Veteran, established and aspiring scriptwriters from all over Mumbai converged in a meeting of minds at India?s first ever TV scriptwriters? workshop Qalam 2001, in Mumbai?s western suburb of Andheri on Thursday.

The first day of the two-day workshop was marked by a wealth of information from the speakers, plenty of interactivity with participants and insights into the art of writing for television. Speakers included former Sony programming head Rekha Nigam, Tracinema creative head Vinta Nanda, eminent scriptwriters B M Vyas, Mir Muneer and Vipul D Shah and writers? association representatives. The cohesive force in the two-day workshop is Joyce Thierry, a scriptwriter and instructor from the Vancouver Film School, Canada.

The morning session commenced with Rekha Nigam charting out the ten commandments of scripting -

• Know and respect thy target audience

• Write for the medium

• Learn to present your work

• Never go to a channel with just one concept

• Thou shalt not flog a formula

• Innovate. Innovate. Innovate.

• Thou shalt recharge your batteries.

• God is in the details.

• To thine own self be true.

• Go forth and multiply.

   

She spoke about the necessity of reaching viewers on their wavelength and language, constantly innovating and exploring new genres, keeping in touch with changing viewer tastes and the importance of presentation of a concept or story to a channel or production house.

Joyce Thierry, who conducted the next session, explored the anatomy of a TV programme, maintaining that on television, characters matter more than the personality of actors, unlike in movies, where the hero often overshadows his reel character. Good research skills and an interesting point of view are, hence, an important component of any good script, she said.

Among the suggestions that were thrown up during the course of the workshop, it was felt that channels should form focus groups for channel executives to help them feel the pulse of the viewers. The dearth of availability of scripts also hampered the study of earlier scripts by established and aspiring writers. While fear of theft of concepts often hinders a free exchange of ideas. speakers agreed that a writers? guild, like ones in the US and Canada, would go a long way in protecting writers? interests. The need for writers? training institutes was also expressed by many participants in the workshop, while the need for policing channels to weed out detrimental material was also felt.

The need for patience in a scriptwriter?s career was brought home by a budding participant who pointed out that most writers are often turned away from production houses at the gate itself. His lament about how was a security guard expected to judge the worth of his work (which is as far as he has been able to get thus far with the various production houses in the city).

Vinta Nanda, best known as the writer behind the marathon serial Tara, spoke of the degeneration of content in television soaps and programmes. Social commitment, she said, need not necessarily mean making documentaries, but being sensitive to viewers? tastes and thinking about the impact of their writing on the multitudes who watch TV. Television currently portrays a society that is non-existent, she said. Social workers have to spend days undoing the damage wreaked upon gullible audiences by regressive soaps, she pointed out.

BM Vyas, in a lighter vein, pointed out that the most ordinary lives have a lot of drama in it. Speaking on the hows and whys of a serial, he said that bringing out this drama is as important as the story structure and communication techniques. Asserting the need to keep a balance when dealing with channels, he said a positive outlook was important. An antagonistic attitude would often mean the writer?s work not being given an airing while if the writer was willing to work within the constraints of the system there were myriad ways of subtly getting across positive messages, was how he saw it.

Continuing the lighter note, Vipul D Shah noted that a writer should seek out characters from among his surroundings and then develop them with one?s imagination. "The characters have to be unique as well as identifiable", he said. Comedy serials stipulate that the protagonists have a unique peculiarity, a certain style and a background, on the basis of which interrelationships and his reactions in adverse situations can be fleshed out.

In his address on developing a comedy, Shah said that the genre is yet to get its due in a developing television industry like the Indian one, accounting for the high incidence of slapstick comedy current here.

Participants also got an insight into the legal aspects of scriptwriting from Film Writers? Association?s Rajbir Singh, who spoke of the problems faced by Indian scriptwriters. Most do not sign contracts with production houses, are often not given credits, and are sometimes not paid on time.

Maintaining that scripts are a writer?s intellectual property, Singh said that the association safeguards interests of writers by getting producers to give writer their dues on time.

The association registers screenplays, concepts and dialogues of writers and updates members about laws and changing regulations. Writers cannot be changed midway through a serial, he informed, without the permission of the earlier writer. Again, production houses have just one year?s rights on the writer?s script, after which it can be reclaimed, he said.

Saans and Chunauti writer Mir Muneer stressed the need for budding writers to soak up literature, both English and Indian, in order to hone their writing skills. "One can start with adaptations of English plays, as a stepping stone to good scripts", he said.
 

BBC World, which had shifted its India-specific programming to the weekend slot following the events of 11 September, is switching back to the old schedule from next month.

Come 1 January, 2002, the crucial 10 PM time slot will again air India-sourced programmes that have an interesting mix of the old and the new in Commando!, Face to Face, Mastermind India, Question Time India, Islam UK and India Business Report.

The icing on the cake is the eagerly awaited Commando which kicks off on the 1st and will air every Tuesday at 10 PM It deals with the rigorous training that the Indian army goes through. The 13-part series follows commissioned officers who train at the Commando Training School in Karnataka. The course will last for a month and a half.

Over 39 days real life conditions will be simulated so that participants get a feel of real life war. Miditech Television has produced the show which will have repeats on Saturday at 10 PM and on Sunday at noon.

The fourth series of Mastermind India, the intellectual quiz show hosted by the inimitable Siddharth Basu will air every Thursday from 3 January with repeats on Sunday at 10 in the morning and will run for 21 weeks .

Face To Face hosted by Karan Thapar will air every Wednesday from 2 January. The show will be repeated on Sunday at 1 PM

On Friday Question Time India hosted by NDTV?s Prannoy Roy puts political honchos in the firing line. On Sunday at 11 in the morning viewers can catch up on the latest developments in the country?s business and financial circuit in India Business Report. The show will repeat at 10 PM

BBC World will also introduce new shows on Monday which will focus on NRI?s living in Britain. From 7 January the channel will premier a new series Islam UK. The seven part programme looks at Muslims living in Britain and how they adapt to the environment. It will scrutinise the misconceptions British citizens have about Islam. This becomes all the more important in light of the 11 September events.

In February the channel will start East which scrutinises three Asian women who have made a mark in the beauty business. It also follows three sisters who escaped being forced into marriage in Pakistan. Then in March the channel is showcasing Bindi Millionaires. The subject matter is three British women who appear in Sunday Times Rich list.

Quoting market research agency AC Nielsen?s TAM data, BBC World asserts that in the period from 9 September to 6 October it extended its lead position among the international news channels. Channel share touched 52 per cent followed by CNN at 38 per cent and CNBC India 10 per cent - C&S, SEC A and those above 25 years of age in the top nine cities. BBC claims to be available in 11 million homes in India.

Crown Media Holdings, Inc. has announced the issuance of $265 million of 6.75 per cent subsidiary trust preferred securities and contingent appreciation certificates in a private placement with institutional investors.

The certificates entitle the holder to receive cash or, at the holder?s option, to purchase shares of Crown Media?s Class A common stock at $13.07 per share. The certificates, if converted, would represent approximately 10.1 million shares of Class A common stock.

Crown Media will use a portion of the proceeds to reduce the amount outstanding under its bank credit facility and for working capital. The company will also repay certain debt outstanding under lines of credit provided by a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards and amounts payable to Hallmark Entertainment Distribution pursuant to certain programme license agreements, a company release says. In a related development, Crown Media has increased the size of its bank credit facility by $35 million to a total of $320 million.

In connection with the private placement, Crown Media is filing a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission.