Autobiography of a Hired Pen
Let’s get one thing straight—I wasn’t born with a pen in my hand, a keyboard in my lap, or my thumb on a phone. That would’ve been messy, and really tough on my mother. But writing has been the throughline of my life—whether chronicling movie stars in Hollywood, producing Emmy-nominated documentaries, or nowadays, crafting compelling biographies, professional profiles, and viral video scripts that make people laugh, think, or hit “share.”
Over the past three decades, I’ve written for every medium: television, film, video, print, and digital. I’ve worked both in front of and behind the camera—though I prefer the view from behind, where the words originate.
My career began with movie reviews and celebrity interviews in Hollywood (yes, I’ve met them all—and no, I won’t tell you who’s secretly nice). My background was equal parts creative and analytical: I earned an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute, and cut my teeth in the movies as a Story Analyst for DreamWorks, HBO, Universal Studios and other major studios—reading and dissecting over 3,000 scripts and manuscripts. I know story structure much like a sommelier knows wine (which, coincidentally, is another one of my hobbies).
But it wasn’t long before I traded red carpets for airport security lines, traveling the globe for Discovery Channel, History Channel, BBC, Science Channel, and others. One of my first breakout projects was a self-produced mini-doc about popular “End of the World” predictions—equal parts history lesson and existential comedy hour—at it earned me my first network gig.
Since then, I’ve written and produced over 80 hours of primetime documentary programming that has taken me to 38 countries and some very strange places, both geographic and metaphysical.
My credits include Expedition Unknown, Top Five Eaten Alive (for Discovery Shark Week and, yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like), Beyond
Bizarre, and Beyond the Da Vinci Code—for which I earned Emmy nominations as both writer and producer. My programs have explored conspiracy theories, debunked myths, and profiled famous achievers from Deepak Chopra to Hugh Hefner.
I was born in White Plains, NY, and grew up in Sparta, New Jersey. After graduating college, I moved to Northern California, mostly because it looked like a lot more fun than New Jersey. There, I decided on a career in film. I went to night school at the Berkeley Film Institute, and later worked for a few small film companies in San Francisco before moving to Los Angeles, because that’s where they keep Hollywood.
These days, I’ve swapped both the glitterati and the ten-hour flights to exotic lands for something just as exciting: ghostwriting memoirs, professional profiles of innovators, and thought-provoking content for clients who want their stories told with clarity, humanity, and sometimes the perfectly placed punchline.
I provide not just polish, but voice—whether you’re a CEO with a legacy to share, a brand with a mission, or someone with a hell of a story and no idea where to begin.
Oh! And when I’m not writing for others, I’m duking it out on my Blog with humor and insights on topical stories in politics, belief, popular nonsense, and rational thought. (Spoiler alert: Reason usually wins.)
I’m now based in Florida with my wife, Judi—an Emmy-winning news anchor turned psychologist, a gourmet chef, and a fellow travel addict. We love good stories, working out, beaches, affordable wine, and each other.