Currently…
I write and pitch television along with Tessa Blake (who, conveniently enough, is also my wife). Our first development deal was with Bad Robot and Touchstone Television, and since then, we've enjoyed script deals with Warner Brothers, NBC/Universal, ABC, ABC Studios and FOX, represented by Anonymous Content. I also write for Slate and other news sites, and now finishing a fantasy novel.
I have edited books large and small, and take ghostwriting jobs for a variety of subjects. Contact me at the address below.
Recently…
Election Night went to Cannes!
Adapted from a play I wrote called “The Last American Liberal”, the short film was selected for the Emerging Film Showcase and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, starring Peri Gilpin (“Frasier”).
K, X, Z and V - my short play published as “The Best of the 24-Hour Plays” - was recently performed in New York, St. Louis, North Hollywood and St. Augustine.
Some fun writing samples…
The Delirium of COVID-19 — Slate.com
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown vs. Charlie and Lola — Slate.com
Blogs vs. Early Social Media — The New York Times
The Haunting Spirits of Single Malt Ghost Distilleries — Saveur Magazine
Mitt Romney and Mormonism — The New York Times
Throwback: The Hogwarts Headache — The New York Times
Throwback: Millennials and War — Salon.com
(and I helped write some books long ago…)
13th GEN: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail — contributing author, Random House. The O.G. treatise on Gen X, brought to you by Neil Howe and Bill Strauss, the men who coined the term “Millennials”. I was a young whippersnapper, writing 90% of the “Crasher” character, with limited efficacy. The book has aged well in some key areas, poorly in others…
Next: Young American Writers on the New Generation — contributing author, W.W. Norton and Co. An excellent snapshot of generational warfare, ‘90s-style. Edited by the amazing Eric Liu.
About me…
My family were musicians; my mom was a composer, and my dad was a symphony conductor who kept moving us to a new town with a better orchestra. I was a concert violinist, and a complete zork. I went to grade school in eastern Iowa; middle school in London, England; a prep school in Tidewater, VA; then landed at the amazing University of North Carolina. It was there I wrote the oddly-viral article Why I Hate Duke and its sister article Why I Still Hate Duke.
I helped write two books on Generation X, and was on the original team that launched Citysearch, back when that was a thing. After that, I wrote trailers for huge Hollywood blockbusters such as the Star Wars prequels.
I kept a blog for 12 years that led to fun magazine work, and now I pitch and write TV shows that I would have liked as a kid staying up too late. These days we work from Venice Beach, but the only place we can truly hang our hat is up in the Taconic Range of New York, at a tiny farm where nothing really works. I grow misshapen fruit, tap (and spill) maple sap for syrup, and do a lot of weird shit that doesn't make us any money. For 21 years, I’ve hosted a yearly festival of arts, music, philosophy and hare-brained schemes at our farm.
Most importantly, my wife and I are the parents of an amazing girl.
I can do Morse Code at 35 wpm because 7th grade was not a good time for me. I can write in four different calligraphy fonts, five if I've opened an Ardbeg single malt. I separate my dark clothes from the whites, and I know which cups are top-rack dishwasher safe. If you feel something, I will feel it with you.
