WHO?
Alexa Alemanni
(Founder, Intro Classes, Advanced Labs)
Alexa started her career as an actor, most well known for playing Allison on the Emmy winning AMC Drama Mad Men for four seasons, for which she won a SAG Award.
As a writer, on the television side, she staffed on TNT’s hit show The Librarians and sold a pilot: Mansfield Park to Tornante Media. She currently has two other pilots in development.
On the feature side, she’s had original features set up at UCP for USA, Level Forward & Prodigal Films, as well as book adaptations for Black Label among others. Currently she has multiple active projects in the feature space: an under-wraps feature with Olive Bridge / Balcony 9 & Sony, a feature with 21 Laps / Netflix and a third with Black Label Media.
Alexa is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Screenwriting at USC., and a member of the screenwriting faculty at New York Film Academy. She’s had speaking engagements with Women in Film, Brian Patacca, and Caricon among others. She is a former Backstage columnist, and was recently a contributing writer to The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting a Writers’ Life In Prison.
She is a graduate of Vassar College with a degree in theater and history.
master teachers
Caden Douglas
(Ongoing labs, various classes)
Caden grew up in snowy Calgary, Alberta, and after living in Toronto for a decade, he now resides in sunny LA, where he works as a screenwriter, director and producer.
His first feature, the dark comedy Mother Father Sister Brother Frank, has won multiple awards including the Grand Jury Prize - Edmonton International Film Festival, Best Feature - Carmel International Film Festival, Best Feature - It's Alive Bulgaria, Best Comedy - Vermont International Film Festival, Director’s Choice, Audience Choice & Festival Favorite - Cinema Diverse Film Festival, Audience Choice Award - Dark Bridges Film Festival and is currently available to rent on AppleTV and Amazon Prime.
As a writer and director Caden has partnered with major companies on both feature and episodic projects. Previous select projects include: feature film The King and Eileen optioned by Johnny Depp's production company Infinitum Nihil / G4C, pilot Tuck, Montana optioned by Dave Hill/Gumption Pictures, feature adaptation of Alex Gino's award winning novel, George (Scholastic) for Lotus/Racine Films.
He is the winner of the ISA Fast Track Fellowship, as well as the ISA Pitch Challenge. He directed pieces for the Los Angeles LGBT Center 50th Gala produced by the multiple award winning, and Emmy nominated Done + Dusted, and his short film Pop is a multiple award winner, including the Leslie Page Award for Excellence In Short Filmmaking and the LA Shorts Gold Award.
Caden produced the short form series What the Elf?! starring multiple Emmy nominee, and Cheers alumni, George Wendt. The series was produced by his production company littleBULL, which he founded with his husband, Michael Lomenda in 2016.
Currently, Caden is developing a new feature comedy, American Beef.
FADE IN:
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE
of an OLDER COUPLE, a MAN and a WOMAN. They’re sitting together on a loveseat looking straight at the CAMERA.
“Alexa is one of the first people I turn to for feedback when I finish a script. She has the ability to immediately tune into the heart of a story and give feedback that elevates the material. Her gift for structure, character and the impact a story can have on its audiences makes her perspective truly invaluable.”
FADE IN: INT. ANTEROOM CLOSE SHOT SWITCHBOARD
Two telephone operators sit at switchboard busy plugging in and out answering calls.
1ST OPERATOR
This is the Morning Post...
The City Room? Just a moment, I'll connect
you.
(plugs in call)
WHAT?
WHAT IS A "BAD PITCH?"
Development execs, producers, directors, actors… everybody’s got an opinion on your work. And they’re happy to tell you, usually prefacing with “this is a bad pitch, but…” What if she just shot the guy? Why can’t they already be married? This is a bad pitch, but... what if we just made her a ghost?
But more often than not - these notes are vital, pointing out something they expected to feel, but didn’t.
This is a collaborative business, and working with fellow artists on a weekly basis keeps all those muscles sharp and ready to work.
Bad Pitch teaches you to hear the good solution in the bad pitch, to understand that the creative process is ongoing.
INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
ON VIDEO: JANE BURNHAM lays in bed, wearing a tank top. She's sixteen, with dark, intense eyes.
WHERE?
The Bad Pitch Writers Lab meets at our studio in Toluca Lake, California.
We also offer zoom classes, as well as weekend intensives across the country.
FULL SCREEN PHOTOGRAPH
grainy but unmistakably a man and woman making love. Photograph shakes. SOUND of a man MOANING in anguish. The photograph is dropped, REVEALING ANOTHER, MORE compromising one. Then another, and another. More moans.
CURLY'S VOICE
(crying out)
Oh, no.
“Alexa, is not only dedicated and invested in ever person in lab, she has an amazing understanding of story. But what is rare to other classes and groups I’ve been in she is really dedicated to helping your ideas becoming realized in your scripts rather than imposing her thoughts, or ideas onto you story to make it work. IThis is a rare and invaluable quality that sets Bad Pitch apart from other programs. I would highly recommend Bad Pitch to anyone looking to take their storytelling skills to the next level.”
OVER BLACK, a news report:
TV VOICE
...the world was stunned today by the death of Diego Ricardo, the youngest person on the planet...
WHY?
Bad Pitch Writers Lab celebrates each individual artist’s strengths and unique stories.
It's not about learning to write a certain way, in a specific style, or using a prescribed method.
Nor is it about building a career in a certain way, in a certain path, or with specific steps.
Bad Pitch works to make each individual artists approach the business the best it can be, providing the specific tools he or she needs to be seen and find success.
A SPOTLIGHT reveals RYAN BINGHAM standing at a PODIUM.
He unzips a BACKPACK and sets it down beside him.
RYAN
How much does your life weigh?
*HOW?
*CAN I GET IN CONTACT WITH BAD PITCH WRITERS LAB