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
That was a really interesting interview! I really like hearing about how they come up with all their ingenious ideas, and I’m glad to hear that Greg demands originality rahter then just re-writing or re-doing another show’s episode. It is that very ideal that makes The Office enjoyable to watch every single week – you know you’re going to see something you’ve never seen before.
I thought it was interesting where he said they rethought the Jim character. Like at first (if I understood him right) their plan was to have Jim really evolve and then they realized maybe that’s not the best course.
Great interview. Everyone on that show is extremely talented, and should be proud of the originality they put out. :)
I love any interviews with the writers and producers. Hearing about the creative process behind the show is so interesting… it’s got to be enormously rewarding work for them. And I agree with comment #1: Greg Daniel’s emphasis on originality really pays off. Let’s face it, we’ve all been watching tv since we were kids… we know the drill. But The Office is always surprising me. I don’t feel like I’ve heard those jokes before, so the laughs are really genuine.
This is a great interview! I really enjoyed reading it. As The Office Fanatic and joyray said so well in Comments #1 and #5, “The Office” is just such a truly unique and original creation…it makes it so fun and enjoyable to tune in each week. I can’t wait for the new season to start!