Keith Kinambuga Ndenga (standing) speaks during a Writers Guild Ubuni Scriptwriting Workshop. PHOTO|MARGARETTA WA GACHERU
By Margaretta wa Gacheru
In Summary
- Aimed at recruiting more writers as well as offering inspiration and information, an August 9 workshop will have a panel of five professional scriptwriters.
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But clearly the Guild hit the ground running, having already
held several writers workshops, organised panels featuring accomplished
Kenyan scriptwriters, and even hosting the award-winning filmmaker
Wanuri Kahui who shared her views with Guild members about not just
writing but also directing and producing films.
Most recently, and following its first membership
recruitment drive, the Guild (which was originally named Kenya
Scriptwriters Guild) held elections of officers last weekend at PAWA254.
“We wanted to establish a stable structure that
would be accountable to the writers. We also changed the name to Writers
rather than scriptwriters as we wanted to be more inclusive,” said
Keith Kinambuga, the founding father of the Guild who was unanimously
elected chair.
His vice chair is Njoki Muhoho while the other
officials include secretary and assistant secretary Wangeci Kamyeki and
Jackline Emali while the treasurer and assistant treasurer are Felix
Ndolo and Joseph Gitau aka Tash Mitambo respectively.
All the office bearers are established
scriptwriters and/or producers. But Mr Kinambuga, who’s about to embark
on another membership drive, emphasised that one didn’t necessarily need
to be a seasoned writer to join the Guild.
“There are a number of members who are aspiring or
part-time writers who are working at day jobs in other fields,” said the
chair who himself switched from a stable job in the telecom industry to
scriptwriting just a year ago.
‘‘I saw a notice on Spielworks’ Facebook page
inviting scriptwriters to apply for an opening they had, so I responded,
got shortlisted, and the next thing I knew, I was writing story-lines
for ‘‘Lies that Bind,” he said.
“Not long after that I began working with a
five-person team of writers developing scripts for the series,” said Mr
Kinambuga who has written for other Spielworks’ soaps, such as ‘‘Sumu la Penzi’’ and ‘‘Jane and Abel.’’
Having studied IT and telecommunications at
Kenyatta University, he had never taken writing courses. “My initial
experience writing was on my blogs,” he confessed, noting that he
started blogging (like most people) because he felt he had something to
say.
“One blog was a sort of satirical commentary on the
current social scene while on the other I simply shared how I viewed
the world at that point in time,” he added.
But he modestly admitted he had been a rapper in
university. Writing his own raps as a running commentary on campus life,
he said he wasn’t known off campus but he did have a small following at
KU.
The only other indicator that Mr Kinambuga would
become a media man who would start up an organisation aimed at giving a
voice to Kenyan writers who he felt needed to be better informed about
their legal rights and about opportunities opening up for them, was a
short course he took in 2008 in radio and television production at the
Kenya Institute of Professional Studies.
Calling himself a self-taught scriptwriter, the
chairman has also initiated various collaborations with other media
groups, most notably the Ubuni School of Media and Creative Arts.
So far, the Guild and Ubuni have held three
writers’ workshops. The first was on how to create basic structures and
stories for film.
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