About me and my new manuscript.I have spent 20 years working in top newsrooms in New York and Tokyo, currently at The New York Times, where I edit some of the most renowned journalists and columnists in the world. I am an award-winning documentary filmmaker (producer, director, editor.)
Recently I have completed a manuscript, "The Year of the Duck," for which I'm seeking representation. It is a true-adventure romp of a story about when my father and six friends obtained a WWII surplus amphibious DUKW, transformed it into a peace-mobile, and took it on a self-styled goodwill tour to 31 college campuses throughout Latin America, from New York to Mexico, down the Pan-American highway to Santiago and beyond. (See a visual outline of the story here.) The idea was to reach out in friendship as an antidote to the poisonous prevailing Cold War atmosphere of 1961. An attempt to cross from Panama to Colombia on the Caribbean goes awry, and after three harrowing days battling huge waves in their DUKW, they end up shipwrecked and marooned in the Panamanian jungle. The sole inhabitant of the cove they land in introduces himself as a murderer. How they survive and escape — with the help of the Kennedy White House, in the end — is just one of several episodes of incredible moxie and crazy luck, both good and bad, that make this story such a fun and surprising read. |
'The Duck Diaries'
My first documentary feature won Best Director and was runner-up for Best Documentary at the 2013 NYC Independent Film Festival, among other accolades. ("The Year of the Duck" manuscript is a different treatment of many of the same events.)