The Client (The Office) - Production

Production

This episode was the third episode of the series directed by Greg Daniels. Daniels had previously directed the episodes "Basketball" and "The Dundies". "The Client" was written by Paul Lieberstein, who acts on the show as human resources director Toby Flenderson. The idea for Jan and Michael to have a romantic relationship was conceived by Steve Carell as far back as the filming of the pilot episode. According to writer and producer Greg Daniels "it was like he (Michael) was turned on by his teacher." Writer and actor Paul Lieberstein said that the first idea that anybody came up for the episode was the final shot, where Jim and Michael look at each other and shake their heads, suggesting that they had been through similar experiences. The rest of the episode was written to lead to that scene. The scene where Oscar tells a story about a date getting a background check on him was based on an actual date that Paul Lieberstein went on.

While filming, Steve Carell and Tim Meadows improvised a lot of their dinner scene, but most of it never made the final cut. One improvised scene that did make the final cut was the "Baby Back Ribs" song. In an interview, Jenna Fischer said that the rooftop scene was her favorite to shoot. Fischer recalled that "there was a very small crew up on the roof and they had the cameras really far away." After the main shooting ended, producers decided to do a re-shoot to explain the "Dwigt" situation clearly and concisely. The kiss between Michael and Jan was rehearsed and filmed "many, many, many times", according to B.J. Novak. While editing the kiss between Michael and Jan, Greg Daniels brought many people into the editing room to see if they thought the kiss was too long or not long enough.

During the production of the episode, the cast and crew were informed by NBC that the show would be picked up for a whole 22 episodes. Initially, the show's second season had only been brought back for six episodes, to test the water. Despite the lackluster reception the first season had, ratings jumped during the second season to 7.7 million in the fall alone. After the ratings success, Kevin Reilly, NBC Entertainment president, "surprised" the cast and crew of the staff and ordered a full season; he later likened the series to Seinfeld and Cheers, noting that they too had "slow starts".