The Office writers at Paley Center

Jennie’s notes

Being asked to be moderator

On August 7th, I received an email, completely out of the blue, from NBC: “The Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles is hoping to host an Office Writers Panel on October 14 … The Office writers have requested you as their moderator. Please let me know if this is something you are available to come to LA for.”

Ex-squeeze me? What? I seriously thought I was being punk’d.

So I immediately emailed one of The Office writers and asked, is this really true? Their response: “We wanted to pick our moderator and you were the first person we thought of. I hope you can do it. It’ll be so much fun!” Okay. Wow. It’s really true. *Gulp.*

Preparing for the event

I started really preparing during the last week of September. Every day as I drove to work in my car, I’d practice my introductions out loud: “Good evening, Office fans. Welcome to tonight’s panel discussion with The Office writers …” I wrote a script, which ended up being 18 pages long, which listed the order of events for the evening, and about 40 questions that were submitted by fans at OfficeTally. Yes, I’m a huge over-preparer. Hey, I’ve never moderated anything in my life before, I didn’t want to mess up!

At Paley Center before the event starts

I was asked to be at the Paley Center at 6pm, one hour before the event. The event organizer took me into the empty auditorium to show me where I would walk and sit. I was then escorted into the Green Room to hang out with some of the NBC folks.

The Office writers started filtering in, but instead of going into the Green Room, they were guided to the press area, where they posed for photos in front of a Paley Center backdrop, and answered questions by E! Online, TV Guide, etc.

Eventually, all the writers ended up in the Green Room, and I got to hang out with them a little bit. They took more photos and got something to eat and drink. (Paley Center put out an amazing spread of appetizers, wine, etc.)

When it was close to the time of the event starting, Greg motioned the writing staff to him: “Let’s huddle and figure out what we can and can’t say.” They were standing only around ten feet from me. Could I hear what they were discussing? No. Did I try to hear? No, not really. Okay, maybe a little bit. But I honestly heard nothing. It was funny, though, watching them huddle in a corner and whispering.

The event itself

It honestly came and went in a blur. I remember laughing a lot. Mindy and Mike were on fire with their funny stories and impressions. Everything went off without a hitch. We got to watch the cold open to ‘Baby Shower,’ I got to ask a ton of questions, the writers then took questions from the audience, we gave away some awesome goodie bags (complete with The Office Season 4 DVD and 2009 calendars), and then the writers answered more questions from the audience.

I think we could have honestly gone for another hour or so, but the Paley event organizer gave me the signal to wrap things up, so I did. I think the event was only supposed to have gone for an hour, and we ended up around the 1-1/2 hour mark.

Afterwards, the writers hung out in the auditorium and lobby to talk to fans. It was a really exciting and entertaining evening!

Thank yous

• First of all, thank you to all Tallyheads who submitted such amazing questions! I’m sorry I couldn’t get to more of them.
• A shout-out to Tallyhead lemoñadé, who very generously gave up her Paley tickets when she could not attend! You are amazing!
• Thank you to the NBC Store for fed-exing goodies for the goodie bags.
• Thank you to the Paley Center staff for taking such good care of me!
• Thank you to NBC Publicity for keeping me in the loop since August, and for beefing up those goodie bags with awesomeness!
• And lastly, thank you to Greg, Jen, and The Office writing staff for letting me sit onstage with you. It was truly an honor and a privilege. :)

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109 comments

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1. 
   109. littlekidlover  Fri. Oct. 24, 2008 | 12:15pm

   Thanks for the report tanster! What a great experience that must have been for you (:
   On another note, I saw the link to the movie BJ will be in…it’s so intense, how did Mr.Comedy-Writer/Fire Guy get cast in that one?

2. 
   108. holly  Fri. Oct. 24, 2008 | 11:00am

   Sounds like paley was amazing! and thanks for the fancynewwhatever link! i read their recap and i felt like i was really there!

3. 
   107. Kaylie  Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 | 7:12pm

   Hey tanster,
   thanks so much! you were so great! and looked great too!
   i know bj was filming… but where was lee’s other half, gene?

   thanks!

   [from tanster: awww, thank you so much kaylie! gene got called away at the last minute. :( ]

4. 
   106. Laura  Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 | 12:29pm

   Jennie ~ thanks for the fabulous coverage! I wish I could’ve been there to cheer you on, but I’m so glad the evening went well. I’m sure you will always remember this experience. :) We’re so proud of you!

   [from tanster: thank you, laura! it was awesome. and it was nice looking down on my script every once in awhile and seeing the names of everyone who submitted questions. it was comforting. ;) ]

5. 
   105. Jason  Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 | 10:48am

   I’m tired of Holly. It’s time to send her away.

6. 
   104. Diana  Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 | 8:53am

   Thank you, Tanster! Your expression in the pic is priceless! Elation and nervousness all rolled into one.;) Good for you!

   (Also, I love JAM together, but I agree that they can be together without being the main focus of the show. My favorite moments are always the interaction between groups: Jim and Pam pulling a prank on Dwight and Michael or Michael annoying everyone and Phyllis snapping back, etc. )

7. 
   103. oh i like you  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 8:58pm

   Thanks so much for the recap, Tanster! It was great to read answers to such interesting questions and not have to hear the usual (Yes, the actors improv some. Yes, some of us worked in an office. Gah!)

   I was a little concerned, however, at the Jim/Pam backlash I sensed. I would argue that the writers would best take the focus off Jim/Pam by just letting them be together and NOT drawing things out like they are now.

8. 
   102. Jenn  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 4:09pm

   OHH SOO awesome!

   the gals over at fnw did a SUPER detailed recap of the event as well, from the audience perspective.

   thanks for linking up to them Tanster!

9. 
   101. Anthony  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 3:37pm

   So glad the writers get frustrated that fans care more about the JAM plotline than Michael’s. Michael and the comedy aspect have always appealed more to me than the JAM drama and I don’t like how episodes are deemed “bad” by fans because it doesn’t have JAM moments.

10. 
    100. Sarah  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 2:39pm

    Great Recap! And thanks for the Fancy New Whatever link! It’s got some great information about Paley and the mods. are super cute (:

11. 
    99. Ashley  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 2:16pm

    I personally don’t think that any one character “is the show”. Every single character brings something special and unique :)

12. 
    98. Diapers Schrute  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 2:14pm

    Awesome report, tanster! So worth the wait!

13. 
    97. sun  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 2:03pm

    i sooooooooooooooooooo disagree with 95….. STEVE CARELL IS THE SHOW!

14. 
    96. Cash Basket  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 1:45pm

    Thanks so much for this awesome entry!
    Sounds like it was an amazing evening with some amazing people:)

15. 
    95. Gregster  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 11:52am

    While I enjoy disliking Michael aka Steve Carell. I had gone with that it was a full cast effort. I don’t see Steve as “the star”.

16. 
    94. Véronique  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 11:19am

    I just finished reading the whole recap. It was so great, thank you so much Tanster! It must have been an amazing (and well deserved) experience for you.
    Charlie is a very good looking man…
    The top you were wearing was so cute, I want one!

    [from tanster: thanks! i love that top, too, and was bummed i had to throw a sweater over it at the last minute, but i was afraid i'd be too cold otherwise ...]

17. 
    93. The Tapeworm Inside Kelly  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 11:05am

    Fantastic job Tanster! I bet that was a real dream come true. Excellent Q&A and pics.

    That first picture, it looks like Paul is touching Mindy in a weird way. :)

18. 
    92. ridit-dit-didoo  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 10:59am

    How awesome that they asked for you specifically!

19. 
    91. Nader  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 9:56am

    Is BJ Novak not a writer anymore? Maybe you mentioned this but I didn’t see it. I’d be sad.

    [from tanster: B.J. was in Berlin filming Inglourious Basterds.]

20. 
    90. Beth  Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 | 9:49am

    Thanks for the links Tanster! They’re all really great. I’ve never been to the fancy new whatever site, and it’s really cool! :)

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