Matt Selman

Matt Selman
Matt Selman at the 2009 Comic Con in San Diego.
Born Matthew Selman
September 9, 1971 (1971-09-09) (age 47)
Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation Writer, producer
Known for The Simpsons, Seinfeld
Spouse(s) Renee Ridgeley
Children 2
Website https://twitter.com/mattselman

Matthew Selman (born September 9, 1971) is an American writer and producer.

Early life

Selman grew up in Massachusetts. He graduated from Beaver Country Day School in 1989. He studied history at the University of Pennsylvania and served as Editor-in-Chief for the 34th Street Magazine. Thereafter, he attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of the student magazine, 34th Street Magazine.[1][2][3][4][5]

Career

After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, California hoping to write for television with his 34th Street co-editor, Selman ended up as a "lunch-fetcher" on Ellen.[6]

After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try to become a television writer. After two years of failed spec scripts he was eventually hired to write an episode of Seinfeld in 1996.

The Simpsons

Selman then joined the writing staff of The Simpsons, where he has remained, rising to the position of executive producer.[7] He has written 19 episodes of the show, including "Natural Born Kissers" which the show's creator Matt Groening listed as his eighth favorite episode in 2000.,[8] "Behind the Laughter", "Trilogy of Error", "Simpsons Bible Stories" (for which he won an Annie Award), "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" (for which he won a Writers Guild of America Award) and also "The Food Wife". He also co-wrote the 2007 film adaptation of the show, as well as the video games The Simpsons: Road Rage, The Simpsons Hit and Run and The Simpsons Game.

Selman considers his best episode to be season twelve's "Trilogy of Error", which was based on the film Go, and features three inter-linked stories.[6] Robert Canning of IGN praised the episode, calling it "one extremely enjoyable misadventure. The Simpsons may have peaked in the '90s, but that doesn't mean the eight years since haven't delivered their share of quality episodes. This was one of them.".[9] Other episodes he has written include "Behind the Laughter",[6] "They Saved Lisa's Brain",[10] "Husbands and Knives", "The Haw-Hawed Couple",[5] "Future-Drama" and "That '90s Show".

Selman stated he was "proud" of "That '90s Show" despite the fact that it "irritated some of our more hardcore fans because they felt we were deliberately ret-conning the classic flashbacks of how Homer and Marge met and how the kids were born."[11] He added that it was "not a serious attempt to rewrite the show's continuity".[5] He has won five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the show, sharing them with the other producers.[12] Selman received an Annie Award in 1999 for writing "Simpsons Bible Stories".[13] He also won a Writers Guild of America Award in 2004 for writing the episode "The Dad Who Knew Too Little".[14] In the episode, Homer's e-mail was said to be chunkylover53@aol.com. Selman registered the e-mail and received thousands of messages after the episode aired.[15] He responded to some of them in the character of Homer, but gave up after being swamped with e-mails.[16]

He wrote the script for The Simpsons: Road Rage,[17] The Simpsons: Hit & Run[6] and served as the head writer for The Simpsons Game. Alongside Tim Long and Matt Warburton he wrote the game's storyline; they wanted to create something that appealed to the fans of the show, and was, in its own right, "a great new game".[18] Selman said the reason they decided to call it The Simpsons Game and not add a subtitle was because they felt it was a restart of "the 'Simpsons' gaming franchise [...] a big, new, fresh game that takes on video games and hilarious things of all time".[19] Selman stated in 2003 that he never wants to leave The Simpsons.[6]

Of his writing of The Simpsons he said: "The hardest thing is we have to try and make each episode as good as everything that's come before it. We have a legacy of greatness, and you don't want to be the person that ruins The Simpsons."[20]

Other journalistic endeavors

Selman formerly wrote for Time.com's Techland "Nerd World" blog alongside Lev Grossman,[4] and is also the creator and writer of the Icebox.com webtoon "Superhero Roommate."[21] Selman also contributed several jokes to Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights,[22] and appeared alongside Groening and voice actor Hank Azaria to judge on a The Simpsons-themed challenge on an episode of Top Chef: Masters in 2010.[23][24]

Personal life

Selman is married to Renee Ridgeley[25] and has two daughters.[4]

Credits

References

  1. ↑ Gross, Dan (2008-02-28). "'Geator' takes a heart break". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 39.
  2. ↑ Hall, Brendan (2008-08-24). "Notebook". The Boston Globe. p. 7Reg.
  3. ↑ Kahn, Joseph P. (2008-06-10). "Names". Boston Globe. p. 7B.
  4. 1 2 3 "About Matt Selman". Techland.com. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  5. 1 2 3 Haralson, Jessica (2008-04-25). "Meeting Marge at the Button: Revisionism Rules!". The Pennsylvania Gazette.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Haller, Scott; Gunitilaka, Timothy (2003-10-02). "The 105th funniest man". 34th Street Magazine.
  7. ↑ Kennedy, Gerrick D. (2010-07-24). "Comic-Con 2010: 'The Simpsons' get 'Glee'-ful for upcoming season". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
  8. ↑ Snierson, Dan (2000-01-14). "Springfield of Dreams". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  9. ↑ Canning, Robert (2008-08-11). "The Simpsons Flashback: "Trilogy of Error" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  10. ↑ Selman, Matt (2007). The Simpsons season 10 DVD commentary for the episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  11. ↑ Neuman, Clayton (2008-11-03). "Simpsons Scribe Matt Selman Shares His Mad Men Inspiration". AMC.tv. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07.
  12. ↑ "Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search". Emmys.org. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
  13. ↑ "Arts Beat". Dallas Morning News. 1999-11-08. p. 23A.
  14. ↑ Associated Press (2004-02-23). "`Translation,' 'Splendor' Honored". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. D-8.
  15. ↑ "Simpsons fans get e-mails from Homer". BBC News. 2003-01-30. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  16. ↑ Leyden, John (2008-07-14). "Homer Simpson's email address hacked". The Register. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  17. ↑ "The Simpsons: Road Rage Tech Info". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2011-03-21. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  18. ↑ "The Simpsons Game Executive Producer Q&A". GameSpot. September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  19. ↑ Totilo, Stephen (May 10, 2007). "'Simpsons' Video Game Lets You Bounce Homer-Ball, Fly With Super-Bart". MTV News. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  20. ↑ Dudley, Jennifer (2003-05-15). "Hands Down". The Courier Mail. p. What's On 007.
  21. ↑ Botwin, Michele (2000-06-16). "These Days, Web Sites Are Becoming Fairly Animated". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
  22. ↑ Cover, Allen (2008). Eight Crazy Nights DVD commentary (DVD). Columbia Pictures.
  23. ↑ Ramirez, Elva (2010-05-13). "'Top Chef Masters,' Season 2, Episode 6: TV Recap". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  24. ↑ Walker, Tim (2009-04-30). "A good day at the office for Gervais". The Daily Telegraph. p. 007.
  25. ↑ "Matt Selman". IMDB. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
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