Don Payne

Writer and producer for The Simpsons and other television and film projects[18]

What is Don Payne known for?

Don Payne, born as William Donald Payne on May 5, 1964 in Wilmington, North Carolina, was an American writer and film producer renowned for his work in the entertainment industry. Born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, he graduated from New Hanover High School in 1982, where he had also been class president. Thereafter, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles. He also achieved a Master of Fine Arts degree in screenwriting from UCLA.

Right after college, Payne began his writing career. Initially, he joined hands with his then-writing partner John Frink. Together, they wrote for several sitcoms, namely Hope and Gloria, Men Behaving Badly, and The Brian Benben Show, although these were short-lived.

In 1998, Don Payne and John Frink joined the writing staff of the prestigious animated sitcom, The Simpsons. Their first script was the season twelve episode "Insane Clown Poppy," which aired in 2000. A few years into working on The Simpsons together, their writing partnership ended.

Subsequently, Payne ventured into writing feature films like My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and Thor (2011) & its sequel Thor: The Dark World (2013). Unfortunately, Payne's life was cut short due to heart failure caused by bone cancer in March 2013.