What Is Carter Bays' Net Worth?
Carter Bays is an American television showrunner, writer, and composer who has a net worth of $70 million. Carter Bays is best known for co-creating, writing, and executive producing the TV series "How I Met Your Mother," which aired on CBS from 2005 to 2014. Bays also created the Fox series "The Goodwin Games" in 2013 and served as a writer and executive producer. He wrote for and produced "Oliver Beene" and was a supervising producer for the series "Quintuplets" and "American Dad!," which all aired on Fox. Carter was a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman" and earned five Primetime Emmy nominations for his work on the show. Bays was also nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for How I Met Your Mother in 2009 and 2010. From 2022 to 2023, he executive produced the "How I Met Your Mother" spin-off "How I Met Your Father." In 2022, Carter published the novel "The Mutual Friend."
Early Life
Carter Bays was born Carter Loard Bays on August 12, 1975, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He is the son of retired corporate lawyer James C. Bays and United Church of Christ minister Martha Bays. While attending Shaker Heights High School, Carter's play "Five Visits From Mr. Whitcomb" was chosen for the Young Playwrights Inc. 1993 Young Playwrights Festival, which was founded by Stephen Sondheim. Bays attended Wesleyan University, where he studied English and met his future writing partner and "How I Met Your Mother" co-creator, Craig Thomas. The duo formed the band The Solids, and they would later perform the "How I Met Your Mother" theme song and the season five song "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit." In 1996, Bays and Thomas were interns in MTV's Development department.
Career
After graduating from college in 1997, Bays and Thomas wrote for the "Late Show with David Letterman." Carter was a writer for the show until 2002 and earned five Primetime Emmy nominations for his work. He also wrote for the 2002 MTV Movie Awards and the TV series "Method & Red," "Quintuplets," "Da Ali G Show," "American Dad!," and "Oliver Beene." In 2005, Bays and Thomas co-created the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," which starred Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, and Alyson Hannigan and aired 208 episodes over nine seasons. The series earned 30 Primetime Emmy nominations, winning 10, and was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2010. The show also won a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy in 2012. The series ended in 2014 and led to the 2022 Hulu spin-off "How I Met Your Father," which starred Hilary Duff, Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, and Tien Tran. "How I Met Your Father" ran for 30 episodes, and Carter served as an executive producer on the series and is credited as a writer on the pilot. In 2013, Bays and Thomas co-created the Fox series "The Goodwin Games" with Chris Harris. The sitcom starred Becki Newton, Scott Foley, T.J. Miller, Melissa Tang, and Kat Foster and aired seven episodes. Carter was a writer and executive producer on the series.
Getty
In 2022, Bays published his debut novel, "The Mutual Friend," through Dutton Books. The novel is described as "a hilarious and thought-provoking debut novel set in New York City, following an unforgettable cast of characters as they navigate life, love, loss, ambition, and spirituality—without ever looking up from their phones." Kirkus Reviews called the book "an original, intelligent novel that's not just a perfect summer beach read, but one that deserves serious awards consideration as well." Carter spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about "The Mutual Friend," stating, "I had developed this craft of writing television over 20 years, and I knew how to open a final draft file and start a script, but fiction was something brand new." He added, "For the first few years where it was just me and this book, I enjoyed being able to just create without a studio and network looking over my shoulder, or a fan base. It was nice being just me and the story, and I could tell it any way I wanted."
Personal Life
Carter and his wife, Denise, have three children. Two of their children have appeared in episodes of "How I Met Your Mother." Bays has taught a Master Class in TV Writing at New York's Columbia University, and he has served as an Associate Fellow at Yale University's Davenport College. He is a member of board of the Armed Services Arts Partnership, which helps "veterans rediscover the bonds of their service and become part of a community with common experiences" through free comedy and art classes.
Awards and Nominations
Bays has received seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations: Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for the "Late Show with David Letterman" (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002), Outstanding Comedy Series for "How I Met Your Mother" (2009), and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" from "How I Met Your Mother" (2010). "How I Met Your Mother" also earned Carter a BMI TV Music Award at the 2013 BMI Film & TV Awards, a Comedy Episode of the Year nomination ("How Your Mother Met Me") at the 2014 Gold Derby Awards, and Humanitas Prize nominations for 30 Minute Network or Syndicated Television in 2011 and the 30 Minute Category in 2014. Bays received Writers Guild of America Award nominations for Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series for "Late Show with David Letterman" in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
Real Estate
In 2020, Carter paid $7 million for an 8,000-square-foot home in the Los Angeles suburb of La Cañada Flintridge. That year, he also sold his $6 million New York City condo and put his 9,310-square-foot home in Bedford Hills, New York, on the market for nearly $4 million.