Brian Michael Lynch (born June 21, 1973) is an American film and comic book writer. Lynch was the initial writer and co-creator of '' Angel: After the Fall'' for

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW) and is recognized as the fifth-largest comic ...

alongside

Joss Whedon Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon ( ; born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, comic book writer, and composer. He is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer' ...

, and is best known for writing the screenplays for the films '' Puss in Boots'' (2011), '' Minions'' (2015), ''

The Secret Life of Pets ''The Secret Life of Pets'' is a 2016 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Universal. It was directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney, and produced by Chr ...

'' (2016), '' The Secret Life of Pets 2'' (2019), and '' Minions: The Rise of Gru'' (2022). He has also written unproduced film adaptations of both ''

The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and Video game publisher, published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and is one of the List of best-selling video game fran ...

'' and ''

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

.''

Life and career

Growing up in

Middletown Township, New Jersey Middletown Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in northern Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the ...

, Lynch attended Middletown High School South and

William Paterson University William Paterson University, known as WP, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 an ...

of New Jersey. Lynch went to school with (and was friends with) Vincent Pereira, who worked with

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...

at the Quick Stop/RST Video and who inspired Smith's own film career. Despite seeing himself as a writer rather than filmmaker, Lynch contributed in a non-writing capacity to Smith's early films and then wrote/directed one of three non-Smith-directed films under the View Askew label. Except for four years during early childhood spent in Indiana, Lynch lived in New Jersey all his life. In 2004, he moved to

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

Comics and animated series

Lynch has worked on a number of comics and animated series: * ''Angry Naked Pat'' (animated series) * '' Spider-Man Unlimited'' (vol 3) #1 * ''Monkey Man Unleashed'' * ''Patchouli One Shot'' * '' Spike: Asylum'' * '' Spike: Shadow Puppets'' * '' Angel: After the Fall'' #1–17 * '' Spike: After the Fall'' * '' Spike (IDW Publishing)'' * ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

: Microseries #1-3 (IDW Publishing)'' * ''Monster Motors: The Curse of Minivan Helsing'' * ''Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return'' #1–6 (IDW Publishing)

Filmography

*'' A Better Place'' (1997) – Actor (Eddie) *'' Chasing Amy'' (1997) – Actor (Bryan White) (uncredited). key craft service, (miscellaneous crew) *'' Big Helium Dog'' (1999) – Director, Writer, Editor, Miscellaneous Crew. Actor (Director's Assistant) *'' Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'' (2001) – Actor (Comic Book Shopper #1) (uncredited) *'' Hop'' (2011) – Writer with Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio *'' Puss in Boots'' (2011) – Story with Will Davies and Tom Wheeler *'' Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem'' (2012) - Writer *'' Minions'' (2015) - Writer *''Binky Nelson Unpacified'' (2015) - Writer/Director *''

'' (2016) - Writer with Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio *'' The Secret Life of Pets 2'' (2019) - Writer *'' Minions: The Rise of Gru'' (2022) - Story with Matthew Fogel

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Brian 1973 births Living people American comics writers American male film actors Male actors from New Jersey Middletown High School South alumni People from Middletown Township, New Jersey Film directors from New Jersey William Paterson University alumni Illumination (company) people Actors from Monmouth County, New Jersey