The Paper tells the story of a struggling newspaper in Ohio, which is filled with non-journalists.
The creators reveal that the reason for this setting is to pay homage to their love of the journalism profession.
“I think anybody who likes to write has fantasized at some point about being a journalist,” says Michael Koman, one of the series creators. “To me, it’s like writing but with real life stakes.”
Greg Daniels, his co-creator, also weighs in, “That’s a bit us trying to be in journalism.”
He continues, “I spent some time hanging out in her journalism class and her excitement over the idea that she can ask questions of the administrators and then write something up and maybe slip a little joke in or whatever, show some of her personality, it’s very exciting for her.”
The maker further explains, “If you wanted to do a workplace where they start off kind of dispirited, but they start to get some joy in their actual jobs, I felt like that was a good place where a normal person could be like, ‘I wrote a funny thing and everybody looked at me and they read it in a paper, and I got some feedback.”
The Paper is streaming on Peacock.
