Brent Forrester

Last updated
Brent Forrester
Education Columbia University
Occupation(s)Writer, producer
Years active1992–present
Parent

Brent Forrester is an American writer and producer, who has written for 6 Emmy Award-winning television comedies. He wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He has worked as a writer on The Ben Stiller Show , Mr. Show with Bob and David , Undeclared , Super Fun Night and The Office . He served as head writer and executive producer on King of the Hill , Love , The Office and Space Force . Forrester has also written feature films.

Contents

Early life

Forrester, the son of physician James S. Forrester, grew up as a surfer in Malibu, California. As an undergraduate John Jay Scholar at Columbia University he worked on the university's student TV station, and returned to Los Angeles to begin a career as a TV writer. [1] At Columbia, he roomed with future Chattanooga mayor Tim Kelly in Carman Hall. [1]

Career

Forrester wrote for The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. [2] He wrote the episodes: "Homer vs. Patty and Selma", [3] "Lemon of Troy", [4] the Krusty Burger segment of "22 Short Films About Springfield", [5] and "Homerpalooza". "Homerpalooza" was based on a story by David X. Cohen, although Forrester wrote the script. To do research for the episode, Forrester went to one of the Lollapalooza concerts, which ended up being a horrible experience. Several of the jokes in the episode are based on his experiences: cameras (including his own) were being seized and thrown in the garbage, there were numerous advertisements, several "sour faced teens", a real freak show and at one point a stranger approached Forrester and asked "how's it going, nark?" [6]

Forrester has also served as executive producer on King of the Hill , [7] and written for The Ben Stiller Show , Mr. Show with Bob and David [2] and Undeclared . He served as a writer and consulting producer on The Office . He has written seven episodes of the show including "The Merger" and "Business School" and directed the episode "Casual Friday". [2] He also directed a 2008 series of webisodes of the show, [8] and wrote the NBC.com web series In Gayle We Trust . [9]

He also wrote the screenplay for the 1996 film The Stupids . [10] Forrester is writing the film The Low Self Esteem of Lizzie Gillespie with Mindy Kaling, [11] and a sitcom pilot for Ron Howard. [12]

Forrester also voiced Leon the Drug Addict in the episode of King of the Hill "Junkie Business".[ citation needed ]

In May 2012, he became an executive producer for the final season of The Office. [13] In 2014, Netflix announced a two-season comedy series entitled Love co-created by director Judd Apatow, Paul Rust, and Lesley Arfin, with Forrester as executive producer. [14] In 2019–2020 Forrester is executive producer of Space Force directed by Greg Daniels and starring Steve Carell. [15]

Writing credits

The Simpsons written episodes

Forrester has written (or co-written) the following episodes:

Mr. Show written episodes

Forrester has co-written (with Dino Stamatopoulos) the following sketches from the following episodes:

Undeclared written episode

Forrester co-wrote (with Judd Apatow) the following episode:

The Office written episodes

Forrester has written or co-written the following episodes:

  1. "The Merger" (November 16, 2006) - Season 3
  2. "Business School" (February 15, 2007) - Season 3
  3. "Product Recall" co-written with Justin Spitzer (April 26, 2007) - Season 3
  4. "Did I Stutter?" co-written with Justin Spitzer (May 1, 2008) - Season 4
  5. "Business Trip" (November 13, 2008) - Season 5
  6. "Blood Drive" (March 5, 2009) - Season 5
  7. "Mafia" (October 15, 2009) - Season 6
  8. "New Leads" (March 18, 2010) - Season 6
  9. "The Search" (February 3, 2011) - Season 7
  10. "Work Bus" (October 18, 2012) - Season 9
  11. "A.A.R.M." (May 9, 2013) - Season 9

Love written episodes

Forrester has written or co-written the following episodes:

Directing credits

The Office directed episodes

Forrester has directed the following episodes:

  1. "Casual Friday" (April 30, 2009) - Season 5
  2. "New Leads" (March 18, 2010) - Season 6
  3. "Test the Store" (March 1, 2012) - Season 8
  4. "The Target" (November 29, 2012) - Season 9

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