Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
We open to a chilly December day in 2023 Toledo, Ohio. The mayor’s office has just received a phone call from sunny California.
Just like that, Toledo found itself selected to be the setting for NBC Universal’s next hit sitcom, “The Paper.”
From the creators of “The Office,” Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, “The Paper” is a mockumentary following the rag-tag newspaper staff of the fictional Toledo Truth Teller through the lens of the documentary crew from “The Office.”
The Toledo Truth Teller employees are on a mission to save local journalism, brought to life with a star-studded cast — including Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Nuñez reprising his role as Oscar Martinez.
In preparation, cast and crew descended upon Ohio, visiting local newspapers — including The Blade and the Toledo City Paper. The production team reached out to regional non-profit film commission FilmToledo, who works with producers wishing to film in Northwest Ohio — assisting with location scouting, permits, and connecting with local businesses.
“When we spoke with the various production departments, they emphasized that they wanted to be as accurate as possible when representing Toledo,” Michael DeSanto, executive director of FilmToledo, said. “They asked about everything from local events, culture and fashion to famous Toledo memes.”
FilmToledo then directed the production team to Jupmode for unique merchandise celebrating Toledo, Michigan, and the Midwest to decorate the office set in “The Paper.”
“It means so much to us to represent Toledo in this way,” Stephen Gullette, Jupmode’s marketing and social media specialist, said. “What makes this especially meaningful is that it’s not just about us as a business; it’s about shining a light on the whole community.
“Seeing NBC take the time to learn about Toledo and highlight the people and businesses that make it special makes us feel like our hometown is being recognized and celebrated on a larger stage — or I guess I should say “screen” in this scenario. We’re proud to be part of that story, alongside so many others who love this city as much as we do.”
In addition to Jupmode’s stickers and magnets, mugs and drinkware, koozies, post cards and flags, viewers will also see merch and props from other local institutions and businesses. Spy merch from the Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Toledo Mud Hens, Toledo Harbor Lighthouse, to-go cups from The Flying Joe and more in scenes of the Truth Teller office. The first episode also features a Toledo Police cruiser.
Viewers will find some liberties were taken, as is the case with any fictitious representation. But whatever the first season of “The Paper” lacks in Toledo iconography, either due to creative or legal reasons, it makes up for with something equally quintessential “Toledo:” a mix of humor and grit.
“One thing we emphasized was Toledo’s underdog status,” DeSanto said. “Toledo has always been a resilient, Rust Belt industrial town that has gone through tough times. We’ve occasionally been the butt of jokes, and we make more than a few at our own expense. But we’re the first ones to defend our city, and eager to highlight how amazing it really is and how much it’s grown recently.
“It’s very Toledo, but it’s also very universal,”
“The Paper” aspires to not only portray an authentic Toledo but also shine a spotlight on local journalism. Discovering the Toledo City Paper online, the production crew reached out to inquire more about local journalism and the Toledo community.
“They scheduled a time to visit our offices here in Toledo without much detail about their plans for the visit,” Toledo City Paper publisher, Collette Jacobs, said. “Then Domhnall Gleeson came to the office and staffers were starstruck.
“He toured our office and spent over an hour interviewing the staff about the job duties at the City Paper and some background about our company,” Jacobs said. “Domhnall Gleeson wanted to understand more about the relationship dynamics between coworkers, the various responsibilities at the company (like editorial, production, accounting, distribution and sales), the day-to-day tasks, and the struggles and successes that we experience.”
Comedy aside, “The Paper” shines a light on the uphill battle local newspapers across the country face: competing with the digital world for readership and advertisers, combating click bait and understaffing — all while making that ever-present print deadline.
It’s not all doom-and-gloom though, as viewers watch the Toledo Truth Teller staff band together to turn their newspaper around, focusing once again on local journalism. Sometimes it takes staffers filling multiple roles. Sometimes it takes covering stories that aren’t as flashy as a Hollywood celebrity article. But at the end of the day, the paper is put together, and the product is something that matters to the community. It’s this small triumph everyone in newsprint regularly experiences.
The Toledo Truth Teller is the Toledo City Paper. The Toledo Truth Teller is The Blade. It’s The Press and the Sentinel-Tribune. It’s the Toledo Free Press, BG Independent, and more. The Toledo Truth Teller isn’t representative of just one local newspaper; it’s all of us.
It takes a village — or in this case, a city — to bring “The Paper” to life. And that, it did.
We cut to Downtown Toledo on a comfortable late summer day in September 2025. The community was welcomed for a free special viewing party at Imagination Station’s KeyBank Discovery Theater on Sept. 4, the release date for “The Paper.” Hosted by Imagination Station, Destination Toledo, FilmToledo, Toledo City Paper, and Jupmode, the viewing party included Toledo and “The Office” trivia in addition to a showing of the first two episodes of “The Paper.”
And we close on a view of a staff writer at a computer, finishing her article for the next edition.
“The Paper,” a spinoff of “The Office,” is a 10-episode mockumentary sitcom taking place in the same universe. All 10 episodes were released by NBC Universal on their streaming platform, Peacock, on Sept. 4. It was announced on Sept. 3 that “The Paper” has been renewed for a second season.
