As the industry is changing, I’ve been busy adding skills to my resume. This past November/December I took a 6-week editing course at Manhattan Edit Workshop that was truly incredible. There I honed my Premiere editing skills, tinkered with Resolve, and even had my work reviewed by the class’s artist-in-residence (the incredibly gracious Emmy-winner for Shōgun, Maria Gonzales, A.C.E.). But most of the class was spent learning Avid Media Composer. Not only did I walk away a better editor, I also passed the quite rigorous Avid Media Composer certification exam. So, if anyone out there needs an Assistant Editor on any sort of long-form project, or a “Predator” (Producer/Editor) or Editor for any short form promos, branded content, or commercials, I’m ready to go!
TSR Investigates | Reasonable Doubt Nominated for Digiday Award
The Hulu branded content piece I created for The Shade Room was just nominated for a Digiday award in the category of Best Creative!
Making "Fake News" for Hulu and The Shade Room
Believe it or not, in today’s media landscape there is legitimate way to create “fake news”, and recently I’ve been hired to do just that. No, I’m not talking about misleading the masses for nefarious purposes (unless you consider advertising nefarious). I’m talking about branded content for a black culture youtube channel called The Shade Room. The Shade Room Investigates (TSRI) is a popular online news show hosted by Justin Carter that tells stories of local controversies in the black community. The show has gained so much traction that film studios and streaming services are now partnering with The Shade Room to create ads integrating their IP with the news show, tasking me to write fictional news stories as if the content of the advertiser’s movie or show is currently happening in the real world. So far, I’ve written and edited episodes of TSR Investigates for the Netflix film They Cloned Tyrone, Sony’s Bad Boys 4, and recently Hulu’s second season of Reasonable Doubt. The results have been huge engagement with the fanbase, often delighting them that they’ve been duped for a short time into thinking the news story is actually real!
Kevin Hart's Real Husbands of Hollywood | BET+ Ltd. Series Launch
Real Husbands of Hollywood is back! This time on BET+ and I was invited to write and produce the launch campaign for the new season. After pitching several ideas to Kevin Hart (always surreal being on a zoom call with celebrity talent), he decided he wanted to go the fake photoshoot route that blurred the line between reality and comedy. So I went to work scripting a long-form piece that could be broken out into four 30-second promos. Writing for talented improvisors like Kevin Hart, JB Smoove, and Nelly (to name just a few of the large cast) is always fun namely because you never know what you’re going to get. With limited takes of each scene, minimal coverage, and no two takes being alike, my editor, Peter Ringer, and I pulled out every trick in the book to create a clean story with tight comedic timing (not unlike how they shoot and produce the actual show). Here’s the result!
IBM Cloud "Real Imaginary Best Friend"
Finally got around to editing Director Cuts of the IBM “Real Imaginary Best Friend” campaign I directed last year. The cast and I had so much fun improvising dialogue and quirky little moments that weren’t in the original scripts. And Urban Sled did an incredible job putting it all out there with such a small budget. Thanks to everyone who worked on the job.
"Homeworthy" House Tour →
Homeworthy shot a little piece with my wife and me showcasing our “cabin-themed” Brooklyn apartment. If you don’t know us, you’ll probably think we’re a Portlandia sketch, but no, it’s us.
Wavelength Party! Featured in "2020 Games to Cure Boredom"
“Wavelength Party!”, the iPhone game I created (with my friend Carolyn), was just featured in as one of the 2020 “Addictive Games to Cure Boredom.” If you’ve never played it, the holidays are a great time to try it. It’s free and you can even play over Zoom.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spot wins two Promax Silvers
The Star Wars: The Last Jedi | Football Night in America teaser I Creative Directed and Directed has just won two silver medals at this year's Promax Awards (sports integration/editing). Thanks to everyone who worked tirelessly on this very challenging shoot. 12-year-old Alan is still a little giddy to have shot with a real droid. If you haven't seen the spot, scroll down a few posts. And be sure to keep an eye out for all the little Star Wars easter eggs throughout (yes, a promo can have easter eggs... there's even a Wilhelm Scream in there if you listen closely).
GEICO | Super Bowl Pre-Game Show
I still haven't directed a Super Bowl spot, per se. But this year I got close! These three spots for GEICO and NBC's Football Night In America ran during the GEICO-sponsored portion of the pre-game show of this year's big game. Like all commercials, this one came with its share of challenges, from getting the set built during the year's biggest snowstorm, to the breakaway pajamas not looking quite right and having to later be completely recreated digitally (thank you, Neil!). But like all commercials, we got through it. Big hats off to Tony Dungee and Rodney Harrison for doing some heavy lifting performance-wise considering neither one had ever acted before.
Star Wars | Critical Mission
When the NBC Sports team came to us and said they'd like us to pitch a Star Wars commercial to introduce a new exclusive The Last Jedi trailer, I tried not to get too excited. In this biz, projects come and go, and more often than not, they go. But over the course of a few weeks, this particular project slowly started to become real. First, Disney liked the script... then they started figuring out dates that BB-8 was available... and before I knew it, I was face to face with a real life droid! It was happening. The biggest challenge was that in real life, BB-8 moves at a snail's pace (see the first shot for an idea of his top speed). So, pulling out every camera and editing trick in the book, we somehow made this 2'2" remote-controlled turtle look like was bookin' through NBC Sports. And in the process, made the 12-year-old in me straight up giddy!
Get Inspired by Wonder
Excited to share the new NBCU campaign I directed for the new movie Wonder. The spots feature NBCU talent Jane Lynch, Julie Chrisley, and Kyle Richards (as well as Wonder's own Daveed Diggs) talking about real life moments of kindness and how they relate back to the film. When interviewing Jane Lynch, I had to keep reminding myself that she's a real person and not a character out of a Christopher Guest movie.
JCPenney | Latte Stand
I am very excited to share the latest (and personal favorite) JCPenney spot that I co-wrote and directed. Had so much fun designing and creating (with production designer Kris Moran) a practically-transforming lemonade stand that turns into a latte stand. Gotta love the old "flipping cups" gag!
JCPenney | Pair Up
Here's yet another JCPenney spot (the 3rd in a 4-spot yearlong campaign). This one has a slightly more serious tone since it's to introduce a promotion where JCPenney gives socks and underwear to school kids in need; however, that doesn't mean were weren't able to inject a little visual fun in the form of in-camera disappearing socks (a nod to Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie). Special shout out to the art department and colorist who managed to turn a small corner of a very beige and 80s midtown JCPenney into something that looked sparkly and new.
JCPenney | Reason to Visit
Here's a new commercial for dorm accessories that I wrote and directed for JCPenney. You may recognize the "mom". She my dear friend and very talented Marci Clark. She and I and the rest of the 'collars up' film collective (collars.com) used to make improvised short films years ago. When I was tasked finding a quirky mom for this spot, I knew I had to pull Marci out of retirement.
Real Husbands of Hollywood Campaign wins Promax Silver
The Real Husbands of Hollywood Season 5 promo campaign "Trapped in an Elevator" that I wrote for BET just won a Promaxbda Silver Award! I can't take all the credit though. Kevin Hart did bring a little to it on set. To see the entire campaign scroll down to the original August 15, 2016 blog entree.
Jeep Compass with SNL's Tim Meadows
Earlier this year, my team at NBC and I were asked to pitch a campaign idea for the newly redesigned Jeep Compass. Jeep wanted something that highlighted how the Compass was designed for someone who has already found their passion in life, and uses their Jeep to help them on their way. So I came up with a character-based campaign about a terrible life coach named Kerry Swift who is always looking for new clients, but the one client he can never crack is the Jeep Compass owner. The pitch was a long shot as Jeep rarely does comedy. However, somehow the campaign made it through! Here are the two on-air spots (the first aired in the SNL finale) and the three social spots that complemented them. Oh, and a fun side note – the character was loosely inspired by my brother-in-law and sister who are business coaches, because, lets face it, the best comedy always comes from real-life.
International Delight | One Touch Latte
"I need a latte in 5! Minutes? SECONDS!!!" Excited to share the new International Delight One Touch Latte spot I co-wrote and directed. The best part... I got live my dream of directing my West Wing-style "walk-and-talk"! Next on the directing bucket list... a period piece.
JCPenney | Same Shirt, Different Day
Here's a new spot I just wrote and directed for JCPenney. The spot features a mom who is wearing the same JCP "statement shirt" every time she visits the principal's office (where her son is constantly getting into trouble for being a little too imaginative in class. Such amazing comedic talent, and we turned a catholic school into a crazy stylized principals office.
Seth and Josh Meyers Holiday Amazon Prime Campaign
Here are a few new spots I worked on as the Creative Director for NBC|Amazon Prime. The spots were written by Josh Meyers and directed by Cameron Harris. Happy holidays!
'Cup of Jo' Featured our Apartment
In January, my wife Ryan and I moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Crown Heights so we'd have a little more space for our baby-to-be. The apartment was a blank canvas, and Ryan and I (with the help of our talented woodworking friend, Ryan Luce, decided to turn our apartment into our own little "urban cabin". It was an ongoing process from building a knotty pine wall and teepee shelves in our bedroom, to designing Lumberjack wallpaper using art from our friend Scott C for our dining nook, to hand-painting a mountain mural in Sally's room; but 11 months later, it was finally finished! This week the popular lifestyle blog Cup of Jo (Joanna Goddard) did a "House Tour" of our finished home! Read the full article here.