I love diaries but never kept one.
Ok, ok… will not deny childhood Doogie Howser cosplay on a Radio Shack desktop. ‘00s Blogger Dot Com days came pretty close, but always with some level of self-censorship (or even worse, acknowledgement of an audience). Years and years of iPhoto archives may be the truest chronological insight into “the real me," aka nights of throwing insane parties at strip clubs that I somehow chose to remember via a flick of crushed up Taz’s Angels flyers, or some weird font on a drink menu.
I’d like to think that’s just living in the moment. But time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the future…
It’s nice to have some sort of captain’s log, simply as a memory aid. Especially for meaningful and auspicious moments like, oh I dunno, shooting my first film.
I knew I was going to be fully (if not frantically) engaged making this thing, but still wanted a way to capture how I was feeling / what I was thinking throughout the process.
Enlisted the homies Mike and Drea to get behind-the-scenes footage. They also provided a deep well of emotional support and good vibes for cast and crew, as you can tell from the wrap party pizza chomp at the top of this post.
While inhaling my first craft service coffee before rolling on Day 1, it hit me: the personalized, uncut and unvarnished Nick BTS would simply be logging every single thing I ate or drank while on set in the Notes app.
Was up at 6 to be on the train by 7 and in Fort Greene before call time.
My weekday breakfast routine is consistent and relatively healthy: peanut butter Magic Spoon b2b brown sugar instant oatmeal (I like Bob’s Red Mill) with some fruit mixed in, usually banana. On the weekends it’s a chia bowl, or eggs and avo toast. Kodiak Cake batter in the waffle iron if we’re awake enough!
But on early starts / travel days, I treat myself to some kind of unrepentant baked good. Walked into Think Coffee with visions of butter-slathered cinnamon raisin bagel and… the kitchen was not open yet?!?
You had one job!
In any case, fortunate that it was the day’s lone hiccup. Things went as smoothly as they could have (even with child and animal actors) and eased me into the process as we knocked out multiple setups in various rooms of a contained space, with ample opportunities to nosh and rehydrate.
Perfect “first day of school” energy. Everybody got to know my deal, and vice versa.
Was back home with enough time and emotional bandwith to cook a simple dinner and enjoy a sweet “congratulations!” desert from my wife. Wound down with a beverage (in a negroni zone atm: Aviation, Cueva Nueva and Aperol) and 10mgs of medical.
Nice early afternoon start, but still was up at 7am.
Sleep-wise, it’s been like that.
Finally got my bagel, then downed a pot of Hair Bender while prepping for the day. When they opened their BK roasters, the Stumptown team was kind enough to invite Fool’s Gold for a tour and gift the Metropolitan Ave store with weekly fresh beans, a Bonavita drip brewer and a Baratza Encore grinder, which remains my go-to setup.
We filmed East Village exteriors (and one bodega scene) for twelve hours, working around all manner of civilian interference, street noise, and drunkies yelling “ACTION!” from moving cars.
It felt crazy in a good way!
Until the last setup, when I just felt crazy in a crazy way.
While scouting a week or two earlier, I watched my DP scarf jerky for mid-day energy. I thought to myself, “good idea,” and grabbed a couple different options in pre-shoot frenzy, including a jackfruit teriyaki thing (that was such nasty work I wasn’t even mad at Kerin for eating most of it the night before) and a Epic Chicken Sriracha bar, which wasn’t bad so much as… profoundly dense.
I inhaled it, then dealt with the shortest distance between fuck around and find out of my lifetime. Didn’t help that I was drinking way less water, which happens when you run-and-gun without an accurate sense of bathroom access. But we kept it moving and got everything we needed.
Hoofed it back to the apartment to decompress / pass out as fast as possible.
The big day!
Rented warehouse, FX shots, all-hands-on-deck type beat.
Outside of not getting to reunite with Devoe Street Bakeshop muffins at Wykoff Starr (they don’t get deliveries on Sunday?!?) the train was moving full-speed ahead… until breaking for lunch (Naya bowl, not mad) and dealing with the first true oh shit moment of the scheduling process.
Don’t think I was stress eating (u may look at this list and disagree lol) because I wasn’t pressed so much as locked in. Had to make our day at all costs, and I’d like to think the intensity fostered some scrappy, creative decisions.
Adapt or die, bb!
Fortunately, we stuck the landing. Enjoyed a celebratory beer with my wonderful producers, but I was too loopy for pizza. Got home and knocked out post haste.
Back to reality…
After consecutive 12 hour night shoots, I felt coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs all Monday. Just sliiightly more of a human being as I write this up on Tuesday. A fresh haircut helped. Also: vegetables! But all that is a distant second to the fact that this bag o’ flesh is filled with endless gratitude and appreciation for everyone who lent their time and talent to bring my ideas to life.
In the future, I’d like to look back on this post and recall all the (non-food related) crazy coincidences and good omens throughout our shoot. Even the weather cooperated, u feel me? Finally read the Sunday paper and have been stuck on this one from Maya Cade: “when you walk in your purpose, things align.”
Now I gotta start editing.
LFG!
Playlists updated…