A conversation with Los Angeles-based writer Vaishnavi Padmanathan on her experience as a writer, her creative process, inspiration, and future goals.
Vaishnavi Padmanathan
What made you become a writer?
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One of the earliest memories I have is of winning a storytelling competition at the age of three, which planted the seed for my passion for writing. I still feel that child-like fervour as I write stories today, with skills that I have developed over time to tell stories that matter. I graduated from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, with a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing after my Bachelor’s in Mass Media from Mumbai University. In addition to that, working in the Indian film industry as well as transitioning to working in the American TV industry, has led to a lot of revelations about what kind of stories I want to tell. I write stories that are inclusive and authentic to the people I am writing about. The more I work, the more energy I gain to work on the stories that speak the truth about so many women like me and me.
What is your creative process?
The one thing that is absolutely necessary for me is to outline before I even start writing. Be it writing a TV episode or a feature, breaking scenes down with what the protagonist wants and what I want as a writer, and checking if both are aligning is a great starting point for me before I embark on a journey with the character. Through my experience of working in the film and TV industry, my writing process has gone through multiple phases, and I have learned to appreciate the art of finetuning my story before opening the writing software on my computer.
You mentioned earlier that you want your writing to be inclusive. Can you elaborate on how you get inspiration for that? Who would you say is your role model in this process?
Most of my works are deeply personal, even if they are not autobiographical, with each story inspired by a truth in life that I have learned. Be it my feature script that deals with my female protagonist’s journey of dealing with grief in a conservative society or the TV pilot that follows a family in the Hindi film industry and has everyone going for blood over money. I think being vulnerable in your work is how you can connect with the audience. All the writers I look up to, including Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Lulu Wang, have time and again shown how speaking one’s truth can be so powerful and, at the same time, entertaining.
What are you currently working on? And what do you see for your future?
Although I can’t reveal much, I have been working on a preschool animated show that is in development and is scheduled to be on air sometime soon. It has been an enriching experience to see how much research goes into making stories that kids watch and also to be part of such a talented team of creatives.
As for my future goal, it is to keep growing more and more as a writer, as I don’t want to limit the worlds I create on pages. I want to make sure I never become complacent and keep pushing myself forward. I am young and excited, with a lot of stories to tell, so I will keep working hard and keep getting inspired by the absolute joy I get when I get to tell my stories to the world.
Native to Mumbai, Vaishnavi moved to New York to furnish her skills in the art of writing from the acclaimed Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Vaishnavi has experience in both the Indian film and American TV industries, with being credited in ‘Oh! Baby,’ a Telugu film, and her work is featured in ‘Searching for the Good’, an audio play made during COVID lockdown times about COVID. Now based out of Los Angeles, Vaishnavi is a rising and talented writer, determined to make more of her stories come to life in the future.
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