Casting & Filmmaking: The Working Relationship [Film Festival Masterclass]
Event Details
Date: Sunday, March 14th
Time: 11am PT / 2pm ET
Duration: 1 hr
Location on the Festival Map: ‘The Hall’
Speakers: Keertana Sastry (Casting Director, Producer), Mayank Bhatter (Casting Director, Actor), Karen David (Actress - Fear the Walking Dead), Kabir Akhtar (Director, Emmy Award winner), Varun Bhargava (Agent - APA Agency)
Session Details
The Casting Director is an often misunderstood position in the filmmaking process that has tremendous value and can be implemented as early as development. In this discussion with seasoned casting professionals, Keertana Sastry and Mayank Bhatter, we'll discuss how casting interacts and collaborates with all members of the creative team and we'll also address the need for more South Asian representation in casting. Joining Keertana and Mayank to give their perspectives from the director, actor, and representative sides will be Emmy Award winner Kabir Akhtar, Actress/Singer Karen David, and talent agent Varun Bhargava, respectively. This discussion will be moderated by Actress/Producer Pallavi Sastry.
Speaker Bios
Moderator: PALLAVI SASTRY
Pallavi is an actor/producer/singer based in Los Angeles. She is the Co-founder and CEO of Team Access Productions, Inc, where she currently serves as the lead producer on the feature documentary, Invisible (post-production), and What Are Friends For Podcast (Season 3 now playing on iTunes) where she also co-hosts. Her next project as a producer will be on the feature debut of award winning writer/director, Nardeep Khurmi. Pallavi co-founded Brown Girls Who Brunch — an event series fostering community over competition amongst South Asian women in Hollywood. In addition, Pallavi is a classically trained stage and screen actor who can most recently be seen as a 4 season recurring guest star on CBS’ Blue Bloods. Other guest star appearances include Netflix’s Master of None, Quantico, The Affair, and appearances on Nurse Jackie, The Night Of, Last Week Tonight w/ John Oliver, and several national commercials. Prior to her TV/Film career, she was a New York City theatre veteran seen in countless musicals and plays varying from national tours, Off-Broadway, and regional theatres. Outside of work, you might find her playing mom to her toddler, sipping an oat milk latte, or singing Beyonce to her unenthusiastic dog. BFA Musical Theatre Performance - University of Oklahoma; Proud member SAG-AFTRA, AEA, Women in Film.
Social Media Handles:
Instagram & Club House: @pallavisastry
TikTok @pallavisastryofficial
www.pallavisastry.com
KEERTANA SASTRY
Keertana Sastry has worked in film and television casting since 2013 in both New York City and Los Angeles. Recent credits include, “In Treatment: Season 4” with Uzo Aduba (HBO), “The Comey Rule” (Showtime), “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” (Netflix), “The Act” (Hulu), and “The Hate U Give” for Fox. She also recently produced the short film, “Thank You, Come Again,” the documentary “Invisible,” “The Chaat Room” podcast and is a Producer/Partner at Team Access Productions, Inc. Keertana also produced the short film “Thank You, Come Again” directed by Nirav Bhakta, screening now at SAFFA. Her next project as a lead producer will be on the feature debut of award winning writer/director, Nardeep Khurmi.
Keertana co-founded the event series, “Brown Girls Brunch,” created to foster community over competition among South Asian women in Hollywood, and also serves as entertainment editor for the online publication, Brown Girl Magazine. Previous to her career in casting, Keertana was a journalist featured in New York Magazine/Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, and Business Insider.
Social Media Handles
Club House & Instagram: @keertanaks
MAYANK BHATTER
Mayank Bhatter has been casting since 2012 and has worked in TV, Film and Commercials. He is currently working with a major casting office, Atomic Honey Casting, where he just wrapped working on two studio movies: HE'S ALL THAT for Miramax, a re-make of SHE's ALL THAT and a new TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE for Legendary, as well as on a few independent feature films by himself and a scripted narrative podcast at his own company, Mayank Bhatter Casting, Currently at Atomic Honey, he is working on two new studio feature films (Warner Brothers and Netflix) and a new series for ABC called REBEL, from Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 showrunner, Krista Vernoff.
Prior to that, he worked with Casting Director Lindsey Weissmueller on the acclaimed Sundance 2018 darling, SEARCHING. He also worked on the recent pilot pickup remake of PARTY OF FIVE for Sony/Freeform and a few other unaired pilots. He's also worked on the critically acclaimed and highly viewed hit series, Adam Ruins Everything, on TruTV. Before that, he worked as a casting associate at Zane/Pillsbury Casting. With Zane/Pillsbury, he worked on the hit ABC Family/Freeform show PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, the USA show GRACELAND, and the pilot of Bella Thorne's show, FAMOUS IN LOVE as well as a few indie films. Previously, he worked for Nancy Nayor for 3 years and has helped cast over a dozen films and tv shows some of which include: THE CONFIRMATION with Clive Owen and Maria Bello, BOY NEXT DOOR with Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Guzman, OUIJA with Olivia Cooke and Douglas Smith, THE LAST WORD with Mike Doyle and Sean Patrick Flannery, VISIONS with Isla Fischer and Jim Parsons, HOME with Topher Grace and Patricia Clarkson, BREAKPOINT with Jeremy Sisto and JK Simmons, THE MESSENGERS series on CW, EYE CANDY series on MTV and many, many other others!
In addition to casting, Mayank is also a producer, actor and writer. He has his own production company and has produced features like the Sundance hit, LOVE IS STRANGE, with John Lithgow and Alfred Molina, and the TriBeCa film, LOITERING WITH INTENT, with Sam Rockwell and Marisa Tomei.
As a working actor, he's been in multiple shows and movies including Silicon Valley,
Fuller House, Grey's Anatomy, Lethal Weapon, Criminal Minds, South Park, Pretty Little Liars, Startup, Famous in Love, among others. Some movies include: The Tiger Hunter opposite Danny Pudi, Rizwan Manji, Kevin Pollak, Karen David, Sam Page, Parvesh Cheena and Jon Heder which released in theaters to rave reviews and now is on Netflix. Another film, TRAFFICKED, opposite Ashley Judd and Sean Patrick Flanery is on Amazon Prime. DRIVING WHILE BLACK, that finished the festival circuit with multiple awards can also be found on Prime.
He was recently a writer for the CBS Diversity showcase and is now writing a pilots - hopefully one will be the air soon! :)
VARUN BHARGAVA
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Bhargava is a graduate of Arizona State University, where he earned a degree in Economics and Film and Media Studies. He began his career at APA, joining the agency in 2015.
Social Media Handles:
Instagram: @_varunbhargava
ADHRUCIA APANA
Adhrucia Apana is the founder of Curiosity Entertainment a development and production company and a general partner in Curiosity Media Finance. Curiosity Entertainment focuses on stories that impact and inspire through commercial content that challenges cultural norms with a focus on shifting the Hollywood marketplace towards being more reflective of the global economy we live in and is currently in pre-production on 5 movies and 2 tv shows.
Prior to founding Curiosity Entertainment. Adhrucia was an executive in film and television for the past 8 years. She entered entertainment after a 10 year career in strategy focused on global consumer goods and emerging markets. Her most recent credits include movies she supported during her time with BRON studios such as: "Capone" starring Tom Hardy directed by Josh Trank; and the upcoming releases "Needle" starring Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odam Jr. and Orlando Bloom directed/written by John Ridley; and "Harry Haft" starring Ben Foster directed by Barry Levinson. Adhrucia worked for almost 3 years as an Executive financing both independent film and multiple major studio slates with BRON Studios, financiers of "The Joker" and last year's Oscar Nominee "Bombshell".
Prior to that, she served as: a consultant and partner to American Idol Icon Randy Jackson focusing on TV development and brand integration; as a partner with Atlantic Screen Media Group; and as a production associate for The Film House NY. Before transitioning into Entertainment, Adhrucia spent 10 years in brand as a strategy executive for Batteri Creative (Gatorade, Crest Toothpaste) and PartnersHub (Marketing for “THE GRUDGE” and ”THE BIBLE SERIES”. She started her career as a co-op in strategy at Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising in NYC. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the acclaimed Carl H. Lindner HONORS-plus program funded by Proctor and Gamble, AC Nielsen, and the Lindner Association.
She is an active member of the diversity initiative lovingly called "Stone Soup" started by Rotten Tomatoes founder Patrick Lee and the Goldhouse Initiative focused on elevating Asian and South Asian voices in the Entertainment Industry and beyond, a board member of the Producer’s Guild Social Impact Entertainment (SIE) coalition and has served or been an advocate and volunteer for Los Angeles based non-profits Young Storytellers and Project Paper Bag.
KABIR AKHTAR
KABIR AKHTAR, ACE is an Emmy-winning director-editor whose work includes The Academy Awards, Never Have I Ever, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Arrested Development, and Unsolved Mysteries.
Originally from Philadelphia, Kabir spent most of his school years in the theater, before launching a career as a visual storyteller. Now a three-time Emmy nominee, Kabir won the award for editing the pilot of the musical series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, becoming the first person of color to win in the category. He worked on all 62 episodes of Crazy Ex, rising from editor to producer/director. He is currently the supervising producer/director on Mindy Kaling's upcoming HBO Max series The Sex Lives Of College Girls.
He earned additional Emmy nominations for his work on Arrested Development (becoming the first comedy editor nominated for a streaming series) and on Billy Crystal's most recent opening film for the Oscars. Kabir has also been nominated twice for an ACE Eddie Award for editing, and nominated once for an NAACP Image Award for directing.
Kabir has also directed episodes of Superstore, BH 90210, The Unicorn, Julie and the Phantoms, Mumbai Calling, and the new Saved By The Bell, as well as season finales of the critically acclaimed shows Grown-ish and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (the first Disney-branded series on Disney Plus). With a passion for musical projects, Kabir has directed thirty music videos with a combined 22 million Youtube views, as well as comedy segments of the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmy Awards.
He has edited the pilot episodes of ten series, and has directed the pilot episodes of two series: 8th & Ocean for MTV, and the relaunched edition of Unsolved Mysteries. Kabir was recently re-elected as Co-Chair of the Asian American Committee at the DGA, and has served five years as a Peer Group Executive Committee member at the Television Academy. He has been a featured speaker at many industry events and festivals, including SXSW.
With an extensive background in theater, and six generations of poets among his ancestors, Kabir has credits on over 450 hours of television.
Social Media Handles
Instagram & Twitter: @kabirakhtar
KAREN DAVID
Karen David began her career on London’s West End, in the original cast of Mamma Mia! upon her drama school graduation stint at the Globe, as Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost. She went on to star in new dramatist plays at Stratford Royal East, the Hammersmith Lyric Theatre and in the U.S, worked with director, Kimberly Senior, and Pulitzer Prize winning dramatist, Ayad Akhtar, on his play, The Who and the What, for La Jolla Playhouse. Shortly after graduating drama college, in between acting on stage, she signed a recording deal with music giant, BMG, and a publishing deal with Hit & Run/EMI music. She went on to achieve top 4 airplay hits in Europe from her album, and has collaborated and worked with Oscar winning composer, AR Rahman, (Slumdog Millionaire). In tv and film, she is currently a series regular as Grace on AMC's Fear The Walking Dead, and has been a series regular as Isabella on ABC’s Galavant. Karen has been a recurring guest star on many TV shows, including most recently, CW's Legacies, ABC's The Rookie, the award winning, reunion series of ITV’s Cold Feet, HBO's Barry, ABC’s Once Upon A Time as Jasmine, and CBS's Criminal Minds to name a few. In the animation world, Karen is currently voicing the roles of Ashima, Shilpa and Ruby on Disney's hit show, Mira, Royal Detective. Recently, Karen co-produced her first short film and acted in "In Hollywoodland" which was selected for competition screenings in Geena Davis', Bentonville Film Festival, American Black Film Festival, Social Injustice Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival and Hollyshorts to begin with, and is continuing on the film festival circuit this year. Her other films include film festival and audience cinema award favorite, The Tiger Hunter, opposite Danny Pudi, Netflix's Amar, Akbar & Tony, Bollywood Queen, with James McAvoy, Batman Begins, The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior, Couples Retreat, Red Lights and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
Social Media Handles:
Instagram: @karendavidofficial
Twitter: @karendavid
Facebook: @karendavidmusic
Blog: www.teawithkaren.com
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]