Writing Samples

While I was a freelance copywriter with BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) I wrote copy for several of their series including speaker events with Ai WeiWei and Nikole Hannah-Jones and many of their Film Festivals including the 2022 BAM Cinema Fest, Viruses on Film, and Working Class Musicals. I’m including some of my favorite pieces of copy below. 

For a longer form writing sample please see my personal travel blog and/or my Red Poppy Art House blog, Poppy Mornings. 

For a press release sample, please see the 2019 Chautauqua Theater Season Announcement. 

Examples

Train to Busan dir. Yeon Sang-ho | 2016

With Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok

“a masterclass in thrill” —The Film Magazine

In this wildly entertaining zombie movie, an infected woman just barely makes it onto a train heading from Seoul to Busan. As members of the train are infected—this zombie infection is particularly fast-moving—allegiances are formed, battles are fought, and questionable decisions are made even before the survivors fight back. Hugely popular, Yeon Sang-ho’s horror-flick is celebrated for its gore-packed scenes, emotionality, and biting social commentary. 

Medium: An extremely satisfying zombie-horror film from Yeon Sang-ho about a group of somewhat noble—somewhat terrible—survivors trying to stay alive aboard a train journeying across South Korea. 

Short: Passengers and ravaging zombies are trapped on a train in this South Korean horror-flick. 

The Hole dir. Tsai Ming-liang | 1998

With Yang Kuei-mei, Lee Kang-sheng

“an eerie, dank, claustrophobic mood piece” —Variety

In this trippy drama-musical, Taiwan is drenched in rain for endless days when a mysterious illness grips the nation—causing people to crawl on the floor in search of darkness. As people flee the city in droves, residents in a dilapidated apartment building ignore the warnings and remain. When a plumber arrives to fix the pipes in one unit but instead drills a hole in the ceiling connecting to the unit below, two neighbors become increasingly irritated—-yet drawn to each other. Commissioned as part of the “2000, Seen By” project by celebrated Second New Wave director Tsai Ming-liang, this is mandatory viewing for Asian cinema aficionados. 

Medium: A trippy musical—from celebrated Second New Wave Director Tsai Ming-liang—about a mysterious illness, a soaking-wet Taiwan, and two neighbors drawn to each other via the hole in their ceiling.

Short: Neighbors grow fascinated with each other as a mysterious illness grips Taiwan.