THE L.A. DIARIES PART 2

After just one day in L.A. on my Lucozade adventure, I could totally get why the Brits are so taken with it. Cloudless skies on repeat and being driven everywhere – what’s not to love? It was decided to spend the morning at the Getty Centre – a place I had no idea existed. When I think of L.A. I think rollerskating, Hollywood blockbusters and Paris Hilton. Art, architecture and horticulture? Not so much. But the Meier-designed Getty Centre was a beautiful, modernist art campus housing the J. Paul Getty museum, research centres and Henry Moore-dotted sculpture gardens. Blissful.




And then for the really exciting bit. The afternoon was spent at Venice Beach watching the filming of the Lucozade Sport Lite ad and snooping around the set. What can I say? Only in La La Land will you find cameramen on skateboards and decaf coffee, vitamins and dental floss on the catering tables…










Director Ben Newman was hired for Lucozade, having worked on the brilliant Gold Dust video for DJ Fresh who also did the track ‘Louder’ for the ad. (Not that I have a clue who DJ Fresh is…should I?) As with Newman’s previous work, the production team worked hard to cast real L.A. skaters for the shoot. These guys did all their own stunts in the ad and yes, that is skateboarder Killian Martin making a cameo appearance.

The ad was choreographed by the adorable Tyrell (although in typical L.A style, he’s not merely a choreographer but an actor-choreographer-dancer-writer) who you see doing the incredible spin at the end of the ad. Here’s what he had to say about his passion for rollerskating, the L.A skate scene and why he prefers quads to blades…