Some of the characters of “The Office” started as the writers of the series. The premiere of the series “The Office” on NBC first took place in 2005. In a pseudo-documentary format, “The Office” told about the lives of a large number of characters in their professional and personal lives in the fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin.
Jenna Fischer, who played Pam Beasley in the TV series “The Office”, co-authored a book called “Best Friends in the Office: The Stories of two best Friends who were There” together with her film partner Angela Kinsey, who played Angela Martin. In the book, they tell stories from the early days of the series, when it struggled to find an audience, and what it was like to make the most memorable episodes of the series. One behind-the-scenes fact stands out in particular. As Jenna Fischer writes in the book about her and Kinsey:
“Greg [Daniels] deliberately wanted to change the structure of the work of a traditional sitcom. In addition to all that we have already mentioned, he also had the idea to give some writers acting roles in the series. writers and actors are kept separate. In some cases, they barely interact and don’t even know each other.”
Although viewers are undoubtedly aware of some of the screenwriters who also starred in the series, the participation of others in front of the camera may come as a surprise. In any case, it’s interesting to see which writers have become the characters of “The Office” and what they’ve been doing since the series ended in 2013. Here are four actors from “The Office” who also wrote scripts for the series.
B. J. Novak as Ryan Howard
B.J. Novak played Ryan Howard in a total of 154 episodes, and is credited with writing 15 episodes of the show between 2005 and 2010 (according to IMDB). Ryan Howard’s path in the “Office” was stormy: he went from a temporary office worker to management at corporate headquarters, deceiving shareholders and, finally, aimlessly wandering around the office in Scranton. Since his time in The Office, B.J. Novak has starred in many projects, including a role in The New Spider-Man 2 in 2014, a permanent role in The Mindy Project, and also played himself in The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. After “The Office”, B. J. Novak’s career also allowed him to create and write the anthology “Premise”, and he also works as the head writer of the sitcom “Young People”.
Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
Mindy Kaling portrayed customer service representative Kelly Kapoor for a total of 157 episodes in seasons 1-8, after which she leaves Scranton to move to Ohio and get married. Mindy Kaling also wrote 22 episodes of The Office series between 2005 and 2012. Since “The Office” ended, Mindy Kaling has created and written many popular shows, including “The Mindy Project,” in which she also starred herself, the TV adaptation “Four Weddings and One Funeral,” “The Sex Life of College Girls,” and the Netflix hit “Never Have I Been.” Always. She has also had several high-profile acting roles, including the role of Mrs. Who in the movie “The Break of Time”, the main role in the ensemble “Ocean’s Eight Friends” and a role in the original Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show”.
Paul Lieberstein as Toby Flenderson
The mild-mannered human resources representative of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch, Toby Flenderson, was played by Paul Lieberstein, who starred in 137 episodes of the show and wrote 16 episodes between 2005 and 2013. Toby Flenderson hated branch manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) because he was always trying to put an end to his inappropriate behavior in the workplace. After Paul Lieberstein starred in “The Office”, he starred in various shorts, as well as in the show “People of the Earth”. He has worked as an executive producer on many TV series (including “The Office”), such as “News”, “Ghost” and “Cosmic Forces”.
Michael Schur as Mose Schrute
Michael Schur wrote 10 episodes of The Office between 2005 and 2007 and played Dwight Mose’s cousin in 13 episodes. Dwight often calls Moses his best friend, and together they owned and operated a beet farm. During his time at The Office, Michael Schur created and co-authored many favorite sitcoms, including Parks and Recreation, which he co-created with the showrunner of The Office, Greg Daniels, The Good Place, Brooklyn 9-9 and Rutherford Falls.
Management has never lacked talent. This, of course, marked the beginning of the careers of many beloved actors and writers in the entertainment industry today. Behind-the-scenes knowledge, such as that provided by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey in their book, can be invaluable for evaluating a favorite series from a completely new perspective.
