Rising Stars: Meet Clayton Vila

Today we’d like to introduce you to Clayton Vila.

Hi Clayton, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The most defining part of my life was growing up on a tiny island called Block Island. It’s 14 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, which is an hour ferry ride. There are only 900 year-round residents, and my school had 140 kids K-12. So, it’s about as small and isolated as it gets. It’s a beautiful place, but I was an ambitious little kid who was longing for more.

I was always a natural athlete, but I was especially obsessed with skateboarding and surfing. There was not a doubt in my mind that I needed to be a pro action sports athlete of some kind. It was all I wanted. Oddly, I was also a decent skier when my parents would take me skiing once or twice a year, despite having no snow or mountains in sight. For whatever reason, that was the sport I was most talented at, so I entered a skiing program in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire for a couple of months a year in high school. This allowed me to ski as much as possible while still going to high school. I went pro at age 18 and moved out to Colorado immediately.

I lived there for seven years skiing pro for Monster Energy, K2 skis, Oneill clothing, and Nike, among others. I starred in countless internationally distributed ski films, and in the later years, I started making my own ski films. I fell in love with the artistic process of making ski films, and after doing it for so long, I realized that I wanted to level up my filmmaking and make it another profession of mine.

So, in 2016, just months after winning my first X Games Medal, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in filmmaking while continuing to travel and ski professionally. Today, I have made several feature documentaries for networks like ESPN and Red Bull Media House while directing narrative films, branded content, and TV commercials. I’m currently signed by Greenpoint Pictures in the US, Gang films.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not smooth at all. Becoming a pro skier is filled with adversity. Injuries, of course, are just part of it. I’ve had many broken bones, a huge laceration on the side of my face that required over 80 stitches, numerous concussions — you name it. Even worse, the stress and anxiety of constantly putting yourself in situations that might cause these terrible injuries after experiencing them is a part of the game that takes a huge toll on you mentally.

As far as filmmaking goes, I’d say the biggest challenge is finding your voice. Your voice not only has to be something you are excited about, but it also needs to play to your strengths and be lucrative. Lots of reps or agents along the way will try to make you do things that will make money but might start to build your image into something you don’t want to be. Or, on the contrary, sometimes there is work that you love doing, but it’s a dead-end street as far as monetary value. It’s a difficult balance, but you can find it.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a filmmaker, I gravitate towards deeply internal stories that are hiding beneath the surface of any character. Whether it’s in commercials or films, I love to find what really makes someone tick. If you tell me about a world-class athlete winning the Olympics, I immediately want to know what his personal life is like and how it turned him into the hyper-motivated person he is. I don’t care about his struggles to win an event, I care about how difficult it is to maintain a relationship with his family while being so committed to a sport (to make a hypothetical example). This mentality was what jumpstarted my film career when I made an ESPN film called Back To Life about a pro skier whose father was in prison when he won his first X Games medal at age 15. I made his family life the A story and his competitive career the B story.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
It helped me focus on what I want, and canceled out the noise of competing with other people are doing. It’s difficult to not let jealousy or FOMO distract you from what you really want to do in life. As a writer, isolation for some period was a health practice for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: vilafilm.com
• Instagram: @claytonvila
• Facebook: @claytonvilaofficial

Image Credits:
Josh Bishop, Jossi Wells, Tim Buol, Nic Allegre