Moving Picture News (Jan-Jun 1913)

i6 THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS he was cutting loose from contract work and would again cater to the general market. Many Thanks! A man in Los Angeles writes in to tell us that all trade journal scribes are "dippy," and that he can do much better than any of them singly or collectively. Incidentally he says he is about to dash off and offer a bundle of essays on the art of writing to the trade. Maybe he is essaying too much. Pertinent Pointers Suspense is an element of prime importance in a script. Keep the spectator guessing until the final moment. Suspense is another term for strength. Carry the interest in your lead straight through the plot. Do not shift the interest to another character in the final twenty feet of film. It frequently spoils the plot. Action is more effective than leader. Hence we again assert : Cut out the sub-titles wherever possible. We believe in plunging right into the thick of things in the first scene. Avoid preparatory or explanatory scenes. Start from the very first in the unfolding of your plot with ever increasing interest until the climax. A picture play script is spoiled for us if the first scene is started with a leader. Neither are we inclined to the leader : "Ten Years Later." Lapse of time will weaken any story. Be clean. Avoid shady characters, drunkards, harlots, thieves, and counterfeiters. Selig and other first-class concerns have placed the. ban on plots requiring inhabitants of the underworld. The suggestive plot is the worst of all. Cut-backs mean emphasis by contrast. Biograph is especially partial to the contrasting scenes. It is a device that often adds effectiveness to the plot. Do not labor after effects. Submit a properly constructed picture play and permit the director to attend to his end of the business. He can do it better than you. Remember that comedy is difficult to write and is always in demand. In the spoken drama the lines carry the comedy. In the picture play, comic situations are essential. Humorous action and plot are desired and you must tell what that humorous action is. Kindly Remember Kindly remember that a self-addressed and stamped envelope is necessary for replies by mail. Slightly Confused An inquirer of Montreal, Can., asks which of two "schools" named is the "best company" to submit scripts. The writer says that one "school" cuts the "course" to $5 if the money is sent within ten days. To new readers we will hurriedly state that these correspondence "schools" do not produce pictures, and to Montreal our best advice is to save the money and read the moving picture trade journals. Tip to Fiction Writers To those picture playwrights who also dabble in magazine work here's a tip : The editor of The Railroad Man's Magazine writes that he is in need of good "fillers" of one hundred to three hundred words in length, and will also read stories and special articles of one thousand to twelve hundred words in length. A Hummer for Henderson Mr. Will T. Henderson, of Chicago, is pardonably pleased because he submitted a comedy-drama to Vitagraph on March 19th and received acceptance on March 31st. You can always depend on quick action from Vitagraph. Then William T. in commenting on our depressing fear that Bertha M. Clay may be the next notable to be engaged by the Universal to write scripts, remarks : "Give us Elinor Glyn in 'three weeks' or sooner, but not Bertha, kind sir — not Bertha !" Mr. Henderson also compliments Ernst Luz and his department on moving picture music. We will not publish the remainder of Mr. Henderson's letter because the stuff is far cleverer than our copy — and we need the money. Cheer Up, Jones! Marc Edmund Jones, of Chicago, went to New York to attend Mr. Sarhent's party, and he likes the surroundings so well that he refuses to return to that dear Windy City. Jones made six sales in eight days, and then last week he had twenty rejections. Now Marc Jones knows something about script writing and those twenty rejections do not bother him in the least. He knows that the rejection slip is bound to come to us all, and twenty in one week puts a quick ending to suspense. Here is a little object lesson to the beginner who experiences weeping and gnashing of teeth when five or six of his scripts are declined. Do like Jones will do. Watch the market and work 'em over with bursts of song and a genial sparkle in the eye. Report Not Credited The report current that Richard Goodall, former editor-inchief of the Universal, is to be succeeded by genial Joe Brandt, is not universally credited. George Hall gets the position, we understand. A Sample Scenario Mr. Walter MacNamara, script writer, submits a scene from a "sample scenario" submitted to him recently. Here it is : Scene 6 — Interior prison. Little girl (cripple with crutch) is seen picking wild flowers. Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of the scene. WM. LORD WRIGHT. S. S. HUTCHINSON MAKES IMPORTANT CHANGES AT SANTA BARBARA STUDIO Important changes have occurred since the return of Mr. Hutchinson at the Santa Barbara headquarters. Principal among these was the engaging of Albert W. Hale, a producer of Vitagraph and Thanhouser experience, who will hereafter have charge of the first company. The western business management has been given into the hands of Wallace Kerrigan, twin brother of Jack Kerrigan, the American's leading man. Mr. Wallace Kerrigan has been with the "Flying A" forces ever since the company was sent to California almost two years ago, and during that time devoted his energies toward the business end. The new arrangement will make toward greater and better "Americans." THE INDIAN'S SECRET 101 Bison (2 Reel) release May 6th.