Moving Picture News (Jul-Oct 1913)

i6 THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS For Those Who Worry O'er Plots and Plays It Is Coming THE open market is en route and will soon be here. Are you prepared? The open market will mean the end of the contract writer; it will mean the survival of the fittest ; it will mean that the story will be regarded as the important part of the picture and that the price will be accordingly; it will mean competition and the winning out of the best pictures. No more hackeneyed plots ; no more monotonous Westerns ; no more deadly dull triangles when the open market arrives. This is a prediction, but we prophesy with assurance. When the open market comes, and the manufacturers must compete on their merits, more attention will be paid to the plot of the story. Originality is at a premium right now, but it will be even more so with the open market. Get you busy and prepare to be ready for the milennium. No $1,000 Scripts The industrial film company which recently advertised, offering "$1,000 for the best scripts," has recently reorganized, and the man whose script fancy lightly turned to $1,000 is no longer connected with that particular concern. But what of the clever writers who were taken in by that $1,000 offer? They spent time and trouble writing stuff available to but one certain market. The best was culled out and small checks sent. The rest of the stuff was rejected. All that time these writers might have been devoting their thoughts to the regular markets. Again we repeat : Do not enter prize contests ; do not think that $1,000 is ever to be paid for an industrial or any other kind of a script in this day and age; play safe! Bulletin The winning scripts in the Powers prize contest were dusted off, looked over, and then returned to the shelves. Nothing doing yet anent the production of these stories which was a condition of the contest. And the crucifix that caused expert argumentation when it accompanied the first prize script has been lost. It was a family heirloom, and the owner has been beating the tom-tom of distress for several moons. Verily, it is distressing! Keep At It , You write a script most carefully. You submit it to a favored company. The script is returned. You are discouraged. You shove said script in the morgue. Why? Maybe some other editor would like that script. Editors ■differ in their ideas, you know. Give it a thorough circulation. If you have not faith in your stuff, why write it? Just a Reminiscence The above admonition reminds us of the time we wrote a Thanksgiving script. It was not received with thanksgiving hy the editor who had ordered it. Neither were we thankful when it was returned. A year later we submitted that identical script, not a word changed, to that self-same company. A different editor was on the job. He read the script, liked it, and bought it. It was intended for Thanksgiving; instead 3t was released as a Christmas picture. You never can tell ! A Change of Pace A change of pace is an essential qualification for a good baseball pitcher. It is sometimes an enviable qualification for a good script writer. A well-known and successful scribe lias changed his pace. He writes us the following : "I'm going in for two-reel stuff along with the rest. I've specialized in comedy for so long that I find it a little hard to originate a dramatic plot. Took me two days to get one I wanted. Guess I can swing it in the long run, but the first one came hard. That is where the market is these days." Here is a writer who found his market bad, and his output cut down. What did he do? He changed his pace and switched to two-reel stuff. Of course, he has a market for his new output. Otherwise he wouldn't switch. The point is that he made a quick and rather difficult change after years of soecialization in comedy. Maybe you need a change of pace. Maybe you have been specializing in comedy, when you should be specializing in drama, or vice-versa. Editorial Etchings Mrs. Breuil has resigned as script editress of Vitagraph. This news will be regretted by thousands of script writers. W. Hanson Durham, editor Western Vitagraph, is able to be at the studio after three months' confinement. He fell down stairs and broke his knee. Just the same he managed to keep several directors busy. The Majestic Company has acquired Richard Willis, formerly a Western editor for Universal. Eugene Valentine Brewster, editor of the Motion Picture Story Magazine, also writes "The Photoplay Philosopher" department in that bright monthly magazine. So many are demanding to know who is writing that good copy that we just have to tell. Philip Lonergan has been appointed editor-in-chief of the Majestic Company. The work of writing and purchasing scripts will now be accomplished under one head, and a level head at that. Checked Rejection Slips And still the objections anent editorial checking of rejection slips are being received. If the editor checks the slip, it will do in the majority of cases. If some stenographer checks, "similar to magazine story" by mistake, it is doing the author an injustice. We advocate the return to the old-time "regrets'" system. The system of checking reasons for rejection is unsatisfactory at the best and often arouses antagonism on the part of writers — something wise editors wish to forestall. I Word From Henderson ^ , Mr. Will T. Henderson, of Chicago, a script writer who quotes Latin on the slightest provocation, is responsible for this one: "A great deal has been said pro and con as to sub-titles in scripts of motion picture stories. Some have contended in various publications that I have read that sub-titles should never be used except where absolutely necessary in order to make the action understood. During the past three months, I have made diligent inquiry among patrons of motion picture exhibitions, and without knowing my personal opinion on the subject, all with whom I have spoken about it, have expressed themselves, without exception, emphatically in favor of the use of sub-titles, whether they are necessary to make the meaning clear or not, providing they are used judicially to the end that they will serve to enhance added interest in the scene that is to follow. This is the way I have always felt about it, and I believe that the majority of moving picture patrons are of that opinion. How much more interesting and entertaining a picture in a book or periodical is when accompanied by a caption of some sort, even though the intent of the artist is perfectly clear without it. I want to go on record as being in favor of sub-titles judicially exploited, whether they are necessary for a clear understanding of the scene_or not." _Mr. Henderson's argument is very nicely put, but the contention that sub-titles should never be used except where absolutely necessary to make the action clear, is the correct contention. People do not go to the picture theatre to read sub-titles, they go to be entertained and interested in a plot and storj^ as it is unfolded on the screen. They can read all the headletter wished for in a penny newspaper, and their nickels, dimes and quarters are paid into the box office of the theatre for something else. Sub-titles at the best rob a picture of atmosphere and . interest. We. hope the time will come when sub-titles will not be at all necessary. Pertinent Pointers Don't pose. If you have sold a half dozen stories don't let your hair grow long. The most successful writers look just like ordinary persons. "I had one two-reel, one three-reel and two single reels purchased in July and the weather was rather warm," writes a correspondent. We print this for the benefit of those who are blaming their lack of industry on the climate. Write love making sparingly and with delicacj'. Have the hero win the girl and let the plot hinge upon this.