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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/erodazels on 2023-07-29 18:34:26.

I (22F) am currently a film undergrad, and for our final term project, we have to produce a short film in groups of eight. I was the director and main writer.

We planned to shoot a number of scenes at a local mall, which was always busy, but after a lot of communication, was allowed to film only for five hours, and if we went overtime, we would have to pay a penalty fee that would put us over budget for our project.

So we show up for our filming day. Everything went rather smoothly, and our team was efficient, but delays added up and we had to rush our final few scenes.

For our final scene, we had prepared a wall of yellow balloons at an outdoor square in the mall. When we showed up to film, however, there was a group of 3 girls (two holding bouquets) and 2 guys standing right in front of it. Our art director had been sitting nearby to make sure no one’s tampering with the wall, but she was occupied with an urgent call. As we set up, our assistant director, P, went to ask them to leave.

One of the girls told us that their friend was heading there to propose to his girlfriend, and that the balloons made a romantic backdrop and would be nice for photos, and their friend was already informed to show up at that square.

At this point, we were all set up with about 45 minutes to film our final scene. I went over and P informed me what was going. We again asked them to leave and cited our limited filming time, but they remained adamant, saying that their friend was arriving soon and they won’t take long.

Some of the team felt bad and that we should just let the proposal happen first, but mostly, we were worried about the penalty fee. I also voiced that having to rush the proposal and our team just standing around would take away from their celebratory joy. Plus, we don’t have the time for them to take photos, stand around and celebrate, etc.

I went back to ask them to leave, this time threatening to call mall security. The five of them got agitated and started yelling at me. P and our art director, G, came running, and we were trying to calm them down when their friend and his girlfriend shows up.

He came running over and asked what was going on, and after he learnt about the situation, started yelling along with his friends. All the while, his girlfriend was standing around awkwardly, having heard our argument and their proposal now essentially ruined. Mall security showed up (G called them) and they very reluctantly left.

We managed to finish filming the scene and cleaning up all our sets, without any trouble before the given time. When I got home, I told my family about what happened over dinner. My mom and sister agreed with what we did, but my dad thought we should’ve let the proposal happen, saying it was a pity that we ruined the guy’s proposal and it was our own fault for not properly allocating our time.

AITA for not letting the guy propose on our film set?