Saturday, January 17, 2009

ROMANTIC COMEDIES FOR RTM

I've always been fascinated by good romantic comedies - a genre that I have not tried before as a writer/director. The nearest I have ever tried was a telemovie I wrote years ago called Cinta Untuk Di Sewa that someone else directed. To tell you the truth I can't even remember what the story was about but maybe about a man who hired a woman to play his wife to rile his parents who keep hassling him about getting married (I think).
Good romcom is difficult to write. I find it much easier to write soppy scenes that can wrench tears from even the stoniest hearts. To make someone laugh too is not that difficult (especially with the Malaysian audience - case in point Senario series), but what is difficult is to make you smile at a cute scene and creating that warm feeling in the viewers that make them go weak - like scenes from Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and even 50 First Dates.
Romcom usually brings together two disparate souls or characters - two people you just can't believe (in the beginning) will end up together at the end of the film. That's the main conflict. Surrounding this couple would be supporting characters that push the story and the issues forward.
The difficult part is making the story sugary sweet, funny, hilarious, cute or gushy.
So, I'm going to try and do it. So bear with me. I've submitted a trilogy - called Bali. Three stories - three telemovies - one location.
The first is entitled Kuta, the second Ubud and the third Candidasa. Each town carries a subtext on its own. Kuta is young reckless love, the second 'Ubud' is love between two matured persons and the third 'Candidasa' about love between two 'old' characters. NO, IT IS NOT A 'CINTA' RIP OFF.
It might not turn out to be a romcom as such, more of bitter sweet love stories, but I do really want to try making it at least a little humorous.
I want to bring back the kind of TV that I remember well - and in this instance - Love American Style. Remember that series?
After that, if this happens, my next attempt would be to do whodunnits - a genre that I have not done for quite a long time. The one most people remember me for is Siapa Bunuh Alice? which I did about fifteen years ago, shot in Port Dickson. It starred Zami Ismail (as a Columbo type detective), Ebby Saiful, Julia Rais, Herdawatie and Alice Woon.
I might actually want to try and do a Malay version of Agatha Christie's An Inspector Calls. That would be nice. Now if only RTM will allow me to do so.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Siapa Bunuh Alice?

Anonymous said...

You nak tanya siapa yang bunuh Alice ke atau you tanya samada tak pernah dengar teledrama Siapa Bunuh Alice?

Unknown said...

I like 'Siapa Bunuh Alice' so much. Tak pernah miss satu episod pun. But, nowadays.. kalau didengar apa yang terjadi dalam industri drama, pembikin darama semacam tidak dapat berkarya sepenuhnya sebab segala shot, secquence and scene and also pelakon2 dikawal oleh RTM.. also channel lain. Saya kecewa dengan RTM, TV3, ASTRO dan juga mana2 penyiar sebab terlalu memilih 'bulu' dan 'kroni' dalam menyiarkan dan membeli produk dari pengeluar drama.. kebanyakan drama di kaca TV tak bermutu.. I hope mr Anwardi boleh mengembalikan mutu dan minat untuk masyarakat melayu juga rakyat malaysia kembali menonton drama/filem buatan malaysia yang tulen. Bukan drama/filem malaysia yang kebaratan. Saya bangga dengan drama2 yg dulunya lahir dari DOUBLE VISION, IMAGINE PICTURES, NIZARMAN.. mana perginya pengarah2 hebat yang dulunya bekerja untuk berkarya?? Yang tinggal kini hanya pengarah2 syok sendiri dan pengarah cari makan semata2..

What ever you do.. do it dengan penuh hati dan ikhlas semoga apa yang you rancangkan akan terlaksana. Fight for the best.. Good luck..