New It’s a Rough Life, headed to Phoenix @aroughlife
In this episode of It’s a Rough Life, the Roughneck crew hits the road for Phoenix, Arizona for Cowtown Phoenix Am. It’s an all night drive with a pit stop at the local “hater nation” coffee shop to skate some rocks, and then a session at one of Arizona’s gorgeous rest stops. All they have to do after that is make it the contest and set-up the tent…
We’ve got lot’s more in store. Enjoy
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@aroughlife Let the Phoenix Saga begin!
Today we start the Cowtown Phoenix Am story arc on It’s a Rough Life. It’s a six episode arc that will take Johnny and his crew through some pretty entertaining situations (we hope). And there might even be some skateboarding.
In 2010, Roughneck Hardware was a junior sponsor at the infamous Cowtown Phoenix Amateur skateboard contest. Phoenix Am, as it is known, is a proving ground for up and coming rippers. It’s also just the type of place a struggling company like Roughneck could claim real legitimacy. So after a little bit of scheming Johnny got a van, a photographer, and two of his riders in the contest. He also brought his wife and a personal hype man.
If you watch the episode you’ll notice that Johnny is headed to Phoenix Am 2010. The Phoenix material is actually the original pilot material for It’s a Rough Life. It came about, because after years of documenting Johnny’s company we realized that it was worth trying to take it a step further and make it show. Jeremey and Roughneck were both headed to Phoenix Am that year. Jeremey was going to shoot the contest for ESPN.com, and Roughneck was going for the reasons stated in the video (riders in the contest, build hype for the company). It presented a great opportunity to get in a van with the squad and get some great footage. (If we had been able to neglect the contest a little more, we could have gotten even more!) This episode sets up events for the next few. We hope you enjoy it.
In other Rough Life news, we also posted a “complete arc” version of the Roughside of the Trax 2. Its all three webisodes combined into one short film (for all those wanting more than four minutes of new Rough Life per week). It was posted today as well.
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It’s a Rough Life Episode 3 is up! Utah Finale @aroughlife
In Part 3 of Johnny’s adventure to Salt Lake City, the “Rough side of the Traxx” heads to the Wave, but the Roughneck crew has a little trouble on the way. Eventually the skating goes off at the Wave, and then the contest rolls to the U where the Salt Lake City skaters take turns throwing tricks down a big set of stairs. After the last spot it’s off to the afterparty behind the Fice Boutique for the winners ceremony.
This episode wraps up Roughneck in Utah. We worked really hard to get these out so quickly after Roughside of the Trax, and we hope you all enjoyed them. Once again we have to thank all of the people who have been supportive of this project. Our friend Ben Youngermen, Benny Gold, Lowcard Mag, Slap Magazine, Typical Culture, Shrewgy over at Ace Trucks, Stunner of the Month, Paying in Pain, California Street/ Hidehiko Fujiwara, Dalan McNabola (for all the social media support), Jimmy Nelson and the Roughneck Hardware squadron (and Panda for being a good sport), and so many more.
There’s more coming. Next week we’re doing a little trip back in time to Phoenix Am 2010 for the Phoenix Saga! Stay tuned.
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It’s a Rough Life Episode 1 launched today! @aroughlife
Check it out, and let us know what you think! We were up all night finishing it. …It’s a Rough life on a deadline.
Johnny flies to Salt Lake City to host “Rough Side of the Trax” — his event where kids barge the trains to skate spots across the city. In this episode we see behind the scenes leading up to the event, check out his Utah digs, meet the SLUG Magazine (Salt Lake Underground) crew, and get hyped for the event. Complete with special appearance from Benny Gold at the end of the episode.
Stay tuned to It’s a Rough Life dot com every Thursday, there’s lot’s more to come.
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New JADED Promo Reel!
Enjoy our first JADED sizzler! Jeremey wanted to name it “We Out Here”, but Abby thought that would look like we had bad grammer.
This promo is a long time coming. The last reels we cut were in 2006 after we left Current TV. Almost every year since then, we have planned to produce a new one, but it’s never been able to rise high enough on the priority list to become a reality. How it happened now is mystery to us. We are actually really busy. Slammed in fact. We’re working a big job for an important client. Yet somehow, in between rounds of notes, Jeremey was inspired to start cutting a promo reel. We figured that we’d get something started and get around to finishing it at some unknown moment in the future… and then it just came together. Crazy. We’re really happy with this video, and we hope you enjoy it.
It’s meant to be fast, fun, and to communicate the scope of what we’re capable of with an emphasis on Branded Content, Serial Programming, and Non-Fiction.
It features work written, produced, shot, or edited (and in many cases a combination of all of the above) by Abby and/ or Jeremey. It includes work produced as staff at Nick@Nite and TV Land, Current TV, HarperCollins, and Seesmic. It includes client work for Bank of America (iB5k), ESPN, Causes, Current TV, Supercharged: The Life and Times of Tim Brauch, Institute for the Future, Roughneck Hardware, and DWNTWN Skate Supply. It also includes clips from independently produced projects including Make it Happen: DIY Across America, It’s a Rough Life, and Roughcutz Da Movie. For a full list of videos used in this promo click here.
Enjoy!
DWNTWN: SOMA Silver Telly Award Winner!
Our promo spot for DWNTWN Skate Supply: SOMA won a Silver Telly in the 32nd annual Telly Awards!
We produced this piece with our friend (and frequent collaborator) Ben from Panhandle Productions, and of course with the help of the Roughneck squad.
A Silver Telly is the highest honor, and we are excited/ honored/ proud of our accomplishment. Thanks to everyone that took part and helped with the video.
We also won three Bronze Tellys this year, but we’ll tell you more about that later. In the meantime, check out Johnny’s new space at Lower Haighters.
Redford Center Art of Activism: Cory Booker “Why We Need Crazy People”
“The Redford Center’s November 2010 Art of Activism program featured Newark, New Jersey Mayor, and star of the Emmy-nominated TV show Brick City, Cory Booker. One of four shorts from his interview with Executive Director Lee Bycel, Cory discusses how manifesting love is critical to change.”
Please visit the Redford Center for more information and video from this event.
Redford Art of Activism: Cory Booker “Patriotism and Prayers”
“The Redford Center’s November 2010 Art of Activism program featured Newark, New Jersey Mayor, and star of the Emmy-nominated TV show Brick City, Cory Booker. One of four shorts from his interview with Executive Director Lee Bycel, Cory discusses how manifesting love is critical to change.”
Please visit the Redford Center for more information and video from this event.
Redford Art of Activism: Cory Booker “Manifesting Love”
“The Redford Center’s November 2010 Art of Activism program featured Newark, New Jersey Mayor, and star of the Emmy-nominated TV show Brick City, Cory Booker. One of four shorts from his interview with Executive Director Lee Bycel, Cory discusses how manifesting love is critical to change.”
Please visit the Redford Center for more information and video from this event.