Who is Jonas Pate? All about the Outer Banks creator as he allegedly grabs and screams at PA, stars intervene

Screenwriter and director Jonas Pate, who is also the executive producer of Outer Banks, has made headlines for his behavior towards a female production assistant. According to a report by People Magazine, he allegedly screamed at the assistant and even shook her. This reportedly happened during the shooting of the show’s final season, which took place in Croatia.

The news was first exclusively reported by TMZ on October 22, noting that actors Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline had to intervene in the situation. Sources told the outlet that this wasn’t an unusual behavior for Pate, but it had become public this time. Meanwhile, another source told People Magazine:

“He didn’t hurt her or try to hurt her. He just crossed a line. Putting your hands on someone is never, ever okay.”

According to IMDb, besides Outer Banks, Jonas Pate is also known for works like Good vs Evil and Deceiver, among others. Born on January 15, 1970, in North Carolina, he is married to Jennifer Fishman and they are parents to two children. He was a student of Princeton University, from where he graduated in 1992. He also created the 2025 drama, The Runarounds, in which his daughter, Lilah Pate, is an actor.

Jonas Pate also has a twin brother named Josh Pate, with whom he directed a music video, Please. The fourth season of Outer Banks saw the exit of one of the characters, JJ. Speaking about this choice, he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024:

“It’s been kind of lurking in his DNA from the beginning. He’s really a tragic figure, and the idea of mortality, and you only have a finite window, it’s also a theme of the show.”

Jonas Pate on his inspiration behind The Runarounds

In September 2025, Jonas Pate shared his thoughts on creating The Runarounds while speaking on Beautiful Ballad. He said that Josh, who attended UNC Chapel Hill, was around the indie band scene during the early 1990s. Watching young people chase their dreams in music, even when success seemed unlikely, made a big impression on him.

As he got older, he realized how innocent and unaware those dreamers were about the challenges ahead. That experience gave him the idea for The Runarounds. After Outer Banks became successful, he thought it might finally be the right time to bring that idea to life. Jonas Pate further added:

“And so, the next big question was actors that fake playing musicians or the other way around. And I just thought everyone does it that way. Is there can we get real music, real musicians and do it the other way? And that sort of started the whole process.”

Speaking of the music in the series, he said:

“I knew that if I got too prescriptive about the music style that it would probably not work. And so it would be better to say, like for example, I'd said, ‘Okay, I need you to write a song about graduating high school.’ And it's kind of bittersweet, like there's something great about it, there's something kind of sad about it. And so, then the next day they handed me senior year, you know?”

Jonas Pate explained that he preferred to set creative goals for the writers without dictating how to achieve them. Sometimes, they would start by writing a song and then build a storyline around it, and other times, the plot would come first, inspiring the music.

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