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It all starts with a writer; it doesn’t always end well for a writer. Veteran screenwriter Anjum Rajabali, known for penning Bollywood films like Aamir Khan starrer Ghulam, Ranbir Kapoor-Katrina Kaif starrer Raajneeti and Ajay Devgn-headlined The Legend of Bhagat Singh, says writers in the Hindi film industry are fighting a battle on all fronts — from lack of dignified pay, insecure directors stealing credits to legal team of producers ensuring that when things go south, a writer is the one who suffers the most.
As whispers in the industry are slowly morphing into vocal protest about its unfair working and lopsided treatment to film crew, Rajabali, Senior Executive Committee Member, Screen Writers Association, spoke to Indianexpress.com about the issues plaguing the community. The veteran writer said there is an urgent need for the makers to stand up and safeguard the rights of writers, some of whom, especially the younger, newer ones, are finding it difficult to deal with the exhaustion they are repeatedly subjected to.
“The system needs oiling because everything is working against the writers today,” Rajabali said as he sat down to talk about the matters ailing film industry writers, an hour before he kickstarted a session to talk about their mental health, last month. The issues, he said, run from writers’ room, arbitrary decisions of producers, insecure directors jostling their way to credits and a deeply worrying “indemnity clause” that has caused nightmares across the community.
Veteran writer Anjum Rajabali on the battles screen writers are facing today.
‘Your work, my credit’
Rajabali said the two most important rights of a writer are pay and credit. While the former is suffering due to producers preferring to cough up more money for a stars’ entourage, the latter is also a tricky area, where producers and directors are rigging the game.
“There should be a way of assessment, if there are multiple writers, as to who has contributed how much, so that due credit is given. This is an arduous process and if there is a conflict, you need experts to determine whose credit it is. Producers prefer to bypass this by keeping the discretion of the final credit to themselves. There is a legal clause they have inserted, which says that the final credit will be at the discretion of the producers. It cannot be at the discretion of anybody! It has to be based on the work.
“What also happens is that many directors try to muscle into the writing credit, because it is a prestigious credit. When you get a written and directed by credit, it raises your creative stock. When you say, ‘I am a writer-director,’ it means you are a complete storyteller in cinema. People want that. I understand that, but in that case, you have to actually co-write, write full drafts.”
Slamming directors who want credits after putting in no work, Rajabali said “merely by giving feedback, throwing in some ideas and suggestions,” one can’t possibly be walking away with credit. It is a rampant practice done even by some established directors of the industry.
“I, as a teacher, give it to 100s of students, I can’t start taking writing credit! I am doing it in my position as a teacher, similarly, the director is doing it as a director. That way the director gives inputs to production designer or lyrics also, does he become a co-lyricist? A co-production designer? But they want writing credit, and that pressure often comes. I have known producers sitting in writing discussions–by all means, it is your film–and during that there will be back and forth, feedback and then you can’t say, ‘Even I have contributed to this, so even I want a credit.’
“This happens a lot. Many a times you have something as absurd as… There will be an individual writing credit, which will say ‘story by x and y’, ‘screenplay by y and z’, dialogues by ‘m’ and then there will be, ‘written and directed by someone else’. I mean, hello?! Then what have others done? When you say ‘written and directed by’, it means you have written the whole thing, from idea to final draft! But it is a prestigious credit, and they want that.”
In this tussle, Rajabali said new writers suffer the most. SWA has a credit arbitration committee, to ensure that if a complaint comes in, the team looks at the final draft and determines the credit. Rajabali said this is done as per the standard practice following international guidelines. “But here, we still have this feudal mindset and so the one who is giving money, the producers, will determine whose credit it will be. That’s not how it works. In this, new writers suffer. Oftentimes, the credits are accorded to a senior writer, who might have done less work, and the new writer gets the credit of an associate or a researcher, despite doing 50 percent of the work.”
‘If anything happens, pay up’
Rajabali said writers have to constantly be at the receiving end of “harsh contracts”, which adds to the already anxious environment of dealing with censorships, “fear of speaking openly” and the pressure of “you can’t write this, you can’t touch that area.”
The fear that if a writer writes something, which leads to the stoppage of the said project or violence, he or she will be thrown under the bus is “immense,” Rajabali said. The pressure is rising, as the community now finds itself battling “stringent” relationships with big studios, where basic rights are being “negated”.
Rajabali gave an example of a “harsh contract” and said, “Your contract can be terminated, at any point, without assigning any reason whatsoever. What does this mean? Your credit might be under threat because it is a producer’s discretion, they will say, ‘I didn’t like the way you spoke to me’. There could be creative differences, which is fair enough, but if I wrote a draft for you, which you are now disagreeing with, but I have written it to your brief and now you have to pay me. You had hired me for this. There has to be some standardisation here for termination.”
Then there is the big one, the indemnity clause. Rajabali said there has been a steady rise in the interference of legal heads in the final green-lit of a script. The environment of fear, perhaps post the 2020 Tandav controversy, has put everyone in the backfoot, with makers safeguarding themselves, but cunningly singling out the writer to fight on their own.
“The transaction of the copywrite law is, if I am a writer who submits the scripts to you, the producer, I am paid. Now, the producer becomes the owner of the script, I remain the author, who has assigned my rights to you. But today, when you move towards the final draft of the script, the producers run it past a battery of lawyers, marketing people, financers. They all examine the script. Why do the lawyers do it? For ‘safety’s sake’, to examine if the script has anything that the makers can be dragged to court for, if there can be any controversy.
“Inspite of that, my contract as a writer says, ‘I indemnify the studio for all costs, including legal, any damages or losses or interest costs incurred because the film can’t be released.’ Which means, the writer has to pay this amount in case there is some controversy. Why? Aren’t you the owner of the script? You accepted the final draft, I didn’t put a gun to your head, I didn’t make a film on your own with your banner. I simply gave the script to you, you examined, accepted it so the liability is yours. You need to be indemnifying me! Because people name the author also and say slap a case on them as well. You, as a producer, have to defend me but you expect a writer to pay you all the damages? It is a tough time, and the industry must come together to make changes,” Rajabali concluded.
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