David A. Goodman (born December 13, 1962) is an American writer, producer, and president of the

Writers Guild of America West The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 m ...

. He has been a writer for several television series, such as ''

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'', his first job; ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

'', where he was also a co-executive producer and wrote the notable ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' parody episode "

Where No Fan Has Gone Before "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" is the eleventh episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series '' Futurama''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 21, 2002. Set in a retro-futuristic 31st ...

"; and ''

Star Trek: Enterprise ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...

''. Goodman produced '' Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story'', and is the writer of '' Fred: The Movie'', a

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film based on the

Fred Figglehorn Fred Figglehorn (stylized as FЯED) was the central character in an Internet video series created by then-teenager Lucas Cruikshank in 2006. It yielded other spin-off series and a relationship with Nickelodeon, including three movies and a telev ...

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series, as well as the sequel, '' Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred''. Most recently, he wrote the critically-acclaimed film ''

Honor Society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Sc ...

'', which premiered on July 29th, 2022 on

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Biography

Goodman is a graduate of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he earned a BA in 1984. He is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

background. During commentary for the ''

'' episode "

", which he wrote, Goodman mentioned that he is a dedicated ''

'' fan, with an encyclopedic knowledge of the original series, and correctly identified every episode number and name mentioned in dialogue. He also states in the commentary that his work for ''Futurama'' for the ''Star Trek'' episode was partly what gained him a job writing for ''

'', after ''Futurama''. He was an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

'', beginning in its fourth season, after joining the show as a co-executive producer in season three. Goodman is known for his nasal voice, which has been the subject of jokes numerous times in ''Family Guy'' audio commentaries, particularly by the creator

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creator ...

and writer

Alec Sulkin Alexander Matthew Sulkin (born February 14, 1973) is an American screenwriter, producer, and voice actor known for his work on ''Family Guy'' and ''The Cleveland Show''. Career Sulkin began as a writer for ''The Late Late Show (CBS TV series)#C ...

, who both believe his voice is similar to that of

Ray Romano Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Ray Barone on the CBS sitcom ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', for which he received an Emmy Award, and as the ...

. Goodman has voiced parodies of Romano in ''Family Guy'' episodes by simply talking, without performing an impression. In 2011, Goodman left ''Family Guy'' to produce the animated Fox series ''

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''. After ''Allen Gregory'' was cancelled, he then became an executive producer of another MacFarlane show, ''

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''. In 2017, he worked with MacFarlane, on ''

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'', as an executive producer, and was also elected as president of the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW). He has written several books set in the Star Trek Universe, including ''The Autobiography of James T. Kirk'' (2015), ''The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard'' (2017), and ''The Autobiography of Mr. Spock'' (2020). He wrote the critically-acclaimed film ''

'', which premiered on July 29th, 2022 on

. It stars

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Gaten Matarazzo Gaetano John Matarazzo III (; ; born September 8, 2002) is an American actor. He began his career on the Broadway stage as Benjamin in '' Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' (2011–12) and as Gavroche in ''Les Misérables'' (2014–15). Matara ...

and

Christopher Mintz-Plasse Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse (; born June 20, 1989) is an American actor and comedian. He has performed roles such as Fogell (McLovin) in '' Superbad'' (2007), Augie Farcques in '' Role Models'' (2008), and Chris D'Amico in '' Kick-Ass'' (20 ...

. Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote, " onor Societycomes out of the gate flashing a formal and thematic sophistication so dazzling it might take you a while to realize it’s actually a Young Adult movie." While Tomris Laffly of Variety called it, "A surprisingly compelling high school caper conceived with youthful wit, aplomb and a genuinely out-of-left-field twist."

Writers Guild of America West presidency

Elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2019 as WGAW president, Goodman oversaw the negotiating committee for the "WGA-Agency Agreement", and joined other Writers Guild of America (WGA) members in firing his agents as part of the guild's stand against the Association of Talent Agents (ATA), after the two sides were unable to come to an agreement on a new "Code of Conduct" that addressed the practice of

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

, which had been deemed unfair by the WGA.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, David A. 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers American male voice actors American television producers American television writers American trade union leaders Living people American male television writers University of Chicago alumni Writers Guild of America Place of birth missing (living people) 1962 births 20th-century American writers