Office Life

While Comic-Con definitely played a part in distracting me from the blogosphere, the greatest hinderance to my typical counter-productivity was OFFICE LIFE – a promo for NBC’s hit show THE OFFICE. Going from concept to completion in less than two weeks, the 20-second spot was created as an entry for a “Create Your Own Promo” contest that was jointly sponsored by NBC and YouTube. The winning spot is going to be aired during an episode of the show, which is roughly equivalent to the Holy Grail when it comes to spec spots.

The original idea behind my spot was to follow a single character through his morning routine, which is filled with subtle (and not so subtle) nods to the show. While 20 seconds wasn’t exactly going to allow for a layered plot or complex characters, I knew it would – at the very least – give us enough time to introduce the audience to a fun character who embodies the passion that a lot of people, myself included, have for the show.

And then we lost 5 of those precious seconds.

See, the thing about contests like this is that when they supply you with music or graphics, the organizers always give themselves a convenient out by saying you don’t technically have to use what they give you. But taking into consideration that this promo is in competition for airtime on a major network – and is being used as a marketing tool to effectively sell the show – chances are that the powers that be would prefer entrants use every last frame of their suggested graphics. Rationalizing that any character with this many OFFICE-related gags in his apartment might be seen as insane anyway, I lost a quick little scene that depicted him arriving at work and divided the remaining material among three separate actors. Almost instantly, I realized this change made the spot far more effective in reinforcing the broad appeal of the show.

Unfortunately, I soon found out that the show’s appeal wasn’t the only thing in need of some serious reinforcement. As anyone who’s seen the American or British versions of the show probably knows, one of its trademark sight gags involves a stapler suspended in lemon jello. Which is funny. Right up until you try and do it yourself.

Not realizing that the chemical composition of a stapler would somehow affect jello’s ability to set, I upended my carefully crafted desert/office supply fusion and immediately flooded my entire kitchen with what, in hindsight, must have looked and smelled like the urine of a lemon picker. And it was as I was standing there, with mere hours until call time, that I realized I needed to do what any filmmaker does when it’s midnight and he finds himself covered in goo. I called my Mom. And she had a recipe, God bless her, that would suspend a stapler in jello. To say she’s awesome doesn’t even scratch the surface (especially not the surface of her indestructable jello).

While my mom’s kevlar jello – Kevlo for short – will keep just about anything suspended thanks to its Flubber-esque qualities, it’s getting said “anything” suspended in the first place that’s the challenge. Enter Kay Chang with the brilliant idea of giving the staplers (not taking any chances this time, I decided to double up) the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE treatment by suspending them in mid-air using complex dental floss harnesses. It was like having a tiny, cheap, culinary Cirque Du Soleil in my very own fridge.

Ah yes, the fridge. It’s probably worth mentioning that for the sake of this spot, I had made plans to get a broken fridge off of Craig’s List and use a band saw to slice off its back half in hopes of getting a better angle. It’s only thanks to the carefully worded objections of Christina, Kay, Bill, the entire staff of Home Depot and every freon-related website on the net that I’m alive to write this entry. While I’m secretly convinced the sudden, massive exposure to freon might have turned me into Culver City’s very own Mr. Freeze, it’s probably all for the best – my apartment doesn’t even have air conditioning.

?Über-producer Christina Ferguson and Director of Photography Jeffrey Waldron were, as per usual, the first on set, followed closely by SILVER BULLET veteran Justin Meloni (pictured at top) as he rocked out to the OFFICE theme song in time with a Dwight Shrute bobble-head. Kay Chang was up next, enjoying the fruits of her jello harness as she smiled harder and for longer than is typically humanly possible during rehearsals and rolling on the fridge shot. And Kenneth Rudnicki – proving himself to be a consummate pro, especially since he was originally cast as the sole actor in the entire spot – spent an hour under a down comforter in the same room as a George Foreman grill that was cranked up to 450 degrees. During a heat wave. That’s killed 123 people. While I suspect that his fierce dedication to the shoot might have been, in fact, the beginnings of heat stroke, I can’t help but admire his awesome attitude nonetheless. Huge thanks to Christina, Jeff, Justin, Kay and Kenneth for their invaluable contributions to a fun and successful shoot.

Now that you have all the background info, it’s safe to assume that you (hopefully) want to see the finished product. While a high quality version will be posted here on the site after the contest has ended, a streaming version is available for viewing over at YouTube in the meantime. No voting is necessary on this one – it’s all up to the powers that be at NBC. Wish us luck!