[100 Emerging Women Leaders] Meet Mrittika ‘Mou’ Sarin: The queer screenwriter who picked up the pen to find her identity
From working on Chicago Med to becoming a creator associated with NBC Universal Studios, this screenwriter and creative producer has come a long way in her journey to eliminate bias.
For Mrittika ‘Mou’ Sarin, the world was a playground for her imagination. Growing up in Delhi, she created stories with trees, abandoned houses, and everything else around her.
“I was always a visual storyteller because I always put the world around me into my writing,” she says. Looking back, Mou recalls that she started writing stories at a very young age. But it was during her teenage years when she found a purpose for penning her thoughts.
Mou today is a successful screenwriter at NBC Universal Studios. She has previously worked on the American medical drama series Chicago Med and the official Indian remake of the HBO series The Night Of. She won the Alfred P. Sloan award for screenwriting and was an Honorable Mention at the Sloan Grand Jury Prize from the Tribeca Film Institute for her climate feature Scarce.
“I was trying to figure out my identity. I tried to find some inspiration from movies and TV shows but I could not see myself in them. That’s when my journey as a screenwriter started,” she says.
Mou felt that she lacked the vocabulary to express herself. The situation worsened when she moved to the United States with her family at the age of 13.
“There was an added layer of isolation. But then I met a group of people who embraced me for who I am. They once invited me to a club meeting called Gay Straight Allies. And for the first time, I could understand the feelings and emotions that I was going through all these years,” she recalls.
Her writing career kicked off during her college years at Missouri State University. She founded her interest in film studies and screenwriting. Later, she bagged her Master of Fine Arts degree in MFA, Playwriting and Screenwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles.
While Mou always had supportive parents and friends, she is not immune to biases that women often face on a daily basis. However, she has her own way of dealing with them.
“I am always trying to take in the biases and pour them into my writing. This gives me more control over the narrative and a chance to do something about it instead of shying away,” she concludes.
Edited by Akanksha Sarma