Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Rules of writing a spot for Radio

Disclaimer: These are some rules I have been following and they seem to work most times. Other times they just help me when I am in no mood to write or do not have enough time to write.

Rules to write a spot for Radio:

1. Write the kind of copy you would write for a pamphlet. Make it very to the point but a little bit flowery with use of some nice words. - Brainless spot!
2. Write a spot striking a conversation between two people, one enquiring about something to which the answer should be the product or service! - 1 On 1 spot!
3. A conversation which is funny and note this, funny for the sake of it but somehow, somewhere you have to manage to get the product link! - Humour funda rocks spot!
4. An emotional script, a script which an SRK or a Shahid would typically be saying with this hands at shoulder length pointing towards that UFO with the expression of " I have seen you somewhere just cannot recall where!!!" - Emotional spot
5. This one is my favorite - Write a spot which runs faster than the August Kranti and which is meant to be a 30 seconder but the client wants you to somehow fit it in a 20 seconder...and you know what, we somehow do it...thanks to Merrill!! - @$Y#$% Spot!
6. A spot which is a real creative, a spot where you have taken some time to think of a concept, a spot where you have wonderfully woven the product and have added either humour or emotion to support it and there is some kind of an observation which normally a common mand would not notice. I like to call it - A Radio spot!

These are some of the rules I have been living with for the past 6 months and today I thought of penning them down, rather typing them to commemorate my 6 month anniversary at Fever 104 - It's all about the music!!! Yes, truly, it is one of the reasons am here..I love music and so do they!!

Ridiculously Cute!

A poem I wrote for her, gave it to her after we broke up...for the last time.



Starting with a manic Monday
I move on to my terrible Tuesday

Everyday seems like a tough ask
I wish I could wear a mask

Work work work…I get stuck
Feel like moving on…driving a truck

Want to get there fast
Hurry up and not come last

I rock the place and swoon with the crowds
This is what really makes me proud

I wanna sing and dance
Don’t care how it looks

I want to go out there dance in the rain
Hold you in my arms and sing again

Ridiculously cute is what you are
Can’t stay without you and you know this yaar

26/11 - The saga continues...

26th November, the day my city was attacked!

It was not the first time someone has ever done so, yet somehow I felt different. Somehow I felt agitated. And long before all these TV channels had this expression I was telling myself Enough is Enough.

The feeling I was getting was, what do these terrorist think, they can just come and attack us anytime they feel like. Like what is the point of having these security personnel standing with those guns, and doiong those security checks during Ganpati Visarjan, during EID them standing outside Masjids.

It all does not make any sense now. They came in by boats, they come and hijack our planes..they go to our bunkers and attack the army..I guess they are yet to attack our Air Forces..That is the only thing left.

Indians were agitated, obviosuly, we cried out, we had peace marches, we lit candles, we protested, we called for bandhs, we had debates, we even decided not to pay our taxes.

We wanted to attack Pakistan, there were numerous mails being forwarded showing what Paksitanis think of us, who is to be blamed for these attacks or how the intelligence faield or how the report never reached the concerned authorities, how Alyque Padamsee and Mahesh Bhatt feel and how Vilarao was being an ass for not accepting his mistake but rather asking why did not politicians quit when Parliament attacked.

It was a shame for India and all this was not helping.

People quit, but I thought quitting was the easiest way out. You can quit and have a press conference and take the blame and leave, it is upto the next guy who comes in who has to make the tough decisions and face the public banter.

Good Vilasrao left, but what happened next, in came Chaggan Bhujbal, the guy who was sacked because of his involvement with the Telgi case, brilliant I say!

Now, almost a month has passed and we are waiting for some serious action. We have given Pakistan a list of 20 criminals from our Most Wanted. Pakistan inturn sends another 20 they want and infact refuses to hand over Pak Citizens to India.

One day they buckle under UN pressure, one day they say we will co-operate. I really do not know what will happen.

The Pakistan media thinks the guy who has been caught is just an ordinary Paksitani and we just want to malign Pakistan and hence are just saying all these things.

They say BJP, RSS and VHP could be behind all these attacks, in their state all these groups are what LeT and Jaish is to India!

When I eventually began writing this piece the idea was to just express some views, some thoughts, some feelings.

The idea was to keep it in my memory, and the best way was to keep it here. This shall remain and hope this shall never repeat!