Geeta Vasant Patel
Birth dateDecember 22, 1975 (age 50)
Birth placeEvanston, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation
  • Film screenwriter
  • Television director
  • Film director
  • Producer
Relatives
Years active2001–present
Notable works

Geeta Vasant Patel[a] (born December 22, 1975)[1] is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and producer best known for her work on Meet the Patels (2014), House of the Dragon (2022–24), and Ahsoka (2023).

Career

In the early 2000s, Patel began her career by serving as an assistant writer on The Beast, The Fast and the Furious, Blue Crush, The Rundown, and Mindhunters.[2] In 2008, she made her directorial debut with the documentary film Project Kashmir.[3][4] In 2014, she directed and wrote her second documentary, Meet the Patels, with her brother Ravi V. Patel.[5] In October 2015, Fox Searchlight acquired the rights to remake the film, with the Patel siblings set to co-write and co-direct.[6][7]

In the 2010s, she directed episodes of Independent Lens, Sense8, The Mindy Project, Survivor's Remorse, Superstore, The Mick, Fresh Off the Boat, Speechless, Champions, Atypical, Santa Clarita Diet, Chambers, Dead to Me, Sweetbitter, and Runaways.[8][6][9] In the following decade, she worked on the television series The Magicians, The Great, and P-Valley.[2]

In January 2020, Patel was recruited to direct episodes 6 and 7 of The Witcher season 2,[10] but, in October, it was revealed that Patel was replaced by Louise Hooper, due to scheduling conflicts and refusing to be committed to a months-long stay in the United Kingdom, after production was suspended due to the COVID-19.[11] In 2023, she directed an episode of the Star Wars series Ahsoka.[12] In April 2024, she directed an episode of the streaming miniseries Under the Bridge.[13][14] By August 2024, she directed three episodes for the streaming series House of the Dragon.[15][16][17] In February 2025, Patel was announced to be directing some episodes of DC Studios' Lanterns for HBO.[18]

Filmography

Feature film

YearTitleCredited asNote(s)
DirectorScreenwriterProducer
2001The Fast and the Furious[2]
2002Blue Crush[2]
2003The Rundown[2]
2004Mindhunters[2]
2008Project KashmirAlso additional camera operator[3][4]
2014Meet the PatelsAlso cinematographer and editor[5]

Television

YearTitleCredited asNote(s)
DirectorScreenwriterProducer
2001The Beast6 episodes[9]
2010, 2016Independent Lens2 episodes
Also cinematographer and editor[8]
2015Sense88 episodes[6]
2016–17The Mindy Project3 episodes[9]
2016Survivor's RemorseEpisode: "The Thank-You Note"[9]
2016–18Superstore5 episodes[9]
2017The MickEpisode: "The Mess"[9]
Fresh Off the BoatEpisode: "Driving Miss Jenny"[9]
SpeechlessEpisode: "M-a-May-Jay"[9]
2018Champions2 episodes[9]
AtypicalEpisode: "Pants on Fire"[9]
2019Santa Clarita DietEpisode: "We Let People Die Every Day"[9]
ChambersEpisode: "Trauma Bonding"[9]
Dead to Me2 episodes[9]
Sweetbitter2 episodes[9]
RunawaysEpisode: "The Broken Circle"[9]
2020The MagiciansEpisode: "Magicians Anonymous"[2]
The Great2 episodes[2]
P-ValleyEpisode: "Belly"[2]
2022–24House of the Dragon3 episodes[19][15]
2023AhsokaEpisode: "Part Seven: Dreams and Madness"[12]
2024Under the BridgeEpisodes: "Looking Glass"[20]
2026Lanterns2 episodes

Accolades

For her work on Meet the Patels, she won the Audience Choice Award at the 2014 LA Film Festival, the Top 10 Audience Favorite at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Best Feature Documentary at the Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival, and Best Documentary Film and Founders Grand Prize Best Film at the Traverse City Film Festival.[21][6] For her work on Under the Bridge, she was nominated at the 1st Gotham TV Awards for "Breakthrough Limited Series".[22]

Footnotes

  1. ^ In this Indian name, Vasant is a patronymic and the family name is Patel.

References

  1. ^ "GEETA PATEL NEWS". ETIMES (India). April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  2. ^ Who Is Geeta Patel? Director Of 'House of the Dragon'
  3. ^ Schenker, Andrew. "Human Rights Watch 2008 Project Kashmir". Slant Magazine.
  4. ^ Yang, Chi-Hui (April 24, 2012). "Cinema Asian America: Directors Senain Kheshgi and Geeta Patel Discuss 'Project Kashmir'". Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  5. ^ Miller, Julie (September 10, 2015). "Introducing Meet the Patels, the Best 2015 Documentary That You Probably Haven't Heard Of". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  6. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 21, 2015). "'Meet The Patels' In Fox Searchlight Remake Deal; Ravi And Geeta Patel To Write, Co-Direct". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  7. ^ Rao, Mallika (November 11, 2015). "Master of None's Ravi Patel on Doing the Infamous Indian Accent and the Second Coming of Aziz Ansari". Vulture. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  8. ^ "Meet the Patels | Documentary about Indian American Arranged Marriage | Independent Lens". PBS. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  9. ^ Meet Geeta Patel, The Indian-origin Director Behind House Of The Dragon's Highest Rated Episode
  10. ^ "Full director lineup of The Witcher Season 2 revealed". Redanian Intelligence. January 31, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  11. ^ "UPDATED: The Witcher Season 2 adds director Louise Hooper, replacing Geeta Patel". Redanian Intelligence. October 14, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  12. ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (April 8, 2023). "Ahsoka: Lars Mikkelsen to Return as Grand Admiral Thrawn, David Tennant Will Again Voice the Droid Huyang". TVLine. Archived April 8, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  13. ^ Rice, Lynette (September 27, 2022). "Hulu Orders Eight-Episode Limited Series 'Under The Bridge'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  14. ^ Rice, Lynette (February 9, 2024). "Hulu Reveals Premiere Dates For 'Under The Bridge', 'The Contestant' & 'Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  15. ^ Scherer, Jenna (October 9, 2022). "House Of The Dragon drops its best episode yet". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  16. ^ Hullender, Tatiana (June 30, 2024). "House Of The Dragon Season 2, Episode 3: Director Breaks Down Daemon's Visions & Rhaenyra's Plan". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  17. ^ "Episode 8: 'The Queen Who Ever Was'". Warner Bros. Discovery. August 5, 2024. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  18. ^ Jensen, Jeff (February 27, 2025). "When Green Lanterns Become True Detectives: Meet HBO's Pulpy, Prestige-y 'Lanterns'". Vanity Fair. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  19. ^ Steve Toussaint (November 20, 2023). "And we're done! These are the numbers…. #HOTD"
  20. ^ Petski, Denise (March 25, 2024). "'Under The Bridge' Trailer: Lily Gladstone & Riley Keough Search For A Killer In Hulu Series". Deadline. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  21. ^ Clayson, Jane (September 15, 2015). "One Surprisingly Modern Arranged Marriage". On Point – WBUR. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  22. ^ Davis, Clayton (May 14, 2024). "Baby Reindeer, Shogun, X-Men '97 and Black Twitter Doc Lead Inaugural Gotham TV Awards Nominations". Variety. Retrieved October 6, 2024.