Malik is producing a boyband drama series of NBC network.
The show, titled "Boys", mirrors his real-life experience as a former member of One Direction.
The 23-year-old singer is teaming up with TV producer Dick Wolf for the project.
Cowell, Malik's former record label boss, who signed One Directon to his Syco label after it was formed, and came second, on his TV show "The X Factor" in 2010, believes the singer owed it to him to offer him the rights to the project first, reported Entertainment Tonight.
The show, meanwhile, will be written by Sherri Cooper Landsman and Jennifer Levin.