| Medium of instruction: | English |
| Course ID | SCRW 101 |
Content Creation for TV - Fiction
Since 1992 Indian television channels have been mushrooming on screen changing the way we experience entertainment forever. As we speak, there are more than 100 TV channels that cover all the different vernacular languages of India and broadcasting multiple formats of programming.
Content as they say is King and in Television the King hence is the Writer. Traditionally termed as the writer's medium, the television writer takes on a lot of responsibility in television. Unlike feature films where a project is green lighted mostly when a star is signed on, in Television the projects get green lighted by a concept developed by a writer. In the television industry today there is a need for good exciting concepts. But there aren't enough trained writers to deliver the goods. Hence the need for a Program which can not only train students in the basic nitty-gritty's of writing and so as to say teach the nuts and bolts of writing for today's television but also to take on the rigors of writing day in day out for the TV industry.
There is therefore a need for content, ideas and creativity that we would like to address with the course in Writing for TV –Learning The Basics.
Credit Points : 1
Award : Certificate in Writing for TV – Learning The Basics
Overview
Television Soap Writing, with focus on content creation. During the course, participants will go through the complete process of creating a daily soap show, starting with the germ of an idea, or ideation, expanding the idea to a story, plotting it over 260 episodes (1 Yr) and writing a week's screenplays and finally leading to a pilot episode..
Learning Objectives
1. To understand the craft of writing for TV
2. To understand how an idea for a Tv show gets developed into a full fledged soap.
3. To learn basics of plotting for Tv, mile stoning stories & its difference from film writing.
4. To learn the basic principles of screenplay writing in Tv & the importance of the Pilot Episode.
Course Content
1. Creating a High End idea (the winning concept)
2. Developing the idea to a concept & then to a story
3. Mile stoning the story into monthly and weekly stories.
4. Basics of Screenplay Writing. The journey from Step out line to Scene creation.
3. The importance of Scene. Scene as a Unit of Screenplay.
4. Creating Memorable Characters. Tv Shows are remembered for Characters.
Writing is a Creative Process in that it can't be taught but it definitely can be learnt. The workshop is designed in such a way that there will be minimal lecturing and more of writing under supervision.
Course Heads
Vinod Ranganath
Vinod Ranganath is a renowned theatre and television professional with a background in theatre in Hindi and English since 27 years and in television for over 16 years.
Theatre
He was actively involved in amateur theatre while studying at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and won Best Actor awards in inter-collegiate competitions (including at Mood Indigo, IIT in 1985). From 1983 onward he worked with Pt. Satyadev Dubey and his Theatre Unit. Did back stage, lights and music for Dubey's productions such as Bali, Aranya, The Village Wooing, Don Juan in Hell, Pratibimbh etc. In 1989, he co-directed Sambhog se Sanyaas Tak with Satyadev Dubey and also conducted theatre workshops with Dubey in 1989 and 1991.
In 1986, joined the theatre group Arpana and was part of the plays, Mat Yaad Dila, Avinaash, Chit Ya Pat and Cyclewallah. Recently acted in Cotton 56 Polyester 84. His ouvre as director with Arpana includes: An adaptation of Harold Pinter's Night out, in Hindi titled, 'Ek raat in 1991; two one-act plays, Tax Free and Appa Ya Bappa in 1993 and a revival of Mat Yaad Dila in 1998.
He has also been actively involved in theatre workshops and plays in Malayalam.
He has co- directed and acted in the English play A Suitable Bride which premiered in 1996 and ran successfully for 50 shows. The film What's Your Raashee? was based on this play.
Television
Vinod has written close to 2500 episodes on television in the last 16 years. Major works include 'daily soap operas' such as Swabhimaan, Sukanya, Kittie Party and Sarkarr, all co-written with Ms. Shobhaa De. and others such as Itihaas, Kartavya, Lekin Yeh Meri Life Hai, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, Agni, Kituu Sab Janti Hai, Kareena-Kareena, Mamta, Aisa Desh Hai Mera, Durgesh Nandini, Main Aisi Kyu Hu, Ghar Ek Sapna, and Dehleez.
Other work on television includes the serials, Parivar, Zara Hat Ke, Sea Hawks, Saaya, Waaris, Milan, Aandhi, Tiger and Force One.
Feature Films
Vinod Ranganath has written the story and screenplay of the Hindi feature film, Mil Gayee Manzil Mujhe, directed by Lekh Tandon, produced by Amit Khanna and Mahesh Bhat for Plus Channel. He also wrote the story, screenplay and dialogue of Mast directed by Ram Gopal Varma, the screenplay of the Malayalam film, Millennium Stars directed by Jayaraj, the screenplay for the Hindi Film Ishq-Vishq for Tips, directed by Ken Ghosh and the screenplay for the film Vibhatsa directed by Jayaraj..
Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Swades' was based on tVinod's teleplay titled Vapasi, written for Zee's Yule Love stories in 1995.
Ongoing Projects
Has written a film for Popcorn Entertainment to be directed by Vivek Kamath; is writing the story and screenplay for Agnisaakshi to be around October 2010, on Sahara One.
Teaching
Vinod has been conducting a Television Writing workshop for indiantelevsion.com, a web site dealing with various aspects of Indian television; he has trained more than 30 students in TV scriptwriting in the last 6 years.
| Classroom - Regular | ||||
| When | Duration | Where | Remarks | Price |
|
Wed, Sat |
(Total 40 Hrs) | All Venues | Not Specified | Price On Request |
| Price Notes: Notes to fees: - Project costs are not included in the fees. - Fee inclusive of refundable deposit, government taxes and registration fee - Special discounts will be available for groups, WWI Alumni and Associations. - Students enrolling for three or more levels of the same course will be given special concession at the time of payment. | ||||
Whistling Woods International
The Institute
Founded by one of the India’s leading filmmakers – Subhash Ghai and is promoted by Mukta Arts Limited & Filmcity Mumbai. Whistling Woods International(WWI) is Asia’s largest Film, Television, Animation and Media Arts institute, providing world-class education in all technical and creative aspects of filmmaking and television.
Whistling Woods has also been rated amongst the top 10 film schools in the world by ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, alongwith institutes like NYU Tisch, NFTS, FAMU & AFTRS. WWI was the youngest school to be featured in that list.
The WWI Mumbai campus is located inside Mumbai’s film & television production hub ‘Filmcity’, and offers courses that vary in duration from 1 year to 3 years, both full-time and part time in nature. All the major specializations of the Media & Entertainment industry are catered to, including Acting, Animation, Cinematography, Direction, Editing, Producing, Screenwriting, Sound and Media Studies. WWI also offers India’s first MBA in Media & Entertainment and India’s first MBA in Media & Communication.
The full-time faculty of WWI is a body of academics and renowned industry professionals like Subhash Ghai, Rajen Kothari, M Krishhnamurthy, Rob Reece, Anjum Rajabali, Rakesh Ranjan, Ashmaki Acharya, Somnath Sen, Samar Khan, Prashant Naik, Yusuf Mehta, Dhananjay Khore with regular guest lectures by leading Indian & International filmmakers, actors & technicians like Ashutosh Gowarikar (Director of oscar-nominated ‘Lagaan’), Farhan Akhtar, Ashok Amritraj, Shyam Benegal, Naseeruddin Shah, Danny Boyle (academy award winner for Slumdog Millionaire), Rajkumar Hirani, Rakeysh Mehra, Vishal Bharadwaj, Farah Khan, Nagesh Kukunoor, Shelley Page (head of international outreach for Dreamworks Animation), and several more. Students at Whistling Woods, hence, have a unique opportunity to interact on one-on-one basis with some of the most successful professionals in the Indian film industry.
The courses at WWI are designed to ensure that the students’ learning is collaborative and industry oriented. The curriculum at WWI is a unique hybrid of theoretical and practical aspects and ensuring that the creative dovetails well with the business aspects. All students also undergo rigorous study in several co-curricular faculties like Film Appreciation, International Art Literature Culture, Production Design & Music.
These unique elements in the curriculum & the teaching methodology have seen WWI’s student body growing over three times over the past three years. Further, almost 15% of the student body now comprises of International students, from the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Vietnam and others who choose WWI over the multiple film-studies options available in their own countries.
The Institute is also highly committed to ensuring that its students move into the industry in creative and rewarding areas of employment. WWI alumni are currently working at several leading media organisations like Aamir Khan Productions, Annapurna Studios, BIG Animation, Balaji Telefilms, Dharma Productions, Dreamworks, Excel Entertainment, Fox Star Studios India, Mukta Arts Ltd, Percept Picture Company, Prime Focus, Rajshri, Red Chillies Entertainment, Reliance Mediaworks, Rhythmn & Hues, Star TV, Technicolour, Walkwater Film, UTV Motion Pictures, Yashraj Films and several more.
In early 2011, The Sony Media technology Center – a global Center of Excellence established by Sony Corp. & WWI and located at the WWI campus in Filmcity, Mumbai was inaugurated by Sir Howard Stringer (Chairman, CEO & President, Sony Corp.). Sony has recognised WWI as a leader in the Media & Entertainment education sector in Asia, decided to partner with the institute for setup of the same. This follows Sony’s two other centers in London & LA and is the only one that has been setup in association with another organization, the first two being standalone centers. The Sony Media technology Center (SMTC) at WWI will focus on new and emerging technology in the fields of High Definition filmmaking, 3D filmmaking, High Definition Exhibition and HD Broadcast. Sony has equipped the WWI Mumbai campus with the latest technology in both HD filmmaking & 3D filmmaking and will also be stationing on campus their global subject matter experts from whom WWI students would learn a great deal.
In 2010, WWI was accepted as a full member of CILECT (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) – a global association of film schools, which lays very high standards on admitting members (there are only 150 members of CILECT). This membership has enabled huge expansion in WWI’s international operations with student & faculty exchanges been planned with the best film schools in the world. In the past as well, WWI has initiated affiliations with several global film schools, including first-ever-in-India activities like International student co-productions. Some of the schools that we have undertaken these activities with are Deakin & Griffith in Australia, Bradford College UK, Syracuse University USA & NYU Tisch Asia.
In a major step in secondary education in India, WWI was invited to partner with India’s premier High School Board - the CBSE board by the Ministry of Human Resource Development - Government of India to design a Media Studies curriculum for the country’s primary High School board (the CBSE board). WWI has prepared the curriculum, teaching methodology & is undertaking teacher-training for the ‘Media Studies’ elective in the 11th & 12th grade.
With the Mumbai campus operational since July 2006 and the student body having grown from 90 to 350 over 3 years, WWI is strongly looking at expansion both in terms of course verticals and campuses.
The above is just a snapshot of what Whistling Woods International has achieved in the short span of five years and the institution strongly marches on its way to fulfilling it’s goal – to be the institute of choice for media education globally.
