1. Emerson L.A. News
Students, Alumni Pitch Their Way to Success
Three students win ELA pitch competition
Written by Daryl Paranada -- Emerson College News & Events
November 16, 2015
Evan Yee ’16, ELA Founding Director Kevin Bright, Dondre Taylor-Stewart ’15,
Elizabeth Ruddy ’16, Zach Ehrlich ’15 and Associate Professor Jim Macak,
Nine Emerson College Los Angeles students and seven alumni spent 90 seconds trying to pitch
their television, movie, and web series ideas to a panel of three alumni judges. Winners of the
inaugural pitch competition, sponsored by the screenwriting software company Final Draft,
were Dondre Taylor-Stewart ’15, Elizabeth Ruddy ’16, and Evan Yee ’16.
The evening began with a panel discussion featuring judges Liz Alper ‘08, a staff writer on
Chicago Fire, Sean Barclay ’99, senior vice president of television at The Gersh Agency, and
Thomas Pettinelli ’13, director of development at Branded Pictures Entertainment. Zach Ehrlich
’15, who won the Austin Film Festival’s pitch competition in 2011 and works as a writer’s
assistant, moderated the panel.

2. As a writer, Alper advised the audience to think of more than just a great pilot and pitch ideas
that have legs. When it comes to actually making the pitch, she told the audience to speak with
clarity.
“It’s the writer’s job to figure out the cleanest way to pitch an idea as concisely as possible,”
said Alper.
Barclay gave the audience advice on what makes a good pitch work.
“What makes it current and why are you the one person on the planet able to tell this story?”
said Barclay.
Pettinelli emphasized how you carry yourself in a pitch meeting. As talented as someone is, he
said, if you can’t articulate your pitch, it won’t get sold.
Pitch competition judges Thomas Pettinelli '13, Sean Barclay '99, and
Liz Alper '08 with panel moderator Zach Ehrlich '15.
The student and alumni pitches covered a wide range of stories: from a sports doping movie to
a Space Jam sequel featuring Beyonce, a dark teen drama about a boy’s quest to attain
perfection to an action-adventure pitting family members against each other. The competition
was the brainchild of Emerson Associate Professor Jim Macak, a visiting Visual & Media Arts
faculty member this semester.

3. “I didn’t really learn about pitching until I was a finalist in the Austin Film Festival’s TV writing
competition in 2007,” said Macak. “I saw the pitch fest and I realized this is a skill my students
need to know.”
The pitch competition attracted a full-house of students, alumni, faculty and staff at ELA.
Macak entered and won the Austin pitch competition in 2008 -- but only after listening to other
pitchers and realizing his existing pitch wouldn’t cut it. He went into to the men’s bathroom
and there he rewrote his entire pitch from scratch. Dondre Taylor-Stewart ’16 did something
similar with his pitch for All My Skinfolk, about a teen who joins the surreal Black nationalist
underground at his parents’ alma mater in search of his racial identity.
“I rewrote the pitch this morning because I pitched it to my Writing Television Pilots class and I
was afraid of some of the language I was using,” said Taylor-Stewart, who has been working on
the pitch since the summer.
His class encouraged him to use the language he had originally written, but to state it
confidently. It worked. At the end of the evening, he had a business card from a representative
in the audience.

4. Elizabeth Ruddy '16 gives her 90-second pitch.
Yee pitched an hour-long TV crime drama about a maple syrup cartel while Ruddy pitched an
hour-long sci-fi drama about a young woman who enters a virtual, Matrix-like role-playing
game in search of her missing sister and ends up playing for her life. Ruddy not only won the
Final Draft software, but was also awarded the audience favorite prize, a $40 gift certificate to
Delancey’s Pizzeria.
Many of Macak’s former students were competitors in the competition, including Jacob
Davison ’12, who pitched an adult animated action series. Davison says he learned a lot about
pitching while interning at SyFy Films as a student at Emerson College Los Angeles. While
Davison has pitched before, he was particularly excited to do it at ELA.
“It’s great practice to pitch in front of an audience of my peers—and a good time,” said
Davison.
Other alumni pitchers included Rio Contrada ’13, Bryce Fallon ’13, Dasha Fayvinova ’14,
Charvelle Holder ’13, Daniel Houbrick ’15, and Mike Sellari ’12. Other ELA students who
participated in the competition included Marissa Bickford ’16, Christina Catucci ’16, Ben
Ellenberg ’16, Maxwell Friedlander ’16, Charles Greenwald ’16, and Tim Lawson ’16.

5. Student pitchers. From left: Dondre Taylor-Stewart '15, Christina Catucci
’16, Ben Ellenberg ’16, Elizabeth Ruddy '16, Tim Lawson '16, Evan Yee '16,
and Charles Greenwald '16.
Alumni pitchers. From left: Daniel Houbrick '15, Jacob Davison '12, Bryce
Fallon '13, Charvelle Holder '13, Dasha Fayvinova '14, Mike Sellari '12, and
Rio Contrada '13.

6. At the end of evening, both Macak and Ehrlich heard addition pitches from students and alumni
on the stand-by list. The standby pitchers competed for prizes in this separate competition.
Ehrlich said he was happy to participate.
“This is a great opportunity for Emerson students to get a taste of one of the most fundamental
concepts in entertainment,” said Ehrlich. “It was a great mix of theater and education.”
Dondre Taylor-Stewart '15 (above) and Evan Yee '16 (below)
give their winning pitches to the judges and the audience.

7. Pitch competition judges and winners.