For Nick. My Brother, my Friend...

Here is something I never imagined I would be writing about. I don't want to admit it, but I have to. I have to say farewell to one of the kindest, most creative, and capable individuals I have been blessed to share time with on this Earth.

We had plans. Projects to put together, things to do. The project I am working on right now wouldn't exist without him. Whenever I needed a hand or wanted to work something out, he would make time. He loved to tell jokes and war stories from the many, many movies, TV shows, commercials and music videos he had worked on in his lifetime - a career that should have been far more rewarding for him than it was for the Industry he served.

It's been nearly 24 years since we first met, and I'll be damned if I didn't think we'd have a good 10 or 15 more before we even thought about hanging up our gear for the last time. It was on a low budget indie movie, and I was still on my first 6 months in town, worried about proving I could match up with the best of them. 

On that set, I was a 1st A.D. and hungry for any kind of work, either in front or behind the camera. Nick came on to our little project and I recognized that here was someone with real skill. Real knowledge. He did a practical visual effect (gunshot/brain splash) on that gig that nearly made one of our crew want to throw up. He was very pleased about that. He could build a car from the ground up, design it to jump, flip, or crash any number of ways, and without using any bullshit CGI either. Pyro effects? Explosions? How big did you want the fireball? Rain effects? Break away furniture? Gunshot blasts? Wounds? You could throw any idea at this man and he would deliver a practical, affordable solution. The only limit genuinely was your own budget - and even then he was a genius at finding a solution. And he never asked anybody to do anything unsafe, never did anything without going over every step of the gag so that everyone knew what was happening and what to expect.

I didn't need more than a few minutes with him on set to know that this was a man I wanted on every set I would ever work on forever.

He gave me my first real stunt gig about two months after that. He needed a favor and, if I was for real, this was the moment to prove it. After that night, he'd call me whenever there was something appropriate for me and our schedules would allow it. I hired him for everything I ever produced that had guns or a crash or whatever. Working low budget indie projects in hopes of a better payday someday, I could never pay him the salary he was worth, but he always came out anyway. 

I think that was a bond that held us together. We loved movies. Everything about them. But most especially, we loved making them. I learned so much from my Friend. Any opportunity to work with him was a gift to my personal and professional life. He was the closest thing to a mentor I ever had. 

He believed in me. He believed in ways that helped sustain me, ways that very few people outside the Industry could grasp, let alone understand. I never saw him do anything shady. Never saw him talk shit about anybody who hadn't earned their bad reputation. We could talk for hours about most anything, and even if we disagreed, or I did something stupid, he always had the good grace to forgive and remain my Friend.

His only real vice was food. He would say how, from a young age, it was instilled in him that food could provide comfort in troubled times, and it was a problem he battled his whole life. If there was one thing that held him back in this Industry, it was his size. He was a big guy. And the vain, judgmental, even cruel side of this Industry would hire someone with less talent or experience simply because they met some preconceived notion of what a man in his profession was supposed to look like. 

To me, he was an inspiration. He remains an inspiration. Some of the best moments I ever experienced on set were because he was there. Or he got me that gig. I never trusted anybody the way I trusted him. I would put my life in his hands without question, confident that whatever I did, no matter how things went down, he would be there and everything would be fine. No one else in my professional career has come close to the level of trust and love I held for my Friend.

To have a career in the Entertainment Industry is not easy. It can be a brutal, expensive game, costing time and money, and the emotional toll it can take is not for the faint of heart, either. As a freelancer - which is what anybody outside of a corporate office is in this business - you often have to work harder to get the gig than you do to actually do the gig once you've gotten in. Over the 23 years I knew him, Hollywood and the Industry in general changed in ways that forced all of us to adapt. Everyday was a new challenge, especially since most of the work started going to Canada, or New Orleans, or Atlanta - everywhere but where we were based in the "Thirty Mile Zone" that was the hub of production, where Hollywood worked its magic and made Dreams a Reality. Or used to, anyway.

"If I could just book a feature or a series, I'd be set". How many times have we heard that? Said that ourselves? So many opportunities that came together. So many that fell through. Very few actually delivered on the promises for a brighter day. When times were good, everybody enjoyed the prosperity, and when times were tough, he would knuckle down and work every angle he could think of to get back on track, book another gig, make something happen.

Then 2020 happened. 

Our Industry became one of the hardest hit in terms of layoffs, production shutdowns, and both the Federal and State governments preventing us from pursuing our livelihoods. For my part, I had a plan to return to live performances, playing in local clubs around town and working my way into a stand up/storyteller position that would provide a fresh platform to continue building my diverse yet still meager career.

That didn't happen. Instead, all the clubs, all the stages and performance spaces were closed. I was put on furlough from my "steady money" gig, and as things went from bad to worse in my neighborhood, I was forced to either tuck tail and run or join the growing ranks of homeless taking over the streets of Los Angeles. But I was one of the lucky ones. I was able to get out before I got swept up and tossed aside to fend for myself like so many others in this Industry suddenly found themselves confronted. 

That included my Friend.

For my Friend, someone whose entire career is based on physical production, nearly all of his opportunities dried up. Doors closed. Gigs that were lined up went away. Suddenly what looked like a decent year became a living nightmare of consequences. Even from a distance, I could tell it was taking an unusual toll on my Friend, although, true to his nature, he wouldn't complain about the hand he was dealt, he would just deal with it as best he could and try to keep things together. I remember hitting him up once to say I was available to talk if he wanted. He didn't.

Then a couple of weeks after that, I got the word that he got the virus, and subsequently suffered a stroke. I immediately wanted to head to the hospital, but just as immediately was told it was pointless. Not just because of his condition, but because of the condition of the World, of California, and how this pandemic was being handled. See, even with his stroke, he still had the virus. Still considered contagious, so hospital regulations meant that no one could see him. Only one person was allowed to view him through a window, and that person was the one who had to make the final decision that would determine his fate.

Fucking Hell, I cannot imagine what that must have been like - must still be like to have to deal with. Knowing that there's nothing to do for this man who is hooked to all of these machines. Nothing to do but perform one last act of mercy, shut off the machines and allow him to pass in peace.

I wish I could've been there. I wish we never had to confront this situation. But the fact is, 2020 and this virus took every last bit it could from my Friend before 2021 came to take his life. 

He deserved better. His whole family deserved better. And all I can do is write these words and hope that something positive will come from this nightmare.

My Friend is Nick Plantico. One of the best there ever was or will be. If I can do nothing else, I can finish what we started, so that's what I'm going to do now.

I love you my Friend. I can't believe this is how it ends for you. I can only hope that wherever you may be, you're blowing up shit and enjoying a glass bottle coke with a cigar. Maybe splash a little of that honey whiskey in there for old time's sake.

See you on the other side.

Your Friend

Brad

This one's for you Boss...