Written by Kunshi Varma
Edited by the ECHO team
Sonam Shekhawat is the First Indian to win an Emmy Award for script writing. She is from Rajasthan. She pursued a degree in Animation and Multimedia from the Birla Institute of Technology. She has written for many shows like “Mighty Raju”, “Chhota Bheem", "Shaktiman" and "Little Singham". She received the Emmy for “All Hail King Julien". She has always felt like she belonged in the animated industry and that this is something she loves doing.
In conversation with Mrs.Sonam Shekhawat, please find the excerpts from the tete-a-tete with her.
Q. Pls share something about your journey in the field?
Ms. Sonam: My journey into the industry started with” Little Krishna” show when I had just passed out of college. I pursued a BSc in animation and multimedia, but I was always very passionate about script writing.
Q. How do you choose or decide on a specific theme?
She: I initially start the process by thinking of a protagonist, which could be anyone or anything. Followed up by deciding on what the protagonist is trying to do or its aim / intent. The next step is to think why the protagonist is not able to achieve the goal which then creates an obstacle and hence a storyline that keeps the audience intrigued.
Q. Why should one look at script writing as a profession?
She: Script writing is a profession that does not become monotonous and that you get to write a new story every day. You get to inspire people by your views and philosophies. It is an interesting and fun profession.
Q. What perspective do you like to include in the script (Personal as well as audience point of view)?
She: For writing a script, one needs to know their target audience. For example, when writing for younger age groups, it needs to be relatable, unique and inspiring but when writing for teenagers, it should be something cool, logical and happening. There needs to be a connection with the audience.
Q. You've won an Emmy award for "All Hail King Julien", how does that make you feel?
She: It's a great feeling and it was always something I was focused on. The vision was there to achieve it during the career span but I got it unexpectedly at such an early stage which was a huge delight. This helped me get a lot of recognition across but immensely in my field. All shows/movie production corporates started trusting me more with their scripts and the gains were both tangible (Monetary / Perks) and intangible (Quality of work/ prestigious assignments with large business houses).
Q. What is the difference in getting ideas across to the audience between movies and shows?
She: When it comes to movies, you have just one shot to create a big story with a big budget. One does not have to make people fall in love with the character because it only runs for a particular time duration. Coming to a show, it has a lot of episodes or seasons, so it's important to make the audience fall in love with the character. Both are equally exciting and challenging. The biggest difference is where the recurring aspect of the show comes into play, the same character or something similar might appear in most episodes so every episode needs to be interesting. The character needs to become a habit. Whereas in a movie, it needs to be relatable for a certain amount of time and it must be very strong since it's only one shot.
Q. What are your views on creative expression?
She: if you are a creative writer, the first idea should be working for yourself. Moreover, there needs to be a personal connection with the show. You can only sell a show when you are not just writing for the money but for yourself as well.
Q. How do you include that in your work?
She: Most of my work is around children. The best part about writing for children is that you can have the most creative and bizarre solutions and they will love it because their minds work on a genius level. They will not question or try to think how it is possible. I realized this in the very initial stage of my career while I was writing for Shaktimaan animated series. Jeffrey Scott (also a renowned screenwriter who is a 3 times Emmy Award Winner and has written shows like teenage mutant ninja turtles, dungeons and dragons and spiderman) had to write a solution for a volcanic eruption and how instead of having a normal solution, he decided to snap the high-tension cables and sew the volcano shut. At first, I found this very bizarre but then it ended up becoming the most watched episode of the show. If we are asked to draw a house it will be an outline of the house but on the other hand if a kid is asked to do the same, he/she will draw a house with furniture in it, including people and what they are doing in the house.
The interview gave us an idea of the process of scriptwriting and an insight on how the industry works. Moreover, we find out basic things like what could be different when one is writing for movies and shows. It also gives us the idea of how OTT platforms have come in and made their place in the industry after various struggles.
Coming back to our month's theme, creative expression, the interview helps us understand that creative expression is something that comes from within and comes when you love what you do that is when you have a personal connection with your work. The motive should be to work for yourself, other factors like money remain in play but this should be our primary focus. When one works for themself, they are able to express better, connect better and write better.
great interview and comments