"The Office's" Mindy Kaling Signs A Developmental Deal With NBC

[Brian Damage]

NBC has Tina Fey-style plans for "The Office's" Mindy Kaling, signing the multihyphenate to an overall deal with the Peacock and Universal Media Studios.
Under terms of the two-year, seven-figure deal, Kaling will continue to write for and appear on "The Office" next season while simultaneously developing a comedy in which she would also star.

"This is my first step in a Transformers-style way to take over the whole world," Kaling quipped. "I've only ever worked for NBC, and I've felt an enormous amount of support from the executives there."

Much like "30 Rock" star-exec producer Fey, Kaling is known for both her writing and acting skills. Behind the scenes, Kaling is a co-exec producer on "The Office," having written notable episodes including "The Dundies," "Diwali" and this season's "Golden Ticket."

On camera, Kaling stars as Kelly Kapoor, the chatty customer service representative at paper company Dunder Mifflin.

NBC primetime entertainment prexy Angela Bromstad called Kaling "a rare and unique talent."

"Her comic sensibility is perfect for what we stand for in NBC comedy," Bromstad said.

Kaling, who notes that her time at "The Office" has been akin to going through "the Greg Daniels Graduate School of Writing," said her tastes now skew in the single-camera comedy direction -- but that she isn't opposed to writing a multicamera laffer.

In kicking around different development ideas, Kaling said she's drawn to workplace comedies but is also interested in buddy shows in the vein of "Flight of the Conchords."

"I've always wanted to do another show about women," said Kaling, whose past credits include writing the WB pilot "Mindy and Brenda," along with Brenda Withers, for Carsey-Werner and Steve Martin. That project was about two female best friends straight out of college.

Kaling has been with "The Office" since the show's launch. As an actress, she has appeared as Richard Lewis' assistant in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and on film in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Unaccompanied Minors" and "License to Wed."

Kaling is repped by UTA and 3 Arts.