And I'm free, free fallin'

smh == shake my head

"Not much time to brush up on skills."

That explains a lot. They were probably in a big hurry to finish the shoot and didn't give her much of a chance to remember how to skate. My point is that all she showed in the video was a Drop-in (we believe) and Pumps. No Rock to Fakie, no Kick-turns, not even a Tail Stall. True, it would have been more impressive if she had caught some air, but they only showed us a few seconds of her boarding and she may not have been given the chance. (They did show one of the guys bailing, though.)

As we don't really seem to be disagreeing, here, let me clarify. I saw the same thing that you saw. The woman's interview made it plain that she had not been keeping up with her skating at the time they did the video. Heck, she may not have been on a board for a few years. I believe that, given half an hour of practice or so, she probably could have loosened up enough to at least look like she belonged on a half-pipe.

When you are doing a video shoot, however, you do not have time to wait. Think of it this way: every minute you have the cameras and crew on site is another $10,000 spent, regardless of whether or not you actually get anything on film. The producer is not going to chill until you "warm up." Just look at how rushed the selection process was.

"We need a teenage, good-looking actress for a shoot. Know anyone that can skate?"
"My client can skate half-pipe."
"She's hired."

These guys didn't spend any time searching the country for the few known female skaters of that time. It would have cost them serious money. Instead, they just picked the first decent-looking actress they could find whom they thought might be able to do the job.

I will admit, however, that the girl did herself a disservice. As soon as she was done auditioning for the part, she should have hit the park. Once she learned she would be required to do half-pipe, she should have prepared herself for the possibility of being selected. In other words, she should have been ready to perform as soon as she reached the shoot.

My original point was that they could have found one if they had truly wanted to do so. (See my elaboration, above.)

You still skate my dude? I still do but rare anymore.

No, I do not consider myself a skater. I have not spent notable time on a board since 1976.