Experienced Copywriter with Humor Background
Subject: Experienced Copywriter with Humor Background
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 6/1/09, 12:58
To: hipcopywriter@comcast.net

Howdy-

I understand that you're looking for copywriters who self-identify as "hip," and I'd like to be considered. I've done freelance copywriting work for several firms and media outlets, and my other work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Skeptic, The Onion A.V. Club, McSweeney's, and dozens of other publications.

I'm seeking a $20/hour rate. My resume and sample clip are pasted below; please take a look and get back to me if you'd like to discuss this further.

Thanks,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302

BARRETT BROWN

WRITER/ EDITOR/ WEB CONTENT PRODUCER

Brooklyn, NY

512-560-2302

barriticus@gmail.com


Communications Industry Skills



Published Work/ Media Experience


Vanity Fair – Contributor to publication's Power and Politics blog. March 2009 - present

Fortean Times – Book reviewer for monthly, London-based magazine. January 2009 – present.

Thomas Riggs and Company – Contributed 20,000 words of material for academic publishing company's upcoming reference book on U.S. cities. January 2009.

Studio 2a – Part-time marketing consultant for Chicago-based architectural rendering firm, handling all sales letters, marketing copy, and long-term branding strategies. 2007 – 2009.

PoliticalBase.com – Created content and served as paid blogger for online political news start-up founded by CNET. 2007 - 2008.

Fox Business Channel, Yahoo, Minyanville.com – Writer on freelance creative team for animated humor series Minyanville, which aired on Fox Business Channel's Happy Hour program as well as on Yahoo Finance. 2007.

The Onion A.V. Club – Freelance copywriting for The Onion's features department. 2006 - 2008.

Sterling and Ross Publishers – Authored nonfiction book of political humor, Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the Easter Bunny, released in March 2007. Book received praise from Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Rolling Stone, Skeptic, Air America Radio, Huffington Post, others.

Anglesey Interactive, Inc. – Produced online marketing collateral – web text, press releases, blogging – in support of firm's integrated search engine. 2007 – 2008.

Dining Out - Feature writing for national restaurant publication. 2006 – 2008.

National Lampoon – Contributor, 2004 – 2005, 2008 - 2009

Sullivan Perkins – Served as junior copywriter at Dallas-based advertising firm. 2003.

Evote.com - Weekly columnist and feature writer for political analysis site. 2004 – 2005.

AOL CityGuide - Web content writer. Researched and created coverage of event and entertainment venues. Served as regional correspondent for Dallas, Austin, New Orleans, Houston and Little Rock markets. 2000 – 2004.


Additional magazine work - Ongoing, have contributed feature articles from serious political commentary and book reviews to humor pieces and dining overviews for outlets including Vanity Fair, academic publications Skeptic and Fortean Times, business-to-business publications Pizza Today, 360, Club Systems International, Destination Dallas, D.C.-based public policy journal Toward Freedom, London-based public policy journal Free Life, humor magazine Jest, regional publications The Met, Austin Monthly, Dallas Child, literary journal Swans, dozens more.

Other writing projects - Crated both print and online marketing collateral for New York tech start-up Organic Motion, Inc. Wrote online marketing collateral for New York corporate training firm Illuminata Global. Researched and wrote entertainment/dining/venue content for Dallas ad agency Avacata and clients' marketing collateral, including that of luxury resort real estate firm. Have produced website copy for design firm NPCreate.com, provided public relations pieces for Texas energy companies EBS and S.K. Oil and Gas and Dallas real estate firm Dunhill Partners.


Wreck Room

We haven’t quite reached the point at which someone would make a Thursday evening proposal to “go to Flushing Avenue” in the same sense that one might propose to his or her friends that they “go to Bedford;” the portion of Flushing that runs through Bushwick is still flanked mostly by vacant warehouses, tortilla factories, and import/export firms that are either out of business or doing very well (it’s hard to tell with import/export firms). But the little stretch between Evergreen and Bogart shows promise. On one side, of course, we find Life Cafe. On the other, we find Wreck Room, a fine little bar that is perhaps best thought of as Life Cafe’s evil twin.


Whereas Life gives off a suitably wholesome vibe — perky people dining with friends, consuming food first and drinking only as an afterthought — Wreck Room is a drinking person’s bar, darker and more fun than its competitor across the street. Life is the place where you order a ten dollar salmon burger when money is reliable and you’re on a protein kick because you’ve been working out; Wreck Room is the place where you borrow a few bucks from a friend because you blew all your money on salmon burgers at Life, or would have if you hadn’t blown all of your money at Wreck Room first.


Your friend won’t have to lend you much; pricing is one of Wreck Room’s great charms, with the beer in particular being as cheap as you’ll find in any bar above the equator. From six to ten, one may partake of a Tecate or some other such fine thing for a scant two bucks; better yet, you can order one of several drink combo deals of the Tecate-and-Sauza variety for five. Chief among resident bargains, though, is the Genny-and-Beam special comprised of a Genesee Cream Ale alongside a shot of Jim Beam, priced at only four dollars and thereby economically comparable to drinking bodega-bought beer on one’s stoop.


But it’s easy to overstate the joint’s dive-esque attributes, as I’ve been doing for three paragraphs. Wreck Room is a cheerful place in its own way, often very much so, and the bar offers a range of nifty activities aside from borrowing money from friends. Bartenders lead weekly games of bingo and other such improbable things, for instance, and it’s also one of the few spots in the area with pool tables. When it’s on, the TV hanging above the bar itself is generally tuned to either The Simpsons or some appropriately bizarre film like Dune (Sunday evenings are officially given over to viewings of Adult Swim, which would have been a nice feature several years ago when Adult Swim was good). For the most part, music is care of a bartender’s laptop hooked up to the stereo, though weekend nights bring in local DJs and the occasional live band with an emphasis on punk, which apparently still exists.


Though Wreck Room doesn’t look like the sort of place that would sport a nuanced food menu or any food menu, the edible offerings include all of the things you’d expect to find (fried pickles) along with plenty of things that you wouldn’t (Korean sandwiches). Even the more mundane items are generally served with flair; popcorn shrimp comes served with thai chili lime sauce, for instance, and the BBQ ribs are made with guava. Wreck Room, like Bushwick, is filled with such pleasant surprises.