About David
David attended University of Maryland where he majored in communications, preferred papers over exams, interned at the FCC and United Broadcasting, and worked for 91 seconds as a production assistant for HBO at the Tyson vs. Spinks fight on June 27, 1988 in Atlantic City. (The fight lasted 91 seconds.)
Like so many of his peers, David took the LSAT during the height of the popularity of L.A. Law. He enrolled at Villanova Law School where, again, he preferred papers over exams. David became a member of the Villanova Environmental Law Journal because of his entry in a writing competition. He was also the producer of the Villanova Law School Student Show and the Editor-in-Chief of the law school newspaper -- The Docket -- and its April Fool’s Edition -- The Mocket.
During his time at Villanova Law School, David reached out to his production contact at HBO who gave him the name of a former HBO attorney. The attorney had just become the first in-house attorney at Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels’ company. He met the attorney during a vacation in 1990.
Two years later, David entered an unforgiving job market. He reached out to the attorney at Broadway Video who had a job for David. Broadway Video had just bought a company out of bankruptcy -- Palladium Entertainment. Its assets consisted of fifty television movies and the rights to entertainment icons -- Lone Ranger, Lassie, Sergeant Preston. David’s mission -- Organize the Palladium legal files and pull anything and everything having to do with trademarks and copyrights. The job was for two days a week.
David became the company’s de facto historian because of his already formidable knowledge of entertainment history, passion for learning, and increasing familiarity with the information in the files. Within two months, Broadway Video offered David a job as a junior attorney where his responsibilities included managing the Business Affairs department, tracking the company’s intellectual property infringements, and researching potential acquisitions.
After a year, they offered David a hybrid job -- continue managing the intellectual property matters and researching acquisitions while managing the Broadway Video archives. David quickly expanded his knowledge of media and entertainment as he became immersed in clip production, archival techniques to protect master tapes, and management of a department.
By this time, David was a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bars.
He took his passion, knowledge, and experience concerning the entertainment and media industry to a different level -- writing freelance articles. He wrote for Model & Toy Collector, Filmfax, Toy Shop, Palmer Video Magazine, Collector’s Showcase, Toy Collector and Price Guide, Animato!, WVE Extra!, Outré, Television Chronicles, Comic Book Marketplace, Ultra Filmfax, Cardozo Insider, and International Trademark Association Bulletin.
Many of these articles are republished on David’s other web site -- Our Television Heritage™.
After another year at Broadway Video, David decided to build upon his foundation in entertainment and media. While continuing to write freelance articles, he took a job at Worldvision Enterprises, a subsidiary of Aaron Spelling’s Spelling Television. As a ratings analyst, David crunched the numbers every day for Spelling programs. Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place did very well. Kindred: The Embraced, not so much.
David’s entertainment and media career continued after a chance phone call with a friend at the nascent FOX News Channel. FNC was looking for fact writers -- people who could find interesting yet arcane information about a story that would appear on screen to complement the story. David got the job and a later promotion to news writer and news producer.
With a newfound appreciation for the lightning-speed environment of a newsroom, David continued working in television news from 1996 to 2004 -- FOX News Channel, MSNBC, WPIX-TV, WWOR-TV, and WCBS-TV.
In 1999, David utilized his deep reservoir of television trivia knowledge to become the New York City winner of TV Land’s Ultimate TV Fan Search -- think Jeopardy for television trivia. The prize: $1000 and an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to compete on television against the winners from fifteen other cities and an online winner. David split the $1000 into donations for Gilda’s Club, Museum of TV & Radio, and American Film Institute. He made it to the final round of the program in Los Angeles to become 1st Runner Up. Even though David didn’t win, he met Chuck Woolery and Barbara Eden.
In 2001, David had a short break from news writing when MSNBC laid off several staffers. During the ‘we have to talk’ conversation with the News Director and Senior Vice President of Human Resources, David started to laugh. His laughter did not represent a stress release, but rather, a comment on irony. At the moment, MSNBC’s program had an employment expert as a guest. The lower part of the screen read: What to do when your employer gives you the pink slip.
Later that year, David volunteered at the Schundler For Governor campaign. David’s did not have experience in politics, but he knew of Bret Schundler. David lives in Jersey City. Bret Schundler was the Mayor of Jersey City.
David wrote funny headlines for press releases during the primary. When Schundler won his party’s nomination, the campaign offered David a job as Deputy Press Secretary -- write press releases and book the candidate for as many media appearances as possible. On the day before the election, David’s ability to work the phones resulted in sixteen interviews on radio shows.
Also in 2001, David started a seminar series in New York City called PRIME -- Professionals in Media and Entertainment. He moderated the seminars, recruited the speakers, and sometimes, though rarely, made a homemade chocolate candy bar for the food portion of the evening.
After the Schundler campaign lost the election, David returned to news writing. Needing a change, he enrolled in Cardozo Law School’s LLM in Intellectual Property Program in January 2004 -- a one-year, intensive study program.
David’s course load encompassed intellectual property courses with two electives -- Negotiations and Admiralty. David’s admiralty professor gave the class a choice -- a three-hour open book exam or a 25-page paper. David’s preference for papers over exams resurfaced. He chose the paper option.
Later that night, he realized that the best way to approach the subject was to join his passion for intellectual property and entertainment with admiralty law. So he came upon a Solomon-like offering for the professor -- two papers with each paper being twelve pages in length. Paper #1: Titanic: A Study in Trademark Abandonment. Paper #2: An Admiralty Law Analysis of the Shipwreck in “Gilligan’s Island.” David got an A. He is hoping to turn Paper #2 into a law review article.
After graduating with a 3.5 GPA, attending the International Trademark Association Annual Meeting, and passing the New York State Bar Exam, David still found an unforgiving job market. Friends told him that they would hire him, but he had no client base. Contacts told him the job market was tight, tough, and near impossible. So, David took a job on a document review project for a prestigious law firm. And he learned a valuable lesson -- he did not want to work on a document review project for a prestigious law firm.
After nine months, the project ended. With three bar admissions and very few contacts willing to take meetings in an economy where law firm implosions became a regular occurrence, David started his own practice where he attracted clients with big retainers and bigger promises of work that never materialized.
In 2006, philanthropist Loreen Arbus hired David to consult on an exciting project at the Museum of TV & Radio (now Paley Center for Media). Ms. Arbus conceived the exhibit Leonard H. Goldenson: The Gentleman Giant to honor her father, ABC television network founder Leonard Goldenson. Through extensive research, David ensured the exhibit’s accuracy, integrity, and appeal to museum visitors. David has also freelanced on various legal research projects for Golden Books Family Entertainment and Classic Media.
He soon got hired as a conference producer at American Conference Institute. Part of his mission -- create new conference portfolios. Right off the bat, he scored major players as speakers. For a conference on corporate lobbying, David worked the phones like he did in the campaign and secured the Federal Election Commission Chairman as a Keynote Speaker. For a conference on the US Patent and Trademark Office, David secured the USPTO Commissioner as a Keynote Speaker. He also learned the unique format of researching conference topics with industry leaders and translating the research into an enticing conference brochure.
Despite conference speakers with marquee value, the company cancelled many of David’s conferences and some others did not attract a high number of registrations. Of course, David executed the plays that the coaches called. Many conferences that failed were not his ideas, but the bottom line rules. The company laid off about 15-20% of its workers, David among them.
In 2009, David officially joined the digital age by learning how to design a web site and blog. Quills & Keyboards™ is his blog about writing and communication. Rabbit Ears™ is his blog about television. He has a column called Krell’s Korner in the New York State Bar Association’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal. It focuses on the legal and historical aspects of the people, events, and cases that shaped the entertainment, arts, and sports industries. David is also the Co-Chair of the CLE Committee for the NYSBA’s Business Law Section. In addition, he has a regular commentary and frequently appears as a guest on TV Confidential.
David speaks about writing with his Continuing Legal Education program -- Stop Writing Like A Lawyer!™ David will host Stop Writing Like A Lawyer!™ at Villanova Law School on February 25, 2010. In addition, David will moderate a writing workshop at the International Trademark Association’s Annual Meeting in Boston -- May 2010.
David’s other writing programs are Your Writing Is Your Brand™ (business) and WTF! Students -- Stop Ruining Your Future With Bad Writing!™ (college/university).