WHO?
ALEXA ALEMANNI
Alexa started her career as an actor, working in independent features, as well as hit shows such as Masters of Sex, Lucifer, The West Wing & more, she’s 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, she launched her career with the pilot Appletown, which landed on the Tracking Board’s Young & Hungry List. On the television side, with her writing partner, she staffed on TNT’s hit show The Librarians. On the feature side, her and her writing partner wrote Something Blue, the sequel to the breakout hit Something Borrowed (Kate Hudson) for Black Label Media, as well as the book adaptation of Serpent’s Bite by Warren Adler (War of the Roses) with Grey Eagle Films. They recently sold their feature I Won’t Be Home For Christmas to UCP for USA Networks. Their feature Lion in the Library is in pre-production with Level Forward & Prodigal Entertainment. They currently have projects in development with TeamDowney, Rebelle Media & Right of Way Films, and Hello Sunshine..
As a producer she has overseen and/or produced ten shorts, is producing an upcoming webseries, and is in active development on two micro-budget features. .
Alexa is an adjunct professor of Screenwriting at USC., and also teaches screenwriting at New York Film Academy for both BFA & MFA students. She also serves as the President of The Collaborative, a non-profit for actors.
She is a graduate of Vassar College with a degree in theater and history.
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.
“I didn’t even know that I had stories to tell, let alone how to tell them. Alexa was instrumental in unearthing that process. She’s an incredibly astute and supportive teacher and the quality of the community she’s created through these classes is a wonderful indication of that. I cannot recommend her class highly enough.”
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 script. 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 your reader expected to feel, but didn’t.
The art of screenwriting is collaborative, and working with fellow writers on a weekly basis keeps all those muscles sharp and ready to work.
The Lab teaches you to hear the good solution in the bad pitch, to understand that the writing process is the rewriting process, and that creativity 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 in North Hollywood.
Advanced Lab: Monday afternoon 3-6pm
Advanced Lab: Monday evening 7-10pm
Ongoing Lab: Tuesday
afternoon 12-3pm
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.
“I was an actor who had ideas but was never able to fully execute them. Alexa gave me the tools to put my ideas into action. Because of her guidance, I’m proud to say I’m currently in post production on a short film that I wrote, produced, & directed.”
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 writer’s strengths and unique stories.
It's not about learning to write a certain way, in a specific style, or using a prescribed method.
Whatever the writer wants to create, the Lab works to make their material the best it can be, giving the writer the specific tools he or she needs to get it read, heard, produced, and seen.
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