Today we’d like to introduce you to Mashael Alqahtani
Hi Mashael, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was always a pretty shy kid, but the only place where I felt I could be as loud, brash, and goofily myself was in the made-up stories I would write in my journal. I didn’t think of it as a diary, but more of a collection of stories that I extrapolated from embarrassing moments I experienced as a tween. It was a way for me to deal with my insecurities and awkwardness. And to my surprise, a lot of what I wrote somehow ended up funny. In experiencing tragedy or pain, I could find a way to make light of my circumstances. I was pretty much tethered to my parent’s TV, so I learned a lot of my English and love for American cinema by watching movies like Legally Blonde (2001) and Charlie’s Angels (1999). As I dived head first into these big, grand, and hilarious worlds that were so outside of my own, I felt like the stories I kept making up could somehow take me on a similarly grand journey too. As soon as I took this desire seriously, I found so much success in doing what I loved. A career doing what made me feel less alone and more in touch with myself just felt right.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been some struggles along the way and a somewhat bumpy road, but that’s life. I’ve lived in the US for years earning my academic education and as I work towards building a career in my industry. I’ve earned a BA in Film Production from Emerson College, an MFA in Screenwriting from USC and my second MFA in Screenwriting at the American Film Institute. I worked hard on set, interning for the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, reading for Film Independent, and interning at six other companies — from literary management teams, like Grandview, to film production companies, like FilmNation and Sight Unseen. As I graduated with my first Screenwriting MFA from the University of Southern California, I found myself faced with a pandemic that upended everything. It turned my world upside down. I was forced to move back to my home country, where I had to pick myself back up and work my way back to my dream of a career in the US. I returned in 2022 for The American Film Institute’s MFA Screenwriting program, my second MFA in the subject. My scripts have placed in various rankings at competitions like the Austin Film Festival, Script Pipeline, and BlueCat. And here I am today, continuing build towards my goals and reap the rewards of my hard work.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a screenwriter who likes a fair amount of comedy in my work, no matter what I write. I’m also a proud Saudi Arabian woman. The marriage of those two aspects of me means that I have the opportunity to be both specific and truthful and poke fun at myself in my storytelling. I wear who I am on my sleeve and in my work, and I try to do that in a way that connects me to my audience. I want to continue writing specific but universal stories about women confronting their stunted youth, desires, family, and the terrifying quest of learning to be a grown-up. No matter what I write, I want to find ways to entertain above all else through broad, commercial appeal and a comedic sensibility. I’ve earned a BA in Film Production from Emerson College, an MFA in Screenwriting from USC, and my second MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute. What sets me apart is not only my extensive academic career but also my network and knowledge of the industry through my robust work experience which I briefly mentioned earlier. This has allowed me to refine my work and how to appeal to the marketplace with my voice. As a result, my writing has placed in notable writing competitions in my field. My comedy one-hour script Banat was a quarterfinalist in the 2019 Austin Film Festival. Both of my half-hour pilots, Apothecary Girls and The Mess, are quarterfinalists in the 2025 Screencraft TV Pilot Competition. My feature script, The Wedding, was a finalist in the 2020 Script Pipeline competition and a semifinalist in the 2021 BlueCat feature screenplay competition. And as I continue to write, I have two short films that I co-wrote playing at prominent film festivals in the US and abroad: Two Sisters, at the 2024 Red Sea Film Festival, and The Witch Pricker and the Hare, at the 2024 American Film Festival.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I’m currently reading Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn. An incredible collection of interviews with writers and psychologists about the phases of love. This book helps inform how I write about my characters’ wants and needs, and what they’re missing psychologically in their lives. I like to get as granular as possible about these aspects of their being. When I’m not savoring that book, I’m listening to one of my favorite podcasts in the world, Normal Gossip. It’s a Radiotopia comedic podcast hosted by Kelsey McKinney, where she invites guests and tells them a juicy, gossip story about complete strangers. I’m obsessed with it, not only because I love banal gossip, but because something about the elements of each story invigorates how I can create tension and stakes in my writing.
