from Myanmar Times

Screenwriters take centre stage
By Yin Min Tun

HIDDEN behind the glamourous costumes and camera-hungry actors, lies every movie’s foundation – the script. Scriptwriters create many of the fundamental aspects of a movie, from its setting to plot to moral message, says scriptwriter and author Chit Oo Nyo. Yet they have the least authority on the set.

A movie’s ideas and tone come from its screenplay, which are often a representation of the scriptwriter’s personality traits.

“Scripts differ depending on the writer’s individual life history,” said Nyein Minn, who has written 40 film scripts in the past 15 years.

Well known for writing drama films, Nyein Minn said he prefers to focus on dialogue.

On the other hand, Ni Ko Ye, who has written more than 100 scripts for videos and films since 1993, said that he values writing comedies.

“For me, I want everybody to have fun,” he said. “So I mostly create humorous stories based on my happy days as a student in university.”

Despite the hard work and ideas of scriptwriters, once the screenplay is written it is out of their hands. Some scriptwriters said that they have to relinquish all power and decisions. This may occur at the expense of the film.

Ni Ko Ye said that he tries to make the fans appreciate the movie’s suspense or climax by ensuring that all aspects, like the sound effects and setting, work well together. However, sometimes his work goes to waste.

“Many directors only think about finishing the movie in time, rather than polishing it to make it better. They therefore take out some scenes that they think are not very important to minimise the expense and finish as fast as possible,” he said.

Ni Ko Ye added that contrary to what the directors think, every scene is important. Taking out even a little bit can affect the movie.

Even if the screenwriter dislikes how the movie has changed, he or she must listen to the directors.

It gets worse.

“Sometimes actors refuse to follow the script,” said Ni Ko Ye. “Now the situation has absolutely changed so that actors are the most powerful ones on the set, so no one can go against them.”

He said that many actors want to win over the hearts of their audience, rather than play the part of the character the scriptwriter designed. This results in the scriptwriter having to adjust the script according to the actors’ desires.

“They are afraid of being hated by the audience, so they avoid appearing as a villain or a bad character,” Ni Ko Ye said.

In addition to the struggles with directors and actors, screenwriters must deal with other limitations in the film industry such as the availability of filming facilities, money and time. This can hinder them from fully developing their creativity on screen.

Another limitation is censorship, said Ni Ko Ye.

“After making a movie, film directors have to undergo censorship. Unfortunately, there are some things the censor board does not allow. Directors may then be unable to replace the rejected scenes because it would cost a lot and is difficult to make appointments with the actors and actresses,” he said.

Many producers and directors do not want to deal with such a problem. They therefore create a film with the censors in mind. However, this leads to a lack of new ideas and creativity.

Ni Ko Ye and Nyein Minn agreed that because producers and directors do not want to take such risks, the same old stories are being created.

They must work around the problem. Nyein Minn tries to draw the audience’s attention by creating new presentation styles.

Despite these limitations and struggles, scriptwriters continue to do their job as they need an income and find some victories along the way. However, they want to see changes.

“All members need to make sacrifices in order to improve the film industry, said Chit Oo Nyo. “Otherwise the industry will decline because of rivalry between the team members.”