JD Payne & Patrick McKay have been writing together for nearly 25 years. In that time, they have collaborated on more than twenty screenplays, including work on Star Trek Beyond for producer J.J. Abrams, Jungle Cruise for Walt Disney Studios, and their original 2017 Blacklist script Escape. Their many feature and television scripts include projects for Sony, Warner Bros, Legendary, 20th Century Fox, Legendary, and Paramount Pictures.
Payne & McKay grew up just outside of Washington, D.C., where they met on their high school debate team, and soon began writing and directing original plays together. Payne attended Yale University, where he studied English Literature, graduating with honors. McKay is a graduate of Stonehill College, where he studied Theater Arts, and American University, where he earned an MFA i
JD Payne & Patrick McKay have been writing together for nearly 25 years. In that time, they have collaborated on more than twenty screenplays, including work on Star Trek Beyond for producer J.J. Abrams, Jungle Cruise for Walt Disney Studios, and their original 2017 Blacklist script Escape. Their many feature and television scripts include projects for Sony, Warner Bros, Legendary, 20th Century Fox, Legendary, and Paramount Pictures.
Payne & McKay grew up just outside of Washington, D.C., where they met on their high school debate team, and soon began writing and directing original plays together. Payne attended Yale University, where he studied English Literature, graduating with honors. McKay is a graduate of Stonehill College, where he studied Theater Arts, and American University, where he earned an MFA in Creative Writing. They are both married, with two children each.
Of the opportunity to bring Tolkien’s Second Age of Middle-earth to life onscreen, Payne & McKay have said: “Tolkien’s work rightfully finds its peers among the strongest voices in all the English canon – Milton in its scope, Wordsworth in its beauty, and Shakespeare in its depth. In approaching his legendarium, we seek to be inspired by the same spirit that inspired him, reverently adapting where possible, respectfully inventing where appropriate, all to bring to life one of the grandest and most pivotal stories in all Middle-earth.”
