It’s no secret that Michael Scott from The Office was based on David Brent from the original series of the same name – and Ricky Gervais, who played the man in charge in the British version, had some advice for Steve Carell, who played the regional manager of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch. The Office’s creative team took a lot of David’s characteristics when developing Michael but Gervais made sure one crucial change was made to appease American viewers.
David Brent served as the general manager of the Wernham Hogg paper company’s Slough branch. Rather than excel at his job, David cared more about making friends in the workplace. He viewed himself as a skilled comedian but his naivety resulted in many offensive jokes. Despite many of his off-putting qualities, David never purposely set out to hurt anyone. When Greg Daniels was tasked with Americanizing The Office for NBC, he made sure that Michael shared many of David’s personality traits. But it was clear that some aspects needed to be adjusted.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
Gervais served as an executive produced on NBC’s version of The Office along with Stephen Merchant, the co-creator of the British series. The pilot episode used the original script from the first episode of Gervais’ series. It was written by Gervais and Merchant and although they weren’t on set during the filming, they had a lot of influence on the initial episode. The Office‘s creative team were aware that some changes would need to be made to Americanize the beloved original series. While discussing the pilot episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Jenna Fischer, who played Pam Beesly on the NBC series, revealed Gervais’ advice when it came to Michael Scott and why it was important that the character be good at his job (an actually good salesperson), unlike David Brent.
Ricky Gervais’ Advice For Michael Scott’s Role In The Office
Office Ladies is hosted by Fischer and fellow costar from The Office, Angela Kinsey. The pair rewatch episodes of the series and discuss fun facts, behind-the-scenes stories, and other amusing tidbits. For the episode focusing on The Office‘s pilot, Fischer shared a story about Gervais accompanying some of the cast members to lunch in order to discuss the series. Gervais made it clear that “in England, you can be really, really bad at your job for a long time and you never get fired.” He worried that in America if Michael was bad at his job, it would frustrate viewers. Gervais then advised that Michael “can be a buffoon, he can be silly, he can be irritating” but it was truly important that the NBC series “show glimpses of [Michael] actually being a good salesperson.”
Despite all of the trouble that Michael caused during his time as the manager on The Office, he did prove that he was a capable salesperson. Time and time again, Dunder Mifflin Scranton was barely staying afloat but Michael managed to save his team by exceeding expectations from corporate. He was also an expert when it came to winning over clients and going the extra mile, even when some of those tactics later backfired. The Office obviously took Gervais’ advice, and it paid off.
