Moving Picture News (Jul-Oct 1913)

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THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS 17 style is wrong as these characters are often dropped and later brought abruptly into the picture, and in many cases, are confused with the other leads. A character in a pictureplay should be introduced at the time it begins to take part in the action, as characters are in novels and plays of the speaking stage. An example of successfully bringing a character into a picture near the end was the recent Lubin release 'When Tony Pawned Louisa,' wherein a pawnbroker, who later proved the hero, was introduced after almost two-thirds of the reel had been run off. I recall a two-reel Kalem war drama in which one of the female leads was introduced at the beginning of the second reel. If introduced with a proper leader I think it adds to the charm of a play to have the characters appear at the proper time. This does not mean the switching of the lead to an unknown character in the last scene as many young authors are inclined to do. I trust you will give this a place in your department as I believe it will help others." The Hall of Fame Capt. Leslie T. Peacocke, editor and author, wrote his libretto for Annette Kellerman with pen and ink. Benjamin Schulberg is being given the credit with writing near the ideal pictureplay in Gem's "Under Two Flags." He j'eceived a fancy price for the script. Mrs. Betta Breuil, formerly Vitagraph editress, is engaged in writing two and three-reel stuff and her name on the film is a part of the contracts. Our leading pictureplaywrights promise to make Shaw and the rest sit up and take notice. Following in the footsteps of Capt. Peacocke a little bird whispers that Miss Maibelle Heikes Justice may shortly issue forth with a three-act play. Edwin La Roche writes the answers department for the Motion Picture Story Magazine and he takes a beautiful photo, girls ! A. W. Thomas, new editor of the Photoplay Magazine, lives in Cleveland and when he is not dabbling in pictureplay lore, he sells bonds. From the "Literary Belt" Minnesota has its wheat belt, Illinois its corn belt, but there is but one literary belt known to posterity and that is — Indiana. We always like to get letters from Indiana, .and here's one from Byron C. Wainwright, of Rushville: "For over nine months I have read every issue of the News, particularly the 'Plots and Plays' Department, .and, since I am a picture playwright, I have found the department interesting and helpful. I have found a market for two of my scenarios, selling to Biograph and Kalem, but neither has been released yet. How long is it after a play is accepted that it is released? In the near future will you please insert an article in the department discussing 'checked' rejection slips, and also the use of simplified spelling in scenarios? 1 believe above discussions will be helpful to other readers." There is no .stated length of time for release after acceptance of script. We have received checks after the play we have written has been released, and, in one instance, a year passed before the script we were paid for was released as a picture. Many things are taken into consideration in releasing. We recently discussed the "checked" rejection slip and see but little benefit in the system. Use the Queen's English as properly as possible and avoid simplified spelling. We admit a weakness for spelling though as tho", but we stop right then and there. Stop It! What the . Say, don't you know better than to try and work the secret order "gag" on long-suffering editors? There are a number of unusually ambitious script writers who insist in writing to editors in strictly a fraternal spirit. In so doing they undoubtedly violate the first principles of the lodge to which they belong. If you happen to belong to the same fraternal order as an editor you know of, what has that to do with the scripts you submit? Are you presuming on your fraternal brotherhood to endeavor to influence the editor to purchase? An editor or two has complained to us regarding this little habit of a coterie. And then only yesterday we received a letter asking us if we belonged to the order ■of Thus and So because, if we did belong, the writer was confident that we would violate our rule and criticise his favorite script which "had been unaccountably rejected by several companies." For heaven's sake, have pride enough to stand alone and do not presume on any lodge or other order to gain influence. More study and labor and less "signs of distress" will make a hit with us and with others. Pertinent Pointers Writing is hard labor. The majority of literary workers dread the drudgery inseparable with the profession. Don't skip all over the universe before you fully place your characters and avoid the sub-plot. Only send out your best, it pays in the end. What is worth doing is worth doing well. "The best way to learn how to write is to do newspaper work for awhile," says Thomas Nelson Page. He was formerly a reporter. Submit one script at a time to one company. Two or three may suggest to the editor that you are submitting stories rejected by others. Use no dialogue in writing a pictureplay. Sometimes a striking sentence in sub-title may add to the realism. Players frequently invent conversation to fit the situation but they do not use profane or indecent language, despite the favorite gossip anent the deaf mute's statement. Condensation, as we recommend it in writing pictureplays, does not mean the fewest number of words possible, it means the fewest number possible to clearly convey your meaning. Don't ramble. Use plain English. Avoid the use of big words, they will not impress the editor. There is a plot is almost everything. What is needed is a trained imagination to see it. Exercise your inventive genius. A bump of originality is located somewhere in your cranium. When the washwoman brings the clothing, maybe a plot' comes along with her. A washwoman gave us an idea long sought for. We wrote a two-reel story about the washwoman (poor soul!) and how the children contracted scarlet fever through the wash. It was quickly purchased by a manufacturer of laundry machinery and used for a commercial. Be businesslike. In so doing you will command the respect of those with whom you deal. Learn how to conduct your correspondence in a businesslike way and with businesslike directness. When you write to the mail order house for a new piano you do not give the concern the impression that you are a "parlor cut-up" and just cannot refrain from inflicting a merry quip. No. You write as briefly and as clearly as possible. Follow the same methods with the film editor. He cares little for your funny sayings, or your personal misfortunes. He has troubles enough of his own. Don't argue that the "outside" writer is the victim of discrimination. He is not. If he can do his work as well as the staff or contract writer he stands just as good a show, if not a better one. The conscientious "outside" writer, it is true, has been somewhat handicapped by having his offering between the envelope containing the effusion of the correspondence "school" graduate, and the plagiarist's plot, but editors soon learn to know just who is who. Work to make your offers as good as the best and some day you'll draw as many sales as the man or woman you now envy. Writing the Photoplay J. Berg Esenwein and Arthur Leeds, one a master of short story writing, and the other a master of photoplay writing, collaborated in writing a volume of 174 pages under the above title. The work is meritorious in every respect. It exhaustively treats of every step in the art of plot building and will prove invaluable for the literary craftsman as well as the beginner. The volume is embellished with pictures of studio scenes, etc., which add to its attractiveness. There is also a complete index and appendix. The authors of this new book are competent to teach and we consider the volume as another merited acquisition to the slowly growing library on moving picture subjects. The book is gilt-edged in its make-up, and in its contents, and comes in red cloth at two dollars a copy. Worth twice as much. The Writer's Library, Home Correspondence School Pubs., Springfield, Mass. Do Not Hesitate Do not hesitate to take advantage of this department. The winter is rapidly approaching, so come in early with your observations and inquiries. Enclose stamped self-addressed envelope for nersonal replies. Service is free. WM. LORD WRIGHT.