Picture Play Magazine (Oct-Nov 1915)

PICTURE-PLAY WEEKLY 31 ase, Mister Scenario Writer, forget t troop of soldiers galloping up with lag to rescue the hero when you can d no other way to end the picture ! •"Really, vhen I see some of this stuff the screen, I can only shut my eyes d clench my hands in mental agony, reminds me of a very early picture in ; first moments of motion pictures, lich I found mentioned in an ancient :alogue the other day. It read : .venty-five feet — Arrival of a train in station — Full of movement — Very inesting.' The time is past when we were satied with movement alone. Now we iit action. We must not confuse acn and foolishness any more than we ist mistake melodrama for drama, hat is the sense in paying huge salftes to excellent actors just to make :;m jump through windows, chase er rocky roads, through dense underijush or across muddy streams. If this jst'be done, it is work for ''extra peo:" or "supers." Let us have scrips i: th the real actors acting with their :ains, not with their legs. sf'Now a word as to the so-called scerio department— a really crying evil (1 the main obstacle in the path of '. e arrival of the big author, who will ing the photo play into its own and iho alone can do it. I do not believe ything really good could possibly be • rned out in one of these machine Bops, masquerading under the misi mer of scenario departments. A picjire story is not like a suit of clothes be made to order. First, there must | voluntary inspiration; then, thought, lot of thought. The author must eat, ;ep, drink — whatever he does — with at idea. In a word, he must 4ive with Sometimes he must be two months Drrying it and, of course, to' get this nount of time and thought from the jght sort of literary brains, we must jfer the right sort of compensation. one of the poor hacks in any of the < nario shops I know were to spend at amount of his poorly paid time irh an idea he would be fired in1 anter. He surely could not go be>nd the beginning of the second week. 'When in the world, for instance, ' ay we be permitted to finish a story the logical way if the unhappy way, ■reliance, should be the logical way? I ever, until we recognize the impornce of the author, which is secondary no other factor in the picture. It is only a few years since that revolution was accomplished on the speaking stage. 'Trilby' is a notable instance. The audience should be educated gradually up to the point where it will not always demand a picture in which the last word is, like the tale of the lovesick candles, 'They married in peace, died in grease, and are buried on the mantlepiece.' Frequently a fine story is either absolutely spoiled or at least rendered innocuous by this silly superstitution against ending it in the logical way." THE UNDERLYING IDEA. When a play especially impresses you, it will pay you to study it carefully, and see what it is that makes you like it, for in that way you will probably discover something beneficial in your future writings. All experienced writers know the value of the underlying idea — a human motive — which gives the finished work the power to impress its truth upon the average mind. Once the truth is impressed, the work is not easily forgotten. As a concrete example of what we mean, we might cite a detective story we recently saw on the screen. The action was fast, and bordered on the melodramatic in places, and that seemed all there was to it on the surface. But it stuck in our mind, and we analyzed it In doing so, we discovered that the point which we had really been impressed by was the conduct of a manly man toward his weakling brother. It was a simile of life. In large families, where there is a weakling brother, there generally is a stronger one who assumes charge of the weakling, and tries to make a man of him. This is where the plot revolving around a strong brother's sacrifice for a weaker one originated, but this has been overdone, and has lost its value. The brothers in this case figured prominently in the action, but at none of the crises, or at the climax, did the older brother do anything heroic to help the weakling. All the way through, however, the author had consistently seen to it that he watched and guarded his weakling brother's steps. His care of him was obviously the underlying idea of the story, but the material had been so arranged that it was completely covered up with more interesting action. All plots should have a sort of a backbone of this kind, and the more securely it is hidden, the harder it will drive home its point, for it will force all who see it to remember and think about it long after they have left the theater. Answers to Readers. C. Beamy. — We are afraid the field for motion-picture acting is limited unless you have had considerable experience on the legitimate stage. Some have succeeded without this in the past, but at the present time there is really very little chance. Mrs. A. Maloney. — We think you will find many helpful hints regarding scenario writing in these columns weekly We also advise that you go to the motion-picture theaters and find just how the plays you see on the screen are put together. Harry Gilbert. — Read the article on "Technique" in this issue of the department. Also see issue of July 24th for a sample scenario. If you have exceptionally clever comedy ideas, you should be able to dispose of them in synopsis form, but they bring more money fully written out. The fact that you are getting ideas before beginning to write, and that you secured a new angle to the old situation you mention, shows promise of success in the future if you work hard enough. John Roggi. — The Vitagraph Company may be addressed at Fifteenth Street and Locust Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, or at Santa Monica, California; Edison, 2826 Decatur Avenue, Bronx, New York City; Lubin, Twentieth Street and Indiana Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Biograph, 807 East One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Street, New York City; Pathe, 25 West Forty-fifth Street, New York City ; and Universal, 1600 Broadway and Universal City, California. Pathe is considering nothing from the outside now, and to send to them would be a waste of time and postage. Miss Polly Smith. — A handwritten scenario will either be discarded without being read, or else read with the editor consciously or unconsciously prejudiced against it. It is better, therefore, to have all material typewritten before submitting it. Mrs. B. M. Este— The only suggestion we can give you, plus what you already have, is to keep on sending out your scenarios, and not paying any attention to rejections, other than allow