Biography
Todd W. Langen is an American screenwriter and former engineer, best known for his work on the original live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) film.
Langen was born in Detroit and earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan. He was 23 years old and working on the Space Shuttle for Hughes Aircraft Company in Los Angeles when he decided what he really wanted to do with his life was to be a screenwriter. His first sale was an episode of The Pursuit of Happiness, a television comedy series that lasted less than two months.
Langen soon became a regular writer of The Wonder Years. His biggest success would come when he was hired to work on the film adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The initial treatment of 1990's “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was written by Bobby Herbeck; Langen was called in to do a "Page One rewrite," that is, a complete revision based on a screenplay that the studio had deemed interesting but unworkable as submitted. Langen and Herbeck did not work together and did not meet until the film opened. He is listed first in the credits. Langen would return to write the sequel The Secret of The Ooze in 1991.