Hi, my name is Vinay Umapathy.
I'm a filmmaker, content strategist, copywriter, and storyteller with a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch and a minor in Media Business from NYU Stern.
I wear multiple hats as a director, writer, and producer in the entertainment industry. My most recent film, Behind The Line, premiered at the 2024 Chelsea Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Short. It was also nominated for Best American Short at the 2024 Septimius Awards and had its West Coast Premiere at the 2025 Tasveer Film Festival - the only Oscar-Qualifying South Asian Film Festival. As a director, I've also worked with Warner Records and Empire Records on music videos.
The Settler, an upcoming horror feature that I wrote and am directing, is partially financed and in development with support from SUCH Content, CAA, and more. In addition to my own films, I have produced the feature films Deshlai by Qaushiq Mukherjee, Blue Sunshine by Samyuktha Vijayan, and Small Talk by dontwatchtheclock.
I've had the privilege of co-writing the pilot for the official HITCH reboot series starring Diggy Simmons. From 2018-2019, I worked on and appeared on the Bennington Show on Sirius XM, and from 2019-2020 I appeared on and contributed jokes for several episodes of Chris Gethard Presents on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network. I've also made contributions to The Onion and The Hard Times. In 2016, a play I wrote was produced at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Along the way, I've had the honor of working in various production offices and entertainment media environments, including Scott Rudin Productions, Sirius XM, AXS Labs, and First Access Entertainment, and collaborating with award-winning industry heavyweights such as Scott Rudin, Terrence Malick, Ian Ellis James, Alice Elliot, and Jason DaSilva.
I also have extensive experience in the marketing industries. Most recently, I was the Content Strategist at Tribeca Festival, where I managed and implemented content calendars for social, web, and editorial platforms, analyzed KPIs via HubSpot and Google Analytics, oversaw seasonal copywriters, collaborated on content for partners like Chanel, Expensify, Canva, Mazda, and Letterboxd, set up affiliate link monetization, and presented executive decks for C-Suite stakeholders.
Before this, I was the Creative Planner at the marketing agency DEPT, where I worked with internal and external design, project management, and audience/advertising teams to devise complex copy matrices, storyboards, and digital scripts for notable clients such as Spotify, JetBlue, Gannett, Google, and Samsung.
My online musings frequently go viral and have been featured on F*ckJerry, Buzzfeed, Betches, Mashable, and other popular media and meme outlets. In my free time I love to indulge in spicy food, make films with my friends, and watch Batman cartoons.