The WAVERIDERS promotional tour moved across the water from Dublin to England last week after having reached Top 5 in the Irish Box Office. Gabe and I went to work in Newcastle in the Northeast of England, which is Gabe’s hometown and the location of my first novel SERVE COOL. The Odeon cinema in Newcastle had agreed to two screenings of the film but once our publicity drive started, the number of screenings grew to six due to demand for tickets. We raced from newspaper to radio to television studio and back to newspaper throughout the week, securing two front covers stories, double page spreads, BBC radio, Metro radio and BBC News, where we were dubbed the ‘Posh and Becks of surfing’! I mixed and matched the Quiksilver Women T-shirts and tops in ‘Purple Rain’ with black basics and purple accessories to jump from one photo call to the next, feeling less like Prince and more like a Princess.
On the Friday, we were welcomed at the stunning flagship Quiksilver Boardriders in Regent St. for a signing and TV interview before a sell-out screening in Piccadilly Circus. We then zipped back up North for the final screening in Newcastle. The day started poorly when we grabbed a spare hour to jump into the North Sea for a surf. A friend of ours attempted a helicopter on his longboard, lost control and smashed into my face, fracturing my nose. Luckily he was a top paramedic so he treated me on the spot but needless to say I wasn’t best pleased to face the limelight with stitches on my nose and a headache!
Despite the day’s disaster, however, my gorgeous Quiksilver Women La Luz dress, good makeup and the buzz of the night soon cheered me up and I completely forgot about the stitches. While Zac Efron’s film played to a crowd of twelve, over two hundred packed into our screen on a Monday night and a crowd were even turned away. The support we have had along the way has been incredible. We even had great reviews on BBCs Film 24 and Radio 1 so it’s not just surfers who are appreciating the beauty of the sport, which was our intention all along. Tomorrow it’s more TV in London and next week we are hoping to be in Bournemouth so keep an eye on www.waveridersthefilm.com
Lauren Davies
