After we cleaned up a McMess, the client said, “I’m lovin’ it.”
I wrote and produced The Sauce, a podcast about McDonald’s epic failure when they relaunched Szechuan Sauce, angering Rick & Morty fans around the country.
This podcast was a production of Onion Labs, McDonald’s, and Studio@Gizmodo. I collaborated with the host on every word of the script, structured her interview questions, and shaped the story. I even wrote the humorous “ingredient list” featured in the logo. (Might need a magnifying glass to read it.)
The final result got rave reviews, a really cool writeup in the New York Times, and won a Webby. You can listen to it here.
This BuzzFeed video was the cat’s meow.
I wrote for the original record-breaking, heartwarming BuzzFeed cat video (sponsored by Friskies) that launched a series and a Super Bowl commercial.
The best (Donkey Kong score) a man can get.
Overclocked was a first-to-market campaign between Gillette and Studio@Gizmodo with a focus on esports' growing presence in the entertainment landscape.
Billy Mitchell, the notorious “villain” figure from the legendary documentary The King of Kong, was surprisingly candid when I interviewed him.
Overclocked was a first-to-market campaign between Gillette and Studio@Gizmodo with a focus on esports' growing presence in the entertainment landscape.
We went to Detroit and profiled the Renegades, a professional Overwatch esports team, following them on their journey to compete in the Rivalcade Rumble tournament.
I interviewed the team, shaped the story, and oversaw the entire production process from beat sheets to final cut.
Watch it here:
NOTE: videos are currently unavailable; please excuse me while I find new links!
HBO wanted something real and funny to help promote High Maintenance.
I wrote a humorous list of several different archetypes I’d met at Brooklyn parties. (Names have been redacted to protect the innocent.)
It was my first month at BuzzFeed. Someone else had written the voiceover for a video called “Why We Love Tattoos,” sponsored by Ink Master. Ze Frank, legendary digital pioneer and our boss, wasn’t happy. So it fell to me, the new guy, to completely rewrite the VO in a single hour. I did, and Ze loved it. (We also cast my friend Ptolemy Slocum to read it.)
Fun fact: the title in the thumbnail and as displayed in the actual video are different. I was told this is for SEO purposes but I still have the suspicion someone screwed up. (It wasn’t me.)
Coors wanted to align its “Banquet” brand with the coolest, but perhaps little-known, spots in America, where innovative creators are forging their own paths.
I pitched Brooklyn’s only laundromat/pinball bar, where the unlikeliest combination of businesses has found overwhelming success in an incredibly competitive market.
For the Bruce Lee biopic Birth of The Dragon, I created a humorous (but doc-style) video in which a gamer and a martial arts trainer would battle each other in a fighting game… and then in real-life hand-to-hand combat. As you might imagine, the results were outrageous.
This was a particular challenge because we used an obscure (but real) Bruce Lee-themed fighting game, which the client kept insisting we show less and less for legal considerations. We had to get increasingly creative about how we edited this video as the client got ever more skittish. But the result still works! Watch it here.
Killer creative.
For the Hitman video game series, I wrote a piece that asked the question: what are real-life contract killers actually like? I interviewed criminologists and prosecutors to unearth the chilling answer.
I’m very proud of this piece. It transcends “sponcon” stereotypes by being journalistic, thoroughly researched, and minimally branded.
How the sausage is made.
Coors wanted to align its “Banquet” brand with the coolest, but perhaps little-known, spots in America, where innovative creators are forging their own paths.
I pitched a trip to Tucson, where we’d cover El Güero Canelo, a Sonoran hot dog joint. It’s the perfect fusion of Mexican and American food, and proprietor Daniel Contreras is a self-made success story for the ages.
Synchrony wanted a fast, fun video that would drive interest in their car care credit card. I wrote an animation that shows you what happens if you never change your oil. I also provided the voiceover!
The sketch comedy show Hot Date on CBS network Pop TV came to us looking for an innovative, humorous feature.
I pitched a McSweeney’s-style rundown of several made-up dating apps. They bought it. 400,000 views later, the rest is history.
