Brian Michael Lynch (born June 21, 1973) is an American film and comic book writer. Lynch was the initial writer and co-creator of ' for IDW Publishing alongside Joss Whedon, and is best known for writing the screenplays for the films Puss in Boots (2011), Minions (2015), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019), and ' (2022). He has also written unproduced film adaptations of both The Sims and The Muppets.
Growing up in Middletown Township, New Jersey, Lynch attended Middletown High School South and William Paterson University of New Jersey.
Lynch went to school with (and was friends with) Vincent Pereira, who worked with Kevin Smith at the Quick Stop/RST Video and who inspired Smith's own film career. Despite seeing himself as a writer rather than filmmaker, Lynch contributed in a non-writing capacity to Smith's early films and then wrote/directed one of three non-Smith-directed films under the View Askew label Big Helium Dog.
Except for four years during early childhood spent in Indiana, Lynch lived in New Jersey all his life.
In 2004, he moved to Hollywood, California.
Lynch has worked on a number of comics and animated series: