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It was a rainy Saturday in Peabody, a very special day for Judy Jaffe, because it was the day of her bat mitzvah! We hadn't met her yet, but we have been very involved in planning her special day for years now.

Stacey and I created Judy's bat mitzvah at least three years ago. Last year we determined the location--Spinelli's was going to allow us to hold it there on a Thursday but after 6PM, we'd have to pay to have extra coverage. I cancelled the event a few times, as did Spinelli's, when Stacey got the bright idea to ask our new friend Craig if we could possibly hold her blessed event at the Springhill Suites Marriott on Route 1 in Peabody. Not only did he say yes, but he allowed us to have it the whole day, the biggest room on a Saturday, and come in and set up the night before! It was excellent, and we on behalf of the whole fictitious Jaffe family, were so grateful to Craig and Tony for helping us get this space.

But our planning wasn't done. Lou, Frank and I invited tons of people, including a DJ and a cantor. Stacey made designer labels for bottled water to mark the occasion, a three tier cake, 30 fashionable yarmulkes, a big green board with Judy's pictures on it, she and Maura wrapped dozens of gifts, blew up balloons with Mark's help and made them into centerpieces, Michael took care of the popcorn catering, while Maura provided a pasta salad, we bought pink and green plates to liven up the tables, and nobody got coffee. It was a shindig to end all shindigs! There was dancing, and singing, and some very weird moaning next door, and snacking, and pictures, and we all learned a lot about bat mitzvah traditions. And it was all a movie, people! A movie!

So like I was saying, Stacey & I pre-set the room the night before, after a week of her making everything she could possibly create, with a big hand from Maura too, and the fruits of their labors paid off in spades. It looked awesome! And who was the first person there that rainy Saturday morning? Rajah! Yes, you read that right. I gave him a fake call time to cure him of his tardiness disease, and he tricked us all by showing up at that time. Then Mark and our new lighting /assistant camera dynamo Kimmie showed up, unbeknownst to Rajah, and then I moseyed on in with Maura, Stacey, Mike and Michael arriving not too long after. Frank (filling in for the Loubert) arrived with Frank II, our very first extra, and we began finishing the set-up like a military operation. A military operation whose purpose was filling up balloons with helium.

I'd like to take a moment to give a huge thank you to all of our extras, who did a fabulous job, kept us excited all day long, and I hope had a lot of fun for the day. It can be a thankless job, but as this was our largest scene to date, I am so grateful to every one of them for showing up. That includes: Frank Godek, La'Shante Cox, Keira Lee, Ann-Marie Iacoviello, Rebecca Maddalo, Patti Taibl, Alexandra James, Lesley Moreau, Mikey DiLoreto, Clare Garberg, Lyn Pinkus, Heidi Medeiros, Yuri (not Huey) M. Rothman, Joseph M. Silva, Colleen Arnold, Matthew Picardi, Meghan Clark, Monica L. Workens, Marsha Golden (who gave us an EXCELLENT impromptu lesson on Jewish culture--and we needed it!--and is a faithful reader of the Joneses blogs), Francis Latour, James Stasio, Jenny Stasio, Samantha Flahive, Kendall Fitzpatrick, Natalie Harrah, Tami Harrah, Louis Holmes, and Maria Rivera. If I forgot anyone or misspelled your name, please let me know at bjortproductions@yahoo.com. That's what the EDIT feature is for on blogs! (Also a second thanks to Frank, who did a ridiculously awesome job that day). 

We also met the star of our evening, Julia Taibl (Judy Jaffe), our cantor (Pharrel Wener), and DJ Jazzy Dennis. They were all also tremendous to work with and we were so pleased to have them. Oh, yes, and then we had some actors/actresses you might have heard of--the goils Stacey Cruwys (Suzanne) and Amy Ulrich (Ally), and the boyz Kevin Cirone (Victor) and Jim Shalkoski, Jr. (Mitch). If I misspelled any of their names, they're just going to have to either live with it or officially change them, for the good of the movie.

We began with a tracking shot that may or may not have worked. (P.S. it probably didn't). But God bless Rajah and Kimmie and Mike for trying the tracking board, a hotel cart, a kitchen cart, and everything else on wheels. In the end I saw some pretty outstanding panning shots of the crowd that did the trick beautifully anyway, and Rajah also ran around with his posse getting shots of every table. We'll have a lot to choose from when it comes editing time!

Oh, and I almost forgot the dancing! We thought, hey, it might be fun to have every one out on the dance floor (of which there was none), so we asked if a few people would like to get up and shake it like a Polaroid picture--I definitely didn't ask it that way--and were surprised that almost everyone jumped up. Michael ran to his car to get some CDs, and we confirmed with DJ Dennis that he indeed had no way of playing them on his DJ equipment, because I told Lou to tell him not to bother bringing any. So to get people dancing I did some of my world famous beatboxing, with others (Frank, Mark, Michael) joining in to create what was probably the worst song ever created. But for five minutes straight we got some of the best dancing footage you've ever seen. Everyone had a blast, and it was such a boost to see such fun being had by all. I can't wait to see that footage.

Then we moved onto the first part of the first scene, with Stacey as Suzanne haphazardly taking photos at every table. This was hilarious and had us all cracking up--a great sight gag that I had no idea would work so well, but she really plays the disinterested photographer to a tee. After that she sat at the table with Jim as Mitch, and asked which of the little bitches stole her drink. As with all jokes, I made her do it a thousand times, because I'm an awesome joke-writer and a hack joke-director. This would be a great time to apologize to Stacey, Amy, Tony, and Jim, all of whom have done long scenes perfectly and I don't have a single direction, but when it comes to the one-liners, I make them overperform it until it doesn't make any sense at all. What do I know--I'm just the eye candy on the set really. Pharel and Julia think I look like Hugh Grant, so they're my favorite people ever. I probably look more like Lou Grant, but it was nice of them anyway.

Meanwhile, back at the table (before my narcissistic seque), the scene played out wonderfully with Amy and Kevin joining the story. Kevin had a very funny bit that was very well received, as was Amy's struggle with the tripod. I was surprised by how many funny visual jokes there were in this scene, and my cast--every one of them--performed each EXCELLENTLY! Then the scene had to end with Amy's botched kiss with Jim, which if you've ever tried to kiss Jim (as many of us have), you know they're pretty much botched by nature. Jim Jim Jim. Now he's paying attention to the paragraph. Moving on... (now he's not paying attention).

Also there was a hilarious behind-the-scenes moment when we went to shoot Stacey's close-up. We asked for complete silence and as soon as we started the take, all 40 of us in the room were dead quiet, but there was a pronounced and rhythmic moaning coming from the function room next door. It was really loud and really funny. When I called "cut" everyone broke out in laughter. It turns out there was an EMT training going on next door.

Our next sequence found Ally with her cockeyed tripod being rescued by Mitch, while Suzanne tells the Rabbi and Judy that they're going to have to take the formal pictures for the parents. The way Julia & Pharrel were sitting facing each other looked like an intervention, and it was very funny. But it was nothing compared to how well these two did in the second part of the scene which was the photographs of Judy & the Rabbi cutting the cake, feeding each other a slice, and smooshing the cake in the Rabbi's face. Julia and Pharrel had us dying laughing, and it came out absolutely perfect. I can't wait to see the final edit of this.

We cut the cake and everybody got to enjoy some, or shove it in each other's faces. A select few of us remained for the last scene. Lou showed up in time to nap in a chair. Also I forgot to mention that Tony and Craig stopped by and it was great seeing them.

We prepared for the last scene by having all the presents opened and askew, the sagging balloons all over, and a super-dramatic lighting set-up that recalled (as Lou pointed out) the intimate scene between Mitch & Suzanne that we had shot weeks before. We had Ally passed out in the foreground, Mitch & Suzanne very close at a table in back, and Rajah playing around with balloons for quite a very long time. The scene was moody, dark, and so great. So much stronger than it is in the script, and it's one of those times where the terrific acting and lighting/framing really makes a scene play out ten times better than it does on the page. Kudos to all.

And with that, I'll conclude by once again thanking everybody--be they the stellar cast and crew that I'm always lucky to work with, or the newcomers like Kimmie, Julia, Pharrel, Dennis, and all of the great extras we were thankful to get a chance to talk with and have as part of our labor of love. It was a great, long, (OK, very long) day and I am very pleased with the work we did.

Then Stacey, Mark, Maura, Michael and I went out for margaritas and Rajah got lost because that's what he does.