), Kai seems to be the breakout star of “Magic Hour.” At what age did you begin to realize he was going to become TGR’s next big thing? 

Jones: When he was 6 years old, all he wanted to do was ski and he was always super-frothy. But the year of his first segment, I think around 9, he was really starting to do stuff. I was like, ‘Wow, this kid’s got style. He’s got drive.’ 

We had a big thing planned in Corbet’s Couloir with Jackson Hole that fell apart. I pulled up a bunch of footage I had been shooting (of Kai) and I said, ‘Hey, check this out. I know it’s my son, but he’s kind of going off. It’s pretty rad and it might really entertain people to see a young kid shredding this hard.’ And they said yes. 

So we grabbed the big cameras and started shooting and put together his first movie that ended up having somewhere over 4 million views on YouTube alone. Then I think he just continued to really rapidly progress. He was nominated for iF3’s standout male rider of the year award category. That was like the full arrival. It was like, ‘OK, this kid is playing with the big boys.’ 

NESJ: How does he manage to fit in with the rest of the crew at such a young age? 

Jones: Kai was raised around cameras. He’s a smart kid. He’s really, largely self-driven. He is very comfortable in the mountains, and he puts in a lot of time, a lot of work. And he’s cool. He’s a young kid who has really taken his opportunity and ran with it.

NESJ: Do you ever have to ask him to take a step back, or a deep breath before tackling something that seems risky? Or has the way he’s been bred in the mountains already given him that sort of sense? 

Jones: I mean, we have a pretty good flow in the mountains, right? With all the athletes I’ve worked with over the years, we’re constantly going through this process of trying to be in tune with the mountains, and then the snowpack and when it’s right to do certain things. As a dad (asking), ‘Does he belong here? Is it a good time to be here? They seem fired up or is he gripped?’ 

Most of the time we sort of arrived there, collectively. There was an air in Jackson, I think he hit it when he was 12. He wanted to hit it all season. But I didn’t like the snowpack. And it was a really simple conversation. I was like, ‘It’s not ready, guys. Just not ready.’ Having (professional skier) Tim (Durtschi) with him to be his mentor has been good. The three of us have developed this rapport, where we’ve been able to show him and do some pretty radical things for someone of his age.

NESJ: Earlier this year, you produced your first documentary series in partnership with HBO (“Edge of the Earth.”) What was it like dealing with a new partner, and what did the wider audience potential mean for TGR?

Jones: They called us (three or four years ago) and said, ‘Hey, we want to do a documentary on Lindsey Vonn, which was, “Lindsey Vonn: The Final Season.” The film was set out to document her breaking Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 all-time wins. By mid-January, it became pretty clear that her body was breaking down, and that we weren’t making that film. I flew back from Europe to the U.S. to sort of deal with that. I said, ‘I think we have a really compelling film going on here, one of the world’s greatest athletes, sort of coming to terms with the end of her career. And they were like, ‘Yep, let’s go push onward.’ We made that film. And it came out really good. We were really psyched with it. 

They came back to us and said, ‘We want to do more with you.’ We pitched them a few ideas and they really liked the “Edge of the Earth” idea (“an immersive blend of action-adventure sport, travel journal and nature documentary.”) So we were able to do the film series with them. That’s a dream come true. You know, to me, HBO Docs, for documentary filmmaking, that’s the top of the pyramid. Pretty incredible to have Vonn and ‘Edge of the Earth’ on that network. 

NESJ: You made a sequel to “In Pursuit of Soul” this year. What went into the creation of the original, which focused largely on New England ski areas, and how do you see the importance of independent resorts under our current landscape of corporate-owned resorts? 

Jones: The Indy Pass reached out to us. The pass is obviously a response to these bigger conglomerates, trying to stay relevant and keep open. These small resorts are really, really struggling. So, they came to us and said, ‘Hey, we want to do something that features these resorts and how unique and how cool this is.’ So we developed the idea of “In Pursuit of Soul” to go and tell the story and capture the soul of small-town skiing. 

For us, it was an amazing topic. It’s not the typical TGR film terrain, but I come from the East Coast and I’ve done a number of trips to the Midwest. I’ve just always loved those small-scale areas, and how much heart and soul they have and how non-corporate they are; how non-real estate and transaction-based they are. We can do this really cool film that taps into the soul of these places and the challenges they face, the amazing people, how they unite communities, and how important they are.