Mumbai, Aug 3 (UNI) The 2nd Day of the 5th edition of the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC) organised by the Screenwriters Association (SWA) saw an interesting and diverse range of panels which featured some of the most respected and well-known names of the media and entertainment industry.

From scriptwriting to lyrics writing to settling creative disputes, these panels covered a wide spectrum of issues and topics that concern the creative talents in the entertainment industry today.

The day began on a sombre note as SWA Executive Committee member Mr. Sanjay Chouhan informed audiences about the demise of SWA Ex-President Jalees Sherwani and a 2 minute silence was observed following this.

Towards the end of the day, Varun Grover performed a Stand-Up Act in which spoofed scriptwriters and their creative challenges, much to the audience’s delight. The day ended with a staging of the play Dohri Zindagi. The play which was directed by Gurleen Judge is based on a story by well-known writer Vijaydan Detha and deals with the issues of homophobia and same-sex love.

In the first panel, the day kicked off with ‘Dispute Settlement – Demystified and Explained’ – a panel that shed light on creative disputes, what copyright actually stands, copyright infringement, the rights of a writer, do’s and don’ts of a contract and much more.

Moderated by writer and SWA Vice-President Vinod Ranganath (Sea Hawks, Swabhimaan), the panel included SWA’s in-house Legal Officer Heema Shirvaikar, writer-director and SWA Executive Committee (EC) member and ISC co-convenor Sunil Salgia and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR expert) and advocate Sushrut Desai.

The panel tried to explain the functions of the Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC) of the SWA and how it tries to settle creative disputes of various kinds and help the concerned parties reach a settlement.

Elaborating on the responsibilities and strengths of the Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC), SWA Vice-President Vinod Ranganath said, “The operative word is settlement. We try and see to it that the disputes are settled amicably. We analyse the case and see if it actually needs our intervention. Our strength is collective bargaining. The large number of committee members helps us to negotiate and reach settlements amicably.”

Talking further about DSC’s roles and responsibilities, SWA EC Member and 5th ISC Co-Convenor Sunil Salgia said, “Writers need to understand whether their case has merit or not. They also need to understand which stories and scripts can be copyrighted.”

Breaking down the concept of copyright and what can be copyrighted, advocate Sushrut Desai said, “An idea, concept or a one-liner cannot be copyrighted. But if a concept is developed into a full-fledged script or a screenplay, then it can be copyrighted.”

Taking about what writers need to know about entering into contracts, Sushrut Desai said, “One must be fully aware about the terms and conditions while entering into a contract. Writers must go through all of it carefully because once a contract is made, it needs to honoured.”

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