Local teledramas require more, better scriptwriters<\/p>\n
By Sunaryono Basuki Ks<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP): The growth of Indonesian teledramas requires
\ngood materials for the stories. Many television workers have
\ncomplained about the lack of good sources for their films because
\ntoday, they are forced to produce their own programs to reduce
\nthe number of imported telefilms.<\/p>\n
The number of existing telescripts cannot cope with the rising
\ndemand. Good scriptwriters, such as Asrul Sani, Emil Sanossa and
\nAlex Suprapto Yudo, who have given Indonesian television
\naudiences good quality telefilms are, today, much less
\nproductive.<\/p>\n
New names have appeared, like Arswendo Atmowiloto, Nasri
\nCheppy and Hilman Lupus, specializing in writing stories for
\nyoung people. Others are Zara Zettira and Jujur Prananto, a young
\nshort story writer, and some old names from the theater world,
\nsuch as Teguh Karya and Putu Wijaya.<\/p>\n
To overcome the lack of material for telescripts, some writers
\nhave suggested that television workers turn to Indonesian novels.
\nThe United States, for example, has a long history of adapting
\nnovels for films and television. One of many successes was The
\nGodfather.<\/p>\n
In the 1960s alone we could enjoy film adaptations from well-
\nknown novels such as War and Peace (Tolstoy), and Crime and
\nPunishment (Dostoyevsky), or from contemporary novels such as
\nPeyton Place or Bonjour Tristesse (Franscoise Sagan, then a very
\nyoung French novelist).<\/p>\n
That decade also adapted famous plays by Shakespeare, not only
\nby American or European producers but also by Russian and
\nJapanese ones.<\/p>\n
Othello was produced in Russia, its characters still wore
\nEuropean costumes, while in the Japanese adaptation of Macbeth,
\nthe story was set in Japan. In the past, Indonesian black-and-
\nwhite films included the adaptation of Anak Perawan di Sarang
\nPenyamun (Virgin in the Nest of Robbers), based on a novel by
\nSutan Takdir Alisyahbana, and Sukreni Gadis Bali (Sukreni, the
\nBalinese Girl), based on a novel by AA Pandji Tisna.<\/p>\n
Some adaptation problems hinder telefilm scriptwriters. A
\nnovel is literature using narration and dialog. All the incidents
\nand character revelations are described in wordy detail.<\/p>\n
Words<\/p>\n
In short, the novel is a written form of art, while a film is
\nvisual art. Rambo particularly shows the use of words is not
\nconsidered overly necessary.<\/p>\n
In a way, a film script, with its dialogs, settings, etc., is
\nlike a novel, while a stage-play script, generally, contains only
\ndialog and a little description (except in the case of George
\nBernard Shaw, who liked to include detailed descriptions of
\ncharacters and their actions in his plays).<\/p>\n
In many Indonesian films and teledramas, the use of words is
\ndominant. In almost any Indonesian television serial, we have
\ncharacters speaking, even in a situation when speech should be
\nreplaced by pictures.<\/p>\n
This normally happens in teledrama scripts which were
\ninitially made for film by inexperienced scriptwriters. Emil
\nSanossa, who wrote many scripts for the state television station
\nTVRI in the 1980s, wrote good-quality scripts, showing his
\nmastery of writing film scripts.<\/p>\n
Sanossa, who started in the 1960s as a playwright, director
\nand actor, wrote scripts following the standard techniques of
\nwriting a film script, giving detailed guides for audio and
\nvisual aspects of the film in the text.<\/p>\n
In all his scripts he divides the page into two equal columns,
\nthe left for writing the visual aspects of the film, and the
\nright for the audio.<\/p>\n
His perfectness in writing techniques and interesting stories
\nresulted in him winning five out of six scriptwriting
\ncompetitions held by TVRI's Surabaya station in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
He continued with his writing, producing good quality scripts
\nsuch as Bertahan dalam Badai (Surviving the Storm, 1984) about
\nthe struggle of Indonesian nationalists in 1934, Luka Bayang
\n(Wounded Shadow, 1983), Ketika Tebu Berbunga (When the Sugar Cane
\nBlossomed) and many others.<\/p>\n
Actors in his teledramas included the likes of noted actors
\nRano Karno, WD Mochtar and Adi Kurdi. Many were directed by Dedi
\nSetiadi, a prominent TVRI director. Sanossa's scripts made a film
\ndirector's work easy because they were already perfect shooting
\nscripts. Other scriptwriters, especially those who directed
\nproductions themselves, only wrote outlines of their works.<\/p>\n
The script for Non, written and directed by Putu Wijaya,
\nlooks like a play script, containing only the names of the
\ncharacters and the dialog that each character speaks.<\/p>\n
Putu can finish writing a script in two days, and then spends
\ntwo days shooting to produce one episode. This method may explain
\nwhy he is very productive; his work is popular, though quality
\ncould be questioned.<\/p>\n
The different media used in novels and films have,
\noccasionally, resulted in protests from novelists.<\/p>\n
Ernest Hemingway once stated he was not satisfied with a film
\nbased one of his novels. In Indonesia, YB Mangunwijaya rejected
\nthe film Roro Mendut, which was based on his novel, because the
\nscriptwriter changed the ending.<\/p>\n
As long as a film is credited as an adaptation of a novel and
\nnot an imitation of it, such problems could be avoided.<\/p>\n
Both scriptwriters and novelists should acknowledge that the
\nfilm and the novel on which it was based are separate works of
\nart.<\/p>\n
Filmmakers cannot be forced to follow a storyline in detail
\nfrom the original source, using the same way of expressing ideas.<\/p>\n
A scriptwriter is required to use his own imagination and
\ncreativity to make a visually good film based on a written text.<\/p>\n
One example is the adaptation of the novel Karmila by Marga
\nT., which was popular in the 1970s. It is said to be different
\nfrom an earlier film adaptation of the same novel.<\/p>\n
Asrul Sani has also proved the possibility of good adaptation
\nby writing a more lively and interesting script based on a famous
\nold Indonesian novel, Siti Nurbaya.<\/p>\n
Scriptwriters should keep in mind that unlike novels,
\nthe interchange of normally short sequences for teledramas are
\nparts of a jigsaw puzzle gradually taking shape in the viewers'
\nmind. Visual representations of the settings and actions no
\nlonger require a narrative, which makes many of our teledramas
\nrather boring.<\/p>\n
It is clear that the main problem of the increasing need for
\ntelescripts is the shortage of creative scriptwriters. Prominent
\nnovelists such as Putu, Iwan Simatupang, Mangunwijaya, Umar Kayam
\nand many others have written a number of good novels just waiting
\nto be adapted for television.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/local-teledramas-require-more-better-scriptwriters-1447893297",
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