Night Out - Production

Production

"Night Out" was the seventh episode of the series directed by Ken Whittingham. It was written by Mindy Kaling, who also acts in the show as customer-service representative Kelly Kapoor. The episode was the eighth of the series to be written by Kaling. "Night Out" was the third new episode of The Office to be broadcast since the episode "The Deposition" on November 15, 2007, due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Filming of The Office immediately halted on that date, because many members of the cast including Carell, Novak, Kaling, and Lieberstein are members of the WGA and refused to cross WGA picket lines. If not for the writers' strike, this episode would have most likely been filmed in November 2007.

Most of "Night Out" was shot during the night. The scene that has Toby putting his hand on Pam's knee was shot at 2:30 am on a Friday. The scene was shot about eight times because according to Kaling, "everyone kept breaking because Toby was so vulnerable and awkward." Kate Flannery did her stunts in the scene where Pam throws a football and hits Customer and Supplier Relations worker Meredith Palmer (Flannery) in the face. Flannery had a stunt double on the set, but she was never needed for the scene. Kate recalls that she "didn't get a scratch in all 14 takes that we shot." Lieberstein on the other hand used a stunt double for the scene in which Toby climbs over the fence. Although Lieberstein offered to do the stunt himself, executive producer and show runner Greg Daniels decided against it.

When casting "Tall Girl #1" (the woman who would kiss with Dwight), the show was looking for a girl 6'1'' or taller. Actress Cassie Fliegel, who is 5'11'', auditioned for the part anyway. After getting a callback, Fliegel went to a gym to work out, attempting to gain muscle to look more like a basketball player. On the day of the callbacks, Fliegel remembers being next to a girl who was 6'8''. Despite her size, Fliegel, a former basketball player herself, was cast for the part. Initially, she did not know that her character was going to make out with Dwight. Fliegel recalls that when she first heard about kissing Dwight she "was like, I don't think so". However, after finding out that she had her own trailer, Fliegel warmed up to the idea. The music in the club was chosen by Novak, Kaling's then-boyfriend Benjamin Nugent, and Daniel Chun. When filming Ryan dancing in the club, the girl that Ryan hit was actually a stunt woman. Pads had been placed on the floor so Novak could fall down safely. The German lullaby that Dwight sang to Ryan was script supervisor Veda Semarne's idea. Semarne's Austrian grandmother sang the same song to her when she was a child.