Don Payne (writer)

American writer and film producer

the American writer

William Donald Payne (May 5, 1964 – March 26, 2013) was an American writer and producer. He wrote several episodes of The Simpsons after 2000, many of these with John Frink, whom 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. Payne later moved into writing feature films, including My Super Ex Girlfriend (2006), and co wrote Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Thor (2011) and its sequel Thor: The Dark World (2013). Payne died from heart failure caused by bone cancer in March 2013.

Payne was born William Donald Payne on May 5, 1964 in Wilmington, North Carolina. He attended New Hanover High School, graduating in 1982; he had been class president. then transferred to and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also received a Master of Fine Arts degree in screenwriting. Payne later taught the course.

He began his career as a writer for several sitcoms together with his writing partner at the time, John Frink. These sitcoms were short lived and Payne has deemed them as failures.

Payne and Frink joined the writing staff of the animated sitcom The Simpsons in 1998; their first script was the season twelve episode "Insane Clown Poppy", which aired in 2000. Payne shared (with the show's other producers) four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program for his work on The Simpsons and won the Paul Selvin Award from the Writers Guild of America for writing the 2005 episode "Fraudcast News". He and Frink had been nominated for a WGA Award for Animation in 2003, for the episode "The Bart Wants What It Wants". Payne wrote or co wrote 16 episodes of the show and worked as a producer on over 100; he wrote two final episodes, "White Christmas Blues" and "Labor Pains", which aired posthumously.

Payne had two sons and a daughter with his wife Julie. The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean stated: "Don was a wonderful writer and an even more wonderful man. He was beloved in the ‘Simpsons’ community and his untimely passing is terrible news to us all." The film Thor: The Dark World, which he co wrote, is dedicated to his memory, as is his final episode of The Simpsons, "White Christmas Blues".