Their script
Midas helped them get agency representation and management. In August 2010, they sold their first ever script
Goliath to
Relativity Media. Their script was later rewritten by
Simon Pegg and
Doug Jung. In April 2014, the two were hired to write a new reboot of
Flash Gordon (in development) for
20th Century Fox. Four months later, they were announced to have written the most recent draft of
Disney's
Jungle Cruise. In August, they were set to write ''A People's History Of The Vampire Uprising'' for Fox and
21 Laps. The two were hired to write Amazon's
Lord of the Rings series in July 2018. They were confirmed as showrunners in July 2019. To develop the series, Payne and McKay believed
J. R. R. Tolkien's lesser-known
Second Age was the key. They worked together to map out five seasons of television that told the first five minutes of the prologue in
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. After their first pitch to Amazon, they got a call to return, but they had to pitch all five seasons of the series. The two mapped out the series at Payne's assistant's apartment, and successfully pitched the show. Afterwards, they were called back for seven more pitches. In initial meetings with the
Tolkien Estate, Payne quoted Tolkien and greeted
Simon Tolkien in Elvish. Their idea for the series lined up with Simon Tolkien's vision, and their former boss
J. J. Abrams recommended them to Amazon. In February 2022, they set up their 2017
Black List script
Escape with
The Hideaway Entertainment, with James Watkins to direct the film. == Personal life ==