Teaser-trailer

I finally got to work on a Scorsese film, and it’s a great one.

Written for and produced by AV Squad

“They’re Going To Make A Killing.”

and

“Payback Is A Beast.”

Written for/produced by AV Squad

"Lights. Camera. Anxiety."

I had a lot of good ideas for this campaign, IMHO, and I'm not thrilled with what HBO picked in the end. If you enjoy the series, you’re a rarity, but don’t you think something like "In What Universe Is This Acceptable Behavior?" would have been more interesting? Alas, I don't make the final call on these things, which reminds me of another line I wrote for this series, "An Epic Battle Of Good Vs. Ego."

Written for AV Squad / Produced by BLT

“A story of two ladies going south.”

A subversive romp inspired by 70’s sexploitation film, made by a Cohen brother and his talented wife.

Written for/produced by AV Squad

“A Solitary Exhibition”

Written for and produced by Arsonal

“All We Have Is Now”

This movie is a beautiful, heartbreaking little love story and this tagline is one of my favorites of late.

Written for and produced by Arsonal

“Children Can Be Such Monsters.”

Written for AV Squad, produced by Works ADV

:30 Promos

I wrote almost every It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia promo for the show's first 7 seasons. These are just a couple of my faves. The first one is a Bergman-inspired concept that required a special shoot in which cast members acted out my script in Swedish. Fun.

Written for and produced by BLT

"Love Is A Force Of Nature"

This project really was a labor of love — and I couldn't be happier with the result. Inside scoop: The studio was very hesitant to market this as a love story, so I had to cull every mention of the word "love" in my initial concepts. In the weeks leading up to the launch of the campaign, the tagline was changed to "Destiny is a force of nature." I know, not even close. Fortunately, someone at the studio grew some Rocky Mountain oysters at the last minute and we were able to go with the line as originally written.

Written for and produced by BLT

Teaser written for the second season of the FX series.

"Truth Lies In The Dark."

Meh. I thought I had much better ideas for this one, but ultimately the people who write the checks make the decisions. C'est la vie.

Written for/produced by Arsonal

"There's Been a Grave Misunderstanding."

If you know the plot of this film, you'll understand why this line is one of my favorites. 

Written for and produced by BLT

“Find The Story Before It Finds You”

The perfect tagline, IMHO, for a film about a journalist reporting on a murder and getting in over his head.

Written for AV Squad / Produced by Art Machine

"A Killer Second Act"

I loved the first season of Barry, so I was delighted to work on this campaign. I wrote a ton of stuff that was way less punny and expected, but the HBO marketing team never seems to like ideas that are even remotely as clever as their programming. Whatever. I got paid.

Written for Arsonal, produced by P+A

"You Read Them Wrong."

This movie may or may not be “the female Superbad,” but it’s pretty damn funny. I liked this line, too.

Written for and produced by Arsonal.

“Conquer Your Fate”

A pretty simple line, but it does encapsulate this particular hero’s journey in a voice that echoes the sparing look and feel of the film.

Written for and produced by AV Squad

"A Man With The Heart of a Nation"

This is a beautiful movie and one of Gary Oldman’s best performances. I think it’s also one of my best taglines.

Written for and produced by Arsonal

“Meet The Man Of Your Dreams”

A not-terribly-clever tagline for the latest in a string of “Oh, yeah, he really is a great actor” Nick Cage movies.

Written for AV Squad

"How Do Enemies Find Common Ground?"

Written for and produced by AV Squad

“Every Suspect Fits A Pattern”

Like many of the most intriguing movie taglines, it’s enough to pique your interest and give you a sense of the story, but you don’t fully appreciate the line until you’ve seen the film. A moody and mysterious little indie from Focus Pictures.

Written for and produced by AV Squad

"Silence Killed More Than An Icon."

I was happy we landed on this tag, although the Art Director could have bumped up the font size a bit, right? At any rate, I was thrilled to work on this project — as if writing the tagline for Brokeback Mountain wasn't enough to secure my status in the pantheon of gay entertainment advertising writers. Yes, they have a pantheon for that.

Written for and produced by Arsonal

“50 years. 25 albums. 345 songs. Unlimited genius.”

and

“Your favorite band’s favorite band.”

A great doc about a legendary band that has somehow remained mostly anonymous despite having millions of fans. I wrote a bunch of stuff for this and apparently, the client liked so many of the taglines they couldn’t decide on just one. A little weird but certainly flattering, although I wish they’d just used my single favorite line instead: “They’ve never heard of you either.”

Written for and produced by AV Squad

Season One: Comicon Trailer

Imagine what America would be like if Japan and Germany had won World War II. I did, and I imagined what the new pledge of allegiance might sound like. Then I wrote it and we had some deep-voiced guy read it. 

Written for and produced by BLT AV

Season Two: Print and Comicon Trailer

The second season campaign was driven by my copy, "The future belongs to those who change it." I think the campaign was especially resonant due to its release time - between the election and the inauguration of Donald Trump. 

Written for BLT AV/Produced by Netflix

“Home Is Where You Belong”

This is the second Goran Stolevski film I’ve worked on (“Of An Age” was the first) and he has quickly become one of my favorite indie filmmakers. This film is a gorgeous, intimate portrait of a non-traditional family in a place ruled by tradition.

Written for and produced by ARSONAL

“Fear Takes New Form”

Season 1 Teaser written for/produced by FX

:30 television

A fun movie. A fun challenge: Use three words to convey the promise of this blockbuster.

Written for and produced by BLT

"All's Fair in Love and Cold War"

The campaign for season 1 of a pretty great series about conflicted Russian spies living in suburban America in the '80's.

Written for Arsonal/Produced by Ignition Print

"The World Is Changing. The News Is Too."

Written for Arsonal/Produced by Leroy & Rose

“Back In Badness”

Written for/produced by AV Squad

“Time Takes Everything But The Truth.”

Written for/Produced by ARSONAL

“The Making Of A Killer Franchise”

Written for/produced by AV SQUAD

"Brought To You By The Letters... HBO"

A campaign to announce the launch of Sesame Street on HBO. (Not to worry, it’s still available for free on PBS.)

Written for and produced by Proof

“Fire To Fire” “Blood To Blood”

Written for/Produced by AVSQUAD

Trailer

I dug this one out of the archives recently. The trailer writing is fine, but I’m including it more as a reminder of where America was politically, just a few short years ago. Romney lost his run, and I never agreed with his policies, but this doc is worth a look as lasting portrait of a man with an integrity that very few Republican leaders, if any, seem to possess these days.

Written for and produced by BLT

Red Band Trailer

Written for and produced by BLT

“Imagination Will Set You Free”

Written for and produced by Arsonal

:30 television x 2

Written for and produced by BLT

"A Series of Embarrassing Episodes"

Written for and produced by Arsonal

“The man. The music. The movement.”

Written for and produced by Arsonal

"No Law Can Make It Respectable"

Written for and produced by BLT

“Misery Just Found Company.”

Written for Arsonal/Produced by hi5

“One Last Chance To Feel The Love”

Final season copy written for Pool Party Creative/Produced by Leroy & Rose

Trailer

I wrote several scripts for this, and unfortunately we didn't end up using much copy... but it was a fun project.

Written for and produced by BLT

Promos

A few promos I scripted for FX's (now FXX's) Archer. The second one was for the launch of Season 7, and the third is for Season 8.

Written for and produced by BLT

"The People Have Spoken. Now It's His Turn."

This ad was written in the weeks between President Obama’s re-election and the launch of the show’s 2013 season.

Written for and produced by And Co.

"A Classic. Reloaded."

Written for/produced by AV Squad

"There Is a Fate Worse Than Death."

Written for and produced by FOX in-house

Trailer

Written for and produced by BLT

"Good Breeding Gone Bad."

Part of the campaign for the somewhat odd indie-thriller starring pre-Queen’s Gambit Anya Taylor-Joy.

Written for and produced by Arsonal

Campaign

I was delighted to work with Loyalkaspar NY on concepting and copy for the launch of CNN's The Seventies (they also brought me in on The Sixties). Here's the launch spot, with the tagline I created for the show, "One Nation Under Change."

"Possession Is Just The Beginning"

Written for Arsonal/Produced by InSync Plus

"Don't Judge a Cop by His Cover."

Written for and produced by Arsonal

"Hell Was an Ocean Away"

Written for And Co./Produced by Ignition Print
 

“Every Dream Has A Dark Side”

Written for and produced by AVSquad

"Diplomacy Is Overrated"

and

"The World's Not Saving Itself"

Written for and produced by Arsonal and Bemis Balkind

"Welcome To A Fear Beyond Imagination"

Written for/produced by AV Squad

"They Did Everything But Delete It."

Written for and produced by Arsonal

“The Past Can Be A Trigger”

Written for/Produced by AVSQUAD

"Some Fears Are Darker Than Space"

This is not one of the best movies I've ever worked on. Not by a long shot. And I preferred the line "Discover A Fear Darker Than Space" over this bastardized version. At least I got paid.

Written for/produced by AV Squad

"Courage Beyond Words"

Written for and produced by Arsonal

Trailer

This is an example of how what I write is often, uh, "tweaked" in the editing process. Below is the script as I wrote it, and on the right you can view the finished trailer. You decide which is better. That's what I thought.

GFX:

AN ATHLETE

BECAME A HERO

A HERO

BECAME A SOLDIER

A SOLDIER

BECAME A LEGEND

THIS DECEMBER

WHEREVER COURAGE TAKES YOU

HOPE WILL BRING YOU HOME

Alt:

HOPE IS FRAGILE

COURAGE IS UNBREAKABLE

Written for and produced by Universal in-house

“Rosemary Was Not The First”

Written for/Produced by AVSQUAD

“Fear Has No Cure”

Written for and produced by Arsonal

"A Hostile Makeover"

and

"He's Feeling Renewed"

Following the whole tiger blood/"winning" melt down, this first ad marked Charlie Sheen's return to television... while the one below announced that the series was picked up for an additional 90 (!) episodes. I mean he was great in Hot Shots: Part Deux, but I still don't understand what people see in this guy.

Written for and produced by Arsonal

"His Way or Norway"

and

"Still Cold As Ice"

Written for Arsonal. Produced by Arsonal and Cold Open.

Teaser

This copy-driven teaser was one of my first.

Written for and produced by BLT

"Welcome To The End Of The Weak"

Not a very exciting ad, but I just thought this line was terribly clever.

Written for and produced by Arsonal

"Laugh Like There's No Tomorrow"

Written for Arsonal, produced by The Refinery

"A Life or Death Situation Comedy"

Written for Arsonal and produced by USA in-house
 

Trailer

This was a challenging project. Unlike most films, this one was based on an all-too-real story that didn't need any dramatic help from me. Ultimately we settled on a single sentiment of hope, expressed in graphic cards at the very end of the piece.

Written for and produced by BLT

Print Series

A very specific assignment - promote a reality show about South Boston to New Yorkers. By taunting them.

Written for Buster, Inc./Produced by And Co.

“Hope Cannot Be Confined”

A touching doc about a young woman’s struggle to break the cycle of drug abuse and serial incarceration.

Written for and produced by AV Squad

"You See What It Wants You To See."

Written for and produced by Arsonal

"You Will Know Her Name"

Written for and produced by Arsonal

Trailer

Written for and produced by BLT

"First He Gets Into Your House.

Then He Gets Into Your Head."

Written for and produced by Arsonal

Trailer

OK, this was definitely not an Academy Award-winning film. But I would have surrendered all of humanity to evil galactic overlords for this chance to write voiceover for Dame Judy Dench. I also thought the copy run at the end worked well.

Written for and produced by BLT