Soo Hugh serves as showrunner, executive producer, writer and visionary behind upcoming drama series Pachinko for Apple TV+, based on the international best-selling novel of the same name. Hugh, an acclaimed writer, showrunner and producer, most recently signed a multi-year overall deal with UCP to develop, write and produce projects. As part of the deal, she launched an incubator program to help bring more API stories to cinematic life and jumpstart fruitful careers in the entertainment industry.

Up next, Hugh is set to adapt David Grann’s epic account of Henry Worsley’s solo trek across Antarctica, originally published in The New Yorker, for Apple TV+. Also on the horizon, she will produce an adaptation of the cult classic Wisconsin Death Trip for Media Res and a film for Amazon to be written by two-time Pulitzer-winning playwright, Lynn Nottage, and documentary filmmaker, Tony Gerber. She is also writing the relaunch of Flight of the Navigators for Disney.

Hugh was previously the co-showrunner for the critically-lauded first season of AMC’s The Terror, produced by Ridley Scott and starring Jared Harris, Ciaran Hinds, and Tobias Menzies. She also created The Whispers for ABC, based on a Ray Bradbury short story and produced by Steven Spielberg, directed by Mark Romanek. Other television credits include writing on The Killing (AMC) and Under the Dome (CBS).

Hugh earned her BA from Yale University and her MFA from University of Southern California’s film school. She lives in New York City.

Ria Tobaccowala is a writer-director whose films have premiered at festivals around the world, including Tribeca Film Festival. Raised on Chicago’s South Side as a first-generation American, she explores racial identity, womanhood, immigration, and multiculturalism in her films.

Her short film, Shadows, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and is now streaming on HBO Max. Her first short film, Life After, was selected for several prestigious film festivals and won best narrative short at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival. Her latest project User Zero, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, won best short drama series at Seriesfest. Before her career in film, Ria worked at Google. With a passion for storytelling and technology, she led the development of social web experiences and innovations using Google products with content partners, such as The New York Times, FOX, and NBC. Ria produced the 2015 YouTube interview with President Obama.

She received her BA in Economics from Harvard University, MFA from the Graduate Film Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.