Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1911)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 21 self to make clear what mean should be taken to secure his right-, if he lias any. This office d'>es not mean to be understood as suggesting that some pantomimes cannot be registered, but merely to point out the uncertainty of what ought to be put on record here as deposit to secure your rights." The Register further stated: "Of course, if you write a drama, such drama is entitled to registration, as the law makes it so, and there would be no objection to registering your claim to the drama if the manuscript or printed copy of same were deposited in this office. ' Perhaps it might be well, if you think proper, for you to rewrite your work so that it will be dramatic both in matter and form." By the time this letter was received, the author had sold the scenario in question, so that he no longer required copyright protection, although the producer who bought it might then have been interested in copyrighting it to protect himself during the time that the picture for it was being made However, the Register's last letter had cleared the atmosphere somewhat, and because of it the author felt that even if entry should have been made as a pantomime, and this seemed doubtful of attainment, the copyright might not have stood in the face of a contest. In the future, in order to be able to put the protecting words, "Copyright, 19 — , by ," on his scenarios, and have the entry stand the test of a contest, the author felt that he would have to write them into dramatic form. Brevity was needed, as it would not pay to put much work into the matter of copyrighting a scenario that might bring no more than $25. He figured that a line or two of dialogue added to each scene of a scenario, in connection with the general pantomimic directions of the scenario, would make it dramatic in form. Nothing that suggested the subtitle of a moving picture scenario must appear in the copy that was to be sent to the Register of Copyrights. Where these substitutes were quotations of what the actors were saying, it was easy enough to write them into the regular dramatic form of dialogue, but the descriptive subtitles offered an obstacle. They were necessary to carry on the thread of the play. It would be hazardous to omit them, and if left as they were, the Register would probably refuse to make an entry of the composition on the ground that it was obviously intended for motion picture production only. So the author went back to an old device of Shakespeare's and added a character called "Chorus." This character was given, as his lines, the wording of the various descriptive subtitles, the wording of which was unchanged, and which were to be spoken at just the places where they appeared in the scenario, the character appearing and making these announcements between the scenes. Shakespeare gave various names to "Chorus," such as "Rumor as Chorus," the character being a single actor who would appear between scenes and tell of what was supposed to intervene between them, such as the lapse of time, a war, deaths, a journey, etc. Chorus is used four times by Shakespeare in King Henry V.; Rumor, in Romeo and Juliet; in Winter's Tale, Time, and in Timon of Athens, Gower. Thus the scenario author had the dramatic precendent of centuries and the usage of the greatest of all dramatists back of him. The author has copyrighted a number of short dramas written from scenarios in this way, the time required being about an hour for the rearrangement, and he of course has the right to put the protecting statutory notice of copyright on the title of his scenarios of the dramas. If another author or a producer should then pirate one of the scenarios so protected, such a person would be liable for a violation of the copright laws, as copyrighted dramas cannot without penalty be made into motion pictures without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright. Do not think that dramas written briefly as suggested are always at once entered by the Register. But if his objections are met properly he will make the entry and issue the copyright. He will perhaps object to a large number of scenes, but the objection can be overcome by argument in a letter to him stating that the play is in one act and that a one-act drama may have as many scenes as the author wishes, without affecting its status as a drama. The Register may contend that it is obviously intended for motion pictures. Your argument should be that it is intended for production on the public stage if you can find a producer to put it on there, and that it is also intended for motion pictures if a motion picture producer can be found to produce it that way. Being dramatic in form and intended for the public stage, it is copyrightable. It is possible the Register may contend that the manuscript is not a drama because it has not a Beginning, a Middle, and an End. You should point out these divisions of your play to him. the Beginning being those scenes in which the Exposition is made. i. e.. the facts you have estab lished first in your play familiarizing the audence with the situation, introducing the characters, etc. It is also called the Introduction. The Mid. lie 1, the Climax or the Clash in the play. The 1 ml 1 the IJ. it. As even tin 1 amateur writers have these divisions well marked in their pilot,, play,, n will m,, be difficult to bring them spectically i" tin Register's attention. An hour's tune will permit one to rewrite a motion picture scenario into a copyrightable pantomimic drama for the publis stage. The manuscript that i sent to the Register of Copyright should be described beneath the title line, as "A Drama in Words and Pantomime." This is advi-ed, as most of the drama will be written for pantomime, only enough dialogue being added to make it dramatic in form. A change in the copyright law making a scenario copyrightable by name should be urged by producers and authors alike Why should not the scenario for a drama be copyrightable in manuscript form just as much as the drama which is to be written from it? Is not an author with the scenario outline of a drama just as much entitled to protection for it in that form as he is when it has been padded out with the dialogue that has been suggested and arranged for in the scenario, and which makes it dramatic in form? As Register of Copyrights, Mr. Solberg, give the photoplay dramatists a chance to copyright their scenarios conveniently, just as they write them, and if you haven't the power, join them in an effort to secure from Congress the necessary amendment to the copyright law. A Serious Vaudeville Situation. And Its Effect on the Motion Picture Industry. By Robert Grau. The readers of this periodical are probably informed of the strife now existing between the vaudeville managers of this country, amalgamated to an almost entity on the one hand, and the organization known as "The White Rats of America," representing "the unionized actor," on the other. The importance, however, of the proceedings now in order and in contemplation are of far greater import to the moving picture industry than is readily conceived, hence the writer is prompted to lay before the most interested people a concise and, he hopes, authoritative recital of this momentous procedure. The moving picture got its first great impetus in the year 1900, from proceedings identically the same as those now casting their shadows before. In this year "The White Rats" society called on the vaudeville managers for the abolition of the "five per cent." that was deducted from the vaudevillians salary, and demanded that this should go to the regular agent only. The managers declined to negotiate and at a given moment every White Rat walked out of the vaudeville theaters, a state of affairs resulting in a troublous period, wherein the moving picture saved the day for the managers and ultimately brought about the defeat of "The White Rats." though it is doubted if any of the managers regarded their victory with any great joy — in fact, it took one full year before vaudeville resumed its former gait, and the strife has lasted to this day, in various ways and means. In the eleven years that have elapsed since the "strike" period, the managers have prospered, some becoming millionaires, but in the last two or three years these managers have found their position growing more and more untenable until at the present time they are quite prepared to meet any situation confronting them, and they are now face to face with the most serious problem that they have ever had to cope with. The White Rats have seen their membership grow more than 1,000 per cent, in the last decade, and they now claim ninety per cent, of the vaudeville profession, while in the last ninety days all restriction has been waived in an effort to create a membership of colossal proportions. "The White Rats" are now affiliated with all of the various labor unions, and the leading figure in its procedure is an Englishman. Harry Mountford by name, who had experience in London in unionizing the actors and also in agitating a strike of tremendous dimensions, the effect of which was unfavorable to the strikers, but by no means a victory for the managers. The present strife consists of the refusal of the managers to recognize or treat with Mountford, who threatens that unless the managers "get together" to adjust the differences with his organization, there will be trouble, and this trouble is presumed to mean that Mountford will call out the vaudeville actors, and through his affiliations with the unions call out all other aids of the managers, such as the orchestra, the stage hands and last, but not least, the audience. All of the managers have come together, and this being the