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Will the problem of screenplays (or scripts) be
settled?
Producers, directors, actors and actresses all
complain of weak screen plays in the Iranian cinema.
Movie-goers contend that most artistic films lack a consistent and attractive plot. What is wrong and how should this problem be addressed? Just as a fish's life depends on water, a screenplay also depends on the scriptwriter.
How could the problem of script writing be settled
in the Iranian cinema?
What criteria and standards should be the
yardsticks for approval of a script?
What is the role and position of scriptwriters and what moral and material rights do they enjoy? Does the problem of script writing emanate from lack of economic and cultural support for scriptwriters? Where should funds for research on script writing and training of scriptwriters come from?
If we take screen plays as the building blocks of cinema, the script writer should advance the film industry (in every way) and determine its cultural policy lines. As such, he will lay the foundations of a worthy artistic cinema.
In addition to innate and inborn talent, the
scriptwriter should also be afforded the chance to study script writing academically.
A survey of Iranian cinema history reveals that scriptwriters have not been at the focus of attention of those in charge of the cinema for various reasons, including economic conditions (i.e. absence of required investments), cultural problems, and audience demands.
In the course of years, the cinema industry has found its way (though in a deficient form) in
accordance with the prevailing conditions.
Many professional cinema figures complain of the government's qualitative assessment of cinema, especially script writing, and of economic rewards and punishments determined by the said assessment. They also complain of the ranking system for screen plays.
Such complaint stems from the cinema officials' supervisory approach toward the directors, a move which downgrades the directors and robs them of self-confidence.
When it comes to competition and policy ¬making, a discussion is raised as to whether the audience could be vested with the task of «quality control» in such a case, the screen plays will be turned into films and screened without any ranking system so that the audience could choose the best and support and protect the artistic cinema.
A study of screen play writing and its developments in terms of subject theme, structure, plot, character and type, dialog, incidents and events, setting and atmosphere bring one major point to the limelight: negligence toward the screen play's structure and failure to appreciate the play Wright.
In my research, I have attempted to survey the history of script writing in Iran so as to take a small step toward illustrating the existing weaknesses and features of script writing.