From lawyers examining scripts, unfair clauses by producers to directors stealing writing credits
Anjum Rajabali,Senior Executive Committee Member, Screen Writers Association known for penning Bollywood films like Aamir Khan starrer Ghulam, Ranbir Kapoor-Katrina Kaif starrer Raajneeti and Ajay Devgn-headlined The Legend of Bhagat Singh spoke to Indianexpress.com about the issues plaguing the writer's community.
“The system needs oiling because everything is working against the writers today,”
‘Your work, my credit’
“There should be a way of assessment, if there are multiple writers, as to who has contributed how much, so that due credit is given. This is an arduous process and if there is a conflict, you need experts to determine whose credit it is. Producers prefer to bypass this by keeping the discretion of the final credit to themselves. There is a legal clause they have inserted, which says that the final credit will be at the discretion of the producers. It cannot be at the discretion of anybody! It has to be based on the work."
“What also happens is that many directors try to muscle into the writing credit, because it is a prestigious credit. When you get a written and directed by credit, it raises your creative stock. When you say, ‘I am a writer-director,’ it means you are a complete storyteller in cinema. People want that. I understand that, but in that case, you have to actually co-write, write full drafts.”
“I, as a teacher, give it to 100s of students, I can’t start taking writing credit! I am doing it in my position as a teacher, similarly, the director is doing it as a director. That way the director gives inputs to production designer or lyrics also, does he become a co-lyricist? A co-production designer? But they want writing credit, and that pressure often comes. I have known producers sitting in writing discussions–by all means, it is your film–and during that there will be back and forth, feedback and then you can’t say, ‘Even I have contributed to this, so even I want a credit.’
“This happens a lot. Many a times you have something as absurd as… There will be an individual writing credit, which will say ‘story by x and y’, ‘screenplay by y and z’, dialogues by ‘m’ and then there will be, ‘written and directed by someone else’. I mean, hello?! Then what have others done? When you say ‘written and directed by’, it means you have written the whole thing, from idea to final draft! But it is a prestigious credit, and they want that.”
“But here, we still have this feudal mindset and so the one who is giving money, the producers, will determine whose credit it will be. That’s not how it works. In this, new writers suffer. Oftentimes, the credits are accorded to a senior writer, who might have done less work, and the new writer gets the credit of an associate or a researcher, despite doing 50 percent of the work.”
‘If anything happens, pay up’
“Your contract can be terminated, at any point, without assigning any reason whatsoever. What does this mean? Your credit might be under threat because it is a producer’s discretion, they will say, ‘I didn’t like the way you spoke to me’. There could be creative differences, which is fair enough, but if I wrote a draft for you, which you are now disagreeing with, but I have written it to your brief and now you have to pay me. You had hired me for this. There has to be some standardisation here for termination.”
“Inspite of that, my contract as a writer says, ‘I indemnify the studio for all costs, including legal, any damages or losses or interest costs incurred because the film can’t be released.’ Which means, the writer has to pay this amount in case there is some controversy. Why? Aren’t you the owner of the script? You accepted the final draft, I didn’t put a gun to your head, I didn’t make a film on your own with your banner. I simply gave the script to you, you examined, accepted it so the liability is yours. You need to be indemnifying me! Because people name the author also and say slap a case on them as well. You, as a producer, have to defend me but you expect a writer to pay you all the damages? It is a tough time, and the industry must come together to make changes,” Rajabali concluded.
Source: Bollywood screenwriters face the heat
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