Patric Verrone
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| Patric Verrone | |
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 Patric Verrone at the 2009 Comic Con in San Diego. |
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| Born | September 29, 1959 Glendale, Queens, New York |
| Occupation | President of Writers Guild of America, west Television writer Historical figurine sculptor |
| Nationality | American |
Patric Verrone (born Patric Miller Verrone on September 29, 1959 in Glendale, Queens, New York) is an American television writer and labor leader. He served as a writer and producer for several animated television shows, most notably Futurama.
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[edit] Schooling and pre-television career
Verrone graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1981 where he was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon. He graduated from Boston College Law School in 1984 after serving as editor of the Boston College Law Review. He practiced law in Florida and California before becoming a television writer.
[edit] Career in television
Patric Verrone began his career as a variety show writer including a late 1980s job as monologue writer for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.[1] Shortly after his work on The Tonight Show, Patric went to write on the popular animated program Rugrats in 1991. From there, Verrone would work for the entirety of The Critic's run on television, before then moving on to write for Muppets Tonight (with which he won an Emmy[2]) and Pinky and the Brain. Eventually, Patric would become a major contributor for Futurama. Following his work on the Futurama series, Verrone has written an episode of The Simpsons (Milhouse of Sand and Fog (2005)), developed the Cartoon Network series Class of 3000 (including writing the pilot episode Home (2006)), and wrote and produced four Futurama direct-to-DVD movies starting with Bender's Big Score (2007).
[edit] The Critic
While editor of The Harvard Lampoon, Verrone had met two writers by the name of Al Jean and Mike Reiss. Jean and Reiss, who had just served as co-show runners for The Simpsons, were creating a new animated show called The Critic. They asked Verrone to work on it and, as he says, "[He] could hardly refuse."[1]
While working on two seasons of The Critic Verrone would serve as co-producer and writer of three episodes.
Writing credits on The Critic:
- A Pig Boy and His Dog
- All the Duke's Men
- I Can't Believe It's a Clip Show
[edit] Futurama
Verrone's work on Futurama would last five years and garner him perhaps his highest recognition in the form of two award nominations. He would serve as producer on 59 episodes while writing 8. He returned to write and co-executive produce four direct-to-DVD Futurama movies, released between 2007 and 2009. The first, Bender's Big Score won an Annie Award for Best Home Entertainment Production.
Writing credits on Futurama episodes:
- "A Fishful of Dollars"
- "I Second That Emotion"
- "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"
- "A Clone of My Own"
- "The Problem with Popplers" (Verrone is credited for writing the script; he also shares credit for pitching the story idea with Darin Henry)
- "That's Lobstertainment!"
- "A Leela of Her Own"
- "The Sting" (for which Verrone was nominated for both an Annie Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Television Production and a WGA award for Television Animation Screenplay)[3]
He has also scripted many issues of Futurama Comics, published by Bongo Comics.
[edit] Writers Guild of America, west
On October 23, 2002, The Animation Writers Caucus (AWC) of the Writers Guild of America, West awarded Patric M. Verrone a Lifetime Achievement honor of the Animation Writing Award.[4]
In 2005, Verrone was elected President of the Writers Guild of America, west with an overwhelming 68% of the vote, after pledging to devote up to 30% of the Guild's budget to organizing writers in reality television, animation, cable, and independent film. He had previously served as secretary-treasurer for the organization.[5]
Reelected WGAw President with over 90% of the vote in September 2007, Verrone subsequently led the Writers Guilds through a strike from November 5, 2007 - February 12, 2008.
Verrone was not able to seek reelection to the presidency in 2009 due to term limits under union rules. John Wells, a former WGAw president from 1999-2001, won the election to succeed Verrone. Verrone ran for and was elected to a seat on the union's executive board.[6]
[edit] Historical figurines business
Aside from his work with the WGA and on television, Verrone also sculpts, paints and sells historical figurines. From his LinkedIn bio:
"I spend eight hours a day running a Hollywood labor union, eight hours making a living writing and producing television animation or sculpting and selling historical figurines on eBay, leaving 8 hours to eat, sleep, and spend time with my wife and kids."[7]
He sells his figurines on his store on eBay, "Historical Figurines."[8]
The figurines are made to match sets made by Louis Marx and Company in the 1950s and 60s.
Verrone has crafted the associate justices currently serving on the Court, as well as all the other Chief Justices, and a few historically significant and recent Justices. It is his long term intention to create a figurine of each of the 110 justices in the Court's history.
He also has sculpted figurines of the six Presidents that Marx never made, every major party Presidential nominee since 1944, and a series of Famous American figurines including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Mark Twain, and Frederick Douglass.
[edit] Personal life
In 1989, Verrone married television writer and novelist Maiya Williams. They have three children and they live in Pacific Palasades, California.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Patric Verrone interview with Shannon Muir for digitalmediaFX.com (2nd paragraph) Accessed January 31, 2007
- ^ Awards for Muppets Tonight on IMDB.com Accessed on February 1, 2007
- ^ Awards for Futurama on IMDB.com Accessed January 31, 2007
- ^ Animation Writers Honor Patric Verrone With Lifetime Achievement Award Accessed January 31, 2007
- ^ 2005 WGAw Officer and Board Election Results Accessed January 31, 2007
- ^ "WGAW Announces Final Results of 2009 Officers and Board of Directors Election". http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=3798.
- ^ Patric Verrone Bio on LinkedIn.com Accessed September 3, 2008
- ^ Patric Verrone store on eBay Accessed September 3, 2008
- ^ Patric Verrone Bio on IMDB.com Accessed January 31, 2007
