Don Payne (writer)

Don Payne
Payne at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con panel for The Simpsons
Born	United States
Occupation	Writer, producer

Don Payne is an American writer and producer. He has written several episodes of The Simpsons since 2000, many of which he co-wrote with John Frink who he met while studying at the University of California, Los Angeles. The duo began their careers writing for the short-lived sitcom Hope and Gloria. Recently, Payne has moved into writing feature films. So far he has written My Super Ex-Girlfriend and co-written Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Thor.

Early career

Payne graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a master in screenwriting. He began his career as a writer for several sitcoms together with his writing partner at the time, John Frink. The two met at UCLA, where Frink was the boss of the Media Laboratory in which Payne worked. Payne has said to the website TheFutonCritic.com that "one day we were both trying to write individually so I said, 'why don't we pool our resources and write together and see what happens?'" In 2006, Payne told the Los Angeles Times that "I hooked up with a writing partner, John Frink, out of college. I wanted to do films. He wanted to do television." The pair reached the agreement that they would pursue a career in the medium that they first got a job offer in—whether it be film or television. They eventually ended up writing for television sitcoms such as Hope and Gloria (1995–1996) and The Brian Benben Show (1998). These sitcoms were short-lived and Payne has deemed them as failures.

Further work

Payne and Frink joined the writing staff of the animated sitcom The Simpsons in 2000 with the season twelve episode "Insane Clown Poppy", which they co-wrote. "Treehouse of Horror XI", another 2000 episode they wrote, was broadcast earlier than "Insane Clown Poppy", but was produced after. Payne said in an interview with TV Squad in 2006 that "My partner and I were actually working on one of a long string of failed sitcoms (and most sitcoms are failed sitcoms!) On the day a show is officially cancelled, it's kind of a tradition for the writing staff to go out to a restaurant, eat a nice meal, and drown their sorrows. On the way there, a writer named Jace Richdale (who had also worked on The Simpsons) told my partner and me that The Simpsons was looking for some writers. He wanted to know if we'd be interested in it, because he would recommend us. My jaw literally dropped. So he contacted the show-runner, a guy named Mike Scully, who read our spec script and met with us, then hired us on." After a few years of working on The Simpsons together, Frink and Payne's writing partnership ended. They both continued to work on the show, though, and Payne has described their split-up as amicable.

In later years, Payne has moved into writing feature films. So far he has written My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and co-written Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Thor. My Super Ex-Girlfriend was released in 2006 and was his first feature film. He said in an interview with the website Cinematical that "I've always wanted to write features. That's why I moved to Los Angeles in the first place. I started writing with John Frink when I was in college at UCLA. He wanted to do TV, and that's where we got our first break. But my goal was always to write movies. And I've been a comic book geek from way back. So this romantic comedy with a superhero twist was a fitting first feature for me."

Credits

Television

Year	Series	Role	Notes
1995	Hope and Gloria	Writer	Co-wrote the episode "A Fine ROM-ance"
1995	Pride & Joy	Writer	Co-wrote the episode "Brenda's Secret"
1995–1996	Can't Hurry Love	Writer	Co-wrote the episodes "Annie Get Your Armoire", "Glove Story", and "Valentine's Day Massacred"
1997	Men Behaving Badly	Writer	Co-wrote the episodes "Wet Nurse" and "Playing Doctor"
1997	Veronica's Closet	Co-producer	Co-produced the episode "Veronica's First Thanksgiving"
1998	The Brian Benben Show	Writer and producer	Co-wrote the episode "House of Blues"
2000–present	The Simpsons	Writer and producer	For a list of episodes written, see below

The Simpsons episodes

• "Treehouse of Horror XI" (Scary Tales Can Come True) (co-written by John Frink)
• "Insane Clown Poppy" (co-written by John Frink)
• "Bye Bye Nerdie" (co-written by John Frink)
• "Simpsons Tall Tales" (co-written by John Frink)
• "Treehouse of Horror XII" (co-written by John Frink)
• "The Bart Wants What It Wants" (co-written by John Frink)
• "The Great Louse Detective" (co-written by John Frink)
• "Old Yeller Belly" (co-written by John Frink)
• "The Wandering Juvie" (co-written by John Frink)
• "Fraudcast News"
• "Thank God It's Doomsday"
• "Simpsons Christmas Stories"
• "Little Big Girl"
• "Love, Springfieldian Style"
• "Take My Life, Please"
• "Thursdays with Abie" (co-written by Mitchell H. Glazer)

Film

Year	Film	Role
2006	My Super Ex-Girlfriend	Writer
2007	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Writer
2011	Thor	Writer
2013	Maximum Ride	Writer
2013	Thor 2	Writer

External links

• Don Payne at the Internet Movie Database