Y.Sunita Chowdary
Klapboardpost.com speaks to Samar who has been with the production house for a few years and he shares his views on how he gives an objective review of the screenplay that is brought to the table, assessing its strong points, identifying weak spots, and then how he offers his suggestions for improving the piece and making it more creatively and commercially viable. Ultimately, he is being valued for his professional expertise.
How do you become a script professional? There are no regulated credentials for script consultants but a qualified script consultant should have extensive training in dramatic writing; professional experience in screenwriting or development; and a solid understanding of the marketplace. Samar says, “This is a subject, a science. It is not intuitive, it is conceptual technique but who will teach? People can watch 100 films, watch 50 Hollywood films but there has to be teaching. A film school, institute, right teaching by right people all help at a certain level but ultimately it is your gut instinct that works. (Read and post the link: The science of screenwriting by Paul Joseph Qulin and Connie Shears).” How did Samar get into this role? He says, “Everyone wants to make films but I wanted to be a script consultant. I was an AD with Shekar Kammula and worked on films such as Avakai Biryani, Leader, Happy Days, Life Is Beautiful. I was in the core team and by the end of LIB, I realised I wasn’t interested in it and I didn’t want to direct. I started off wanting to be a film director. The reason for that was not concrete which is why by the end of the film I didn’t want to be one and lost that desire for creative expression. If I reflect, as an AD you are looking at locations, finding properties etc. Probably creative expression was never my thing. Probably I wanted to influence people more than what is called a creative expression. If I have to do another film as an AD, I was asking myself why am I doing it. The perceived value that you have in your family and friend circle is binding and difficult to break off. Because of Shekar Kammula’s reflected value on me, we get the importance in the society. If we think that is true then we are in a trap. To quit my job without knowing what to do was a defining point in my life.”
He further says, “Someone in my circle said if you direct a film, I will invest. I said let me find a story and a director and I’ll help with the production activities like an EP. Then I scouted for stories, and they were very weak. When I would tell them that a certain part is boring, they would get very defensive. I had a good judgement. I thought of a story idea and told Suri (co-director Shekar Kammula). He didn’t like it and I behaved the way others would, which was quite stupid. When you write, it becomes your baby. Someone criticises, saying that it isn’t good, you have to write subjectively and assessment has to be made objectively. After a week I realised Suri was right. I arrived at a point and that was ..what is a good story? Is it just a matter of opinion? If I don’t know what a strong story is, I thought I should explore. As a child, we saw star movies and some were not not appealing. It is a matter of taste. I realised there is a science behind it and those guys have cracked it. They don’t make dud movies and it stands strong. Each film is made with the demography, topography of nativity. Was that movie a bad movie? No. The story stands strong, there is no bull shit. In my four films I worked for, I became good at production activities,that is a great take away in life also.”
How did he develop the confidence in his ability to judge a script? He recollects, “I read many books but nothing helped. It seems correct but when it comes out of the people, it didn’t help functionally. I wanted to dig deeper. A professor in the US takes classes. I saw that what he was saying was making sense and so I did one and a half years of work. I was initiated into the science of storytelling and it ensured that something is engaging and satisfying.” It is indeed tough to pitch yourself to producers because people are not ready to spend money and create a job. By the end of the one and a half year course, he was indoctrinated. Do low budget films hire script consultants? Yes, Pelli Chupulu was a no budget, not even low budget. It taught him how to make space at production houses and add value to the designation and by the end of it, he would wish that the project had come to him at the script stage. By making some changes, he would have given it a direction. By seeing the blueprint he could say what is working and what isn’t.
He adds, “I am a science and technique guy, I can definitely help a writer for sure. The writer has creativity and I have technique and I am the craft guy. Even lyric writing involves craft. It has imagination and also craft. Nag Ashwin was my friend and we were ADs on Kammula’s film. Nagi knows about me and supported me, he wanted me to work with him. I collaborated with them and it turned out to be fine and that was from Yevade Subramanyam. Tarun Bhasckar was Nag Aswhin’s friend and he needed help and Nagi suggested that I work with the Pelli Chupulu team. While a script consultant reduces damage in a script, it is just one of the roles. The central role that SC is he can collaborate with writers at the idea stage, it metamorphosizes. The idea becomes a story line and then story and then it takes the form of the scenes. The structure becomes visible and then the scene and the dialogues shape. My role ends before the dialogues come in. I have nothing to do with dialogues. Everyone has their process, I can only work with a formative stage i.e only when the writer is prepared to make core changes, only fundamental changes. I am incapable of fixing things only at a certain point and stage. My capability is on a holistic and a fundamental level, I am of use only in such cases. Not isolated requirements. I hope I don’t sound as if I figured out everything. I am learning too in the process.”
Samar is of the opinion that there are many films where the director can and the actor can create magic with a weak script. Mostly script determines fate of the script for sure. He makes it very clear that only if they are willing to examine on the basic level and make fundamental change, he will be of some help.It is a legitimate requirement. Creative writers do that job, fix things in isolated spots but that doesn’t mean the script will become strong. Script consultants have an objective judgement. The film works or not is based on market factors and not related to him. A strong script will stand, engage and satisfy people to a reasonable extent. The story had to stand on its feet without falling which is my role. “I never approach anyone and I can only speak about myself. I got an opportunity to be a content head at Swapna Cinema and also I can do script consulting for anyone. Here I find good stories and have an eye for good stories. No story is fully ready. I work with the writer. It is an incubation programme. We take it to a level where I take it for narration where it gets okay or doesn’t get okayed.”
You can pick the most exciting idea and make a weak script. The point when it comes at the listening stage is exciting but when you read it doesn’t hold attention. Samar says, “Sometimes the narration isn’t exciting but we develop it. Most of the time, the story we get is a pattern. It has an interesting first plot point and some situations that are interesting. Then there is an interval point and a convincing climax. After interval and till climax, we need to hold interest. Most of the time, the third quarter is weak. There is an idea but no story. An opening, interval point and climax on paper when you narrate sounds nice but when you cannot greenlight the movie based on that., it can become disastrous if it is not structured well. After these three points, the writers commence writing.”
