Michael Schur is one of TV’s most successful showrunners, with series like “Parks and Recreation,” “The Good Place” and, currently, “A Man on the Inside.” But fans of “The Office” perhaps still know him best as Mose, Dwight Schrute’s Amish cousin. It was a bit part he agreed to do while serving as a writer and producer on that show — but it still comes up all the time.
So much so that when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Schur a star on its Walk of Fame, “the thought crossed my mind that ‘The Office’ was so popular that they’re even giving one out to the 24th-tier character on the show,” he says.
But no, Schur is being recognized for his writing career, which surprises him almost as much. “That didn’t seem to be the kind of thing that I was eligible for,” he says. “I think of stars on the Walk of Fame as going to George Clooney and Julia Roberts. I didn’t think of them as going to folks who have my job. But I like that they can go to writers. I’m a very pro-writer guy, and I think there are probably plenty of folks who deserve to be honored in this way.”
Of course, if they want to make it even more meaningful? “they’ll put it near a Chipotle,” he jokes, “because of the amount of Chipotle that we’ve eaten in writers rooms.”
This honor is especially touching for Schur as he shoots almost all of his series in the Los Angeles area, including “A Man on the Inside.” As it becomes an industry-wide rallying cry to keep jobs here, Schur has been more vocal in his support: “I’ve had a number of conversations with a number of crew members that have all said, ‘God, it’s so nice to be working in Los Angeles.’ It’s getting harder and harder all the time because it’s so expensive here. I know folks who are forced to just go to other places to make the shows they want to make as budgets are getting tighter and things are getting more expensive. But the value of living in a place and working in that place is enormous. It’s really a quality of life issue. The determination to stay in LA has been a big part of why we’ve been able to keep our crew together to the extent that we have.”
Schur has been in Los Angeles for more than 20 years, having decided to move out west to join his then-girlfriend (and now wife), fellow writer J.J. Philbin. Schur had been writing for “Saturday Night Live,” and when he told his pals there that he was taking a job at the U.S. remake of “The Office,” they thought he was nuts.
“Everybody thought that was a terrible idea,” he says. “Every one of my friends there was like, ‘Oh boy. This is going to be a disaster.’ We were such fans of the British show.”
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
They were also sad to see him go. “It’s no secret Mike is a great writer, but behind the scenes, there has never been a better champion for other writers,” says Seth Meyers, who worked at “SNL” alongside Schur. “Be it as a mentor, a collaborator or simply as an audience member with an infectious laugh, everyone is better when he’s in the room.”
For Schur, getting to know Greg Daniels, who was adapting “The Office” and soon became his mentor, changed everything. “I left the meeting with him and sent my agent and manager an email that said, ‘I don’t know if this show is going to work, but if he offers me a job, I’m going to take it, because he’s going to teach me how to write.’ That’s exactly what happened. Even if that showed only lasted six episodes and had been canceled, it would have been the right move. Greg taught me everything I know about half-hour TV writing: How to break stories, how to write jokes, how to create interesting characters and how to just run a show.”
The respect goes both ways. “Mike is a super big-brained comedy intellectual,” says Daniels. “Nobody writes characters as simultaneously brilliant, noble and funny as Mike.”
It’s been 20 years since the U.S. version of “The Office” premiered, and given how it’s still a smash hit for an entirely new generation of fans, it’s safe to say Schur’s choice wound up being pretty smart. Daniels and Schur went on to create “Parks and Recreation” together.
“He taught me a billion things, but the thing that’s the most lasting is best idea wins. And he didn’t care whether the idea came from a staff writer, a co-EP or an EP with 25 years of experience,” says Schur. “He didn’t care whether it came from someone in catering, a best boy, a camera operator or a costumer. Whatever the best idea was for the moment that he was trying to solve, for the problem he’s trying to solve, he took that idea. It’s such a simple thing to say that, but it takes an extremely egoless person to actually enact it.”
Since then, Schur has had the opportunity to pay it forward, helping create shows like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” with Dan Goor and “Rutherford Falls” with Ed Helms and Sierra Teller Ornelas.
On “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” it wasn’t just his comedy chops that stood out to the cast. “Never in the history of entertainment has someone so effectively balanced creative inspiration with the calm ability to manage any type of personality,” says Andy Samberg. Stephanie Beatriz adds, “It is a pleasure and challenge to work with and for someone who so earnestly tries to be a deeply good person (very annoying, highly inspirational).”
As an exec producer, Schur also assisted in the launch of comedies “Master of None” and “Hacks.” (All of these shows come from Universal TV, where Schur has been since the start of his career.)
Pearlena Igbokwe, NBC and Universal Studio Group chairman has been part of the process since the Schur’s beginning, noting that he’s “shaped a generation of comedy,” which makes every bit of content at the company stronger. “It makes us laugh, think and strive to be better humans. If that weren’t enough, Mike literally wrote the book on How to Be Perfect.”
As for “Hacks,” creators Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello approached Schur with the idea and a very complete pitch “with the exception of me offering a couple of jokes and storyline moves in the margins,” he says. “In that situation, I have two options. One is to try to assert my presence and change a bunch of stuff just to make myself feel like I was a crucial part of the process; or, to say, ‘How can I swim alongside you and just help in whatever way you need help, whenever you need it?’ The right way for me to help in that case was not to get in there and try to change a bunch of stuff, because it was already great. That’s a one in a million.”
Statsky says Schur was “enormously influential” on both her career and how to treat people while at work: “For so long, there was this idea of the tortured artist or the idea that good art could only come from difficult people and that these difficult people were a cost of doing business. Mike changes that narrative because Mike is a deeply good person and a deeply well-adjusted person who can both do the work and do it excellently and not be ignorant of people’s feelings in the process.”
Schur created “The Good Place” on his own, but it’s mostly his collaborations that he relishes — and next up, he’s reuniting with “Parks” star Amy Poehler to create the new Peacock comedy “Dig.” (Keeping it in the family, Philbin is also an EP.)
As you’ll see, there’s a trend here: Schur’s colleagues not only respect his craft, but even more so, his character. “Working with Mike Schur feels like you’ve won the lottery. He is a deeply smart funny and sensitive writer who also knows how to be the captain of the ship,” says Poehler. “He is the living example of how deeply creative ideas do not have to come from chaos and confusion. He loves to laugh, he believes the best idea wins, and he is a secret giggler. I am deeply proud of the work we did together on ‘Parks and Recreation,’ and all the work yet to come.”
Among the ones that got away: Schur had been adapting a series version of “Field of Dreams,” which ultimately didn’t move forward at Peacock. “As of now, nothing’s happening with it,” he says. “I actually have two whole different versions of it. There was the original one that I did with the writers who worked on it. That was a seven-episode series. Once Peacock decided not to make it, I did a second version that was shorter. It was five episodes, to see if someone else would jump in. So the scripts exist in both of those forms. Maybe someday the world will turn in a way that allows it to come to fruition. I’m not sure.”
But he has no regrets. “’The Good Place’ was easily the hardest idea that I’ve had for shows,” he says. “It required the most thought and research and work. It’s a really fun job, but you shouldn’t confuse easy and fun. The fun of it is the creative challenge and the struggle and pulling out your hair, trying to figure out how to make something work. The same was true with ‘Field of Dreams.’ I understood that there were people out in the world who were going to think it was a really bad idea. That made it more intriguing to me.”
Meanwhile, “A Man on the Inside” has been Schur’s most recent labor of love; he wrote, directed and exec produced that series after his production partner Morgan Sackett suggested adapting Maite Alberdi’s documentary “The Mole Agent” into a show. Plus, they immediately looked at it as a way to reunite with “The Good Place” star Ted Danson.
“With ‘A Man on the Inside,’ you either are Ted’s age, or your parents or grandparents are or were Ted’s age,” Schur says. “Even though it felt a little risky to talk about aging, I also felt like, if we do this right, it should ring a bell for just about everyone in the world. The themes and ideas that the documentary was exploring are so rich and interesting.”
It’s the first Netflix series for Schur, but chief content creator Bela Bajaria recalls hearing his “heartfelt, hilarious and instantly memorable” ideas for “The Good Place” and “Brookyln Nine-Nine” over the years. “Mike is one of the sharpest, most thoughtful writers and a great producer. He’s a master at blending humor, wit and depth; deftly exploring humanity and social themes through standout comedy and characters,” she tells Variety. “Those ideas have become legendary.”
Danson, for his part, has spent most of the last decade working with Schur and notes he’s one of few writers who can “make you laugh, make you think and make you feel.”
He continues, “On ‘The Good Place,’ he encouraged people to think about what it means to lead an ethical life. In ‘A Man on the Inside,’ he brings a bracing honesty to stories about aging, grief and memory loss. And somehow, it’s all hilarious. I feel so lucky to be working with him, and to call him a friend.”
Fans can expect Season 2 to be a bit more comedic, as production is currently underway on the next chapter. “Season 1 was so much about grief and processing grief,” he says. “We now have the space to tell a slightly different story. It’s a little more comedic and a little more romantic.”
Of all the rave reviews Schur received, Kristen Bell’s may sum him up best: “It’s his character and goodness that have all of us lined up to work with him over and over again.”
From Variety US