Anmol Malik (BSc Computer Science and Business) took advantage of the modules on offer at Warwick to explore her passion for writing and film. She has since become a script consultant and author with HarperCollins.

 

Tell us about your career journey.

I used to like writing stories, but I never dreamed of being a published author until I came to Warwick. Writing requires imagination, but, like all endeavours, it also demands a fair bit of discipline, something that my time at university instilled in me. I studied Computer Science and Business, but I was allowed to take classes outside the syllabus. This was an unusual and extremely powerful option that led me to discover the path that would go on to become my career. I don’t believe this discovery could have happened anywhere else.

 

What did you learn at Warwick that has helped in your career?

On one hand, I was studying Computer Theory, on the other I stumbled upon Creative Writing, Literary Studies, and an in-depth analysis of world cinema's deep history shaped by politics and landmark events. It felt like a Pick-N-Mix candy store, where I could carve out my own path and choose what bits I liked best. Today, I still have six folders worth of notes that I refer to whenever I'm in a jam. The answer somehow is always buried in there.

 

What did you love about Warwick outside of your classes?

What Warwick offers outside its lecture halls is just as important, for it was the ample time I spent at the Arts Centre where my love for cinema first sprouted wings. There would be screenings every weekend, titles from all over the world and entry was usually free for students. Tucked away in the corner was a little shop that sold movies and music in niche genres, exposing my mind to material I would never have had the opportunity to chance upon.

The library was bursting with Auden, Frost and seeing several rare books from its special collection was an absolute treasure. Joining the student-run Warwick TV gave me invaluable experience with broadcasting and AVID. And finally, Stratford-upon-Avon was just 20 minutes away. It’s definitely another experience to be immersed in Shakespearean history, while getting a first-hand glimpse of theatre production.

 

What are your lasting memories of Warwick?

The University created a 'trial version' of the real world, a much-needed step that helped shape all of us for the future. Not once did I encounter a single person who wasn’t willing to open up their hearts and share their knowledge. From students to professors, the community at Warwick is what made my time at uni that much richer. The marriage of business and creative writing led me to my first job as a copywriter at Leo Burnett. The sound theoretical grounding in film studies held me in good stead as a script consultant with UTV-Disney and Yash Raj Films.

But it was the life I led, the experiences I shared that distilled down into my writing as evidenced in Three Impossible Wishes and A Plane Story published by HarperCollins.

 

What was the biggest thing you took from your experience of studying at Warwick?

Seventeen is a malleable age. I spent what I believe to be my formative years away from Mumbai. Away from everything and everyone I knew. And therefore, I'm indebted to Warwick which embraced me, and which shall always remain my home away from home.

The University was my stepping stone into a life where the lines between dreams and reality are blurred. Perhaps because the first words that greeted me at Butterworth Hall will forever be etched in my mind

'Everything is real. There is no audience.'