Justice at last: Screenwriters' contracts to be standardised to ensure fair fee and due credits

Anjum Rajabali. Pic/Getty Images

Will things change?" every writer has repeatedly wondered and asked over years of being subjected to systemic disparity in the Hindi film industry. Finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Last week, prominent Bollywood voices spoke to mid-day about an urgent need for change in the working conditions of screenwriters. This week, writer Anjum Rajabali, the Senior Executive Committee Member of the Screen Writers Association (SWA), has the answer - change is coming.

Twelve leading Bollywood production houses, streamers and channels, including Aamir Khan Productions, Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment, Yash Raj Films, Siddharth Roy Kapur's Roy Kapur Films, T-Series, Maddock Films, Excel Entertainment, Applause Entertainment, Viacom, Tiger Baby, Amazon Prime and Sony Entertainment Television had met with the members of SWA last August to principally agree over the guiding principles on which writers' contracts will be based.

"This is historic. For more than a decade, SWA has been trying to arrive at some kind of standardisation of writers' contracts so that those standard clauses are fair, reasonable and they don't have to be renegotiated for every individual. There was a meeting at Aamir's (Khan) house. It took over three hours but the producers agreed to the clauses," Rajabali shares.

"I called Aamir, whom I have known for a long time now. I told him, ‘Writers' contracts need to be made more reasonable, fair, and stopped from being one-sided'. Aamir, being sensitive to writers' concerns, agreed to call a meeting with leading producers to help SWA resolve this grievance," says Rajabali, who also wrote the 1998 blockbuster, Ghulam, in which Aamir played the lead.

The eight essential standard clauses agreed on address several long-standing issues faced by the writers - missing credits, irregular and unfair pay, moral rights to the script, indemnity, and stringent contracts. "For writing or co-writing credit, 33 per cent of the shooting draft must be the writer's work, with maximum three credits per element (story, screenplay, dialogue) to be accorded. When a writer-pair or a team works as one unit, their credits are counted as one. If more than 50 per cent of the shooting draft is a writer's work, they receive top billing. More than 66 per cent, he or she will get solo credit. If it's less than 33 per cent, ‘Additional' credit for that element will be accorded to the writer," explains Rajabali.

There is also a clause that the writing credits will appear in a film as one of the top three credits, along with director and producer, and in all publicity material. "Inadvertent failure to accord credit in the film will have to be instantly rectified via a press release, a copy of which should be handed to the writer/s and by re-inserting the credit/s in all digital and other versions," says Rajabali.

Another essential principle agreed upon is that if a sexual harassment charge against a writer is proved, the credit will only appear in the film, not in the publicity material.

As far as the fee structure goes, R13 lakh has been decided as the minimum fee for a full script. "For story: R4 lakh, for screenplay: R5 lakh, for dialogue: R4 lakh. For the first and second drafts, tranches will be released on their submission. The final draft will be on the approval of the producer," Rajabali says, adding that the first and the second drafts will be considered legitimate only if they adhere to the story and they incorporate the feedback given by the producer.

The next step for both the SWA and the producers is to translate the agreement into a legal language. "In principle, these producers have agreed to these clauses. There are certain checks and balances, and nuances that we have to be careful about. We have engaged a law firm to help us with the process. Now, in a week's time, we intend to put the idea into motion," Rajabali shares.

A standard agreement between the writers and the producers is not only the need of the hour for the former, but benefits the other side as well, Rajabali argues. "Whatever we are asking is not just reasonable and fair, it is based on mutual concern. If writers aren't stressed out or anxious or feel resentful about their contracts being one-sided, they can devote their efforts to creative work rather than hassling about these things, which only helps the writing process and a film overall."