Ritesh Sidhwani helps Screenwriters Association ensure suitable pay scale for Bollywood writers

The Screenwriters Association (SWA) has come up with a plan to ensure remuneration for writers. They have come up with a structure where the payment will depend on the scale of the production, report s Mumbai Mirror. “If there is no script, there is no film, and no job in the industry. It’s the blueprint on which the entire project is based, and therefore there has to be a certain value to the script, which will encourage people to write better,” Anjum Rajabali, writer of films like Raajneeti and Aarakshan, and senior activist for SWA tells Mirror. [caption id=“attachment_6863871” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Ritesh Sidhwani. Image from Twitter[/caption] Rajabali adds that the organised structure will act as an incentive for writers, who in turn will create good scripts. He also shared that Excel Entertainment’s Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar are the first to adhere to SWA’s guidelines. The SWA is not just pushing for just pay scale but also to ensure the writer gets due credit for their work. The contribution of the writer(s) in the story, screenplay, script and dialogue will also be demarcated. The new plan also discourages arbitrary termination of a contract. Calling it a “basic criterion that everyone should adhere to,” Sidhwani said that he will approach the Producers Guild of India to create mandatory guidelines to make the writer community more secure.