Gene Stupnitsky answers ‘Weight Loss’ questions

Q. I thought the concept of following everyone through the summer week by week was really cool (and definitely a time at Dunder Mifflin I’ve been curious about!). Why did you decide to change up the format, and were there unique challenges that arose because of the change? | Carl

Gene: The idea of doing a weight loss episode has been around as long as I’ve been on the show. The problem we always had was, “how do you do a weight-loss episode in a half-hour? Or even an hour?”

Enter our fearless leader, Greg Daniels, who came up with the one act per week structure that basically solved that problem. Plus, we’d never shown what happens at Dunder Mifflin over the summer and figured this would be a cool opportunity to do that.

Q. The proposal was such a well kept secret that no one really saw coming in this episode. Did the entire cast/crew know about the filming of
this scene? | SuperTed

Gene: The entire cast and most of the crew, yes. You do the best you can with keeping it a secret, but these things tend to get out. I think the Entertainment Weekly guy also heavily hinted at it. I won’t be buying him a drink anytime soon.

Q. It’s great that the camera guy is like another character on the show. Was it actually in the script for him to “sigh” when he got denied entrance into Pam’s dorm room? | Diana

Gene: That was not in the script. That was an improv from Randall Einhorn, our director of photography, and it was pretty inspired. It’s one of my favorite moments in the episode. On The Office, even the cameramen improvise.

Q. Is there a particular reason why Amy Ryan is not a regular cast member and just a guest star for a few episodes? She’s GREAT and would be awesome to keep her in the show forever. :) Husker

Gene: She is great, but she’s also an Academy Award-nominated actress who has a lot of opportunities to do some very cool things. All the writers and actors absolutely adore her and we try to use any time she’s available. Holly seems perfect for Michael, doesn’t she?

Who discovered that Amy Ryan had incredible beat boxing talent? Tiffany

Gene: It became pretty apparent to everyone after the first take. We all broke into laughter as soon as Paul Feig yelled “cut.”

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74 comments

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1. 
   74. littlestitious  Thu. Oct. 9, 2008 | 11:08am

   Nothing at all about the disappearing/reappearing goatee??? I figured that would be one of the questions and would have been interested in his perspective. Was it not on your list, Tanster, or did Gene choose not to answer it?

   [from tanster: it was on the list.]

2. 
   73. ThedutchKelly  Wed. Oct. 8, 2008 | 10:11pm

   Ausiello just mentioned this Q&A in his spoiler column! Beer me five!

3. 
   72. gnyc  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 10:01pm

   thanks for picking my question!! hopefully we’ll get a more in-depth answer one of these days regarding the screen names =P

4. 
   71. Sheila  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 7:03pm

   Thanks so much for answering everyone’s questions, Gene! My favorite scene was the Phyllis/Dwight one, too. Maybe they both could use a little “laugh therapy.” Have you ever heard of that? There are some funny clips of laugh therapy on YouTube (even one with John Cleese).

5. 
   70. jkrasislove  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 3:41pm

   Thanks Gene!

   ….and poor Ausiello. He was only doing his job.

6. 
   69. Obama/Schrute  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 2:22pm

   Maybe the cast and crew should all start talking about how horrible Amy Ryan is and how hard she is to work with. You know, so no one will want to hire her. That way we can have Holly forever. What, that’s not fair to Amy Ryan?

7. 
   68. luvrgrrl  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 2:11pm

   I cannot believe they filmed the proposal at the Los Feliz Best Buy parking lot! That used to be my local Best Buy. Too crazy. They did a phenomenal job. I never would have known- great job everyone!!!

   Thanks Tanster, for the Q&A!

8. 
   67. iKras.  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 2:06pm

   Awesome! I love having insight from writers!
   Thanks for posting my question, Tanster!

9. 
   66. Jen Halpert  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 1:56pm

   I too was annoyed by the rainstorm hint by the EW guy. Was expecting a more racy scene than a proposal so I was still surprised.

10. 
    65. diahern  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 9:21am

    Gene, thanks for the insight into this episode. I love the care in the details that go into this show. That “sigh” is hilarious! You can picture the cameraman’s shoulders drooping as he walks away in disappointment. lol

    (Tanster, thanks for adding my question.)

11. 
    64. Kenna  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 9:06am

    “Even the cameramen improvise”! I love it. :) That sigh cracked me up too!

    Thanks to Gene and tanster for the great Q&A, as usual! LOVED this episode!

12. 
    63. Cornhusk Dolls  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 8:37am

    HA. Nice call out on Ausiello :) I was pretty disappointed in that spoiler as well. We know you’re oh-so-important with your industry contacts, but jeez, show some restraint for the fans!

13. 
    62. Oaky Afterbirth  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 7:42am

    Kudos to Randall Einhorn on the improv sigh! it was definitely one of the funniest moments on the show

14. 
    61. SuperTed  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 6:48am

    Well done! Thanks for posting my question Tanster!

15. 
    60. littlekidlover  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 6:08am

    Thank you Gene! And thanks Tanster (:

16. 
    59. Tiffany  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 5:03am

    Yay! My beat-boxing question got in! Thanks, Gene and Tanster! These are always a delight to read.

17. 
    58. Kelly  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 1:42am

    It makes me really happy that Gene is ALSO upset with Entertainment Weekly guy. I was reading my issue several weeks ago when, with little warning, there was a huge spoiler about Jim and Pam. I try very hard to avoid spoilers! It was still an AWESOME scene though.

    Thanks so much for posting this Tanster! It was a fun read.

18. 
    57. Jill  Tue. Oct. 7, 2008 | 12:56am

    Wow. I am as jaded L.A. as you can get and the only thing I thought was staged were the cars (obviously stunt drivers) and the rain (for scheduling reasons). What kills me is you know there are tons of Office fans in LF that had NO idea such a scene was being filmed there at the ‘ol Best Buy. I could’ve driven right by it! Crazy and job well done!!

    Thanks Gene!

19. 
    56. Matthew  Mon. Oct. 6, 2008 | 11:33pm

    Before I start reading, I just want to say thank you to both of you for this. Oh, how I love this website :)

20. 
    55. Stacey  Mon. Oct. 6, 2008 | 10:16pm

    Sweet, thanks for answering those questions.

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