Don’t you hate it when you have to drop work you are proud of from your resume because the document is getting too long? Conventional wisdom insists on two pages, maximum. But, as I was writing this, I realized that in a virtual world, it really doesn’t matter how deep I go or how many pages I post: I don’t run the risk of boring readers when they/you will most likely be searching my keyword anyway. So, in the spirit of digital freedom, I’ve included information about some of my previous projects, listed here in no particular order.
Occidental college-Jeffers Exhibit A national Big Read funded by the National Endowment for the Arts focused on Robinson Jeffers, a seminal poet and celebrated graduate of Occidental College. For one portion of their massive, year-long celebration, I was tasked with writing, designing and mounting an exhibit tying his poetry and his radical ecological views with contemporary efforts to save the environment around Occidental College, a school which was seminal in shaping his thinking. I took photos, wrote and even sketched icons in the style of famous printers who worked with Jeffers. And, I was asked to give a speech explaining the exhibit.
I was also asked to speak (with a translator of course) at a televised business banquet in Tangshan China, The Tangshan Foreign Experts Banquet. Everyone, including the media, was very kind and appreciative.
3 Ring Circus: I absolutely adored this job, and it would be impossible to describe all the exciting work we achieved together each day at this entertainment branding company. Not only was I tasked with transforming detailed qualitative and quantitative data into actionable creative brand directives that their world-renown artists could use, I also wrote full length entertainment shows for DirectTV and created branded TV content for WalMart, Ralph’s and Albertson’s. Yes, some of those recipes you saw while waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store were my brainchild. Did you try any? How did they turn out?
One of our largest clients was Astral Media Network, the HBO of Canada. I did brand positioning, brand direction, creative direction and more over the course of more than a year, subtly altering the content to appeal to the French speaking market.
Inside DirecTV was another 3Ring project, and I especially loved our co-production with Turner Classic Movies. I even got the chance to use my Spanish, working with untranslated data for big south of the border brands like A&E Mundo (Spanish A and E), Televisa.
I freelanced a great deal over the years, and in the process wrote countless a number of of marketing lines, print copy and TV ads for various notable companies such as Disney, Virgin Mobile, Paramount Pictures, Soapnet, Oracle, iVillage and Mattel, to name a few.
As a freelancer, I also headed a complete brand study for Healthclub Media Networks from qualitative and quantitative questions through analysis and creative direction.
In the Alternative media world, I did hours and hours of popup wisecracks for episodes of Bridezillas and loads of movie tied tweets for Hallmark films that did quite well for the company. I managed to pack the house at
After the 1992 LA Riots, a lot of us media types started looking around for ways to help people who had suffered damage during the protests. I joined with Larry Handelman to support the making of a “We-are-the-World” style concert called City of Fallen Angels to raise money to benefit the communities hit hard. Thanks to Larry’s extensive rolodex and my own production contacts, I managed to onboard an entire production crew to film the event and helped encourage several major celebrities to participate including Kid Frost, Young MC, the Boys, Rick James and visits by Jesse Jackson and Arsenio Hall. Proceeds went to churches in the communities damaged in the struggle. There are a few links below.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-08-ca-1801-story.html
NEW JERSEY NETWORK -The Latin image in Hollywood – I had the honor of interviewing and writing about some major lights of Latinex culture -(Julie Carmen, Gorge Rivera, Ricardo Montalban, Rita Moreno, Esai Morales) about their experiences battling stereotypes and racism in the entertainment field. It was extremely interesting – and rather inspiring – learn about the struggles these people had faced trying to represent an authentic Hispanic experience.
At one time most of my work consisted of writing, producing and interviewing stars for trailers and video press packs/EPKs. These “EPKs” were short behind-the-scenes documentaries distributed to help promote the films. Some of these included Maverick, Lethal Weapon 3, Quiggly Down Under, Double Impact, Basic Instinct, Impromptu, Tie Me Up/Tie Me Down, Highway to Hell, Company Business.
Single White Female, The Reality of Fear HBO’s first forays into content creation included half hour companion pieces for new films. I was responsible for this one which included interviews with real people who’d experienced borderline personality roommates. The story’s were so compelling the guests were invited to appear on to multiple network TV shows, and, of course, the movie did very well.
However, my first shot a producing an EPK was my favorite. It was the Bug’s Bunny’s 50th Anniversary Special that played at Magic Mountain for a year. The real treat here was getting to meet Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Noel Blanc (Mel Blanc’s son) and some other creators of my favorite childhood cartoons. I got signed drawings from both Friz and Chuck, whom I developed an immediate crush on this elderly charmer, despite the fact that he modeled Peppy Le Pew on himself.
Prior to his famed meltdown and… redemption(?), The American Cinematheque honored Mel Gibson; with a night of Tribute featuring co-starts including Danny Glover, Goldie Hawn and James Garner whose speeches I wrote. In fact, I wrote everything except the opening monologue. The Hollywood Reporter called the evening “A hoot.”
I’ve also been called upon to write several key Speeches for Michael Douglas (The Red Ball), Chevron’s, Global Downstream Presentation and for Alan Douglas, Arts Award acceptance speech.
I was privileged to write the script for an IMAX film, Hawaii Born in Paradise
CBS2 2 The Movies– The first of its kind, ahead-of-its time coproduction between pre-sales for a Sony pictures movie and a ticket sales company. I asked viewers to speculate on the trailer and ask questions of the stars (Rene Russo, John Malovich, Clint Eastwood, Dir. Wolfgang Petersen) which I then relayed to them. It was like YouTube nerd culture before YouTube existed, and it got great ratings. I thought of a little local sweepstakes for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and it exploded into a national campaign the following year. Jane Seymour let me ride her horse! LA Running was my huge, uplifting end of year promo film shoot to wrap up and promote healing in the year of the Rodney King trial. We shot everywhere from the Griffith Observatory to a “fake” sunrise at Paradise cove. I hope it made people feel a little better. Dr. Joyce Brothers used to come to our station to do special pieces. She liked my promo so much, she put it in her official library. I am proud of my Dirty Dining promo because my disgusting film-noire -ish promo kicked off more reports and a citywide panic that resulted in legislation to clean up LA restaurants.
Anotoher interesting entertainment and industry mashup I created was a show called Ecologio Today about ecological practices for Spanish speaking audiences in LA. It was a coproduction between the regional power company and a Spanish language TV network, and there were three shows on recycling, water reclamation, etc. The trick was directing Spanish speakers on the scene and trying to negotiate language disagreements between Cuban, Mexican, Guatemalan and Venezuelan regional speakers! However, we ended up with a product that really helped new Americans understand the hows and whys of caring for our LA water, land and air.
I’ve also written for numerous websites and have done a lot of Writing for Print and websites such as Broadcasting and Cable ads, Family Vacation Guide, Working world Magazine– Brand yourself, Get the Job, Health -Weigh Your Gym’s Flaws Against Your Weight Loss and Netwits Magazine, the publication of an early online comedy group, started before blogging was a “thing.” More comedy writing can be found on my less serious website www.writertonip.com
Finally, it was no masterwork, but it was my first writing job was for On the Boulevard Magazine. I wrote this whole darned thing every month, proofread it and even schlepped from from Studio City to Woodland Hills handing out copies because I was young and hungry. The money was micro, but, I got to take free trips and eat at restaurants for free just for writing promotional reviews of their businesses!