Photoplay plot encyclopedia; an analysis of the use in photoplays of the thirty-six dramatic situations and their subdivisions. Containing a list of all the fundamental dramatic material to be found in human experience, including the synopses of one hundred produced representative photoplays, with a detailed analysis of the situations used in each. Practical suggestions for combining situations, for testing the strength and novelty of plots, and for building plots; and an index referring to each producer, author, star, story and situation mentioned in the text (1922)

PHOTOPLAY PLOT ENCYCLOPEDIA CHAPTER I. 1. Throughout all human experience, and especially throughout all human drama, one meets constantly with the same fundamental situations, arising from the same fundamental emotional conflicts. In one sense a situation may be considered as the crisis or the apex of an emotional con- flict. It has been discovered that there are, fundamentally, thirty-six human emo- tions, and the law of the thirty-six situa- tions is an interesting corollary of this discovery. 2. The life of humanity in ancient Greece or in modern America, in the frozen reaches of the North or under tropic skies, is essentially the same. As far into the future as human imagination may travel, the emotional conflicts of human nature will be the same. For the slowest changing element in the universe is the nature of man. Human nature is the same the world over, and it is this fact that makes for the kinship and the fellow- ship of humanity. In the history of ancient Egypt and Babylon, in the epics of Homer, in the tragedies of Shakespeare, as well as in the work of contemporary writers, we find the same passions, the same loves, the same jealousies. Colored by environment and tradition, at bottom the story of Cinderella is the same as the story of a play now making a success on Broadway. It is this fundamental correla- tion of emotional experience that links us with the past, and makes real to us the emotions of mankind of centuries ago. The most poignant drama of history is that of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and yet we shall find, as we come to con- sider the stories of today, that the same concept of Self-sacrifice for an Ideal has been used inspiringly by the writer whose work we enjoy in our favorite theatre. 3. All fiction, including the photoplay, is a combination of certain selected situa- tions, as we shall see clearly when we come to examine and analyze the examples of photoplays in the following pages. From those examples we shall learn what situa- tions have been used most frequently, and why, and what situations have been ignored. Such an analysis of the use of situations in the photoplay will suggest new combinations and new uses, and at the sime time will offer a warning against the repetition of certain combinations that have been repeated in the same guise until they no longer entertain the spectator. 4. We read fiction and we go to the theatre, first of all, to be entertained. When we read a work on philosophy or science, it is for the specific purpose of acquiring knowledge in the most direct and simplest way. But fiction, created by Fancy, is the relaxation of the race. Be- cause it is based upon the fundamental emotional conflicts of the race, and because it deals with human beings struggling against odds, it is inspiring to each of us in our daily lives. It is the privilege of the fictionist to entertain us, and incidentally to inspire us. And the photoplaywright, with an audience of countless millions, has the opportunitj' for inspiring the race to new hopes, new dreams, and a finer kind of life. First of all, the photopla>'^vright should learn to respect his wide audience, and to give them the best work of which he is capable. In order to appeal to so great an audience, one must base one's appeal upon the universal language of hu- manity—the emotions. And in writing for the screen one's knowledge of the in- nermost emotions of humanity, of the vari- ations and subdivisions of the thirt}'-six basic situations, is more essential than in any other kind of writing. 5. A thorough acquaintance with the thirty-six dramatic situations upon which all drama is based is requisite to the photo- playwriffht's success. WHAT IS A DRAMATIC SITUATION? 6. As explained above, a situation may be considered as the crisis or apex of an 11