John Frink

Last updated
John Frink
Born
Whitesboro, New York, United States
Occupation(s)Writer, producer

John Frink is an American television writer and producer. He has written several episodes of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons , many of which he co-wrote with his former writing partner Don Payne. Frink and Payne started their career in television writing for the short-lived sitcom Hope and Gloria . They wrote their first episode of The Simpsons in 2000, and Frink still works on the show as a writer and executive producer.

Contents

Early life and career

Frink was born in Whitesboro, New York. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, he holds a degree in creative writing. Frink began his career as a writer for several sitcoms together with his writing partner at the time, Don Payne. [1] [2] The two met at UCLA, where Frink was the boss of the Media Laboratory in which Payne worked. Payne has said to the website TheFutonCritic.com that "one day we were both trying to write individually so I said, 'why don't we pool our resources and write together and see what happens?'" [3] In 2006, Payne told the Los Angeles Times that "I hooked up with a writing partner, John Frink, out of college. I wanted to do films. He wanted to do television." [2] The pair reached the agreement that they would pursue a career in the medium that they first got a job offer in—whether it be film or television. They eventually ended up writing for television sitcoms such as Hope and Gloria (1995–1996) and The Brian Benben Show (1998). [2] These sitcoms were short-lived and Payne has deemed them as failures. [1]

Further career

Don Payne, Frink's writing partner for several years DonPayneJuly08.jpg
Don Payne, Frink's writing partner for several years

Frink and Payne joined the writing staff of the animated sitcom The Simpsons in 1999, participating in the show's communal rewriting process beginning in its eleventh season. The earliest episode co-written by Frink and Payne was the season twelve episode "Insane Clown Poppy" [1] , itself a holdover from season 11. "Treehouse of Horror XI", another season 11 holdover written by the pair, was broadcast earlier than "Insane Clown Poppy", but was produced after. [1] Payne said in an interview with TV Squad in 2006 that "My partner and I were actually working on one of a long string of failed sitcoms (and most sitcoms are failed sitcoms!) On the day a show is officially cancelled, it's kind of a tradition for the writing staff to go out to a restaurant, eat a nice meal, and drown their sorrows. On the way there, a writer named Jace Richdale (who had also worked on The Simpsons) told my partner and me that The Simpsons was looking for some writers. He wanted to know if we'd be interested in it, because he would recommend us. My jaw literally dropped. So he contacted the show-runner, a guy named Mike Scully, who read our spec script and met with us, then hired us on." [1]

After a few years of working on The Simpsons together, Frink and Payne's writing partnership ended. [1] [2] They both continued to work on the show, though, and Payne has described their split-up as amicable. [3] The first episode Frink wrote on his own was season fifteen's "Bart-Mangled Banner" (2004). Since the twenty-first season of The Simpsons (2009–2010), he has been credited as an executive producer.

The Simpsons character Professor Frink, a The Nutty Professor -esque scientist, was named after Frink, although the character was introduced before he was hired as a writer on the show. [4] [5]

Awards

Frink has won several awards for his work on The Simpsons. He has also received several award nominations.

Accolades for John Frink
YearAwardCategorySeriesNotesResultRef.
2000 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) The SimpsonsAs producerWon [6]
2001Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs producerWon [6]
2002Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs supervising producerNominated [6]
2003Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerWon [6]
2003 Writers Guild of America Award AnimationThe SimpsonsFor the episode "The Bart Wants What It Wants"Nominated [7]
2004Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerNominated [6]
2005Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerNominated [6]
2006Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerWon [6]
2006Writers Guild of America AwardAnimationThe SimpsonsFor the episode "The Girl Who Slept Too Little"Nominated [8]
2007Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerNominated [6]
2007Writers Guild of America AwardAnimationThe SimpsonsFor the episode "The Italian Bob"Won [9]
2008Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerWon [6]
2008Writers Guild of America AwardAnimationThe SimpsonsFor the episode "Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!"Nominated [10]
2009Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerNominated [6]
2009Writers Guild of America AwardComedy seriesThe SimpsonsAs a member of the writing staffNominated [11]
2010Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs co-executive producerNominated [6]
2010Writers Guild of America AwardAnimationThe SimpsonsFor the episode "Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe"Nominated [12]
2010 Annie Award Writing in a Television ProductionThe SimpsonsFor the episode "Stealing First Base"Nominated [13]
2011Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)The SimpsonsAs executive producer and writer of the episode "Angry Dad: The Movie"Nominated [6]

Credits

John Frink credits outside of The Simpsons
YearSeriesRoleNotes
1995 Hope and Gloria WriterCo-wrote the episode "A Fine ROM-ance"
Pride & Joy WriterCo-wrote the episode "Brenda's Secret"
1995–1996 Can't Hurry Love WriterCo-wrote the episodes "Annie Get Your Armoire",
"Glove Story", and "Valentine's Day Massacred"
1997 Men Behaving Badly WriterCo-wrote the episodes "Wet Nurse" and "Playing Doctor"
Veronica's Closet Co-producerCo-produced the episode "Veronica's First Thanksgiving"
1998 The Brian Benben Show Writer and producerCo-wrote the episode "House of Blues"
2000–present The Simpsons Writer and producerFor a list of episodes written, see below
2007 The Simpsons Movie Consultant writer

The Simpsons episodes

Episodes of The Simpsons written by John Frink
TitleSeasonAirdateNotes
"Treehouse of Horror XI"122000Co-written by Don Payne
"Insane Clown Poppy"122000Co-written by Don Payne
"Bye Bye Nerdie"122001Co-written by Don Payne
"Simpsons Tall Tales"122001Co-written by Don Payne
"Treehouse of Horror XII"132001Co-written by Don Payne
"The Bart Wants What It Wants"132002Co-written by Don Payne
"The Great Louse Detective"142002Co-written by Don Payne
"Old Yeller Belly"142003Co-written by Don Payne
"The Wandering Juvie"152004Co-written by Don Payne
"Bart-Mangled Banner"152004
"The Girl Who Slept Too Little"172005
"The Italian Bob"172005
"Stop! Or My Dog Will Shoot"182007
"All About Lisa"192008
"Lost Verizon"202008
"Eeny Teeny Maya Moe"202009
"Stealing First Base"212010
"The Bob Next Door"212010
"Angry Dad: The Movie"222011
"500 Keys"222011
"Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson"232012
"Black Eyed, Please"242013
"What to Expect When Bart's Expecting"252014
"Waiting for Duffman"262015
"Peeping Mom"262015
"Love Is in the N2-O2-Ar-CO2-Ne-He-CH4"272016
"Simprovised"272016
"Treehouse of Horror XXVIII"292017
"Gone Boy"292017
"Left Behind"292018Co-written by Joel H. Cohen & Al Jean
" 'Tis the 30th Season"302018Co-written by Joel H. Cohen & Jeff Westbrook
"Go Big or Go Homer"312019
"Bobby, It's Cold Outside"312019Co-written by Jeff Westbrook
"The 7 Beer Itch"322020Co-written by Joel H. Cohen & Al Jean
"Treehouse of Horror XXXII"332021
"Pixelated and Afraid"332022
"Bartless"342023

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