{"id":13181,"date":"2022-05-08T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetalentedindian.com\/?p=13181"},"modified":"2022-09-08T11:58:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T06:28:34","slug":"scripting-characters-and-dramedies-meet-screenwriter-yashna-malhotra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetalentedindian.com\/scripting-characters-and-dramedies-meet-screenwriter-yashna-malhotra\/","title":{"rendered":"Scripting Characters and Dramedies: Meet Screenwriter Yashna Malhotra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Behind every exceptional movie, drama, or your most binge watched series is a person who worked tirelessly to bring it to the screen the way it is. Movies and TV series are not just an accumulation of dialogues and scenes, but many other elements like the mood, the lighting, the background, sound, etc. Screenwriters hold together the scriptwriters and the directors, and contribute significantly to filmmaking. We present to you an interview with Yashna Malhotra, a passionate screenwriter. She\u2019s currently writing a project for her dream company run by filmmakers she respects and admires the most in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Life<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yashna Malhotra was born and raised in Bombay. In 2014, she moved to Chicago for a Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. She wrote her first screenplay in 2014. During that time, she was committed to screenplay writing, however she had no plans to pursue it full time, until in 2017, the realisation crept that she wanted to commit to screenwriting full time as a profession. During this time, she was in New York working in advertising. She took the courage and moved to UCLA to pursue screenwriting. There in Los Angeles she received a formal training in screenwriting. Yashna Malhotra has an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, with a focus on both features and series writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Steps to Achievements and Lessons<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yashna Malhotra took a leap of faith, moving away from a stable career in marketing to pursue screenwriting, a career in filmmaking, full-time. This was surely a difficult and risk induced decision, because in all honest facts, Yashna only had one self written screenplay in her hands when she decided to step off the more secured and planned path, and take a whole different route. Yashna says, \u201cthe blank page every day is a huge leap of faith. You have to believe you will be able to do it justice, and it can be very scary.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the filmmaking industry is unstable and volatile. We asked Yashna Malhotra to share how it has been to locate herself in the industry and keep up the perseverance. She replied that this is an ongoing process for her, and that the most important thing for any writer is that they must have something to say and know how to say it which should reflect in the writing. One\u2019s writing samples are their calling-card for their voice and their brand as a writer. One\u2019s voice must be loud enough in one\u2019s writing. This is what she herself has been following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On days when Yashna<\/a> feels demotivated, she turns to entertainment<\/a> pieces. The artistic creativity in movies, tv series, filmmaking, and even books, inspires her and gets her to break that feeling of \u2018stuck\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yashna has received recognition and awards from prestigious institutions, some of which are BAFTA and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. These have been huge milestones in her career so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the Unconventional: Yashna Malhotra\u2019s Message for the Young and Aspiring Artists.  <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We live in a society that has established some stringent norms and parameters. Growing in such an environment, sometimes our life decisions get influenced by them. A rift thus gets created between expectations and desires. Yashna also found herself trapped between this. She says that she resisted pursuing filmmaking for the longest time because of how unsteady and turbulent an occupation in this industry could be. It took her a long time to shake that internal barrier within her and convince herself to take the risk of walking away from the traditional career paths. Since then, Yashna hasn\u2019t taken her decision, and the fact that she can pursue the craft of screenwriting, for granted. She\u2019s deeply respectful of the passion she\u2019s pursuing. This fosters her zeal any time of the day! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yashna shares her opinions on talent. She says, \u201cI think every human being is talented, but what you do with that talent is what will set you apart and get you to where you need to go.” Nobody could have described this better! Surely, one\u2019s talent needs to be honed, otherwise it will stay as a stagnant, non-harnessed energy in one’s self. There can be no victory without hardwork. She further says that, \u201cScreenwriting requires a tremendous amount of persistence, and just showing up to write every day, one word after another, requires another level of commitment\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the aspiring young screenwriters, Yashna Malhotra asks them to question themselves if the regret of not even giving a chance to walk on the path you desire would haunt them several years later. If it will, then you will have to take that jump, that massive risk. She also suggests that don\u2019t necessarily quit your day job, but try to take out time for writing, since it’s very difficult to focus on writing when you\u2019re worried about making ends meet. So don\u2019t quit your job, but make the time in your existing schedule to work on your material. When the time is right, you can transition into doing this full-time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Screenwriter Yashna Malhotra shares with us her journey of success and her experiences in the entertainment and writing industry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":13231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4613],"tags":[8357,9438,9437,210,9436],"yoast_head":"\nScripting Characters and Dramedies: Meet Screenwriter Yashna Malhotra<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Screenwriter Yashna Malhotra shares with us her journey of success and her experiences in the entertainment and writing industry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetalentedindian.com\/scripting-characters-and-dramedies-meet-screenwriter-yashna-malhotra\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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