On January 9, 2023, Rajiv Shah, along with Liz Anderson, and Wylie Herman headed a virtual panel for the Screen Actors Guild Northern California Chapter: Creating Your Own Opportunities.
Rajiv, a SAG-AFTRA actor and member for over 20 years, spoke about creating his own opportunities through writing. He discussed the lessons he learned about the different facets of production and gave some advice to aspiring creatives in the industry.
From Actor to Writer
From a young age, Rajiv loved the cinema. Constantly watching movies in his formative years, his desire to become an actor blossomed from spending his summers in the local cinemas, often watching his favorite performances over and over again- sometimes watching three movies in a day.
While he was getting acting work in college, he wasn’t booking the types of parts he wanted. He revealed during the conversation that he loved coming-of-age movies, and the characters of boys on the verge of adulthood and the challenges that growing up often presented. Those conflicted, emotional and heartfelt parts were the ones he most wanted to play.
But after years of not getting the roles he’s longed for, he took matters into his own hands. When a friend asked point blank, “Why don’t you just write them,” the idea to write his own role had been sparked. Although it sounded terrifying, he did it.
However, Rajiv shared that he didn’t come at this new venture as a writer, but as an actor. “This is the type of role I want to play and built around that,” he thought. “It came out of not having that opportunity and then crafting the type of opportunity I did want to have,” he added.
He said he now “loves it (writing)” and thinks “it’s a really beneficial thing to expand and to face the fear and go.” He adds, “It a hundred percent helps the acting and vice versa– acting helps the filmmaking.”
“I feel like taking this path– making your own film, writing your own script– will give you another perspective that really does aid the acting. It allows you to know when to push and to push for certain things and when to pull back. It opens up so many more avenues, as well, where I go to sets as an actor, and they know I have a writing background.”
Rajiv told a story about a producer of a film he recently did. He was on the project to play a role for only a week. But the producer asked him, “I know you write. Do you have any material that I could read?” Writing opened up another side of the business for him that he wouldn’t have otherwise experienced as an actor.
Rajiv Shah, The Writer & Creating Run The Tide
Rajiv’s writing process was done very privately at first. He says that it helped because he wasn’t getting any outside impulses or opinions. He was afraid he’d hit writer’s block if he put it out there too soon, during the inception period as he was new to the game. He kept on writing until he had something he thought was worth showing. He gave it to his mentor, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda, who gave great encouragement and feedback.
He then explained the writing process by comparing the community of actors and writers, saying acting is “social” and writing can be very “private.” He says, “acting is a blessing in the sense that you have a community already through acting. Then you can bring the writing or whatever you’re creating to that community, find a way to work it, and approach it with the spirit of collaboration.
Rajiv’s approach is to think of writing as a constant process and focusing on process makes the task less daunting. He adds, “It’s trial and error. You’re going to keep going and going to keep reworking.” It’s the process Rajiv used when writing his first feature film, Run the Tide.
Rajiv also mentions how he treated Run The Tide like his film school. It showed him the business side, as well as the craft side from the crew. He believed it was a phenomenal experience as he got to see how to balance committing to the performance as an actor and the technical demands on filmmakers during a shoot. He was finding, and understanding, his place in the ecosystem.
Run the Tide follows the story of two brothers, one trying to escape their past and one trying to see a future with a complete family.
You can watch Run The Tide on Amazon, Tubi, Roku, or Vudu.
From Paper to Screen
About a year after writing Run The Tide, Rajiv let friends he trusted read the script. When he started getting good feedback, he decided, “Okay. We’re going to make it.” Initially, he was going to grab a few close friends and make the movie on weekends with him in the lead role of Rey with whatever money he could raise, which wasn’t very much at the time.
He did, however, submit it to a few screenwriting competitions, like Final Draft, hoping that the prize money would help make the film. His script ended up placing in the finals of Final Draft, and won the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival Project Catalyst Award. It was then that the project took on a life of its own.
He likened the journey of getting Run The Tide made to a moving train, which can also be said about the filmmaking process in general. “You’re on a moving train, and this thing is going to get to completion. And then people start coming on board, and they start helping you make the film.”
He met director Soham Mehta in an audition for Mehta’s thesis film Fatakra. Although Rajiv did not get the part, they stayed in touch. And down the line, Mehta became the director on Run The Tide. Soham was coming off a student Academy Award and a Directors Guild of America Award and secured a meeting with an agent at William Morris Endeavor, Mike Simpson.
What the two young men thought was a simple meeting where they would get some advice on the industry turned into a fantastic opportunity. Simpson took a liking to the project and gave the script to a producer he thought would be interested. The producer was interested, came on board to make the film and less than a year later they were shooting in Los Angeles with Taylor Lautner, Constance Zimmer and Kenny Johnson in the lead roles.
Casting: On Two Sides of Table
Being a screenwriter, Rajiv Shah was open to the different sides of production. During the conversation, he talked about how he found it fascinating to be on the other side of the casting table. He learned how producers and directors cast major and supporting roles.
“It was amazing to see actors come in and deliver great performances and not get the part, and somebody getting the part for some reason that was out of their control.”
He also mentioned how some actors redefine a role. “In certain instances, somebody comes in, and a part is seen as one thing, and that person’s performance of it completely redefines what that is. And they were cast even though they were not ‘right’ for it.” That gave Rajiv the insight that so much is out of your control that you have to come in and just do the best work you can and let the rest go.
Rajiv Shah to Aspiring Writers and Actors
On this SAG-AFTRA San Francisco/NorCal panel, Rajiv also gave plenty of insight and advice to writers and actors.
When talking about writing for parts you want, he says it’s “a great place.” He adds, “If you feel like you want to do something you’re not, find the gap and how to fill the gap.”
He has some sage for those with a passion for writing too. He tells the other SAG panelists and viewers that whatever ideas come, let them flow and put them down on the page. And if you get stuck, he tells them what he does. “I would look at the scene as almost like improv. ‘Well, what’s the scene really about? What’s the goal of this character?’ And then I would act it out. Build it from there.”
Rajiv also suggests using a tape recorder. “Set a tape recorder down and then record stuff. And then pick up things that seem to leap off and work and start to put it together.”
More than that, he tells the viewers to just start and turn off the “logical” side of the brain. “You’ll develop your own process. I would just say, you start. You put it down, and you turn off that part that says good or bad and then just write. And once you get a draft, you can work on that. You can give it to other people and you can start shaping it. But you just want to get that initial idea, start simple, and be able to get those ideas down on the page.”
Rajiv talks about how writing opens up so many opportunities, “Writing opens up so many doors– to meeting people, to increasing community– because it’s really starting with you, and you’re creating something that is your vision.”
For both writers and actors, Rajiv emphasizes working on the craft and going to places where you can meet people. If you’re thinking about the filmmaking side, get in with filmmakers. If you’re in it for acting, take acting classes. Go to film festivals and meet filmmakers. He adds, “Also try to create your own work because once you do that, that’s how you’re gonna meet people organically who will ultimately respond to you and connect with them in a different way when it’s your project.” He listed great resources in the industry for actors, like SFFILMS, SAG-AFTRA, Actors Access, and castingnetworks.com to expand one’s opportunities.
Throughout the conversation, Rajiv reiterated the idea of finding your champions. “I always say start where you are. Know who your tribe is and the community around you. Go to the people you trust to help support the project and each other. And give opportunities too.” He ends with, “Find your tribe. A lot of times, that’s already around you.”
Rajiv is an actor and writer who is a current screenplay judge for NYC Midnight, previously judged for Scriptapalooza, has spoken on writing & acting for the graduate film & theater departments at UC Berkeley, been a panelist at film festivals such as Cinequest and has frequently been featured by SAG-AFTRA.
Rajiv is available for hire if you’d like feedback, notes or an analysis of your script. Drop him a line, he’s always happy to say hello and connect with other creatives