Patric Verrone

Infobox Writer
name = Patric Verrone

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birthdate = September 29, 1959
birthplace = Glendale, Queens, New York
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occupation = President of Writers Guild of America, west
Television writer
Historical Figurine Sculptor
nationality = American
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Patric Verrone (born Patric Miller Verrone on September 29, 1959 in Glendale, Queens, New York) is an American television writer. He served as a writer and producer for several animated television shows, most notably "Futurama".

chooling 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

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". [ [http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Columns/ShannonMuir/patricverrone.html Patric Verrone interview with Shannon Muir for digitalmediaFX.com (2nd paragraph)] Accessed January 31, 2007] 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 [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0115279/awards Awards for Muppets Tonight on IMDB.com] Accessed on February 1, 2007] ) 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).

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." [ [http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Columns/ShannonMuir/patricverrone.html Patric Verrone interview with Shannon Muir for digitalmediaFX.com (2nd paragraph)] Accessed January 31, 2007]

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"

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) [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149460/awards Awards for Futurama on IMDB.com] Accessed January 31, 2007]

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. [ [http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1419 Animation Writers Honor Patric Verrone With Lifetime Achievement Award] Accessed January 31, 2007]

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. [ [http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=508 2005 WGAw Officer and Board Election Results] Accessed January 31, 2007]

Reelected WGAW President with over 90% of the vote in September 2007, Verrone later helped lead the Writers Guilds through a historic 100-day strike that launched in November 2007, after contract talks with the AMPTP collapsed once the media conglomerates walked away from the bargaining table, even though the Writers Guilds had made several major concessions with the companies to keep negotiations moving forward to reach a fair and reasonable deal.

In a post-WGA strike recap, the "Los Angeles Times" noted that: “The [WGA] deal may transform the use of content on the Web, making writers rich and changing the entire power structure of Hollywood…In other words, big triumphs begin as little victories.”cite news|title=The Big Picture – The WGA Strike’s Winners and Losers|last=Goldstein|first=Patric|date=February 12, 2008|publisher=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=2008-06-28]

As for Guild leadership, the "Los Angeles Times" cited both WGAW President Patric M. Verrone and WGAW Executive Director David Young among the “winners” of the writers' strike as a result of how they conducted both contract negotiations with the companies and the necessary, ultimately successful WGA strike which won real gains for writers, securing not only a piece of the entertainment industry’s New Media future but a fair share of revenues generated by content writers create.

“The WGA leadership: Whenever I spoke to studio chiefs, they heaped abuse on Patric Verrone and David Young, dismissing them as naive, hapless militants with no clue about how to negotiate a showbiz contract. All wrong. Despite some missteps along the way, the WGA leaders kept their fractious membership together, courted the powerful TV show runners, thrashed the studios in the PR wars and stayed cool under fire. For all the concessions they had to make, they got the guild perhaps the best deal it's had in decades. If that's not saying much, that's more a reflection on the perilous state of unions and Hollywood than on the WGA.”

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." [ [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/7/a33/113 Patric Verrone Bio on LinkedIn.com] Accessed September 3, 2008]

He sells his figurines on his store on eBay, "Historical Figurines." [ [http://stores.ebay.com/Historical-Figurines Patric Verrone store on eBay] Accessed September 3, 2008]

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 signficant 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.

Personal life

In 1989, Verrone married television writer and novelist Maiya Williams. They have three children. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0894890/bio Patric Verrone Bio on IMDB.com] Accessed January 31, 2007]

References

External links

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