Executive Dossier

“The thrust of every programme is the suspense element” : Sameer Mody

Published

23 years ago

February 28, 2003

He is the scream-master of television. With a string of suspense thrillers to his credit like X-zone, Thriller at 10, Saturday Suspense, Captain House, and the current Shhh… Koi Hai on Star Plus, scriptwriter Sameer Mody has established himself in the television industry.

Coming from a family of performers, Mody began his career as a painter. After a brief stint with theatre as an actor he accidentally began to write for theatre. Thereafter began a series experiments as a scriptwriter for television. Meanwhile he had begun assisting Vinta Nanda and fondly calls her his mentor.

Despite the thriller writer tag, he has been responsible for few reality based shows and sitcoms as well. He is currently co-scripting Zee’s Kittie Party.

Excerpts of a tete-a-tete he had with indiantelevision.com’s Trupti Ghag –

When and how did you get bitten by the writing bug?
Well, it seemed like a natural progression at that time. My parents were professional dancers so I always was artistically inclined. I used to write poetry as a hobby. Meanwhile, a friend asked me to fill in as a scriptwriter for a telefilm Saundarya Kaha. By then I was hooked.

What are the essential requisites of a good writer?
It is extremely crucial that a writer has a point of view. A writer, needless to say, is creative, what is important is that he has to have individualism. There is no point in churning out clones.

Do you write with a particular channel in mind?
Not necessarily. But there have been times when I have been approached by producers to write a story of a particular genre with a particular channel in mind. I am quite sure that this not a solitary case. Personally, I think this should be the norm.

It is nice to romanticise, but at the end of the day, your work has to be saleable. It is helpful to know what the end product looks like, so you start working backward. You are subconsciously aware of the channel’s choice. If you work around it, I guess there will be no ego clashes or creative problems because neither your work is tampered with nor do the channels interfere unnecessarily.

“The sitcoms overseas usually have sexual overtones. We are culture bound people so that is a no-no for us“

Your work profile consists of different genre of serials. What is the genre that you enjoy writing for and why?
I can’t really pinpoint a particular genre. Writers should not have a fixed working style, they should be versatile.
But I am always keen on introducing an element of thrill or suspense. Thrillers drive the TRPs. Every programme’s thrust is the suspense element.

Tell us something about your writing experience for different genre.
Writing is both a science and an art. What changes with change in genre is the application of either. To give you an example, writing for a daily soap follows the science rules. Not that the writer’s creative contribution any less but emphasis is on dialogue delivery, presentation, different character sketches rather than the story. It is based on certain set formulae and is analytical in approach. You have to stage few fake progressions as well, they may be used in the story ahead. While the weekly is more of a story telling.

Thrillers are a different ball game altogether. It is my forte, I guess. I personally enjoy writing a thriller as it give me scope to think differently. Comedy, on the other hand, is very challenging.

And why do you say comedy is challenging?
Take a look at the sitcom history, usually a sitcom is either a hit or miserable flop.
The sitcoms abroad are usually a rage; they have a freedom of expression. The sitcoms there usually have sexual overtones. We are culture bound people so that is a no-no for us.

What do you have to say about channel interference in a scriptwriter’s arena?
Well, I will not deny that. I think to an extent that is fair enough, as their money is at stake too. Besides, for any successful relationship, the partners need to come to a understanding. Compromise is the survival strategy.

How do you go about writing on an everyday basis? How do you deal with writer’s block?
A writer’s job is a lonely job. I might be siting in a room full of people buzzing around me, but I am usually working alone. It is a little challenging initially, but after a while, it comes easily.
But it is a job like any other. I may have a mind block but that means I have to try harder. If I am stuck, I begin asking myself questions and the answers are usually my clues for the next part.

Are the newcomers given a raw deal in this industry?
Isn’t that true for any other industry! I agree that there is certain amount of exploitation and even the pay structure is unfair. But that is just for beginners, seniors I presume are paid fairly well.

Scripts nowadays seem to borrow heavily from their foreign counterparts. What do you have to say about it?
Ideas are all around. I might get an idea the same time as another person siting in another corner of the world. He might make something out of it earlier than me, that is simply not my fault.
Although, I don’t deny that plagiarism occurs. It is very much prevalent but not as much as the fuss created.

“We have had enough of the family drama“

Unlike others, the Hindi television industry has a set of dialogue writers and a different set of script writers. What do you have to say about it?
I guess it is a dicey situation. It is very difficult for a dialogue writer. The characters are not his handiwork so he is uncomfortable with them. There is certain amount of chaos but we will have to live with it till we find solutions.

As an insider, where do you think our television industry is headed?
I am not really sure. But personally, I think the current television scenario needs to be changed. I am against the portrayal of women in soaps and family dramas. It is definitely retrogressive, we do not have women of substance on the screen.

I think that the public is looking for some real emotions, real tears. We have had enough of the family drama. My bet is on the reality shows and sitcoms. We need a change, but I am not quite sure if the social dramas will be off air.

What projects do you have currently on hand?
Besides Kittie Party, I am also working on a reality based show for Doordarshan called Talaaq Kyon.

I also have a few movie projects on hand, I will be writing dialogues and screenplays. The Hindi film industry is looking at television as a competitor and I guess that is what is breaking the ice. Film gives you a larger scope to express, as it is a visual medium. It is much more detailed and vibrant.

If not a scriptwriter, what would you been?
I guess I would have been a politician.

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Executive Dossier

Game on, fame on as Good Game hunts India’s first global gaming star

Published

1 month ago

January 27, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Game faces on, pressure high India’s gaming ambitions are levelling up. Good Game, billed as the world’s first as-live global gaming reality show, has officially launched in India with a bold mission: to crown the country’s first Global Gaming Superstar.

Blending esports with mainstream entertainment, the show brings together competitive gaming, creativity and on-camera performance in a format that tests more than just joystick skills. Contestants will be judged on gameplay, screen presence and their ability to perform under pressure, reflecting how gaming has evolved from pastime to profession and pop culture currency.

Fronting the show are three high-profile ambassadors: actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant, and gaming creator Ujjwal Chaurasia. The winner will take home Rs 1 crore ($100,000) among the largest prize pools for any Indian reality show along with the chance to represent India on a global stage.

Backed by a planned annual investment of up to Rs 100 crore, Good Game is also courting brand partners, promising a minimum reach of 500 million among India’s core youth audience. The creators position the show as a bridge between entertainment and interactive culture, offering long-format content, community engagement and commercial scale.

Auditions are now open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above, inviting amateur and professional gamers, creators and performers alike. Shortlisted candidates will be called for in-person auditions in Mumbai on 14 and 15 February, and in Delhi on 28 February and 1 March 2026.

With big money, big names and even bigger ambition, Good Game signals a shift in how India views gaming not just as play, but as performance, profession and prime-time spectacle.

Digital

SpotDraft hires new CMO and CFO to fuel global push for its AI contract platform

Published

3 months ago

December 3, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

INDIA: SpotDraft has strengthened its senior ranks as it gears up for faster global expansion, naming Alon Waks as chief marketing officer and Amit Sharma as chief financial officer. The appointments follow the firm’s $54 million Series B round earlier this year and mark a push to scale across the Americas, EMEA and India.

The AI-powered contract-lifecycle-management platform has posted 100 per cent year-on-year growth in customer acquisition, counting Apollo.io, IPSY, Mixpanel, Oyster and Panasonic among its global clients. The firm processes more than one million contracts annually, with volumes up 173 per cent and nearly 50,000 monthly active users.

Waks, a veteran of Kustomer, Bizzabo, CreatorIQ, LivePerson and ZoomInfo, will steer global marketing and category positioning as legal teams adopt AI-driven tools. Sharma, who has led finance across scaling tech firms since 2016, will guide financial strategy, investor relations and market expansion.

Both hires aim to sharpen SpotDraft’s bid for a larger slice of the fast-growing legal-tech market, expected to exceed $63 billion by 2032. Co-founder and chief executive Shashank Bijapur said the company is focused on scaling go-to-market operations in the Americas, deepening leadership in EMEA, and accelerating AI capabilities for general counsels and legal-operations leaders.

Clients report shorter deal cycles and better alignment between legal and business teams. “What used to take weeks now happens in days,” said Abnormal Security senior legal operations manager Susan Koenig. DeepL head of legal operations André Barrow, said SpotDraft has helped reframe legal “from a cost centre to a generator of revenue”.

Executive Dossier

Outdoor Ads Get Smarter as LOC8 Shifts OOH from Visibility to Attention

Published

3 months ago

November 28, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Out-of-home ads were once the wallflowers of marketing seen by everyone, noticed by few. But in an age where attention has become the world’s most fought-over currency, even billboards are getting a brain upgrade. Enter LOC8, OSMO’s AI-powered attention engine, quietly reshaping the old OOH playbook by measuring not just who could have looked at an ad, but who actually did. The shift is subtle but seismic: impressions are out, impact is in and data, not gut instinct, is calling the shots.

In a landscape where marketers question every rupee spent outdoors, LOC8 is turning lampposts, flyovers and traffic islands into precision-mapped attention laboratories. By crunching dwell time, visibility zones, perceptual size and real-world obstructions, the platform is dragging OOH into a future where creativity meets computer vision and where the best ideas aren’t just eye-catching, but eye-measured. From automotive facelifts to FMCG novelty and real estate trust-building, the message is clear, outdoor has stopped shouting and started listening. Indian Television Dot Com explores more about it in an Interview interview with OSMO co-founder Nipun Arora.

On how OSMO is shifting outdoor advertising from a visibility-led medium to an attention-led one through LOC8.

Traditional OOH has long been measured by visibility and impressions i.e how many people could see an ad. OSMO, through its proprietary AI platform LOC8, is shifting that narrative more towards likelihood of being noticed. Using computer vision and machine learning, LOC8 analyzes real-world video data to measure visibility zones, obstructions, dwell time and perceptual size; bringing precision to how attention is quantified outdoors. It moves the focus from mere impressions to quality of impressions, making OOH a data-verified, attention-led medium comparable to digital in accountability.

On how marketers can use LOC8’s dwell-time, visibility and perception insights to craft more effective, emotionally resonant OOH campaigns.

LOC8 helps brands understand how people truly experience outdoor media how long they look, from what distance, and under what conditions. By quantifying dwell time, visibility duration, and perceptual size; marketers can plan campaigns that align with real human viewing behavior. This empowers creative and strategy teams to design emotionally resonant storytelling where messaging, visual hierarchy and placement are optimized for how people actually notice and process OOH creatives.

About what LOC8 has revealed through campaigns like Renault Triber and Namaste India on how categories such as auto, FMCG and real estate use attention metrics to drive outcomes.

Each category uses attention data differently but all share one common goal: to convert outdoor visibility into measurable engagement.

• Automotive | Renault Triber

For the new Renault Triber facelift, bold creative met data-led planning through LOC8. By analyzing on-ground video data, LOC8 measured real audience attention across placements factoring in visibility zones, obstructions, traffic speed and perceptual size. This enabled Renault to identify corridors that delivered maximum reach, saliency and engagement, optimizing media efficiency and ROI.

• FMCG | Namaste India

In OOH, innovation is the hook and assets are the bait. But bait often hides the hook. With Loc8’s attention metrics, we ensured the bait wasn’t a hurdle, rather it became the perfect stage for innovation to deliver its full impact! The insight proved that creative novelty, when validated by attention data, drives deeper engagement and measurable brand lift.

• Real Estate

For luxury and real estate campaigns targeting HNI/UHNI audiences, attention patterns differ especially between front and rear passengers, who are often the core audience segment for premium sites. LOC8’s ability to distinguish rear vs. front visibility plays a critical role here. It helps identify sites that offer longer viewing windows and stronger perceptual dominance from the rear seat where decision-makers are most likely seated making it a key differentiator for premium and trust-led categories. Together, these insights prove that auto optimizes for impact, FMCG for recall, and real estate for trust visibility showing how attention metrics adapt to category goals while ensuring measurable outcomes.

On how attention analytics will shape the future of brand storytelling and media planning as OOH becomes more digitised and data-driven.

As outdoor digitizes, attention analytics will inform not just where to advertise but how stories are told in public spaces. This evolution transforms OOH from a static broadcast channel into a dynamic attention ecosystem, where creativity is optimized through evidence-based insight.

On how LOC8’s data-led framework helps marketers quantify OOH impact and make outdoor a more accountable, ROI-driven medium.

LOC8 bridges the gap between intuition and evidence. By quantifying metrics like visibility duration, attention opportunity index, and visual saliency rank, it allows brands to benchmark site performance and justify investment. This data-led approach brings transparency, comparability and ROI measurement to a medium historically driven by perception.

On how OSMO ensures AI and computer vision enhance creativity rather than reduce it to numbers.

OSMO believes that technology should enhance creativity, not overshadow it. LOC8’s attention models reveal what naturally draws the human eye helping creative teams refine design cues, contrast, and visual hierarchy for greater impact. By merging art and science, LOC8 empowers creativity with intelligence.

About the creative best practices and design cues LOC8 has uncovered regarding what truly captures consumer attention outdoors.

LOC8’s visual cognition analysis has surfaced clear patterns across campaigns:

• High contrast and minimal messaging outperform cluttered designs.

• Motion cues draw significantly longer dwell times.

• The first two seconds are critical, creatives must establish focus instantly.

• Contextual alignment between the creative and its environment increases attention by over 30%.

These learnings offer a scientific foundation for creative effectiveness helping brands design OOH that’s visually magnetic and emotionally memorable.

On how attention metrics will integrate into omnichannel planning where OOH, digital and social work together for unified brand impact.

Attention can become the unifying KPI across OOH, digital and social to creates seamless storytelling continuity, where outdoor triggers digital engagement. The future of omnichannel planning lies in attention-led integration ensuring that campaigns don’t just reach audiences everywhere but truly capture and hold their focus.