Alumni Spotlight: Alexandre Ilic '18
The Alumni Spotlight is a place to hear from the School of the Arts alumni community about their journeys as artists and creators.
Alexandre Ilic '18 is a filmmaker born in Cannes, France and raised in Miami, Florida. He holds a BA in Film from Hunter College and an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University, where he graduated with honors. After college, he sold a treatment for a novel to Macmillan Publishers. Stranded, published by Tor Books, was later optioned by Warner Horizon Television. At Columbia, Alex's thesis script Apocalypse, Please earned Faculty Selects and won the Nickelodeon Best Comedy Teleplay Award. Currently, Alex is the Director of Film Program Events at Columbia's MFA Film Program. He’s developing two feature films: his debut, a darkly comedic thriller about a botched attempt to fake a death, and a social thriller co-written by fellow alum Andrew Stephen Lee.
Was there a specific faculty member or peer who especially inspired you while at the School of the Arts?
There were so many! I was incredibly nervous when I started the program, but having Dan Kleinman my first semester immediately put me at ease. John Walsh and Michael Weithorn made me think that my writing was actually funny. Frank Pugliese inspired me to better myself as a writer. Maureen Ryan inspired me to better myself as a collaborator. David Klass was my advisor and I will always be grateful that he let me operate in a way that suited me best. Finally, a big shoutout to Ramin Serry. I often felt like he believed in me more than I believed in myself, and that meant a lot. I think he still might!
I would be remiss if I also didn’t mention the staff, specifically Hanna Seifu, Sara Mason, Peter Vaughan, Michael Cacioppo Belantara, Jordan Bowen, and Andrew Castillo. They always made me feel like I deserved to be there.
How did attending the School of the Arts impact your work and career as an artist?
It taught me how to collaborate.
What was your favorite or most memorable class while at the School of the Arts?
I had a lot of great classes, but my most unique experience was Frank Pugliese’s TV Writing lecture. I was enrolled in the class and somehow also the teaching assistant. I had TV Directing just before at Prentis, so when that would end I’d stop at McDonald’s and grab some fries, and then walk over to Dodge and eat them in Frank’s office while he went through the day’s agenda. Every class, he’d lecture for the first half, and then an industry guest would come in for the second half. A part of my job entailed escorting the guest onto campus and keeping them company until the class was ready. That was my first experience doing what I now do regularly. Word of advice: don’t tell the executive who greenlit Mad Men that you’ve never seen Mad Men. (I’ve seen it since, I swear.) At the end of the semester, we all had to pitch an original TV show to the entire class, which was over fifty students. I still remember my favorites.
What advice would you give to recent graduates?
On a philosophical level, keep creating. Art will always be important.
On a practical level, don’t hesitate to diversify your skill set, whether it’s as an editor, cinematographer, programmer, location manager, or intimacy coordinator. Whatever it is, being able to pay your rent will never be overrated.