Conversations with a creative developer

Let me me begin by saying this: Vatsal Neelakantan is remarkable. Give the opportunity - there’s plenty I admire about him. His down to earth nature, his knowledge on all subjects, his creativity, his humble approach to life and his wit! He is a remarkable multifaceted person. I first met “Vatsi” when I joined the Ambani School IB program. Over the years he turned out to be one of my closest comrades. It’s not a surprise he is one of the first people I chose to cover as part of our “Conversations” section at Raay Education. I truly believe one can learn much from him. Go on, have a read!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself - I'm Vatsal Neelakantan. I currently work as a creative developer at Excel Entertainment, working with writers and directors to develop feature films and series for OTT platforms.

2. What do you enjoy about your current job? That I get to be in the thick of creating films and visual stories, which I have been particularly fascinated with all my life.

3. Let’s zoom back, Can you describe a few challenges you faced while finding your first internship? Well, I guess the biggest challenge was that I didn't know how to get one in the kind of work environment that would be right for me. I was studying film at NYU back then, and the idea of approaching film companies for work seemed daunting at the time.

4. What was your experience at Clinica Estetico like? It was eye-opening in many ways, though I didn't enjoy that I had to do a lot of very basic work - delivering packages, doing inventory etc. But I learned a lot from the chief of the company, the late, great director, Jonathan Demme, who involved all the interns, including me, in a lot of his work. At the time, he was making a TV pilot, a documentary film and a feature film, so I was lucky to be able to experience a bit of all of the different types of filmmaking from a real master.

5. How did your internship help you gauge the industry and build connections? I didn't really get to build many interesting connections since the company was rather small and networking opportunities were limited during my short time there.

6. What learnings did you take from your internship? I learned a lot about how to handle teams and have a professional approach that would inspire teams to work towards one's vision. Jonathan, an Academy Award winner, was so down to Earth and respected everyone's opinion, including an intern like me... it was inspiring.

7. Would you want to change your journey of navigating through the different internships? If so, how and why? Well, I didn't really navigate through many internships - I just took the one I was able to get, and it turned out well. I suppose it would've been nice to have some options, I suppose.

8. Any advice you would like to give recent graduates, especially those who are finding it difficult to navigate and find a path, especially amidst a pandemic? My big advice would be - don't think of any role, especially an internship, as beneath you as long as it is somewhere in the field you want to be in. Everyone starts from somewhere and there is a lot to learn in any position. If you make the most of your opportunities, you can create newer, better ones.

9. How did your different volunteer experiences shape you not only professionally but also personally? I guess the personal and professional go hand in hand in my field, since a lot of the work is collaborative and having a more patient and personable nature helps a lot. I learned a lot about how to work with people from my time at Clinica Estetico.