We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Dvorak a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve never seen a depiction of cancer on screen, especially young adult cancer, that resonated with my real life experience of being a teenager with Lymphoma. When I turned twenty years old, newly in remission, I didn’t raise millions of dollars for a cancer fundraiser, or wear a t-shirt with a ribbon on it. Instead, I had panic attacks, begged my doctors for my morphine drip long after being cut off, and had survivor’s guilt when truly good patients my age died instead of me. I was a bad survivor, and everyone knew it.

My narrative short film BAD SURVIVOR is an Official Selection of Slamdance Film Festival in LA. I decided to write, executive produce, co-direct (with Katie North), and act in the dark comedy because I wanted to have my hand, and my voice, in every aspect of the project. This film is for all of us bad survivors, unable to be angelic inspirations, but rather fumbling through remission as a young person one eye roll at a time.

BAD SURVIVOR is just the start of the something bigger. Audiences may not expect a dark comedy inspired by childhood cancer, but all of us in the community know exactly where to find the humor. BAD SURVIVOR the TV series is on it’s way.

Check out www.badsurvivor.com to see upcoming screenings near you!

Alex , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my career in the fashion closet of Seventeen Magazine. After helping style a supermodel for an editorial photo shoot, my life changed forever. I saw as she so freely embodied beauty and power, and I was hooked. I wanted to feel empowered in my body just like she was. Soon after, I signed my first modeling contract, and became an international runway model. For years I not only walked for top designers in New York Fashion Week, but I worked with them weeks ahead of their shows to prep their new lines. Despite the fact that I was living my dream, working in Milan, London, Paris, and NYC, I was hiding a secret.

I was a cancer survivor. Newly in remission. Finding my footing physically, mentally, and emotionally since treatment. I hid my scars in castings, and lied to my agents when I had doctors appointments. While modeling allowed me to disassociate from the disease that had leveled my life completely, and gave me the independence and freedom I had always wanted, at one point, keeping the secret became unbearable. New lies to coverup previous lies created a tangled web of anxiety that I couldn’t hold onto anymore. I was bursting to tell the truth.

So I wrote a personal essay for Huffpost. I wrote all the deep dark secrets I couldn’t find the words to say out loud to my peers. I detailed how my agents were asking me to lose weight while my doctors were asking me to gain back the pounds I lost during chemotherapy. By expressing myself, I realized that covering up my port scar was erasing the most painful part of my past, one that I now decided I would derive power from. And with that essay, I integrated the version of myself that was once in treatment, with the person I am today, not defined by what she’s been through, but rather inspired by it.

Writing was my new freedom. I dove head first into helping others through storytelling.

I wrote essays and op-eds for publications like The Washington Post, PopSugar, and Insider. And I began working closely with Teen Cancer America, who increase survival and improve the lives of adolescent and young adults with cancer by transforming hospitals to better serve their needs.

For film & TV, I wrote, directed, and starred in the film BAD SURVIVOR, a fictional (though autobiographical) telling of a sarcastic young girls first day in cancer remission. We’re about to screen at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival in LA, with the upcoming BAD SURVIVOR TV series up next. Equally exciting, is the announcement of my debut book, a YA Graphic Novel! Follow me on instagram at @itsalexdvorak for all the latest!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As a screenwriter, there was an entire year where I heard the the word “no.” I was pitching TV show pilots to executives, managers, and producers. I consider myself a person with thick skin, but after getting so close to life changing opportunities and getting countless rejections, my confidence took a massive hit.

I decided I had nothing to lose. I would stop asking for permission and make it myself. I knew if these execs saw a proof of concept on screen of my TV series, they would buy in.

I wrote BAD SURVIVOR, a narrative short film with a sarcastic lead who has just been “broken up with” by her oncologists. Now she has to survive her first day in cancer remission, home with her multicultural family.

Taking on production was a daunting task, but I took it one step at a time. I hired brilliant creatives, experts in their fields. It was truly a team effort to complete such a personal story.

Now BAD SURVIVOR is in film festivals around the country. At our world premiere in NYC at the Big Apple Film Festival, I was in awe of how taking control of career changed my life. Writing, executive producing, directing, and starring in BAD SURVIVOR helped me trust my own voice, my creativity, and my future.

Your story is worth telling. Stop asking for permission and go tell it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Those in positions of power (TV execs, producers, editors, etc.) have the unique opportunity to positively affect culture by taking chances on original storytelling and original storytellers. While we might be in a pattern of remakes and reruns in TV & film, essentially only moving forward with stories that have already been told, viewers are thirsting for stories that show their experiences on screen in ways we’ve never seen before. That happens by saying yes to the newcomers. Yes to women. Yes to people of color. And yes to creative freedom. Give a true creative the reigns, and you’ll see how successful they become.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alexdvorak.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsalexdvorak
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsalexdvorak/
• Other: BAD SURVIVOR Film Website – www.badsurvivor.com