TV Guide blog#3
Hi blog reader. John Lehr here with my latest 10 Items update. The ratings have been great and I want to thank you for tuning in late nights on Mondays. If you read the credits (and you have to be a super speed reader these days to do that) you’ll notice that this show is a John Lehr ego free-for-all. I produce, create, write and play Leslie. My mom is thrilled with the number of times my name flies across the screen but I have to say it makes me feel like I’m producing my own short film I shot on DV and edited on Final Cut Pro (which I have done many times). But—if I pull the credits I don’t get paid and I have a 7 month old daughter who might have a problem with that.
We are broadcasting episode three now and I thought I would throw out some things that you probably won’t get anywhere else. First, I feel like I should mention that all of the dialogue in the show is completely improvised. I know there are a few shows out there that make that claim falsely, but at ’10 Items’ it is a fact. The script is a very detailed outline and the cast makes up all of the lines. I have posted some alternate takes and outtakes so you can see for yourself:
http://grouper.com/video/10%2bItems%2bor%2bLess
In addition, I thought I would post the first scene of this episode from the script just to give you an idea of what we were working from:
ACT ONE
INT. GREENS & GRAINS - DELI - MORNING
AS LESLIE COLLECTS THE TIME CARDS FOR HIS LABOR TOTALS, HE SEES TODD TOSSING BOVINE INNARDS INTO THE DUMPSTER AND TAKES THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHAT WITH THE HUNKY BUTCHER. LESLIE ASKS TODD WHAT HE IS DOING THIS WEEKEND AND TODD RELUCTANTLY TELLS HIS BOSS HE'S GOING “OUT.” LESLIE CHUCKLES, “I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, MY MAN.” LESLIE HAS SETTLED IN HERE IN OHIO AND IS READY TO MAKE “CONNECTIONS.” HE FEELS A CERTAIN CAMARADERIE WITH TODD, “WE'RE VERY SIMILAR, YOU AND I. WE SHOULD HANG OUT. I HEAR YOU'RE QUITE THE LADIES MAN.” THE LAST THING TODD WANTS IS TO GO TO CLUBS WITH LESLIE, SO HE PLAYS DOWN HIS SUCCESS WITH THE LADIES. LESLIE WILL HEAR NONE OF IT. “NO, NO, NO, MY MAN. IT'S TRUE. THE LADIES LOVE YOU. AND I CAN SEE WHY. LOOK AT YOU. YOU'RE ONE HANDSOME DOG. NICE GUNS, GREAT PECS. YOU EVEN HAVE THE KIND OF BUTT THE LADIES LIKE - WITH THE DIMPLES IN THE SIDE.” TODD GETS NERVOUS BUT LESLIE TELLS HIM NOT TO WORRY, HE'S NOT GAY. “BUT I'M NOT BLIND EITHER. I NOTICE BEAUTY WHEN I SEE IT. LIKE THE GREEKS. IN A PLATONIC WAY, MIND YOU, BUT THERE'S NO REASON A GUY CAN'T ADMIRE ANOTHER GUY IN A NON-SEXUAL WAY. THE LADIES ADMIRE EACH OTHER-SO SHOULD WE.”
TODD STANDS THERE SILENT FOR A BEAT, THEN TRIES TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT BY ASKING LESLIE HOW THE MANAGING OF THE STORE IS GOING. LESLIE SIGHS. “SINCE WE'RE TIGHT BUDDIES, MAY I CONFIDE?” TODD WANTS TO LEAVE, BUT AGREES. LESLIE TELLS HIM THAT THIS IS THE WORST DAY HE'S HAD SINCE HE TOOK OVER THE G&G. “I JUST FOUND OUT I HAVE TO DO THE HARDEST THING A BOSS HAS TO DO.” TODD ASKS HIM FOR DETAILS, BUT LESLIE WAVES HIM OFF. “EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE MY BUD, IT WOULDN'T BE RIGHT TO SPEAK OUT OF TURN. SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT, AT THIS MOMENT, I FEEL LIKE AN ISLAND. IT'S THE WORST PART OF THIS JOB. I IMAGINE IT'S JUST LIKE WHEN YOU SLICE UP VEAL KNOWING A BABY COW WAS KEPT IN A BOX AND SLAUGHTERED JUST SO YOU COULD SELL HIS FLESH.” LESLIE SMILES AND PATS TODD ON THE SHOULDER. “BUT DON'T WORRY. I'LL FIGURE IT OUT. I ALWAYS DO.” A TROUBLED LESLIE EXITS. TODD WATCHES HIM GO, CONFUSED.
In the actual episode, the scene bears little resemblance to this. We made lot changes once we get on the floor of the grocery store. We shoot the show in order to keep the narrative continuity screw-ups to a minimum and we realized that moving the crew to the back of the store and then up stairs to the employee break room was a lot to do. So we decided at the last minute to shoot this scene in Todd’s Butcher dept.
During the scene with Todd and Leslie, Leslie grabs a piece of raw chicken that Todd is butchering and pops it in his mouth. The chicken wasn’t real of course. It was baby food sausage wrapped in pickled cabbage to look like chicken. I can’t believe how real it looks. The problem was the scene was the first up so it was 7am and eating pickled sausage really sucked. I think I ended up eating a dozen of them and they left a nice little rock in my stomach for the rest of the day. A small price to pay for some gross out humor, if you ask me.
I don’t know what got into Nancy, Robert and I when we wrote this one. We initially pitched an episode where the store gets infested with rats but Sony smartly persuaded us to try something else. I think a little of the rat shock comedy was left in our system because we decided Leslie should put the crew through a ‘Fear Factor’ eating contest. For the master shot, we used real food: lamb kidneys, pig ear, chicken feet and intestines. Todd’s Rocky Mountain Oyster was actually a cold, breaded meatball and he ate that during the scene. Yolanda’s peppers were peppers but they weren’t the spicy kind. Richard never ate his pig ear so we used the actual ear during the eating scene. Buck’s kidneys were replaced with prunes covered in syrup and Ingrid was given some sort of vegetable cut to replicate the chicken feet.
That scene lasts a few seconds but was fun as hell to shoot. People really were grossed out and I was dying laughing. You can see by the looks on the actors’ faces that they were having real trouble eating even the fake stuff. It looked so real and it was so early in the morning! So much fun.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back to write about episode four which involves a lot of inter-cast kissing. It’s called ‘What Women Want’ and it’s my favorite.
John Lehr
|
