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Home » “For Nate and Martin”

“For Nate and Martin”

by | Aug 19, 2022

The content below was taken from Dan Schepleng’s Facebook page, with a few edits along with Dan’s permission to share. Pictured above are Martin, Nate and Dan on set for the Dressed Down music video. Dan is Chief Creative Officer with Baltimore/LA creative agency Kapowza.

Last Thursday, two close partners and friends passed away suddenly.

 

As everyone’s been saying, Martin Whittier and Nate Brubaker were pillars of the DMV filmmaking community, and it’s true. They were super talented, hard-working, successful guys, and I was lucky enough to call them my friends.

 

Martin was like my older brother.

 

I used to joke that I only made stuff to try and impress him – a lot of truth to that. I lived for him to say, “yeah, it’s good,” in his nonchalant way, like he expected nothing less out of me.

 

He taught me everything about being on set, filmmaking, and cameras. He always brought better gear than I could afford just because he wanted it to look better. His calm, brilliant mind worked through problems with a smoothness that I’d never seen in anyone before or since. I spoke to him every chance I got, and it was always the same theme: he wanted me to be better, to be healthier. His quiet encouragement made you believe that anything was possible.

 

Martin was responsible for the look of almost all of our Northrop Realty work. Blue BoxClub BedFaucets, and the latest Closer Club series. Other spots like The GhostBreathe Easy (which we shot in his basement), Dressed DownRobo Desk, and Tree House would have never happened without his steady hand.

 

If Martin was my older brother, Nate was my younger, more successful brother.

 

The hardest working person I knew (aside from Martin), there was nothing he wouldn’t do to support a production or a friend. Stories of him cooking hundreds of burritos the night before a shoot because the caterer dropped out or flying to LA and back the same day to get a drive fixed were typical Nate.

 

Tree HouseThe Closer Club Series, and Dressed Down were all supported by Nate’s tireless producing.

 

One of the last times I saw him, we had wrapped a production that required literal tons of sand to be piled into his new studio. While he sat in the Bobcat, I asked him, “Do you think you might be doing too much?” He smiled and said, “Maybe!” and turned the Bobcat back into the studio and drove off to move more sand. The three of us spent some long days and nights together, and I’m thankful for all of it. I’m so grateful I knew Nate and Marty, that I got to work with them and that I got to call them my friends.

 

I haven’t stopped thinking of their families. Martin was an incredible father and husband, and Nate was about to marry the love of his life in October.

 

What an unimaginable loss.

 

Linked here is the GoFundMe’s for Martin and. Nate’s funeral fund.


Dan

 

About the Author

Jeffrey Davis

Jeffrey A. Davis, APR has more than 25 years of news media and national public relations experience and heads J. Davis Public Relations, LLC, a PR and social media consultancy. A three-time PRSA Maryland president, he serves as Maryland regional editor for the Capitol Communicator and is co-founder of Podville Media in D.C. where he co-hosted the "Practically Social" podcast. Jeff is the regional representative of the national Public Relations Consultants Group (PRCG). He began his career as a reporter at daily newspapers in Ohio, New Jersey and at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis.

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