Patric Verrone
Encyclopedia
Patric Miller Verrone is an American
television
writer
and labor
leader. He served as a writer and producer for several animated
television shows, most notably Futurama
.
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.
writer, which included a late 1980s job as monologue writer for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
. Shortly after his work on The Tonight Show, Verrone wrote for the popular animated program Rugrats
in 1991. From there, he worked for the entirety of The Critic
s run on television, before moving on to write for Muppets Tonight
(for which he won an Emmy
) and Pinky and the Brain
. Eventually, Verrone became a major contributor for Futurama
. Subsequently, he wrote 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 produced four Futurama
direct-to-DVD movies, starting with Bender's Big Score (2007).
and Mike Reiss
. Jean and Reiss, who had just served as co-show runner
s 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."
While working on two seasons of The Critic, Verrone would serve as co-producer
and writer of three episodes:
since the first season. The fourth season
episode "The Sting
", written by Verrone, garnered nominations for an Annie Award
and a Writers Guild of America Award
. In the original series, Verrone served as producer
for fifty-nine episodes, but has been co-executive producer since the series' fifth season
. Verrone has also scripted several issues of Futurama Comics
, published by Bongo Comics
.
Verrone's writing credits for Futurama include:
awarded Verrone a Lifetime Achievement honor of the Animation Writing Award.
In 2005, Verrone was elected president of the Writers Guild of America, west
with 68 percent of the vote, after pledging to devote up to 30 percent 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 and on the board of directors.
Reelected president with more than 90 percent of the vote in September 2007, Verrone subsequently led the Writers Guild through a strike from November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008.
Verrone could not seek reelection in 2009 due to term limits under union rules. John Wells
, a former WGAw president from 1999–2001, won the election to succeed him. Verrone ran for and was elected to a seat on the union's board of directors.
He sells his figurines on his store on eBay, "Historical Figurines."
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. He says his long term intention is 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.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
writer
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
and labor
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
leader. He served as a writer and producer for several animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
television shows, most notably Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
.
Schooling and pre-television career
Verrone graduated magna cum laude from Harvard CollegeHarvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
in 1981 where he was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
. He graduated from Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School is one of the six professional graduate schools at Boston College. Located approximately 1.5 miles from the main Boston College campus in Chestnut Hill, Boston College Law School is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts.With approximately 800 students and...
in 1984 after serving as editor of the Boston College Law Review. He practiced law in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
before becoming a television writer.
Career in television
Verrone began his career as a variety showVariety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
writer, which included a late 1980s job as monologue writer for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
. Shortly after his work on The Tonight Show, Verrone wrote for the popular animated program Rugrats
Rugrats
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....
in 1991. From there, he worked for the entirety of The Critic
The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
s run on television, before moving on to write for Muppets Tonight
Muppets Tonight
Muppets Tonight is a live-action/puppet television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring The Muppets. Much like the "MuppeTelevision" segment of The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight was a continuation of The Muppet Show, set in a television studio, rather than a theater.-Format:The...
(for which he won an Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
) and Pinky and the Brain
Pinky and the Brain
Pinky and the Brain is an American animated television series.The characters Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show Animaniacs...
. Eventually, Verrone became a major contributor for Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
. Subsequently, he wrote an episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(Milhouse of Sand and Fog
Milhouse of Sand and Fog
"Milhouse of Sand and Fog" is the third episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired September 25, 2005.-Plot:The show starts in church. During Reverend Lovejoy's sermon, Maggie is caught scratching herself with a hymnal. Marge takes away the book, discouraged also by the...
(2005)), developed the Cartoon Network series Class of 3000
Class of 3000
Class of 3000 is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network that was created by, was executively produced by, and starred André 3000 of the Hip Hop group OutKast as superstar and music teacher Sunny Bridges, set at Atlanta, Georgia's Westley School of Performing Arts. Mr...
(including writing the pilot episode Home (2006)), and produced four Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
direct-to-DVD movies, starting with Bender's Big Score (2007).
The Critic
While editor of The Harvard Lampoon, Verrone met writers Al JeanAl Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
and Mike Reiss
Mike Reiss
Michael "Mike" Reiss is an American television comedy writer. He served as a show-runner, writer and producer for the animated series The Simpsons and co-created the animated series The Critic...
. Jean and Reiss, who had just served as co-show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s for The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, were creating a new animated show called The Critic
The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
. They asked Verrone to work on it and, as he says, "[He] could hardly refuse."
While working on two seasons of The Critic, Verrone would serve as co-producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and writer of three episodes:
- A Pig Boy and His Dog
- All the Duke's Men
- I Can't Believe It's a Clip Show
Futurama
Verrone has written for FuturamaFuturama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
since the first season. The fourth season
Futurama (season 4)
Futurama fourth season began airing in 2002 and concluded after 18 episodes on August 10, 2003. The entire season is included within the Volume Four DVD box set, which was released on August 24, 2004.- Episodes :...
episode "The Sting
The Sting
The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936 that involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss . The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who previously directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Created by...
", written by Verrone, garnered nominations for an Annie Award
Annie Award
The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...
and a Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
. In the original series, Verrone served as producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
for fifty-nine episodes, but has been co-executive producer since the series' fifth season
Futurama (season 5)
Futurama fifth production season began airing in March 2008 and concluded after 16 episodes on August 30, 2009. The episodes were TV versions and edits of the four DVD movies. This list is for the TV versions.-Production:...
. Verrone has also scripted several issues of Futurama Comics
Futurama Comics
Futurama Comics is a comic book series published by Bongo Comics and based on the television series Futurama. It has been published bi-monthly in the United States since November 2000 . It has been published in the United Kingdom and Australia since 2002 and four trade paperbacks have been released...
, published by Bongo Comics
Bongo Comics
Bongo Comics Group is a comic book publishing company founded in 1993 by Steve and Cindy Vance, Bill Morrison, and Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening. It publishes comics related to the animated television series The Simpsons and Futurama, along with original material...
.
Verrone's writing credits for Futurama include:
- "A Fishful of DollarsA Fishful of Dollars"A Fishful of Dollars" is episode six in the first season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on April 27, 1999. The episode was written by Patric Verrone and directed by Ron Hughart and Gregg Vanzo. Pamela Anderson guest stars as her own preserved head in a jar. This episode marks...
" - "I Second That EmotionI Second That Emotion (Futurama)"I Second That Emotion" is episode one in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on November 21, 1999. The episode was written by Patric Verrone and directed by Mark Ervin...
" - "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"
- "A Clone of My OwnA Clone of My Own"A Clone of My Own" is episode ten in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on April 9, 2000. It marks the first appearance of the recurring character Cubert Farnsworth.- Plot :...
" - "The Problem with PopplersThe Problem with Popplers"The Problem with Popplers" is the 15th episode in the second production season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 7, 2000.The title is a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series Episode "Trouble with Tribbles", in which "tribbles" infest the USS Enterprise.-Plot:When...
" – teleplay; story by Darin HenryDarin HenryDarin Henry is an American television writer. He has written for many different television series, including Seinfeld, Futurama and The War at Home... - "That's Lobstertainment!That's Lobstertainment!"That's Lobstertainment!" is the eighth episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired February 25, 2001.-Plot:After a disastrous attempt at stand-up comedy, Dr. Zoidberg informs the crew that his uncle, Harold Zoid, was a star in the silent hologram era. Zoidberg writes to his uncle,...
" - "A Leela of Her OwnA Leela of Her Own"A Leela of Her Own" is the sixteenth episode in the third season of the animated series Futurama and is a homage to A League of Their Own directed by Penny Marshall. It originally aired in North America on April 7, 2002...
" - "The StingThe Sting (Futurama)"The Sting" is episode twelve in season four of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on June 1, 2003. It is arguably one of the most popular episodes of the series.-Plot:...
" - "Bender's Game (Part 4)Futurama: Bender's GameFuturama: Bender's Game is the third of the four direct-to-DVD Futurama films that make up the show's fifth season. It was released on November 4, 2008 on DVD and Blu-ray....
" – teleplay with David X. CohenDavid X. CohenDavid Samuel Cohen , primarily known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons and he is the head writer and executive producer of Futurama.-Early life:... - "Attack of the Killer AppAttack of the Killer App"Attack of the Killer App" is the third episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom, Futurama which first aired July 1, 2010 on Comedy Central. The episode focuses on the release of the new eyePhone, resulting in Fry posting a viral video of Leela on the Internet...
" - "Lrrreconcilable NdndifferencesLrrreconcilable Ndndifferences"Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom, Futurama and is the 99th episode in production and broadcast order. It aired on Comedy Central on August 26, 2010. In the episode, the ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8, Lrrr experiences...
" - "Ghost in the MachinesGhost in the Machines"Ghost in the Machines" is the nineteenth episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom Futurama, and originally aired June 30, 2011 on Comedy Central. It aired as the third episode of season 6-B, sixteenth in broadcast order for season 6 overall. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone...
"
Writers Guild of America, West
On October 23, 2002, The Animation Writers Caucus (AWC) of the Writers Guild of America, WestWriters Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
awarded Verrone a Lifetime Achievement honor of the Animation Writing Award.
In 2005, Verrone was elected president of the Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
with 68 percent of the vote, after pledging to devote up to 30 percent 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 and on the board of directors.
Reelected president with more than 90 percent of the vote in September 2007, Verrone subsequently led the Writers Guild through a strike from November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008.
Verrone could not seek reelection in 2009 due to term limits under union rules. John Wells
John Wells (TV producer)
John Marcum Wells is an American theater and television producer, writer and director. He is best known for his role as executive producer and show runner of the television series ER, Third Watch, and The West Wing. His company, John Wells Productions, is currently based at Warner Bros. studios in...
, a former WGAw president from 1999–2001, won the election to succeed him. Verrone ran for and was elected to a seat on the union's board of directors.
Historical figurines business
Aside from his work with the WGA and on television, Verrone also sculpts, paints, and sells historical figurines. His LinkedIn bio states:"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 eight hours to eat, sleep, and spend time with my wife and kids."
He sells his figurines on his store on eBay, "Historical Figurines."
The figurines are made to match sets made by Louis Marx and Company
Louis Marx and Company
Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer from 1919 to 1978. Its boxes were often imprinted with the slogan, "One of the many Marx toys, have you all of them?"-Logo and Offerings:...
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. He says his long term intention is 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.