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Genesis of the Producer State of Mind (Continued from Page 6) TYPEWRITERS SOLD ❖ RENTED ❖ REPAIRED AUTHORIZED DEALERS ALL MAKES PORTABLE TYPEWRITERS Offi ce Appliance Co. 6266 Hollywood Blvd. WM. A. HARNDEN GRanite 2171 remember that to talent was still con¬ ceded all responsibility for creating the product. But talent was only a paid servant. It was as if the slave of an adventurer had found the key to a great treasure and now proposed to use the key and the treasure for himseslf. The producer's reaction was naturally one of dismay and exaggerated fear. What might not the slave do if he gained en¬ tire freedom? Fear, such as I have tried to describe, would seem to lead inevitably to a feel¬ ing of resentment, particularly against the players who ruled the 'box-office and the directors, who ruled production. Resentment is the next thing to hate, and we know without question that hate has been and still is a producers passion with reference to Equity. I T is probable that the producer had little fear of the writer at the time we are now considering. The talking picture had not yet made the written script a major necessity. But there was ample reason for the hatred of the writer, who has his own mental afflic¬ tion. He loves to direct shafts of wit at less gifted people, and for years he has ridiculed the producers in print. They have affected to laugh it off, but the barbs must have stung deeply and must have been secretly resented. Any one who has heard, as many have, a pro¬ ducer refer to “one of those damned writers," will not doubt the nature of the feeling behind the words. There remains one more vital circum¬ stance to report. It will add a fourth and deciding complication to the pro¬ ducer state of mind. After United Artists had demonstrated a possibility of talent competing in the producing field, there was a series of other at¬ tempts by talent in the same direction. To the joy of the producers all of these failed for business reasons. They were unable to compete againt the powerful monopoly. A; group of writers, a group of directors and several individual tal¬ ent efforts all came to grief. Finally Griffith at his eastern studio fell into financial difficulties. This was the cli¬ max. The cumulative effect of these failures on the mentality of the producer class was revolutionary. It may be best de¬ scribed by relating what happened to Griffith, the dean of directors, when he undertook, soon after his failure, to pro¬ duce a picture for Paramount in dis¬ charge of an obligation. A LTHOUGH his recent productions were still among the best 'box-office attractions, Paramount placed over him a supervisor to control all his opera¬ tions and forced on him a story that he did not like and that was unsuited to his peculiar qualifications. He could not walk out without repudiating a debt of honor, so he submitted, but he later described the experience as the most distressing of his career. The produc- duction of course was a flop. The Screen Guilds’ Magazine Orsatti Co. Agency 9000 Sunset Blvd. Hollywood OXford 1008 14