"Office Space" originated in the series of four animated "Milton" short films that Judge created about an office worker by that name. They first aired on "Liquid Television" and "Night After Night with Allan Havey", and later aired on "Saturday Night Live". The inspiration came from a temp job which he had that involved alphabetizing purchase orders and another job as an engineer for three months in the Bay Area during the 1980s, "just in the heart of Silicon Valley and in the middle of that overachiever yuppie thing, it was just awful".