How To Throw A Successful 'Office Christmas Party,' As Told By Timothy Dowling, One Of The Film's Writers

The movie “Office Christmas Party,” which hit theaters Friday, may not be an ideal model for the average party organizer—let alone any company’s human resources department. But it could offer a few lessons for the people behind real-life office holiday parties as the festivities get under way this year, according to Timothy Dowling, one of the film’s writers.

Dowling, who wrote “Office Christmas Party” star Jason Bateman’s role into the script and is best known for his work in “Role Models,” emphasized the importance of allowing people from all corners of the company to mix.

“It’s the one night of the year that kind of levels the playing field,” he said in a phone interview. “You have the people you talk to on a day-to-day basis, but at the Christmas party, everyone’s kind of thrown in together.”

Dowling noted that most of the film’s cast and crew, himself included—“I’m a writer, so if I had an office Christmas party it would just be me in my house by myself”—weren’t too familiar with corporate settings, but drew on what experience they had.

The writer himself, for example, recalled a colleague’s story of approaching a veteran producer with cigars at a holiday work party, only to be promoted soon after. The producer, Dowling recalled, made a comment along the lines of “That guy has balls.” Comedian T. J. Miller, one of the movie’s lead actors, even worked in the Chicago building where the movie was shot as a “low-level assistant” before his comedy career took off, and got the chance to enjoy a real-life Christmas party there years before he returned to help film a fake one, Dowling said.

Another tip, based on the film’s chain of events: Keep a reasonable person within reach, to avoid future human resources issues. In “Office Christmas Party,” that person was Saturday Night Live cast member Kate McKinnon’s character, Mary.

“The idea with that character was, we live in a society where everyone is so careful—we needed someone there who is the police,” he said, adding that Mary was necessarily “antithetical” to the film’s running theme of unhinged chaos.

Aside from those pieces of advice, Dowling’s counsel for party organizers was pretty basic.

“You should probably try to avoid doing a ton of cocaine and swinging from Christmas lights,” he said. “Have fun, but don’t have too much fun.”