Patric Verrone

Patric Verrone
Patric Verrone at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego.
Occupation	President of Writers Guild of America, west Television writer Historical figurine sculptor
Nationality	American

Patric Miller Verrone (born September 29, 1959) is an American television writer and labor leader. He served as a writer and producer for several animated television shows, most notably Futurama.

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.

Career in television

Verrone began his career as a variety show 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).

The Critic

While editor of The Harvard Lampoon, Verrone met writers 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."

While working on two seasons of The Critic, Verrone would serve as co-producer and writer of three episodes:

1. A Pig Boy and His Dog
2. All the Duke's Men
3. I Can't Believe It's a Clip Show

Futurama

Verrone's work on Futurama lasted five years and garnered two award nominations. He would serve as producer on fifty-nine episodes while writing eight. He returned to 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.

His writing credits on Futurama episodes include:

1. "A Fishful of Dollars"
2. "I Second That Emotion"
3. "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"
4. "A Clone of My Own"
5. "The Problem with Popplers" (Verrone is credited for writing the script; he also shares credit for pitching the story idea with Darin Henry)
6. "That's Lobstertainment!"
7. "A Leela of Her Own"
8. "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)#
9. "Attack of the Killer App"
10. "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences"

He has also scripted many issues of Futurama Comics, published by Bongo Comics.

Writers Guild of America, West

On October 23, 2002, The Animation Writers Caucus (AWC) of the Writers Guild of America, West 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.

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 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.

Personal life

In 1989, Verrone married television writer and novelist Maiya Williams. They have three children and they live in Pacific Palasades, California.

External links

• Patric Verrone at IMDb