Mumbai, India – In a significant victory for Indian television creators, ZEE Network has officially reversed a contentious internal policy that capped on-screen credits and forced writers onto a “rotational credit” system across its national and regional shows. The reversal follows formal intervention by the Screenwriters Association (SWA) and widespread pushback from affected writers. The broadcaster had implemented a “six-credits-only” mandate, strictly limiting on-screen credits to six names per episode, a space already dominated by producers, creative producers, and directors.
Under this framework, writers—who routinely share responsibilities across story, screenplay, episodic writing, and dialogue—were left to split the remaining slots. To fit the arbitrary limit, ZEE introduced “rotational credits,” where a dialogue writer might be credited on one episode without mention of the story or screenplay writers, and vice versa. This system applied across ZEE’s Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and regional programming networks, impacting roughly 18 writers in Hindi television alone, alongside dozens more in regional markets. Beyond stripping authorship, the SWA raised critical concerns over royalty payouts, which are tied to on-screen credits, arguing that omitting a writer’s name would erase their legal trail of authorship and compromise their long-term royalty claims.
On July 20, the SWA sent a formal letter to ZEE Network, backed by signatures from 26 prominent television writers. Following the union’s intervention, ZEE confirmed the immediate reinstatement of full writer credits. SWA General Secretary Raj Shekhar welcomed the resolution, stating, “A writer’s credit is not a formality, it is a recognition of authorship and a fundamental professional right. We welcome ZEE’s decision to reinstate the credits. It is a positive outcome for writers and demonstrates that even difficult issues can be resolved through dialogue.” THR India reached out to ZEE for an official media response but did not receive an update at the time of publication.
