Overview:
Writing, Speaking, Teaching and Consulting
Writing
The central core
of my career has always been as a writer, with the speaking, teaching and
consulting work I do being an outgrowth of the writing. Though I specialize in
interactive digital media projects, I’ve written for practically every other
medium that exists, including books, newspapers, magazines, television, radio
and film. Here’s a complete list of my writing credits.
I write both on a “for hire” basis and on a “spec” basis (meaning I initiate
and develop my own projects and then market them).
Speaking
I do talks,
seminars and keynote presentations on a wide variety of subjects relating to
digital storytelling, screenwriting, and writing in general. Here’s a list of
some of my presentation topics.
Internationally,
I have been a co-presenter (with Dr. Linda
Seger) at the African Broadcasting Network’s Screenwriting Lab in
Johannesburg and at a special gathering of Capetown screenwriters. I was also a
speaker at the Internet/Digital Television Summit in Paris, and I once again
shared the podium with Dr. Seger at the “realtimefilmfestival” (for digital
arts and cinematography) in Rome, Italy.
On the national front, I generally do at
least one presentation a month, speaking at a wide variety of venues. They
include digital media events, Hollywood organizations, writers’ conferences,
film festivals, and private organizations. Here’s a list of my recent appearances.
Among the highlights of my speaking
experiences was the keynote address I gave for a month-long series of events
organized by the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. My talk, which included
live demos, was called “Interactive Media: Creative Expression in the 21st
Century.” Another highlight was giving a special presentation on interactive
media to the New Mexico Governor’s Council on Film and Media Industries. I’ve
also been a speaker at the prestigious Game Developers’ Conference in
California, where I gave my often quoted "Kisses of Death" speech on children’s interactive media, which also
appeared in the conference proceedings publication and was then featured on the
Game Developer website, Gamasutra.
And I’ve been a three-time presenter at The Maui
Writers Conference.
Teaching
My university-level teaching work includes
experiences in teaching and co-teaching my own courses and also serving as a
guest lecturer at numerous universities.
I’m currently co-teaching a course in
video game development for the University of New
Mexico (UNM) with two other faculty members. The course, which is for
seniors and graduate students, is being offered through the departments of
computer science and electrical engineering. I’ve also taught my own courses on
digital storytelling for UNM, which have been offered through the departments
of theatre and dance and media arts.
As a guest lecturer, I have taught classes
on new media and writing at all the major colleges and universities in the
Southern California region, including the University of Southern California (USC), Loyola Marymount College,
The
University of California at Irvine
(UCI), the University
of California at Santa Barbara
(UCSB), California State University at Northridge, and the American Film Institute.
I’m also about to embark on a week’s guest
teaching stint (a “virtual” teaching job, via the Internet) at DeMontfort
University in the UK. My class is part of the university’s cutting edge program
in Creative
Writing and New Media.
My formal initiation into teaching began
in 1996, when I was invited to teach a course on New Media at UCLA’s
internationally renowned Writers
Program.
I designed and taught my first course with
Betsy James. Our ten week course was called "Elements of Multimedia Design
for Children: Writing the Winning Concept Document." The course was a
great success with the students, several of whom went on to professional
careers in new media. Encouraged by their feedback, I decided I was
ready to try teaching solo. The following year, I retooled the course as an intensive
two-day workshop, retitling it "Elements of Multimedia Design for
Children: Creating Great Interactive Projects."
In addition, I have also developed my own seminars and workshops, which are available to educational and
professional institutions and associations.
My teaching work has received excellent endorsements both from
faculty members and from students.
Consulting
I am often hired to give strategic
assistance, general guidance, and feedback on content and design on new media
projects, serving in somewhat of a different capacity than as a writer. My
consulting clients have included the video game company, Digital Extremes, the British
multi-platform children’s series, Magic
Wanda Media, the Danish multi-platform project E-DAZE, the high tech
corporation, Acacia Research http://www.acaciaresearch.com/,
the start up media firm Sushi Bandit (MLH Consulting), and UCLA’s international
web project, "Global Window", where I also served as head writer for
its first website, Global Window: Japan.
As an outgrowth of my teaching work, I
have also been asked by fellow writers to serve as a coach-consultant on their
works in progress, I have helped these writers articulate their concepts,
structure their manuscripts, sharpen their text, and prepare their work for
professional submission.