Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

May. 1911. MOTOGRAPHY 93 ike Photoplay wrights Earnings By "The Hermit" ONLY the Licensed manufacturers use the public print extensively to advertise for moving picture scenarios. But the Independents declare in their private form sheets and elsewhere that they, too, "will pay from $10 to $100 for motion picture plays," so that the uninitiated are ready to believe that the photoplaywright's is an easy road to fortune. Recently the Lubin Manufacturing Company altered its advertisements to read from $10 to $40, and, in the case of this company, the average price paid for moving picture scripts is about $25. But without any doubt the normal rate is rather below than above $15. In only one instance has the top sum, the $100 which each novice so confidently expects for his first manuscript, been paid. When the Edison company arranged with Madame Pilar Morin, the actress who can hold an audience for an entire evening in the thrall of her pantomime, to face one of their cameras with her unique company, a number of scripts were submitted to her from which to select that which might be used as the basis for the production. She chose one, and the author was informed and asked to name his price. This writer was that rara avis, the literary worker who is able to form a just estimate of the value of his own work, and he asked $100. Since this was an unknown figure, the Edison company naturally enough refused it, and requested the actress to examine the scenarios again. But Madame Morin had made up her mind and she refused to change it. "It must be that play," she said, "or none." So perforce the Edison company set a mark which has not since been touched. Several of the companies, and in this the Edison has also been the leader, have negotiated with well known magazine fiction writers to provide scenarios, At one time in last June three companies were endeavoring to come to terms with Roy Norton, and many lesser writers received invitations to submit photoplays. So it is quite evident that the manufacturers really wish good plays, and, in return, expect to pay good prices. But still there is no standard by which the scenario editors can gauge the sum to be paid the playwright for his work. The number of thrills to a reel seems no criterion, nor does the number of laughs, nor the expense of production, in fact, the varying prices offered for plays seem without rhyme or reason. "The Road to Richmond," a splendid scenic drama, which provided good proportions of love and danger, entailed an enormous company, and required the burning of a long wooden bridge. The properties alone cost at least $200. Emmet Campbell Hall, the author, received $5 for the scenario. And the Selig Polyscope Company scored a winner with the play. For a 10-scene comedy, "The Unmailed Letter," Selig paid the writer twice as much, and for a 34-scene drama, "A Crucial Test," the same amount. But the author of "The Road to Richmond" fared better In the end than the writer who received twice as much originally, for the success of the war play gave a prestige which prejudices the Selig company in Hall's favor. Hall has been very successful with his moving picture scripts, and, as he is a prolific writer, his receipts are large. During the early part of April he sold eight scenarios for a total a trifle over $100. Though individual experiences will always vary, the Edison and the Lubin companies in most instances, seem to pay best of all. The former paid $15 the other day, for an 11-scene comedy, and the latter, $20 for a 31 -scene drama, and the same amount for a 16scene drama. These prices are probably slightly below the average. The standard of the Vitagraph company seems high, and its pays correspondingly high p_rices. A good comedy has been known to bring $40 and very few of this company's checks are below $25. For comedy subjects providing the minimum of exaggeration for the maximum of fun, the Essanay company will pay top-notch prices ; even $50 is not considered too much for a really original and truly laughable comedy. In its desire to procure good comedies and dramas, the Biograph company is not far behind these concerns. Its payments seldom rise above $25 however, and $15 is the usual amount. Pathe Freres have hardly been buying long enough in America to have their customs become established and known to writers. One writer who sold them two scripts recently received $10 for each. The Kalem Company has never been a frequent purchaser and its rate is not high. Of the Independent companies, little need be said. Thanhouser paid $3.50 for a full-fledged scenario, and the Eclair company paid only a little more for a drama which ran a full reel. The Independent Moving Pictures Company pays better than this, but seldom more than $10. While most of the companies prefer that the scenario be worked out, and a few more for an elaborate manuscript, most will pay for a good idea, even if it be incorporated in an impossible photoplay. This used to be the practice with many of the leading companies ; but more and more the scenarios editors are turning toward the play which is ready to be turned over to the producer. Pathe Freres paid within the past month a fair-sized amount to a novice whose first script was ^entirely unavailable. But at the bottom there was an idea which in capable hands offered an opportunity for .the development of an excellent play. The "art of the moving picture is so limited by the restrictions which are imposed by the methods of reproduction that ideas are scarce. The fiction writer may reveal the thoughts, speeches and actions of his book people, and the dramatist relies on clever speeches to augment every effect at which he aims, but the photoplaywright must tell everything through the actions of a few persons, and the smallest detail of each scene must be possmle of vivid visualization. And when the present confusion in motion picture circles is at an end, the manufacturers will realize that this art is the most difficult of all, and the phrase, "$10 to $100 for motion picture plays," will not be a wholly idle promise.