Dreamtone New York 03.13.26 → 07.31.26
Documentary series · Hotel Chelsea · New York

Room 1014

An artist who painted his room at the Hotel Chelsea over three decades, and his fight to keep it.

Created, written, directed and filmed by Blake Davis 12 episodes Ran March 13 to July 31, 2026

I.Built from zero

Room 1014 premiered on March 13, 2026, from an account with 386 followers. One filmmaker made it with no budget and no paid promotion. Every number below grew from Episode I. Figures cover March 13 to July 31, 2026, unless marked otherwise.

386 → 1,477@dreamtonenyc followers, from launch to October 2026
518,749Views across @dreamtonenyc, March 13 to July 31
41,599Content interactions: likes, comments, shares and saves
80,090Views on Episode VI, released March 31, eighteen days after launch
Views by month · @dreamtonenyc · bars drawn to scale
  1. Mar103,547
  2. Apr203,089
  3. May70,281
  4. Jun22,760
  5. Jul119,072

March counts from the premiere on the 13th. In March, accounts reached grew 58,050 percent over February, and 79.6 percent of that reach came from people who did not already follow. April followed Episode VI, with 105 new follows on April 1 alone. July followed the New York Post story on July 17, and July 20 was the single biggest day, with 44,225 views. Across the period the account gained 1,088 new follows and 2,906 profile visits.

II.Twelve episodes

Views per episode · March 13 to July 31, 2026 · bars drawn to scale · tap an episode to watch
  1. EpisodeI 49,821March 13, 2026 · premiere · Settlement Offer
  2. EpisodeII 13,294The Offer
  3. EpisodeIII 20,593
  4. EpisodeIV 16,371
  5. EpisodeV 24,911
  6. EpisodeVI 80,090March 31, 2026 · breakout
  7. EpisodeVII 15,249
  8. EpisodeVIII 21,099
  9. EpisodeIX 15,531Update
  10. EpisodeX 15,211Special announcement
  11. EpisodeXI 9,921
  12. EpisodeXII 9,577July 31, 2026 · finale · 9 weeks
291,668 organic views across twelve episodes · $0 ad spend All episodes at @dreamtonenyc

Also on YouTube · eight parts released April 15, 2026 · 2,755 views and 46 hours watched through November 2 · Watch from Part 1

III.From series to marketplace

Blake Davis opened the artist's room as a gallery and promoted five painting sales inside it through the series. The audience the episodes built became buyers, collectors and public support.

5Painting sales held inside Room 1014, April to September 2026
$50,000+Raised at the first sale alone, with over half the artist's inventory sold
70+Collectors on the list built through the sales
15,000 → 32,200The artist's own Instagram followers, from about 15,000 before the premiere to 32,200 in October 2026
The marketplace
  1. Sales were held on April 11, May 9, July 11, August 8 and September 5, 2026.
  2. Buyers came from the UK, Canada and across New York.
  3. Sales proceeds helped cover the artist's moving costs, legal support and other expenses.
  4. A celebrity collector bought three paintings after watching the series, then shared the artist's work with 9.1 million Instagram followers, drawing more than 6,400 likes, 256 comments and 120 shares.
City Hall and counsel
  1. The Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants responded the day Episode VI broke out.
  2. NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin's office requested a briefing and met with the artist.
  3. A pro bono attorney took on the artist's case.

IV.Press

Room 1014 was covered by The New York Times, Hoodline, the New York Post and The Village View between May and October 2026.