'The Office' Gets the Attention of Erie Documentary Crew: The Last Word

Most Pennsylvania cities are known for something that basically put them on the map. Erie is known for its maritime history. Pittsburgh for steel. Philadelphia for its role in America's independence. Scranton is famous for The Office.

Erie filmmaker Brandon Soto is a big fan of the TV show called The Office, a sitcom based in Scranton.  At the beginning of this year, he and fellow filmmaker, DeAngelo Dixon, were trying to think of the perfect subject they could turn into a documentary.  Brandon came up with the idea to tell the story of The Office and the impact the television show has had on the City of Scranton. DeAngelo liked the idea.

"It's a very small and very similar town to Erie and it was able to have an economic boom based on the TV show's influence there,” says DeAngelo.

"So, DeAngelo and I started getting going with it,” says Brandon. “We started contacting people out in Scranton figuring out who can we interview who was involved with the show.”

Brandon and DeAngelo recruited Erie News Now videographer Brian Schneiders and Penn State Behrend film student Madison Whitford to round out their crew. The team spent a week in Scranton last June. They interviewed the mayor and a representative of the chamber of commerce. The documentary crew was told that the producers of The Office wanted the show to be a realistic as possible. The sitcom's writers referred to Scranton businesses and landmarks during every episode.

"The show wasn't filmed in Scranton besides the opening credits but all the things are real. The restaurants, the mall, even something simple like a street name. It's all really in Scranton,” says Brandon.

The crew from Erie visited Cooper's Seafood, one of the restaurants mentioned on The Office. Fans of the show still flock there from all over the world. Cooper's now has a huge souvenir shop based on The Office where fans can purchase anything related to the show. There's also a large mural that makes for a great photo op.

The documentary will also include a visit to an Office fan convention that was held in Miami. The crew from Erie definitely wanted to include fans of the show in their project..

"I thought I was a big Office fan. There's some bigger Office fans out there,” says Brandon. “There was a girl that had 20 or 30 Office tattoos. All Office characters. We actually interviewed her."

The documentary is titled, Beyond Dunder Mifflin: The Electric City Documentary. The trailer for the documentary is now available on YouTube and Facebook. The entire documentary will be released in the spring of next year.  

Brandon and DeAngelo are planning to debut the documentary during a viewing party in Scranton. They also want to pitch the documentary to Peacock. That channel currently airs reruns of The Office. The documentary will also include interviews with several cast members from the show.