How to Write Moving Picture Plays (1915)

HOW TO WRITE MOVING PICTURE PLAYS 11 take the elevator. Try to be perfectly natural with your characters; make them real “life and blood” people, and not fairy creatures. Write about the life and people you know and meet and associate with daily. There are dozens of little incidents that we see on the streets, in our homes, offices, stores, schoolrooms, read in the newspapers daily, affording excellent material for picture plays. If you are writing a story involving a courtroom scene, you must know just how such a scene would be conducted; if you are not posted, you must inquire from someone who does know, otherwise some of your scene action will appear ridiculous to any attorneys in the audience. I once read a script written by a young lady describing a scene in a barber-shop. She had the barber meet the hero at the door, take him by the arm and lead him back to the chair; the hero handed the barber a quarter and told him he wanted a haircut; the barber poured a little tonic over the hero’s head and commenced. Another story written by a country girl told of a millionaire merchant taking his office-boy to the ball game, then to a “swell hotel” for dinner. Imagine! The moral is — KNOW YOUR SUBJECT. If you want to write a dramatic story, do not think that you must have a man burnt at the stake, or that you must kill an actor in every scene to bring the thrills. Suspense is more thrilling than an actual crime. If your hero is tied to the stake, the Indian is about to apply the torch, and you know that a company of soldiers are due to arrive, is not the suspense more dramatic and thrilling than it would be to witness the poor, tortured hero in flames? Do not mix comedy with tragedy; you have only a few minutes in which to tell your story, and you cannot do justice to both in this short time. Above all, try to be original and build plays from your own imagination, taking some incident that you have seen, read, or heard as the basis for your plot. Section 7.— KIND OF PLAYS TO AVOID. Avoid any scenes or suggestive complications that may offend good taste or morals. Avoid scenes of murder, suicide, robbery, kidnapping, harrowing deathbeds, horrible accidents, persons being tortured, scenes attending an electrocution or hanging, violent fights showing strangling, shooting, or stabbing, staggering drunkards, depraved or wayward women, rioting strikers, funerals, and all such scenes of a depressing or unpleasant nature. Do not make a hero of a highwayman or escaped convict. Do not reflect upon any religious belief, nationality, or physical deformity. Thousands of men, women, and CHILDREN of all classes, nationalities, and creeds witness these pictures daily. We may occasionally see some play depicted which is contrary to the above advice, but they are the exceptions, and are to be avoided. Give your story a clean, wholesome, pleasant tone, leaving the few morbid tales for others to write. These tales of crime are growing less every day, and consequently the photoplay is growing better. Do not copy your story from any book, magazine, or other moving picture play that you have read or seen. These are all protected by copyright, and you would make yourself liable to prosecution. I do not mean that you may not get your inspiration from some book, magazine story, or photoplay, but you must build your own story around this idea. Do not try to write “trick” plays, where a beautiful maiden emerges from a vase of flowers, or a villain vanishes in a cloud of smoke. Only the producers at the studios are capable of devising these scenes. Try to avoid using children and animals in your play. Animals are “bad actors,” and many studios have no capable children. If you are in touch with several studios who employ children for these parts, it is all right; and many good plays are written where these clever little actors have important roles. Do not write a story of your life; this would no doubt be of interest to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Martha and all of your cousins and friends, but would hold no interest for the other ninety million people throughout the country. A good plot may, of course, be built from some incident you have personally experienced ; but avoid the “history of my life,” which seems to be a favorite theme with so many young writers. Wild-west stories are difficult to write unless you are familiar with the life of cowboys, Indians, and Western customs. Avoid military stories or plays requiring a full regiment of people. They are very expensive to produce. I know they are popular, and perhaps in time YOU can write them; but just now I want you to write the ones easy of production, not requiring three hundred people in the cast, a collision between two express trains, the sinking of a costly battleship, or the dynamiting of a skyscraper, unless you KNOW you can convince producers that if they will spend a fortune to stage your play they will realize profits of five million dollars on the production Avoid “rough comedy” of the slapstick variety, where everybody is fighting, falling, running. This class of play is bought by a few companies, but very few. Avoid the “seasonable” stories adapted only to Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, etc. The average film is used for several months, while a “seasonable play” can be used only for a few weeks; thus its chance for acceptance is small unless story is particularly clever. Do not depict the mischievous boy in a series of practical jokes, the hobo seeking a job during a series of mishaps, the bicycle rider in a series of tumbles, etc. These themes were formerly in vogue, but have outlived their popularity. We still see one occasionally, but we do not laugh as we once did. If you are writing comedy, do not try to make your storyr “read funny.” Your words will not be shown on screen. It is the ACTION that must make the audience laugh. The most humorous story you ever read might make the poorest photoplay comedy. “Joe spills a bowl of soup” does not make you laugh; but perhaps a clever actor could follow this stage direction and make the millions who witness the film-play laugh. Neither is a humorous climax alone sufficient; the comedy must run through entire play, from beginning to end. After reviewing these restrictions, it may occur to the student that “there is nothing left to write about.” Read closely every word of Section 6, “ Kind of Plays to Write,” and Section 11, “The Plot and How to Obtain It.” There is not a daily paper that does not contain a dozen ideas; there is not a day of our life but what some incident we see or item we read will suggest a theme, provided we are observant.