Today we’d like to introduce you to Nesa Huda.
Hi Nesa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up as the South Asian child of immigrants in small-town Canada. When it was time for college, I got into pre-med, but knew I didn’t want to do it – I switched into communications last-minute, without telling my parents so I could pursue film. This was very difficult on my parents and therefore myself because film was such an unknown – we didn’t know anyone who took this route, but I knew I wanted to see it through.
Hungry for as much experience as possible, I then made short films throughout college and volunteered on sets around Toronto. My thesis project was the first-ever short film I wrote and directed called “Arranged” – the premise is that it’s an arranged marriage meeting, but shot like “The Office”. This was my first time working with actors, organizing a shoot, and editing the project myself, and it was a huge learning curve and a lot of fun.
After college, I worked in production offices for a few years for various features (“The Novice”, “Fatman”) and a pilot for a show called “The Horror of Dolores Roach” in Toronto – at the time, there was a clear path for me to slowly move up in production, but I knew I moreso wanted to be on the creative side of things.
At this point in my life, I felt a little demoralized because I still felt that my creative side wasn’t being utilized. I was encouraged by a mentor to apply to some government grants for short film funding – and was successful in securing one from the Ontario government. With this money and a whole lot of support from community crowdfunding, I made “Taboo”, a short film about self-harm in a Muslim community. We actually just had our first-ever screening on March 16th and will be embarking on a festival run. You can check us out @taboothefilm !
I applied for Screenwriting MFA programs all over the US, and got into Boston University – the program had us spend a year in Boston, and then our final semester was in Los Angeles, which is what brought me to the west coast. Over the course of the program, I wrote close to 500 pages of script, it was amazing seeing the stories I always envisioned come to life in that way. I completed my MFA and got a job as a Writers’ PA on HBOMax’s revival of “Degrassi” and then as a Script Coordinator on ABC’s “The Company You Keep”, starring Milo Ventimiglia. Currently, I’m working as a Script Coordinator on the Hulu show “Deli Boys”.
I write mostly comedy – my favourite pilot is called “The Madresa”, it’s about an Islamic school in small-town Canada. I grew up going to Islamic school until high school, and there were so many formative parts of my life in this place that I realize were hilarious looking back – and I decided to dramatize that. It’s very similar in tone and style to “Abbot Elementary”, which is probably my favourite show currently on the air.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been very difficult, to be honest!
Firstly, because film and television is not a stable career path, when I initially made the switch, my parents and larger extended family didn’t understand why I’d go this route. The arts are still very much seen in South Asian communities as just a hobby and not necessarily a career. So this took many years for my family to unlearn. Now, my family is super supportive – we crowdfunded for Taboo too in addition to the grant we got, and a lot of the film is funded by relatives. My mom made 50+ meals on our second day of shooting for lunch as well which meant a lot to me.
Second was the fact that I felt I was really starting from scratch – when I started in 2013-ish, I didn’t know of many South Asian or Muslim writers/directors that were successful, especially around Toronto. I’d go on sets and join projects where I was oftentimes the only person of colour and hijabi, and would always catch weird looks from those I worked with. In the early days, I PA’ed on a web series that didn’t really go anywhere, but I learned after the first couple of weeks that there was a very Islamophobic scene in the project which made me uncomfortable. But even if all this was disheartening, it made me even more determined that I had to push forward and do what I wanted to do.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m currently a script coordinator with the goal to get staffed in a writers’ room. I do want to pursue directing down the line, but my focus right now is writing and making an impact in writers’ rooms in LA.
In terms of personal work, I’m very excited about Taboo, the short film I wrote and directed that I mentioned in a previous prompt. We will be doing a festival run this year, and the feedback from the audience at our first screening last week was great!
Synopsis: Naureen Shah’s life is turned upside down when her best friend, Yousef Ahmed, tries to die by suicide, a cardinal sin in Islam. The fallout that ensues with their friendship, his family, and the greater community traps and alienates Yousef further when all he needs is the understanding and the support of the people he loves.
Our project was partially funded by the Ontario Arts Council, and the rest was funded by crowdfunding from the community – people that believed in our work. We were also unique in that 90% of our crew and actors were BIPOC – it was very important for me to keep a safe space for everyone working on my project, especially since I’ve previously felt unsafe on sets as the only visibly Muslim hijabi, and usually the only person of colour.
I am also very proud of the work I’ve done on The Company You Keep – I just wrapped a couple of weeks ago, and it’s definitely the biggest project I’ve ever worked on – it was both very challenging and rewarding! I was able to sit in and participate in the room as well, and just seeing the whole process of episodes going from idea to the screen just a few months later was so cool!
In terms of specializations, I really love comedy – I realized I had a knack for it during my MFA. In this vein, most of my writing now is comedy – I’ve mentioned The Madresa in a previous prompt, but I’ve also written a feature called “Mob Ties”, a dark comedy about a Muslim coroner who gets tied up with the Mafia, and a comedy pilot called “The Desi Wedding Planner”, about a Muslim woman that comes back to her town to rebuild her parents’ once-prolific wedding planning business after it tanks when she goes to jail.
I really believe we need Muslim stories on screen. The more, the merrier. And that’s what I’m here to do.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I take a lot of risks to be honest – to the point where sometimes it’s a bit reckless. I think the career choice was a risk in itself, I didn’t really know what exactly I wanted to do at first or if I was even talented in the writing/directing realm, and this initially contributed to a huge amount of importer syndrome where I felt I didn’t deserve to be in film spaces I was in. But I worked on my writing and directing skills and proved to myself that I could do it which has been super gratifying.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @taboothefilm (would love for people to follow my film!!!)
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFe4dUMJ1LE&ab_channel=NesaHuda – proof of concept for taboo
