Carson Boatman (Johnny, DAYS) Chronicles A Day In His Work Life
7:00 a.m. My alarm goes off. I snooze it once to get me out of bed at exactly 7:09. Then I walk into my kitchen and go to my coffeemaker, which I’ve preset with grounds and water the night before. I press the “go” button and wait for an agonizing five minutes for the coffee to finish so I can pour my first cup. Sometimes I’ll turn on some soft music, maybe some Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra. I like the way it makes me feel when I’m starting my day.
7:15 a.m. I pour a cup of coffee and usually drink it out on my balcony. I like to give myself about 15 minutes of quiet time to take in some air and hang out with my dog, Willie Nelson.
7:30 a.m. I go inside, put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and kiss my wife [Julana Dizon, Savannah, B&B], who’s usually still asleep. I head out to my car to drive to the studio, which takes about eight- to-10 minutes.
7:40 a.m. The first thing I do when I get to work is snag two bottles of water. One I drink, and one I pour into my Keurig machine for my second cup of coffee, which I start promptly upon entering my dressing room. As my coffee’s brewing, I’ll pull out my iPad and start brushing up on my scenes for the day.
8:15 a.m. I get a call to go up to hair and makeup. I usually try and warm up the day with a couple of dad-style jokes. Sometimes they land, sometimes they don’t. Then I sit and chit-chat with Karen [Dahl], who’s doing my makeup, and Marisa [Ramirez], who’s doing my hair.
8:30 a.m. I go back to my dressing room for another cup of coffee. While it’s brewing, I put on my Johnny clothes. Then I’m ready to head upstairs to start taping. Ari’s [Zucker, Nicole] next door to me, so I always end up seeing her. Steve Burton [Harris] is across the hall. If he’s working, I oftentimes have a little chat with him, as well. I run into Dan [Feuerriegel, EJ], so we catch up for a few minutes. Then I see Raven [Bowens, Chanel], so we hang out and catch up, too.
8:45 a.m. I’m on set. We do one rehearsal, right before the take, and then we shoot. It’s one rehearsal, one take, all day long. Since Covid, we have our scripts on iPads, so I always have my iPad with me. I leave it just off set on the floor when we start filming. Usually there’s an iPad on the floor from everyone who’s in the scene. We scramble to our iPads for our next rehearsal and take, until our set [of scenes] is finished.
9:45 a.m. I have a two-hour break and won’t be shooting. Within that time frame, I’ll hang out in my room and look at my lines for the remaining part of the day and watch other people’s scenes on my monitor. I called my buddy, Andrew Brown, back home in Iowa to see how his week is going. I’ll play a little guitar, too. I keep a guitar in my room just to pass the time.
11:00 a.m. I coax Rave into walking over to Whole Foods with me. I always head over to the hot bar to see what looks like the best combination of healthy and tasty. I get salsa verde, blackened chicken breast with some rice, and a bottle of sparkling water. We eat there on the outside patio and talk about storyline and weekend plans.
12:00 p.m. After we’re done, we walk back to set. I’ll play a little more guitar and watch a few more scenes in my dressing room.
12:30 p.m. I head upstairs to dry block the scenes taking place later in the day. Lunch is actually at 12:30 but I went early because I knew I’d be dry blocking then. After we’re done, I see if Dan, Eric Martsolf [Brady] or Galen Gering [Rafe] is around. I found Dan and we hung out the last 30 minutes. We talked about sports and current events in the news that were interesting to us.
1:15 p.m. I head back to my room for about 15 minutes of quiet time to get back in the zone a little bit. Then I look over my lines really quick.
1:30 p.m. We’re back on set taping the scenes that we dry blocked during our lunch break. So it’s rehearsal and then tape again.
2:15 p.m. We wrap. I say, “Thanks everybody. Have a great day. See you tomorrow.” Then I go down to my room, change back into my clothes, and hang Johnny’s clothes up. I head upstairs to the hair and makeup room to take my makeup off with a couple of wipes. It’s nice to get it off. Then I’m out the door. I get in my car and go straight to the gym because if I go home first, I’ll take a nap and not make it to the gym.
3:45 p.m. I arrive at the gym. Today I’m doing legs, squats, lunges, hamstring curls and quad extensions. I don’t listen to music or watch any screens when I’m there. I just work out. I like to think clearly and get the most out of my workout as I can.
4:45 p.m. I head to the sauna while I drink a protein shake. Chocolate-flavored protein powder mixed with water. I would say 95 percent of the time I sauna after I work out. I honestly just like it. I know there are a lot of benefits to it, too. I feel like it keeps my muscles warm after the workout.
5:15 p.m. I get out of the sauna and shower and wash my hair. I change into the clothes in my backpack. Then I head home.
5:40 p.m. I get home about 5:40. My dog is always there to greet me at the door. He rushes and cries and jumps on me. I say hello to my wife and then I take Willie immediately to the dog park. I’ll throw the ball for about a half hour with him.
6:30 p.m. I get back home and will watch a half hour of something. Today it’s TED LASSO. While I’m watching the show, I’m simultaneously highlighting my lines for tomorrow. I’m not paying super-close attention, just getting familiar with them while I’m trying to decompress.
7:00 p.m. It’s time to have dinner with my wife. I already have meals prepped for the week. On Sundays, I’ll grill eight-to-12 chicken breasts, so I make my own bowl with chicken, rice, grilled veggies and feta cheese. Then I put buffalo sauce on it. Julana and I always eat together. I’ll turn on some really soft jazz music. We’ll have a glass of wine and talk about our day.
8:00 p.m. After dinner’s done, Julana usually goes into her office to edit videos for her YouTube channel. I go back out on my living room couch to start learning my lines for about 45 minutes to an hour.
9:00 p.m. I’ll watch one more episode of TED LASSO, then I’m ready to go to bed. I’ll go brush my teeth and then take all my clothes off and get under the covers. I’ll scroll Instagram for a few minutes.
10:00 p.m. I have a work day tomorrow, so I’m usually asleep by 10. I have to be back up at 7 the next morning.
