Turning Away from the Stars
THE EXISTENTIAL JOURNEY OF FILMMAKER GEETA MALIK
By Marian Cook
Writer, Director, Producer, and Stowe Mentor Geeta Malik (middle) on the set of her film India Sweets and Spices (2021) with Sophia Ali (L) and Anita Kalathara (R).
Writer, Director, and Producer Geeta Malik has not let the pandemic slow her down. Her film India Sweets and Spices, starring Sophia Ali (one of the beloved stars of the hit Amazon series The Wilds, a modernist, gender-flipped version of Lord of the Flies), made its debut last year and is available through Prime Video. Originally titled Dinner with Friends, it’s a winner of the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and the Austin Film Festival Feature Comedy Screenplay Award.
Now, she’s working on a feature for Netflix based on a young adult novel, and as much as I press, she can’t divulge too many details, but from her expression I’m already sold. Simultaneously, she’s writing, developing TV, an active member of our partners at Film Fatales where she supports other women filmmakers, and, as of 2021, mentoring with Stowe.
Surprisingly, Geeta wasn’t always aiming to be a filmmaker. Always a writer, she began writing poems as young as 4 and 5 years old, but before she graduated from UC Irvine with a BA in English, she was hard at work studying to be an electrical engineer.
“I originally chose engineering because I actually, still to this day, love astronomy. In high school, my parents really wanted me to pursue a hard science. They're both scientists themselves and, as immigrants, all for the stable career. So my idea was if I get a degree in electrical engineering or aerospace, I could eventually go to NASA and become an astronaut, which is like, who gets to do that? Very few. And my dad was an electrical engineer before he became a pilot,” she said.
“So with all of that, I convinced myself that, yes, this was the way to go, even though I was still writing all the time. I just didn't really acknowledge it or know how to go about doing it,” Geeta explained.
Along the way to NASA, Geeta found the courage to make the leap for other stars. Despite going against her parents' original wishes, they were supportive, albeit ambivalent. She then went on to get an MFA in directing from UCLA, and whatever doubts her parents had were gone by then as she proved to be able to make meaningful art, while earning a living and receiving notable recognition.
She’s been a recipient of the Edie and Lew Wasserman Film Production Award, Coppel Screenwriting Award, Jack Nicholson Distinguished Director Award, Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, and the inaugural Academy Gold Fellowship for Women.
Although her characters to date aren’t electrical engineers, she says her engineering background does sneak in through their “personality traits, where someone is repressing what they really want to do.”
Her stories are threaded with female empowerment from India Sweets and Spices to Shameless (2013), but also comedy. “I see myself mostly as a comedy writer, I think that's just sort of my natural voice. I write sarcastic characters. I like satire. My favorite things are dark comedies, the ones that blend in the very serious with an absurd situation.”
Geeta continued, “I often write from an emotion, especially if I'm angry about something. But if I'm angry about something, I still have a hard time expressing it–then you’re just writing a piece that's full of rage and has no levity to it. But I think comedy is my way of sending that message without it being like a PSA that hammers you over the head.”
Since her senior year of college, whether it be through her own films or involvement with organizations, she’s supported positive messaging. For several years, she consulted for the MY HERO Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to social activism and media arts education around the globe, and then went on to join Film Fatales, the women filmmaking collective founded by Leah Meyerhoff, director and writer of the indie darling I Believe in Unicorns. So when Leah suggested Geeta mentor for Stowe as well, Geeta jumped in.
Geeta Malik with cast members of India Sweets and Spices (2021)
“I think mentoring is really important–it's a really tiny, minuscule way of giving back and doing whatever I can. The guidance I got was really helpful throughout my career and I think it's important to keep that community going. Through Stowe, I’ve met a lot of amazing filmmakers and I think they all have really unique stories to tell,” Geeta stated.
For her, the keys to success in this industry are building community, but remaining self-motivated, yet not letting it consume you–antithetical at first glance, but navigating the industry is like a beautiful, but perilous dance, like treading a tightrope.
“Your life experience feeds into you being a better writer because you're experiencing the world, you're getting all that knowledge. That's all stuff you can use. It's important to have a life outside of screenwriting, outside of filmmaking, because it all works towards the stories you want to tell, so it's all very valuable.”
Geeta continued, “I still have the fear of failure every other day, not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from. But the fear of failure, you can have that in any career. This is a risky career, but I could be a banker and then find out 10 years later I hate my job. Then it’s like, now what do I do? Did I waste all those years? You have to just go for it. I don't really know how else to overcome it, but supplement your life in other ways, working other jobs, and having a life outside of that so not everything hinges on that one rejection or acceptance. Because there's a lot of rejection and you can't base your self-worth on that.”
Marian Cook is a former journalist, Stowe Story Labs staff member, and current USC student pursuing an MFA in directing. She’s been published over a dozen times, covering topics from local news to federal healthcare legislation. Although she loves the world of journalism, having done documentaries on a range of topics from plastic surgery to segregation in the church, her real passion lies in narrative film. She one day hopes to be a writer-director and tell strong, female-led stories, especially that of Latinas. When she’s not filming, she likes to explore, listen to blues and jazz, brush up on her French, and absorb everything science fiction related. Learn more at http://mariandcook.weebly.com/. At Stowe Story Labs, Marian assists with all aspects of operations, writes for the newsletter, and assists with research and writing to support fundraising and communications about programs.
