Mumbai, November 10, 2026: Indian-born screenwriter and director Annsh Maithani, a budding screenplay writer and director and an alumni of the New York Film Academy, is expanding his creative horizons in Hollywood, bringing his storytelling sensibilities from India to the global entertainment industry. With projects such as ‘Please Like Johnny’, ‘Lipstick on a Pig’ and ‘Malefactor’ among his writing credits, Maithani is carving a path that combines provocative ideas with a filmmaker’s ambition.
Great films are remembered for their iconic lines – “You can’t handle the truth,” “May the Force be with you,” and “Kitne aadmi the?” and have outlived the films they came from. People remember the actors like Brando, Nicholson, Ford, Amjad Khan who delivered them; but far fewer could name the writers who put those words on the page. For Annsh Maithani, that power of the written word became a calling: to create stories that stay with audiences long after the screen fades to black. From his Indian roots to his screenwriting journey in Los Angeles, Maithani is now turning that passion into a career as a screenwriter and director in Hollywood.
Originally hailing from the hills of Uttrakhand, Maithani went to school in Gurgaon at Amity and earned his undergraduate degree at Symbiosis in Pune. He then moved to Los Angeles for a Master’s in Screenwriting at the New York Film Academy, the same school where Curry Barker, the writer-director behind the break-out horror hit Obsession, got his start. With all-round abilities as a writer, producer and director, Maithani is pursuing a second Masters from the same college in Film Making .
Over the past four years, he has developed his craft in Hollywood, with work spanning feature films, theatre and festival-recognised screenplays. During this, he has worked on a feature film featuring actors from Better Call Saul, Veep, and Cobra Kai. He also wrote a stage play that opened for the Write Act Repertory Company at the Brickhouse Theater. His scripts have earned a long list of awards and official placements at festivals including the Austin Film Festival, Sherman Oaks Film Festival, Golden State Film Festival, and the Bangkok Movie Awards.
Maithani’s most recent project was the short film ‘Milkshake’ as a writer and director, crafted as a dark comedy and tells a story about a kidnapper who holds a young woman hostage to expose her father’s crimes. Before a single frame was shot, the screenplay had already won the ‘Best Short Script’ at three festivals. For the shoot, Maithani worked with an ace cinematographer Shivashish Ahuja whose credits include projects for Billie Eilish, Alessia Cara, and Diljit Dosanjh. ‘Milkshake’ is now in post-production and is expected to begin its festival run soon.
Maithani’s another feature screenplay ‘Please Like Johnny’ follows a canceled influencer who teams up with the Governor of Florida to turn executions into public spectacle, all in a desperate bid to be liked by everyone. The script placed at the ‘Austin Film Festival’, one of the most respected screenwriting competitions in the industry. It has also won at several other festivals. The script’s premise has since become uncomfortably close to reality. It now reads less like satire and more like a forecast, following reports that the White House was planning to live-stream an execution.
For Maithani, the ambition goes beyond breaking into a new industry. “The aim is to tell a story in the best possible way. I want the audience to walk away feeling they spent their time well. That doesn’t always mean entertaining them,” he says.
Reflecting on the differences between the Indian and American film industries, Maithani says, “In Bollywood, the focus tends to be on the stars. Here in Hollywood, screenwriters are part of the conversation too.”
As he continues to develop projects in Los Angeles, Maithani hopes to broaden his creative footprint as both a screenwriter and director, while retaining the perspective shaped by his Indian roots. His journey reflects a growing ambition among Indian-origin storytellers to engage with international audiences on their own creative terms.
