Jul 4, 2019
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: From Silicon Valley To Bollywood |
 I’ve consistently been surprised by the many similarities between investing in startups and making TV shows. I transitioned from investing in and building startups to running a long-form content house last summer. Over the past year, I have built a creative team, led the scripting of 6 web-series, produced 4 shows and built a pipeline of 15+ ideas that we’re actively pitching to platforms. The move has definitely been challenging: making a show is hard work. You’re managing sets of 60–80 freelancers with very different skill-sets. It often takes at least a year to write, shoot, edit and release a series. It’s also more fun and stimulating than I could have imagined. Some of the similarities I’ve found striking are: The pain and pleasure of being in a hits business Just as in early-stage investing, despite your carefully thought out hypotheses, frameworks and screens, you can’t predict what’s going to work. You bring a strong idea of what you want to make and why to the table: but in the end, your success or failure is determined by what your consumer wants. You take a portfolio approach: you know that you’ll end up having some hits, and some flops, and do your best to ensure that your hits are large enough to more than make up for the failures. Diversification matters: you start by taking small, inexpensive bets on ideas and faces, and testing shorter form content on free platforms. You invest in building your brand, so that you can develop as large of a funnel as possible. In both cases, you’re often looking for a needle in a haystack: we’ve been through over 150 ideas to build our current pipeline. And you learn to be intentional about how much energy and time you dedicate across your portfolio, and tend to the higher potential teams more carefully: they will decide whether you break out or not. But when you do have a hit on your hands, the synergies it brings are absolutely beautiful. You’re caught in an upward spiral, where everyone wants what you have. It’s so much easier to place the next product or season, and make it even better.A heady mix of art and science Great investors and producers are always switching from using their left brain to their right brain and back: you need to be equally creative and pragmatic. Logic doesn’t always win: you’re taking leaps of faith, and visualising what’s never existed before when you initially decide to back a founding team or writer. I love working with a blank sheet of paper: brainstorming characters and settings for our shows brings me joy. You’re doing your homework, but you’re also often operating on gut and instinct. You’re balancing making the best show possible- developing a great script, finding actors who can bring your story to life, a director with a strong vision- both highly subjective and taste-driven- with cost and time constraints- in the same way you’re helping young companies build their initial core teams and run experiments, with scarce resources. In both cases, you run as structured and sensible a process as you can, while allowing room for creativity and unexpected fires, in order to be able to package the elements together, sell the end product, and make the show/product on time and on budget. A long term game: relationships and reputations Supporting startups and making shows are long-term games. They’re heavily relationship based. A lot of people have resources and networks: why should the best creators and entrepreneurs choose you? The quality of your networks and reputation will determine how much people trust you and want to work with you. They’re counting on your support and guidance to bring their vision to their life. It’s not enough to provide the capital or place the show with a platform or brand. You invest for the long term: you start building relationships before they’re ready to pitch to you, and meet as many creators as you can. Your best relationships will arise from taking risks: when you take a chance on people, and give them a platform no one else has. Often your biggest value-add will come from who you can introduce to the team- whether that’s a rockstar VP, co-founder or fabulous director. What your creators say on the ground about you matters most. They will remember how you made them feel, and not just what you did.Adding value without stepping on toes: a careful dance As a producer, you’re shaping the product alongside a range of creative teams: writers, directors, actors and editors, that have their own vision. Your role in is to bring a strong creative and practical perspective to the group: but to also allow the final product to be shaped as collaboratively as possible. I think having high emotional intelligence is key to both being early-stage investing and being a showrunner. You need to have serious respect and empathy for your teams, to not only help them work together and support them as needed- you’re often a counselor, agony agent, therapist, given the high-stress environment- but also to leave them alone, when they need the space. And this is important: as much as you’re there to provide feedback and motivation, you have to know when to back off and allow them to create. Knowing when to get out of the way, instead of becoming a roadblock, is a delicate skill. Open-minded but opinionated: stories evolve Storytelling matters in both early-stage investing and making long-form content. What idea are you supporting that will capture people’s hearts and minds? Why would they want to spend time on your product- given all the choices they have? How can you bring the most authentic and relatable voices to the table? On the other hand, you bring a strong hypothesis. You’re here because you want to create. You have some ideas about what you want to build and why. You have to feel strongly about what you’re backing, given what a long term, uncertain and relationship-based ride this is. But it’s your audience that will make or break you. Just as you find while building any consumer tech product: your audience often can’t articulate what they’re looking for, or like or need, until it’s in their hands. Keep testing what they want to see: roll out short form versions on free platforms before you invest in rolling a product or show out. Keep in touch with them: don’t develop such a high-level view or such strong conviction that you forget to ask them what you want. Listen to the feedback, engage with the comments, ask them what they want to see. Keep tailoring for them. Their tastes continue to evolve: particularly in crowded markets, as they grow more choosy. Humbling and inspiring: there’s always hope My favourite part of both businesses are the people you meet along the way. I love how resilient the entrepreneurs and creators I’ve met are. I’ve learned that when the journey is long, persistence and consistency matters as much as talent. I have so much respect for our creators: I see the same passion and vision in the entrepreneurs we backed at my previous firm. I’m inspired every day by being around people who love what they do.I hope you find that too! Do leave your comments below- I’d love to hear what you think. |
Jul 6, 2019
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: From Silicon Valley To Bollywood |
|
I’ve consistently been surprised by the many similarities between investing in startups and making TV shows. I transitioned from investing in and building startups to running a long-form content house last summer. Over the past year, I have built a creative team, led the scripting of 6 web-series, produced 4 shows and built a pipeline of 15+ ideas that we’re actively pitching to platforms. The move has definitely been challenging: making a show is hard work. You’re managing sets of 60–80 freelancers with very different skill-sets. It often takes at least a year to write, shoot, edit and release a series. It’s also more fun and stimulating than I could have imagined. Some of the similarities I’ve found striking are: The pain and pleasure of being in a hits business Just as in early-stage investing, despite your carefully thought out hypotheses, frameworks and screens, you can’t predict what’s going to work. You bring a strong idea of what you want to make and why to the table: but in the end, your success or failure is determined by what your consumer wants. You take a portfolio approach: you know that you’ll end up having some hits, and some flops, and do your best to ensure that your hits are large enough to more than make up for the failures. Diversification matters: you start by taking small, inexpensive bets on ideas and faces, and testing shorter form content on free platforms. You invest in building your brand, so that you can develop as large of a funnel as possible. In both cases, you’re often looking for a needle in a haystack: we’ve been through over 150 ideas to build our current pipeline. And you learn to be intentional about how much energy and time you dedicate across your portfolio, and tend to the higher potential teams more carefully: they will decide whether you break out or not. But when you do have a hit on your hands, the synergies it brings are absolutely beautiful. You’re caught in an upward spiral, where everyone wants what you have. It’s so much easier to place the next product or season, and make it even better.A heady mix of art and science Great investors and producers are always switching from using their left brain to their right brain and back: you need to be equally creative and pragmatic. Logic doesn’t always win: you’re taking leaps of faith, and visualising what’s never existed before when you initially decide to back a founding team or writer. I love working with a blank sheet of paper: brainstorming characters and settings for our shows brings me joy. You’re doing your homework, but you’re also often operating on gut and instinct. You’re balancing making the best show possible- developing a great script, finding actors who can bring your story to life, a director with a strong vision- both highly subjective and taste-driven- with cost and time constraints- in the same way you’re helping young companies build their initial core teams and run experiments, with scarce resources. In both cases, you run as structured and sensible a process as you can, while allowing room for creativity and unexpected fires, in order to be able to package the elements together, sell the end product, and make the show/product on time and on budget. A long term game: relationships and reputations Supporting startups and making shows are long-term games. They’re heavily relationship based. A lot of people have resources and networks: why should the best creators and entrepreneurs choose you? The quality of your networks and reputation will determine how much people trust you and want to work with you. They’re counting on your support and guidance to bring their vision to their life. It’s not enough to provide the capital or place the show with a platform or brand. You invest for the long term: you start building relationships before they’re ready to pitch to you, and meet as many creators as you can. Your best relationships will arise from taking risks: when you take a chance on people, and give them a platform no one else has. Often your biggest value-add will come from who you can introduce to the team- whether that’s a rockstar VP, co-founder or fabulous director. What your creators say on the ground about you matters most. They will remember how you made them feel, and not just what you did.Adding value without stepping on toes: a careful dance As a producer, you’re shaping the product alongside a range of creative teams: writers, directors, actors and editors, that have their own vision. Your role in is to bring a strong creative and practical perspective to the group: but to also allow the final product to be shaped as collaboratively as possible. I think having high emotional intelligence is key to both being early-stage investing and being a showrunner. You need to have serious respect and empathy for your teams, to not only help them work together and support them as needed- you’re often a counselor, agony agent, therapist, given the high-stress environment- but also to leave them alone, when they need the space. And this is important: as much as you’re there to provide feedback and motivation, you have to know when to back off and allow them to create. Knowing when to get out of the way, instead of becoming a roadblock, is a delicate skill. Open-minded but opinionated: stories evolve Storytelling matters in both early-stage investing and making long-form content. What idea are you supporting that will capture people’s hearts and minds? Why would they want to spend time on your product- given all the choices they have? How can you bring the most authentic and relatable voices to the table? On the other hand, you bring a strong hypothesis. You’re here because you want to create. You have some ideas about what you want to build and why. You have to feel strongly about what you’re backing, given what a long term, uncertain and relationship-based ride this is. But it’s your audience that will make or break you. Just as you find while building any consumer tech product: your audience often can’t articulate what they’re looking for, or like or need, until it’s in their hands. You test cheaper versions of your product, before you roll it out. You keep in touch with your audiences, and stop yourself from developing such a high-level view or such strong conviction that you forget to ask them what you want. You listen to the feedback, engage with the comments, ask them what they want to see, and keep tailoring for them. Their tastes continue to evolve: particularly in crowded markets, as they grow more choosy. Humbling and inspiring: there’s always hope My favourite part of both businesses are the people you meet along the way. I love how resilient the entrepreneurs and creators I’ve met are. I’ve learned that when the journey is long, persistence and consistency matters as much as talent. I have so much respect for our creators: I see the same passion and vision in the entrepreneurs we backed at my previous firm. I’m inspired every day by being around people who love what they do.I hope you find that too! Do leave your comments below- I’d love to hear what you think. https://medium.com/media/3c851dac986ab6dbb2d1aaa91205a8eb/href From Silicon Valley To Bollywood was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. |
Jul 15, 2019
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: From Silicon Valley To Bollywood |
From Silicon Valley To Bollywood ? I’ve consistently been surprised by the many similarities between investing in startups and making TV shows. I transitioned from investing in and building startups to running a long-form content house last summer. Over the past year, I have built a creative team, led the scripting of 6 web-series, produced 4 shows and built a pipeline of 15+ ideas that we’re actively pitching to platforms. The move has definitely been challenging: making a show is hard work. You’re managing sets of 60–80 freelancers with very different skill-sets. It often takes at least a year to write, shoot, edit and release a series. It’s also more fun and stimulating than I could have imagined. Some of the similarities I’ve found striking are: The pain and pleasure of being in a hits business Just as in early-stage investing, despite your carefully thought out hypotheses, frameworks and screens, you can’t predict what’s going to work. You bring a strong idea of what you want to make and why to the table: but in the end, your success or failure is determined by what your consumer wants. You take a portfolio approach: you know that you’ll end up having some hits, and some flops, and do your best to ensure that your hits are large enough to more than make up for the failures. Diversification matters: you start by taking small, inexpensive bets on ideas and faces, and testing shorter form content on free platforms. You invest in building your brand, so that you can develop as large of a funnel as possible. In both cases, you’re often looking for a needle in a haystack: we’ve been through over 150 ideas to build our current pipeline. And you learn to be intentional about how much energy and time you dedicate across your portfolio, and tend to the higher potential teams more carefully: they will decide whether you break out or not. But when you do have a hit on your hands, the synergies it brings are absolutely beautiful. You’re caught in an upward spiral, where everyone wants what you have. It’s so much easier to place the next product or season, and make it even better.A heady mix of art and science Great investors and producers are always switching from using their left brain to their right brain and back: you need to be equally creative and pragmatic. Logic doesn’t always win: you’re taking leaps of faith, and visualising what’s never existed before when you initially decide to back a founding team or writer. I love working with a blank sheet of paper: brainstorming characters and settings for our shows brings me joy. You’re doing your homework, but you’re also often operating on gut and instinct. You’re balancing making the best show possible- developing a great script, finding actors who can bring your story to life, a director with a strong vision- both highly subjective and taste-driven- with cost and time constraints- in the same way you’re helping young companies build their initial core teams and run experiments, with scarce resources. In both cases, you run as structured and sensible a process as you can, while allowing room for creativity and unexpected fires, in order to be able to package the elements together, sell the end product, and make the show/product on time and on budget. A long term game: relationships and reputations Supporting startups and making shows are long-term games. They’re heavily relationship based. A lot of people have resources and networks: why should the best creators and entrepreneurs choose you? The quality of your networks and reputation will determine how much people trust you and want to work with you. They’re counting on your support and guidance to bring their vision to their life. It’s not enough to provide the capital or place the show with a platform or brand. You invest for the long term: you start building relationships before they’re ready to pitch to you, and meet as many creators as you can. Your best relationships will arise from taking risks: when you take a chance on people, and give them a platform no one else has. Often your biggest value-add will come from who you can introduce to the team- whether that’s a rockstar VP, co-founder or fabulous director. What your creators say on the ground about you matters most. They will remember how you made them feel, and not just what you did.Adding value without stepping on toes: a careful dance As a producer, you’re shaping the product alongside a range of creative teams: writers, directors, actors and editors, that have their own vision. Your role in is to bring a strong creative and practical perspective to the group: but to also allow the final product to be shaped as collaboratively as possible. I think having high emotional intelligence is key to both being early-stage investing and being a showrunner. You need to have serious respect and empathy for your teams, to not only help them work together and support them as needed- you’re often a counselor, agony agent, therapist, given the high-stress environment- but also to leave them alone, when they need the space. And this is important: as much as you’re there to provide feedback and motivation, you have to know when to back off and allow them to create. Knowing when to get out of the way, instead of becoming a roadblock, is a delicate skill. Open-minded but opinionated: stories evolve Storytelling matters in both early-stage investing and making long-form content. What idea are you supporting that will capture people’s hearts and minds? Why would they want to spend time on your product- given all the choices they have? How can you bring the most authentic and relatable voices to the table? On the other hand, you bring a strong hypothesis. You’re here because you want to create. You have some ideas about what you want to build and why. You have to feel strongly about what you’re backing, given what a long term, uncertain and relationship-based ride this is. But it’s your audience that will make or break you. Just as you find while building any consumer tech product: your audience often can’t articulate what they’re looking for, or like or need, until it’s in their hands. You test cheaper versions of your product, before you roll it out. You keep in touch with your audiences, and stop yourself from developing such a high-level view or such strong conviction that you forget to ask them what you want. You listen to the feedback, engage with the comments, ask them what they want to see, and keep tailoring for them. Their tastes continue to evolve: particularly in crowded markets, as they grow more choosy. Humbling and inspiring: there’s always hope My favourite part of both businesses are the people you meet along the way. I love how resilient the entrepreneurs and creators I’ve met are. I’ve learned that when the journey is long, persistence and consistency matters as much as talent. I have so much respect for our creators: I see the same passion and vision in the entrepreneurs we backed at my previous firm. I’m inspired every day by being around people who love what they do.I hope you find that too! Do leave your comments below- I’d love to hear what you think. https://medium.com/media/3c851dac986ab6dbb2d1aaa91205a8eb/href From Silicon Valley To Bollywood was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. |
Jul 18, 2019
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: The Overlapping Worlds of Startups and TV Shows |
|
Startups and TV Shows: Overlapping Worlds ? I’ve consistently been surprised by the many similarities between investing in startups and making TV shows. I transitioned from investing in and building startups to running a long-form content house last summer. Over the past year, I have built a creative team, led the scripting of 6 web-series, produced 4 shows and built a pipeline of 15+ ideas that we’re actively pitching to platforms. The move has definitely been challenging: making a show is hard work. You’re managing sets of 60–80 freelancers with very different skill-sets. It often takes at least a year to write, shoot, edit and release a series. It’s also more fun and stimulating than I could have imagined. Some of the similarities I’ve found striking are: The pain and pleasure of being in a hits business Just as in early-stage investing, despite your carefully thought out hypotheses, frameworks and screens, you can’t predict what’s going to work. You bring a strong idea of what you want to make and why to the table: but in the end, your success or failure is determined by what your consumer wants. You take a portfolio approach: you know that you’ll end up having some hits, and some flops, and do your best to ensure that your hits are large enough to more than make up for the failures. Diversification matters: you start by taking small, inexpensive bets on ideas and faces, and testing shorter form content on free platforms. You invest in building your brand, so that you can develop as large of a funnel as possible. In both cases, you’re often looking for a needle in a haystack: we’ve been through over 150 ideas to build our current pipeline. And you learn to be intentional about how much energy and time you dedicate across your portfolio, and tend to the higher potential teams more carefully: they will decide whether you break out or not. But when you do have a hit on your hands, the synergies it brings are absolutely beautiful. You’re caught in an upward spiral, where everyone wants what you have. It’s so much easier to place the next product or season, and make it even better.A heady mix of art and science Great investors and producers are always switching from using their left brain to their right brain and back: you need to be equally creative and pragmatic. Logic doesn’t always win: you’re taking leaps of faith, and visualising what’s never existed before when you initially decide to back a founding team or writer. I love working with a blank sheet of paper: brainstorming characters and settings for our shows brings me joy. You’re doing your homework, but you’re also often operating on gut and instinct. You’re balancing making the best show possible- developing a great script, finding actors who can bring your story to life, a director with a strong vision- both highly subjective and taste-driven- with cost and time constraints- in the same way you’re helping young companies build their initial core teams and run experiments, with scarce resources. In both cases, you run as structured and sensible a process as you can, while allowing room for creativity and unexpected fires, in order to be able to package the elements together, sell the end product, and make the show/product on time and on budget. A long term game: relationships and reputations Supporting startups and making shows are long-term games. They’re heavily relationship based. A lot of people have resources and networks: why should the best creators and entrepreneurs choose you? The quality of your networks and reputation will determine how much people trust you and want to work with you. They’re counting on your support and guidance to bring their vision to their life. It’s not enough to provide the capital or place the show with a platform or brand. You invest for the long term: you start building relationships before they’re ready to pitch to you, and meet as many creators as you can. Your best relationships will arise from taking risks: when you take a chance on people, and give them a platform no one else has. Often your biggest value-add will come from who you can introduce to the team- whether that’s a rockstar VP, co-founder or fabulous director. What your creators say on the ground about you matters most. They will remember how you made them feel, and not just what you did.Adding value without stepping on toes: a careful dance As a producer, you’re shaping the product alongside a range of creative teams: writers, directors, actors and editors, that have their own vision. Your role in is to bring a strong creative and practical perspective to the group: but to also allow the final product to be shaped as collaboratively as possible. I think having high emotional intelligence is key to both being early-stage investing and being a showrunner. You need to have serious respect and empathy for your teams, to not only help them work together and support them as needed- you’re often a counselor, agony agent, therapist, given the high-stress environment- but also to leave them alone, when they need the space. And this is important: as much as you’re there to provide feedback and motivation, you have to know when to back off and allow them to create. Knowing when to get out of the way, instead of becoming a roadblock, is a delicate skill. Open-minded but opinionated: stories evolve Storytelling matters in both early-stage investing and making long-form content. What idea are you supporting that will capture people’s hearts and minds? Why would they want to spend time on your product- given all the choices they have? How can you bring the most authentic and relatable voices to the table? On the other hand, you bring a strong hypothesis. You’re here because you want to create. You have some ideas about what you want to build and why. You have to feel strongly about what you’re backing, given what a long term, uncertain and relationship-based ride this is. But it’s your audience that will make or break you. Just as you find while building any consumer tech product: your audience often can’t articulate what they’re looking for, or like or need, until it’s in their hands. You test cheaper versions of your product, before you roll it out. You keep in touch with your audiences, and stop yourself from developing such a high-level view or such strong conviction that you forget to ask them what you want. You listen to the feedback, engage with the comments, ask them what they want to see, and keep tailoring for them. Their tastes continue to evolve: particularly in crowded markets, as they grow more choosy. Humbling and inspiring: there’s always hope My favourite part of both businesses are the people you meet along the way. I love how resilient the entrepreneurs and creators I’ve met are. I’ve learned that when the journey is long, persistence and consistency matters as much as talent. I have so much respect for our creators: I see the same passion and vision in the entrepreneurs we backed at my previous firm. I’m inspired every day by being around people who love what they do.I hope you find that too! Do leave your comments below- I’d love to hear what you think. https://medium.com/media/3c851dac986ab6dbb2d1aaa91205a8eb/href The Overlapping Worlds of Startups and TV Shows was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. |
Mar 17, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Raising the Bar for Storytelling in India |
 There’s never been a better time to be a storyteller. And yet- why aren’t we seeing more groundbreaking shows and films- when there seem to be so many media buyers and sellers?The digital content ecosystem hasexploded in India. Heavyweight TV and film players- Dharma Production, Zee Entertainment and Sony to name a few- have launched digital houses. International houses like Amazon, Netflix and Disney have set up shop and are scaling quickly in India. Both these powerful players have announced that India is their no.1 priority market. That’s a big statement. On the other hand, not only do you have hundreds of millions of Indians coming online for the first time, you also have an increasingly smart audience with well developed tastes, who are hungry for more nuanced and relatable stories. There’s definitely a surge in content creationto meet this demand. And yet, while it’s tough to pick a great foreign show or film to watch, our local options are still severely limited. Sure, we have a Sacred Games or Made in Heaven release once a year and change the game, but these stories are still too few and far in between. We think the digital medium is still sorely unexplored. Boundless Media is a digital and story-first creative house. We tell bold stories for a new India. We choose to tell stories that are highly original and locally rooted, but can travel globally. We respect our audience: we know they’re always a step ahead of us. We think Gen Z and millennials want to see themselves- their lives and relationships- reflected on screen. And they’re ready to hold us to a global standard: they’re comparing our work to Suits and Breaking Bad. They also have their own discovery mechanisms for stars: digital India fetishises a different type of face. We showcase a quickly evolving generation. At Boundless, we believe great storytelling takes time, patience and real love. There’s not enough focus on telling truly great, high quality stories. It takes time to develop a new world, it’s fictional realities and the unique characters that inhabit this world.Because we’re story-first, we’re highly selective about which shows we work on. We have a clear reason for choosing to tell the stories we do: and back them wholly and personally. Our incredible team goes above and beyond to pull out all stops to make sure they’re top notch. We have a stellar team of experienced creative producers, writers, directors and designers, who are driven by making high-quality stories. We’re all creatives ourselves: so we respect our creators. We believe having a strong voice and culture matters. And yet, creativity isn’t enough: a little bit of common sense can go a long way in this industry. Filmmaking is an art: but the whole process doesn’t have to be complicated, if you can balance planning and flexibility. We work on stories end to end- from conceptualisation to edit- so we can ensure a consistent vision. We find talent, align on a vision, and simplify and organise production so our creators can hone their craft. Want to help raise the bar for storytelling in India? Come join us: www.boundlessmedia.in |
Mar 19, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Stop Complaining About Being At Home |
 You got what you wanted. Continue reading on Medium » |
Mar 24, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: COVID-19 |
 it’s spreading! cause/ effect/ correlation who’s to say? we amplify the noise leading to panic leaders fumble markets crash borders shut wash your hands! stay in! #canceleverything can we just breathe (with a mask?) let the experts speak. |
Mar 29, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: COVID-19 |
 Photo credit: Cri Marca, used with permissionit’s spreading! cause/ effect/correlation who’s to say? we amplify the noise leading to panic leaders fumble markets crash borders shut wash your hands! stay in! #canceleverything can we just breathe (with a mask?) let the experts speak. COVID-19 was originally published in P.S. I Love You on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. |
Apr 19, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Time |
 Photo by Icons8 Team on UnsplashClock ticking. the seconds pass noisily as we come to a total standstill look away from my screen look out of my window shut my eyes look in breathe. stare. (like it’s the first time) the real 21 day challenge- can you keep your mind still? Time was originally published in P.S. I Love You on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. |
Apr 22, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Thank you so much ❤️ |
|
Thank you so much ❤️ |
May 16, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Us |
 At first, you ignore it. Then you label it a ‘them’ problem. They should have known better, acted sooner. You move on with your life. Continue reading on Medium » |
May 16, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: A Post World |
 Credit: Boundless MediaAt first, you ignore it. Then you label it a ‘them’ problem. They should have known better, acted sooner. You move on with your life. You only start to really pay attention when London and New York get affected. Not unlike terrorist attacks, lives seem to matter more in some places. Could this happen to you? You look around you. People don’t seem to be taking this seriously yet. How could they shut down or control a country like yours anyway? No one follows rules. We don’t have the infrastructure or resources to deal with a health crisis. We’re ungovernable. Maybe we’re resistant. Our immunity is strong. The heat is a good sign. Maybe we’ll be safe. It starts to come up more in conversations. Your friends are still joking about it, on the whole. Some are scared, they refuse to come out anymore. You laugh at them with your other friends, but privately you wonder: is it time to be more careful? The news is changing. Papers are dedicating entire sections to this. Social media is flooded with crisis-related posts. It’s obviously trending. Little else starts to come up in conversations as powerful photos of pain and suffering of other countries- countries that you had labelled differently than those seen as backward, unfortunate, closed, poor- start to suffer more than you thought they would. Italy is the first global call to action. The first time it really starts to affect you is when you start working from home. You can’t risk going to office any longer, being in an unregulated environment. At first, it’s not too bad. You’re happy to be done with the commute, have a little more time to yourself. Then, they do it. They start to shut borders. You didn’t think that was possible. Does this mean you can’t leave? You’re blindsided when a week later, they shut the country. Wait- what this mean for resources- food, medicine? How will you see your friends, family? What about the parties, commitments, the travel you had planned? At first you think this can’t possibly last- no one will follow this. But resources start to get more constrained. The on-demand delivery, travel, events you took for granted are gone in a blink of an eye. You have to start planning your meals. Pictures of people hoarding protection, toilet paper rolls, food are shared all over the world. Is this real? The debate quickly moves on: what about the poor? The community comes together in heartening ways: donations are made, food is organised. The class divide has never been sharper. The help leaves, and then you’re at home, an endless cycle of cooking, cleaning, working. You wonder about the families with children. How are they adjusting to homeschooling, keeping their children entertained and healthy at home? What about those in long-distance relationships, about to get divorced, away from their families? What is happening to the elderly, at risk, those with chronic conditions? How do you go to hospital? There’s fear. For a while, you cant get any protective gear: it’s all sold out. There’s panic for a while, and then people seem to adjust, surprisingly, if they can afford to, to lockdown. The jokes start on social media. People talk about their lives before, what the plan to do after, make fun of Zoom calls. There’s a period of social explosion of Houseparty and chatter about adjusting to a more online life. People notice the skies getting more blue, the animals coming out. The humor dies down as the migrant crisis starts. You see pictures of the poor, dying as they struggle to go home. But what can you do? How much can you give? As time goes on, the charity dies down. This is the government’s problem: they should have thought about the poor more.People jostle to be the new leaders, experts, even though no one has any idea whats going on. There’s webinars everyday around what this means for different industries, the economy, investing. People start doing skill-based workshops, exploring their creative side. Poetry, design , Youtube shows explode. The quarantine flexes mushroom. People make bread, Dalgona coffee, post recipes. They work out, post their new bodies on Insta, still hoping for a chance to display that summer bod, even if spring is shot. Then, the quarantine starts to get old. You grow restless, you miss your old life. What’s the plan? What happens after? People start sharing nostalgic photos. We’re counting down the days. There’s talk of rebellion, breaking the rules going back, shock that this has gone on so long. Governments start to debate opening up, as experts warn it’s far too soon. Should we prioritize life or the economy? This is what it’s come to. This is actually being debated. The stock market gets stranger, even more disconnected from reality. Oil prices go negative. Do macroeconomic rules hold anymore? Celebrating clear skies and clear air seems stale now. Would you risk your life for personal freedom? Trials start, countries compete in the rush to come up with a cure. Miracle drugs are tried and fail, misinformation is rampant. It’s becoming clearer than despite all the simulation models, no one really understands the spread. Front line workers struggle with exhaustion, get sick, die. There isn’t enough equipment, enough resource. We’re not prepared even if we should have been. We’ve had more than enough warning. We just chose not to act. Countries start to get blamed, as new of magic bullet cures are painted as false promises. We underestimated the enemy. Are we doing too little? Is it too late? As global supply chains falter, states enforce new immigration rules. We worry about a police state. How long can we have every move monitored? At how many points will you check people’s temperature, take their blood? We dream of going back. The pause highlights how unsustainable our lives were: the on-demand access, the constant travel, the false online lives. You can see influencers break down, and the new rise of authenticity. Tik Tok over Insta. And yet, we dream of going back.Then people worry about mental health. Should we be productive during a crisis? Then the job cuts start. AirBnb lays off 25% of its staff. The US loses 20 million jobs. That quickly shuts down the debate. There’s no question of work life balance, if there’s no work to be done. Twitter and Google and Microsoft announce indefinite work from homes. Is the office dead? Is it time to look for a new job, go freelance, start a company, make a career pivot, apply for an MBA. Obviously, starting a podcast is the answer. You google building on online community. Is everyone going to get creative? Are we seeing the rise of a passion economy? But who’s paying? In some ways, you can see the bright side. You now know your neighbors: you talk to your family more, you keep your friends close. Who knows when your’e going to meet new people, or have spontaneous, unplanned interactions next? The days start to blur together. It’s easy to feel like you’re in a time loop: what do weekends mean ? Lockdown 1, 2, 3. By the fourth one, the announcements are a joke. The days of clapping and singing and lighting candles is over. Creators are only watching the speeches to create memes. You’re questioning if there’s a way out of this. Everyone is. Now there’s no talk of after. There’s extensive debate around the ‘new normal’. What will work, travel, entertainment look like? Is it time to invest in a VR headset?Governments are announcing relief packages, loans, printing money, the rules around lending, debt, firing employees, wage laws are changing.A few countries seem to be doing well. But they’re rich, sparsely populated. What hope does a country like yours have? Are you exceptionally well positioned, as the world gets more flat, more globally connected, as work increasingly gets digital, remote outsourced, or are you on the brink of a crisis: as the poor suffer, migrants leave. What will cities do without the people that run it: delivery and construction workers, cleaners, security, staff? It’s time for reinvention. Maybe the world is going to be more digital now, less offline, more online. Travel, leisure, luxury, hospitality is dead. We always knew our previous lives didn’t work, they were unsustainable. New industries will necessarily mushroom. There’s always opportunity in a crisis. The wealthy start to consider moving to second homes, buying more property, where they can at least be safe. Periodically, we remember the dead. Celebrities are mourned. Periodically, we celebrate the front line heroes. Inward, then outward, then inward again. Physical, emotional health, loneliness, families, friends, ageing, the sick, the dying. Rich countries. Poor countries. Innovation. Resources. New jobs. Old jobs. Layoffs. Stock market. Oil. Global deals. Time. What’s next? Has anything really changed? How many deaths does it take? Read the above again. Pandemic or climate change? |
May 16, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Shockwaves: Pandemonium |
|
Credit: Boundless MediaAt first, you ignore it. Then you label it a ‘them’ problem. They should have known better, acted sooner. You move on with your life. You only start to really pay attention when London and New York get affected. Not unlike terrorist attacks, lives seem to matter more in some places. Could this happen to you? You look around you. People don’t seem to be taking this seriously yet. How could they shut down or control a country like yours anyway? No one follows rules. We don’t have the infrastructure or resources to deal with a health crisis. We’re ungovernable. Maybe we’re resistant. Our immunity is strong. The heat is a good sign. Maybe we’ll be safe. It starts to come up more in conversations. Your friends are still joking about it, on the whole. Some are scared, they refuse to come out anymore. You laugh at them with your other friends, but privately you wonder: is it time to be more careful? The news is changing. Papers are dedicating entire sections to this. Social media is flooded with crisis-related posts. It’s obviously trending.Little else starts to come up in conversations as powerful photos of pain and suffering of other countries- countries that you had labelled differently than those seen as backward, unfortunate, closed, poor- start to suffer more than you thought they would. Italy is the first global call to action. The first time it really starts to affect you is when you start working from home. You can’t risk going to office any longer, being in an unregulated environment. At first, it’s not too bad. You’re happy to be done with the commute, have a little more time to yourself. Then, they do it. They start to shut borders. You didn’t think that was possible. Does this mean you can’t leave? You’re blindsided when a week later, they shut the country. Wait- what this mean for resources- food, medicine? How will you see your friends, family? What about the parties, commitments, the travel you had planned? At first you think this can’t possibly last- no one will follow this. But resources start to get more constrained. The on-demand delivery, travel, events you took for granted are gone in a blink of an eye. You have to start planning your meals. Pictures of people hoarding protection, toilet paper rolls, food are shared all over the world. Is this real? The debate quickly moves on: what about the poor? The community comes together in heartening ways: donations are made, food is organised. The class divide has never been sharper. The help leaves, and then you’re at home, an endless cycle of cooking, cleaning, working. You wonder about the families with children. How are they adjusting to homeschooling, keeping their children entertained and healthy at home? What about those in long-distance relationships, about to get divorced, away from their families? What is happening to the elderly, at risk, those with chronic conditions? How do you go to hospital? There’s fear. For a while, you cant get any protective gear: it’s all sold out. Soon, the world is on lockdown. We’ve come to a grinding halt. Sports, Broadway, festivals. Even Burning Man. Everything is cancelled. There’s panic for a while, and then people seem to adjust, surprisingly, if they can afford to, to lockdown. The jokes start on social media. People talk about their lives before, what the plan to do after, make fun of Zoom calls. There’s a social explosion of Houseparty. People notice the skies getting more blue, the animals coming out. The humour dies down as the migrant crisis starts. You see pictures of the poor, dying as they struggle to go home. But what can you do? How much can you give? As time goes on, the charity dies down. This is the government’s problem: they should have thought about the poor more.People jostle to be the new leaders, experts, even though no one has any idea whats going on. There are webinars everyday around what this means for different industries, the economy, investing. People start doing skill-based workshops, exploring their creative side. Poetry, design,Youtube shows explode. The quarantine flexes mushroom. People make bread, Dalgona coffee, post recipes. They work out, post their new bodies on Insta, still hoping for a chance to display that summer bod, even if spring is shot. The quarantine starts to get old. You grow restless, you miss your old life. What’s the plan? What happens after? People start sharing nostalgic photos. We’re counting down the days. There’s talk of rebellion, breaking the rules going back, shock that this has gone on so long. Governments debate opening up again, as experts warn that it’s far too soon to go back to normal. Should we prioritize life or the economy? This is what it’s come to. This is actually being debated. The stock market gets stranger, even more disconnected from reality. Oil prices go negative. VC’s stop promising they’re still doing deals. Do macroeconomic rules hold anymore? Celebrating clear skies and clear air seems stale now. Would you risk your life for personal freedom? Trials start, countries compete in the rush to come up with a cure. Miracle drugs are tried and fail, misinformation is rampant. It’s becoming clearer than despite all the simulation models, no one really understands the spread. Front line workers struggle with exhaustion, get sick, die. There isn’t enough equipment, enough resources. We’re not prepared even if we should have been. We’ve had more than enough warning. We just chose not to act. Countries start to get blamed, as new of magic bullet cures are painted as false promises. We underestimated the enemy. Are we doing too little? Is it too late? As global supply chains falter, states enforce new immigration rules. You worry about a police state. How long can we have every move monitored? At how many points will you check people’s temperature, take their blood? We dream of going back. The pause highlights how unsustainable our lives were: the on-demand access, the constant travel, the false online lives. You can see influencers break down, and the new rise of authenticity. Tik Tok over Insta. And yet, we dream of going back.Then people worry about mental health. Should we be productive during a crisis? Then the job cuts start. AirBnb lays off 25% of its staff. The US loses 20 million jobs. That quickly shuts down the debate. There’s no question of work life balance, if there’s no work to be done. Twitter announces an indefinite work from home. Is the office dead? Is it time to look for a new job, go freelance, start a company, make a career pivot, apply for an MBA? Obviously, starting a podcast is the answer. You google building on online community. Is everyone going to get creative? Are we seeing the rise of a passion economy? But who’s paying?In some ways, you can see the bright side. You now know your neighbours: you talk to your family more, you keep your friends close. Who knows when your’e going to meet new people, or have spontaneous, unplanned interactions next? The days start to blur together. It’s easy to feel like you’re in a time loop: what do weekends mean anymore? Should we all celebrate our birthdays next year? Lockdown 1, 2, 3. By the fourth one, the announcements are a joke. The days of clapping and singing and lighting candles is over. Creators are only watching the speeches to create memes. At least we’re self-aware enough to laugh about the dystopia we’re living in.You’re questioning if there’s a way out of this. Everyone is. Now there’s no talk of after. There’s extensive debate around the ‘new normal’. What will work, travel, entertainment look like? Is it time to invest in a VR headset? Are your visas still valid? Governments are announcing relief packages, loans, printing money, the rules around lending, debt, firing employees, wage laws are changing. Maybe it’s finally the time to invest in crypto. A few countries seem to be doing well. But they’re rich, sparsely populated. What hope does a country like yours have? Are you exceptionally well positioned, as the world gets more flat, more globally connected, as work increasingly gets digital, remote outsourced, or are you on the brink of a crisis: as the poor suffer, migrants leave? What will cities do without the people that run it: delivery and construction workers, cleaners, security, staff? It’s time for reinvention. Going digital is no longer a choice. Travel, leisure, luxury, hospitality is dead. We knew our previous lives didn’t work, they were unsustainable: we just didn’t want to admit it to ourselves. We were addicted to the convenience. New industries will necessarily mushroom. There’s always opportunity in a crisis. The wealthy start to consider moving to second homes, buying more property, where they can at least be safe. Periodically, we remember the dead. Celebrities are mourned. Periodically, we celebrate the front line heroes. Inward, then outward, then inward again. Physical, emotional health, loneliness, families, friends, ageing, the sick, the dying. Rich countries. Poor countries. Innovation. Resources. New jobs. Old jobs. Layoffs. Stock market. Oil. Global deals. Time. What’s next? Has anything really changed? How many deaths does it take? Read the above again. Pandemic or climate change? |
Jul 26, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Fear |
 I wake up Continue reading on Medium » |
Jul 26, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Fear |
|
I wake up in a cold sweat have we locked the doors? we’re alone here- what if someone breaks in? Continue reading on Lit Up » |
Sep 2, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: A Family |
 The first time I say I don’t want to have kids, I’m dismissed. You’ll grow up, things will change, wait until you meet the right person. Continue reading on Noteworthy - The Journal Blog » |
Sep 4, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: I want to be part of Writers’ Blokke! |
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I want to be part of Writers’ Blokke! @Natasha_Malpani |
Sep 16, 2020
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Boundless Binge |
|
Issue: #1What are you watching this pandemic? With every digital platform buying, releasing and promoting enough films and series to keep you glued to the screen for three-quarters of a lifetime, give or take, what is it that you choose to watch when you want to wind down — after a gruelling workday of sitting in bed and staring at your computer screen? Are action adventures your go-to before hitting the sack? Maybe a heart-warming drama? Or a romantic comedy that brings a smile to your face? Thrillers make time fly by and the classics are timeless. Documentaries are fascinating, sure- but are they as good as the fantastic worlds sci-fi has to offer? Also, there’s… phew, it’s tiring going through SO MUCH content and deciding what to watch. It just seems easier to watch what you’ve already seen and know, right? Sometimes, an algorithm just won’t cut it. Luckily, watching these shows is our job. Let us make life easier for you, by doing all the heavy lifting of consuming content, so that you can focus on the truly great stories!We’ll share a few high-quality film and series recommendations with you every month. And no, we aren’t going to try to explain some special camera used or the subtext in the mise-en-scene. We’ll leave that piece of intellectualisation to the critics. We’ll keep it simple and tell you about the little things that we think might make you fall in love with these films and series, in the first place. Dark  One-sentence summary: A family saga with a science fiction twist, set in a German town, where the disappearance of two children exposes the relationship among four families. Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Mystery On top of the list is a series you might’ve seen on the top of a bunch of other lists, but it can be talked about time and time again [pun fully intended]. Despite having been commissioned only for three seasons, the show has managed to tell its story across seven time periods. It weaves them together in a complex, intricate manner breaking rules of easily computable logic, which we expect from each film/show and are regularly disappointed by for their lack of originality or innovation. In a show where the mother is the daughter and the daughter is the mother [don’t get me started], you will be hard-pressed to be disappointed by the writers. If you fall a bit short of their expectations, though, don’t beat yourself up. The layers of subjects and themes that this show explores through its high concept narrative is incredibly diverse. From time travel to religion to coming of age to the travails of families and large communities, the show unapologetically steams forward, introducing new characters and revealing new information without a break. The bar this team of writers sets for you is almost as high as your parents’. You’ve got to do the work and keep up with them as they twist and turn through this spellbinding story. Where you can watch it: Netflix Ramy  One-sentence summary: A millennial Muslim-American struggles with his identity, caught between a nihilistic lifestyle and a spiritual awakening. Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance Have you ever laughed so hard that your stomach hurt? Or felt upset enough to feel an imaginary hand twisting your innards? Now, imagine both those feelings kicking in at the same time and refusing to go away for thirty minutes straight. That’s what watching an episode of Ramy feels like. Ramy deals with the impossible contradictions present in a millennial Muslim-American’s life, as his modern lifestyle constantly interferes with his newly discovered spiritual quest. Or is it the other way around? I guess it depends on who is looking. The series casually upends, with a wink and plenty of heart, the stereotypical idiosyncrasies within a migrant family in New Jersey [or any traditional family in a metropolitan area], smoothly showcasing Ramy’s awkwardly hilarious attempts to lead a spiritually enlightened life amidst the drugs, booze and sex surrounding him. Ramy is a spiritual jester who is caught between his Friday prayers and Friday night plans — “I’m like at both. I wanna pray, I wanna go to the party, and I’m breaking some rules, I’m following others,” as our main man puts it in his inimitable manner. The show is also brilliant in the space and voice it devotes to its female and middle-aged characters, giving young adults perspectives they are too often blind to. Ramy is a comedy, and it’s a good one, but it stands out in it’s ability to have jokes emerge from our own realities, from the conflict between traditional expectations and modern aspirations that we all experience. Even if the show makes you laugh out loud, it leaves you in a swirling eddy of introspection about what the priorities in your life should be, as you build your identity around a quarter-life crisis. Despite the comedy, the most unsettling part about the show is that the darkness imbued in it comes from nothing but situations and conversations similar to those we find ourselves in, on a daily basis. Where you can watch it: Hulu/Amazon Prime (India) Crashing  One-sentence summary: A zany chronicle of the lives of six 20 somethings, who live together, as property guardians of a large, disused hospital. Genre: Comedy, Coming of Age To understand this show, you need to have made one too many mistakes after drunken nights and learnt next to nothing about drinking too much. Or been hopelessly confused about your fluctuating love life. Or unapologetically promiscuous and equally charming. Or just — twenty-something years old and incredibly lost in big dreams with no concrete plans. A hidden gem by Pheobe Waller Bridge, who also happens to star as the lead in the show, this one is a six episode hiiii-larious take on six twenty somethings, who stay as property guardians in an abandoned hospital in the UK. The show explores their diverse lives as they are crammed together in close living quarters. The six characters are super weird, in a very real way, and the dynamics between them are even weirder, in an equally real way. What sets this show apart is the masterful character work that in just six episodes makes you roar with laughter, cringe with awkwardness and sob relentlessly along with the characters, whose comedic timing is definitely something to write home about… or anyone else you may write to in place of communicating via GIFs. Full of relatable, humorous situations this one really gets down and dirty [puking, ****, farting, orgasming — the list is endless] with its characters and isn’t afraid to show the raw experiences of being a twenty-something, struggling to make it in life. At the get-go, it seems to be romantic tension between Pheobe’s character and her engaged best friend but evolves into a story about friendship and the complicated nature of human relationships- both platonic and romantic. Where you can watch it: Netflix Super Deluxe  One sentence summary: On a specific day, four different people have wildly unpredictable reminders from their past throw their present in disarray. Genre: Comedy, Drama, Suspense A newly married woman, after having some soul-satisfying sex with her ex-boyfriend, finds him dead in bed next to her. The father of a young boy returns years after being in Mumbai — only now he is a woman [she is woman, to be precise]. Five teenagers watch a porno together and find to their consternation that one amongst them is the son of the dirty picture’s leading lady. A man who was miraculously saved during the 2004 tsunami disaster passionately spreads the word of — a dilapidated statue that has no distinguishing features. This may sound like Charlie Kaufman and Woody Allen decided to have a love child. In reality, however, this is how Thiyagaraja Kumararaja kickstarts the four stories that make up Super Deluxe. Don’t mistake this for an anthology, though. These four stories are interwoven in multiple sequences of cause and effect, cutting through and building on each other to bring out one great truth — there is no meaning to the lives we live on this tiny blue planet, so stop being such hypocritical jerks to each other. Okay. Maybe that’s oversimplifying it a wee bit. If one had to say what this movie tries talking about, it’d be — life, morality, sex, gender, societal hypocrisy, marriage, politics, caste and a never-ending list of other subjects. Using irreverent humour [which later takes on dark leanings] this film tackles the hypocrisy practised over generations; the hypocrisy that is leaking into the current generation. The characters in this film embody the psychological quandaries we are all faced with: a conflict between the morals we are conditioned to believe in by society and our ‘elders’ and the morals we instinctively believe in through the practise of kindness and empathy. While the film is eclectic, it doesn’t stop entertaining for a second. With some spectacular performances from South Indian cinema’s finest, the 2 hour, 56 minute long films keeps you involved and guessing [between the ridiculous number of uncomfortable laughs offered] as to where the hell the story is going next and what could possibly happen to resolve it. For anyone who is a fan of dark comedy and social drama, this film is bound to be one hell of a treat. If you don’t watch it, though, it’s fine. Seeing that there’s no meaning to life on this tiny blue planet, what’s the point of doing anything anyway? Where you can watch it: Netflix We’ll be back with more recommendations soon. Let us know what you think when you’ve binged your way through these. Until then! |
Jan 15, 2021
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: A Family |
 Prose Poetry Continue reading on Lit Up » |
Feb 1, 2021
| FROM Bschooladmit20 - Current Student: Grow Up |
|
Prose Poetry Continue reading on Lit Up » |
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