Douglas Glen Whitman is an American

television writer A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and a professor of

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Academic career

Whitman is a professor of economics at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

, where he has been on the faculty since 2000. He has also served as a research fellow at the

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

-oriented

Independent Institute The Independent Institute is an American libertarian think tank founded in 1986 by David J. Theroux and based in Oakland, California. The institute has more than 140 research fellows and is organized into seven centers addressing a range of pol ...

, a

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

. His expertise is in

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and Theory of the firm, firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarcity, scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. M ...

, applied game theory, and economic analysis of law. He received his Ph.D. in economics from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 2000 and his undergraduate degree in economics and politics from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

in 1994. Whitman's 2014 book ''Economics of the Undead'', co-edited with James Dow, is an academic collection of essays that use

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

s to explain and demonstrate concepts of economics. He is also the author of ''Strange Brew: Alcohol and Government Monopoly'' (2003).

Screenwriting career

In his second career, Whitman has written for the FOX

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

series ''

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fri ...

'', the

El Rey Network El Rey Network (Spanish for ''The King'') is a media brand founded by Robert Rodriguez on December 15, 2013, that is currently owned in a joint venture with FactoryMade Ventures. Until December 31, 2020, El Rey was a cable and satellite network ...

series ''

Matador A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

'', the FX series ''

The Strain ''The Strain'' is a 2009 vampire literature, vampire horror fiction, horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the first installment in ''The Strain Trilogy'', and was followed by ''The Fall (del Toro and Hogan novel), The Fal ...

'', and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's '' The Blacklist: Redemption''. Along with his writing partner

Robert Chiappetta Robert Chiappetta is an American television writer and lawyer. Career Chiappetta, along with his writing partner Glen Whitman, served as executive story editors on the Fox Broadcasting Company, FOX Crime (genre), crime/Mystery fiction, mystery s ...

, Whitman was a science advisor to the creators of ''Fringe'' before its first season. Whitman and Chiappetta served as executive story editors on ''Fringe'', and contributed several scripts to the series.

''Fringe'' episodes

* "

Ability Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various Action (philosophy), actions. They include common abilities, like walking, and rare abilities, like performing a double backflip. Abilities are intelligent powers: they are guided by the person ...

" (season 1, ep. 14) (teleplay by co-executive producer David H. Goodman, based on a story by Whitman and Chiappetta) * " Of Human Action" (season 2, ep. 7) * " The Bishop Revival" (season 2, ep. 4) * " 6955 kHz" (season 3, ep. 6) * " 6B" (season 3, ep. 14) * " And Those We've Left Behind" (season 4, ep. 6) * " A Better Human Being" (season 4, ep. 13) (teleplay by co-executive producers Alison Schapker and Monica Owusu-Breen, based on a story by Chiappetta and Whitman)

Personal life

As a blogger on topics including language and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, Whitman is credited with coining the word

snowclone A snowclone is a clichéd phrase in which one or more words can be substituted to express a similar idea in a different context, often to humorous or sarcastic effect. For example, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's phrase "the mother of all bat ...

in 2004.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitman, Glen 1972 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) American television writers Cato Institute people American male television writers American libertarians 21st-century American economists 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers