THE TEAM
ALEX TOPALLER & DAN SHAPIRO,
CREATORS (PRODUCERS-DIRECTORS)
Known for disruptive, emotionally impactful work, Grammy award-winning creators Alex Topaller and Daniel Shapiro are pioneers of cutting-edge visual techniques in LED / Virtual Production, CG animation and visual effects and have crafted commercials, live experiences, and music videos for some of the world’s biggest brands and artists.
Through their creative production company, Aggressive, Alex and Dan blend storytelling, live action, design, visual effects, and technology from concept design to post-production under one roof, creating work that has generated many awards and nominations including a Grammy, AICP Next, MTV VMA, ADC and Communication Arts awards. Their work has been featured as Vimeo Staff Picks, Behance features, and festival showcases, as well as being publicized by The New York Times, American Cinematographer, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Creativity and NOWNESS among others.
Alex and Dan are no strangers to large-scale, visually pioneering creative work and brand continuity having worked with clients like Amazon, Verizon, Boeing, Honda, Intel, Michael Jackson, Pharrell, Alicia Keys and The Beatles.
They are now expanding into the space of TV content creation with their Sci-Fi franchise series -- ESCAPE ATTEMPT.
AN EXPLOSIVE MIXTURE OF
BACKGROUND, PASSION AND SKILL
Born in Moscow to prominent theater director, journalist, and TV personality Victor Topaller, Alex Topaller has a deep personal experience of East-West geopolitics and the intersections of personal-political and dramatic space. Intimately aware of Soviet-Era Russia, before immigrating to Israel and Europe and then the US, Alex brings to this project a unique perspective on high stakes politics, literary source material and intergenerational migration.
A sci-fi-world enthusiast, Dan Shapiro was raised in a Russian neighborhood in Queens by a Soviet-era prodigy painter and a computer scientist father who both escaped the USSR for the US. He brings to this project a powerful second-generation Russian-Hungarian Immigrant perspective blending art, technology, and a deep understanding of worlds within worlds.
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Together, they offer:
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Epic scale capacity for storytelling
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Blended understanding of the USSR and current Western pre-occupations
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Cutting edge technology
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Brand awareness and large-scale production experience
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Together, they are uniquely positioned to present ESCAPE ATTEMPT; a Soviet sci-fi original, interpreted as a captivating allegory for our uncertain future.
CHRISTINA LAZARIDI, CO-CREATOR
(WRITER - AUDIENCE RESPONSE EXPERT)
An award-winning screenwriter and Academy Award nominee, Christina brings to the table 25 years of content creation experience and a neuroscience-backed expertise in story design and audience response. Projects she has authored, or actively developed, have won awards at Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals, Sundance, SXSW and the Ariels (Mexican Oscars), have sold to Bruckheimer Productions and New Line and have featured performances by Rachel Brosnahan and Bernadette Peters, among others. She has recently worked with pioneering digital artist Lynn Hershman, Louverture Films and producers Karin Chien and Joslyn Barnes, as well as major European production and distribution company, Pan-Europeenne.
An industry pioneer Christina works with Princeton's Neuroscience Institute to decode how narrative design affects memory and emotions, with results recently published by MIT, and as an international development expert she has run development rooms in Europe, Canada, South America and the US, recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences through CineQuaNon Labs, the script development residency she co-founded.
Alongside her personal practice, Christina Lazaridi serves as Head of SCREEN & TV WRITING at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division, mentoring the cutting-edge film and TV storytellers of tomorrow.
WHY ESCAPE ATTEMPT?
WHY AGGRESSIVE
Christina is actively expanding her work into long-form narrative TV and has joined forces with Aggressive, from the initial proof-of-concept adaptation of ESCAPE ATTEMPT, to conceptualizing and writing the ESCAPE ATTEMPT series BIBLE.
Born in Greece, in a family of refugees and raised during the military dictatorship, Christina has always been intimately aware of the personal consequences of political upheaval. And after a childhood spent between opera houses (with her set designer mom) and political rallies (with her career-politician father), Christina’s work focuses on high emotional-impact narratives addressing dislocation and survival, the confluence of political and personal, nostalgia and the future, a perfect breeding ground for ESCAPE ATTEMPT.
She's thrilled to collaborate with Alex and Dan, their breathtaking visual talent and inspiring source material. She offers the team:
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Vast and varied story development experience and story-room management
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A focus on creating award-generating character performances
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A passion for epic storytelling at a mythological scale
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And a neuroscience-backed methodology of narrative design
