Scott and I have one very brief dance move. It lasts a few seconds at most. But Marguerite, the choreographer, says she can tell I have some natural ability. I’m sure she just said it to be nice. But I still haven’t stopped bragging about it around the house ever since.
MONDAY, MARCH 21
I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about coffee. Is Lorelai drinking enough coffee? Personally, I’m practically made of the stuff at this point, but I make a mental note to ensure she is too.
Mae comes to do her cameo, but she’s very, very, ill. She has a terrible stomach flu. So if our brief scene seems a bit off to you, it’s because our main intention was to get through it before she needed the vomit bucket again. Hollywood! It’s all glitz and glamour!
Michael Ausiello also has his cameo today. He sends me a nice note about it afterward, telling me how emotional it was to be there. I feel you, bro.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23
Today we’re filming the opening shot of “Winter,” and of the whole series. Even though we’ve been shooting for a while now, I’m so nervous I hardly slept. Overnight, the town has miraculously been decorated and covered in snow. I’m not sure what they make it out of, but I’m pretty sure I still have some on my Ugg boots from the first time we made the show. Alexis and I walk arm in arm through the town, as we’ve done so many times before. I’m all right in the morning, but a bit later I can barely get through the line “I smell snow.” We’ve been at this for a while now, but I still can’t seem to get a grip.
TUESDAY, APRIL 5
“Hey, is that the same bike as last time?” a random crew guy from another show calls out as I go whizzing by.
“New bike, same character!” I say. I’m having déjà vu, and so, apparently, are other people.
My editor, Jen Smith, visits, and is worried about the book deadline. She spends the day on set and sees how many hours I’m working, how short the writing time between setups is. “Do you think you’re going to make it?” she asks. She looks very nervous. I feel bad. I wonder if we’ll ever work together on a project where I’m not actively raising her blood pressure for months at a time. Let’s be honest—probably not!
Melissa does Ellen and announces she’ll be a part of Gilmore Girls, then comes to visit the set afterward. I haven’t seen her in ages, but it’s like no time has passed. She’s wearing a gorgeous floral dress that she designed. Melissa has always been an incredible decorator with great taste, and we had fun comparing notes when furnishing our first houses, which were right down the street from each other. We all stand around chatting—Melissa and her husband, Ben, me and Yanic and Amy and Dan—until work finally calls us back. Just like old times.
Today’s scenes are with Kelly, where Emily Gilmore has read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and has decided to get rid of almost everything in the house. There are Gilmore antiques strewn about on every surface. It’s a funny scene on one level, but it’s also about how Emily is struggling to move on, and Kelly is characteristically fantastic in it.
The Entertainment Weekly cover about the show isn’t supposed to be out for another week, but we learn it’s been leaked online. The publishers are shocked—the only other time they had a breach like this was when someone got hold of their Star Wars cover before publication. Nice company! Thanks, Internet hackers!
SATURDAY, APRIL 9
Mae surprises me by booking massages for us at our favorite place. Usually we have to book weeks in advance, and I ask her how she got us in with such short notice. She admits that she pretended to be my assistant. Apparently my assistant’s name is Mindy, and she’s “cordial but firm.”
MONDAY, APRIL 11
Rachael Ray is here! She’s a total doll and does a fantastic job in her scene.
TUESDAY, APRIL 19
Roy Choi is here! He’s extremely nice, but I forgot to ask for a photo. He’s an intense and smart guy and comes extremely well prepared for his scene. In between takes, he discusses the similarities between being a chef and acting, noting that both professions require individual precision while maintaining an awareness of the whole. Whoa.
During the scene about whether or not we should fire Roy, Yanic keeps saying “baloney” instead of “abalone,” which cracks everyone up. Apparently he’s never eaten either.
Gary. I still need to find a part for Gary.
The props man, Mike, has asked me every day this week what I would like to eat in the upcoming camping scene instead of the dehydrated meatballs that are scripted. He needs to make them ahead of time and make sure he has plenty on hand in case we do a lot of takes. Chocolate meringue balls? Coconut macaroon balls? Veggie burger balls? For some reason, I can’t decide. “Can I tell you later?” I ask.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20
Mae and Alexis are cast in a reading together! Really, worlds, could you collide any more? I wish I could’ve been there to see the magic of my two most special ladies on a stage together!
FRIDAY, APRIL 22
We just heard that Prince died yesterday. Amy was a giant fan and saw him in concert many times, and everyone is generally depressed about the loss.
My high school yearbook from my senior year appears in the mail. The wife of a friend from high school found it in storage. I gave it to her now-husband to sign on the last day of school, and he forgot to return it to me. So that’s how I can finally reveal to you my other longtime passion, one I’ve never before discussed: the time I spent dedicating my young life to Interbuilding Communications.
Um, huh? That’s my high school boyfriend, Charlie, over my left shoulder, which may have had something to do with my involvement in this club, but I have zero memory of it otherwise. I guess if you ever find yourself in northern Virginia and you’re wondering whom to thank for how well all the buildings there seem to be getting along, well, that would be me and my bangin’ sweater vest.
The props guy is back. He really needs to know what I would like to eat in the dehydrated meatball scene. Granola cluster balls? Turkey meatball bites? Actual dehydrated meatballs? I still can’t decide! I ask if I can let him know later. He sighs.
SATURDAY, APRIL 23
From the first time I read the script for “Fall,” where Lorelai goes off on a wilderness adventure, I knew that Peter had to play the role of Park Ranger. In some ways in real life, Peter is a park ranger, and doing something outdoorsy and nature-related for a living is definitely another way his life could have gone. Plus, the character appears late in the show and I thought it would be a fun surprise for you to see him. His ABC show, The Catch, very kindly cleared him to do it. But now it’s two days before he’s due to work with us and something has come up—they’ve lost a location for an important scene and have to do some switching around. Which means now they can’t spare Peter for the whole day. Park Ranger is in two lengthy scenes, both in Malibu, which is easily an hour from anywhere else in Los Angeles. So we have to think fast! Maybe we can split the two scenes into two different roles? But who else can we call at this late date? How can we pull this off?
MONDAY, APRIL 25
We pulled it off! Thanks, Jason Ritter!