The screen writer (June 1947-Mar 1948)

An Approach to Pictures JAY RICHARD KENNEDY JAY RICHARD KENNEDY is a writer-producer <who discusses here some problems of production and the place of writers in the motion picture industry. PROBABLY any author who attempts to tell a story of our times faithfully and with regard to the social needs of today will find himself confronting certain difficulties. He will run afoul of obsolete restrictions. Or he will feel the resistance of those forces which oppose necessary change wherever they find it. In gaining permission to use hitherto inaccessible information files in writing the story of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Narcotics in cooperation with the Department's Customs and Coast Guard Bureaus, I encountered little or none of the traditional red tape of government bureaucracy. When the officials were satisfied that I would not distort the material to suit cheap, stereotyped theatrical needs, their intelligent cooperation was forthcoming. The first real obstacle was the notice from the Production Code Administration that the story was in violation of the existing code, which forbade the dramatization on the screen of illicit traffic in narcotics. However, the Motion Picture Asso When JAY RICHARD KENNEDY came to Hollywood 15 months ago he had behind him an unusual record of achievement as an economist, financier and special aide to the federal government in both the national and international fields. In 1945 he was called upon by the Treasury Department to help smooth the way for the Bretton Woods agreement. While working with the department, he was impressed by the great range of its law enforcement activities, and by the fact that its Bureau of Narcotics as far back as 1935 proved the practicality of the concept of cooperation between nations. He proposed to Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. and the Commissioner of Narcotics Harry J. Anslinger that he tell the story of that Bureau's work in cooperation with the Customs and Coast Guard Bureaus of Treasury. With the understanding that the essential facts remain in focus, they gave him access to hitherto closed files and later approved his story, as did the subsequent Secretaries of Treasury, Fred Vinson and John Snyder. Feeling that the story was best suited to motion pictures, Mr. Kennedy came to Hollywood. Four major studios bid for the story. He chose to set up an independent corporation owned jointly by Sidney Buchman, as producer, and himself as associate producer and author of the original story and screenplay. Believing his brief but intensive experience in Hollywood illumines some current problems encountered in motion picture making, the editors of THE SCREEN WRITER asked Mr. Kennedy to discuss frankly his approach to film writing and producing. ciation of America, while pointing out that the story (tentatively titled) Assigned to Treasury, was technically outside the pale of its code, nevertheless, agreed at the same time that the story was in good taste and in the public interest. The MPAA has its own practical, hard-headed reasons for understanding that real stories must be told if the world market is to be won. In the domestic market it is aware of a stirring deep in the bones of John and Mary Smith, who were subjected to the violent imposition of a depression, followed by a global war and who now confront the unsolved problems of tomorrow. Our American audiences need a celluloid mirror of their lives and aspirations. English, French, Italian and Russian films are dealing maturely with realistic themes. We can do no less and compete successfully. Undoubtedly the MPAA is conscious of this fact. In any case, the code was amended to allow for the screen portrayal of the worldwide effort to curb the illicit traffic in narcotics. Though many factors contributed to the decision of MPAA to amend its Production Code, I believe that the basic one was the appeal by Commissioner of Narcotics Anslinger that the picture be made. That appeal came as the result of the Treasury Department belief that the world would benefit from the realistic presentation of this global story, and also as the result of Commissioner Anslinger's faith that the best interests of his bureau had not been, and therefore would not be sacrificed for the purposes of a quick theatrical advantage in bringing the story to the screen. But the amendment of the Code did not end our problems. In many respects, it began them. Immediately a hysterical campaign set in against the picture, against the amendment, even against the industry. The real nature of this campaign has not been opposition to the narcotics issue, the core of this opposition is apparently the belief that the Production Code is a sacrosanct instrument, and that the establishment of any precedent