As a teenager he sent video footage of himself to H Street and was sent a Mike Carroll signature model skateboard deck in response.

Prior to this, he had appeared in the "Friends" section of the Toy Machine video, Welcome to Hell, but the part was uncredited.

[4] Ellington had relocated from San Diego to Tempe around the same time that he was recruited by professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas, the founder and owner of Zero.

[4] Thomas explained the situation in a telephone interview, "We were trying to film for Misled Youth and Scotty and Erik went through a spell of several months without doing absolutely anything.

The company's initial professional team roster consisted of Ellington, Greco, and Lizard King.

[9] Ellington travelled to the Philippines as part of the "2012 Supra Asian Tour"[10] where he was welcomed by the local media as a "living legend".

[11] While in the Philippines, Ellington participated in a street skateboarding demonstration at the Centris Walk in Quezon City and got a tattoo that reads "Thrilla In Manila".

[13] Entitled The Deathwish Video, the brand's inaugural production features Ellington, Greco, Jon Dickson, Hansen, Neen Williams, Furby, Moose, and Lizard King.

[14] Production of the video was overseen by Ellington with assistance from other professional skateboarders like Dustin Dollin.

[9] Ellington is sponsored by Deathwish, Supra, KR3W, Thunder, Spitfire, Mob Grip, and Shake Junt.

[15][16][17][18][19][20] In 2007, Ellington and fellow professional skaters Andrew Reynolds and Jim Greco established Bakerboys Distribution as an umbrella company for four skateboard companies—Baker Skateboards, Deathwish, Brigada sunglasses, Heroin, and Shake Junt.