The National Film Development Corporation’s Screenwriters Lab at the WAVES Film Bazaar has established itself as a crucial launching pad for independent Indian filmmakers, providing rare development support in a market where such resources remain scarce.
The lab, which develops eight projects annually, offers writers an intensive four-to-six-month mentorship with international script consultants, filling what filmmaker and lab mentor Bikas Mishra describes as a critical gap in the Indian film ecosystem.
“There is no other development support, definitely in India, mostly not in South Asia,” said Mishra, whose film “Chauranga” was developed through the program. “Independent filmmakers, they are expected to go with a fully developed script to a producer and pitch it. But this crucial phase of the journey of a story, where it develops from a story to a screenplay, there is neither financial support nor expert support.”
The program has produced notable successes including “The Lunchbox” and Ajit Pal Singh’s “Fire in the Mountains,” which premiered at Sundance. More recently, Diwa Shah’s project “Kyab” secured a spot in the Cannes La Résidence program, where she spent six months in Paris before winning the pitching forum at the Cannes Film Festival.
Script consultant Claire Dobbin, who has worked with the lab for several years, emphasized the program’s unique position within India’s film industry infrastructure. “People recognize that the screenwriters Lab is a key development program,” Dobbin said.
The lab attracts projects from across India’s regions, deliberately seeking voices beyond traditional urban film centers. Participants work one-on-one with expert mentors drawn from international development programs. The lab’s framework was established by Marten Rabarts, who previously headed Binger Film Lab.
Upon completing the program, filmmakers pitch their projects to international collaborators, producers, festivals and funding bodies at Film Bazaar. Mishra secured coin from the Gothenburg Film Festival’s development fund for “Chauranga,” marking the first funding for his project.
“That meant a lot. That’s the first money that flew into the ‘Chauranga’ projects account,” Mishra said.
Dobbin noted the program’s evolution over recent years, with stronger projects entering the pipeline as understanding of development processes grows within the industry. “Initially, because there’s not a huge history of development in industry, the projects, many of them were not of a sufficiently high standard,” she said. “But we are now attracting compelling projects and actually compelling filmmakers with strong projects.”
The lab includes three sessions over its duration, featuring lectures on screenplay craft alongside individual mentorship. Topics range from technical aspects like opening sequences to broader questions about when established screenwriting conventions should be challenged.
Dobbin contrasted the lab’s approach with mainstream Bollywood production, which she suggested suffers from an echo chamber effect. “You don’t make the future by looking at the past. You make the future by coming up with new ideas,” she said. “The world was completely thunderstruck by ‘All We Imagine As Light,’ because it was the most powerful, poetic, imaginative world.”
This year’s mentors include Dobbin, New Zealand-based Christina Andreef and Indian filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni, with each writer receiving guidance from one or two mentors throughout the program.
The lab’s focus on distinctive regional voices positions it as what Dobbin called “a diamond in the NFDC crown,” preparing filmmakers for international markets while helping them develop their unique artistic perspectives.
“What these filmmakers are developing here is their voice,” Dobbin said. “Nothing is more important than the filmmaker’s voice.”
WAVES Film Bazaar is the market component of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.