Original Content
The Challenge: Help the Museum of the City of New York secure funding and long-term brand partnerships to support its centennial initiatives.
The Idea: Create a premium platform inviting brands to take part in rebuilding, redefining and resurrecting New York City. reNewYork.city positioned leading companies not just as sponsors but as active participants in the city’s renewal.
My Role: Named, developed and sold the platform concept and narrative. Wrote and directed the accompanying launch video.
The Museum of the City of New York has given millions a reason to believe in New York City. For its centennial, the museum brought me in as Executive Creative Director to help give millions a reason to visit. I championed the campaign platform “You’re Welcome,” a line that captured the museum’s relationship with the city it chronicles, celebrating everything New York gives the world while inviting people to experience its story. The campaign identity and narrative extended across museum communications, digital channels, the centennial gala, and a short film, culminating in the Empire State Building lighting in the campaign colors.
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
[ECD / interviewer]
The Challenge: Help Paramount+ introduce Starfleet Academy and the Star Trek universe to new audiences while honoring six decades of legacy.
My Role: Led development of franchise messaging, partner activation strategy, and campaign concept development.
The Work: Wrote the theme line "The Future Starts Today," positioning Starfleet Academy as the place where Star Trek's vision of optimism and discovery begins for a new generation and "It's Time to Discover the Galaxy Within" as the campaign's emotional entry point.
Wrote, produced and directed a short film to introduce a new narrative for the Met that helped raise a record $4.4 million (the most in their history outside of the Costume Gala).
Not all opinions are created equal. With understanding one of the scarcest commodities in the world, TIME offers something no one else does: trusted perspective. I used their iconic red frame to prove it. An international print, outdoor and online campaign. A companion CNN special. A dedicated issue of the magazine. A new editorial lens. Custom QR codes that offered on-demand insight. Highest reader recall scores recorded. Nearly 600% increase in video plays.
[concept, ECD, writer]
9/11 didn’t end on 9/11. Helped unite and focus all of TimeWarner’s divisions including TIME, CNN & HBO to convey the ripple effects of that fateful day. Emmy Award winner, news & documentary*
[creative director, executive producer, writer]
*expanded TIME Magazine's planned photo 9/11 anniversary essay into an Emmy Award winning, multi-platform experience including a full-length HBO documentary with airings on CNN, theatrical screenings, digital screenings on social, an online portrait and interview gallery, a photo exhibition at Milk Gallery, print & digital ads and a hardcover commemorative book. (CEO Jeff Bewkes hailed this as the model for how the company should work together going forward)
How do you get millions of people to experience the benefits of meditation every day? Maloka's answer: treat it like a game. Neil deGrasse Tyson guides users through a virtual world where their mind is represented as an island that grows with every session. I developed the narrative voice and user experience in collaboration with the production team. Over 250,000 people tried it in the first four weeks alone.
[creative consultant / scripting]
Challenge: An early digital content platform with 20 million+ opt-in users came looking for daring, exclusive entertainment. This was pre-YouTube. Premium web-only series didn't really exist yet.
Solution: Well, since we live in a land where 44% of all adults are single, one that's obsessed with every juicy detail of (other people's) bad dates, I conceived, wrote, sold and EP'd "Date Court" a good-natured, reality-based series that starts where those really bad dates leave off. Produced in association with Telepictures and Warner Bros.
Cases included "The World's Cheapest Date," "The Ultimate Momma's Boy," "The Least Honest Personal Ad in History" and "The Most Inconsiderate Break-up."
Bryan Callen and Octavia Spencer hosted and judged "who's right" "who's wrong" and "who's just plain stupid."
Verdict: Date Court delivered nearly half a million very targeted users who watched "Dating's Least Wanted" get brought to justice.
As head of Atlantic's Entertainment Development division, I wrote, produced and interviewed some of the label's most iconic talent for a 50th Anniversary special including Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Aretha Franklin, Maya Angelou, Tori Amos, Phil Collins, Pete Townshend and some surprising super fans including Jann Wenner and Henry Kissinger.
[producer/writer/interviewer/believer]
[writer]
Taking a challenger brand stance vs. heavyweights that compete for attention…
[creative director, writer]
"Crypto with confidence"
[copywriter / naming]
“Why are we here?” “How much control do we have over our destiny?”
According to The Actor, it’s time for some answers. And according to its author, one of the book’s readers has been chosen to help save the world.
The actor is not the star of a movie, rather he / she is any reader who seeks the truth.
Opening with fragments of an ancient legend and continuing its narrative with parables, nuggets of transcendent wisdom and poetry, The Actor offers its readers insight and guidance that bring to light our inner world.
Reportedly the most stolen book at New York's East West Books. We choose to take that as a compliment.
[co-author / editor]
