EPISODE 10
When I was first planning episode 10, I intended to make it be about Ella's 17th birthday and call the episode Sweet Seventeen. The idea was that, because Ella only had one friend (Gus) last year on her sixteenth birthday, and this year she had several (including Kacey, Gillian, Trevor, and possibly another), she wanted to have a real birthday party -- a party with friends. She hadn't had one since she was eight.
Here are some screencaps from the obligatory "flashback" scene....
Though I never got around to filming any other scenes for the birthday party-centric episode, the idea was that Ella was going to have this party, invite half a dozen people, and then -- alas -- a freak snowstorm prevents everybody from being able to come -- except, of course, for Gus. Awww. Except what would this accomplish? We've already established that Gus is there for Ella no matter what. We've established that she's grateful for his friendship. So... maybe they could have a deep, meaningful conversation by candlelight? (Because yeah, I forgot to mention -- the power went out.) I don't know. It just didn't seem to want to work.
After I decided to do a Christmas episode, the idea of Gus's dog staying with Bradleys came right away. I filmed scenes where Ella pleads with her parents, trying to get their permission to let her take the dog. Here's Ella trying to convince her dad...
Sometimes -- in this case, especially -- it's better just to streamline things. Instead of showing Ella talking with her parents, I had Ella explain to Bethany in a couple of sentences why and how the dog was staying at her house. Much easier and quicker, and it meant I could begin the episode on Christmas Eve.
Originally, the snow was going to begin falling while the Christmas Eve party was happening at Ella's house. The dog would bark to be let outside, and Bethany and Ella would put on their jackets and accompany him to the backyard. There they'd realize it was snowing, and Bethany would run inside to tell her mom...
Due to some technical problems with the sliding door (including the fact that the dog kept walking through it) and the fact that Sims look bizarre when they run indoors and yet how could I have Bethany not run to tell her mom the news?), I just decided to have it snow that night while everyone's asleep!
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