Magic Writing Software

June 30 I resisted when someone suggested using Final Draft for my screenplays. I had worked out the formatting in word and couldn’t be bothered to learn newer software, no matter how much better it was. That friend, may his screenplays always get made into award winning films, persisted. He gave me a CD, installed [...]

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Swallowed – hook, line and sinker

No time for a long post today as I am off to two meetings shortly. The first one is to discuss the money and the creatives (in that order) for a new detective show and the second one is to discuss the money and the creatives (again in that order). I don’t know why I’m [...]

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Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

At some point every author gets asked about her muse, the one author who inspires her to write. Normally this is a difficult question to answer as there are so many great writers out there. But a little introspection usually throws up one clear favorite. In my case the clear answer has to be Mario [...]

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Get Smart

I managed a decent output of a 1000 good words on my second novel yesterday. I was a little apprehensive about writing anything worthwhile since I haven’t been in touch with it over the past few weeks, other commitments (TV, promotion for Kkrishnaa’s Konfessions) having taken priority. And it is always harder when you go [...]

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Spreading the Love

I’m so happy and grateful that fellow bloggers are spreading the love as far as Kkrishnaa’s Konfessions is concerned. Three bloggers – Quirky Indian, BlogJamun and S have taken the trouble to read and write reviews.   Also all the readers, who have liked the book and taken the trouble to comment on my blog, thank [...]

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Experiment and Explore

It’s always a good idea to develop related skills. People who’ve been following my blog know that I’ve done my fair share of bouncing around, from Investment banking to publishing to adventure sports to multimedia to writing, I’ve done it all (you can read all about it here). Okay, so you don’t have to be [...]

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Why Screenwriters are Paid so Little

An average half hour TV show has a budget of around 5 lakh (Rs. 5,00,000) per episode. Out of which writing (story, screenplay and dialogue) budget is about Rs 15,000. In rare cases, very rare cases, maybe Rs. 30,000, if they’re really desperate. Thrilling, right? It gets better in a film. In an average small [...]

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Opportunity Knocks for Screenwriters

All you screenwriters out there, Baiscope Entertainment, a Mumbai-based non profit organisation is organising a script fest, Sankalan – an ideas to screen workshop. The idea is to source and nurture new writing talent. The workshop is being mentored by Anurag Kahsyap (Black Friday, No Smoking, Paanch), Anjum Rajabali (Ghulam, The Legend of Bhagat Singh) [...]

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Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and off you go again.

You must believe in yourself and in your work. When our first “Batman” movie broke all those box-office records, I received a phone call from that United Artists exec who, years before, had told me about “Robin and Marian” and let me know I was out of my mind. Now he said, “Michael, I’m just [...]

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A little reality, a little fantasy

Saw Man Bites Dog, a French ‘realistic’ cinema. Shot like a documentary, the film is about a TV crew recording the life of a ruthless killer who murders people for money. In parts hilarious and in parts gruesome, it is like Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange without the creative production design. I’m not sure what [...]

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