I'll be honest--I wasn't that excited at the outset of Day 32.  I'm not sure why.  I was tired from the night before, and I think there was no small part of me that felt a little discouraged that we were about to shoot a scene that should have been done months ago, in a different location, the way that it was written.  The fact is that the change of location came about only out of necessity and, while I thought it was a fun idea to move it from the Foster Kitchen to Mitch's office, it's still a bit frustrating when you have to do it a certain way because of other factors.

So here's what the scene was.  Mitch comes home and finds food spread out all over the kitchen; Ally looking a little crazy.  She reveals that all the healthy foods have been replaced by their junkier counterparts, and that over the course of weeks she has gained weight because of it.  It's an important part of the competition between neighbors, and a funny scene to boot (especially because of an absurd Mitch line that--had it not existed--I might have lobbied to cut the scene altogether).  Anyway we were about to shoot the scene in February, maybe a half hour away from starting, when our location was pulled out from under us.  And so I said, "well perhaps it could work at Mitch's office, and make Ally look even crazier if she's brought in all this food and spread it across his desk."

Then two more things to debate.  One, Jim's idea to have Ally walk in on Mitch talking with his young attractive intern, which would plant seeds of distrust in her mind.  I thought it was too much, but Stacey liked the idea, so we figured it was worth trying.  The second thing was do we shoot entirely in his office, or just open in his office and then move to the office cafeteria?  Given that we had no extras, I thought the office made the most sense, but Rajah and Stacey both thought it better to move to a different location.  I give you all this backstory to point out that: a) I think the scene worked even better in my new version at his office, because it gets us out of the houses a bit; b) Jim & Stacey were right adding the intern role--it does work towards character development very subtly, but it's there; c) of course Rajah & Stacey were right that the cafeteria was more dynamic, and in fact the wall against which we shot--as Stacey swore it would--looks awesome on film.  Lemons to lemonade, and how refreshing it all was!

I was quickly surprised and very happy with how the shoot went, and I owe a lot of it to my team.  Stacey & I came with Rajah and Maura, and we met up with Mark, Max, and our cast of Jim, Amy, and Val (playing the intern that we kinda named Rebecca afterwards).  We set up and lit the cafeteria so it was good to go by the time the cast arrived (which may be a Bjort first!), and then shot the office part first.

We walked into the office which was even more bare than the last time we shot in it--no computer this time--although there was a blue water bottle on the desk with a Post-It on it that said "Poison Water Bottle."  This would have struck me as more funny if I didn't know the story: bottles had been given out to employees, but then determined that they may be made of some mildly toxic material, so they cautiously recalled them.  Either way, it's pretty funny to see that written on a Post-It on a water bottle. 

We very quickly grabbed some office-y documents, put Jim & Val in their positions, and started shooting.  It went great, I was really pleased with how naturally the scene played, and we brought Amy in to stand in the doorway and watch as Val exits.  It was one line, very small movements and reactions--but it came off very very well.  We even were able to block that dreaded thermostat with Amy's head (you're welcome, Rajah)!  Kudos to all three performers who took a twenty-second scene and loaded it with subtle importance.

Then me and the Funshine Gang (as I named Stacey & Maura) walked out on the deck off the cafeteria and looked out on Boston on this rainy day.  I believe Rajah had dreams of shooting the next Batman movie up there, and while I asked Max to write it that night, I don't believe he did write the next Batman movie that night.  Meanwhile, Stacey read a book that was written by a doctor and his mother, which was goofily titled as such on the cover.  We made fun of him and his mom a lot.  Also there were lots of weird phrases that came up, such as "Max, please don't bleed in me today": Rajah's warning for Max to not repeat the basketball-related bloodshed he had endured the previous week.  And my deck exclamation to the raining heavens, "Why you gotta drizzle all up in my piece?" which really did not sound very good at all.  Oh, and there was a secret passageway in the cafeteria that I discovered and then entertained everybody by utilizing over and over again!

As you can see we were working very hard.  Then everybody took food from the fridge, which you are on the honor system to pay for, but the cashbox wasn't there to leave money, so we threw the honor system out the window.

Oh, yes, back to the shooting.  It was terrific.  Simple shots, and great performances by Jim and Amy.  I was smiling from ear to ear as I watched on the monitor, which is always a good sign.  Of course the highlights were getting to hear Mitch say, "Abre los ojos, Ally!" our absurd line, and Ally constantly shoving a hot dog into Mitch's mouth.  We went through a whole pack of hot dogs, and it was probably more fun than it should have been to terrorize Jim that way.  By the last hot dog I got a take where he wasn't smiling as it was forced into his mouth.  Again, silly, I know, but I liked it a lot.  And Amy had hot dog juice to deal with after every take.  Absolute pros these two. 

In the end, we had a lot of fun, finished ahead of schedule, and I think the scene is going to be a memorable part of the movie.  Also we didn't get kicked out which is always a nice change of pace!