Event Details:
Date: Sunday, February 28th
Time: 11am PT / 2pm ET
Duration: 1.5 hrs
Location: The Hall
Speaker: Nandini Bapat
In partnership with South Asians In Entertainment
This Session
Learn how to master the fellowship application process with this deep dive into writing personal statements and answering short essay questions for some of Hollywood's biggest fellowship programs! This session features a Q&A with a panel of fellowship winners from programs like Disney/ABC, Viacom CBS, NBC Writers on the Verge, and HBO Access. They will reveal the secret to securing spots in these coveted programs, by sharing their experiences and breaking down what defines a good vs bad application.
Moderator Bio
About Nandini Bapat: Most recognized for her season six run on HBO’s Silicon Valley as the awkward coder Gwart, Nandini Bapat is an accomplished actress and screenwriter. She’s made additional appearances on notable projects, such as NBC’s Good Girls and FOX’s Scream Queens. Nandini starred in her award-winning short film CHOL, that she also produced, wrote and directed. A self-ascribed nerd, Nandini enjoys reading comic books, playing World of Warcraft and attending comic book conventions in her free time.
About the Speakers:
Vidhya Iyer
Born and raised in Nigeria to Indian parents, Vidhya takes great pride in being a third culture kid and having a great deal of variety (and anxiety) when it comes to her cultural identity. From the age of 12 onwards she lived alone in an apartment in India with no adult supervision - this allowed her obsession with television to grow unchecked. She studied Computer Engineering in college while also running an Italian restaurant, then she made the natural transition into moving halfway across the world to LA to become a TV Writer. She’s sold a show to Imagine Entertainment, worked on a JJ Abrams Apple TV show 'Little Voice' and Disney's Mira Royal Detective - all while accomplishing the most Herculean task of all – having a stable monogamous (despite her best attempts to make an argument otherwise) committed relationship in LA. She is currently staffed on Season 3 of Hulu's 'Solar Opposites'. She has previously worked on Apple TV's 'Little Voice' and worked with Disney and Netflix Animation.
Aadip Desai
AADIP DESAI is an Indian American television writer, comedian, BAFTA Breakthrough Artist, and Air Force brat. He wrote a freelance episode of Disney Junior’s MIRA, ROYAL DETECTIVE, and was a Staff Writer on S7 of ABC's THE GOLDBERGS, which is a show mostly about yelling. When he’s not writing, Aadip runs the 16k-member LA TV Writers Facebook Group and is an Advisor at Sundance. Prior to this, Aadip was in AFI's highly selective MFA Screenwriting program but dropped out to join the impossibly selective Walt Disney Television Writing Program. Everything before that is a blur-- working at Reading Rainbow, music supervising, podcast producing On The Page, butchering onions on the Food Network’s Worst Cooks, doing stand-up, touring with punk rock bands, and doing non-profit work. He has a functionally useless BA in Economics, with a Minor in Music from the University of Puget Sound. Most recently, Aadip has managed to murder five sideburn trimmers in the last 18 months.
Rishi Chitkara
Rishi Chitkara started his career as part of the DGA Assistant Director Training Program, where he ran production base camps for hit series, including “The Mentalist,” “New Girl,” “Pretty Little Liars” and “Hello Ladies.” He soon went on to produce two independent genre features, "The Sector," and "High Moon, both available on DVD and Prime streaming. Most recently, he developed his original television project "codename: SANTA" with the USA Network/Universal Cable and was accepted into the WGA. He has a bachelors in Economics from Northwestern and a masters in Screenwriting from UCLA. In 2020, Rishi completed the NBC Writers on the Verge television fellowship and has previously placed as a semi-finalist for fellowships with Warner Brothers and Disney/ABC. He is currently a 2020-2021 fellow in the Writers Mentoring Program at CBS.
Minoti Vaishnav
Minoti Vaishnav was born in Mumbai, India but moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19 to become a songwriter. After writing and releasing three indie albums, Minoti ventured into the world of film and television producing, creating content for Netflix, History Channel, Discovery Channel, and Travel Channel amongst other networks. Minoti is an alumna of the CBS Writers Mentoring Program, and holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. She is currently a staff writer on The Equalizer on CBS.
Joelle Luman
As a screenwriter, Joelle Luman is no stranger to the idea of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Joelle developed a love for science fiction thanks to her engineer dad while her mom exposed her to wealth, glamour and a semi-clandestine life due to her career as a licensed international arms dealer. As a way to subsidize her college tuition, Joelle joined the family business and found herself in the arms trade making deals for high-tech weaponry with the likes of steely generals, questionable politicians and power-hungry CEOs in the Philippines.
Her life experiences not only helped her get a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California, but fueled her imagination to become a storyteller with a passion for action, thrillers, horror, and grounded sci-fi.
Joelle Luman most recently landed a spot on the 2019 Hit List for her grounded sci-fi feature script “The Caregiver.” She also participated in the 2018-2019 Universal Writers Program where she wrote two feature scripts for Universal Pictures, and also consulted on a feature in development at the studio.
Prior to becoming a screenwriter, Joelle produced highly rated unscripted television shows across all networks for more than a decade, including Bravo TV’s Emmy award winning series Top Chef. She is repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
About South Asians In Entertainment (SAIE)
SAIE (and it’s womxn-forward community, South Asian Women In Entertainment SAWIE) are dedicated to using the voices of South Asian’s in entertainment and their experiences, knowledge and power to uplift each other and the next generation of talent in the entertainment industry through education, partnership, and mentorship.
About The South Asian Film Fest of America
Showcasing diversity, creativity and a multi hyphenated identity, the South Asian Film Festival of America (#southasianfilmfest) is an international screening and awards platform for South Asians to showcase their films and digital work. We're a culture-impact film festival for the new generation of South Asian creatives to share their experiences and narratives through feature films, short films, web-series, and music videos with global audiences. We welcome stories from and inclusive of individuals with South Asian heritage, the diaspora, immigrants, and from the sub-continent itself.
**This event is included in the following tickets:
South Asian Film Fest [All Masterclasses]
South Asian Film Fest [ALL Screenings + Q&As + Masterclasses]