New Rules NYC (#Wattys2015 Winner)

SURE, YOU CAN CRANE A SKATE RAMP ON TO MY ROOF

CHAPTER 55: MASON

Downstairs I opened a beer with Zack, taking a second, there were still a bunch of unknowns but in a few hours there was a good chance this place will be rammed - #crashtheloft was happening regardless.

I had lined up a couple local DJs, and as a stretch, reached out to Hudson Mohawk, I'd met him through a friend a couple years ago and we had hung out once when he was in town.

After talking to a bunch of labels Supreme finally agreed to front some cash - They didn't even want to put up sponsor banners, straight low key. I just sent them a bunch of videos, half of them for booze brands. The upfront meant we could pickup all the booze outright, get a decent system and offer to pay the artists, which was always a bonus.

I wanted lots of crazy shit to be going on, stuff that would be great for photos and to fill out the video. There was a small Brooklyn dance crew that were keen and a couple of artists doing some sort of live mural up on the roof. Still not sure how that was going to work but I put Jay in charge of it.

<Dave>

Crane is here

It had arrived insanely quickly for a Saturday, the driver seemed like one of his best mates and they were strapping the first section of that ramp onto the crane within minutes. These guys were so chill as they swung the first section up and we went upstairs to take it off. The first load was fine but the second knocked the against the brick on the way up, I was sure it was going to fall but it held on.

When the sections were on the roof it took at least fifteen of us to move the bits into place. It was the biggest mini-ramp I'd ever seen, if you stood at one side of the roof and looked towards the city the ramp framed the Williamsburg bridge and lower Manhattan. I used a timelapse app on my phone to post a video of the setup, the color on the clouds adding to the drama, some fuel for the #crashtheloft tag. The roof was fast becoming the key feature; we had setup a little bar a bunch of lights for the ramp. Smaller speakers took a feed from the main system downstairs and Dave had these two huge outdoor beanbags delivered. I looked over at him, grinning under his dark shades, wiping sweat from his forehead. One of the guys had told me he as a legendary skater fro way back, I wanted to see him break this ramp in.

Most of us up there didn't do a lot of hands-on work, bathing in the glow of successfully constructing something. Beers were cracked in celebration and Dave poured some on the ramp as a form of christening. I had the feeling it would shape up to be one of those unique moments you go through with someone. A director once told me, the key to success in the creative game was taking people out of their comfort zone while making them look good - that if you can push someone further and give them a way to take credit, they'll always look after you. Right now all I wanted from Dave was for him to be right about this roof holding up.