Mukta Arts Buys ScriptWalla Workshop Studentâ€™s Screenplay

Mukta Arts Buys ScriptWalla Workshop Studentâ€™s Screenplay
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Like many other aspiring screenwriters, Siddhanta Ashdhir enrolled in the second batch of the ScriptWalla workshop. Soon after, his screenplay was purchased by Mukta Arts. Four more screenplays written by students from the first batch of ScriptWala are also under consideration by Mukta Arts for production, illustrating the success of the workshop and offering hope to other newbie writers.

“Scriptwalla helped me immensely to develop my half a page idea to a full fledged screenplay,” said Ashdhir. “I joined the workshop with several ideas and even more confusion. During my journey, Kamleshji's guidance and timely feedback not only focused my approach and dissolved the blocks faced by me, but his deep insights also metamorphosed the concept and took it to a whole new level. Scriptwalla has not only strengthened my screen writing ability but also acted as a smooth bridge to reach Mukta Arts. My concept has been liked by them and I have been signed as a screenwriter by Mukta Arts.”

Rahul Puri, Executive Director at Mukta Arts, is all praise for Ashdhir’s screenplay. “The story, written by Siddhanta Ashdhir is fresh, funny and should make a wonderful film. We look forward to developing it further with Siddhanta.” He further adds, “Scriptwala is a wonderful forum where new, talented writers can get expert advice to develop great ideas from an industry stalwart like Kamleshji. We are happy that this workshop was conducted at Whistling Woods, Asia's largest film, television and media institute. We look forward to meeting more writers from this workshop.”

Kamlesh Pandey and Ben Rekhi are also delighted. “Siddhanta Ashdhir's script is an intelligent comedy about the underworld and takes it to a whole new level,” said Pandey. “The implications are quite promising. We at ScriptWalla look forward to other production houses to come forward and take a pitch from our students. In future batches, we plan to invite producers and production houses for such an exercise. As told you right at our inception, ScriptWalla aims to build a bridge and start a traffic between screenwriters and producers where both sides benefit. And that is precisely what ScriptWalla started out to do.”

"We are thrilled that one of our workshop participants has landed a deal with a major production company,” said Ben Rekhi. He further adds, “ScriptWalla started out of a genuine need to tell better stories in our films, and the fact that a production house is optioning one of those stories shows that the demand for quality storytelling is increasing. In Hollywood where I live and work, we have an intricate network of agents, managers, and development houses, to facilitate the cultivation of scripts and stories from the page to the screen. After working in Bombay for a year, I was shocked that the biggest film industry in the world places no value on story or script, where in Hollywood this is everything. ScriptWalla aims to change this perception. With Siddhanta selling his script, we are finally bridging the gap between writer and producer, a bridge we plan to continue building. It's a win-win scenario; an aspiring writer lands a movie deal, an established producer has a fresh story, and the audience will get a quality film. The companies that realize strong storytelling will succeed, while those who re-hash the old star-director-music formula will continue to flop miserably. ScriptWalla aims to work with those writers and production houses that share our view: content is king."

Pandey reveals ScriptWalla’s future plans. “We are trying to expand the brand 'ScriptWalla' into script development for production houses and producers, script doctoring, script rewriting, script evaluation for production houses, annual awards for the best screenplay, screenplay contests, an online classroom, taking the workshop to smaller towns--our second batch had a family from Bhopal attending the workshop and the third batch has already students from Bhopal and Chhattisgarh applying to join.”

ScriptWalla’s third session is tentatively scheduled to begin from January 16, 2010, and they are currently interviewing applicants. The workshop will take place over the course of 8 weeks on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 AM to 1 PM at Whistling Woods International. Those interested in applying can email info@scriptwalla.com.