Shahnaz Mahmud

Shahnaz Mahmud is an award-winning writer/journalist. She is a participant of the 2020 Athena Film Festival Virtual Writers Lab. She is a recipient of the 2017 Development Studio Screenwriting Fellowship through the NYU Production Lab. 

As a journalist, Shahnaz has worked both in the U.S. and abroad. She was based in the U.K. for four years covering global finance. She has served as a staff writer for such publications as "Adweek" and freelanced for titles including  "FIFA Professional Football Journal", "Screen Daily/Screen International". "Sports Business Journal" , "The Drum" and "The Hollywood Reporter." She was selected to be a part of the Sundance Institute's Press Inclusion Initiative, newly-launched in 2019, which supports underrepresented journalists in covering the film industry at the organization's annual festival.

Shahnaz began her career as a researcher with ABC News and also worked on documentary programming for the A&E Television Networks. She has an MA with concentrations in screenwriting and film studies and a BA in English & American literature and journalism from NYU. Shahnaz is based in New York City.