The Indian film industry is currently witnessing a transformation with innovative screenplays and a host of budding directors, leading to a marriage between Hollywood and the Indian entertainment industry. Chadwick Clough, producer, founder and CEO, California based Script P.I.M.P (Pipeline Into Motion Pictures) ? a screenplay analysis and resource hub for writers tells Sagorika Dasgupta about his association with Hollywood film-maker Ben Rekhi and Bollywood scriptwriter Kamlesh Pandey to bridge the gap between India and the West in terms of scripts, content and the ScriptWalla workshop established to encourage upcoming scriptwriters. Excerpts:
What was the reason behind conceptualising Script P.I.M.P?
Script P.I.M.P, LLC is a screenplay analysis and resource hub for writers, producers and film industry professionals. The company has provided screenwriters worldwide with in-depth analysis from readers with story development experience. We try to circulate scripts to production companies, agents, and managers through our writers? workshop that reviews screenplays, short scripts and so on. On the production end, Rogues Gallery, a former Workshop ?Recommend? screenplay written by Brian Watanabe, wrapped production in Los Angeles and is set for a 2010 release.
As far as scripts are concerned, how is the Indian film and TV industry different from Hollywood?
In Hollywood, projects usually begin with the script. In the US, a producer will have an idea, hire the writer, auction the property, hire the director, and see the film through from beginning to end. In India, it is a director-driven industry, a producer usually green lights the director?s vision. They do not develop their own content. So, most of the production companies neither have a story development department nor a development budget. The main obstacles are two fold in India ? the lack of writers with professional screenwriting abilities and to educate and involve producers and directors in the art of evaluating scripts and good stories. We need to train them to recognise a good script, contribute to its development and purchase it.
What is the scope for Indian scriptwriters?
Script writing in the West is built upon the Greek drama and comedy structure of three Acts ? a beginning, middle, and end. Hindi cinema is built largely on Sanskrit drama, I do think that there is a renaissance happening now in Hindi cinema similar to what happened in the US in the 60s and 70s. Amateur directors are breaking in, making bold new statements, and finding new audiences in the process.
What is the ScriptWalla workshop and ScriptWalla Story Competition?
There was a demand for a competition or company since screen writing in India is maturing. Filmmaker Ben Rekhi has been working as a writer and director for the past year, and we collaborated to find out what works back home and bring those aspects to Bollywood. In many ways, the two markets are different. So a certain level of adaptation is required. The goal of the ScriptWalla competition is to filter through and find the best scripts and in turn partner them with the people who can produce them into films. It is open for submissions of screenplays, and short stories relating to India and the Indian Diaspora.
What projects are you working on?
I produced The Living Wake a script developed by Script P.I.M.P that is being released in the US this fall. I was also involved as the executive producer of a film that is in postproduction called Rogues Gallery, a $5 million Hollywood film with Ellen Barkin, Ving Rhames, and Emilie De Ravin from Lost. After meeting with film-makers, writers, and producers here in India, I am interested to find a project to do out here.