Garry Lyons, a professor of Leeds University conducted an intimate and interactive workshop with film and television writers on the 15^th of January at the “The Wedding Filmer” studio. It was the first of 12 monthly workshops scheduled for 2014 by ACEE-The Third Eye. These workshops are designed to engage writers of the film and television fraternities to help enrich their stroylines with socially compelling and relevant content.

The first thing Garry asked the participants to do was break into groups of four and list out themes that aren’t accurately portrayed (or portrayed at all) in Indian media. Poverty, religion, corruption and a lack of depth were a few of the subjects that were listed out by the participants. A conversation was then opened to analyse reasons behind this deprivation.

All analysis pointed towards the escapist nature of Indian society. Some argued that it is a misnomer that film studios were the cause and were just catering to the social demand, while others blamed the monopolistic nature of the industry for poor content. It was argued that Indian people live lives of drudgery and seek an escape into fantasy, as despairing content would only add to their burdens. An equal number opposed this opinion, branding it as cynicism; something they felt was inhibiting writers to explore broader landscapes.

The next barrier to meaningful content was the corporatization of the industry. Some participants lamented about the difficulty of getting a project commissioned if it was outside the tried and tested formulas that seemed to garner viewership. Garry was able to equate this phenomenon to British television; referring to a time post the “golden age of British television” post the nineties. He expressed his opinion that this was a phase that would eventually reach a saturation point and studios would be forced to break out of the mould and experiment to retain viewership. He did however acknowledge that India is a larger country and will likely present mammoth hurdles that would require tact and sensitivity to overcome.

Another barrier that Garry pointed out was the diversity of culture in India. Britain has a fairly homogenous culture and speaks a universal language. Due to cultural diversity and a linguistic barriers in India, it would be difficult to standardize content and creating specialized indigenous content in individualized context to ethnicity would be a colossal task. To elaborate, some participants narrated anecdotes that loosened up the flow of the conversation, until we somehow arrived at mythology.

A writer who was participating in the workshop was jaded with the poor and superficial depiction of Indian mythology, which is textually rich. He expressed disdain for the use of a linear narrative to illustrate a narrative that is cyclical in its literary form. In agreement, Garry veered the conversation towards video games, which he believes is the future of storytelling. He elaborated that not only do video games go into fractal detailing and deep characterization, with compelling plots and stark realism. The interactivity not only allows for cyclical narratives but also gives the viewer, or the gamer rather; the ability to make decisions and by doing so affect the narrative.

In conclusion, videogames lead us to discuss the unfathomable potential of technology. With systems like “Youtube” the process of democratizing the publishing of content from studios to independent individuals has already begun to gather momentum. As a result, studios will eventually have to compete with superior content and their superior production value will not hold ground anymore as individuals have access to technology of greater sophistication and are even able to push the envelope of production.

The last moments of the interaction took a philosophical turn as anthropological comparisons were made between today, the European renaissance and the “Love Generation” of the nineteen sixties. It was universally agreed that over time, those who are resistant to change are the ones who ultimately handicap themselves and get left behind in the obscurity of the past.