Our Team
Niki iyer
CEO and Founder: Niki Iyer is a former track athlete who experienced firsthand both the opportunities and limitations of competing in a niche sport. Building on that perspective, she forged a career in culture-driven storytelling at the intersection of sports, media, and innovation, with roles across FilmNation Entertainment, Perfect Storm Entertainment, Proximity Media, The Black List, and Moh Maya Media. A recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Grant and a UCLA Screenwriting Showcase Finalist, she founded Across The Line in 2025 to spotlight underrepresented athletes, innovators, and sports ecosystems through multimedia content, activations, and fan-driven experiences.
shruthi nattanmai
Chief Creative Officer: Shruthi Nattanmai is a South Asian comedy writer, producer, actress, and creative director based in LA, hailing from Upstate NY. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology (BS) and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts (MFA), Shruthi is experienced in the art of storytelling across industries and mediums. She brings to the table a diverse and unique perspective, having worked in public relations, print and digital journalism, fashion, entertainment, and tech. In her spare time, she enjoys reading YA novels, musing on her Substack, “Gen Z Aunty”, playing dress up, and complaining about the weather. Shruthi is represented by Bellevue Productions.
AShwin Mitchell
Head of Photography: Ashwin Mitchell is a filmmaker and photographer from Dallas, Texas, now based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the University of North Texas (BA, Media Arts) and UCLA (MFA, Film, Television & Digital Media), he bridges creative direction and production management, bringing stories from script to screen through visually rich, character-driven storytelling. Alongside his film work, Ashwin photographs national dance tours and live events, blending his cinematic eye with movement and emotion. He is passionate about using his craft to expand access to fine arts education in Black communities.
garrett boudreaux
Head of Post Production: Garrett Boudreaux is a Michigan-born creative and UCLA MFA graduate specializing in television comedy writing and production. A two-time Filmetry Film Festival award winner and former co-showrunner of The Giraffe House at Michigan State University, he brings extensive experience across editing, production design, and line producing for numerous short films and live events. Blending sharp humor with strong technical and storytelling instincts, Garrett approaches every project with both creative depth and production expertise.
cara-lynn branch
Head of Physical Production: Cara-Lynn Branch is a Canadian-American LGBTQ+ writer and screenwriter whose work blends heart, humor, and queer coming-of-age nuance. A winner of the UCLA Screenwriters Showcase and a 2021 Telefilm New Voices Award recipient, her scripts have earned recognition for their warmth and bearing. Based in Los Angeles and holding an MFA in Screenwriting from University of California, Los Angeles, Branch creates stories described as “a warm cup of cocoa with rainbow marshmallows,” quietly electric, sincerely joyful, and layered with vulnerability.
Kareem El Arab
Writer, Music: Based in Los Angeles, Kareem El Arab is a Lebanese screenwriter who grew up under the blazing sun of Kuwait City and delves into the complexities of identity and self-expression in his work. His diverse experiences - from spending four years in Waco, Texas, to earning his MFA at USC, to assisting an Emmy nominated director, fuels his hunger to tell stories. His hobbies include dissecting pop star psyches, watching ragebait recipe reviews, lugging himself to spin class, and draws dresses to manage the nerves.
emma shaw
Writer, Sports: Emma Shaw is a Vermont-raised, East Coast lifer who grew up treating Saturday Night Live like scripture. After years of filling notebooks with sketches and eerie little stories, she earned her MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, where she won the 2025 Showcase Award for her adapted feature Wait, Wait, Wait. Emma writes darkly comedic stories across action, horror, sports, and drama. especially ones centered on queer characters who get to exist beyond the usual “coming out” arc. She’s worked in festivals, film offices, and on sets as everything from Script Supervisor to AC. When she’s not writing, she’s refining her stand-up bits or saving for a 2026 World Cup match.
Writer, Film/TV: Michael Lardizábal is a writer and creative producer from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. While earning his bachelor’s degree in Digital Filmmaking at Loyola University New Orleans on a merit scholarship, Michael worked as a production assistant on BLACK BIRD (Apple TV), translated scenes for BLUE BAYOU (2021), an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, assisted in development research for the upcoming DYNAMIC DUO (DC Comics), and contributed to HBO’s Content Acquisition creative team. Immediately after completing his bachelor’s, Michael attended the prestigious Screenwriting Master’s Program at UCLA, becoming the first Honduran national ever to be accepted into the program. While there, he won the Larry Thor Award for Creative Distinction and became a finalist for the Sloan Foundation with his script IF YOU GIVE AN ECO TERRORIST A GUN. His work has received accolades from the Latino Film Market in New York, and became a semi-finalist at the Miami Short Film Festival.
Michael lardizábal
Writer, Film/TV: Ashna Yakoob is a comedy writer, director, and producer based in NYC and LA. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she was the head writer and director of Bloomers Comedy, a sketch comedy group for underrepresented minorities. She is passionate about highlighting voices from all backgrounds. In service of this mission, she launched Monologue Productions and has produced music videos and web series for creatives such as Pig Milk, Princess Liv, and Rego. In her spare time, you can catch her performing improv and stand-up around the city or musing on Substack.