Todd W. Langen is an American screenwriter and former engineer, best known for his work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Langen was born in Detroit and earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan.[1]
He was 30 years old and working on the Space Shuttle for Hughes Aircraft Company when he decided that what he really wanted to do with his life was to be a screenwriter.[1] His first sale was an episode of Pursuit of Happiness, a television comedy series that lasted less than two months.[1]
He soon became a regular writer of The Wonder Years. His biggest success would come when Langen was hired to work on the film adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The original 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 a studio had deemed interesting bur 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.[1] Langen would return to write the sequel in 1991.