How India-Bred Film and T.V. Producer Karan Shah is Thriving in Hollywood

The movie industry may have had a tough time due to the pandemic over the past two years, but it didn’t stop film production coordinator Karan Shah from experiencing his share of peak Los Angeles life. “I bumped into [comedian] Hasan Minhaj last year while walking a friend’s dog early in the morning and had a quick conversation with him about his work. Dog-walking and an A-list star… doesn’t get more L.A. than that,” he says.

Shah, who has spent years working in India for screen productions and been an assistant director on comedy/drama series Pushpavalli (among other stints), grew his love for film and producing plays while studying computer science in Vellore. He was part of the dramatics society in college, which led to directing short films and helming plays. Shah admits it was daunting to turn that hobby into a career, but encouragement from his peers made all the difference. “My entire ecosystem was about consuming and producing content and I decided to take a leap of faith and jump right into it,” he says.

Understandably, his family needed some amount of convincing and he found another peer from college, Pranit Sahni, who had switched careers from engineering to filmmaking. While Sahni joined production house Jugaad Motion Pictures, Shah began to look outside of India, given that he was more inspired by cinema of the world. Even in terms of the way the industry functions in India and out in the U.S., Shah says India is a “very director-driven industry when it comes to T.V.” whereas usually, every episode in an American series has a different director or has a director helming a block of episodes alongside a showrunner. The exceptions he notes in India are drama shows like Pataal Lok and Sacred Games.

In tandem with his degree in film producing at University of Southern California since 2019, Shah worked part-time and did internships to gain the experience he’s now leveraging. He worked at production house A24 in T.V. development as well as acquisitions. Presently, he’s also working for Plan B, the production company owned by Brad Pitt. “Working amongst companies and filmmakers I’ve admired over the years and producing content with them still feels a bit surreal, but now I’m part of it,” Shah says.

From India, he brought his work ethic. He cites directors and producers such as Debbie Rao, Rajesh Mapuskar, Dar Gai, Sahni and Vikram Malhotra as the showrunners who “inculcated certain values of taking what we do seriously.” Immersed in his role as a producer and production coordinator for Plan B’s T.V. team, Shah says it’s rewarding to be involved in the entire process from development to the final product of shows. He adds, “We are creative partners on every project and go on set while shooting. Our approach is incredibly hands-on and supportive of the filmmaker/talent’s vision. So, I get to see everything from start to finish and that is very exciting.”

It does come with its own set of challenges, of course – some of which is specific to being an immigrant in the American movie and T.V. industry. “You have to overcome stereotypes and prove your worth as someone who can work in Hollywood. The industry is changing rapidly here and becoming more open to diverse voices and creatives. I still often feel like an outsider but it gets better by the day,” Shah says.