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1 month ago
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EXCLUSIVE: JD Payne and Patrick McKay’ have named Kevin Jarzynski to be Head of Development & Production for their newly formed 10:40 PM Productions. He will be tasked with overseeing the company’s television and film slate, while Payne & McKay ready a third season of Amazon Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
It is a natural move for Jarzynski, who spent the last eight years as a Senior Development and Programming Executive at Amazon Studios, where he played a pivotal role in overseeing the studio’s largest tentpole series. He worked closely with showrunners and EPs Payne and McKay. Jarzynski was instrumental in developing the project, and was on the ground with the duo during production in New Zealand and London.
10:40 PM Productions is based at Amazon MGM Studios, with an exclusive TV deal there.
Jarzynski was also a frequent collaborator of Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Kilter Films, having developed Fallout and The Peripheral. He also worked on the rom-com My Lady Jane, as well as adaptations of Brian K. Vaughn’s Y.A. comic book Paper Girls, and Matt Reeves’s production of Tales From The Loop.
Prior to Amazon, Jarzynski spent a decade serving as a Feature Executive at J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot, where his relationship with Payne and McKay first began. Together, they worked on various projects, including Boilerplate, based on the book by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett.
“Kevin is the perfect trifecta — excellent taste, extremely hard working, and delightful to work with. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be embarking on this new chapter together,” said Payne and McKay.
Payne and McKay started working together in high school theater, where they wrote and directed short plays. Since, they have been partners for more than 25 years, collaborating on dozens of scripts for film and television, including uncredited writing on Star Trek Beyond for producer J.J. Abrams, as well as Disney’s Jungle Cruise, Legendary’s Godzilla Vs. Kong, with additional film and TV projects set up at Sony, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and Disney. Their original work includes the scripts Goliath and Escape, which was on the 2017 Blacklist, and is currently set to be produced by The Hideaway Entertainment. In 2018, they were tapped as showrunners for Amazon Prime Video’s critically acclaimed and Emmy Award-nominated series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, with over 150 million views throughout its two-season run.
The name 10:40 PM Productions comes from Payne and McKay’s production company, 10:40 PM Productions, is taken from the first play they wrote together in high school. The shingle aims to continue in the tradition of the filmmakers that inspired them back then and continue to inspire them now, bringing to life stories in which artistic integrity meets mass-audience appeal. The company will allow them to grow into other genres.
Payne, McKay, and 10:40 PM Productions are repped by CAA and attorney Barry Littman at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
