Came the dawn : memories of a film pioneer (1951)

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green instead of red! He said, 'What does it matter? I think green looks better.' It somehow came about that I had occasion, at his request, I imagine, to put on paper my ideas about the Author vis-a-vis the Producer, and as those ideas do not seem to have altered since then, and may perhaps be interesting to others, I will quote my letter. This is what I wrote: — 'It seems to me that there is no real line of demarcation or place where it can be said: here the author's work ends and here the producer's begins .... I do very deeply sympathise with you in your very keen desire to keep the development of the story in your hands throughout. I think I can quite understand how painful it must be, after having brought a child into the world, to hand it over to a foster parent to be brought up and reared, and however great one's faith might be in that foster parent, the wrench would be painful and the bringing up could never be perfectly satisfactory to the real creator. But what are you to do if you are not prepared to do the wet-nursing? You must let somebody else do it or let the baby starve. 'It seems to me that the author has an absolute and undeniable right to put as many stage directions in the scenario as he thinks fit — he may, if he likes, give complete drawings and sketches of the materials to be used for every dress which is worn; in the same way there may be working plans for every scene, and I have heard of authors in America who have selected the exact pitch of every exterior view and written the particulars in the scenario. 'I hold that everything which is in the scenario must be adhered to by the producer and that he accepts the scenario on these terms. Of course, he can refuse it if he likes, but if he accepts it, he must either produce it as it is given to him or obtain the author's permission to make alterations. But if the author does not put these particulars in he has not the right, it seems to me, to come along afterwards and demand to see the dresses which have been selected or the people which have been chosen for the parts, or the scenery which has been prepared. It seems to me that he must either do these things himself or leave the other fellow to do them. The author has a perfect right to insist upon certain people playing the various parts; if he does so, the script comes to the producer with that much load upon it, and it is then up to the producer either to accept it or refuse it as it stands. The same with the dresses, the scenery and everything else. Take for instance 156