This article was originally written in 2013, but was update on July 24, 2019. Kim Schneider is still the Executive Editor at Warren Miller Entertainment. 

“Tomorrow, ideally,” read the email response from Kim Schneider, Warren Miller Entertainment’s Executive Editor. “Just threw down 40 hours straight of editing, so a bit fried at the moment. But anytime, really,” he signed off, helpfully. And while it quickly became clear that the middle of editing season may have been a less than optimal time to chat about how busy the job is, Schneider is not actually complaining.

Kim Schnieder has been editing video for Warren Miller films since the 1970's. He lives in Sun Valley, Idaho. 

The fact that he has been at it since 1978 and has even roped both of his sons into working with him to create the annual WME celebration of skiing and ski culture points more to a ringing endorsement than a complaint. The high season of editing from April to September is intense, but still Schneider found some time to share how he stays sane and healthy in a busy job.

We can destroy ourselves when working; we don’t maintain the best schedule. I try and hike and stuff, it is just whatever you can get done.

I get out everyday. A 25-minute hike in the hills at least. I do a little biking, and I have a roller and a mat at home.

It is tough taking care of yourself when the job is pressing in, but it helps. You get a lot of energy when you do. The right food is good fuel, and that’s what gets me through, powering myself that way. Bad food is like putting water in your gas tank.

Green drinks just power you! I have a juicer, but when I am really busy I go down the street and buy one for 8 or 9 dollars. And I eat salads, I eat pretty well. It really helps.

I don’t mind the raw food road. There is so much less to clean up! There’s no dishes! That’s convenient. My son Kyle – who is a phenomenal editor, I corner him whenever I can - is a huge raw food guy most of the time.

The digital era kind of makes things easier, but then you have access to so much music and especially the stuff we can do in digital cinematography and editing has increased. It actually takes twice as long to finish things as thirty years ago. There is always so much stuff you want to do to a piece before anyone looks at it. It might take three minutes or thirty hours, or you think you have two hours of work left and it is two days.

PC: Travis Schneider

Things are not so busy from October through March, but the work is absolutely endless. I’ll be in the supermarket and hear a song that would be good in a ski movie and have to identify it. Potential music for this year so far is 1,100 songs. We’ll use 40. My son Travis is the WME music supervisor now; he does know what works well in ski movies.

My real recovery is skiing. I really, really, love Sun Valley, and if I didn’t have to work so much I’d go to Mammoth or Bend in the spring. People are always like, you spend and entire summer looking at ski footage, and then you go skiing? But that gets me totally stoked for the season. I ski all winter.

I’ve never thought about doing anything else. It is amazing what the skiers are doing now – things that people thought were impossible. And the marriage of music and images together is truly almost as fun as skiing itself. It’s an ultimate art. We live in an amazing time.

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This article was originally written in 2013, but was update on July 24, 2019. Kim Schneider is still the Executive Editor at Warren Miller Entertainment.