The screen writer (June 1946-May 1947)

THE SCREEN WRITER longs to him; it is the product of no one else. The rights of exploitation in his creation belong naturally to him. It is an analogy as simple as that of a couple having a child. That creation is theirs. It cannot be taken away. . . . . . What the author wants and what the AAA promises to give him is a Magna Carta for writers. For individuals to struggle against corporations is use¬ less. Organization must be met with organization. Authors must pool as little as possible of their individuality but they must pool enough to make it feasible to defend their rights in what they produce. It is a matter of simple justice, too long overlooked. Samson Raphaelson writes from Pleas¬ ant Valley, Pa.; That American Authors’ Authority ar¬ ticle by Cain is terrific. Though I may have to spend most of the year here in the East, I want you to know I’m behind it to the hilt and will do everything in my power to help. . . I’m delighted that the Guild endorsed the plan so overwhelm¬ ingly, and I hope to live to see the day when it goes into effect. Count on me as being behind it without qualification. Another pledge of support from Peter Rhodes: I thought Cain’s article laying down the Authors’ Authority plan was smack on the button, and I’ll back it as far as I can in the organizations here to which I belong. . . Arthur Kober avers: The Authors’ Authority idea sounds wonderful. No one can have a play pro¬ duced without being a member of the Dramatists’ Guild. The Authors’ Author¬ ity sounds like an extension of this idea and with added benefits yet! Norman Burnside conjures up his pres¬ ent picture of writers going penniless while their films play the screens of the world and appealing to Old Scrooge for help. He says: The American Authors’ Authority is the most wonderful thing for writers I’ve yet heard about. But if it goes through it may cause me to forget my favorite Christmas tableau. . . A lot of writers . . . will not have the opportunity to meet all the nice people who work at the Motion Picture Relief Fund. Better think it over, writers, before you act too impulsively. Mors serious misgivings are voiced by Dana Platt, of Los Angeles, who writes us: An American Authors’ Authority is a splendid, and long overdue project. I notice, however, that there is no mention of newspapers nor of the American News¬ paper Guild. Surely, in order to be effec¬ tive, the Authority will have to cover the newspaper and syndicate field. Consider, for instance, the case of the correspond¬ ent, columnist, or Sunday feature writer who decides to collect some of his items and publish them as a book. If the news¬ paper or syndicate holds the copyright, won’t this conflict with the A. A. A.? I also am painfully aware of this little item: “-the Author!^ will receive mate¬ rial for copyright . . . only from members in good standing of their proper guilds-’’. If that is to be the procedure, then the guilds will have to relax their qualifica¬ tions for membership, either that or the copyright service of the Authority will have to be open to every writer on a fee basis. I am thinking, of course, of the dilemma of a certain beginning writer, an unfortunate soul who has not yet pub¬ lished his first short story, but in order to publish it, must copyright it through the Authority, but in order to copyright it through the Authority, must join one of the guilds, but in order to join one of the guilds, must publish his first short story. This letter is being turned over to the AAA Committee for study. However, it can already be said that members of the American Newspaper Guild are studying the feasibility of extending its protection to their craft, and as for the oftenrepeated fears that AAA will bar new writers from the field, there is no such plan in the minds of those who are working out the details of AAA, nor could any such plan be conceivable, in a field which admittedly lives on the de¬ velopment of new talents. 52