Sunday, September 13, 2009

Freeloading

Tension abounds at the shop when Jeff decides his employees need to start paying for the food they eat on the job. However, broken cookies, dropped items, and generally unattractive consumables are still up for grabs.

To combat his new policy, Stacey and the other employees implement a system of half-destroying food items so that they can eat them. For example:

"Oh, here is a perfectly good croissant. I think I will only eat half of it."

(time passes)

"Oh, here is only half a croissant. This won't do. I had better eat it for free."

Jeff perhaps gets wind of this and plays a trick of some sort, like putting half of a bug in a half-eaten item. Something to that effect. Employees trying to gain free things and discounts will become a recurring theme that annoys Jeff to no end. He may snap from time to time, with hilarity ensuing. Of course.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Daily Grind

Episode 2: This episode will delve into building some of the employees' stories as well as a customer or two. Stacey's endless witful banter in the kitchen with Jeff may be hard for some to follow...including Jeff. Coupled with the introduction of Clara, the religious visionary who can't seem to find Jesus anywhere...(or a decent bottle of gin). There will be brief appearances by regulars; Vinny, the food vendor, whose machismo can be detected from the parking lot. Thatcher, the silent, gorgeous delivery man that Clara claims as her own. And, of course, Turtle Man. He really needs no explaination. Slow and steady wins the race.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

episode 1

The first episode will be an intro of people. Title could be MIXED FRUIT MANIA. First scene opens as "Jeff" is giving a pep talk to the crew after being open a month...head shots only with a look of disdain on all but his face, as he is quite animated with encouragement. He then asks how everyone likes the new uniforms, which are (pan down) tube tops with the name of the shop. A noticable difference in boob size adds to the humor...including the only male employee. Jeff stays in character while receiving complaints from the workers until the restaurant humor has run its course, and he passes out the new shirts.
The next scene will be a surge of everyday characters who frequent the Hoek. The early morning bunch, including dear Lorna and her cinnamon toast... asking for jelly and then stuffing it in her purse. Turtle Man. And, of course, Bradley (the boyfriend) who is having breakfast for the first time at the Hoek. A brief exchange with Stacey (the girlfriend) and a quick intro to Jeff before he retreats to a seat. They talk about him while making his breakfast. Then the fateful moment that is the inspiration for Jeff...the plate goes out with mixed fruit jelly on it. The boyfriend races to the counter and freaks out at Jeff, who has the most blank, i don't give a shit look on his face. He offers a meager apology and watches Bradley walk back to his seat, all the while muttering to himself that Bradley has just sealed his own fate. Every ounce of restaurant humor (in terms of the jelly) will be directed at Bradley from this day forward.
Ending scene for this episode is the closing at the end of the week. Jeff giving himself encouragement that this business did well this week. Then he turns the music up and he starts to dance. Camera pans outside to see 3 employees, sitting on their car drinking and watching Jeff. No emotion, but Carl says, "I can't believe we do this every week."

Friday, June 26, 2009

The Gist of the Jelly

Welcome to the first official blog of the wildly popular television sitcom, Mixed Fruit Jelly. If you're looking for this show on TV right now, give us some money to put it there. JUST KIDDING! But seriously.

Mixed Fruit Jelly, as it currently stands in the minds of its creators, takes place in a coffee shop in small-town America. The owner is a middle-aged man (preferably played by Will Ferrell after he gets sick of making movies) who is also a single parent on the city council. He should probably run for mayor at some point against a token wacko conservative.

While most of the half-hour plots center around the owner character, several of his employees also merit their own storylines as their lives take unexpected and dramatic turns--always dragged out into the public sphere of the coffee shop for the sake of comedy.

The title of the sitcom, aside from it's classic goofy implications, comes from a secondary character (the boyfriend-turned-fiance of the only full-time employee) who absolutely refuses mixed fruit jelly with his breakfast. The owner and the full-time employee thus go to great lengths to deliver the hated condiment with varying levels of execution and success.

This blog will mostly be a place to get ideas out--sometimes fully gestated, and sometimes barely fetuses. Most entries probably won't be this long. Then again, maybe they will. It's really the nature of the sitcom beast to keep you guessing. And oh boy, Mixed Fruit Jelly will.