NYWIFT Blog

What’s in Your Toolkit: Mahak Jiwani

By Kathryn O’Kane

For 17 years, NYWIFT has joined with the Hamptons International Film Festival to present the annual Sunday Brunch and co-present the Women Calling the Shots short film showcase – all in celebration of the outstanding achievements by women filmmakers at the festival.

NYWIFT caught up with filmmakers who attended the brunch (quite literally while running to the next screening) and asked them, “What’s in your toolkit?”

 

Mahak Jiwani, producer, Darling

 

What is the one thing you can’t live without in production?

I always wear comfortable shoes when I’m on set – and hard ones in case something falls. I think that’s a lesson I learned from Maureen Ryan at Columbia University.

 

What do you eat on set?

I don’t really eat much on set because there’s so much to do and I’m always running around. I make sure to eat breakfast beforehand.

 

What do you do to help de-stress?

At the end of the day, I talk to my friends and family. It’s really important to have a support network that’s separate from the work.

 

What’s the most out of the ordinary thing in your toolkit?

Chocolate. 

 

PUBLISHED BY

busyk

busyk Kathryn O’Kane is a director and producer with over 20 years of experience in television and advertising. She directed season 2 of the Emmy nominated series The World According to Jeff Goldblum for Disney+. She was the showrunner of the James Beard award-winning Netflix series Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and she produced six seasons of the Emmy award-winning series Friday Night Tykes. Her episodes of Iconoclasts for Sundance and Oprah Presents Masterclass for OWN have won NAACP Imagine awards. Kathryn has crafted short form narratives as diverse as Mission Juno for NASA, segments of AMC’s Talking Dead, and commercial assignments for Apple, Meta, United Airlines, and SAP. Kathryn served two terms on the board of New York Women in Film and Television, championing equal pay, diversity and inclusion, and safety in the workplace. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America and Television Academy. Learn more at www.busyk.com.

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