NANDINI RAO Screenwriter
I am an Indian-born, English-language screenwriter and communications consultant based in Paris. My love for storytelling dates back to writing plays as a kid, and recruiting siblings and cousins to act in them. I've since studied acting at The Oxford School of Drama; earned a Master’s degree in English from The University of Nottingham; and harnessed skills developed as an actor, a copywriter, as well as a published author of fiction and journalistic articles, towards writing for the screen.
Winner of the CANNESFILMS Unlimited residency in 2021—a programme organised by The Black List, Vivendi, Canal+ and the Université Côte d’Azur with the aim of nurturing the next generation of screenwriters.
Writer, co-director and co-producer of Spirit of the Forest (2022), an animated short film officially selected for more than 50 festivals around the world, including the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Best TV Pilot at the Geneva International Science in Fiction Screenplay Awards (2023)
Second round of the Austin Film Festival script competition (2023)
Second round of the Circle of Confusion fellowship programme (2023)
Semifinalist in the Austin Film Festival script competition (2024)
Samples
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FEATURE FILM
Logline / New York-based journalist, Dia, returns to India for her best friend's wedding — a fairy-tale weekend of opulence, festivity and murder.
Genre / Dark Comedy
Recognition / Austin Film Festival Semifinalist 2024
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FEATURE FILM
Logline / Indian computer whiz, Jai, is recruited by a Nigerian Prince for the gig of a lifetime — a heist of The Great British Museum to repatriate colonial loot.
Genre / Comedy Heist
Co-written with Vince Robbins
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TV PILOT
Logline / A dinghy crammed with Caucasian refugees washes up on the shores of Jaan — a fictional Asian nation that has closed its border to the colonizing West, vowing never to let them in again.
Genre / Alternate reality / Political thriller
Recognition / Austin Film Festival Second Round 2023 / Circle of Confusion Fellowship Second Round 2023
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TV PILOT
Logline / An American data scientist joins a space-tech startup working out of a remote part of northern Sweden — where he starts to pick up on strange warning signals from the universe.
Genre / Sci-fi / Dark Comedy
Recognition / Best TV Pilot, Geneva International Science in Fiction Screenplay Awards 2023
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TV PILOT
Logline / An Indian heiress rediscovers her lust for ambition when she's forced into a marriage arranged to save her family's company and legacy.
Genre / Political / Family drama
