When Mashael Alqahtani picked up a journal as a child, the idea of those pages leading her to film festivals across the world felt far away.
That small notebook became a space where she wrote with humor about her own shy nature, reshaping daily struggles into something bold, fantastical and playful. She was equally fascinated by the Arab folktales and mythology she grew up with as a kid, which would later shape her writing as well.
Over time, the entries evolved into stories, and the stories into screenplays. Today, her scripts reach audiences across continents, recognized by international competitions and professional fellowships that highlight her growing influence in contemporary screenwriting.
Early Inspiration and Career Foundations
Mashael’s early writing balanced self-reflection with imagination. Screenplays offered her a sense of identity, a way of placing her voice into a form that could carry both humor and honesty.
Through American cinema and television, she developed an early sense of how dialogue, comedy, and horror function on screen. She credits this habit of close observation as the foundation for her storytelling voice.
Her first steps into the professional world added perspective. At the Cannes Film Festival, she saw how the global industry gathered in one place and how different cultures approached storytelling.
With Film Independent in Los Angeles, she connected to communities of writers and mentors who encouraged her voice.
Working with FilmNation, Sight Unseen, Grandview Management – now Untitled, and Borderless Pictures revealed the realities of development and production.
Each experience added dimension to her growth, reminding her that storytelling requires both creativity and resilience in navigating the business behind it.
Academic Excellence and Creative Training
Her instinct for story found structure through formal study. After completing a BA in Film Production at Emerson College, she earned two MFAs in Screenwriting, one at the University of Southern California and another at the American Film Institute.
She often reflects on how those years strengthened her writing. Constant critique demanded rigor, while endless rewriting sharpened her technical abilities.
The process gave her confidence to workshop ideas until they held both precision and emotional depth.
She speaks of that education with gratitude, crediting it not only with shaping her professional skills but also with giving her the discipline to keep refining her voice even when drafts felt far from finished.
Breakthrough Achievements
Recognition followed as her scripts found their way into competitions and fellowships. Her action-comedy feature TAFHEET won Script Pipeline’s First Look Comedy Feature Award, showcasing her ability to pair high-energy action with comedic flair. On the genre and horror side, Mashael is joining 2025-2026 Athena Writers Lab with her feature SILA.
In 2025, Mashael was named one of nine fellows in the Blumhouse x K Period Media Horror Screenwriting Fellowship in collaboration with Sundance. She describes the fellowship as both challenging and affirming of her creative direction.
Image: Mashael Alqahtani’s Apothecary Girls and The Mess among quarterfinalists of 2025 Screencraft TV Pilot Screenplay Competition | Source: screencraft.org
Other projects also received recognition. Apothecary Girls and The Mess advanced in the 2025 Screencraft TV Pilot Screenplay Competition. Banat reached the quarterfinals of the Austin Film Festival. SILA was named a semifinalist in BlueCat’s Feature Screenwriting Competition.
Her storytelling also reached audiences directly through short films. The Witch Pricker & The Hare and Two Sisters were selected by festivals including the Red Sea Film Festival, Saudi Film Festival, AFI Fest, NewFilmmakersLA, Lady Filmmakers, Sidewalk Film Festival, and the Montreal Women’s Film Festival.
Image: Movie poster of The Witch Pricker & The Hare | Source: watch.afi.com
For Mashael, these screenings had significant meaning. They became conversations with audiences who encountered her work in vastly different cultural contexts.
Distinctive Creative Voice
Mashael’s scripts rarely fit into one genre alone. Action collides with comedy. Horror intertwines with deeply human themes. She gravitates toward projects that take familiar forms and twist them into something unexpected, all while grounding them in emotional truth.
Her portfolio reflects this versatility. SILA, The Wedding, TAFHEET, Banat, Apothecary Girls, and The Mess each showcase different tones and styles, yet all remain tied together by her commitment to balance innovation with resonance. Characters fighting their most inherent desires. Her approach demonstrates a writer who is unafraid of risk but always mindful of connection.
Professional Roles and Industry Growth
In addition to her own creative work, Mashael contributes to the field as a freelance reader for companies such as Rideback and the Austin Film Festival. She spends hours reviewing scripts, pilots, and other material, identifying story challenges and diagnosing structural issues.
It is a critical role in judging the viability and candidacy of incoming projects. The position has sharpened her ability to assess narrative with clarity and reinforced her own writing practice. By evaluating hundreds of stories, she gains constant reminders of what makes a script effective and why others fall short.
She often notes that the process not only refines her craft but also deepens her ability to collaborate with peers, trading insight and feedback in ways that strengthen the larger creative community.
Challenges, Resilience, and Growth
The entertainment industry brings unpredictability, and Mashael knows this well. Rather than waiting for certainty, she keeps writing.
Through periods when the way forward felt unclear, she continued producing new work, choosing consistency as her foundation. Her resilience and work ethic shaped her growth as much as any accolade.
Each project completed during difficult times became proof of her creative endurance, helping her define herself not only as a talented screenwriter but also as one with determination.
Looking Ahead with Purpose
Her ambitions remain focused on growth and sustainability. She aims to expand her professional network, compete in more high-profile competitions, and pursue assignments that bring her scripts into production.
Horror remains a genre she finds especially compelling. Her favorite book, Noel Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror, continues to inspire her exploration of fear and the psychological relief found in the horror film theater-going experience.
That influence pushes her to build projects that not only entertain but also provoke reflection on how audiences respond to fear, humor, and vulnerability.
A Voice That Connects Across Borders
Mashael Alqahtani’s stories travel from one culture to another while keeping their roots intact. They carry the detail of her perspective yet invite audiences everywhere to recognize themselves in her characters.
She blends genres in bold ways. Comedy sharpens fear. Action uncovers vulnerability. Horror reveals deeper truths. Each script stretches the limits of familiar forms without losing emotional clarity.
Her work transcends borders. It builds new connections between audiences who might never share a language or background, but who share the same response when a story feels true.
Her career is not built on following patterns. It is the steady creation of new ones. And with every script, her voice grows stronger, not as an echo of what has come before, but as a signal of what is next.
About the Author
Nadia Cole is a film critic and independent writer with a focus on creative industries, festivals, and screenwriting talent.