Useless Tidbits from the filming of The Following is a Paid Advertisement, from the infomercial’s creators Corri Lade and Nat J. Gruca.

Corri : The entirety of The Following is a Paid Advertisement was filmed in the span of two days, with the set consisting entirely of different places in my house, with almost every nook and cranny put to cinematic use.

Nat : Mike Farlsburgh’s sweater is an old hand-me-down received from my brother at a young age. It’s ironic, as I’ve had several comments on how much I look and sound like him in that role.

Nat : When we were trying to film in Corri’s garage for the Farlsburghs, a truck kept driving by very slowly and ruining each take. Hence the kind billing during the credits.

Nat : Moline Mullins’ last name is a combination of the last names of our high school gym teacher and one of our thespian friends. Her characterization is purely fictional.

Corri : The office setting in which Cathy Layd does her interview from is actually my kitchen table with various props brought in from our actual home office, including a mug full of pencils, post-it notes, and our favorite object, the model sailboat. The white board in the background was covered with all sorts of urgent messages relating to the sale of KERNL units. The telephone blinking in the background added a nice “work environment” feel to the scene, although its actual presence has more to do with the fact that I don’t know how to check our voicemail.

Nat : I wore two-tone saddle shoes I found at a thrift store for the Mike Farlsburgh character, but was devastated to learn there was no easy way to show them off, despite my position with the foot stool. At least I was able to show off that killer pipe.

Nat : There was one take of the Farlsburghs that I particularly enjoyed that had them at the end of their lines trying to make eye contact with each other but always missing the other’s gaze to look back at the camera. It was ruined somehow, probably by the truck people.

Corri : Nat’s portrayal of Lloyd Bremmer is a compilation of all of the annoying people we have ever met.

Nat : Lloyd Bremmer annoys even me. I am saddened that I can act like him.

Nat : Fact: The pink “Wanna Get Cool?” shirt is the best shirt in the world. It was purchased from a thrift store for 99 cents, and says “Ask Me How!” on the back.

Corri : The pile of paper sitting on the trash can directly to the right-hand side of the screen is actually the movie script.

Nat : Lloyd Bremmer’s first appearance was originally a total of two lines and an exclamation of “cool!” His second appearance was only a paragraph. The rest is movie magic.

Nat : Emersyn Daly is easily identified as a conglomeration of chef Emeril Lagassi and freakish man-child Carson Daly, both of which are highly “esteemed” and looked up to by Corri and myself. Plus, I always thought it’d be a great idea to have a late night talk show where guests helped cook goodies for the audience and then sat down to eat and chat.

Nat : Corn pone was an entirely new term to me at the time of writing the script, having just heard it from within the pages of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huck Finn. I still don’t know what it is.

Nat : The mock 80s intro to Emersyn Heats it Up was almost an exact replica of an earlier film project Corri and I had worked on with Liz Jackson (an active PfO participant) for a Sociology project. Liz and me were hosts of a children’s learning/cooking show called Bunny and Chip in the Kitchen, where we proceeded to do corny things like have a sword fight with spatulas and salt Ritz crackers on a plate.

Nat : Airing off everything including the cold things was an impromptu decision made at the time of filming. I don’t know why I did it.

Nat : The concoction being put together during the title credits of Emersyn Heats it Up includes flour, oatmeal, cheese, raw spaghetti and a splash of extra virgin olive oil.

Corri : One of KERNL’s wheels fell off halfway through filming. We taped a red votive candle on his underside and it seemed to work surprisingly well.

Nat : Jessica Crantz’s wig was one of two that I found at my Grandma’s house. Contrary to what some might believe, she does not wear them herself, rather she was storing them for one of my uncles who lives in the UK. I took them, and we’ve been making do with them ever since.

Nat : The black wig was put through rigorous combing and reshaping to get to the halfway decent state it appears as in the movie. And it still looks like crap.

Corri : The scene where Jessica pulls out my pigtails was actually very difficult to manage, seeing as Nat was afraid that he would pull my hair in the heat of the moment.

Nat : Crantz’s dress was found at a thrift store and decided it was too yellow not to be put to good use.

Corri : After the filming of the Jessica Crantz interview, it was unanimously decided that Nat makes the least convincing woman that any of us have ever seen on screen, which worked well for the character.

Nat : The clever acronym of KERNL is a fine example of what happens when you think up a pun before you put words to match the letters.

Nat : Humans are able to give anyone they please a foot massage with no prior knowledge or experience. Robots, on the other hand, must go through a rigorous three-month training program and become fully certified before they are allowed to even go near human feet.

Nat : Why Layd Industries is based out of Toronto is open for discussion. I’ve always thought that any company that sells robot helpers has gotta be Canadian.

Corri : The unflattering picture of Thomas Layd had already existed for quite some time before we decided to write it into the script.

Nat : The Wiggens’ laughs grate our nerves, too.

Nat : Corri for some reason always wanted to say “breath-defying” instead of “breath-taking.” Which we later found out was a slogan for a mint commercial.

Nat : “Stauldisian” is pronounced three different ways throughout the movie. We still don’t know how to pronounce it correctly.

Corri : The Stauldisian’s dialog took only about half a page in the script, but their chemistry was so great, it evolved into an eight minute segment.

Nat : The Kunvcs are collectors of quaint Christmas trinkets which they are proud to display around their mantle.

Corri : The footage and screen caps of the Kunvc’s throwing pillows was added in when our footage of the Kunvc’s interview was interrupted by the ringing of my phone.

Nat : For all aspiring dialect coaches: In order to master the Stauldisian accent, simply fail at all other stereotypical accents.

Corri : Nat’s hat and wig for Vlacz Kunvc is actually part of a Halloween costume that my brother wore a number of years ago when he dressed up as some sort of ghost biker, and my costume is actually one I wore to dress up like an immigrant for a history unit in eighth grade.

Nat : We use every attempt we can to work with the original cast of Those Folks Next Door.

Nat : The last scene with Cathy Layd shows her desk in slight disarray. This was because we originally had the scene begin with her having fallen asleep. When she awoke suddenly to finish the segment, several post-it notes were still stuck to her face. This was deemed too revolutionary an idea, and cut promptly for the safety of our viewers.

Corri : Our KERNL unit is in fact not motorized in any way, so in the last scene where he rolls in to deliver his one line, Nat is actually hunched down under the table pushing him and performing the voice.

Nat : KERNL’s one and only line is lifted directly from the movie Short Circuit 2, where the lovable robot and main protagonist Johnny 5 jumps into the air after uttering these same words, albeit much more energetically.

Nat : There was originally going to be a sequence at the very end showing all the characters dancing with KERNLs set in slow motion and a touchingly sappy song, but because of short memory spans and apathy, it did not turn up in the final cut. The only footage created for the scene was used for the DVD menu, and also shown in the extended scenes section.

Nat : To come up with some of the more ridiculous-sounding credits, we popped in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and sat through all fifteen minutes of credit sequence.

Nat : Sadly, Corri’s Mom did not cater our food. In fact, we did not eat during entire shooting of the movie.