Alumni Stories – Natalie Malla

When TV series Taboo’s script editor, Natalie Malla, headed back to York St John to spend two days sharing her experiences with this year’s 1^st and 2^nd year media students, we made sure to grab her for a quick coffee and chat. The Film and TV alumna has spent the last fifteen years working at the heart of the British film and TV industry and we were keen to hear all about it.

                “I chose to study Film and TV because the course was varied enough to give me lots of options,” Natalie explained. “I really enjoyed my time at York St John, made lots of friends, and by the time I graduated had made the decision to become a producer.”

                Natalie stayed in York for the year after she graduated, working with a fellow graduate on a short film, but decided to move to London to gain the professional work experience she needed to break into such a highly-competitive industry. Working as a runner at post-production company Molinare led her to meet other runners who were also working on their own projects in their spare time. “It was great, I was working with people who all loved film, who wanted to make films,” she remembers. This first industry job led to the opportunity to become a runner on the film Confetti. Bolstered by the experience, Natalie then sent out her CV to every company she could find – and while she was on set one day received a phone call asking her to interview for an internship at Mirage, a production company run by film giants Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack.

                “I earned just fifty pounds a week, and had to supplement my income with late night bar work and weekend reception shifts – but I loved every minute. Then, after five months, Anthony asked me how much I needed to give up the bar work, and offered me a job! I stayed with Mirage for four years, until Anthony sadly passed away.”

                Natalie was working mainly in development, but when she was asked to assist producer Tim Bricknell in Botswana while Mirage was shooting TV hit The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency she jumped at the chance. Particular highlights included shooting a scene in a pit of crocodiles and being charged by an overly-affectionate baboon. “I was only supposed to be out there for a week’s prep but I made myself indispensable and ended up staying out there for the whole shoot and alongside assisting I learnt how to be a script supervisor so I could work on set with the second unit.”

                Natalie continued to work with producer, Tim Bricknell, but began to think about her next step, and after four years of working on other people’s scripts wondered if she had the skills to start writing herself…

                “I wanted to see real women, women that I knew, women like me on screen,” Natalie said. She began to co-write a sitcom with Xara Higgs but, although they got an agent and the script was optioned by The Comedy Unit, based in Glasgow, the sitcom was never made. Fired up by the experience, Natalie and her writing partner then applied and won a place on the Channel 4 screenwriting course where they developed an original comedy drama with an amazing mentor and script editor. In 2013 Natalie applied for a bursary to do a one year Screenwriting Diploma at the Central Film School. “CFS gave me a chance to explore and pitch ideas which were then made into films by other students,” Natalie said. One of her ideas, The Girl in The Dress was a graduation project for another student, but after watching it Natalie realised she would have been happier directing it herself. After reworking the screenplay she submitted it to Film London and it was selected for funding as part of their 2014 London Calling Scheme, which meant she was able to shoot it using professional actors.  “It was terrifying working with such experienced actors, but it just made me prep harder.”

                Which brings us to Taboo… “My old producer, Tim, contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in interviewing for the script editor position on Tom Hardy’s new FX/BBC drama series. After a moment’s panic that I wasn’t ready, I knew I had to push the self-doubt aside and say yes!  And I’m so glad I did. It was such an incredible experience working with the ridiculously talented Steven Knight, Tom Hardy and Chips Hardy and the experienced executives at Scott Free and Hardy Son & Baker.” It wasn’t an easy job. Natalie had to be on set for call time early every day, then on wrap would grab time with Tom to go over any scenes coming up that week that were still being tweaked. Or, if some revisions had come in from Steve or Chips, Tom would go through those and then Natalie would go home to write up any finalised notes or changes so they were ready to send out to everyone else, before the next day’s call time. It was hard work, but it certainly paid off, and Natalie hopes to be invited back for the second series when that gets underway. Natalie stressed the importance of working hard and making a good impression whatever your job in the industry, because even if it’s not exactly what you want to be doing, you will be working with people who might be able to recommend you or see the potential in you. “I was very lucky after Taboo, one of the executives I had worked with recommended me for a script editor/writer position on a feature film that needed a polish, and that was the start of a whole year of that kind of work for me.“ So far Natalie has worked as a script doctor on four feature films of all different genres over the last year.

                Natalie said. “I think women can sometimes be a little more cautious than men, we question or doubt ourselves, and can sometimes hold ourselves back. But we need to throw ourselves into new scary challenges saying, yes, I can do this, and then once we’ve got the job, we just work as hard as we can to make sure we can deliver.”

                So what next for Natalie? “I just finished a short film called Crush Hour which is doing the festival circuit and then we’re talking about a second season of the web series I wrote and directed and we launched on YouTube called Acting Up. Then I’m working on a couple of novel adaptations and another original feature, plus I’m back co-writing with Xara Higgs on a female buddy movie.” In other words, watch this space!