An Interview with The Office Creator Greg Daniels - Page 4

Do you have a traditional writers room?

We do. I run it the way I ran King of the Hill. I don't like to have a room that's larger than six at any given time so I like to break it up into two rooms, or three depending on how many writers are around. They each have a different task. We meet as a big group to discuss direction and psychology and the broader questions, but we don't try to grind through the scripts in a group of 10. I think that's a good rule for all meetings, for
all offices.

Do you have experience in office jobs other than writing?

I have almost no experience in any job other than being a TV writer but I had summer jobs and jobs when I wasn't employed, like I was a paralegal. My dad was a business man his whole career and my brothers are in business so I get a lot of good stories from them.

You must be a magnet now for people coming up to you and saying "Let me tell you what my boss did ..."

Oh yeah, completely.

Do you take stories from that?

It depends. I don't know what the protocol is. If people are talking and they haven't said "I think this would be a good episode," if they're just talking about stories in  their lives, then to me that's OK research. But if someone has already framed it as an Office episode then I don't want to hear it. We want to come up with our own. And I never listen to professional writers pitches for episodes. I'd feel I'd have to buy them if we used the idea which is unfair to our writing staff, who are coming up with millions of ideas on their own. I don't want to say hey, you know that idea you just spent two weeks coming up with? I just heard it on a train; I can't use it.

Can you give me any hints on what's happening next season?

A lot of it has to do with Ryan being the new boss. He's got a plan for Dunder Mifflin Infinity which has to do with the web.

Is Melora Hardin coming back?

I'm hoping we will see her come back. I think she's coming back.

Article Author: Diane Kristine Wild

Diane writes about boring things by day, pop culture things by night. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news about Canadian television. Follow her on Twitter @deekayw for more random thoughts.

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