A ‘lab’ or a “laboratory” is not exactly a term one commonly associates with creative pursuits. Yet, recent times have seen a number of dedicated bodies mushrooming in the film industry that call themselves “script labs”. The reason, in Habib Faisal’s words, is because screenwriting is also a science as much as it is an art. He has been associated with the NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab as mentor for four years now along with several other known names in the industry who have collaborated with other similar labs that are making an effort to apply this science to the fine and tricky art of filmmaking.
There are four key players in the space currently. Besides NFDC, there is the Mahindra’s Mumbai Mantra, the Drishyam-Sundance and the Asia Society’s Screenwriting Lab, which calls for theme-based stories. And if we take a look at some of the recent films that have been acclaimed world wide — The Lunchbox, Ship of Theseus, Killa or most recently Court and Masaan, we’ll find they all have one thing in common — they all had a go-ahead from leading script labs in the country. The scripts that are chosen for these labs are screened by a committee of filmmakers, writers, directors and producers. The selectors look for scripts that are “lab-worthy” in how they push boundaries in their ideas and execution.
Creative scientists: Once inside the lab, it is all about the writing alone, minus the usual spoilsports of deadlines and diktats by producers and directors. In the Drishyam-Sundance lab, says mentor Sriram Raghavan, “Each script is read and discussed by the mentors first and then we have one-on-ones with the writer. In a sense, the mentors are the first audience. We may love it or trash it but the idea is for the writer to get solid feedback from a variety of writers and directors. Eventually, the writer is expected to distil the collective feedback and write the next draft.”
In Mumbai Mantra, each writer is assigned five mentors and each of them takes three-hour long sessions. Scriptwriter and academician Anjum Rajabali, mentor for Mumbai Mantra, says, “As mentors even we take notes, suggestions and look at the intention of the author, which we discuss with the other mentors during our morning meetings. No two mentors are alike but our unified aim is to dig deeper into the story.”
How scripts get distilled: Sharat Katariya, whose film Dum Laga Ke Haisha went through a script lab in NFDC reveals that the first draft of his script did not have the race sequence. There was nothing at stake for the couple in the story, he says. “While discussing with my mentor Urmi Juvekar and a few others, I realised there should be a reason for the couple to come together. I got a platform to hear different points of view on my story, and then rewrote it so it appealed to everyone. The mentors also talk to you to understand your background, why the story is important to you but nobody forces you to follow a certain path,” says Sharat who had shared his room with The Lunchbox director Ritesh Batra during their script lab session. He later went on to write Titli with Kanu Behl, another script lab tested story.
Neeraj Ghaywan, whose Masaan created ripples the world over, recalls how raw his material was when he had come to Mumbai Mantra. “We thought we were almost ready. But we were so wrong. One of our mentors sat with me and made line sketches and wrote the subtext of each of the scenes and then told me how the subtext wasn’t flowing. That’s the detail that the mentors focus on,” he says.
Writers are not allowed to write anything while the sessions are in progress, says Dyanesh Zoting, whose film Raakshas got selected by Drishyam Sundance this year. “Because one can get influenced by the stalwarts mentoring you. The days were broken into categories. The first day, they would discuss my intentions, on the second day we would focus on characters, next structure, conflicts and so on. And on the last day, we would get to the dialogues,” says the young filmmaker. This was his first script lab. “The lab helped me build more confidence in my story.”
Umesh Kulkarni, who made the highly acclaimed Deool and Vihir, did not get those scripts tested by a script lab. He admits that initially he was sceptical about the mentors not understanding the writer’s world and therefore not understanding the script. But attending NFDC script lab last year changed his mind. He says, “My script for Antaraal was selected by the NFDC script lab last year but I haven’t decided to make it yet. It is not absolutely essential to have your script tested from a script lab, but yes, they have opened up a discourse on scriptwriting and we have started to question the ways we write.” In his year, Kanu Behl’s Titli and Alankrita Shrivastava’s Lipstick Under My Burkha were part of the lab and both films got made.
Control and guidance: A screenwriters’ lab is not a classroom. No one tells you what to do and what not to do. Habib, who has joined the Romance Lab of NFDC for the second time, says, “There is no gun to your head. You don’t write to fit into a star’s dates. Nobody is shouting instructions. Here you interact with other writers. Mentors are primarily just nudging, writers take in whatever they want to. We bring in a certain objectivity. The mentor needs to go in with humility. You are working with the thematic concerns of a writer. I go in with an open mind to understand where the writer is coming from, only then I can help them achieve what they have set out to do.”
The process is too fluid for words, he says. “So many thoughts come to you when you are writing, a new thought every second. We try to collect those thoughts in a linear format because while writing you can lose that thread.” Anjum Rajabali, who has attended 14 script labs so far, compares it to “cooking biryani.” He says, “There are various ways of making biryani and each one is right — there’s Hyderabadi, Malwani, Kolkata-style, and so on, but what we focus on is the intention of the writer. We are not there to impose our own sensibilities and that is something that we as mentors are always very careful about. It is a very delicate process.”
And if need be, even the mentors can be filtered out. He says, “Mentors don’t look down upon the writers, rather we treat them like a compatriot and we are a community. Most mentors are chosen keeping the compatibility and their attitude in mind. And if a mentor is obnoxious, he/she won’t be invited the next year. Outside the formal sessions, there’s an air of frankness and candour in the script lab.”
Sometimes the writers themselves are not aware of the hidden intentions of their story, Anjum says. “In the sessions when we talk about it, they jump with joy and exclaim, ‘Yes! This is exactly what I wanted to say but somehow couldn’t figure it in my head.’ The story needs to occur organically, because there are principles but no rules, forms but no formula.”
Everyone learns: “I mentor for selfish reasons,” Habib confesses. “The lab is very therapeutic for both the mentor and the writer. As a mentor I get to read a lot of interesting material and exercise my scriptwriting faculties. Labs don’t just teach writing, but also ways to tangibly pitch it and take it forward.” Habib says that he’d love to be mentored himself, but as Sriram points out, “These labs are open only for first and second time writers or else, most of us alleged veterans would be applying too.”
The learning is a two-way street. Anjum shares, “As mentors, you also end up learning from the new writers and it’s a space for genuine counter-inspiration. Often as professionals we have a set pattern and when these new writers approach their story in a different way, it opens up new avenues for us as well.”
What more can be done? More mentors, says Umesh. “The labs need a lot more people who can be good mentors for different kind of films and ideas because the most important part of the script lab is the chemistry between the writer and his mentor.” Sriram has another suggestion, “Most fresh writers don’t get a chance to pitch their stories to studios or directors. It would be useful if there were some agency that could put new writers in touch with filmmakers. Of course, there will be a lot of trashy scripts to weed out. But there will surely be some undiscovered gems.”
