Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sneha Mendes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sneha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I used to wonder where my inspiration came from. As I dive deeper into my characters, I cannot help but notice that they stem from my family. I grew up with an incredibly, radically independent and inspirational mother. She inspired the first character I was ever proud of writing – “Alice” from my feature project “Alice and the Demon and all kinds of Shenanigans”.
This is a story about a Puritan woman, and wife of a demon hunter, who befriends a literal demon, and together, they break all the societal norms that keep them chained up. It was just. my mum against the world for the longest time. She didn’t realise it but she gave me the most clear and empowered character I would ever create.

I knew I wanted to write that story when the character came to me so naturally. The more I dove into her, the more I saw my mum. I can easily say that this is the first of my works that I am unabashedly proud of. That’s because I am writing about a good woman, because I was raised by a good woman. Now, I was to share that with all the world.

My mother has also been such a force of nature. She has an innate ability to keep everything in order and work under pressure without breaking a sweat. It is her work ethic that makes me such a good producer.

Second, but no way secondly, is my grandfather. He is the root of my love for the arts and the primary reason I am a writer. He wrote too, and he loved to read. He listened to a lot of music and watched double the movies anyone of his generation ever did. I grew up listening to him talk about Glenn Miller and Al Pacino. And I decided that I wanted to live in the same world as them. After I started writing and producing, it felt only natural to create a character around the man who introduced me to the arts. So, I have started working on a proof of concept, with the working title ‘Chorizo’. Hopefully this will be a story that shows everyone the impact that this man made on my family, and why I am so proud of my roots.

Sneha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a filmmaker from India, currently living and based out of New York City. I direct, edit, work in production and do a whole lot of screenwriting.

I was a Junior Executive and Associate Creative Writer back in India, which allowed me to have experience with work on set, as well as pitch my films and concepts to OTTs like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Discovery+, Disney+ and Hotstar. However, I always felt like I was meant to make it out of the country. So when the time was right I packed my bags and moved to NYC. I fell in love with the city and now, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I feel like I came alive here and my artistic abilities popped off.

I come from an eclectic and eccentric family of oddities, so, my entire life has been a comedy of errors. Their many whimsical personalities made me fall in love with Fantasy. Their ability to stick together, even when they hate each other made me appreciate Drama. And aside from giving me trauma, tragedy, and the innate need for therapy, they also gave me the best tool to cope with it – Comedy. So, my stories and characters always come from a deeply personal, and informed place.

I love stories like “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”, and really anything by Taika Waititi or Yorgos Lanthimos. I feel like there’s a certain kind of comedy that is so well-refined, that you can hear the writer through the lines, even if the best actor delivers them. I also think that it’s the most challenging genre to conquer. Maybe that’s why I am allured by it.

I have studied Improv and Sketch Comedy at Brooklyn Comedy Collective, and I’ve fallen in love with performing ever since. And now, I am most excited to finish my writing a new digital series that I have been working on with my dear friend Brendan Smoller, and to get my latest short film into production.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

You know, when I started, I had no godfather in the industry. I immigrated to the USA and I didn’t have a single connection here. I wanted just to have my foot in the door. So I would message about 50 people a day on Instagram and LinkedIn. I would cold mail about 15 more and I applied for nearly 30 jobs a day. And nothing hit. I made my own short, and it got no recognition. I started a social media series, and I didn’t even create a ripple. I tried to write for websites, and offered to work on set for free. I was flat broke and had no prospects.

I learned that this is an industry where “NO” is very common. No one had time to talk to me, advise me. No one wanted to hire me. No one wanted to invest in me. It was the most dejected and incapable I ever felt. But I kept on for months. And slowly but surely my efforts caught up with me. Eventually, one writer said “YES” I will talk to you. That “YES” fueled me for months to come. And the producer said “YES” to hearing my pitch. That fueled me for longer. More and more producers began inviting me to sets. More and more writers wanted to work with me. I think that in an industry full of NO, that one YES, that brings with it the recognition of my efforts is so rewarding. Easier said than done though, I didn’t have a thick skin, but as time passed by I developed one.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

It’s a hard industry to break into and you have to be delusional to try. You have to believe, maniacally that you are the one in a million. You’re also competing with equally delusional people who believe they are one in a million. Your creative friends need your delusional support. I need you to be in this delusion with me. I don’t want my non-creative friends to talk to me about plan-B and safety nets. I have decided that I am going to write and produce and I am going to do it in America. Creatives know the kind of mental fortitude that one needs to do what we are doing. Non-Creatives, we don’t need a reality check, we need your unconditional support, because each of us who have decided we are going to make it, will damn well find a way to do so.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.snehamendes.com/
• Instagram: @KingSneha
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sneha-mendes-47660a147/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7fPtuB6gJw&ab_channel=SnehaMendes
• Other: https://www.snehamendes.com/_files/ugd/4d042d_1ebea91b8d3c42768e75871eebcc6720.pdf