Meet Vishnu Sinha

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vishnu Sinha. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vishnu below.

Vishnu, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever head any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?

Resting and being intentional about rest has been the best thing when it comes to dealing with creative blocks. If something is not working, in my experience, seldom has applying force resulted in a satisfying result.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a filmmaker and educator from New Delhi and currently based in New York City. I have been making films and TV shows for the past decade and I came to this world by way of theatre, starting out as an actor before I stepped behind the curtain to figure out how the magic is created.

Currently, I am developing my first feature film, writing for the second season of a Netflix romantic comedy TV series called The Royals (the first season airs soon!), and developing another comedy TV series with an International Emmy-nominated production company. I also teach screenwriting as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University and as Lead Instructor at QueerFrames, a screenwriting lab dedicated to queer South-Asian filmmakers, supported by the folks at Netflix, Goethe-Institut, and Berlinale, among others.

I am not entirely sure I know what I tend to write about but if I had to put it in a box, I would say I tend to write about loss, coming-of-age, and the romantic nature of the non-romantic relationships we share with our families, friends, co-workers, and even our pets. Tonally, my work tends to toe the line between the dramatic and the comedic. I have always been fascinated by how laughter can allow us to access and sit with some of our darkest impulses.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Optimism, grit, and the ability to see work as a part of who you are, and not all that you are. People who want to work in this industry need to build a foundation of optimism, self-discipline, and a life outside work that sustains them when work cannot. There is a lot of rejection and doubt early on in your career, and frankly even later, but to make sure that doubt doesn’t cement into something more rigid and immovable, you have to find a way to keep pushing forward.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

I learned early on that writing can often look like ‘not writing’ but a year ago, another fear started to take hold. I had just finished writing for the first season of ‘The Royals’ and had some time to focus on my own writing but I didn’t feel like doing it. I needed to take a break from it which felt necessary so I could return to the page with renewed energy and enthusiasm. By the time I did, new exciting projects came my way and I couldn’t say no to them and once again I felt like I was pulled away from my own pages. I started worrying that the writing I am doing for others is not who I am, and what’s worse, it is pulling me away from the art that is most reflective of who I am. I sat with that fear for a while until I received some incredible advice from a screenwriter in Los Angeles, someone I now call a mentor. He told me to appreciate the moment I am in, to be grateful of the success I have experienced, because I could easily be in a different place and be whining about that. It made me laugh and think at the same time because he’s right. So the biggest improvement has been to slow down, devote time to the craft, and graybeard into success by accepting that all work is good and necessary and part of the journey. I’m grateful that I get to do it and that I am still doing it.

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