Twenty years of making words work.
Copy, campaigns, emails, grants, strategy documents, screenplays, TV pilots — if it needed words and a brain behind them, that’s where I’ve lived.
The honest version is that I’ve always been a writer who needed to get paid. It turns out I’m good at the getting paid part too.
45%+
Email open rates at
Sundance Institute
20
Years writing professionally
across industries
MFA
in Television Writing & Producing,
because loving TV wasn’t enough
Making marketing feel less gross since the mid-aughts.
A writer
who needed
to get paid.
The honest version of my career is that I’ve always been a writer who needed to get paid, and “copywriter” was the answer that made sense at 25 — first in my family to get a degree, coming out of a TV production program into a post-9/11 Toronto that had sent all the film work back to the US. (I briefly became an expert in pool chemistry. I remain available for trivia nights.) It turned out I was good at it. Four layoffs across two decades will sharpen your skills or break you. Apparently I went with option A.
The other honest thing is that marketing was never the point. TELEVISION was the point. It still is. I have an MFA in Television Writing and Producing, I taught narrative storytelling at a top-ranked film school for six years, and I’m currently training as an improviser at UCB because the story of how long it took me to get there could be a Hallmark movie. With swears.
All of this means that when I do marketing work, I bring a storyteller’s brain to it. Which is, I’ve come to understand, not that common.
Sundance Institute
Sundance Collab Email Program
Ran the email marketing program for Sundance Institute's online learning platform: 170,000+ members, a real nonprofit budget, and an audience that doesn't tolerate boring.
Result: 45%+ open rates · 100%+ course application rate
Camp Oochigeas
Barny the Lovable Barn
Pitched a children's-book concept for a cancer camp's biennial gala invitation, wrote the web copy, and watched a fictional barn raise more money than anyone expected.
Result: $765K raised (53% over goal) · Sold out + 11 extra tables · CMA Gold
Explore Lynnwood
Tourism & Destination Marketing
Two years of blog, social, video, and email content for a Seattle-adjacent city trying to become a destination instead of a drive-through.
Result: Organic traffic up 462% · Email list up 55% · ADDY Award
Rare Bird
Brand discovery, copywriting, and the occasional existential reckoning for creative entrepreneurs who are done hiding.
Rachel B Writes TV
Story consulting, script notes, and screenwriting resources for writers doing this seriously. Fellow traveler energy. TV nerd authority. Still in it.