Greg Daniels and B.J. Novak interviews

SPOILER WARNING! IGN talks to The Office’s Greg Daniels and B.J. Novak about the conclusion of Season 3 and plans for Season 4.

IGN TV: What did you think when you found out how the Season 3 finale was going to end?

Novak: Well, as one of the writers, I was there for the whole process. I was thrilled. We had talked for years about Ryan maybe becoming Michael’s boss some day, and how funny that would be — to see that reversal. [Steve] Carell has brought it up to me, and the writers have pitched it at various times. So for me it was so fun to have something new to do.

Links: B.J. Novak | Greg Daniels

Tipster: Billy

Greg Daniels interview

Dead Things ON Sticks interviewed The Office’s showrunner Greg Daniels at the Banff World Television Festival last week:

… the cameramen on The Office, specifically Randall Einhorn, although Matt Sohn his number two is also very good … but he’s our DP and I used to sit him down when I told him what we were looking for and I’d say, “truth and beauty. we’re going for truth and beauty.” He really responded to that. “Cool,” he’d say — he lived in Australia, he’d go, “Truth and beauty, mate!” And then he’d go out … so he was always trying to find that moment of behavior, or that thing in the camerawork.

The process of making and writing The Office is one of my favorite topics ever!

Links: DTOS Part 1 | DTOS Part 2 | More Greg Daniels interviews at Banff

Tipster: Wasa-B

Greg Daniels at Banff World Television Festival

The Office Executive Producer Greg Daniels is in Banff this week leading a master class for the World Television Festival.

Here are some interesting related articles (I’m tagging this with a SPOILER ALERT because Season 4 is discussed, but nothing is revealed that is earth-shattering):

  • 6/12, Blogcritics Magazine: An Interview with The Office Creator Greg Daniels. “It’s just almost embarrassing when you see the promos for 30 Rock and Scrubs and there’s all these good gags in there, and then there’s ours and it’s all “I loooove you.” And I’m like, OK, that was a good moment, but we had guys in inflatable sumo suits also.”
  • 6/12, Edmonton Sun: Office talk. “People on college campuses have more passion for our show than they have passion for Two and a Half Men.”
  • 6/11, Toronto Star: Funny business as usual at NBC. “The writers have “broken” the first 13 episodes. Each has two or three rough outlines — Daniels brought his two to Banff — and the plan is to reconvene after July 4 with completed scripts.”

Wearing multiple hats on The Office

Variety has a really interesting article about the challenges of being both an actor and writer — true of several staff members on The Office:

[Paul] Lieberstein, who was strictly a writer before coming to “The Office,” finds his actor mind and producer mind in conflict in another way. [Steve] Carell, he explains, will pounce (in character) on any actor who fumbles an improv.

“He just devours you. If you take too long, he makes fun of you. If you say something that didn’t follow, he makes fun of you. It’s kind of amazing. While I’m watching it as a producer, when I’m not in the scene, it’s definitely something I’m hoping for.”

Link: Writer-performers stage balancing acts

NBC blog: Greg Daniels and B.J. Novak

From the NBC blog featuring Greg Daniels and B.J. Novak, dated May 17, 2007:

May 17, 08:54 PM
Welcome

Hi everybody! This is Greg Daniels. I’m here with BJ Novak. My parents just called and they liked tonight’s episode very much. I hope you all did too.

May 17, 09:03 PM
To Anissa

HI Anissa, it’s B.J. First, be sure to send your phone number to me c/o nbc.com… just kidding… seriously, I think there will be some very funny plots next year involving Michael and Ryan… Their relationship could take on some characteristics of Michael and Jan… I’m sure that’s Ryan’s fear anyway. Thanks for the question. The short answer is I’m looking forward to that twist from both sides of camera.

May 17, 09:09 PM
hour long episodes

Yes we will have a bunch of hour long episodes next year. They seemed to work for the finale and when we combined Traveling Salesmen and The Return that time. In future years, the plan is to gradulaly spread out over all of nbc’s schedule, like csi.

May 17, 09:10 PM
Toby-Pam crush

Does Toby have a crush on Pam? We didn’t intend that. Paul has an obsessive crush on Jenna, perhaps that’s what’s coming through. When she rebuffed in New York, he pushed her down the stairs. Actually, Jenna did fall down a steep stairway at the nbc upfronts, but she is doing fine.

May 17, 09:13 PM
keep skipping grey’s anatomy

To the fan who is skipping Grey’s Anatomy to read these posts: keep it up. A great new habit to get into.

May 17, 09:14 PM
second ending

We did write and shoot an alternate ending, but it differed only in the how it happened, not in what happened.

May 17, 09:16 PM
the note

The note to Jim included a yogurt lid, which Pam had saved since Office Olympics.

May 17, 09:19 PM
To “Nobody ever answers my questions on these blogs.”

No comment

May 17, 09:21 PM
more people here in our room

Mike Schur is here now, to accept someof this praise:
way to go , mike!!

May 17, 09:21 PM
to young writers

A number of you asked about our process and how to get writing jobs.
We have already started writing season 4. The way we do it is, we eat a lot of candy andjunk food, we sit around on couches and tell each other the ideas we came up with, we throw them out because they are terrible, after lunch we come up with more, and write them on index cards and thumbtack them to the wall. Eventually there are enough to stuff a half hour.
To get a job, you have to have a great writing sample, usually a spec episode of a series, or an original play or something. I find the only thing I have to add on the subject of how to write a good spec is that I found it helpful to tape episodes of shows I liked and actually transcribe them. Just copy them word for word. I don’t know why it helps, but I think it does.

May 17, 09:28 PM
Jan and the ensemble

Thanks for all the appreciation of all the supporting characters on this chat — the warehouse guys, the accountants, it feels like any combination of these characters could fill a whole comedy series. It’s an embarrasment of riches and it will probably help us fill those hour-long comedy shows with incredible moments we wouldn’t otherwise see. Yes, Jan will be back — adding more complications and over-drama and over-sized breasts to Michael’s life and to your television screens… This is B.J. but I happily accept your compliments directed to the rest of the cast too.

May 17, 09:33 PM
season 3 dvd

Yeah, that will come out in Spetember right before we premiere. We are pulling together all the deleted scenes and extras now, finding stuff that wasn’t on nbc.com.

May 17, 09:35 PM
mose

There are calls for a Mose-Creed romance. Mike?
This has been in the works for a long time, and I’m sad that somebody had to spoil it like this. But yes, Mose and Creed are, in the mythology of the show, already very much in love. Next year is being thought of as the Mose-Creed will-they-won’t-they? season.

May 17, 09:37 PM
favorite moments

BJ: when Dwight puts the garbage bag over Meredith’s head and traps the bat.
Lee Eisenberg: in Beach Games, Michael fake strangling Pam and saying “I can’t stay mad at you.” And the Convention.
Justin Spitzer: The arm marking!!!!!!!
Gene Stupnitsky: Paris Hilton being sentenced to jail.
Mike Schur: when Michael showed up at Pam’s art show.
Jason Kessler: Andy singing rainbow connection,

May 17, 09:41 PM
how does the old cast feel about the new cast?

I’m so glad someone asked this. (This is B.J.) Rashida is a doll, but — off the record — I hate, hate, HATE Ed Helms!!!!!!!! He’s just, I dunno, I can’t explain it. He’s fine as Andy — actually, he’s really really good as Andy. But in real life, I hate his guts and also he can’t read but he pretends he’s sooooooo good at reading. Don’t tell anyone I said this, thanks. Between you and me!

May 17, 09:44 PM
new writers

Announcing two new writers that joined our staff today:
Anthony Q. Farrell
and
Ryan K. Koh.
If next year sucks, you know who to blame. Favorite moments, newbies?
Ryan: tonight’s episode — Pam’s talking head at the end.
Anthony: Creed taking a number two in the women’s bathroom.
We have hired them for two different types of writing, as you can see.
Also, we bid goodbye to Caroline Williams, who has left to have a baby.

May 17, 09:47 PM
More on Caroline

And that new baby is…
a show called MissGuided on another network. Travel Channel I think.

May 17, 09:49 PM
clarifications on dvd

Yes, the deleted scenes from nbc.com will be on the season 3 dvd. We are also looking for a lot of other stuff you haven’t seen.
Jen Celotta and Paul Lieberstein have entered the room, if you have any questions for them.

May 17, 09:51 PM
why so little toby in Paul’s episodes?

This is Paul. Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of Toby. He seems weird, and weak, and why doesn’t he just punch Michael or something. Pathetic. I mean, I get it, he’s hot, but… I need more than that.

May 17, 09:54 PM
shooting beach games

Hi – Jen Celotta here. We shot Beach Games in the Congo. It was very expensive but i thought worth it in the end. Also redressing the jungle was very expensive and many of us got malaria. Also, Benihana Christmas was shot in Tokyo. But for the convention, we recreated philly on a soundstage. Production is very complicated and I can’t go into it all now. thanks for your question!

May 17, 09:58 PM
documentaries and flashbacks

Documentaries don’t have flashbacks, but documentary editors can and often do change the order of scenes they have shot to tell their stories. The editor of this documentary saved the footage from Beach Games and decided to put it where he/she did for effect.
ah HAH! Wriggled out of that one.

May 17, 10:00 PM
Roy

shmoy

May 17, 10:01 PM
Roy for real

Roy is still alive and living in the Scranton area. He is working construction with his brother.

May 17, 10:01 PM
why does Michael hate Toby?

It is a crazy weird story that will probably be explained in February, November or May of some year. Killer story, really. One of our best.

May 17, 10:04 PM
How do office fans differ compared to fans of other shows?

Office fans are taller, better teeth, more body hair, lefties, longer life expectancies, eyes like an eagle, allergic to shellfish, second toes longer than big toes, and luckily for us, have more than the average number of children. They are the future of the show — raise them well.
This question was answered by Doctor John Professor, from the Univsersity of Science.

May 17, 10:08 PM
the writing process

Hey guys, B.J. here again. Have you noticed how our first entries were pretty articulate, straight-forward answers, and now they’ve devolved to some pretty bizarre tangents and silly concept leaps understood only by us? That’s the way a typical night in the writer’s room will go — from straight-forward, smart answers, to silly loopiness, until somehow we hit the right combination of inspired lunacy/smart stuff.

May 17, 10:10 PM
Good bye and thank you

Okay, we have run out of things to say. It was a pleasure writing the season this year. Having fans who are so interested in the stories makes us energized and excited and feeling that people “get” us and like what we do, and that is a great feeling. So, a sincere thank you to all of you and I hope we can come up with some good things for you to enjoy next year!
Greg

Greg and B.J. live blog finale night

The Office Executive Producer Greg Daniels and writer/actor/producer/Cadbury egg inspector B.J. Novak will live blog next Thursday after the Season 3 finale airs on the East coast, 6pm PT/9pm ET.

Link: The Office website at NBC

P.S. Live blogging for The Office has been done a few times before — Jenna Fischer did it for ‘The Merger’ and Greg did it for ‘Branch Closing,’ both last November, and Greg Daniels did it for the Season 3 premiere ‘Gay Witch Hunt’ back in September.

Dumb but deep

The Arizona Republic has an interesting story about how “stupid is the new smart” where TV comedy protagonists are concerned.

The Office’s Michael Scott, of course, is the poster boy for this phenomena.

“I don’t consider Michael as the stupid guy,” [Greg] Daniels said of his lead character. “He makes some very bad choices … I think in certain circumstances he’s very competent. There are just certain circumstances he’s not suited for.”

Indeed, The Office takes care to point out on occasion that, while Michael is a train wreck as a manager, he was an excellent salesman. And that’s crucial to being able to stomach the guy.

Link: Dumb but deep