Poolywood Boulevard

Western Road is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

GoodGym Ealing presents
a Feeding Ealing production

POOPA'S DELIGHT

CAST
Miriam as Female GoodGymer in Red
Harvey as Male GoodGymer in Red
Steph as Male GoodGymer in Black
Kash as Female GoodGymer in Black
Mani as Mani

Casting Director: Kash
Music Composer: Wind & Sirens
Costume Designer: GoodGym
Associate Producer: StephDucat
Director of Photography: Kash
Producer: GoodGym
Writers: Life
Director: Mani

The Sunday's task at Western Road promised an easy way to stardom. Apart from being a part of the Feeding Ealing project to finish setting up a community polytunnel in Southall, four GoodGymers who joined the session were daring enough to come and claim some small-screen fame! A one-person film crew was supposed to come to the site and film the exploits of the mighty GoodGym Ealing! Sadly, the professional filmmaker was defeated by the broken Elizabeth Line and didn't make it to Southall.

With no cinematographer in sight, Kash decided to take an opportunity and become the Director of Photography and camera operator. Mani, the lead of Feeding Ealing and Southall Transition, took the role of the Director. He briefed the actors about what was going to happen. There was a polytunnel job, of course. Steph quickly volunteered to be the male lead in that feature film, citing his height as his advantage. The rest of the cast ended up deep in... manure.

A brown carpet, rather than a red carpet, unfolded in front of Miriam and Harvey, who bravely picked up the tools and got to work like real farm people. They performed with passion and authenticity, ignoring the fact that the tools they got were... well, props. Tiny spades in place of shovels and three flat-tyred wheelbarrows didn't deter them at all as they kept digging and moving the horse poo inside the polytunnel. Kash became a part-time manure shoveller too, dividing her attention between filmmaking and the task. Harvey, also wanting to contribute more to the production, took the initiative in directing by adding eclectic elements of a pirate movie: GoodGymers walking the plank when entering a polytunnel!

After Steph and Mani fixed the tape protecting the polytunnel's plastic sheet from metal poles (that can get very hot in the summer), the climax of the movie ensued. Mani drilled holes in wooden planks that would become the polytunnel's doorframe. Then, four GoodGymers had to pull the plastic sheet inside the construction, so that Mani could attach the planks to a maximally extended sheet. That isometric hold exercise seemed to take forever as Mani's electric screwdriver was... well, a prop. Finally, the doorframe was in place, and the GoodGymers were released. That was the most difficult scene to act.

There was still the epilogue to perform, in which the bottom of the polytunnel sheet had to be secured with the weight of soil. A prison-style scene was enacted, with Miriam and Steph digging a trench before wheelbarrowing the soil and unloading it onto the sheet.

After two hours of filming work, the cast started losing their hopes for the Academy Award, but they felt that the real reward was in the service to the community.

You start off thinking you're gonna give something, you're gonna help out, you're gonna volunteer, but actually, you'll soon realise you'll get more back than you put in, and that's a really unexpected surprise. - Harvey

GoodGymers are some of the best volunteers I work with. Unwavering, spirit to serve, tireless, and I can't seem to praise you enough! - Mani