Extreme Interning

Shortly after he finished finals last spring, Graham M. Gephart ’04 threw a kayak, a mountain bike, three pairs of skis, and assorted outdoor gear into his ’93 Volvo and set off for California. For the next three and half months, he worked as an intern with Unparalleled Productions and helped produce the company’s latest ski movie, Soul Slide. After battling numerous obstacles, including a nonexistent budget, pesky wild animals and assorted mechanical problems, the production crew completed the project in early September. For Gephart, the experience was incredible. “It’s the closest I’ve come to living my dream,” he said.

Gephart landed the job after he sent Josh Murphy, the owner of the company, a copy of a travel film he had made in high school. Though the company didn’t have the resources to hire Gephart, they were excited about his work and told him that if he could get to California, they’d take care of the rest. “It wasn’t easy to figure out the logistics,” Gephart laughed, “but I made it happen.” Over the course of the summer, Gephart worked on all aspects of the film—from actually filming and editing, to writing sales proposals, to welding together trailers. Because of the company’s limited budget, Gephart explained, “There was a lot of sneaking around with cameras and doing things undercover.” For example, he says, for the filming on Mt. Hood in Oregon, their crew—Gephart, Murphy, seven skiers, and a still photographer—camped for a week on an abandoned airstrip and used the facilities of a nearby lodge to shower. Though he worked for free, Gephart received various ski gear from the company’s sponsors. “It’s a pretty ideal lifestyle,” Gephart said enthusiastically. “You get to travel, ski, and work with some of the world’s top athletes.” He adds, “It was a great chance to get out and do something different from the typical experience at Harvard.”

Gephart saw his hard work come to fruition last Friday night when the Boston premiere of Soul Slide entertained a crowd of about 100 people. Held in trendy Atlas bar at the bottom of Jillian’s, the atmosphere was more final club than ski lodge. Guests perched on velvet-sided barstools under subtle lighting as Top 40 pop music played in the background. Numerous televisions hung from the ceiling and three huge screens behind the bar showed the film, which combined sweeping shots of traditional freeheel skiing interspersed with footage of daredevil stunts.

Since returning from California, Gephart has continued to work with Unparalleled. He is currently organizing premieres of Soul Slide all across the Northeast, in addition to helping edit an instructional ski film the company is producing. If all goes according to plan, Unparalleled will have enough money to hire him this summer or next year. Regardless, Gephart says, “I’m going to do this one way or another after I graduate. It’s something I have a passion for.”