Hollywood scriptwriting: Top prize for an Indian

Adite Banerjie, a New Delhi-based author and screenwriter, has been declared the first runner-up in the Finish Line Script Competition — one of the major Hollywood-based scriptwriting competitions.

Banerjie won the prize for her drama screenplay titled Coaching Class.

The competition is mentored by a host of top Hollywood professionals, including Neal Edelstein (producer of The Ring, Mullholand Drive, among others), Gloria Fan, vice-president at Fox 21 Productions, Tribeca Productions’ Issac Kaz and Jack Leslie, who produced X-Men movies.

An aspect that makes this competition special is that the applicant-writer can re-enter their script after having completed any number of rewrites. They are given feedback and comprehensive notes by a team of experienced script consultants. The competition aims to follow the growth process of the writers where a script is submitted, receives feedback, is then rewritten and resubmitted until it is in it’s best form.

Banerjie will receive free consultation from the script consultants for a year and $75 to spend at The Writer’s Store online.

She will also receive a year-long membership to ISA’s Connect — which will link her to networking opportunities, industry information and screenwriting jobs around the world.

Jenny Frankfurt of the Finish Line Competition says, “Coaching Class is a wonderful script and one I can truly see on the screen. We’re proud that it is one of our top three winners.”

An excited Banerjie says, “This win is a huge validation for my script writing abilities and I’m positive it will open many doors in the highly competitive screenwriting arena for me.”

Prior to this, Banerjie was commissioned to write a Hindi feature film based on a true story by Indian filmmaker Runjiv Kapur.

Her latest novel, No Safe Zone was released in July 2016. Two of her books are currently under consideration by a couple of producers for making a Bollywood film.