A grouse that we hear often in the film industry circles is the lack of quality scripts and potential writers. The rues range from lack of good ideas to dearth of writers who can develop an idea into a script, work on dialogues and fix loopholes in a script. Then, there’s also the case of several foot soldiers working in the background without being acknowledged or paid. These could be assistant directors or budding scriptwriters. What we see on screen when the story, screenplay and dialogues are credited to one or two people is just a part of the picture. Unsung and uncredited writers wait with the hope of making a mark some day.
Taking a professional approach towards streamlining the writing process is a fledgeling organisation called Scriptsville, mooted by Prasanth Varma, the director of Awe . Prasanth and his sister Sneha Sameera had been working towards the idea of an organisation for scriptwriters for a while. Scriptsville is spearheaded by Sneha Sameera.
A few months ago, on social media, Prasanth had invited aspiring writers to share their ideas in the form of short stories. He was flooded with more than a thousand emails from which he could filter three or four good stories. “There are many people with good ideas and passion towards screenwriting; we’re looking to tap those writers and credit, pay them for their work. We’ve also come across those who are passionate about screenwriting and don’t know how to go about it. We’ve been guiding them through books so that they find a direction to express their thoughts,” says Prasanth.
Prasanth Varma
As of now, Scriptsville has 10 writers, five of them working full time and the rest working remotely or part-time. Prasanth mentions a woman writer from Saudi Arabia, another who’s heading a software firm and now moonlighting as a writer to finally pursue his interest in writing. “We also have women who may not be able to work full time and do it at their convenience. Some good writing has come from them,” he observes.
Prasanth had several story ideas before he made Awe . Scriptsville has developed a few of them into scripts. The pool of writers has also helped in brainstorming for his forthcoming project, Kalki , a period film set in Telangana of the 1980s and starring Rajasekhar. “Some people are good at dialogues, some at screenplay structure and some know how to fix problems in scripts. It’s a collaborative effort and all of them will be credited duly,” says Prasanth.
Scripts developed by Scriptsville, in near future, will also be sold to interested directors and producers. “We’ve made a beginning; it’s a long process with the aim of encouraging writers and generating good content,” says the director.
The selection of people for Scriptsville, says Prasanth, has been done with caution to avoid theft of ideas and scripts. A confidentiality contract will be put in place soon.
Aspiring screenwriters can pitch their ideas through short stories by emailing info@scriptsville.in. Look up https://scriptsville.in for more.
