The earliest memories that Ishrith Bidkar ’20 has involve watching films. He would later learn why as he began thinking of his own storylines for movies and writing his vision down in vivid scripts.

When he fulfills his dream of being a Hollywood screenwriter, it’s very possible the Signature Experience week he spent at the Juniper Young Writers Institute at UMass-Amherst will have played a role. “This program allowed me to experiment with writing and made me confident that I want to pursue screenwriting as a career,” he said. “I wrote a lot about my interest in film and I made a video about it. I also wrote a comic monologue about a wealthy prince and participated in a variety of writing exercises.”

This experience gave Ishrith the chance to explore a variety of writing styles with people who shared an interest in screenwriting. This exposure gave him a greater appreciation for other types of writing, like poetry, leading him to experiment more within his own work.

Ishrith said that spending five to six hours a day writing “really sharpened my focus.” Now, Ishrith recommends the program to others who share a passion for writing; letting them know that the Signature Experience “provides a structured way to explore interests and possibly discover what you want to pursue for a lifetime.”

My Signature Experience taught me to be more productive and focused on my writing, work, and studies in general. Ishrith Bidkar