Inherent in developing a spin-off of The Office was the daunting task of ultimately coming up with a series unique unto itself yet with a connection of sorts to the beloved show from which it sprung. Mission accomplished with The Paper (Peacock) as those behind the first season hope that there will be an even more direct parallel to The Office when it comes to industry recognition this awards season–first on the guild competition front. And among those in the running is editor David Rogers, ACE who is no stranger to the ACE (American Cinema Editors) Eddie Awards, garnering three nominations over the years for The Office, winning in 2007 and 2014 on the strength of the “Casino Night” and “Finale” episodes, respectively.
Rogers’ work on The Office also earned five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Comedy Series. He won in 2007 for “The Job” episode and for “Finale” in 2013.
Voting for Eddie Award nominations has just gotten underway with Rogers in the conversation given the success of The Paper, which also enjoyed a limited broadcast run on NBC after its debut on Peacock. And The Paper was renewed for a second season back in September 2025, before its first season premiered.
Rogers is a multidisciplinary artist, initially establishing himself as an editor on such shows as Seinfeld, NewsRadio, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, Entourage, The Comeback, The Mindy Project and The Office. On the latter series, he diversified into directing and has since helmed select episodes of series like Parks and Recreation, The Mindy Project and most recently The Paper. He has also been co-executive producer on varied programs, including Upload, The Mindy Project, The Office and The Paper.
SHOOT caught up with Rogers to discuss The Paper, how editing has informed his directing and vice-versa, and the nature of his longstanding collaborative relationship with The Paper co-creator Greg Daniels.
SHOOT: Please provide some backstory. What drew you to The Paper? (I assume your history with The Office but would still like some context in terms of how your involvement came about.)
ROGERS: A few years back I had lunch with Greg Daniels and he had mentioned that NBC was asking for a reboot or continuation or spin-off of The Office since the show had grown and thrived on streaming and cable since it had originally aired. He wasn’t sure if it was something he wanted to do at the time, and we threw around a few ideas, but one idea Greg had was to have the connective thread from The Office be the documentary crew that goes to a new place and he added, “And Oscar can work there.” In any case I assured him that if the show comes back in any form that I would want to be a part of it. And so I kept busy working with Greg on Upload and Space Force as well as The Office Superfan episodes for Peacock and then the day came when The Paper was announced and I got the call for what the plan was with production. I read the pilot script that he had co-written with executive producer and co-creator of The Paper, Michael Koman, and thought it was really funny and had a great tone to it and I loved how Oscar was introduced and how he was angry about being filmed again for a documentary. I shared some of my thoughts on the script with Greg and he asked my thoughts about a couple of the casting choices and then we were off and running! We shot the pilot first and had a month to edit and play with it before jumping into the rest of Season 1 and we added two other editors to the rotation–Julie Cohen who had worked with Greg and I on Space Force, and Sascha Stanton-Craven who had edited several shows with Michael Koman.
SHOOT: I see you directed an episode of The Paper and in the past have directed episodes of such shows as The Office, Parks and Recreation and The Mindy Project. How has your editing informed your directing? And conversely, what has your experience as a director enabled you to bring back to your work as an editor?
ROGERS: I had been bugging Greg Daniels to give me a shot at directing once we finished Season 1 of The Office. He had actually directed his first live action show on The Office with the Season 1 episode “Basketball” [episode 5] and he asked me to be on set with him to bounce some ideas off and make sure “things will cut together.” Just figuring out the doc aspect of covering a basketball game so we know our geography and it’s clear what hoop each team was shooting baskets into took some time to figure out. For the premiere of Season 4, “Fun Run,” the cold open had Michael driving his car into the Dunder Mifflin parking lot and he’s not paying attention and he hits Meredith. When I saw the footage, it had a camera in Michael’s passenger seat focused on him, he stops short and it whips forward to see through the windshield and then pushes in on Meredith lying on the ground. But it didn’t really sell that she got hit by the car–it played as if he stopped short because he saw her passed out on the ground. So I pitched a fix and grabbed my little mini-DV camcorder and got a P.A. to sit in the car wearing Michael’s suit, and once he stopped and the camera started whipping, we cut into the whip onto the line producer Kent Zbornak on the hood of the car smacking against the glass and then rolling off the hood. It looked great and Greg had the AD’s put the shot on the schedule and I was on hand to make sure it was executed correctly. That was really my first foray in “2nd Unit Directing” and then I got my shot at an episode in Season 5 with “Employee Transfer.” Working on The Office and The Mindy Project as well as Upload and Space Force, the organizational skills that I have as an editor and I think the knowledge of seeing what shots tend to not be used in episodes and how episodes are ultimately shaped and end up, makes me an efficient director and informs a lot of my choices in prep and on set. I used to get so anxious directing because every time I would direct was about a year apart and you don’t build up the familiarity of doing the job like you would if you were doing it every day. It’s a lot of pressure with a full crew and cast that are looking to you for decisions all day and you can’t help but be aware of that clock ticking in the background that makes you question are we going to be able to get the shots we need? Will we make our day? But even only directing one or two or maybe three episodes a year, that anxious feeling has dissipated because of experience and confidence in what needs to be done to make the best episode you can. And while I’ve had other editors or assistant editors assemble or cut shows I’ve directed, I really like to get in there and play with the footage myself and of course hyper-focus on the mistakes I think I made while shooting, make mental notes so I learn and don’t repeat them, and then work with the footage I have to fix them. I’m also more empathetic to other directors when I edit their episodes because I understand the pressure they’re under when they’re shooting, how things come up that can make a scene more challenging than expected, and how even something that seems simple on paper, can end up being extremely complicated and require a lot of editing gymnastics to make it play the right way.
SHOOT: You have a history with Greg Daniels spanning The Office and The Paper. What is the nature of your collaborative relationship? How did you work together on “The Paper,” particularly the first episode–which he directed and you edited–to lay a foundation of sorts for the series?
ROGERS: I have worked with Greg for over 20 years now, since the second episode of The Office, “Diversity Day,” so when it came to jump into The Paper it was a pretty familiar experience. I did my first cut of the show where I do my best to follow the script, and also keep a bin of alts ready to show him. He watches the first cut and then sends me detailed notes on things he likes, things he wants to change, and general pacing or performance things. One thing that struck me about the pilot was that as a director Greg made a conscious effort to go back to the earlier style of The Office in terms of the documentary not feeling like it had 10 cameras shooting, but rather just one or two. A lot of mockumentaries that air today don’t really consider that there’s a documentary crew there shooting the show, they just use the style of a doc with handheld cameras and have actors acknowledge that the cameras are there from time to time, but Greg wanted to get back to that original feel that The Office had. Once we start to shape the director’s cut together, I’ll pitch things and show him more alts for moments that we’ll “A-B”–play them both and see which ones we like better and have other people watch and weigh in. We’ll also argue about certain things we’re both passionate about, but honestly not too often. Greg is incredibly smart and he always has a good reason for wanting something a certain way in a cut, and he’s looking at it not just as a moment or scene, but often something that will be critical to the entire season or series, because he’s aware of the bigger picture more than anybody involved with the show. A lot of times, not just in episodes I cut, he’ll give a general note and I understand it immediately and will execute it in my episodes and relay it to and guide the other editors with what he’s looking for. I started overseeing the network cuts on The Office and that trust has just developed over time and my job as a co-EP is an extension of my work in post, to give a continuity to the episodes from all of the editors, and to creatively oversee VFX, ADR sessions, sound mixes, and to get the dialog going if something needs to be reshot.
SHOOT: What was your biggest takeaway or lessons learned from your experience on The Paper? What are among the things you walked away with first and foremost from the experience? What has left a lasting impression?
ROGERS: The biggest takeaway from The Paper for me was seeing that we could actually do a spin-off of The Office that people would like and appreciate and see it as its own show. I think the writers gave us just the right balance of Easter eggs and call backs to The Office that celebrates what’s come before while still putting Toledo and The Truth Teller front and center and not relying on a previous show to tell stories and create laughs. And while The Office was this special thing that came together with this amazing cast and crew and writers, we already have that, and we have Superfan episodes and podcasts and tons of bloopers and extras that people can always watch and rewatch, and yet it’s nice to discover that The Paper is also a special thing and it’s not trying to be The Office and it’s not working on trying to be different–it’s just it’s own thing. We have a great cast and crew, great writers, and a great postproduction team and our job is to just make it the best it can be and we’re all excited to see where it’s going and what new, fun stories we can tell.
