Zeke and Luther – HARBOR LIGHTS: DRAMA AT THE PIER
It began as a chance encounter. An unmarked, white van rolled cautiously to a stop on the empty top deck of the Pier parking structure early one winter morning. A man standing near the van looked out of place, his insignificant form dwarfed by the vast concrete plain upon which he stood. A brief exchange of fewer than 10 words between the man and one of the van’s occupants set an irreversible chain of events in motion.
A week later on an overcast morning, oblivious to the cackling seabirds circling overhead, the man arrived at the Pier for another meeting. The short, dark man with whom he met wore a security guard’s uniform. He parsed out the information he was willing to share like he was dividing up the single bottle of water on a life raft, one cap-full at a time. He brought the conversation to an abrupt close. “Come back this afternoon,” he said.
Following instructions, the man arrived that afternoon with high hopes that he’d been cleared to move past the gatekeepers and onto the principals, the people who made things happen. Two more conversations produced nothing more than a phone number scribbled on the back of a business card.
A call, an excuse and another phone number cranked up the desperation that had begun to build like a storm in the man’s gut. Maybe the connection he wanted, the one he needed would slip from his grasp like the slimy fish he’d seen squirming to escape from fishermen on the other side of the Pier.
There had to be an easier way to get an explanation for the horde of people wheeling huge lights, racks of costumes and expensive camera equipment around Pier Plaza. Apparently, people who work in the movie business need to add a little drama to something as commonplace as an answer to the question, “What are you doing?”
The real story was a lot more interesting than the manufactured drama.
A film crew from Turtle Rock Productions, Inc. was filming an epsiode of a new Disney series called “Zeke and Luther.” The live-action, original comedy series centers on two best friends who set their sights on becoming the world’s greatest skateboarders. Along the way, they manage to land themselves in a never-ending series of funny yet precarious predicaments.
Their quest for fame and fortune leads them to practice landing the coolest tricks. Their exceptional skills get them into the biggest competitions. They even plan a road trip to their idol, Tony Hawk’s homestead.
Matt Dearborn and Tom Burkhard (both of Disney Channel’s hit comedy series “Even Stevens”) created Zeke and Luther. The series targets “tween” boys but the combination of serious skating and some well-known stars should open the audience to lots of kids outside that demographic.
“Zeke & Luther” stars Hutch Dano (“The Suite Life on Deck”) as the charismatic Zeke, Adam Hicks (“How to Eat Fried Worms”) as his off-beat best friend Luther, Daniel Curtis Lee (“Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide”) as their skating rival Kojo and Ryan Newman (“Hannah Montana” and “Zoom”) as Zeke’s witty younger sister Ginger.
South Bay residents might recognize the cute, wholesome 10 year old Ryan Newman. She lists Manhattan Beach as her hometown.
The show has plenty of other local roots. Hutch Dano was born in Santa Monica. Adam Hicks’ skate double, Sammy Baptista, was born in Santa Barbara and grew up in the Los Angeles area. That’s right kids. There’s at least one person with a job called skate double and he gets paid lots of money for doing it.
“Zeke & Luther shoots entirely in the South Bay,” according to a Disney XD spokesperson. Sound stages and production facilities are located at a top secret location. However, rumors have been circulating that the location was in a building on Torrance Boulevard that once housed a local, daily newspaper. The show will premiere in Summer 2009 on the Disney XD, an upcoming newly re-branded multimedia entertainment channel for kids and families.
“We shot part of the episode entitled “Sister’s Keeper” on the pier.
In this episode Zeke is left in charge of his younger sister, Ginger. Zeke and Luther end up at the pier where they try to avoid neighborhood bullies,” the Disney XD spokesperson said.
The public is definitely not invited to watch or participate in the making of Zeke and Luther. But if you happen to stumble onto one of their set locations and you keep your distance, you just might get to see some rising, young stars and the kind of skating that most people only see on television.