Taking his career goals one step at a time, Benko Pluvier has participated in various screenplay competitions, to ensure that his dream of being a script writer is achieved.

The electrical engineering student participated in the recent Maisha lab competition, where he emerged the winner in the second competition with his Script "A Ride in The Coffin”, a romantic comedy, and production of the film is on its way to completion. He talked to Sharon Kantengwa about his script writing journey.

Who is Benko Pluvier?

I was born 25 years ago in Bujumbura-Burundi and I‘m the first born of 4 children. Our family came back to Rwanda in 2000. I am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology.

Why screen writing?

My work is derived from the passion that I have for it. I used to go to cinemas quite often when I was little. While growing up, I admired acting so much, but I didn’t have the courage to act because I’m camera shy. I always prefer being behind the scene. This is when I thought, that I could instead do script writing to fulfil my dream. I participated in the Maisha lab competition last year with my script "Rwandan Whore”, where I used the skills that I got from the previous competition and worked hard to meet their expectations.

What lessons did you derive from the competition?

Screen writing is hard work, and as a script writer, it’s important to know that the story in the script is what gets noticed and therefore a compelling story is mandatory. I also learnt the importance of script language. In order to use the right language for your particular audience; you need to know what the right language is. 

It is easy to get trapped into using the local language from within your marketing process but not everyone in the circle of your own industry is used to it, which is why English is very important because you do not want limited market. I used English in the script (A Ride in The Coffin) but used Kinyarwanda in the dialogues to fit the society demands. Also it is important to always take people’s views seriously because we are supposed to show the story rather than tell.

Tell us about your script "A Ride in the coffin”

It is a romantic comedy that talks about a shy introvert boy named Juru who falls in love with a young girl but is afraid to express it. His workmate sets him up to interview her but misses the bus. Coincidentally, they meet in a truck where they had asked for a ride but the boy is too shy to look at her and so decides to hide in the coffin behind the truck. As events later unfold, Juru gets embarrassed as he is eventually caught lying in the coffin.

It represents the African saying "I will die for your love” and so the coffin represents dying part.

Tell us about your other 2 complete screenplays

They are still in writing. I have a complete feature screenplay written in Kinyarwanda "sine”, which was selected as the best script in November 2012 in a script competition organised by silver film production although I haven’t yet received the award.  My other screenplay "Rwandan whore” is written in English, but both screenplays haven’t been produced yet.

Have you had any training?

Apart from the basic training that I got from the Maisha lab festival, I do online seminars that I follow on twitter and you tube. My mentor Kivu Ruhorahoza is also doing a good job to ensure that I improve my screenwriting skills.

What makes script writing interesting to you?

It’s fun when ideas are flooding in your head and you just keep writing down everything. But then you have to keep formatting a number of times before you can come up with an interesting script which makes it annoying.

You however get a sense of relief when it’s done and get feedback from the readers.

What have you achieved so far?

Being able to produce my movie has been my biggest achievement. The USD 5000 that I won in the Maisha film competition helped me achieve my dream. We are shooting the movie and are currently in the editing process.

Do you face any challenges?

Directing films is hard work that doesn’t pay off quickly. I have to juggle it with studies and work and yet it requires focus, time and energy.

What’s next?

We are 80% covered and our movie is almost done. We anticipate participating in the upcoming film festival and hopefully, the sky is going to be the limit. I also intend to push my script writing career even when I’m done with studies, as part of my other job.