“Script is the key”. Really?
This is about a script writer’s status in Bollywood. This is about a screenwriter’s REAL status in Bollywood.
“Script is the key”. Who said that? Syd Field? When UTV brought him to Mumbai and organized a workshop for the film fraternity? Ah, ever since, every producer in town reproduces that line to a writer while inviting him to script a film. And then what? Well, then the producer has to work out an agreement with the script writer and pay him some advance money. And that’s where the writer, who by then is excited to write a new script, is shown his or her status in the industry. His REAL status in the industry.
To, begin with, the script writer has to take a cut. No! He has to take a HUGE cut in his fees. But why? Because the producer has so many reasons for it even as Syd Field is promptly sidelined.
A. The writer is getting a break. Therefore, he shouldn’t bother about what he is paid.
B. May be it’s technically not a break for the writer but he has no release to his credit (as if completing the film and it’s subsequent release were among the writer’s contractual obligations).
C. The writer’s first film didn’t work.
D. The writer must understand that the Producer has to pay humongous fees to the stars. Also, he has to pay so many other heads in the film.
E. The film would be shot on a foreign location. The writer should consider that as a bonus.
F. The writer doesn’t have many hit films to his credit.
G. The producer has to pay separately to a dialogue writer who has been recommended by the hero.
H. The producer will pay considerably in the next project, this time the writer should adjust.
I. The producer is not sure if the film will eventually be made. So, how can he pay the writer beyond a signing amount.
J. The producer is making his first film. The writer must help him.
K. A writer’s name doesn’t help the producer sell his film.
L. The making of the film is going to cost a lot. All the songs got to be shot abroad.
M. Recession. The most favored word of the producers today. There is no fund coming. The producer is paying from his pocket, therefore he can pay only this much.
N. It’s not a big film.
O. The producer wants to sell the script first to a financier.
P. The producer already has so many scripts lying with him.
Q. If a bankable artist has approved the script then the Producer doesn’t mind fulfilling the writer’s expectation.
R. There is no standardization of fees for script writers in India.
S. So many other writers are willing to take a cut.
T. The producer is trying to recover from a previous flop.
I thought I could go up to Z. But I didn’t want to cook up a reason that would have been sited by a producer. May be some more could be added by my fellow script writers. And even after making all kinds of adjustment, if the writer asks a producer if there will some incentive for him in the event of the film grossing well at the box office. The prompt answer coupled with a grin will be, “Who aap mujhpe chhod dijiye” (You leave that to me).
I am sure there are many writers who might have had not experienced any of the above. Writers who hit it big right on their d'©but. Like Abbas Tyrewala or Anurag Kashyap. But then every artist doesn’t become a SRK or an Aamir Khan. I guess I need to learn more. I read somewhere Abbas said that Indian script writers will not get their due unless they learn to say “no”. He is right. I am trying to muster the same courage. I am well aware of the hard way he has come through but he always had it in him – to be able to say “no”.
Now let us come to those writers who have proven their worth. Those who have reached a position to be able to demand a certain price. But writing fees is everything to a writer. What about his or her credit. Producers here (and many directors also) will often site the culture in Hollywood where scripts are paid maximum attention. So, writers in India must follow the international practice. But do the same producers or directors follow Hollywood when it comes getting the writer his or her due in terms of credit? If they do, then why the writer’s name is most often missing from all forms of publicity barring exceptions like Jaideep Sahni and few others. Why the script writer’s name appear much before a whole lot of other credits in most of the films? Whereas in Hollywood, it is either the second last or the third last, the last being the Director’s credit. While directors like Aditya Chopra, Santosh Sivan, Shimit Amin and some others follow the international practice, majority of the lot put the script writer’s name much before the credits of lyricist, music director, action director, production designer, costume designer et al. In Zee Technical Awards, the writer is put in the first leg of awards. His or her name doesn’t even feature on the award’s night! Priyanka Chopra was gracious enough to give credit to the writer while receiving her best actress award at the Screen Awards night but she couldn’t recall their names. May be it was not important. Or there could be too many writers, hence she could not recollect as many names.
Then there are another set of producers and directors who like to see their names as screenplay writers. While it is certainly the responsibility of the writer to deliver the right script, feedback from a director (or producer) is nothing extraordinary. After all, a film is made as per the vision of the director. But so many of them, lazy enough to get down to his computer and write, or not skilled in the art of script writing, will seek credit as “screenplay writer” along with the writer who has been commissioned the film. And what has been many of these producer/directors’ contribution actually? Well, drawing references from their DVD collections. So many of them don’t even have the “time” to read a script. They only want a narration and rest they would handle at the time of shooting. Now days, the South American films are also doing the rounds. And on top it, the producer will ask you to indemnify every single word of your script as an “original” from you.
The writer goes to them with an original idea, an original script. But who has the time to listen to an original script? Something that’s “not tested”! Who has time to visualize the film from a script when there are so many DVD available around. It is so easy to point out the “logical flaws” in an original script and equally easy to ignore the same in a DVD.
I know the Writer’s Association is fighting to eke out what is rightly due to a writer. That will benefit all of us. But why can’t we change our mind set when it comes to dealing with a writer? Isn’t he or she the one to deliver the KEY to the success of the film? Is he or she not the only member of the team who starts the project? Isn’t he or she the only one who fulfils all his or her tasks much before the film even goes on the floor? Isn’t he or she the only one who has to wait for his or her last installment to materialize till the post production of the film gets over? And what’s his or her total fees in percentage of the overall budget of the film? Can’t our producers even pay this much to his script writer while he proudly claims, “Script is the KEY”!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Spot on. I have heard out most of the items listed by you. The first thing they try to do before any work starts is to DEMORALISE you. Show you your place. They will rattle off instances about other writers begging them for work, implying that whatever crumbs they throw at you, you should lap it up like a dog without complaint, and be thankful too!
They may also ask you what you expect as your fee. When you quote a reasonable amount, they will laugh at your face. Will give you a prompt ‘reality check’. Then again they will start rattling off instances of known writers who in their struggling days had no money to eat and used to beg for work outside production houses. Yes, you will be surprised to hear these stories and the people mentioned in them!
What is expected of you is to instantly throw yourself at their feet, telling them you are ready to work for anything, money is not a concern. That’s what they want to hear.
Don’t let them hear it, writers.
Have self respect.
Say fuck you.
The power of no is very underestimated. Wield it. Choose people instead of them choosing you. Choosing the right sort of people to work with, that’s very important. The industry is stuffed to the gills with shady types. Beware.
So I suggest that the moment a producer/director starts on the DEMORALISING TRIP, let alarm bells ring in your head.
Another two things:
1. Never work without an ADVANCE. If the project is shelved, you don’t want to see months of your work go down the drain without a single penny for you (instead by then you would have spent from your own pocket and invested your precious time too, which is again money).
2. REFUSE to rip off foreign DVDs.
Interesting and insightful article.
@RaviG: Just out of curiousity, are new writers mostly expected to work for free? Or for that matter, is any crew member (writer/actor/cameraman/etc) who’s a fresher expected to work for free?
With digital camera technology, can writers team up with new directors to release the movie online – say on youtube ? I am sure a lot of such movies are being done, but without marketing it is of no value. One good thing though, is that if this story or movie is copied by a famous prod company or a director, you can potentially sue them. Everyone has to go the Nagesh Kukonoor way then…make your own movie. Team up with a team of new faces, and depend on the script to get some hits and hope it takes off after that. Maybe an internet marketing ( genuine hype
) ) forum for such independent movies ? Curious, what will be the cost to make such a movie ? All digital ?
Everybody wants everything to be free. But it doesn’t work that way, does it? There is a difference between writers being expected to work for free and crew members being expected to do the same. Absolutely fresh ADs, fresher assistant cameramen who want the experience can choose to work for free just to break in. They can, not that they should. But this doesn’t work for new writers with a full-blown script in their hands.
If the script is any good, it is like an asset, a valuable property that the writer owns. He should receive a fair payment for it. Just because he is a first-timer doesn’t devalue his script. It’s like you own a bungalow and you want to sell it. Just because you are young and selling something for the first time in your life doesn’t mean the bungalow’s value will go down. How ridiculous is that? For a first-time writer, producers want his bungalow dirt cheap. Very different from Hollywood where apparently they have bidding wars over good spec scripts written by absolute first-timers. But we are slowly getting there. We’ll be there in a thousand years.
The case is different for writers who haven’t written a single spec script, nay a single page, and yet want to break in. Or for writers who have written a script despite possessing zero talent for writing. These writers are ripe for exploitation. And we have been seeing the fruits of their labour for years now, on the big screen and the little one.
“Now days, the South American films are also doing the rounds.”
Arindam can you list the movies doing the rounds here on PFC?
So that we are prepared for it?
I have heard about INTACTO so far.
Anirudhya,
All I can say…you have to fight.On behalf of FWA (Film Writer’s Association) all I can promise is that we are working on the model contract. I felt the same as you few years back. And on being requested by the senior members of FWA, I came in the EC (Executive Committee) of FWA, so that I can propose law, make change, argue and see that our coming generation is well aware and are not exploited when it comes to rights, credit and right money.
I hope you know about our model contract. A lot of people got glimpse of it during ISC(Indian Screenwriter’s Conference). The movement has already started. Many of our fellow writers have already started talking about credit, fee, breakage of payment, IPR (Intellectual Property Right),publicity. There’s a buzz. Producers are coming to terms with it.
If you are not getting something either you need to demand or sit back. Choice is yours…there’s risk…but then there’s change as well…why not take a chance.
Kumar Gautam
(EC, FWA)
Dear Kumar Gautam,
I appreciate your reply to my article and I am fully aware of the good things FWA is doing for its members. If you noticed, I made a mention of the association’s efforts in my write-up. My only point is why can’t the producers (and directors in some cases), the ultimate custodian of the product, change their mindset to ensure a better working environment. More so, when most production houses talk of “corporatisation” and that of a more “professional approach”.
Thank you so much for your response.
All the best.
Anirudhya Mitra
Thanks Anirudhya, I did take a notice of FWA being mentioned in your article.
First-timers shouldn’t feel bad in working for free.
@Kumar Gautam
FWA is doing some good work…and the model contract looks like a good start. But the problem lies in the mindset…things which no contract could ever cover. Things like proper credits, timely payments, and due respect are too easy to bypass even with contracts.
The condition of writers has improved only as much as the condition of government schools in the last 50-years. And the problem, as i said, lies in the mindset which is in part, an inherent fault of the medium too. TV and Cinema are visual media – you care only abt the people you see on screens. Everybody else is just ‘incidental’ and hence dispensable.
@Anirudhya
That A to T can easily go up to Z. But sadly, no one’s noticing.
Some links. just might come handy…
http://passionforcinema.com/the-film-writers-model-contract-ifs-buts/
http://passionforcinema.com/in-fond-memory-of-bobby-khan/