<Li> Season 9: Greg Daniels </Li> <P> Greg Daniels served as the senior series showrunner for the first four seasons of the series and developed the British series for American television . He then left the position when he co-created the comedy series Parks and Recreation with fellow Office writer Michael Schur and divided his time between the two series . Paul Lieberstein and Jennifer Celotta were named the series showrunners for the fifth season . Celotta left the series after the sixth season and Lieberstein stayed on as showrunner for the following two seasons . He left the showrunner spot after the eighth season for the potential Dwight Schrute spin - off, The Farm, which was eventually passed up by NBC . Daniels returned to the showrunner position for the ninth and final season . Other executive producers include cast members B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling . Kaling, Novak, Daniels, Lieberstein and Schur made up the original team of writers . Kaling, Novak, and Lieberstein also serve multiple roles on the series, as they play regular characters on the show, as well as write, direct, and produce episodes . Credited with twenty - four episodes, Kaling is the most prolific writer on the staff . Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who created the original British series, are credited as executive producer and wrote the pilot and the third - season episode, "The Convict ." Merchant later directed the episode "Customer Survey" while Gervais appeared in the episodes "The Seminar" and "Search Committee ." </P> <P> Randall Einhorn is the most frequent director of the series, with 15 credited episodes . The series also had several guest directors, including Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams, Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, both of whom are fans of the series, and filmmakers Jon Favreau, Harold Ramis, Jason Reitman, and Marc Webb . Episodes have been directed by several of the actors on the show including Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Ed Helms, and Brian Baumgartner . </P> <P> Prior to the second episode airing, the writers spent time researching in offices . This process was used for Daniels's other series King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation . The pilot is a direct adaptation of the first episode of the original British series . Daniels chose to go this route because "completely starting from scratch would be a very risky thing to do" owing to the show being an adaptation . He had briefly considered using the idea for "The Dundies" as the pilot episode . After the writers knew who the cast was, they were allowed to write for the actors, which allowed the show to be more original for the following episode, "Diversity Day". Following the mixed reaction toward the first season, the writers attempted to make the series more "optimistic" and to make Michael Scott more likable . They also established the supporting characters of the series more, giving them actual personalities . They also made the lights in the office brighter, which allowed the series to differentiate itself from the British series . </P>

Who is the director of the show this is us