985. Company Retreat
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In this episode of On The Page, host Pilar Alessandra welcomes guest Lanisa Frederick, an accomplished actor, writer, and voiceover artist, to discuss her role in the new Amazon series Company Retreat, produced by the creators of Jury Duty. The show blends scripted narrative with improvisation, placing a real-life participant in a fictional company retreat while he believes he's assisting with a documentary. Lanisa reveals how the production used detailed character Bibles, contingency scripts, and real-time direction via earwigs to maintain authenticity while adapting to the participant’s unpredictable choices. She reflects on how her background in theater, sketch comedy at Second City, and her own life experiences—including growing up in a doomsday cult—shaped her performance and writing. Lanisa also shares insights from her work on the Disney animated series Hey AJ, the challenges of animation timelines and visual simplicity, and her upcoming projects: an adult animated series about two surviving dinosaurs (Last Two Standing) and a semi-biographical comedy series inspired by her cult upbringing, Church Candy. She emphasizes the importance of personal truth in storytelling and how 'generals'—non-pitch meetings—can plant seeds for future opportunities. The episode closes with practical advice for writers on building relationships and staying visible in the industry.
Use your entire life experience—work, trauma, humor—as fuel for character and story development.
In improvisational scripted shows, flexibility and collaboration are essential; scripts are skeletons, not rigid blueprints.
Personal truth in writing requires naming the uncomfortable truth, even if it’s hard to confront.
Generals are not pitch meetings—they’re relationship-building opportunities that plant seeds for future work.
Animation writing demands simplicity and visual feasibility; every detail must be drawn, so less is often more.
…and 3 more takeaways available in PodZeus
The Writer's Block and the Spark of a New Project
Pilar opens with a personal anecdote about her unfinished script and the struggle of writer's block, setting the tone for a conversation about creativity, process, and the courage to put ideas on the page.
Introducing Lanisa Frederick: A Multifaceted Creative Force
Pilar introduces Lanisa Frederick, highlighting her diverse career as an actor, writer, and voiceover artist, with notable roles in Jury Duty, Company Retreat, and Disney’s Hey AJ, as well as her viral sketch series Hashtag Booked.
The Unique Format of Company Retreat: Scripted Improv
“It's a little bit of choose your own adventure except he doesn't know that we're basing it on what he does but there's always a contingency plan and then there's another contingency plan after that.”
The Power of Preparation: Building Character and World
“We had a shared document, a shared Google Drive, just dumping any backstory, any preparation that we might need in the event that he would say, hey, what's the Wi-Fi?”
From Personal Trauma to Art: The Cult Story Behind Church Candy
“I realized that I had lacked nuance in my writing of it. And it was because I was scared to say certain things about it. So I think when I think about like... I write very personally. Most of my stories are based on what you know.”
“It took some time before I was like, okay, y'all this was a cult. This is what it was. And here's the story of that. And it just made it, I feel like it made my writing better.”
“I realized that I had lacked nuance in my writing of it. And it was because I was scared to say certain things about it. So I think when I think about like... I write very personally. Most of my stories are based on what you know.”
“It's a little bit of choose your own adventure except he doesn't know that we're basing it on what he does but there's always a contingency plan and then there's another contingency plan after that.”
Host
Guest
Company Retreat
other
Lanisa Frederick
person
Pilar Alessandra
person
Jury Duty
other
Hey AJ
other
Church Candy
other
On The Page
media
Anthony Norman
person
Rockin' Grandma's
other
Danielle Panock
person
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