Moving Picture World (Jul - Aug 1918)

July 20, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 395 ^aammmmttt The Photoplaywright Conducted by EPES WINTHROP SARGENT Notice I Questions relating to the writing; of photoplays and photoplay synopses will he replied to by mail where a return envelope, properly stamped, aeeompanien the inquiry. No attention will he paid to questions relating to the market, nor ean manuserlpts or parts of manuscripts be eritiei/.ed. Giving It Time. SYNOPSES take time to write, even if they are comparatively short. Lately an alleged author told of a script he had written in a day, but confessed that he had put in part of the previous day on a preliminary synopsis. Then came a man with a synopsis he was going to sell to a certain company. It ran between five and six thousand words. "It took a little more than two weeks to write," he replied, in answer to a question, "but, man, it's all there. I bet I sell it this afternoon." He did, and he got $750 for it, because all of it was "there." The editor did not have to use his own imagination. The whole synopsis was mapped out so that all he had to do was to visualize. All of the little points made were dovetailed into the other points. The editor did not have to figure that this or that thing happened "because." He knew that it happened on account of some other specified action. He did not have to invent excuses, the story was properly motivated. It took two weeks to get the story down so clearly that any person of average intelligence could get the idea. There was no trusting to luck, no omission of details on the argument that the editor ought to know that this or that was the case. It was all put before him because the author knew that the editor wanted a complete and finished story, and not merely something from which a story might be made. He confessed that it was more work than writing the continuity, but he knew that it would bring more money than a continuity, and so he was willing to give the extra time for the additional payment. He knew, too, that he stood a better chance of getting it over with the director. He knew from his own editorial experience that the director was prone to change and alter and that he stood the best chance of avoiding detrimental alterations by giving the director the least possible excuse for changing. If a director is forced to supply the psychology for the story, he will supply his own psychology and the story will require radical alteration to meet this new angle. Possibly the director will make ruinous changes anyway, but the surest way to prevent this is to make the story so clearly defined in both plot and psychology that the director has no alibi. The editor knows that the story was a good one when it went to the director. If there is something wrong on the screen, then the director, and not the author is at fault, and the editor retains his confidence in the author and will buy other 'stories from him. If the director can argue that the synopsis was so incomplete that he was compelled to fix it up, then both the editor and the author stand in a bad light. Take the time to get the synopsis right. Get it all down, even if it does take two or three weeks. When we get more of these stories coming into the studios, we shall have more original stories on the screen and fewer book adaptations, for the editor will then feel more safe in buying from a market in which the supply will meet the demand. Even some of the old-timers are doing sloppy work in their synopses. They do not realize the importance of getting the story all down. It is necessary to write in the psychology as well as the plot, to explain why things happen as well as to tell that they do happen. It is not sufficient merely to say that Mary dislikes John. Give an adequate reason for Mary's dislike, and this will, to a large extent, help the director to understand what sort of a girl Mary is and why John is the villain instead of the hero. It may be that the reason for this dislike does not appear in the story, but tell it, anyway, for the better exposition of the characters of Mary and John. Do not tell that Jack kills Henry "in a sudden fit of rage." Explain that Jack thinks that Henry has spread a slander about Mary and that he is preparing to still further traduce her character. Then the director can frame up the action to suit the motive instead of planning the killing to suit his own ideas. Of course this attention to detail may be abused as sadly as the avoidance of details, but a little practise will soon show the trained author about how much to write, and what the untrained man does is of small consequence at best. He will learn better when he has become a real author and not a student. there is nothing to require the editor to read these undeslred continuities. Ho knows that the man who does not know enough to follow the rules is not apt to know enough to write a good play. All synopses with continuities attached are generally thrown out on this broad principle. Some authors seem to think that the market should be as they think it should be rather than as it is, and when there is any departure from what they individually regard as the proper procedure they proceed to yell their heads off instead of giving time to their plays. It is not probable that they even stop to figure out the reasons. It's all v merely because it is not their way. We do not like the synopsis-only idea. We never did, and ni shall, but studios think this is the best plan, and since it is their money which pays for the work the work must be done their way. The motion picture differs from the fiction story. The fiction story is a definite form. The written words give the final result. It may be set in eight point type or twelve point, but the story is precisely the same. The play is different. The author merely suggests certain lines of action. The director either seeks to reproduce this action or follows his own ideas. If he follows the author's idea, at best he can only give his version of the author's action. It is not like a dance where the choreographic symbols can be used; at best the most careful following of the author's scene will largely be influenced by the personality of the director and the players. The same players under the same director may not give the same results twice playing from the same script. It is argued that since the director can at best but imperfectly realize the author's idea it is better to give him a free hand and permit him to have the continuity constructed by someone in sympathy with his .ideas and able to shape the plot to his liking and understanding. For this reason .the details are asked for in synopsis instead of in scene layout, and the synopsis only is requested. When the continuity accompanies the script it has been found that the bulk of the details will be found in the continuity despite the care of the author, and so the sending of the continuity is discouraged, and those who follow this practice immediately mark their work as that of an inexperienced and therefore inexpert writer. No matter what line of work you follow you must please the purchaser rather than yourself. To be dictator you must first get the money. And you cannot consider yourself an exception to the rule. There are no exceptions. Staff and Free Lance. The money is not as regular if you are free-lancing as it is when you have a staff job and get an envelope every Saturday, but free-lancing is apt to prove best in the long run. The staff man is apt to work along a certain line favored by the studio until he can write in no other direction. If he loses his position he is handicapped ■ in the general market. He is apt to find, too, that he has grown careless, knowing that his stuff must be used as it is written. If he does not do his very best, he is doing well enough to get by for a time, but when he ceases to get by then he discovers that he is out of the habit of writing good stories that will sell in the open market. On the other hand the free-lance is continually kept upon his toes. He knows that unless he writes something better than the staff man he stands no chance of a sale, so he does his best at all times and is more regular in his sales. If one company stops buying he has other connections and is only slightly inconvenienced. It may not seem as nice to be a free-lance, but it pays best in the long run and gives a better future. Playing Personality. Speaking of a recent production Wid Gunning proclaims that the weak story is "saved" by the dominating personality of the star. He does not realize that the star's rather unusual personality would be no asset were it not that plays were written to suit this personality. We happen to know that this story was written with one idea in mind of fitting one of the robust screen stars ; not this particular one, but one of his type. And to that end all the work was thrown to the star, giving him his opportunity. And yet the author receives no credit and the star is given all. This would not be worthy of comment were it not that it represents an all too common condition of affairs. If the story is good, the star saves it. If he fails then the author is to blame. A man of a desert island might have a pocket full of diamonds and yet be hungry and thirsty. The most appealing personality is useless without a vehicle, and the better the vehicle fits the less apt is the critic to give credit for the story. He does not realize that the story is what makes the star possible. He sees merely the good action of the star and gives credit. Unless the critic is a man of sufficient intelligence to know, he should at least refrain from commenting upon the story. He is apt to do the author an injustice. Do As You're Told. A Chicago correspondent gets all het up because he is told not to send his continuity with his synopsis. He argues : This forced custom may well apply to those who send a crude continuity as a result of their haste, but to me it really hurts, as my work represents the labors of two years and a half. Evidently he thinks that because he has spent two years and a half studying photoplay form he should be made an exception to the rule. To begin with, two years and a half is not such a long time to have given to the study of a subject that pays so well as photoplay synopses now pay, when they pay at all. In the second place, he can write a better synopsis as a result of these studies without having to send along the continuity, and even two and a half years' work has not yet taught him to do as he is told and not as he wants to. There is nothing to prevent any writer from sending in continuities if he so desires, and TECHNIQUE OF THE PHOTOPLAY By EPES WINTHROP SARGENT A book replete with practical pointers on the preparation of stories for the screen, answering the hundred and one questions which immediately present themselves when the first script is attempted. A tested handbook for the constant ■writer of picture plots. "Straight-from-the-shoulder" information from an author with a wealth of real "dollars andcents" experience. By Mail, Postpaid, Three Dollars Published and For Sale by THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD, 516 Fifth Ave., N. T. Schiller Bid?., Chicago Wright & Callender Bldgr., Loa Anjrelea