Overview:

• Award--winning producer, writer and director of documentaries, reality television, talk shows and interactive programming
• Highly-experienced news writer, adept at producing polished copy under tight deadlines in a national television newsroom
• Voiceover artist and actor with several popular audiobook titles
• Resourceful, creative builder of start-up operations that meet customer and management needs

Credit Summary:

 CNN, Discovery, MTV, History, PBS, ID, Bravo, Audible, HGTV, A&E, Travel Channel, SiriusXM

Experience:

COPY EDITOR / LEAD WRITER, “Early Start,” CNN, New York, NY

• Led writing staff in a fast-paced, high-volume national newsroom. Wrote, edited and enhanced the energy and urgency of all copy (read by anchors and in on-screen graphics), as well as checking for style, spelling, and compliance with standards and practices. 
• In a live control room, rapidly added and edited copy to keep pace with breaking news, and with evolving production and editorial decisions by the line producer, anchors and director. 2014-2024

SUPERVISING STORY PRODUCER, Investigation Discovery/Atlas Media Corp., New York, NY

• Edited, doctored and polished all scripts, outlines, synopses and treatments for 20 episodes of Investigation Discovery’s high-rated true crime series ▶“Stalked: Someone’s Watching.” Heightened storytelling in all production documents. Wrote 3 episodes. Directed narration sessions and host segments. Conducted host interviews and integrated her responses into episode fine cuts.
• Acted as deputy show-runner, managing and coaching writers, producers, post producer, associate producers, editors, and recreation team. 2013-2014

NEWS DIRECTOR / MANAGING EDITOR / ANCHOR, OutQ Channel, SiriusXM Radio, New York, NY

• Created, launched and grew an innovative start-up news service on America’s only 24/7 talk and entertainment radio channel for the lesbian and gay community, helping Sirius grow from 30,000 to 22 million subscribers. Established sophisticated newsgathering system to compensate for lack of a national gay wire service.
• Edited, produced and anchored ▶hourly newscasts on tight deadlines, driving talk show conversation. Won New York Festival Award for Best Newscast in first year after launch. Earned 15% incentive bonus annually, even in company-wide ‘no bonus’ years. Hosted 12,000 newscasts over ten years. 
• Hired, coached and supervised a small staff of anchors, reporters and interns, and assembled the largest stable of freelancers in LGBT news (150+). Managed news department budget.
• Executive produced and hosted compelling ▶documentary and ▶special programming including town hall and live election coverage. Oversaw all communication on Twitter and Facebook feeds, supporting a news blog. Built or customized web and database applications to make a small staff comprehensive and credible in a competitive news market space.  2002-2012

NEWS & CABLE SEGMENT WRITER/PRODUCER, Freelance, Washington, DC

• Writer, reporter and producer of fast-paced, entertaining shows and segments for a variety of DC and New York clients, the public TV magazine show “In the Life,” and the hosted HGTV shows “Old Homes Restored” and “House Detective.”

DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE / WRITER / PRODUCER, Sky City Entertainment, Florida

• Developed programming ideas for startup production company, authoring eye-catching proposals and treatments, and helping pitch concepts to network buyers.
• For Discovery, produced “Sweetheart Swindlers,” a tent-pole special that drew a 1.1—nearly twice the average rating for the time slot. 1998-2000

WRITER/PRODUCER, “History’s Lost & Found,” History Channel/Atlas Media, New York, NY

• Researched, wrote, produced and directed episodes of a highly dynamic, quirky and irreverent historical magazine show for The History Channel. (“Clyde Barrow’s Death Shirt!” ▶“Oliver Cromwell’s Severed Head!”) Directed nationwide field shoots with distinctive visual approach, and personally created more than fifty stylish After Effects animations. 1999-1999

CO-PRODUCER / DIRECTOR, “Fire Island,” Channel 4 UK/Image Group Entertainment, New York, NY

• Co-produced and co-directed a logistically complex four-part reality-soap on the gay communities of New York's ▶Fire Island. Led and managed a crew of 20 during weekend shoots; ran production office on weekdays. Also served as Director of Photography and camera operator. After wrap, provided story editing over a three-week director’s post. Series also aired on Bravo, Summer 2000. 1998-1998

SENIOR WRITER / PRODUCER, Venture Productions, Miami, FL

• Wrote, produced and researched cable documentaries and segments on a wide variety of historical, scientific, social, military and other topics, including ▶"Historic Traveler" for the Travel Channel and the Navy's anti-hazing training video. Developed story ideas, authored proposals and treatments, and pitched ideas to buyers. 1997-1998

SENIOR WRITER / PRODUCER / DIRECTOR & CREATIVE DIRECTOR, Wingspan Network, Bethesda, MD

• Created long-form cable documentaries on a variety of aviation and automotive subject matter, achieving high production values at low cost. Responsibilities included budgeting and estimating, authoring story treatments, script research and writing, film research, conducting on-camera interviews, directing field shoots and narration sessions, supervising offline and online editing, and music/effects spotting. 
• Early leader in interactive synergy, producing videos for Discovery Channel CD-ROM that I also adapted into a high-rated, award-winning TV documentary special.
• Credits included ▶"Wings Over Europe" (a CINE Golden Eagle winner for Discovery) and ▶"Rain of Ruin" (which earned History Channel its first CableACE nomination). Designed and executed ▶graphics packages for company projects using After Effects, 3D animation software, Photoshop and Illustrator. Also specced and programmed a sophisticated film library tracking system using Microsoft Access. 1994-1997

PRODUCING EDITOR / STORY EDITOR, “Real World” & “Road Rules,” MTV/Bunim-Murray, Hollywood

• Helping to ▶pioneer the reality TV genre, wove 100 hours of raw verité field tape into three-act, 22-minute narrative serial dramas, provided only with a six-page outline. Performed extensive offline edit list management. Ran online edit, audio sweetening and color correction. Conducted supplementary interviews.
• In addition to the above duties, served as co-story editor and performed Avid online for the pilot that sold ▶‘Road Rules’ to MTV. August-October 1993 & 1994

TV NEWSWRITER / VIDEOTAPE EDITOR / SEGMENT PRODUCER, Los Angeles & San Francisco

• Writing in various major-market newsrooms included rewriting wire copy, package intros, and telephone interviews for “shooter only” stories. Video editing (including two years on staff at KCAL, Los Angeles) involved both high-volume spot news editing and high-production mini-doc work. 1988-1993

REPORTER/WEATHERMAN, KTWO-TV and 1030 AM, Casper, WY

• City beat and general assignment reporting, videotape editing, and weekend weather segment on TV news. Produced data graphics for elections. 1986-1988

other:

Narrator of Audible audiobooks, including “Now I’m Here” (Jim Provenzano), “Those Who Favor Fire” (Chance Christopher & Bella Lidell), “Puppy Love” (Chris Cole), and “Effective Leadership Skills for Managers” (ELSE Publications).

EDUCATION:

Bachelor of Arts in English, University of California, Berkeley. News director at the University’s student-run radio station, KALX-FM.

Additional Skills:

Web programming in JavaScript, HTML, PHP, CSS, DHTMLX and MySQL. Application programming in VBA, VB, MS Access, Pascal and AutoIT. Professional experience in graphic design and typography.

Personal Interests

Travel, theater, fiction and non-fiction reading, gadgets and camping.

AWARDS & HONORS:

New York Festivals, Best Newscast (2004); Classic Telly Award for Something More at Stake (writer) (2003); Gold Coast Builders Assn. Gold Prism Award for Deering Bay: Preserving a Proud Legacy (writer) (1998); CableACE Best Documentary Special Nomination for Rain of Ruin (1996); CINE Golden Eagle Award for Wings Over Europe (1995). Excellence in Radio, 2nd Place, Natn’l Lesbian & Gay Journalists Assn (2012) for Live Coverage: Marriage Equality Comes to New York; Best Feature Editing, 2nd Place, Associated Press/California-Nevada (1992). Outstanding Young Men of America (1986); National Merit Finalist (1980); Eagle Scout (1979).

Please note: People send me a lot of ideas for shows. Some of them are even good ideas. However, because of the volume of mail, and because of the legal ramifications (i.e., I might someday, somewhere work on something vaguely like your idea), I cannot respond to such solicitations. In fact, if you send me an idea, consider it a gift to me. It becomes mine! (In other words, please don't send me your show ideas; there's nothing I can do with them. Sorry.)

Last updated: 2 august 2024