Sulagna Chatterjee takes stand against exploitation of microdrama writers

Microdramas are the new thing buzzes every corner of the industrytodayFrom homes to locals and metros one can hear smartphones buzzing with short snippets of stories akamicrodramas But behind the boom is quietly emerging a concern thatpaints the same old story the exploitation of screenwriters Poor pay punishing deadlines and unclear contracts continue to haunt many particularly newcomersexpected to churn out 60ndash90 minutes of content in less than a weekBelieving it needs urgent attention screenwriter Sulagna Chatterjee who herself has been writing microdramas for a few months now has decided to take the issue up with theScreenwriters AssociationSWA through her group Women Film Circuit WFCLast August I put up a post about it becausethe microdramaspace is extremely exploitative People are paid Rs 10002000 to create a 90 minute content Some sort of regulation is needed The post went viral and many writers identified with it But nothing happened after that Later I asked one of my friends who works with SWA aboutwhat we need to do to get a conversation started around this So I learnt that we needed to formalise a proper letter to be sent to the Joint Secretary the Vice President and the President of SWA Once it reaches them theyre forced to take it up at least in the committee meeting Chaterjee tells middayThe WFC is collecting inputs from writers working in the microdramaspace to accompany the formal letter to the SWAin two parts Anonymous Experience form which will document the pay ranges timelines and recurring patterns of the producers and Signatory Form that will feature signatures of the writers comfortable to lend their names to the letterldquoI put up a social media post about it because this space is extremely exploitative People are paid Rs 10002000 per episode Some sort of regulation is needed The post went viral and many writers identified with it But nothing happened after thatrdquo Chatterjee tells middayWe have 30 responses for the anonymous experience form so far 70 per cent of them actually have gotten paid less than Rs 50000to write the entire show 23 per cent has gotten 50000 to 75000 Theres nobody who has gotten more than 15 Lakh at all There is maybe one per centwhich has gotten between 1 to 15 lakh Chaterjee sharesThe writer says theres a lot of shame attached to writing for microdramas which are seen more as a means to survive than a creative choice by the writersThis is an apparent new normal of the industry where no new work is being commissioned Theres a loss of hope felt by the writers Microdramas have become a way of survival for writers Theres a lot of shame attached to it People talk about writing for micros in a hushed manner They are also despondent thinking what can they even doFor writers pay to improve the productionbudgets need to be reworked Chaterjee says If Rs15 lakhs is your production budget how much will you give to the writer The scary part is this kind of budget ranging from Rs 1315 lakhs for a 60minute long content is being normalised The tech brands have a lot of money but there are also independentproducers in the vertical storytelling space because its low stakeshigh return So the budgets are horrendousWriters arent being shortchanged only financially but also devalued as creatives considering they are given a few days to a week to write the dramas The timelines are a big factor Theres barely any clarity or transparency during talks Everybody is experimenting and the ones who are getting the most exhausted are the writers because for a show I got six days to turn around 50 episodes of one and a half minutes eachSo from your beat sheets of 50 episodes to the screenplays of 50 episodes all of that in six days And when you ask them to give you 10 days they say Nobody gets 10 daysOut of 30 responses for the anonymous experience form so farWriters got paid less than Rs 50000 to write the entire show 7037Between Rs 50000 to 75000 2337More than Rs 15 lakh at all 037 037Those who got between Rs 1 to 15 lakh 137Micro shows that went viral in 2025gtgt lsquoGold Digger Kahin Kirsquo Story TV appgtgt lsquoTrials amp Repostsrsquo Instagramgtgt lsquoShaitan Havelirsquo Story TV appSulagna Chatterjee is known for writinggtgt Amazon Mini TV show lsquoAdultingrsquo 2018gtgt lsquoFirstsrsquo for Dice Media 2020gtgt A segment of Netflixrsquos anthology lsquoFeels Like Ishqrsquo 2021