Filming with Ryan Lay for Sci-Fi Fantasy’s ‘Endless Beauty’
As many of you who keep up with AB know, this thing is primarily dedicated to covering the skateboarding that comes out of the Northwest, which may leave some of you curious as to why tf we’re posting the Sci-Fi video. So for the sake of transparency I thought I’d just give a little insider info, in case the name adjacency bias isn’t clear enough.
Last winter I had the opportunity to dodge the NW grey, and go spend a few months down in Tempe, AZ. I didn’t have big plans, just mainly wanted to get away from the rain, skate new spots and hang with a few friends I had met the previous year at Slow Impact. While I was there I met up with Ryan Lay at his infamous local park, Mitchell (yes, where he did the 102 trick line) and we skated and chatted about life.
Now in all honestly meeting a random pro at a skatepark could be an awkward situation, but Ryan and I got along immediately which makes sense since we are nearly the same age, (he’s 36 and I’m 37) grew up in the same era, on the same videos, music, culture, etc. I learned he was at “the end” (the end is not a real thing in skate videos fyi haha) of filming for the Sci-Fi Fantasy video, and that he needed a filmer to help get some more clips for his part. I just so happen to be a filmer, a huge Sci-Fi fan, and most importantly didn’t really have a whole lot of other commitments. Over the course of the next few months we were outside a LOT. Multiple days a week, all over the valley scouting, eating, drinking coffee, lurking, fixing up spots, skating and of course filming.
I was thinking during this whole time that I would probably need to craft some sort of piece on skating and filming with Ryan for an article or something whenever this video finally dropped, but to be honest with all that time, the video is here and I didn’t really even start. I still don’t know if I have the perfect words yet but I’m going to try.
Let’s start with some context. Ryan has been skating Tempe and the greater phoenix area his whole life, and while there are definitely some new spots, a lot of them are the same old spots he’s been skating forever. Beyond that they’ve consistently been destroyed by an endless string of Arizona rippers and traveling crews. Ryan isn’t a low impact slappy skater. He’s made a career doing pretty big, gnarly shit. So he’s not only competing to stack AZ NBD’s with all of the talented skaters who frequent these familiar spots, but his own past self who has been fucking up this place for 20+ years.
I learned along the way is that Ryan has the wisdom that can only come with a lifelong career in skating, with all of the ups and downs that go along with it. If you’ve seen his epicly later’d you know exactly what I’m talking about (if you haven’t go watch it). He knows that where he sits in the industry, having a legit contract with a big shoe sponsor like New Balance is a place of privilege that few skaters reach, and that having the opportunity to be in a video for Sci-Fi Fantasy, a brand that people actually care about, is an incredible opportunity. It was clear from our time together and watching his skate and work ethic, that he was absolutely determined not to squander any of it.
Ryan was incredibly aware of all of this shit, and was able to turn what many might be overwhelmed or deterred by, into fuel to skate harder, go faster, eat slams and return to a spot as many times as needed to make a trick happen. Being nearly the same age, it was truly insane to watch him huck a switch bs flip down a massive double set, all while him and I kinda both understood that shit is really not normal. And I don’t know for sure, but I think he didn’t even REALLY know if he could do what he’s doing, but he was down to push the boundaries of what someone can do. In my mind, this type of internal drive to skate this fucking hard puts Ryan in the rare company of folks who are in the street goat category like Ave, Guy or Andrew Reynolds. These skaters are setting the bar for what’s possible as each year passes.
Ok, well at this point I feel like I’ve probably already written too much, and divulged more than I probably should, but I can’t finish this thing without mentioning what Ryan does outside of filming for the video of the year. Some mornings (or afternoons) I’d pick Ryan up after skating all day the previous day, and he’d be like “ahh I’m sore”, and I’d be like “yeah, we did skate a lot”, and he’d be like “oh no not from skating, I biked 20 miles, stopped at Papago and climbed to the top for sunset” or some other similarly ridiculous endurance adventure.
On top of skating and filming several days a week, long runs and rides, he was also in the thick of planning the 3rd annual Slow Impact event, a 4 day skate conference in mid February that he hosts in Tempe. This event is no small feat. Ryan and crew organized several days of panels, academic presentations, an entire art show, a documentary premiere in a public park, a group hike, an architecture tour, readings at cowtown, a skate debate, multiple skate sessions and on top of all that we spent several days fixing up an old shitty plaza (shout out Birchett) just for the event.
So what’s the point of me writing all of this? I haven’t really said anything about the video, or really any of the tricks I filmed. Truthfully, I guess I am just writing this to share that Ryan is a real one, and I am stoked on the video and everything he put into this part. He really has given his all and the footy shows. To be along for just a small part of the ride has been immensely motivating for me personally, and I’ve been channeling Ryan’s fire to apply to my own pursuits ever since. The video is of course awesome, and everyone killed it, but you already knew that if you made it this far. Go watch the video and give Ryan some love.