WRITING & CREATIVE STRATEGY
If I made a balance sheet for every film or video I’ve made, probably 90 percent of the work is writing. Pitching is writing. Researching is writing. Scripting, of course, is writing. So is interviewing, storyboarding, animating, sound designing, editing, directing… Even when I’m filming, I’m writing. What I’m saying is—I’m a writer, too.
The selection below is some of my published stuff. I also happen to write grant applications for projects and programs, as well as pitch decks for film, TV, and streaming services. I’ve developed science media strategies for The California Academy of Science’s bioGraphic project, Brooklyn-based Pioneer Works’ Science Studios, and Johns Hopkins University. My YouTube game plan for Popular Science resulted in the growth of 50,000 subscribers and millions of views.
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How to Send Messages 10,000 Years in the Future
This feature story of mine appears in the Summer 2019, “Out There” issue of Popular Science. Maybe it’s hard to believe, but linguists, designers, and scientists are dreaming up ways to break a language barrier that doesn’t exist (yet). It’s a divide between now and how we can communicate with a future thousands of years away. Obviously, I reference the Statue of Liberty scene in Planet of the Apes. (Artwork by Tim McDonagh.)
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Here’s the real story behind Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’
This online feature of mine for Popular Science in 2021 is a deep dive into random curiosities about birds, starting with the incredible true story that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds.
Learn about other animal invasions, tubenoses, failed dino flights, ostrich dancing, and the threats to all bird species today.
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The American Guide
From 2012 to 2015, Erin Chapman and I ran The American Guide—a featured Tumblr project with over 250,000 subscribers. It was a crowdsourced collection from hundreds of dedicated contributors exploring the unique tensions and allure of existence in these here United States, and inspired by the mission of a 1930s Federal Writers Project series of the same name. We created and edited the project—which included daily, originally-reported articles and photo essays—as well as managed the all-volunteer staff.
It was featured by The Atlantic and Oxford American magazine. In 2014, The American Guide was named one of the best independent travel magazines by The Guardian.
One of these days, I’m going to create a proper archive for the 600 plus posts. In the meantime, AG’s Tumblr blog is still there for anyone to read.
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This Ancient Optical Illusion is a 14,000-Year-Old Puzzle
This story of mine appears in the Spring 2020, “Origins” issue of Popular Science. If you’re familiar with the duck/rabbit or vase/face tricks of the eye, try staring at this image. What do you see—a mammoth or a bison? More than just illusions, this article is also about how the human brain processes information.