| | | 'The Gym' uses Hill fitness center for backdrop | | May 15, 2009 |  | | | Voice Correspondent | | Results The Show? Maybe so, if a pilot sitcom currently filming at the local franchise’s Capitol Hill location gets picked up.
“The Gym” is an improvisation-based comedy that follows 14 characters — members and employees — through a normal day at a D.C. health club.
The show’s creator and producer, Erika Allen, said the plot will play off gym stereotypes, something she saw a lot of during her former career as a gym manager. Some of the characters include a Hill intern and a hard-driving personal trainer. Allen is keeping the pilot’s plot quiet for now.
“We’ll show a lot of what is ridiculous at a gym,” said Allen, who is self-employed as a group fitness trainer and nutrition consultant. “I’ve spent my entire life in gyms. I’ve seen it all.”
Allen said the Results location on G Street SE was ideal for the show’s storyline — replete with a smoothie bar, basketball and squash courts, and a large lounge. It is also big enough to host a 30-person production crew.
“Results was game for it,” Allen said, adding that other gyms around town turned her down because they feared the show would make the fitness industry look bad. The show will film at night on and off for two weeks after normal gym hours.
Results spokesperson Sarah Lengyl welcomed the production.
“We’re excited to be a part of it. We plan to support the project any way we can,” she said.
Allen said has been sitting on her idea for six years, slowly developing the storyline and characters. She was struggling to write the script when she came up with the idea to hire improv actors to help create the scenes.
“They can deliver the elements in their own way,” she said.
In an improvised sitcom, actors get a rough storyline and make up much of the dialogue as they film. Though the outcome of particular scenes is settled beforehand, keeping the dialogue tight and funny while reaching the conclusion is a challenge.
On Monday, the first night of shooting, the actors and extras were decked out in gym gear and milling around before the secretive shooting began. Most of the actors are veterans of one of D.C.’s improvisational troupes — Washington Improv Theater or DC Improv. Capitol Hill resident and actor
J.W. Crump said he put in a lot of gym time to research his character.
“It would look bad if I was out of shape,” he said.
Allen will submit the show to a New York film festival in June. She said if a network picks up the show, she would prefer to continue filming in Washington since some of the characters are indigenous to D.C. and Capitol Hill.
Interested in being an extra? Local residents and Results members are welcome. Send your name, e-mail and home addresses, phone, age, gender and acting experience to Bola Omiosire at bola.gym@gmail.com. It’s a non-paying gig, and all shapes and sizes are needed. Shooting dates are May 15, 17, 22, 23, 24 and 25, but extras will not need to be there every day.
The cast and crew will also hold a fundraiser on May 16 from 9 p.m. to midnight at My Brother’s Place, 237 2nd St. NW.
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