Dunder-Mifflin
Encyclopedia
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. is a fictional
paper
sales company featured in the United States television series The Office. Until very late 2009, it supposedly traded
on the New York Stock Exchange
under the ticker symbol
DMI,; in early 2010 it was absorbed by the (fictional) Tallahassee, Florida-based electronics conglomerate Sabre, and is now known as "Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. - A Division of Sabre".
Dunder Mifflin describes itself as a "micro-cap
regional paper- and office-supply distributor with an emphasis on servicing small-business clients". It is analogous to Wernham Hogg in the British original
of the series, and Papiers Jennings and Cogirep in the French Canadian
and French
adaptations.
As the show has become popular, two websites have been created. NBC sells branded merchandise at its NBC Universal Store website. Its logo is prominently displayed in several locations in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania
, where the show is set. Since the show airs in many different countries, Dunder Mifflin has become associated with Scranton internationally – in a 2008 St. Patrick's Day speech in the suburb of Dickson City
, then-Irish Prime Minister
Bertie Ahern
identified the city with the company.
A fourth season episode, "Dunder Mifflin Infinity
," said the company was founded in 1949 by Robert Dunder and Robert Mifflin, originally to sell brackets
for use in construction. The fifth season episode "Company Picnic
" said that the co-founders met on a tour of Dartmouth College
. U.S. News and World Report likens it to many real companies in its size range: "It is facing an increasingly competitive marketplace. Like many smaller players, it just can't compete with the low prices charged by big-box rivals like Staples, OfficeMax
and Office Depot
, and it seems to be constantly bleeding corporate customers that are focused on cutting costs themselves." The show's creators share this assessment – "It's basically a Staples, just not as big", says co-producer Kent Zbornak – as do some of those companies. "Since Dunder Mifflin could be considered among our competitors", says Chuck Rubin, an Office Depot executive, "I think Michael Scott
is actually the perfect person to run their Scranton
office."
Before its 2010 acquisition by the Tallahassee-based Sabre conglomerate, the company was depicted as based in New York City, with branches in smaller Northeastern
cities. Episodes take place at the Scranton branch, managed by Michael Scott (Steve Carell
), but other branches have been mentioned and seen. For a short time, due to the corporate buy-out by Sabre, Scott was the highest ranking person at Dunder Mifflin. The now-closed Stamford, Connecticut
, branch was seen when Jim Halpert
(John Krasinski
) transferred there during the first half of the third season, before it was merged with the Scranton branch. Another episode, "Branch Wars
", gave viewers a brief glimpse of the Utica
branch, one of several purportedly in upstate New York
. Zbornak says that city was on the short list for where to base the show, with some of its writers having ties to Central New York
, and that they always intended for at least a branch office to be located there, for reasons of phonetics
. "Utica was just such a different-sounding name than Scranton," Zbornak says. But also, "we had done a little research and thought our kind of business could survive in Utica."
A Buffalo
branch has been mentioned in several episodes, and a Rochester
office was also mentioned in the episode titled "Lecture Circuit
". The fictional Dunder Mifflin website also lists a Yonkers
branch. Albany
rounds out the New York locations, which in a deleted scene in "Stress Relief
" is revealed to have closed, leaving three other branches in other states: Akron, Ohio
; Camden, New Jersey
; and Nashua, New Hampshire
. In "Company Picnic
", it is announced that the Camden and Yonkers branches have closed, and that the Buffalo branch is about to close.
Business writer Megan Barnett has pointed out parallels between Dunder Mifflin and the real-life W.B. Mason paper company, based near Boston
, in Brockton, Massachusetts
. It is similarly regional in focus, serving corporate customers in New England
and the Mid-Atlantic
states. Like Dunder Mifflin, its original product line (rubber stamp
s) was something other than paper, and it faces stiff competition from national and international chains. It, too, has a branch office in Stamford, but Mason's has remained open. In 2009, it had an accounting scandal that resulted in a $545,000 payment to corporate customers, much as Dunder Mifflin had to deal with the arrest of Ryan Howard
for fraud the year before.
(B. J. Novak
), who began as a temp
, becomes Michael's new boss because he has an M.B.A.
despite never having sold any paper or paper products. Michael, in turn, treats his own employees the same way. The show's depiction of a dysfunctional corporate culture has led some commentators to liken Dunder Mifflin to the fictional software maker Initech in Mike Judge
's cult comedy Office Space
and the nameless company in which the Dilbert
comic strip
is set.
Dunder Mifflin is also depicted as struggling to accommodate the demands of a diverse workforce
. Episodes have focused on sensitivity training sessions and other informal efforts. Sexual harassment
has occurred often enough, however, that it has lent its name to an episode. Employment lawyer Julie Elgar started a blog
analyzing each episode for plot developments likely to be actionable if they occurred in real life and estimating the legal bill and/or possible verdict
the company would incur should a suit be filed—as Michael's former supervisor, Jan Levenson (Melora Hardin
) did in one episode, alleging wrongful termination. Greg Daniels
, the show's creator, said many episode plotlines are in fact based on anecdotes recounted during the sensitivity training
he and the other members of the show's cast and crew are required to take annually as employees of NBC, a General Electric
subsidiary
. The episode "Boys and Girls" showed that the company strongly resisted unionization
efforts by its employees, to the point of closing down a branch
, as many real companies do or threaten to do in the same situation.
office in Van Nuys, California (a real office was used in the show's first season). The parking lots and exterior of the building are likewise the exterior of the building (except in the first season, when the building's exterior was different because a different shooting location was used). Since the stage set had no windows, writer Jennifer Celotta
's office was dressed to look like Michael Scott
's when the script called for him or someone else to look out the window into the parking lot. In the second and subsequent seasons, the office interiors and exteriors are at a different location in Van Nuys.
Some viewers have presumed that the Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company's tower, a downtown Scranton landmark which appears in video footage shot by cast member John Krasinski
for the show's opening credits
, is the Dunder Mifflin office. The real company, which also sells paper and office supplies, has welcomed the exposure (and increase in business) and has a ground-floor showroom
where it sells both its products and T-shirt
s with the tower. It plans to add a Dunder Mifflin logo to the circular insets near the top of the tower. Mifflin Avenue ends adjacent to the Penn Paper & Supply building.
s. NBC sells branded T-shirts, mugs, calendars and other items at its website , as well as in the NBC
store located in New York City
. In 2006, the website 80stees.com ranked Dunder Mifflin second only to Duff Beer
from The Simpsons
as the best fictional brand.
At the first annual The Office convention in Scranton in 2007, fans who had paid for reserved seating at an "uncommon stockholders meeting" in the Mall at Steamtown
received an annual report
and complimentary ream of paper. A nearby elevator shaft is also decorated with the company logo. While the Scranton branch's address, 1725 Slough Avenue, does not actually exist (the street name was invented as a tribute to the original British version of the show
, set in Slough
, near London), the company logo can be seen two places in the city's downtown section outside the mall: on one of the pedestrian overpasses along Lackawanna Avenue, and a lamppost banner in front of City Hall
.
Two website
s purporting to be the company's exist. Dundermifflinpaper.biz (now also available at Dundermifflin.com) is the main site, with basic information about the company, and dundermifflininfinity.com, which is allegedly the company intranet
, serves as an official NBC fansite.
In November 2011, Staples Inc. announced that they will begin selling their own product of manufactured paper under the "Dunder Mifflin" name, under license from NBC's parent company, Comcast
. Dunder Mifflin paper will be sold on Staples' website Quill.com.
Fictional companies
Fictional companies are often used in film or television where copyright or the likely chance of being prosecuted exists from using the name of a real company...
paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
sales company featured in the United States television series The Office. Until very late 2009, it supposedly traded
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
under the ticker symbol
Ticker symbol
A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
DMI,; in early 2010 it was absorbed by the (fictional) Tallahassee, Florida-based electronics conglomerate Sabre, and is now known as "Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. - A Division of Sabre".
Dunder Mifflin describes itself as a "micro-cap
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
regional paper- and office-supply distributor with an emphasis on servicing small-business clients". It is analogous to Wernham Hogg in the British original
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
of the series, and Papiers Jennings and Cogirep in the French Canadian
La Job
La Job is a French Canadian comedy television series set in Montreal. It is an adaptation of the British show The Office of the BBC. Produced by Anne-Marie Losique's Image Diffusion International, it has been broadcast for a limited number of viewers on Bell TV satellite television, beginning on...
and French
Le Bureau
Le Bureau was a 2006 French television show that aired on Canal+. It is a French version of the popular British television series The Office...
adaptations.
As the show has become popular, two websites have been created. NBC sells branded merchandise at its NBC Universal Store website. Its logo is prominently displayed in several locations in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
, where the show is set. Since the show airs in many different countries, Dunder Mifflin has become associated with Scranton internationally – in a 2008 St. Patrick's Day speech in the suburb of Dickson City
Dickson City, Pennsylvania
Dickson City is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, north of Scranton. Coal mining had been an important industry in the past. Some of the population totals follow: in 1900, 4,948; in 1910, 9,331; in 1920, 11,049; and in 1940, 11,548...
, then-Irish Prime Minister
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
identified the city with the company.
Overview
Dunder Mifflin Infinity
"Dunder Mifflin Infinity" is the third episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifty-sixth episode overall. The episode was written by Michael Schur, who also acts in the show, and directed by Craig Zisk...
," said the company was founded in 1949 by Robert Dunder and Robert Mifflin, originally to sell brackets
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
for use in construction. The fifth season episode "Company Picnic
Company Picnic
"Company Picnic" is the fifth season finale of the American comedy television series The Office, and the 100th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009...
" said that the co-founders met on a tour of Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. U.S. News and World Report likens it to many real companies in its size range: "It is facing an increasingly competitive marketplace. Like many smaller players, it just can't compete with the low prices charged by big-box rivals like Staples, OfficeMax
OfficeMax
OfficeMax , is an American office supplies retailer that was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois.-History:On April 1, 1988, OfficeMax was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, by Bob Hurwitz and Michael Feuer. Hurwitz served as executive chairman and chief executive officer and Feuer...
and Office Depot
Office Depot
Office Depot is a supplier of office products and provides many services. The company's selection of brand name office supplies includes business machines, computers, computer software and office furniture, while its business services encompass copying, printing, document reproduction, shipping,...
, and it seems to be constantly bleeding corporate customers that are focused on cutting costs themselves." The show's creators share this assessment – "It's basically a Staples, just not as big", says co-producer Kent Zbornak – as do some of those companies. "Since Dunder Mifflin could be considered among our competitors", says Chuck Rubin, an Office Depot executive, "I think Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
is actually the perfect person to run their Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
office."
Before its 2010 acquisition by the Tallahassee-based Sabre conglomerate, the company was depicted as based in New York City, with branches in smaller Northeastern
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
cities. Episodes take place at the Scranton branch, managed by Michael Scott (Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
), but other branches have been mentioned and seen. For a short time, due to the corporate buy-out by Sabre, Scott was the highest ranking person at Dunder Mifflin. The now-closed Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, branch was seen when Jim Halpert
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
(John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
) transferred there during the first half of the third season, before it was merged with the Scranton branch. Another episode, "Branch Wars
Branch Wars
"Branch Wars" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-third episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Joss Whedon, the episode originally aired in the United States on November 1, 2007 on NBC...
", gave viewers a brief glimpse of the Utica
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
branch, one of several purportedly in upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
. Zbornak says that city was on the short list for where to base the show, with some of its writers having ties to Central New York
Central New York
Central New York is a term used to broadly describe the central region of New York State, roughly including the following counties and cities:...
, and that they always intended for at least a branch office to be located there, for reasons of phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
. "Utica was just such a different-sounding name than Scranton," Zbornak says. But also, "we had done a little research and thought our kind of business could survive in Utica."
A Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
branch has been mentioned in several episodes, and a Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
office was also mentioned in the episode titled "Lecture Circuit
Lecture Circuit
"Lecture Circuit" is a two-part episode of the American comedy television series The Office. They constituted the sixteenth and seventeenth episodes of the fifth season, and the 88th and 89th overall episodes of the series...
". The fictional Dunder Mifflin website also lists a Yonkers
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
branch. Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
rounds out the New York locations, which in a deleted scene in "Stress Relief
Stress Relief
"Stress Relief" is a two-part episode of the American comedy television series The Office. They constituted the fourteenth and fifteenth episode of the fifth season, and the 86th and 87th overall episodes of the series...
" is revealed to have closed, leaving three other branches in other states: Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
; Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
; and Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua, New Hampshire
-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile . There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile...
. In "Company Picnic
Company Picnic
"Company Picnic" is the fifth season finale of the American comedy television series The Office, and the 100th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009...
", it is announced that the Camden and Yonkers branches have closed, and that the Buffalo branch is about to close.
Business writer Megan Barnett has pointed out parallels between Dunder Mifflin and the real-life W.B. Mason paper company, based near Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, in Brockton, Massachusetts
Brockton, Massachusetts
Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 93,810 in the 2010 Census. Brockton, along with Plymouth, are the county seats of Plymouth County...
. It is similarly regional in focus, serving corporate customers in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and the Mid-Atlantic
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...
states. Like Dunder Mifflin, its original product line (rubber stamp
Rubber stamp
Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved or vulcanized, onto a sheet of rubber. The rubber is often mounted onto a more stable object such as a wood, brick or an...
s) was something other than paper, and it faces stiff competition from national and international chains. It, too, has a branch office in Stamford, but Mason's has remained open. In 2009, it had an accounting scandal that resulted in a $545,000 payment to corporate customers, much as Dunder Mifflin had to deal with the arrest of Ryan Howard
Ryan Howard (The Office)
Ryan Bailey Howard , played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office , but his role is significantly expanded and he is a main character.-Character profile:Little is known about Ryan's...
for fraud the year before.
Depiction of corporate culture
The company's "clearly dysfunctional" top-down management style is a major source of tension on the show, notes Chicago-based writer Ramsin Canon. Corporate headquarters rejects the television commercial Michael created, as he in turn insisted on his own ideas for the commercial and ignored his employees. Ryan HowardRyan Howard (The Office)
Ryan Bailey Howard , played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office , but his role is significantly expanded and he is a main character.-Character profile:Little is known about Ryan's...
(B. J. Novak
B. J. Novak
Benjamin Joseph Manaly “B. J.” Novak is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on the US version of The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds...
), who began as a temp
Temporary work
Temporary work or temporary employment refers to a situation where the employee is expected to leave the employer within a certain period of time. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", "casual staff", "freelance", or "part-time"; or the word may be shortened...
, becomes Michael's new boss because he has an M.B.A.
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
despite never having sold any paper or paper products. Michael, in turn, treats his own employees the same way. The show's depiction of a dysfunctional corporate culture has led some commentators to liken Dunder Mifflin to the fictional software maker Initech in Mike Judge
Mike Judge
Michael Craig Judge is an American animator, film director, writer and voice actor, best known as the creator and star of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-head , King of the Hill , and The Goode Family .He also wrote, directed and in some instances produced the films Beavis and...
's cult comedy Office Space
Office Space
Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film satirizing work life in a typical 1990s software company. Written and directed by Mike Judge, it focuses on a handful of individuals fed up with their jobs portrayed by Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, and Diedrich...
and the nameless company in which the Dilbert
Dilbert
Dilbert is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. First published on April 16, 1989, Dilbert is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring the engineer Dilbert as the title character...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
is set.
Diversity (business)
The "business case for diversity" stems from the progression of the models of diversity within the workplace since the 1960's. The original model for diversity was situated around affirmative action drawing strength from the law and a need to comply with equal employment opportunity objectives...
. Episodes have focused on sensitivity training sessions and other informal efforts. Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
has occurred often enough, however, that it has lent its name to an episode. Employment lawyer Julie Elgar started a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
analyzing each episode for plot developments likely to be actionable if they occurred in real life and estimating the legal bill and/or possible verdict
Verdict
In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. The term, from the Latin veredictum, literally means "to say the truth" and is derived from Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman: a compound of ver and dit In law, a verdict...
the company would incur should a suit be filed—as Michael's former supervisor, Jan Levenson (Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
) did in one episode, alleging wrongful termination. Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
, the show's creator, said many episode plotlines are in fact based on anecdotes recounted during the sensitivity training
Diversity training
Diversity training is training for the purpose of increasing participants' cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills, which is based on the assumption that the training will benefit an organization by protecting against civil rights violations, increasing the inclusion of different identity groups,...
he and the other members of the show's cast and crew are required to take annually as employees of NBC, a General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
. The episode "Boys and Girls" showed that the company strongly resisted unionization
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
efforts by its employees, to the point of closing down a branch
Union busting
Union busting is a wide range of activities undertaken by employers, their proxies, and governments, which attempt to prevent the formation or expansion of trade unions...
, as many real companies do or threaten to do in the same situation.
Locations and sets used
The office and warehouse of the Scranton branch office are sets on the production company'sReveille Productions
Reveille Productions is an independently-owned television and motion picture studio and production company based in Los Angeles. The studio was founded by Ben Silverman in March 2002....
office in Van Nuys, California (a real office was used in the show's first season). The parking lots and exterior of the building are likewise the exterior of the building (except in the first season, when the building's exterior was different because a different shooting location was used). Since the stage set had no windows, writer Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta is an American television producer and writer. Among her credits are Home Improvement, Malcolm in the Middle, Greg the Bunny, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and The Office...
's office was dressed to look like Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
's when the script called for him or someone else to look out the window into the parking lot. In the second and subsequent seasons, the office interiors and exteriors are at a different location in Van Nuys.
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
for the show's opening credits
Opening credits
In a motion picture, television program, or video game, the opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They are now usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There...
, is the Dunder Mifflin office. The real company, which also sells paper and office supplies, has welcomed the exposure (and increase in business) and has a ground-floor showroom
Showroom
The word showroom has two distinct meanings including:-Marketing location:A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, such as automobiles, furniture, appliances, carpet or apparel. The World's most famous locations for a showroom are the Champs Elysees in Paris or the 5th Avenue...
where it sells both its products and T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s with the tower. It plans to add a Dunder Mifflin logo to the circular insets near the top of the tower. Mifflin Avenue ends adjacent to the Penn Paper & Supply building.
Presence in real world
The success of the show has led to the sale of actual products with the Dunder Mifflin logo as souvenirSouvenir
A souvenir , memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world...
s. NBC sells branded T-shirts, mugs, calendars and other items at its website , as well as in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
store located in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In 2006, the website 80stees.com ranked Dunder Mifflin second only to Duff Beer
Duff Beer
Daleside is an independent brewery founded in 1988 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.-Products:Daleside produce a wide range of beers, including Morocco Ale, a traditional spiced beer based on an Elizabethan recipe; Old Legover, a low abv Old Ale ; Monkey Wrench, a stronger Old Ale; Ripon...
from The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
as the best fictional brand.
At the first annual The Office convention in Scranton in 2007, fans who had paid for reserved seating at an "uncommon stockholders meeting" in the Mall at Steamtown
Mall at Steamtown
The Mall at Steamtown is a shopping center and the commercial centerpiece of Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States. It features nearly one hundred retail and specialty stores. The Mall at Steamtown was conceived in the mid 1980s as the keystone of downtown revitalization, though the project was...
received an annual report
Annual report
An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance...
and complimentary ream of paper. A nearby elevator shaft is also decorated with the company logo. While the Scranton branch's address, 1725 Slough Avenue, does not actually exist (the street name was invented as a tribute to the original British version of the show
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
, set in Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
, near London), the company logo can be seen two places in the city's downtown section outside the mall: on one of the pedestrian overpasses along Lackawanna Avenue, and a lamppost banner in front of City Hall
Scranton City Hall
Scranton City Hall is located at Washington and Mulberry streets in the downtown section of that city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is a three-story limestone ashlar Victorian Gothic Revival building with sandstone trim, designed by architects Edwin L...
.
Two website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s purporting to be the company's exist. Dundermifflinpaper.biz (now also available at Dundermifflin.com) is the main site, with basic information about the company, and dundermifflininfinity.com, which is allegedly the company intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
, serves as an official NBC fansite.
In November 2011, Staples Inc. announced that they will begin selling their own product of manufactured paper under the "Dunder Mifflin" name, under license from NBC's parent company, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
. Dunder Mifflin paper will be sold on Staples' website Quill.com.
External links
- Official Website
- Dunder Mifflin Paper Company at Dunderpedia, the Office wiki