I recorded all of the Surfer Magazine episodes on ESPN back in the late 80’s, and this last weekend over tacos, we heard how that whole production came together. What an influence Ira has had on my life, and of course, Scott Deitrich with all of the footage shared with Ira that first season. We are honored to have him serve on the 2019 Feature Documentary Jury and honored to have the support of The SurfNetwork, a labor of love and hard work by both Ira and Dustin Hood. It pleases us greatly to hear of more and more upcoming titles landing with TSN soon, and even more so that they’ve launched the AppleTV app and more. Any device you’re holding will likely play your favorite surf film for a small subscription fee… Thank you, Ira.
–Kevin Miller
A surfer since 1964, Ira Opper grew up surfing Malibu and wasted much of his youth exploring the seven seas for perfect waves. His parents knew he would never get any work done if he went to school close to the ocean, so Opper found himself in the desert at Arizona State University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism in 1971.
Fresh out of college, Opper started his first production company, Innovision, which produced police training videos for the California Council on Criminal Justice, and cable programming during the early years of that industry. In 1975 Opper became Program Director for Cox Cable in Santa Barbara, responsible for all the programming and production for the 50,000-home system. Staying true to his roots, he produced Solo Sports, the first local originated surf television series. In 1978 Opper produced a cable program lampooning Santa Barbara’s traditional annual “Fiesta” parade celebration. While the show stung local sensibilities that regarded the Fiesta Days as sacred, he won the first CableACE Award for entertainment programming.
Leaving Cox to pursue a career in national cable sports production. In 1982 he moved to San Diego to work at the acclaimed, A&G Productions. Producing sports programming for the company, such Pro Beach Volleyball and NCAA volleyball for ESPN. He received his first Emmy in 1982 for producing the World Championship of Pro Beach Volleyball coverage.
In 1983, Opper founded Frontline Video & Film and began producing national television advertisements for Comet, Gillette, Tide, and Tylenol and worked on sport productions such as the 1984 Olympics for ABC. In 1986 Opper won another Emmy for Outstanding Director for his production Legends of Malibu, a documentary on the surfing lifestyle of the sixties at Malibu.
His success with Legends of Malibu lead to a contract with SURFER Magazine to produce the first national prime time weekly series on surfing. From 1987 to 1991, Opper produced over fifty episodes of the SURFER Magazine TV series for ESPN.
Once again, he was traveling the globe in search of the elusive perfect wave—Australia, Hawaii, Java, Bali, Central America, the Caribbean, Tahiti and Mexico. “Its always a great adventure,” Opper said. “We were lost at sea for four days in the Java Strait, in Costa Rica we christened a new surf spot Ollie’s Point, a name that still stands and in Hawaii we surfed the legendary waves with legendary surfers,” Opper received another Emmy in 1987 for the series.
In 1991 Opper began producing for Prime Network, where he created Frontline Sports, a weekly prime time series highlighting extreme sports. At Prime, Opper received another Emmy for the “Hotwater Tour,” a Jet Ski series.
In 1995 he started Opper Sports Productions. Opper produced coverage for Tag Hauer on the America’s Cup and produced the documentary Powerglide for Longboard Magazine. In 1995 Opper teamed up with The Surfer’s Journal magazine to produce The Surfer’s Journal TV series for The Outdoor Life Network. The series, titled 50 Years of Surfing on Film, is a twelve-part documentary series profiling the world’s best surf cinematographers from Bud Browne to Taylor Steele. In a review in SURFER Magazine, “This series oozes with surf stoke, history and love for the sport of surfing. It shouldn’t just be required viewing for surf video makers, it should be required viewing for anyone who sets foot on fiberglass.”
The second season of The Surfer’s Journal “Great Waves,” documents the history of the great surf spots. From Malibu to Tavarua Island, from Mavericks to Pipe, twelve of the world’s great breaks are profiled. The review in SURFER Magazine stated, “Great Waves is surf history done right.” The third season profiles the “Greatest Surfers of the 20th Century.” The fourth season titled “Biographies.” includes the comprehensive biographies of the legends of surfing. Opper produced over fifty shows for the Outdoor Life Network
In 2003 Ira began producing for FUEL TV, a Fox Sport’s network. His first series was Long Board TV creating twenty-six episodes in the classic surf movie style with profiles of world-class surfers, shapers, and legends of the sport. Next he produced his two-time Emmy award winning, FiNS. The sixteen-part series focused on the leading personalities, places and movements in the current surfscape that are driving the latest trends in the water. Shot on location around the globe, the show is comprehensive in its scope and highlights the diversity in today’s surf world. With high-action segments punctuated by insightful interviews, the series is a thorough examination of modern surfing.
Ira received his seventh Emmy for his documentary, Kokua an environmental themed collaboration with singer – surfer Jack Johnson. His most recent production, Secrets of Desert Point documents one of the last great dirtbag adventures of the 20th Century… “with untold stories, never-seen exotic film imagery, and a perfect wave,” Variety Magazine. In 2018, Opper’s documentary received the Peter Troy “Spirit of Surfing” award from the Bells Beach Surf Film Festival.
Ira continues to share the sport of surfing. In 2008 he launched www.theSURFnetwork.com the first video-on-demand website with over one thousand professionally produced surf movies and television series. Today his goal is to continue to produce programming for the emerging streaming technology. “I have traveled the world to document perfect waves,” Opper said, “and now I am stoked to have the platform to bring those images to a global audience.”
Photo: Patrick Ruddy