Carter Bays

Carter Bays (born August 12, 1975)^[1] is an American television writer and television producer. Along with writing partner Craig Thomas, he is best known as creator, writer, and executive producer of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He also wrote "How I Met Your Dad" with Craig Thomas, Emily Spivey and Greta Gerwig. He has been nominated for seven primetime Emmy Awards, including Best Original Song for "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit."^[2]

In another collaboration with Thomas, Bays co-founded the band The Solids, who perform the theme song to How I Met Your Mother, "Hey Beautiful".^[3]

Early life

Bays was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James C. Bays, is a retired corporate lawyer, and his mother is a minister in the United Church of Christ.^[4] While at Shaker Heights High School, Bays' play "Five Visits From Mr. Whitcomb" was selected for the 1993 Young Playwrights Festival in New York City. The play was staged at Playwrights Horizons theater, and featured Camryn Manheim in the cast.^[5] The festival was a production of Young Playwrights, Inc., an organization founded by Stephen Sondheim, for which Bays currently serves as Treasurer.

Bays graduated from Wesleyan University in 1997. While at Wesleyan, he and Craig Thomas performed in a nine piece soul band called the Testostertones. In the summer of 1996 Bays and Thomas were interns in the Development department of MTV. ^[6]

Bays became an intern at MTV in the Fall of 1996, which would later influence his writing.^[7]

Career

Immediately after graduating from Wesleyan in 1997, Bays and Thomas became writing partners, and won a spot writing for the Late Show With David Letterman. It was at Letterman that Bays and Thomas befriended fellow writer and future How I Met Your Mother guest star Will Forte.

Bays also wrote for American Dad,^[8] Quintuplets,^[9] and Oliver Beene.^[10] In 2013 Bays and Thomas created the TV series The Goodwin Games,^[11] starring Scott Foley, T.J. Miller, and Becki Newton. He also will write a new series for Netflix in 2016.

Personal life

Bays lives in New York City with his wife, Denise Cox Bays, and their three children, Pippa, Georgina, and Jack. One of his daughters appeared at the end of Trilogy Time, another one at the end of Unpause. Bays supports many philanthropies, and serves on the Board of Young Playwrights, Inc.^[12]

Notes

References

• Carter Bays at the Internet Movie Database