First Annual Screenwriter's Conference
Courtesy:
IndiaFM
Friday,
August
18,
2006
The
Film
and
Television
Institute
of
India
(FTII)
will
be
holding
the
First
All-India
Screenwriter's
Conference
on
19th
and
20th
of
August.
The
basic
idea
of
the
conference
will
be
to
draw
attention
to
the
subject
of
screenwriting
and
make
it
a
part
of
public
discourse.
Some
of
the
speakers
for
the
occasion
will
be
Anurag
Kashyap,
Vinay
Shukla,
Abbas
Tyrewala,
Vishal
Bhardwaj
and
Sriram
Raghavan.
The
conference
will
be
attended
by
some
of
the
top
names
of
the
Indian
films
industry
including
Ashutosh
Gowarikar,
Javed
Akhtar,
Govind
Nihalani,
Shyam
Benegal,
Subhash
Ghai,
Vidhu
Vinod
Chopra,
etc.
Over a period of 2 days, the conference will talk about various issues regarding screenwriting.
We spoke to Anjum Rajabali, the course advisor at FTII and writer of movies such as Drohkaal, the Legend of Bhagat Singh, Pukar, etc. who initiated this conference.
The First All-India Screenwriter's Conference is your brainchild. How did this idea come about? I had a discussion with the director of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Tripurari Sharan. India is the largest film-producing country in the world and there was no course for screen-writing at all. We had initiated the subject of screenwriting in FTII about 2 years back. So while discussing this we felt there was a need to hold a conference for screenwriters across the country. This will have a gathering of about 150-200 writers.
Why
the
FTII
as
a
location?
FTII
is
the
pioneer
in
starting
the
screenwriting
subject
in
India
and
that
is
why
we
felt
it
would
be
the
ideal
place.
What
will
be
the
basic
agenda
of
the
conference?
It
will
be
to
get
screenwriters
together
under
one
roof
and
discuss
various
issues.
We
will
speak
on
why
this
field
is
lagging
behind
and
what
are
the
different
obstacles-
creative,
professional
and
industrial.
Will
there
be
any
technicalities
of
writing
involved?
No,
this
is
not
a
training
workshop.
Apart
from
the
various
problems
we
will
be
speaking
about
the
history
of
screen-writing
in
India.
In
India,
a
script
is
written
in
the
narrative
tradition
and
is
based
on
myths,
fables
and
legends.
In
Hollywood,
it
is
invented.
Then
we
will
speak
about
the
current
scenario
of
screen-writing
in
India
and
the
topic
of
writing
on
a
global
scenario.
Are
there
any
commercial
aspirations
behind
this
conference?
No,
it
is
basically
about
addressing
neglected
issues.
Will
it
be
of
any
help
for
struggling
writers
to
get
a
break?
Maybe
not
to
get
a
break
but
a
lot
of
relationships
can
be
established
as
there
will
be
open
sessions
between
the
speakers
and
participants.
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