Action Sports Have Gone Commercial

Monday afternoon, I spent the day hanging out at Paul Rodriguez’s skate warehouse in Canoga Park, Cali., while nine action sports athletes (Ryan Sheckler, P-Rod, Greg Lutzka, Chaz Ortiz, Steve McCann, TJ Ellis, Daniel Dhers, Luke Parslow and Adam Jones) filmed commercials for the 2009 Dew Tour. It’s tough enough to get these guys to show up for contests, let alone interviews, so the fact that they were being held hostage in a warehouse for 12 hours was very appealing to me. So appealing that I drove to Canoga Park and spent the day in a warehouse.

The day provided great material for my weekly ESPNTheMag.com Action Sports Report, which you can read here, and hopefully lots of future stories. The commercials look like they are going to be pretty cool, although most of the work will be done in post-production. All of the scenes were shot against a giant, backlit white screen, which allowed me to take some fun digicam photos. Too bad I, too, don’t have the luxury of post-production.

shadow-skaters.gif

THE SHADOW SKATERS. (FROM L: SHECKS, ORTIZ, P-ROD)

Sheckler-shadow.gif

WATCHING LITTLE CHAZ ORTIZ SKATE MAKES ME SMILE.

Sheckler-shadow2.gif

SHECKLER COULDN’T WAIT TO GET BACK IN HIS LIMO, WHICH WAS PARKED OUTSIDE.

Sheckler-shadow3.gif

SIDE NOTE: LUTZKA IS SERIOUSLY THE NICEST, MOST POLITE SKATEBOARDER IN THE SPORT.

Jones-shadow.gif

ADAM JONES HAD THE CREW CHEWING THEIR NAILS AS HE WHEELIED ON SLICK CONCRETE.

Leave a Comment