Joining the media Society
Coming out of School without not much community interactions đ€, one of my goals was to enter a club in university. At first I didnât have any idea where to go to. My hobbies and interests are so out of place itâs hard to find a club that interests me. So, when one of my friendsâ suggested that I should join the Media Society of my faculty, I thought, Why not.
Proving my suspicions, once again I had vastly underestimated the concept of human interactionsâ because contrary to popular beliefs, I am awful at it. But in cases of life choices, I follow a simple and oh-so-effective teachings; âdoing it for the plotâ. So once again, following that principle, I decided to join the Content Writing team of the Media Society.
This was six to eight months agoâ(68 months?? No, six to eight months. And if you didnât get that reference, I am deeply offended). As a freshman stepping into university, clueless about the culture but eager to be part of something, I was genuinely surprised when I got acceptedâthough I have no idea how I even made it in. But hey, I did.
Becoming a script writer
When all things are said and done nothing much happened after that. I was a member but I couldnât participate much to contribute to the club as I hoped because of the studying and the misalignment of my expectations with the group. But I enjoyed being part of it.
So this makes me to fall back as a mere participant but not a contributor, which often makes me uncomfortable. Being part of something and not having something to offer as contribution is quite a bothersome feeling. And because of that I couldnât muster much courage to interact with my fellow clubmates.
However, time passes and just after the first semester ended, I hear few bits of news of a project in the horizon. About a short film, produced by the club. Now this, piqued my interest, as that falls on the category of âCreative Writingâ, one that I am confident in. As I have told you before, one of my main hobbies is writing and story telling.
So finally realising a chance for me to contribute to I decided to join in. The early stages of the project was all over the place, I had no idea what was going on, seemingly they had no idea what was going on, but all in all it was a fun experience. At the start of the project, There were multiple ideas being thrown around, just throwing stuff at the wall and watching for something that sticks. Most of the ideas were great, each party had their own side where they wanted to take the project, and having many talented individuals in the Content Writing team communicate their thoughts and ideas an awesome scene to experience.
With so many ideas floating around, the members were asked to submit any scripts we wanted to pitch to the board. The moment I heard that, I knew I had to give it a shot. But thatâs where the problem layâup until now, I had only ever read scripts; I had never actually attempted to write one. All my writing experience was in storytelling and novel writing.
So when I decided to throw myself into the fray, I quite literally had no idea what I was getting into. But I thoughtâIâve never done this before, so how hard could it be? Right?
I was wrong.
A novel script
That day, mistakes were made, and lessons were learned.
What did I learn, you ask? Well, for starters, scriptwriting and story writing are completely different things (who couldâve guessed?). I learned that the hard way when my so-called âscriptâ turned out to be a 20,000-word novel. And not even one that could pass as a full-length feature filmâbecause even those parameters werenât enough to contain whatever I had written. It felt more like the start of a trilogy.
Once I realized that sailing blind wouldnât get me anywhereâbecause, letâs be honest, I had no idea what I was doingâI started researching scriptwriting. That quickly spiraled into a full-blown fixation on movie production for a couple of days. On the bright side, that obsession blessed me with all the knowledge about filmmaking and screenwriting (or at least as much as my brain could hold onto).
Armed with that newfound knowledge, I sat down and speed-ran a movie script over a single weekend. (I was proud of it for about a week before I realized how terrible it actually was). Because when I finished, I thought, Hey, this would make a great short film! Keyword: short. Spoiler alertâit wasnât short at all.
Just like before, even this attempt couldnât be considered a short filmâthough it could have been a feature-length movie. But who has the budget for that? The funniest part? My first draft was over 80 pages, and I had to painstakingly cut it down to barely 50. And even then, I couldnât bring myself to trim it further without feeling like I was butchering the plot.
But hey, at least that process taught me some crucial thingsâlike structure, pacing, and scene descriptions. So it wasnât all bad. (Aside from the part where I screamed into my pillow, convinced I was a failure.)
As they say, failure is the greatest teacher. Doesnât mean it hurts any less.
Still, I wasnât ready to let go of that script. I wanted the world to see what I had created (what an idiot), so I decided to take a shot in the dark and submit it to the committee. And thatâs when the real fun beganâbecause, to my shock, it was rejected. Not surprising in itself, but why it was rejected? That was the real kicker.
Turns out, it wasnât about the length. No, it got rejected because I wrote it in English. And yeah, that oneâs on me for not checking the project criteria properly. But even then, I never once thought to question why it had to be in a different language (I realize my mistake now).
Anyway, they informed me that they wanted to film the movie in our native language, Sinhala đ±đ°. And learning that felt like taking a bulletâbecause, in reality, I cannot write in Sinhala to save my life. If someone held me at gunpoint and told me to write in Sinhala, Iâd probably just say, âGo ahead and shoot.â Thereâs no word other than terrible to describe my native writing. (And personally, I donât think I can properly translate some of the nuances of English writing into Sinhala with confidence.)
And just like that, my hopes of participating in the project as a writer went up in smoke
But fear notâthis saga wasnât over just yet. A few weeks of back and forth later, the team started looking for members for the production crew. And even if I wasnât the writer, I still wanted to be involved. Besides, the experience alone was worth it, and I wasnât about to let all my newly acquired knowledge in movie production go to waste. It was an opportunity I couldnât just pass up. So, naturally, I signed up immediately.
Fortunately, I got invited to be part of the production team.
While waiting for news on where the project was headed next, my brain decided to cook up another idea for a script. This time, though, I actually took my timeâno way was I making the same mistakes again. And thinking third timeâs the charm, I wrote it.
And guess what? This time, I finally managed to create a script that I could confidently categorize as an actual short filmâ(I did it, Mom!). It clocked in at around 8 minutes, with only a handful of characters. And for the first time, I felt truly happy with it.
But then reality hitâI knew this script wasnât going to see the light of day through the university club. That realization was a bit dispiriting. But for the sake of it, I shared the script with my friendsâafter all, they were part of the reason I even attempted this in the first place.
To my surprise, they suggested that if we really wanted to, we could make the film ourselves.
Now thatâs something I just might keep an eye on for the future.
The day of the auditions
Anyway, while I had to put a pin in that story, time passed once again. And then came today.
Today was an interesting dayâbecause today was audition day for the short film. It had been a while since I found out that a script had been chosen and that the project was moving forward. Now, youâd think that as a member of the production crew, Iâd be up to speed on all the details, right?
Well⊠youâd be absolutely right. I should be.
But I missed a meeting, so I was completely in the dark about it. Still, I learned that a casting call was happening today, and casting is one of the most crucial aspects of filmmaking. After all, without actors, thereâs no movie to be filmed. Since I needed to refresh my memory about production anyway, I did some extra research on the casting processâunderstanding the logistics, the prep work, and what goes into hosting a proper audition.
But learning about casting is one thing. Experiencing it firsthand is an entirely different beast.
As a writer, when you create a character, you have a crystal-clear image of them in your mind. Writing a character with personality is one thing, but bringing that character to life through an actor? Now thatâs nerve-racking. In my opinion, finding the actorâthe one who can breathe life into imagination and translate words into a performanceâis a delicate, careful process.
And thatâs where the casting director comes in.
So, I walked into the audition, took a seat beside the candidates, and simply observed. It was an eye-opening experience. Up until that point, everything I knew about casting was just theoreticalâjust research and secondhand knowledge. But being there, watching the process unfold in real-time? That was something else entirely.
Of course, not everything went as I expected. But overall, it was a great opportunity to see how an indie production group tackles casting. I canât lieâthere were moments when I had to pause and really think about certain decisions and approaches to the audition. But hey, it wasnât a total disaster. It was still, by all definitions, an audition.
Watching everything from the perspective of an observerâsomeone who at least understands the casting processâdefinitely expanded my knowledge on how auditions should be structured.
But for a rookie production group? Honestly, kudos to them.
(Look at me reviewing their process like Iâm some kind of industry veteran đ)
To be contd.
Anyways thatâs all there to that story so far. I am eagerly waiting for the future of this project, and I will be updating you all with all the new developments as they come to. So until then, See you!
PS: In the meantime, you should read âThe greatest estate developerâ, Itâs one of my favourite Manwhas.
