How to Write Moving Picture Plays (1915)

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ATLAS PUBLISHING COMPANY ATLAS BANK BUILDING CINCINNATI, OHIO My dear Fellow-student: — The presentation of this work to the public, at a trifling cost within the reach of all, and in a condensed, practical, easy form, has been my ambition — now attained. I ask that you do not misjudge the value of these few pages by their number. I could spread these instructions over three hundred pages; I could issue them in lesson form and require that you study one lesson per week for ten weeks; but WHY such an imposition upon your patience? I am truly proud that I have accomplished my ambition and condensed the work into a form that can be read and understood within a short time by any intelligent man, woman, boy, or girl. These instructions, however, are not to be hastily read, then laid aside, as a book of fiction; it is necessary to study any text-book, whether it be rhetoric, arithmetic, geography, or photoplay writing. Neither do I wish to imply that by following these instructions ANYONE can become a successful photoplaywright. This is not true. Everyone cannot succeed in any chosen profession. All students of medicine do not make successful physicians; every law-student does not make a successful attorney; neither will every student of the motion-picture play make a successful playwright. The author is therefore not offering this work with a guarantee that YOU will be successful. His aim is merely to place before you, to the very best of his ability, the correct technical form for constructing the photoplay, advising the best methods to attain satisfactory results, pointing out the common errors of the amateur writer, giving to the aspiring playwright the fundamental principles or foundation upon which YOU are to build your success. Regardless of the many elaborate statements and ''impossible guarantees'' of some correspondence schools, SUCCESS CANNOT BE BOUGHT; it is for YOU to acquire I sincerely thank you for the kindness in accepting MY work as your guide, and I truly wish you every success in the world. Most sincerely yours. W. L. GORDON.