Pigeon of Brown Stories

Hi again all.  As it turns out, I’ve not had my blog account cancelled and my moody pouty pic remains, so until I’m finally given the boot, I thought I’d continue writing my thoughts down here for all to see.  For today’s topic, the woes of being a ‘British-Asian’ screenwriter.  No violins, thanks.  It’s actually pretty cool having an insight into two different cultures, but more on that later. 

Before I start, a little update on what’s been going on.  My time on the Spark Screenwriting Scheme is almost over and I’m just awaiting feedback on a 12-page treatment I handed in on Company Sahib to hear whether they’re interested in taking it further.  Although I’m highly excited with the project, being set in 1792 India isn’t going to do the budget any favours.  Whatever happens, I’ll continue to develop it.  Continuing on from the end of my last blog, I unfortunately wasn’t successful with the ‘Pitch in Time’ competition (unsurprising with the huge amount of entries they received), and my Groundhog Day entry for the ‘Be Kind Rewind’ competition didn’t even go in, due to stupid instructions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVsa9uW7Vrs - favorited 14 times!) Still no luck on the script development job front either, despite some huge moments of hope so still working at my parents’ surgery.  And the beat goes on. 

However, Til Jihad Do Us Part, the concept I originally pitched for Spark, was recently shortlisted as one of six projects on the Moxie Makers’ “The Big Pitch” competition.  WOOHOO!  In the process of getting a director and producer attached, so things are looking good.  The next round’s in October.  Wish me luck.  

Anyhow, back to topic.  I recently shared a long list of my undeveloped concepts with a Canadian traveller I met in Greece.  She was impressed with the ideas but noticed I had a huge interest in ‘brown’ stories (as she calls them).  She wasn’t wrong, but this was not always the case.  Throughout my masters, I swayed away from anything to do with Asian in fear of being pigeonholed.  Still, this didn’t keep me fully away from ‘brown’ stories, considering I wrote an epic feature set in Mesopotamia, I introduced an Indian character in my Scrubs spec script, I wrote a British-Asian rude-boy character into my student sitcom and, though the main family in my animated sitcom is British, the main crux of the series is based on integrating into another society. 

One of the greatest rules of screenwriting is to ‘write about what you know’.  Why should I be ashamed of writing about the British-Asian experience?  It’s a viewpoint on life that many do not have the opportunity to see.  Still, this is not to say that every British-Asian viewpoint is exactly the same, or even that people of a different background cannot write about British-Asian life.  Simon Beaufoy and Peter Kominsky have proved this respectively with Yasmin and Britz, two very powerful perspectives that, I’m afraid to say, were a lot more true to life than the works of most of today’s British-Asian writers. 

What I’m afraid of is being pigeonholed as a ‘British-Asian’ screenwriter (emphasis on the quote marks).  I’m sure, solely by reading the titles of my projects listed above, you can tell that there is a level of ‘brown’ involved.  Even last week, I submitted a short script for the BBC Sharps competition on the increasing number of young British-Asian women going through hymenoplasty operations to prove that they are virgins to future husbands.  But will this prevent producers and production companies from taking on my projects that don’t involve people of the brown?  Will they touch my comedy drama on a 90s Britpop band with a ten foot pole? 

I fully agree that British-Asian stories need to be told, but the same old stories of honour killings, mixed-race relationships and terrorism have got to get reduced unless the story offers a fresh, original twist.  Another thing to bear in mind is the public demand for such products.  If you were at the cinema and you were judging on what you wanted to watch by film posters, would the average cinemagoer see the gangster thriller starring Daniel Craig and some random totty or the dark comedy starring the guy from The Guru with the girl from Yasmin?  You will go to see something based on how much you can relate to the characters in it, and despite how much we choose to deny it, this goes as shallowly as race.  Similarly, no matter how good that Daniel Craig film might be, a British-Asian audience such as my folks would probably be more likely persuaded to see the film with Jimi Mistry in it.  Unfortunately for writers of British-Asian stories, the former audience is a hell of a lot larger than the latter...

Unless the story also taps into the Bollywood market.

Co-productions with Bollywood are already happening.  For example, the South Asian company UTV has strategic alliances with Hollywood studios like Fox, Walt Disney, Sony, Will Smith’s Overbrook and recently co-produced The Happening.  The company Adlabs recently made a film starring Bollywood hero Salman Khan opposite Hollywood Heroes’ Ali Larter.  In addition to this, an increasing number of high-profile Bollywood films are being made inspired by the South Asian diaspora, though the western depiction of all girls wearing mini-skirts and boys owning a plethora of sportscars is highly unrealistic.  (If only).

What is stopping the British film industry getting a part of this action?  British films are renowned for their romantic comedies.  For Bollywood audiences, romantic-comedies equals ka-ching.  British films are renowned for their historical period dramas.  Films such as the recent Jodhaa Akbar and the Oscar-nominated Lagaan have proven that there is a huge appetite for Bollywood period films.  It’s a marriage made in heaven, yet nobody’s making a move.

So to sum up, if I am to get pigeonholed as a ‘British-Asian’ writer, I’d like it to be as somebody who writes for both British and Asian audiences alike.  Some of my projects might veer more towards a British audience, others towards Asian audiences, but if it’s got a great story and makes a healthy profit (and what film starring mainstream British and Bollywood actors wouldn’t), who cares?

Lets all write for Brollywood!