More than 100 Bollywood writers met under the aegis of the Screenwriters Association (SWA) on December 7 in Bombay to discuss their problems and find solutions. They were all unanimous in their feeling that writers were treated shabbily by producers, and were not paid commensurate with their contributions but were rather asked to indemnify producers if there was socio-political backlash to films written by them.
The complaints mainly centred around the following issues:
(i) Average remuneration of writers was shrinking;
(ii) credit to writers was given at the discretion of producers;
(iii) termination of the services of writers could be arbitrary;
(iv) writers were forced to indemnify producers if there was a socio-political backlash to films written by them;
(v) toughly-worded agreements forced writers to waive their moral rights as well as their right to receive royalty, both of which were guaranteed by the Indian Copyright laws;
(vi) not just the new writers but even established writers suffered on account of unfair contracts.
The gathering felt that thanks to the entry of large powerful corporations in the film and OTT industry, the situation of the writers had worsened, with contracts becoming “more one-sided and harsher, creating much frustration in the tribe”.
Anjum Rajabali (Raajneeti; in picture above), chairman of the Contracts Committee of the SWA, said, “The time has come to say, “Enough!” He added, “Our work deserves its due commercial value, and writers, their dignity. To get that, we have to break the existing mindset towards our profession.” SWA general secretary Zaman Habib (Ye Rishta Kya Kehlaata Hai) remarked, “A beginning has been made here. We shall push back as a united front to make our contracts fair and balanced. This meeting is a first step in that direction.” Abbas Tyrewala (War) hailed it as a historic meeting while Publai Chaudhuri (Rock On!!) welcomed it as a very important step.
Among those who attended the meeting were Sriram Raghavan (Andhadhun), Sujoy Ghosh (Kahaani), Sumit Arora (Jawan), Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (Bareilly Ki Barfi), Shridhar Raghavan (Pathaan), Harshvardhan Kulkarni (Badhaai Do) and Sudeep Sharma (Paatal Lok).