How a UC Berkeley group project sparked two decades of TV hits

In the late 1990s, Sanjay Shah and Rachelle Mendez were assigned to the same group project in a UC Berkeley rhetoric class. That collaboration would become a blueprint for two decades of friendship and creative partnership that led to parallel paths into the television industry, multiple hit shows, and prestigious awards like the Emmys.

Shah is a writer, showrunner, and executive producer on Everybody Still Hates Chris, an animated comedy about Chris Rock’s childhood. He has worked on a string of successful comedies, including Fresh Off the Boat, Central Park, South Park, and King of the Hill. And Mendez is a television producer, writer, and showrunner for unscripted television, producing shows like Queer Eye, The Hype, Undercover Boss, and Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. She is currently the head of unscripted at Hyphenate Media Group, the company founded by Eva Longoria and Cris Abrego.

Despite their similar career titles, the two found their way to the rhetoric major from very different backgrounds. Mendez was a trained actor from a performing arts high school; many of her classmates would continue into a conservatory or begin a career in professional theater and performance. 

“I thought, ‘I already know how to be an actor; I don’t know how to be a student,’” Mendez said about choosing her major. “So I chose to focus on academics. What was enchanting about rhetoric was that it felt very similar to acting. The way an actor breaks a script into beats was like looking at language in rhetoric.”

Shah arrived at Berkeley planning to major in economics because it seemed like a reasonable choice. He also signed up for a film noir class. On the first day of the class, however, Professor Russell Merritt told students they would be studying films about “fantasy and realms of enchantment” instead. Shah wanted to leave, but people were blocking the exit, so he sat through class and ended up loving it. 

“That experience not only led me to find my career but also to a lifelong love for film,” said Shah. “The rhetoric major, Russell Merritt, and a four-DVD Netflix plan was my film school.”

Both emphasize that rhetoric was the perfect major for a career in Hollywood. The discipline trained them to break down stories, understand how narratives move audiences, and recognize the underlying arguments embedded in every scene. 

“Rhetoric gives you a way of analyzing and understanding tropes and how you’re arguing in a story, script, or joke,” said Shah. “It’s such a great major, especially for someone who wants to pursue stand-up or screenwriting. So much of good stand-up is making an argument.” Mendez adds that rhetoric mirrored the interpretive work of acting, offering a toolkit for understanding character, structure, and emotional stakes — a lot of what is required in producing unscripted television. 

Shah credits Rhetoric 103 for building his writing confidence. A concussion from a Cal boxing match forced Shah to write his assignment simply, without the flowery language he thought was expected. When he came into class, he found the professor had placed his anonymized essay on every desk as an example of great writing.

“That was the first time I realized I could write,” said Shah.

One of the most defining experiences of the pair’s time at Berkeley came when Professor Stephen John Hartnett invited them to be teaching assistants together at San Quentin State Prison. Both describe the experience as transformative. “It was one of the most core-shaking experiences of my time at Cal,” said Mendez, “It was something Cal does so well: opening doors if you’re curious or brave enough to step through.” 

After graduating, Mendez went on to teach playwriting in a juvenile detention center, extending her belief that storytelling can be both a creative practice and a tool for agency. The work reinforced for her that narratives carry power, that education can happen in unexpected places and that access to creative expression should not be limited by circumstance. 

Shah said the experience stayed with him long after graduation — so much so that he later wrote and sold a television show inspired by their time teaching at San Quentin, a testament to how deeply the experience shaped his creative work. For both alumni, the opportunity reflected something uniquely Berkeley: a place willing to open doors into entirely new worlds, and to trust students to step through them with curiosity, responsibility, and imagination.

Both Shah and Mendez are reshaping Hollywood by making intentional choices about whose stories get told and who gets to be seen. For Shah, a pivotal moment came after the birth of his son. 

“I had a choice: work on a high-profile show or take a chance on a new show, Fresh Off The Boat, the first show about an Asian American family in 20 years,” he said. “Fresh Off the Boat wasn’t guaranteed, but I chose it because I wanted to tell the stories of the way America actually looks.” 

At the time, many in the industry believed the traditional network sitcom was dead; working on the show proved otherwise. The risk paid off and the series ran for six seasons, helping open doors financially and creatively for more shows centered on diverse individuals and families. It also clarified Shah’s sense of purpose. 

“That moment — seeing how stories I care about could succeed — was pivotal for me,” he said. “I realized I could make an argument for shows that reflect the world my son would grow up in.”

Mendez describes a parallel evolution working in unscripted television. “Years ago, I started to hone in on whose story we were telling,” she said. “Throughout my career, I found myself, subconsciously or not, peppering in stories from my community, but I wasn’t putting us in front of the camera as the stars of our own narrative, not meaningfully, until Queer Eye.” As a producer, she made visibility a priority. “I cast the first Chicana on Queer Eye. I was so vulnerable and proud seeing the imagery I grew up with: Deanna Muñoz’s mother-in-law making tortillas, a Virgin Mary statue in their front yard.” The episode continues to be a favorite for fans of the show. 

In her current role, Mendez helps shape Hyphenate Media Group’s unscripted development slate alongside its co-founders and oversees active productions across the company. Recent projects include Necaxa, a spin-off of Welcome to Wrexham co-produced with Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds’s production companies, as well as CNN’s Searching for Spain and the upcoming NFL Hometown Eats for NFL Films and Roku.

“I cannot emphasize enough: it’s not just what you learn in school that matters. It’s equally if not more important who you surround yourself with,” said Shah. “The right friendships become incredibly valuable. It’s worth keeping those connections alive.”

Mendez and Shah talk to each other at least once a week about their craft and all the rough-and-tumble aspects of Hollywood. Staying connected with each other helps them maintain their curiosity and love for storytelling. “It’s about seeing things through the same lens we had when we were at Cal,” said Shah. 

“There’s a side of Cal where there’s really no limit on what you can explore or what version of yourself you’d like to audition,” said Mendez. “You have this buffet of options, but at some point, you have to stick to the thing that sparks you.”

The duo hopes to build a more robust Cal alumni network in Los Angeles to keep that college spirit going. Part of their plan involves encouraging more Berkeley students to approach Hollywood as a career, and as part of that effort, Mendez and Shah will be returning to campus soon: Shah is preparing to teach a screenwriting course in spring 2026 through the Art of Writing program, and he’ll be bringing Mendez into the classroom as a special guest.