The two are originally from McLean, Virginia. The two met in 1997 on their high school debate team, and directed a short play that J. D. wrote for their school's festival. Payne attended Yale University and studied English Literature, graduating with honors. McKay attended Stonehill College and studied Theater Arts, and American University, where he received an MFA in Creative Writing.
Their script Midas helped them get agency representation and managment. In August 2010, they sold their first ever script Goliath to Relativity Media. Scott Derrickson was set to direct the project for Relativity. In 2011, they were hired to write Deadliest Warrior for Paramount based on the Deadliest Warrior Spike television series.
After writing Deadliest Warrior, Payne and McKay went to work for Bad Robot Productions. There, they wrote Boilerplate, which is based on the novel of the same name, and Micronauts. After, the duo wrote Law Zero for Warner Bros.

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