Aadip Desai is a Los Angeles based new dad, sideburns enthusiast, comedy writer, producer/co-host of the On The Page screenwriting podcast, and drummer for The Spanglers, a comedy musical act.
He will be a recruit on the fourth season of the popular Food Network reality show, The Worst Cooks In America.
His writing has appeared on The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, in City Arts Tacoma Magazine, Geekweek, Los Angeles Or Bust, and he blogged as President of the Northwest Screenwriters Guild. His produced work includes an award-winning romantic short, a Get Out The South Asian Vote PSA, and a math rock music video starring Leuko. As a stand-up comedian, Aadip has performed at The Improv, The Comedy Store, Flappers, Red Rock, and Elderberries. He also performed musical comedy at the Improv Lab, Upright Citizens Brigade, Steve Allen Theater, and SF Sketchfest.
Aadip has also interviewed/moderated panels featuring EMMY and OSCAR-winning filmmakers at The Northwest Screenwriters Guild, Austin Film Festival, and Pacific Northwest Writers Conference.
In the music business, Aadip music supervised several action sports films for Ally, a feature film called Unsung, and several commercials. He has interned for Randy Jackson at Sony Music, Capital Public Radio (NPR), and assisted Jim Wilke at Jazz After Hours (PRI). He managed the $5m global music account for Starbucks Coffee Company and programmed music at Muzak.
As a trumpet player, he has performed with Ramsey Lewis, T.S. Monk, Pancho Sanchez, Stanley Turrentine, Arturo Sandoval, Cleo Laine/John Dankworth, Jack Sheldon, Reggie Watts, Easy Big Fella, toured with The Diablotones supporting The Voodoo Glow Skulls (Epitaph Records), and recorded on Gardener’s New Dawning Time on Sub Pop Records.
As a drummer, Aadip has recorded, performed, and/or toured as a member of several bands, including The Far West, Juhu Beach, Martian Memo To God, and Pint O’Guinness.
Aadip’s training includes classes and workshops at The Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade, Writers Homicide School, UCLA Ext. and UW Ext. He’s also taken courses from Robert McKee, Steve Kaplan, Ellen Sandler, Blake Snyder, Pilar Alessandra, Jen Grisanti, Michael Hauge, Marilyn Atlas, and Walter Dalton.
He holds a BA in Economics and a Minor in Music from The University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA
Aadip lives in Los Angeles with his universally adored wife, his sassy newborn daughter, and two reactive Malteses. He melts when animals who are natural enemies become friends, enjoys a good TV slap fight, and marvels at the plethora of items that can be stuffed into a pizza crust.
Past guest and buddy of mine, Sanjay Shah (Story Editor at King of the Hill) is pleased to announce that an episode he wrote, called "Pour Some Sugar on Kahn" will air tomorrow, Sunday March 30th at 8:30PM. He says it no longer has anything to do with the very great Def Leppard song by the (almost) same name because the script changed a lot from the first draft because ...
I don't know how this got past me. I guess we've been swamped over the Guild. According to Variety, Producer-writer-director Anthony Minghella died at the age 54 of a brain hemorrhage. His credits include "Cold Mountain," "The Talented Mr Ripley," "The English Patient" and "Truly Madly Deeply." I was a huge fan of both Cold Mountain and Talented Mr. Ripley. It's sad to ...
We just finished up the weekend with film execs, Kevin Chang of Misher Films and Matt Skiena of Village Roadshow. They were extremely forthcoming and generous during our extensive interview/Q&A session with yours truly. That was some turnout - around 50-60 people. We even got to see a new trailer for Speed Racer, as well as a promo sales reel for Get Smart with Steve Carrell. Pretty hilarious. ...
I'm pleased to announce that the NWSG will be hosting Steve Kaplan's Comedy Intensive Workshop on August 1-3. From top stars to first time comedy screenwriters, TV writers, producers, directors and performers, Kaplan has worked with and coached the best. He has also served as a consultant to Dreamworks, Disney, HBO and others. I'm personally excited to invite such a well-regarded instructor to Seattle, once again bringing the best Hollywood ...
I'm pleased to finally announce that the 11th Annual WA State Screenplay Competition will be co-sponsored and co-run by the Northwest Film Forum and us, the NWSG. The good thing is that being a member of either organization does not, and I repeat, does not prevent you from entering in the competition. You just have to meet one of the following requirements: a) Written by a resident of Washington State ...
I just watched a rerun of the brilliant BBC sitcom, COUPLING. In this episode, called, Her Best Friend's Bottom (air date - 9/17/2001), Steve has just accidentally seen Sally's arse in his own bathroom (Sally is Susan's best friend, Susan is Steve's girlfriend) and Jeff, the lovable dork (who works with Susan), pleads with Steve never to tell Susan about the incident. Here is a transcription of their conversation about CAPTAIN ...
My writing partner and I just finished the fourth (and I hope) final draft of our screenplay, Happy Accident. We've been working on this for a long time, having lived through our brutal page-one rewrite (our main character's name changed!), a significantly revamped third draft, and a polished fourth draft. It's out to our proofreaders to make sure we haven't dangled any participles or committed gerundic atrocities. There's nothing like ...