Last night, I took the final dose of chemo drugs for my first round of chemotherapy.

Cycle 1: DONE. 💊✨

I feel incredibly lucky that I didn’t experience any crazy side effects besides being EXTREMELY tired the first two days. I had to go to bed at very normie 9 PM times and then proceeded to sleep for 12 hours, which is probably the most sleep I’ve gotten in years.

But I made it through.

Yesterday, I also got to see my friend Avid from 3 Lines Studio because Tumi & Me is officially greenlit, and his space will serve as the location for the majority of the film.

The last time I saw Avid, we made a toast:

“Alive. BENIGN. NO chemo.”

Yesterday I joked that I only managed to accomplish 1/3 of that. 😂

But that one is a pretty important one.

I’m alive.

And I am incredibly grateful to be here, to have something I love to work on, and to have something exciting waiting for me on the other side of treatment.

Thank you to every single person who donated, shared, supported, texted, checked in, or helped make this film possible. Because of you, while I’m going through chemo, I also get to make a movie about going through chemo. Apparently I have chosen filmmaking as my coping mechanism. 😂

$10.00

$25.00

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$100.00

Custom Amount

And now the fun problems begin.

We walked through Avid’s space and discovered he already has SO MUCH of what we need for both Art and G&E, which was an extremely happy discovery.

oooooh! I’m sure we can utilize that light.

Then we scouted a parking garage in Culver City. If anyone happens to have access to a free parking garage closer to the Valley, PLEASE LET US KNOW. Right now, Culver City is our best option.

Afterward, my DP and I went through our shot list. One of our biggest scenes is still a giant creative chicken-and-egg situation: what we can accomplish with Art affects how we shoot it, which affects how we light it, which affects what Art needs to build. So we are kind of at a stalemate.

So… filmmaking. 😂

We have some ideas. We’re putting pins in things. We’ll probably do some tests.

I also created a Pinterest board that I lovingly call my “Vibes Look Book” to get everyone living inside the same strange little world in my head. I’m excited to share it with our donors and team!

And if you happen to own anything that fits the vibe and would be willing to let us borrow it, PLEASE reach out.

Current scavenger hunt includes:

✨ A sequined magician’s-assistant-style dress
🥼 Lots of generic white doctor lab coats
💡 Tube lights
🎪 And probably 900 other things I haven’t realized we need yet.

The list keeps growing.

But these are happy problems.

Creative problems.

Problems I am genuinely grateful to have.

And now I get another weekend to enjoy the rest portion of Cycle 1.

No more chemo drugs for 23 days.

You know what’s funny, at least they make these chemo drugs cute and happy looking. I was joking with a friend that they are pleasant Easter Egg colors. I wonder if they did patient studies and realized that loud primary pill colors (instead of chill spring pastels) would probably be less calming and more scary. Well, it worked. Somehow my chemo pills look cute.

One cycle down.

11 more to go.

And somewhere in between all of them, we’re making a movie. ❤️🎬

Falling Forward | Round one over. 11 more to go