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Act: 2... day: 2... scene: 1
Eminent actor, director, dialogue and scriptwriter Ishan Trivedi
jump-started the day with a discussion on the practical aspects
of being a writer. "Keep the episode to a minimal as most of the
time it is usually dictated by economic considerations," said the
scriptwriter of shows like Mr. Yogi, Mrignayani, Ek Kahani, Darshan,
Samay and the award winning Justujoo. Some very interesting
points came out during the course of discussion.
Ishan offered some rather shocking observations of the television
industry. His talk about screenplay was revealing - "There is no
such thing as script and what is often termed as script is screenplay
and story idea bound together." The screenwriter managed to keep
the participants - professionals and students' alike - curious and
intrigued by offering a few of his trade secrets.
Ishan offered tips on screenplay and story writing. "It creates
an impact if you play with the structure," he said. When asked how
to create an interesting screenplay, he said, "Always have two-three
parallel lines, obviously related, running along the story line".
Later he added that unlike the common notion 'flashback or nostalgia
is a good tool to make the story look interesting. As an endnote
to his discussion, he offered a practical perspective and very interestingly
even discussed the economic realities.
The creative director of Siddhant Cinevision and well known scriptwriter
of popular television soaps like Swabhiman, Sukanya, Kittie Party,
Itihaas, Kartavya and Lekin Vinod Ranganath, picked up
from where Ishan left off. He offered a practical tutorial on the
nitty-gritties of writing dailies.
While charting the journey from ideation to story to screenplay
he said that it is important to have a perspective but what is most
important is the opening scene of a story. According to him, "it
helps if the writer has a back story ready for a few of the characters".
While offering his views on writing a daily, he said that there
were three sure shot methods a writer can adopt to help stay put
- firstly a back story, secondly, identifiable characters and thirdly,
an archetype. He offered some practical tips on how to co-ordinate
in a multiple-writer scenario. "A writer should understand the importance
of both break point and the hook point," he said. Concluding
his energy-packed interactive session, Ranganathan disclosed his
best-kept secret, 'to ensure that the story is gripping structure
minimum of three hook points'.
"Let's face the reality, the writer in the television industry
is assisted by everybody," joked the next speaker for the day, Rajesh
Joshi. A noted regional theater actor-director, Joshi came into
the limelight a few years ago as screenwriter of serials with phenomenal
mass appeal like Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi, Kasautii Zindagi
Kay, Koshish ....Ek Asha and Smriti. Continuing in the
same vein as the speakers before him, he fielded a variety of questions.
He narrated the difficulties a writer faces when writing for a daily
and also explained different methods to counter them. He also candidly
admitted that a daily writer usually adopts a trial and error method,
by playing with the character according to the audiences' demand.
Award-winning scriptwriter Ashwini Dhir was joined by Vinod Ranganath
for a Q&A session. The multifaceted Dhir, who began his career in
television as technical director of Thoda Sa Aasmaan, answered
all the audience queries on how to write sitcoms and comedies.
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