Writing for film is an altogether different animal. I’m afraid there’s no substitute for the grind – meeting producers or trying to meet them, narrations (during which their phones will ring constantly), rejection etc.
After listening to you or pretending to, they’ll tell you that it’s all very well, but can you develop an idea that they have?’ You have no choice but to comply. And even after that they may reject your work. Else they may not even meet you again.
Also, no one will ever tell you NO straight off. In this industry, people are so insecure and no one knows when someone will make it big that they are mortally afraid of rubbing anyone off the wrong way. Instead, they will devise inventive ways to fob you off – I’ve been away on a shoot (never mind that the guy hasn’t made a film in years), I got caught up in other things etc.
What makes the scene more complicated is the fact that most film people – producers, directors and even actors, are notoriously disorganized. So you will never know if the guy (let’s face it, it’s a man’s world) is trying to avoid you or is genuinely busy.
There’s nothing for it, you’ll just have to rely on studying body language. And you’ll have to be good at it. Most film people are practiced phonies and lie with consummate ease.
And even when you get a producer interested in your script, the onus of putting the project together will be on you. So you’ll have to run around trying to get a director, actors’ assent and the entire cycle of narrations and actors trying to fob you off will begin again.
Getting a director isn’t easy. Most directors have their own ideas and scripts which they are trying to get produced that they aren’t interested in yours. Getting stars is even more difficult.
So, as you can see, getting your script turned into a production is an uphill task and it could be years (if ever) when that happens.
Instead, what most writers and directors do is get actors’ assent (meaning dates) first and then go to producers. If you have a commercially viable star cast, getting finances and even producers is a piece of cake.
Then again, there are so few stars and they are so busy, that even with the project all together and ready to roll in an instant, you may still have to wait years before beginning photography.
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 
Yeah. You are absolutely, 100%…no, 200% correct! I’m a screenwriter, here in USA. I have great scripts lying down on my desk, licking dust. But the agent are just yawning, making excuses that, “We’re not taking any new projects right now” or “Query first, please”.
“I’m not good at queries. But I’m good at writing SCREENPLAYS. Hello!”
Nope. No sources! Wish me luck! And say a biggest, craziest fan’s (that’s me!) love & regards to Shahrukh Khan, whenever you get to meet him, as you will be the writer. Right? Wish you luck as well!
Keep at it Abeer! Luck cannot ignore you forever. Sooner or later she has to smile on you. About SRK, will surely convey you regards…if I ever meet him:)
Hi Smita!
The picture you portray about the Indian screenwriting is utter truth. Im an aspiring writer/director and i find it difficult to put my screenplays across many producers. Infact, the prospect of the Producer not giving proper time for narration and the idea of getting your stars first and then the director and producer really brings you down. But this has helped me make up my mind, of going Independent. Yes, going independent is the only way now a newbie cam make a mark. Though, that also involves also involves a lot of risks. Still, we have our spirits high. 🙂
Cheers!
All the very best in your endeavours. Though going independent will not rid you of the probelms mentioned:)
[…] so begins the cycle of narrations begins all over again. It could take, like forever, before the project goes on the […]