Smith Optics was one of the product sponsors of Dendrite's first film, but the company wasn't able to offer monetary support for the second film. "[Dendrite] is making great films. It's not about that," said Smith marketing director Tag Kleiner. "It's that we already have partnerships with other movie companies in place. We'd support every one of them if we could, but we have finite marketing dollars."

Kleiner added that he looks at a variety of factors when determining whether or not to provide financial assistance to a film company: what athletes they're working with, their tour schedule, how they're getting the word out.

BC-based Dendrite's film projects so far have been met with acclaim: Their short film, "Parallels" (posted above), was a finalist at Whistler's Intersection film contest this April and has received nearly 17,000 views since it was posted online. "Out of the Shadows" won best big mountain film at the International Freeski Film Festival last year and best action sports film at California's The Mountain Film Festival. But the quality of the film, while important, doesn't guarantee a return on investment for sponsors.

Their first film had a handful of sponsors -- including Surface Skis, PM Gear, The Ski Journal, Selkirk Wilderness Cat-skiing, Russell Brewing Company, Swany, Surefoot, Discrete, Smith Optics -- but all of the companies offered product, not cash. So to fund their 2010 film, Teichrob and Merrick paid out of pocket -- a project that Merrick says cost them around $30,000 in expenses.

They grossed roughly $26,000 from DVD and ticket sales and a pay-what-you-think-the-video-is-worth download rate (they charged a minimum fee of $1.99 to download and sold about 5,000 copies at an average of $5 per person). But the revenue still didn't cover the cost of creating the film.

"We always envisioned doing a second film," Merrick said. "But I've stopped looking for funding for now. It's definitely discouraging. Hopefully we can get another film going at some point."