August 14, 2008 by smitajain
Some time ago, the Hindutan Times had carried a story, Bubble Trouble, on how the great Indian Soap Factory works. For all of you who are interetsed in writing for television, or are even remotely curious about it, do check it out.
The story gives various POVs – the channel’s, the producer’s, the writer’s. For the latter bit, they contacted me for my inputs, which in itself is reason enough to read it. Kidding. 🙂
When tall, suave, handsome Kaustav Kapoor walks into her office, ditzy private investigator Kasthuri (aka Katie) Kumar has anything but detection on her mind. He is, after all, a scion of Bollywood’s first family—perhaps he has a role for her? Perhaps she will, at last, get to sashay down the red carpet in a designer gown, with flash bulbs following her every move?
But Kapoor’s intentions are much more prosaic: he wishes Katie to trace the heroine of his new blockbuster (and, if Katie’s read the glossies correctly, his life) who is mysteriously AWOL. Despite her misgivings, Katie finds herself unable to refuse the task entrusted to her, and thereon follows a bewildering hunt for the film star across a trail of corpses.
And if that isn’t excitement enough, she has to contend with the maddening and mysterious, but, oh-so-hot, Tejas Deshpande.
The first in a brand new detective series.
IN BOOKSTORES NOW.
Smita Jain's Weblog 
Hello Smita,
Came across your blog accidentally, and now thoroughly enjoy reading it.
I am an aspiring writer from Pune. I want to do a FTII Course in Scriptwriting and break into writing for cinema. I have a few queries for you:
1) Would you recommend the FTII course to anyone?
2) Did you do any course? If yes, would you like to share the info with me?
3) How do I break into writing for Marathi TV serials?
I am looking forward to your replies. I finally found a mentor I can look upto and ask queries.
Regards,
Vijayendra
@jay …You can do a course. It is of course up to you, although I didn’t do one. I don’t know enough about the FTII course to comment on it. But I’m sure it can’t be bad. About getting screenwriting jobs, try contcting producers of TV serials. You can see their name after end credits roll.