The hit TV show Jury Duty is back for another season, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat. If you haven’t seen Jury Duty or Company Retreat, the show follows The Truman Show-like concept where everyone is an actor except for one unknowing person. The producers have switched things up from the courtroom scenery of season one. This time, bringing non-actor Anthony on a retreat for a company that doesn’t exist — Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce.
What’s Company Retreat?
After streaming season one, I couldn’t believe the producers were able to pull this stunt off. I fell down the rabbit hole of researching how they found Ronald for the original Jury Duty, when the actors found the time to rehearse, and how everyone was able to keep themselves in character. Now that season two is streaming, there’s lots more information about the behind-the-scenes of it all. One thing I did not take into consideration? How the actors take lunch breaks.
How do these actors eat on set?
We see these actors indulge in all sorts of meals in front of Anthony just as they did in season one with Ronald. The company retreat, which not only is centered around a hot sauce company, has many on-screen dining scenes. The clip where Amy announces her bucket list to the dinner table is one of my personal favorite meal time moments from this season. However, it’s easy to assume that because the actors are being fed during these company-centered breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, they would be able to film the entire day straight through. I guess I’m falling for the same bit as Anthony, because when watching, I forgot that these people are actors.
Since these actors are on the clock and working, they are required to take meal breaks during their 10 to 12 hour filming days. Even though the actors eat in front of Anthony, they still have to be in character when dining. So how does production pull this off? They have to individually select the actors and “pull them” for various things. That way, Anthony believes they are simply doing individual interviews, and not taking a break from the real work they are doing. TikToker @itslivonair talks more about this behind-the-scenes lunch in her recent video.
Production pulls out all of the stops to make sure the actors get their righteous breaks, and that Anthony does not suspect a thing about their real-life status. The impossible behind-the-scenes work makes this show even more alluring. Even giving actors something as simple as breaks is hard to execute in this prank scenario. High risk, high reward.
The first five episodes Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat are now available to stream on Amazon Prime. I have laughed my way through all of them, and will now be paying closer attention to the dining scenes. I hope Anthony doesn’t suspect a thing about lunch breaks.