Whistling Woods International is organizing its annual 5-Day Screenwriting Workshop by Mr. Anjum Rajabli, veteran screenwriter & HOD, Screenwriting - WWI in association with the Screenwriters Association (SWA). The Midday team reached out to Mr. Rajabli who shared more details about the workshop.
Q: What is it that the participants can look forward to from the workshop and how will it benefit them?
AR: This workshop is primarily meant for aspiring and new writers. However, we do often have professional screenwriters attending as it helps them revise and refurbish their knowledge of the craft.
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The workshop offers a substantial introduction to the basics of the screenwriting craft, covering the entire journey from idea, theme, and premise, to plot character, structure, scene construction, and dialogue-writing. For feature films as well as for web series. Participants receive guidance about writers’ rights, contracts, copyright law, and how SWA can support them.
There will also be a session where participants can practice pitching.
Q: Share some details about the guest sessions by industry professionals?
AR: We have five guests this time. There’s Sriram Raghavan (Andhadhun, Johnny Gaddaar) who struggles creatively with every script as if it is his first. Then we have Alankrita Srivastava, a very talented and courageous writer who broke new ground with Lipstick Under My Burkha and has been doing some noteworthy work since. Mitesh Shah, who made waves with Tumbbad and is now a sought-after script consultant. Durgesh Singh whose Gullak is very popular, and then Satyanshu Singh, the co-writer and co-director of Chintu Ka Birthday and is now also an excellent teacher of screenwriting.
These guests have always readily interacted with young writers, mentoring them, and sharing their knowledge and experience freely with aspiring writers. So, we do expect the sessions to be insightful and extremely helpful for our participants.
Q: Any advice you would like to give to screenwriting aspirants interested in being part of this industry?
AR: This is a very productive time to enter the field of screenwriting. Opportunities are opening up, shooting up the demand for good writing. However, it is imperative that aspiring writers learn the craft, practice it on their own repeatedly, develop the required competence, and only then step into the market with at least two feature scripts under their belt. It is also important that they understand their legal and contractual rights so that they can negotiate better.
Above all, it is important to have conviction in your ideas and back it up with hard work.
Date: February 15-19, 2023.
Time: 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Venue: Hybrid - Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, and Online.
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