David S. Cohen Email Address

Freelance Editor-Writer-Producer

The Variety Power of Women LA Issue featuring Scarlett Johansson, Miley Cyrus, Laverne Cox, Ava DuVernay, Helen Mirren, Wonder Woman and the Power of Women LA Impact Report.

My name is David S. Cohen. Today, I'm a freelance writer, editor and storyteller. My most recent full-time role was as Creative Director at Variety Content Studio, the branded content arm of the "entertainment bible," Variety. Previously I was a Features Editor and an award-winning reporter and video producer. I've written six books; interviewed movie stars, politicians, directors, ex-spies, struggling artists and scientists; spoken at conferences around the world and been a frequent guest on radio & TV, holding forth on everything from the Oscars to the intersection of politics and media. And I love all of it. Sometimes I have to tell the story of how I got here to understand it myself. Once my plan was to be a Broadway director. What I loved about directing — and still love about leading creative teams — is bringing artists together and inspiring them to do beautiful work. In my early career, I did almost any job you could name in a theater, from acting to house manager. I was a casting assistant for Broadway shows and learned the ropes in a theatrical literary agency. Inspired to try screenwriting, I started writing science fiction with an old friend. We moved to Hollywood and sold a script to “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” I was reading scripts for a living when I got an assignment to cover "Twister" for the South China Morning Post. It turned out to be a great fit. Soon I was freelancing for print outlets around the world. I joined the Variety newsroom in 2002 and moved up over some 20 years. I won awards for my print reporting, for editorial video and for branded content. My articles for Script Magazine were the fodder for my first book: “Screen Plays.” Since then, I’ve written five more books on films and filmmaking, all rated higher than four stars on Amazon. At Variety Content Studio, I worked on all kinds of campaigns: print, digital, video, even influencer marketing. I collaborated with the small-but-mighty VCS team, and with Variety sales and marketing, on ideation and production. I selected and managed superb teams of writers, designers, illustrators and photographers. I worked on both branded and editorial video, sometimes editing video myself. I also wrote a deep-dive white paper on branded entertainment for Variety Intelligence Platform. In 2022 I relocated from Los Angeles to Cleveland for family reasons and left my role at VCS. Happily, thanks to mobile tech and fast Internet, I work seamlessly with clients and sources everywhere. These days I'm never sure what the day will bring. But here I am, and it's pretty great.