Saranya Nayak is a producer, writer and sound designer. Originally from Kolkata, she graduated with a B.A. (Honours) in History from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. She completed her MA in Visual Anthropology from The University of Manchester and returned to India to assist on National Award winning feature films representing stories set in her home state, West Bengal.

Following her MFA in Film and TV Production from USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2020, Saranya worked as a screenwriter, development executive and producer with Jugaad Motion Pictures in Mumbai, across a wide range of content including film, webseries, commercials and music videos.

As a producer and director, her award-winning ethnographic documentary Niishii|Night Worlds as well as her narrative shorts have screened at multiple festivals worldwide.

As a sound designer and re-recording mixer, she has 5+ years of experience in film and television sound across a variety of platforms and genres including scripted and unscripted content. She has created soundscapes for critically acclaimed projects that have played at Tribeca, Fantasia and Hollyshorts among other festivals, as well as films released on OTT platforms including HBO Max and Disney+Hotstar. She particularly enjoys working on animation, horror and science fiction sound effects.

Saranya aims to tell and/or support socially significant, research-backed stories driven by underrepresented voices in media. She uses an interdisciplinary approach to every project, tying together her academic training in visual anthropology with a strong technical skillset in all major departments of film production. She loves working with students and first-time filmmakers as an educator/facilitator in their journey to bring their debut projects to fruition.

Outside of work, Saranya enjoys theatre, libraries, sketching and anime. She divides her time between India and the US, and is currently based in Los Angeles.