Category: Jenna Fischer

From Jenna Fischer’s MySpace blog, dated November 14, 2005:

Hello from Dunder-Mifflin!

In this week’s episode, Jan comes to the office to oversee our Performance Reviews. It will be the first time she and Michael have seen each other since they kissed in the Chili’s parking lot.

This week’s episode is directed by Paul Feig. Last week he invited the cast to his house for an advanced screening. It was written by Larry Wilmore (who played Mr. Brown in last year’s Diversity Day episode.) This episode might be my favorite so far this season. I have been quoting it like crazy. (Yes, I am that big of a nerd…I quote my own show.) Rainn Wilson has a scene where he pumps himself up in the stairwell before his performance review. Amazing. Paul Feig said that the scene that takes place in the conference room is one of his favorites of his career.

This is the episode we shot when I was sick. (See previous post for details) I am doped up on Sudafed most of the time. Sorry for that.

If you have a free second and want to really geek out on The Office, check out www.northernattack.com. It’s an awesome website by one of our fans.

Here are a few more of my Frequently Asked Questions:

1. How much do you improvise on the show?

Our show is completely scripted. They even write our non-verbals like, “uh”, “um”, “ah”. They often write very specific reaction moments like “Pam looks disgusted.” Our writers are amazing. Sometimes we goof around and improvise on set – mostly Steve and Rainn – and sometimes that stuff will end up in an episode. Or, they will write something like “The camera catches Jim and Pam flirting at reception.” John and I will make up some dialogue and try to be as cute as possible.

2. When will LolliLove be released on DVD?

LolliLove is a movie that I wrote and directed a couple of years ago. It is a mock-documentary starring me and my real-life husband as a wealthy couple who start a charity to help the homeless. It is being released by Troma Films in March 2006.

That’s about all I know.

From Jenna Fischer’s MySpace blog, dated October 31, 2005:

In this episode, Michael leaves the office with Jan to try and close a big sale. While he’s gone, I find a screenplay that Michael wrote – starring himself. Jim and I organize a reading of it with the rest of the office staff.

There is some pretty romantic stuff this week. Jim and Pam end up on the roof of the building. That was an AMAZING night of shooting. John and I had to wear a harness and ride up to the roof in a lift. It was a little freaky. (The other people got to use this old fire escape ladder but in order to protect the “stars” of the show; we had to ride up in this incredibly complicated machine.) There were just a few of us up there. The camera guys, our executive producer, the writer of the episode, the A.D. and me and John. The weather was perfect and there was a little breeze and we just sat up there, this small group of us, looking at the city. It was really awesome. It is definitely one of my favorite off camera moments so far this season.

Tim Meadows guest stars as the client Michael and Jan are trying to impress. I didn’t have to work the day they shot Tim’s scenes but I went up to the set just to meet him and have lunch. He is VERY cool. And, hilarious. I don’t want to ruin anything but if you’ve seen the promos for this episode you know that something shocking happens at the meeting.

I posted a few new photos from my vacation week. Mindy hosted a Diwali party. That was pretty awesome. I ran into my old friend Jason Segel. He’s currently starring in How I Met Your Mother and he’s really adorable and funny on the show. It’s great. Check it out.

You can also see a photo from our “Ladies Lunch” at The Ivy on Robertson. That’s Kim our hairdresser and Lisa our makeup artist! The paparazzi swarmed the streets around the restaurant to not take our picture. (Tara Reid was shopping nearby.) After lunch we bought the recent issue of Stuff Magazine and ran into Melora Hardin (who plays Jan on the show.) Small world. The girls from The Office and Tara Reid.

We are currently hard at work shooting our Christmas episode and it’s past my bedtime so I should wrap up. Thanks again for watching!

From Jenna Fischer’s MySpace blog, dated October 18, 2005:

See the employees of Dunder-Mifflin in our costumed glory on tonight’s episode. Michael is told at the beginning of October that he has to fire someone by the end of the month. He waits until the absolute last day of October – Halloween.

Some fun facts from behind-the-scenes:

1. The employee that gets fired is now doing a play off-Broadway.
2. Angela broke several cookies in the “What did you bring” scene with Pam. She kept slamming them down on the plate in disgust during the scene.
3. One of the ears on Angela’s costume kept falling down and ruining the takes.
4. Stop the presses – Pam wears her hair down! This was a much-debated decision. Would she look too good?
5. Our director for this episode was Paul Fieg who has directed a ton of Arrested Developments and Freaks and Geeks. He’s also written 2 great books!
6. I ate WAY too much of the candy corn on my desk one morning and got really sick. (See previous post for details.)
7. John (Jim) and Rainn (Dwight) and Brian (Kevin) have major Playstation 2 boxing contests in our down time. They staged their first tournament the week we shot Halloween. You could hear them cheering all the way into the parking lot. The episode finished shooting before they could finish the tournament. Rainn and John were on their final fighters.
8. This episode was written by Greg Daniels – our executive producer and genius behind the show. Greg has written for The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and co-created King of the Hill. We love Greg. He wrote the Basketball episode from last season.
9. Steve Carell almost NEVER laughs during a scene. He has this amazing ability to contain himself until the director yells “cut”. In this episode, after a scene with Toby where the actor who plays Toby (Paul Lieberstein) improvised a very funny line, Steve had to hold the scene for another 2 minutes. When the director yelled “cut” he collapsed onto his desk laughing so hard he cried.
10. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant visited our set one day when we shot this episode. They stayed for a long time – it was awesome! I took a picture with them and some other people on set. It’s a really funny photo because I am the only one dressed in a costume. It was taken in the hallway and looks like they came to see me in some play where I was a cat.

I’ll post a bunch of photos from this episode soon.

Jenna/Pam

P.S. We are shooting a scene right now!

From Jenna Fischer’s MySpace blog, dated October 11, 2005:

2 pairs of work shoes – one black, one brown

1 pair of white keds

Button down shirts: lavender, blue stripe (one regular, one with flower cuffs), pink stripe, beige stripe. I like stripes.

Every outfit has a matching sweater. It is usually on the back of my chair but it’s getting cold out so I’ve started wearing them.

Pencil skirts: grey, navy, brown, brown stripe

Panty Hose

Pink Corduroy Coat

Black purse

Brown/Black Hair clip

Gold Heart Necklace (from Roy)

Gold Earrings

From Jenna Fischer’s MySpace blog, dated October 7, 2005:

I’ve been asked if this page is really me. It really is me – Pam Beesley the receptionist at Dunder-Mifflin. Or, more accurately – It’s really me, Jenna Fischer the actress who plays Pam on The Office. I know there are a lot of pages fronted by other people but that’s not our style.

For as long as I’m able, I plan to keep up the page myself. We work 60 hours a week on the show so I should be okay. I’ve been told many times, “Wow, when we see shots of you at the computer it looks like you are really working on something.” That’s because I am. Our computers really work on the show. We have internet. So, when you see me in the background of a scene I am just doing the same thing most people do at work:

1. Playing Spider Solitaire
2. Playing Texas Hold ‘Em
3. Answering messages on Myspace
4. Emailing my friends and family
5. Making my personal list of “things to do”

There is an awesome blog at nbc.com written by Rainn Wilson in his character of Dwight. And, B.J. Novak does a blog for TVGuide.com each Tuesday. He’s been spilling some cool behind-the-scenes stuff.

I’ll post new photos from the set soon. We love our fans! We know you are why we have stayed on the air!

This was Jenna’s first MySpace entry blogging as herself.