Category: People

From Jenna Fischer’s MySpace blog, dated December 5, 2005:

It’s Christmastime at Dunder-Mifflin this week! Fun things about this episode:

1. Snow! We have snow falling outside the office windows this week. Our Art Department Rules! When we go to our cars at the end of the night, the parking lot is covered in snow. Some interesting things about fake snow: the snow that falls outside the windows is different from the kind you use for ground cover. The stuff that they use for ground cover is cold to the touch so it’s very surreal. We even had a “snowball” fight.
2. Phyllis has a boyfriend! On our set we have a fake 2nd business by the elevator. It is named Vance Refrigeration. Phyllis is dating Bob Vance!
3. Todd Packer returns! He crashes our Christmas party wearing mistletoe on his belt. Yuck!
4. We shot the party part of this episode over 3 days. The bowl of egg nog sat out for 12 hours a day…it was SO DISGUSTING by the last day. At night they would cover it and put it in the fridge but it was pretty gross otherwise. The cookies and pigs in a blanket all got really hard and stale. It was funny. If you see people eating a lot of pretzels that’s why.
5. The actor who plays Roy is actually a REALLY cool guy. I love when he is on set. We gab the whole time. He’s a very interesting, classically trained, actor from New York. I had the best time hanging out with him and the actor who plays Darryl. We had to be careful to tone ourselves down when the cameras started rolling.
6. My favorite scene of the week was the one where Angela and I are trying to put a tablecloth on the table in the conference room. She is being all controlling and Pam is passive-aggressive. It totally reminded me of when I used to work in an office. It was very subtle and mostly done with facial expressions. It probably didn’t make the final cut but it was a blast to shoot.
7. This episode features partial nudity. That’s all I’m going to say.

Happy Holidays!

From Jenna Fischer’s MySpace blog, dated November 23, 2005:

Sorry this blog is past due. I’m enjoying my Thanksgiving holiday in Hawaii. I’m in the “Business Center” of my hotel typing my little blog about this week’s episode of The Office – “Email Surveillance.” I am doing this, in part, because it is raining and also because I loved this episode so much. (I guess I say that every week.) This week I thought we had a very cringy but also VERY romantic episode. Did everyone like the secret office romance!? I’ve been DYING to tell people about it. I’m so glad the secret is out. I love that none of the characters on the show know about the romance. It is a secret between the documentary crew and the audience. Look for little hints of the continued romance in upcoming episodes. Here are some fun facts about this episode:

1. At the beginning of this work week it rained for 3 days. Heavy ran. Our one A.D., Richard, had to stand out in the rain the whole 3 days. He’s in charge of base camp which is where our dressing room trailers and makeup trailers are. This is usually a pretty cool place to hang – nice LA weather, sunny. But not this week. We were each given an umbrella with our names on it so we wouldn’t get too wet walking back and forth. Richard wore a parka but still got drenched.
2. John and I had a MAJOR laughing fit during the lunch scene. Steve comes into the kitchen to try and show us that he’s just one of the gang and thus worthy of coming to Jim’s BBQ. John and I could not control ourselves. At one point I snorted yogurt into my nose and John was crying. It was a mess. We could barely hold it together. I don’t think we ever got through an entire take without laughing. I can’t believe they were able to cut this scene together.
3. John’s birthday fell during this week of filming. He turned 26! The internet says he’s 27 but he’s not. He’s 26. We were shooting last year during his birthday too so I know for sure.
4. We went on location and shot in a real neighborhood. It was an adorable gated community in northern California.
5. Our usual work hours are 6am-6pm. We had to shoot some outdoor stuff at night so our hours were a little screwy. Most of us go to bed around 9-10pm so after shooting until about midnight one night, Steve ordered pizza for all the cast and crew. Nice guy huh?
6. We meet some new characters this week! Jim’s roommate and his roommate’s girlfriend. We also meet the Tech guy in the office. These guys were all really awesome.
7. By far and away the greatest moment of this episode is when Phyllis does karaoke. We were all laughing really hard when she had to do this.

I am being charged by the minute to use this computer $.85 per minute to be exact so I don’t have time to answer Frequently Asked Questions this week. I’m also behind on my Friend Requests so please forgive me. Now, I have to go to the pool and gawk at Mischa Barton. She’s staying here too. And, she is seriously crazy beautiful. It’s depressing.

Look for Rainn Wilson on tonight’s episode of Conan O’Brien… Wednesday the 23rd that is.