More and more action sports athletes these days seem to be deviating from the traditional film model of spending a season working with an existing movie company for a short segment in their annual film. Instead, athletes like freeskier Sammy Carlson, skateboarder Nyjah Huston, and snowboarder Travis Rice have chosen to focus on solo film projects.

Freeskier Tom Wallisch will be joining the ranks of athletes branching out on their own to make a movie. Next summer, he'll debut a solo film part tentatively called The Wallisch Project. It's not a full-length film, but rather an extensive segment filled with quality shots that will be downloadable on iTunes next summer. Wallisch, who has filmed with Level 1 Productions and 4bi9 Media in the past, won't be filming with any other movie company this winter. The crew began shooting for the project in November around Salt Lake City, Utah.

"I've filmed with movie companies for a few years and it's a ton of fun and I've had some good segments, but none have been award winning or that amazing because I'm so spread out," says Wallisch. "I wanted to focus all of my efforts on filming into one project. This year, it's a great opportunity to put together something I'm truly proud of."