An apprehensive Chaitanya Tamhane, at Passion for Cinema, posts the first of his series on the recent 2-day workshop with Syd Field organised by Ronnie Screwvala.

I had my apprehensions about posting this one, as the 18 hour workshop will require 5-6 long posts and besides, the workshop had nothing new to offer for those who have already read the Syd Field books. But Oz and Kartik insisted that I write the post since it will be helpful for new and upcoming writers who are not acquainted with Field and his techniques. So for those who have already read his books, you may skip this one without hesitation. For those who feel Syd Field is crap and methodical and blocks your writing, please forward your hate mails to him, not me. I personally feel that one should know the rules before bending them and thus every fresher should at least listen to what Syd Field has to say; to follow his path or not is an entirely personal choice.