On the 27 Nov 2024, Dane Reynolds' opened a new Chapter 11 shop x Former HQ on 83 S Palm Street, Ventura, just down the road from his old one. In the spirit of new beginnings we thought we'd release our mini-doco on Dane and his original shop, directed by Michael Cukr.
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Is it too meta for a surf media company (Stab) to cover another surf media company (Chapter 11 TV)?
Perhaps — but, frankly, for the past two decades all surf media has been interested in almost anything Dane touches. In the words of Stab Premium commenter Kama’aina: “Is Dane ever going to do something that will allow my fanboydom to falter?”
Last week, we released an interview with Dane that was strictly surfboard-centric, revolving around the release of the Dumpster Diver 2 — a revamped rendition of Dane’s lore-filled steed of choice.
The interview also touched on Chapter 11 TV‘s skit ad, which has gone just about as viral as a surfboard ad can go (50K organic views).
But this week, we’re releasing a mini-documentary — that we partnered with filmmaker Michael Cukr on — that that delves into Dane’s life and projects (of past, present, and future).
Here are just three of our takeaways from our admittedly sycophantic search into Dane’s brain:
One, Dane’s career seems more fulfilling to him now than it’s ever been before — “I think Glad You Scored was the best film I’ve done,” Dane told us, “documenting the parts where nothing is coming together is when storytelling is the most fun.”
Two, surf videos are the end-all and be-all of a surf media company’s function — at the end of the day, all Chapter 11 TV (and Stab for that matter) does is tell stories and entertain people well enough to (hopefully) merit their time and money.
And three, Despite Dane’s modest MO — still wears shoes with skate-tears in them, takes out the shop’s trash, and small talks with mom-and-grom groups at the cash register — he is a brilliant and shrewd curator of media, brand identity, and story creation.
Lest we forget, this is the guy who at one point in his career was making $300,000 a month to ride waves. This is not your standard 30-something, half-baked surf shop manager.
We hope you enjoy this brief glance at Mr. Reynolds and his family, Ventura, Marine Layer Productions, Chapter 11 TV, Emma Wood’s wedgy “junk”, and finding Goldfish in your shoes.