Hollywood is a stable industry surprisingly. Its basic model has remained the same for the past 80 years — financiers in New Yoyrk lend money to creative people in Los Angelas. Consequently the big studios have been at the top since 1950s — Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Universal, 20th Century Fox. It is puzzling to see this stability since movie studios do not have many assets. Their projects are just collaborative — a bunch of independents come together. A studio however, possesses one main asset — its ability to put together these disparate elements. There is entry barrier also — others do not find the business lucrative. Some invest because glamour facilitates their other businesses. Hollywood seem to be destroying itself — it is difficult to get financing and audiences. The projects are growing more ambitious and costlier to eliminate the risk. The existing Intellectual Property (IP) is being exploited in the trend of sequels.
Author: Shabbir Chunawalla
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Screenwriter and Fiction Writer
The role of a screenwriter is peculiarly different from that of a fiction writer. A screenwriter is writing for a picture and words tend to change the image in the writer’s head to some other image while entering the director’s head.
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India Witnesses Motion Pictures for the First Time
On 7th July, 1896, a rainy Tuesday, an audience of Europeans paid a rupee each to watch a show which is branded as the Marvel of the Century — the motion pictures or living photographic pictures. India witnessed the debut of the motion pictures at Watson’s Hotel, the swankiest hotel of Bombay, as Mumbai was then called. Watson’s Hotel, situated in the heart of South Mumbai, is now called the Esplanade Mansion and is in ruin.
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Hairstylist-cum-Screenwriter — Ayesha Devitre
Ayesha is a hairstylist by profession a screenwriter by passion. She is the co-writer of Ek Main Aur Ek Tu. Hairstyling and scriptwriting happened to her serendipitously.She learnt hair styling at Nalini & Yasmin. Avantika and Imran were her clients. Imran asked her to do hair styling for the film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. She developed frienship with Shakun on the sets. Shakun liked her story-telling ability and enquired about collaboration. They prepared several drafts and approached Imran. The script was approved by Karan Johar. The script of Ek Main Aur Ek Tu is her debut.
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Protecting Screen Writer’s Interests
Muazzam Beg is the co-writer of Rockstar. He feels that Indian film writers ought to get as much respect as their Hollywood counterparts when it comes to sharing credit for the project. Earlier the industry had respected writers like Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Rahi Masoom Raza and Sahir Ludhiyanvi. In the 1980s, Salim (Khan) and Javed (Akhtar) earned much respect. The writers in Hollywood get paid as a percentage of the budget of the film. Here In India the industry does not follow this system. Muazzam feels that a writer should be paid 5 per cent of the total budget of the film. Akshat Varma, the Delhi Belly writer feels that the industry is risk-averse. Sudhish Kamat feels that writers too write just for the sake of writing. Neeraj, the writer of Shor feels that the equation between the director and writer makes a lot of difference. Advaita Kala feels that a film is a collaborative effoert, and a writer is just one contributor. She, however, adds that the writer’s interest must be protected.
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Fashion Designer — Sabyasachi Mukherjee
This 39-years old ( 2014 ) designer from Kolkata started with a Rs.20000 loan he took from his sister Payal in 2002. Sabyasachi, the label, has grown into a business employing 600 craftspeople, 32 assistants and revenue of Rs52 crore plus in 2011. He is talented , and has sharp business acumen. He sees himself as a commercial designer. He is at his workshop in Kolkata from 9.00 AM to 10 PM every day, except when he travels. He earns and reinvests the money into his business. His family is intimately involved in the business. His sister Payal is the bedrock. His father is a chemical engineer who manages finances, and his mother an artist has now been asked to remain in the background. He is of the opinion that style icons must be consistent in the outfits they wear — they cannot do different outfits.
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Celebrity Management
These are the days of glamour. Even smaller events like birthday parties, marriage receptions, thread ceremony etc.require the presence of celebrities. The affordability determines the type of celebrity presence. Celebrities do entertain, and at the same time lift up the social status of the host by a notch or two.
Celebrities charge for their appearance at the different events and parties. Many parties have commercial motives. Then there are reality shows on TV. There are brand promotion events, product launch events, price distribution ceremony and fashion shows. All these require the presence of celebrities.
The work is assigned to celebrity management professionals. It is a good, glamorous career option. In the last decade, the profession has arrived. The turnover of this industry is estimated at Rs.1000 crore and 80 per cent benefit from this industry flows to 50 celebrities.
There are three levels of celebrity management. The first level is to manege brand endorsement. It is to be seen that the brand and celebrity gel with each other. The professional acts as a link bethween the company and client. He facilitates the deal finalization. Some celebrities self manage the deal. The other level of celebrity management is the endorsement deals of second tier celebrities. The third level is the secondary celebrities with the crowd pulling power e.g. TV artistes, magicians, reality TV artistes, comedians.
The other area is the grooming of celebrities. It also involves image management. They make the celebrities participate in conducive events, and mange the media.
Atul Kasbekar runs Bling, a celebrity management company. Sonu Tyagi runs Approach Entertaiment. They are celebrity consultants too. Entertainment and event management companies are in contact with the celebrity management professionals.
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Who Are Copywriters ?
Copy of an ad meant in a broad sense the whole of an ad, with words and pictures and other elements. In a narrow sense, it means the written communication in the ad, omits the visuals. A copy writer thus writes the copy, and is a key player in creating an ad. He works in an advertising agency, or as a free lancer. Copywriting is a creative profession, and quite a challenging one too. A copywriter has a flair for language just like other creative artists — like a poet, a novelist, a short-story writer or an essayist. However , he is not free to express whatever comes to his mind like the other creative artists.His communication is integrated to the business objectives of the company for which he is writing, and achieves the tasks the brand manager or advertising manager has set in his briefing. Copywriting is thus not mere by artistic attempt. Copy may or may not have literary merit, but it must meet the advertising objectives. While doing so, if it also has literary merit, well and good. Many literateurs have attempted to write copy, but have failed. Copywriting is thus a combination of skills — linguistic skills, business acumen and the ability to turn out good copy under the pressure of short dead-lines. It is thus very challenging, and at the same time very rewarding profession.
Copywriters have individual styles and approaches. But one thing is sure, it is sheer hard-work. It involves a tremendous amount of planning by interacting with a number of professionals — account executives, client, art directors and research specialists.Besides, we have to do and re-do the copy till it becomes acceptable to the client. But whether doing and redoing is really possible under the pressure of dead-lines is a moot point.
The copy that we see in the ad relates to the head-lines and the body copy. Besides these, copy extends to writing a lot of promotional material such as posters, catalogues, press releases, radio copy, TV commercial’s audio part etc.
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Helen Gurley Brown
Helen Brown is the legendary editor who put sex on the cover of women’s magazines. She passed away in August 2012 at the age of 90. She was associated with a prominent women’s magazine in 1965. The 1960s were the time the Feminist movement was on the rise in the US. The signs of femininity — bras, lipstick — were discarded, and equal, non-sexual look was aimed at. Brown put women of substance — writers, artists, entrepreneurs, musicians, movie, stars — on her covers wearing a short shirt, plunging top and a neon- coloured bra. This overt sexual look in the midst of feminist movement emphasised feminine desirability without compromising her personality. That makes her no less of person, on the contrary she becomes more of a woman. She has to become more attractive to hereself, more comfortable and more confident. Brown wanted to tap this confidence. Brown’s version of feminism — fun, feminine and yet powerful — has survived. A woman could be sexy, serious and successful at the same time.
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VIVACIOUS NEW YEAR –2015
To all the esteemed readers, I wish you a healthy, wealthy and peaceful New Year- 2015.