A Writer Prepares to Prepare to Write…
4 months after my first movie got released and after 10 years of dreaming to do just that, I was stuck not knowing what to do next…..stuck.
I know I needed to write my next screenplay, but I also knew that I had to get really prepared to do just that….
At first I thought, let me take off, like a lone ranger…just take off into the wild west in search of my muse…..well actually I thought a trip to the north east would be great, considering the Tibetan food (love momos), the himalayan weather and oh yeah, great time to sit back and write my next screenplay….yeah, wonderful, just thinking about it lifted my spirits and got me through my days…..until it came to be that I was asked to house sit my own house….it was a good turn of events for me….cus I didn’t really want to leave the comfort of my home, more specifically my room…..anyway, like I said I was asked to house sit…..
an empty house is a storehouse of ideas, I told myself…..and freedom to have a bath with the doors open and leave the volume high on my stereo and roam around in my underwear all day….of course also great time to write too….
….but instead I discovered the joys of shopping for myself (i felt vulnerable, like a victim on ‘lost’), things like cornflakes for breakfast and curd and cool lassi for midnight famishes…..I spent more time checking if all the doors were locked and if the phone was ringing downstairs, so I could take messages….meanwhile I was preparing to write, by which time it was time for me to go and pick my parents from the station….and also explain to them the real reason why I cut my hair so short, it looked like I was bald…..the real reason being a belief that with less hair on my head, it wouldn’t take that much time for that brilliant idea to move through my fuzzed head…but I am digressing here…let me get back to the point…
So after moping for about a month or so about why my movie didn’t hit the big time, I decided I must now prepare to start writing….but not after contemplating if I should go back to work on a friends project as an AD, work I decided was always something that got my brains creative cells ticking….yes!, working on a movie will only help me write on my own movie…perfect!…..well, not quite….
I chickened out and decided I would much rather try and write, after all I am a professional filmmaker now, with a feature film under my belt and all…..yes siree, no more working as an AD for me….I am a pro….got to do my own thing now….that’s how its gonna be…..me and the long road ahead of me…the long road ahead of writing….or for now preparing to write….
And that’s what I did…..prepare….
I decided that to be a writer, I must first do all my household chores like a good boy(for good karma), so I helped my mom put up all the curtains in the house….apart from taking her shopping for her groceries and fish and chicken….I reckoned that if I got out of the house, I’ll be able to get some fresh air and some better perspectives on subjects I wanted to tackle….so I did that and continue to do so….
Meanwhile I also decided that my room must get a makeover, it needed to be prepared for the great writer that I was to be, so I decided to re-arrange and also bring in some new furniture….I have never had a desk, well I actually I did, but it was used up to put my TV and DVD and other essential things like, well all my toiletries, so I decided I must get back my desk which was in my sisters room, a desk which was gifted to me when I got into high school, to help me study……
Obviously that didn’t work then, but it will now…I hoped….So, Its a really heavy desk and lifting it and setting it up was quite a task, meaning it wasn’t something I was able to do myself, so I took the help of my maid…..I know,cheesy, but she is strong….maybe stronger than me….although I took the higher angle while we made our way up the steps, thinking maybe I would help her in that process, but maybe gravity works against someone who carries a desk on the lower side…..I don’t know, except I was panting and she wasn’t, by the time we got it upstairs……
I was now prepared to start writing….
But I decided to get a renewed perspective on screen writing….although this was something I had studied over the years…I decided to re-visiting the basics would be a good idea, so I got some good bargains in my favorite stores Odyssey and A.A.Hussain and instead of buying just one book, ended up buying 3. One by Syd Field, one by I don’t even know whom and the last one by Woody Allen (I totally adore him)….
Now I was prepared to write…..but first, I had to get through these books. So with a very studious approach in my mind, and a pencil in my hand, I got to reading and making copious notes, underlining stuff etc….
While I was reading these books, I decided I must keep a scrapbook of every plot idea I have ever had, and I mean even the craziest ones, ones that even Charlie Kaufman would think were strange…..I thought it would be a good idea, cus who knows, one day I might be really powerful and famous in this filmi duniya and I could indulge in all my eccentric ideas and also the powerful epic story ideas I had….so to keep a scrap book of all my brilliant ideas would be a great idea, cus ideas are an intellectual property and therefore(oh shut up!)…..well I thought it was a good idea….so I got behind that and started making notes……I have 46 different plot ideas now and still counting…..
Meanwhile, between reading books, writing down ideas on my scrapbook and helping my mom with her groceries which now included taking her to the tailor who never stitches her clothes properly….I decided that a healthy mind must also have a healthy body…..I thought I was really lucky, cus now that I have so much time, I can really start building a great physique along with a great story idea….so I decided I must buy some exercise equipment…..
Now I wanted to make sure I bought the right one….and also something the rest of my family could use, in the event I lost interest in it….so after a lot of planning and research which I did between all the rest of the things I was doing, I finally zoomed in on a state of the art exercise bike……
So my days were now about exercise, doing chores for my mom, reading, writing plot ideas….finally things were looking good, I was on a path…on the path to great-writeness….
But my girl friend called me one day and complained that I wasn’t spending enough time with her….And I think she was right…..So i decided I would spend most of my evenings going out to dinner and an occasional movie….although watching movies was not really easy for me anymore….I doze off or get restless very fast if the movie is even the slightest bit boring…..well if it doesn’t work for me right in the beginning…..it just doesn’t work for me anymore…
I think movie beginnings are really important…but more on that later….where Was I? Oh yeah….so I was preparing hard, to write….by this time I had turned to the internet for script writing advice, I spent a lot of time listening to gurus like Paul Haggis and what not, I also enrolled in a couple of script writing competitions, so it would help me set a goal to…to write…….
Now I was totally prepared to sit down and write, after having been a good boy and helped my mother with her chores, after having been a good boy friend and taken my girl friend out whenever she wanted (which was every day) and having been an extremely studious student of screen writing, having read every notable author and guru…..I was finally prepared to write…….
Getting an ergonomic chair is really important for a writer….a chair is like a writers best buddy, it could also be like an icon if the guy actually became famous, I never have had a quint essential writing chair, and I had never used one to write really….COF, I wrote through a night sitting by my cramped desktop and AB was a fairytale I wrote on my bed….my next epic had to be more studious and par excellence (avant garde!), so a quint essential writing chair with the right ergonomics was extremely important….so after some studious research and rekki and sitting on countless chairs for moments too long in a number of showrooms, I found my chair, just perfect….it was delivered to my house free of cost, although I had to pay for the chair (he he)….now I was ready….
But I had to get back my laptop from a friend that I had lent it to…..so this was a delicate matter you see….my New year resolution was I would write long hand, like a novelist….but I started thinking why should I give up technology which was available for me…..so I had to get it back from my friend who was using it for purposes of no interest to me…..she was studying for her medical exams….like I care…I needed my laptop back, cus this was the temple…..the site of my previous adventures like COF and of course AB….I had to get my baby back….
So after a little procrastination and a little embarrassment about how to get it back, I did, by just asking, no screaming, that if I didn’t have it, my career would be ruined….it was promptly given back to me….
Now I was ready to write, I had all the tools I needed and I needed the final tool which, was in my hands(the laptop!)…..now what’s there to stop me from writing?
However I could see that in the months that I had given my laptop away a lot of the software and other applications were just dying to be updated and also I keep my files neat and clean, so some de-fragmentation and cleanup was also required, apart from some new installations….so I promptly got around to taking care of that…..
I forgot to mention between doing my chores, reading, writing ideas, and exercising which I have given up temporarily two months ago, I realized I had a ’slight’ eye problem and must get corrective lenses so I got busy taking care of that, Now I wouldn’t be in danger of going blind in front of my laptop…
also I realized a sudden love for satellite radio and especially talk radio channels, so worldspace radio was in the mail….ordered and delivered….to listen to people talking from across the world is surely very creatively influential….no?
So with technology of my new spectacles, radio and my laptop and the good will of my mom, Syd Field and Woody Allen I was finally ready to sit down and write…..
I am serious, I was ready…
When I decided…you know something!….I simple cant wait to start shooting, I cant sit and write now!
I must develop a subject for, like a short film or something and make it quick and fast, not as ambitious as COF but something small…..and quick….but I had to have a script first….maybe an outline….maybe something that could work like a voice over piece…..maybe about writing or preparing to write….
So I started writing about, well this.
p.s
After my “Adventures of Preparing to Write” (coming out in 2010-Christmas, premiering in Cannes,distributed by Miramax and playing in a cinema in my house.)
…I have come to the conclusion about a list of things/tools you need to write or prepare to write:, they are:
1. A desk
2. A chair (ergonomic)
3. A laptop
4. Books to read
5. A scrapbook to write
6. Spectacles to help you see better
7. A satellite radio to listen to other people talk.
8. An empty house
9. A travel plan which doesn’t involve travel
10. An idea for a story
11. oh I almost forgot….a really short haircut!
Happy Writing!
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
Hilarious! Now that’s a super tragi-comic turn of events…
Which film have u mad anish?? i checked on imdb… it shows ‘anand’ as an actor… u directed one too??
You didn’t have a writers’ block… you blocked writing bloke
Hahaha BRILLIANT!
This article is an ample demonstration of why you SHOULD carry on writing!
amazing article bro!
@Anish – do you have any idea of why Raj Aditya committed suicide?
Looks like your film did not have any impact on the producers of telugu film fraternity…
extremely boring write up!!i would watch adaptation again!!
@ Bhavesh-Anish has made Confessions of a filmmaker & Avakai Biriyani.
Anish, if you love momos and you do go to the North East, try the pork momos at Pirish or Momo Ghar opposite Rabindra Bhavan in Guwahati. Just 25 bucks a plate! Haven’t had better anywhere. Whenever I’m back in Guwahati it’s one of the first things to eat. The meat in the momos isn’t grated, so it’s much nicer to chew on, and I hate myself for writing this because I know I’m not gonna have any for the next two months! Aaarrghhh
haha…..this is nice….this always happens….when u feel ther is a need to do something great…or when u r too ambitious….u need everything perfect so that u can start working…and it never happens. but when THE ‘idea’ strikes, you would just start writing anywhere…..lying down on ur bed….sitting crammed on a train….anywhere!
i read an article like this once…it was what archie from archie comics wrote for a high -school essay of his
btw about the momos u get the best momos at this place called mcleoudgunj or something like that
its some where in the north go google
hi anish,good to see you back again!
I have written about the same experience here
http://scriptlarva.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/one-day-of-a-scriptwriters-life/
Nice article, Anish sir. A article on AB is in AMIGOS office(as a common audience). Mr.MANIGOPAL knows. I think it will help u to understand the perfect drawbacks & to improove for further project. Success missed in a light moment. Best of luck for next sir.
Anish…you should get the DVD of Kayyoppu and watch it…maybe that would help you…
Books can be your best friends at these times. I read hundreds of books, and recently when I read Hungry Tide by amitav ghosh, it reminded me of your film AB. Not that it has anything connected to your film, but the story and the pace of it made me think that, this if made as a film would be done by you/shekar considering the kind of films you make ;-).
BTW I loved AB, infact I pulled over 10 friends of mine to watch it. The sad part is, None of them would ever want to see a movie I suggest.
Really liked this.
At times its kinda sad n true but you put it down in words n its such a funny read…
Loved the write-up, very Kaufman. :-)
you are a true woody allen fan :D
nice… i’d include one more thing in your list: girlfriend
Hi Anish,
Read ur complete article , studying the article I realised that U r not good at writing . If u want to tell about one thing , U should clearly do that, but the thing is u r deviating on the unnecessary matters more.. Who really cares of ur laptop updating and which side u carried the desk or about going out eith ur girl friend..
The whole thing i ought to say is , it should be precise, crispy and mostly point blank to the nearest extent…..
And speaking of ur works AB was Ok. but it drags,, the same with ur post
Why should a director also have to write..? Get a writer or adapt a good book/play into movie.. ( and credit them. Problemo solved.
hey…this article is very much like avakai biryani
lol. if u kno that marathi phrase… “bolachi kadhi,,,, ani bolacha bhaat”…..
“I must develop a subject for, like a short film or something and make it quick and fast”
Aneesh, I have already developed a subject for you. Please read my novella about the life of a typical andhra software engineer at:
http://quotas.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/09/the-story-of-a-software-engineer-1.htm
:-)
Heyy Anish
Very late to realize that you have written somethin.. I mean u did it in April and am looking at in June…
Nice one man… looking out for the short or looooong movie you are going to make…
Saw AB very recently ( again ) on DVD….. as much as I appreciated it and loved it, i thought it should have been a bit smaller, not a suggestion though this one, just a thought
@tejashreyus – dude, chill man… y are you so much into thinking about what others write, do something on your own and tell me how it is gonna turn out.