'Modern Whore': How a Creative Crush Turned Into a Sean Baker-Backed Film

In this episode of the No Film School Podcast, director Nicole Bazuin joins host GG Hawkins to discuss the decade-long creative collaboration behind Modern Whore, a hybrid documentary based on Andrea Werhun’s memoir about her experiences in sex work. Bazuin explains how the project grew from a music video friendship into a book, short films, and a feature, while breaking down the film’s mix of interviews, stylized reenactments, storybook-inspired visuals, and post-production discoveries.

The conversation also covers self-editing a feature, storyboarding an entire film, bringing Sean Baker on as an executive producer, and making work from the stories already in a filmmaker’s orbit.

In this episode, we****discuss:

• Shooting Modern Whore on the Alexa Mini and editing the film in Adobe Premiere Pro
• How Bazuin and Andrea Werhun met while making a Super 8 music video for Broken Bricks
• Turning a “creative crush” into a decade-long collaboration across a memoir, short films, and a feature
• Why the film uses a hybrid documentary format with firsthand storytelling, staged scenes, and stylized reenactments
• Adapting Andrea Werhun’s vignette-style memoir into a cohesive feature structure
• Protecting authorship and agency when telling stories about sex work
• Building a visual language through hand-drawn storyboards, color, and “storybook come to life” compositions
• The nine-to-ten-month edit process and the value of test screenings with anonymous feedback cards
• How Sean Baker came aboard as an executive producer after working with Andrea Werhun on Anora
• Why filmmakers should look at the relationships, stories, and access already present in their lives

Guests:

• Nicole Bazuin

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