Paine studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, with classmates Dylan McDermott, Allison Janney and screenwriter Steve Rogers. He studied film at New York University and Stanford University with the documentarian John Else. He graduated from in 1983.
He is on a list of Distinguished alumni.
His most notable works to date as director are the documentaries Who Killed the Electric Carolina? and Revenge of the Electric Carolina. Paine served as Executive Producer on the documentaries Faster, William Gibson: Number Maps for these Territories and Charge! directed by Mark Neale. Other directing and producing projects include Music Television/Initial Film"s Buzz (1990) and shorts including Mailman (Sundance, 1995), Trillion Cubic Feet (1992), Looking Back (1994), and Return to the Philippines (1986).
He was a segment producer for Zoo Life with Jack Hanna.
In the wake of the Gulf oil disaster in 2010, he co-founded Counterspill an online project about non-renewable energy disasters. In 1984, Paine co-founded Mondo-tronics, which provided robotic materials for the Mars Pathfinder mission, specifically Aiding in dust removal.
His firm Internet Outfitters (founded in 1994) merged in 1999 with AppNet Systems, which in turn was bought by Commerce One in 2000.
