Konfessions of an aspiring filmi
Some time back I had written a post about the good times for Indian cinema. Now I think it was a little too early or maybe we could blame the goddamn recession. Having attended the ISC 08 and seen and heard stuff there, I am really not sure if dumping advertising for films is a viable decision any more anytime soon. But who knows…
Also in the Dibakar B.’s talk, he had made strong points about advertising being his mainstay and other such stuff. The only thing not working for me is my geographical dislocation. What I could understand is that you gotta be in bombay to ‘be in circulation’ (a phrase I heard at ISC for the first time). So to be in circulation, I gotta be out there & certainly not on a mere tourist visa. I am sure many filmis who are not in bbay would agree.
Gone are the days when you can carry your jhola, catch a train to bbay and pheko struggle till you get lucky. The times that we live where modest luxury has almost turned mandatory, it is unimaginable how filmis like Anurag Kashyap & others managed to sneak in, despite the hardships. Passion is there in place, but it can’t buy me beer, can it? And classic milds is almost 5 bucks a pop.
The fact that being a filmi can’t be a primary career choice is disturbing yet dominant. But I think I am still lucky to be in advertising. Mera number bhi aayega… sooner or later. But what about other filmi aspirants who are leading lives which have nothing to do with anything about films, ads etc.? Where do they go? We all have PFC, but that’s just upto a certain extent….
Should there be a source to look upto or (with due regard) just struggle like the others did? My only grouse is that the struggle-period will waste a lot of time, which could be better used for story telling. What I am trying to say here is that could there be a source (online or otherwise) where filmi aspirants could ask the right questions and be answered by those who are aware of how things move in the film industry.
Recently I told my wary folks that I have to shift to bbay to join films. They asked innocently “You are a writer, could you not just use the internet to get your stuff across?” I said no. If you are not located in andheri / versova / lokhandwala / juhu, you don’t belong. You will remain an outsider. They relented, but were not really happy.
So I need to know, if PFC could be the answer to this situation of people who are not ‘there’. Could there be a separate section like they have on the job portals, where such leads could be shared & many people can benefit. I have seen a few such instances on PFC where people had seeked for help, but here, i m talking about a bigger / dedicated section, only for such opportunities.
Lets make the most of our ‘home page’ and make better films.
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
the only thing that will happen with this kind of open forum to share and ‘negotiate’ the intellectual property is an increased plagiarism, of someone else’s work being passed off by the more ‘mighty’ sorts.
if u r in front of them, u can at least ask them y they hv taken off your product. if u r dealing thru the net, the only recourse u will hv wud b to go to the cyber-crime cell. and thats like leaving a lot on “RAB”.
One thing from my side, is if we let aspiring script writers, actually put out their scripts on PFC.
We cud adopt an Open Source model here. What happens in an Open Source is that we have some 1 developing a component, putting it on the Web, and then you have others giving it feedback, and suggestions, and if needed be work it around.
I have some great script ideas, but i am not a filmi person. I am a techie, and my primary field is IT. And nor i am in a position to quit my job and make a movie. But say if we start to put up a script library, which could also be a kind of reference to movie makers. I think u have started me thinking on this, will put up a full fledged post on this.
Magik the cold hard truth is that 99% of the time the jobs you will get in the film industry will not depend on your talent or your skills but rather on your personal rapport and relationship with the person hiring. I don’t mean you have to do sirji tussi great ho crap but rather whether that person feels he can work with you. Ergo unless you are in “circulation” I can pretty much guarantee you that nobody will even bother to read your script unless it comes highly reccomended by someone whose opinion they trust. Im my past internships as a script reader the scripts submitted by an agent or with a star attached got top priority and we had to write coverage on it asap and all the unheralded spec scripts which came in was left to our discretion. And lemme tell you from my personal experience as well as that of my friends who work at studios and agencies that if the reader is bored within the first 10 pages they don’t bother to read a spec script through. Is it fair ? No. Is it the way the film industry works ? Yes.
@ Magik
You’ve spoken on behalf of a lot many people like me.I’ve myself faced myself at the crossroads often.On one side I have my well paid senior management role & on the other hand I have what I’m actually passionate about-movies.So its been rather tough to take a call & I still keep deliberating on whether to take a plunge or not.This recession thing has only added more to the confusion which already existed in my mind!!!
Guys, I understand what ur saying Re recession, but there’s something which I only just found out that i’d like to share with u.
Director Christopher Nolan (Mememto, The Dark Knight) made a small film called ‘The Following’, on a shoe string budget.
He (and all the others involved) were at full time work, so they could only dedicate 15mins of filming each Saturday.
Took them a year to complete it.
But it was a very wise step.
Showcased his talent.
I’m not simplifying it.
Just thought i’d share…
:-)
Steve yaara- I didnt know this, but have been thinking on similar lines for some time.But this detail from you makes me feel a lot better
I am glad i touched uopn a potent subject which many people here share. Now thelookout is for a solution. Guys it could also be a paid service on PFC.. the job-portal kinda stuff that I suggested. IMO it should work for all!
@ Magik
I’m sure it should work.Lets say Anurag Kashayap needs a couple of hands as A.D’s on his next project.Or UTV needs a head of marketing, cant there be a channel to address it here?Well these are just some examples of what could be done.
For that matter why not a physical meeting point for the members of pfcians and in the process if a story/script strikes why not go for a jont production mechanism to fund the film.
Something like…
PFC PRESENTS
EK KHWAIS AISI BHI
Magik, there might be a lot of people out there contemplating same thoughts that are clouding ur mind. But, if you think you have to do it then you must do it. Otherwise forget about it forever. Hardship, struggle, rejection could be waiting for you but then you shud enjoy that phase of life….until and unless you dirty ur hand u won’t get anything. At least there won’t be any regrets in ur life later on…
I know it for sure, I am gonna be in this line sooner than later :-)
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I don’t know how and what capacity but this seems to be a true calling. I want to know that for sure.
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I know there are couple of ppl from here (i.e. in Ahmedabad) who make documentaries and stuff. This is what I have in mind. Hopefully it will work out, may be a year or couple down the road, I will take a month or 2-month off from my work and join or hang around with these folks just to get taste of the work. Whether its easy to talk about it as a viewer but the real work may be so different from what I envisaged. Then decide how to go about doing it.
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If that does not work, then the plan B, I will take a plunge and dekhenge kya hota hain :-)
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As our man said: Ho gaya toh kartab, nahi hua toh haadsa!
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@ Sethu: i agreet here could be so many possibilities.
@ Baba: man the point you made is fucking fantastic. mere dil ki baat mere dil mein aane se pehle chheen li bhai! amazing!! Bravo!!! Movies of PFC, by PFC for the world to see. Amen! This should happen. Damn it, we could all contribute (money / inputs / resources / whatever else) our bit for a story that we believe in…
@ Manish: yaar as i said earlier, struggle mein jo waste of time hai (no matter how enriching personally) can be utilised to craft better stories. y re-invent the wheel mere dost?
@ vishesh: i think u r on the right track. My best wishes to u. hope u live ur dream.
There are some prominent directors – AK, Onir, Dibakar who are now contributing on PFC that can be approached if you have some stories. But, it seems you wanna move in scriptwriting or is it direction !1? The earlier posts on screen-writing guild has presented a depressing scene for writers.
Thanks Magik :-)
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Thank you PFC. I have found such great friends. We have never met in person but in spirit (daaru nahi, mere yaaro) we share the same passion.
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If with all these things going for me,
agar maine woh nahi kiya jiska aagaz kiya, to zindagi mein kya kiya…
@ Manish: i am looking at a career as a film writer (story/ screenplay/dialogues/songs) primarily & then Insha Allah graduate to direction.
@ Vishesh Bhai: Anytime buddy, ek filmi hi to doosre filmi ki hausla-afzaayi kar sakta hai… do lemme know if u come to b’lore. the beer will b on me! Cheers bro!
@ Magik
Is the beer only for Visheh ?
jokes apart I think this is a very valid discussion that you’ve started.
@ Vishesh
Completely agree with you.Have never met any of the PFC junta myself- but looks like I’ve already formed a strange connect with quite a few people already out here.And whats wrong with the daaru wala spirit anyways?
@ Baba
Good idea mate- I’m sure if we some of us actually pool our resources, we can come up with something good.Count me in if anybody else is interested.
Oye Magik, tu yaar meri sasural se hain :-)
Phir toh we will definitely meet yaara!
Sethu bhai, movies ka nasha hi aisa hain, daaru kaun kambhakt peena chahta hain!
Yeah, even I am in for the pooling part.
@ Sethu: Anytime for any filmi from PFC. But Baba is the guy who has made the point of the day & i wud like to draw everyone’s attention to this. ‘PFC Presents’ is a concept that will add tremendous weight to any project that we start. And we all can make cotributions however big or small. If the idea rocks, i shall even considering foregoing my beer, biryani etc. to make a difference.
@ Vishesh: this is sooo damn cool yaar. But if i m ur sasuraal wala, then make sure u pick the tab for the beer. I hope u know the dynamics of the Great Indian Family Drama. LOL. I m lovin’ it! Am smiling from ear-to-ear!!!
@sethumadhavan and @magik:
Why not we than target making atleast 2 short films in limited budget(in 2009) and see the response.Atleast if we collect all our resourses and ideas at PFC I firmly believe ‘PFC MOTION PICTURE’ can make very good cinema.
To start with we can target a few film festival within INDIA. What say guys.Lets start it
lets do it.
@ Baba
Brilliant idea.I have a script which was written some 3 yrs ago- waiting to be made into a short film- until I finally realised it made more sense as a full length movie ( of course needs to get re-written).I have some 2 more concepts for a short film and some 2-3 more for a full length film.I’m sure there would be more among with us with some more thoughts.I’m surely game to do the needful- in a lot of ways.For people like you who are interested , we can even discuss it in detail off the forum!!!or in seperate thread on the forum- what say guys???
@ Baba: You are the DUDE of the DAY. You have given an input that will Insha Allah become a legend of PFC. Oz Bhai will be happiest to read this, cuz he is the one who started off this revolution and now see it is headed for greatness. I completely agree to your concept Baba. I am on. This certainly will be a high-point for PFC in 2009 & I hope it does what I think it will do to all of us filmi people… Cheers bro!
@ Sethu: let’s not let it die here. Lets make this happen soon. Am waiting for Oz Bhai’s take on PFC Motion Picture… hyper excited! Will need a KF Strong tonight! LOL!
Yaar I also think the first guys to make films under PFC Motion Picture should be the guys who won the PFC One last year & this year… It will be a fantastic reward for them as well as a great motivation for the rest!
Well lemme add to what Baba says, we can put up a Post only for this movie(s), where we brainstorm our ideas. I think we can put our stories and so on.
And then let others chip in.
@ Magik
Pee le yaara , I’m sure you deserve it.And do raise your bottle/glass to Baba for the brilliant idea.I’m quite excited too.Isi baat pe let me leave my office now ( oh!yes a mandatory routine
).Maybe I’ll have some spirit too & catch up on a movie.Its a toss between Bommalattam & RNBDJ (again).So let me see how my mind works.And yes to 2009 & PFC Motion Picture!!!
Also one more thing, is it possible to have a separate Script Section in PFC, where guys can put up drafts of their scripts, and others can brainstorm, by adding comments on it.
I am willing to create a new blog, where aspiring scriptwriters can start to blog their scripts, provided there is a sufficient level of interaction.
@magik ,@sethu and @ratnakar:
Hey! thanks guys….Just make this happen…count me in.
Meantime Let me fill my glass and lets have a toast for PFC Motion pictures and OZ bhai.
waiting for the new post as proposed by ratnakar said.
Cheers.
@magik ,@sethu and @ratnakar:
Hey! thanks guys….Just make this happen…count me in.
Meantime Let me fill my glass and lets have a toast for PFC Motion pictures and OZ bhai.
waiting for the new post as proposed by ratnakar.
And may be we can start the post based on the tag lines on which we may brainstorm to create our stories/scripts.
Just an example: “In these atrocious times we have lost our innocence”.Please ignore if the same doesn’t make any sense.Just an idea i thought of sharing
Cheers.
guys, this is very exciting. whatever step you guys want to take (i like the idea of a separate script section/forum/blog) i would like to be included. as someone sitting on the other side of the globe, i really want a chance like this to give my passion a shot.
Wow !!! you guys are great
something is in the works that we’ve been working on for the last 6 months. Expect next year to be full of surprises on PFC. Can’t reveal much as of now.
All the best OZ bhai!!!
friends…its been 6 years for me in aamchi mumbai, i have worked as a 1st.AD with 1 ace,maverick director,(5 other feature films as an AD) and as a line producer with 1 BIG corporate house…1 thng i would like to share with u is “yahan par(read mumbai) sabke liye kaam hai, lekin u really need jugaad more than talent, u need luck more than jugaad & talent…and trust me , each one has thr own story…if any1 is sitting in delhi, jaipur & other towns etc. n have access to right pepl, thn its fine…sitng thr u cn send stories,screenplay etc. u cnt bcm a director sitting in ur home town… u hav to slog ur ass, n approach producers…actors etc. decide ur priorities. one thng is for sure…thr is dearth of GOOD talent here…be it writers, directors, technicians.
FOR MY WRITER FRIENDS – have come across ths advt on a website…some new director is looking for writers…pls send ur resumes’ on asdiscovertalent@gmail.com
“journey of thousand miles begins with a single step!!”
I love to see this positive energy ….. Wish you guys tons of good luck.!!!
meri lottery lagte hi…mai tumhe bhi kuch daan de doongi!!!
tab tak dua se kaam chalalo !!!
Yaar, if you guys seriously thinking of discussing online then the best thing to do is go for group chat or something on gmail or yahoo.
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Because ideas go back and forth and nek kaam mein delay achha nahi lagta.
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And the entire transcript can be available for review later on.
@ Vishesh
Thats a nice idea.Cant we create a group on Yahoo or Google for the same?
Thank you so much for this post Magic. I work in IT and I love the movies. I even tried my hand at PFCOne 2007. This year, some stuff or the other came up and I couldn’t submit anything. I live on the other half of the planet, but count me in for anything I can help out with. I don’t know how I can contribute but I’d love to. I just want to learn. I don’t have a background of any writing, no technical qualifications. Hell, I’m not even an artist! But I just feel like I want to do this.
@Magik,
I will be in B’lore in a couple of weeks’ time. I am not yet a “contributor” in any sense of the word on this site, but have been a supreme recipient of it nonetheless.
I am cautiously optimistic as well of this idea and would love to be a part of it.
I suggest, for the sake of Pratik, myself and others who live on the other side of this 3D coin we call the earth, that we could even piece together the production (as and when we get to it) of such a film with different groups taking different chunks of the script and executing it in their own geography.
Of course, different actors will play the parts of the same characters in different locations and so on, but that could be our style … ala “Palindromes” if you have seen that film.
Let me know if you’d like to meet in B’lore.
@ 38, Sethu,
I am not big on Yahoo would prefer Google. For Google groups, I can create one. Let me do it in couple of days, if that’s not too late. We can also have a separate blog for it.
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Waise naam socha hain humne kya rakhna hain?
I will need email IDs of everyone who wants to join.
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Another thing is we will have to restrict access to the group (only members allowed) as what we are discussing is IP :-)
Let me know your thoughts on this one.
@ Vishesh
Google is fine me with me.And yes my mail i.d is
sethumadhavan.n@gmail.com
as far as restricting access is concerned, maybe
we can have some moderators in this who would do the needful
agle do dinon me naam soch lete hain.Lets all give it a try & choose what everyone is ok with
This is sooooooo cool yaar… I am in… Restricting access is gonna be a mandatory in such a model. Choron ki kami nahi hai duniya mein ghalib… ek dhoondo hazaar milte hain… door dhoondo paas milte hain!
@ Cool Chux: Insha Allah lets meet yaar. just lemme know when… where we’ll decide later!
count me in…my gmail id is bed.sharma@gmail.com
And mine is ratnakar.techie@gmail.com.
Yeah the same Ratnakar Sadasyula. Just decided to change my screen name.
Film banane ke liye team ki zaroorat hogi… Sabhi idea dene wale ya screenplay writers ya directors huey toh camera, editing, acting, design, planning, sound, music, light, post production kaun dekhega… to facilitate this, I am working on a webiste which would be called www.teamupguru.com… its beta should be up and running by Jan09 end and first project would be my film project where I would start teamimg up. This would be free for subscription but experts providing services could be on honurary basis or paid basis, depending on their preference… Site would just not enable teamup for the project but also have lotto features like planning, budgeting, sharing, communicating and project monitoring tools… all very secured and confidential (within team unless project promoter opts for public)…More when the site is ready… all aspiriants from PFC would be welcome to register on teamupguru with their skillset… absolutely free!!!
@ GSS: u r gawdsent! amazing. This makes more sense now and am sure the whole of aspiring filmis at PFC will be crowding at your site. Wishing you all the very effing best. Aur mere layak koi sewa ho to zaroor bataaiye! Long live!
@ GSS
Thats a cool initiave I must say.looking forward to being part of it in some way or the other!!!
Can I also be part of this effort? My email is angad3386@gmail.com
Its time for a site in India where aspiring script writers can upload their work and others can review it. Similar sites are available for English scripts like www.triggerstreet.com. You have to review a certain no: of scripts to gain permission to upload your scripts. Monthly competitions can also be held to find out the best script available.
Add me too, my email ID is mailpratik-at-gmail-dot-com. Thanks.
please main bhi behti ganga me haath dholoon.
darkndusky@hotmail.com
im just gonna enjoy the jokes…..
thode paise vaise bhej doongi…
A suggestion – please spend some time reading professional screenplays.
And writing alone. Sharing ideas before you develop skills will result in unearned backslapping. Writing is a lonely process and if you start leaning on others in the beginning you will never know if you can actually write.
I think Dabba has a point there. Of all the film crafts, writing is the one that is most easily practiced alone and at no cost (Pencil and pad at the minimum)
A group writing initiative can easily disintegrate into chaos and anarchy without clear focus and direction. I know how difficult reconciling differences can be with just two people collaborating – a group could be a nightmare.
It might make sense to have a writing circle/club where members share their work and critique each other. A forum like that can bring up interesting insights and suggestions that are particularly useful for beginning writers. Such an initiative could be physical or on the net.
And for gods sake, stop worrying about people stealing your stuff before you’ve even written anything.
Hmm, I agree about writing alone but yeah, as Navdeep said, the group can act like a writers’ club. It helps in not losing steam cos there is always some one out there to push you.
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Ek kaam karte hain, lets form it phir dekhte hain kya hota hain, how does it shape up or not. Whether its got use or not, sochte hi rahenge toh sochte hi rahenge.
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Btw, what’s the final thing, are we going for Google group or something that Ganesh and Temple_oak suggested?
Well I thought we were looking at a forum not only for writing – but also ways by which we could look at creating avenues to put forth our thoughts on everything connected to film making.Though writing/concepts was the main point of observation, I think we were looking @ the whole gamut of activities thats how the thought that we could make short films/feature films under PFC umbrella came up.
Guys guys, dont get carried away by overenthusiasm. if it becomes too big, its going to fall flat shortly. people will fall off after a few months like hair from a cat. writing/being a writer is something that needs persistence and ability to to tolerate the frustration of the process rather than acute outburst of passion and spirit.
if some one is serious about a forum/site for scriptwriters start with bare essentials. one just needs the facility to upload one’s work and a system that ensures that ‘if you help you get help.’ please dont plan for ‘a production skills portfolio’ kind of thing. because success of such a forum depends not on the extent of aspects of film making it covers or sponsorship but the doggedness of its writing members to continue writing and be part of the group regardless of the daily worldly grind. what i have seen with writing groups is that two or three negative remarks regarding one’s work and he loses interest in writing altogether. because a writer’s self confidence is a very fragile thing.
the real question is whether we want another forum to just ‘discuss’ movies or we really want to sharpen our skills? shouldnt we be ready for that chance of a life time when it comes calling?
An aspiring screenwriter, have been a reader of PFC for long time now. I am in the middle of 2nd draft of my first script and mid-way through the second one. Have another bunch of story synopsis ready.
Good to see so much enthusiasm among fellow aspirants. I have also been an avid follower of absolutewrite.com. There they have a section where you can post 10 pages from your screenplay and get reviews and feedbacks. I couldn’t use that facility since its for english movies. So I was thinking a forum like that would be great. Where we can post a few pages and get feedbacks from other forum members, especially experts and professionals. Say what guys? Can PFC provide that platform?