Talking pictures : how they are made, how to appreciate them (c. 1937)

Talking Pictures associate producer may be clear, we may note that the associate producer works in his office, that the director works upon the stage. The director might be compared to a chef. He takes varied emotional ingredients and blends them smoothly and deftly into a delectable story concoction. If a picture be well directed, its audience should never be conscious that there was a factor of direction. A good director does not burden his star with worries of tempo changes between scenes. These he adjusts beforehand, leaving the actor free to study the creation of each scene. Both the director and the star have more than sufficient duties of creative import. The details of a production must be executed by a staff of helpers. This is why the associate producer system evolved. Few directors could read the enormous mass of stories which pass through a studio story department and still give to direction the concentration it requires. The added worry of production costs interferes with their directorial abilities. Therefore, a director today, except in a close advisory capacity, does not start with a photoplay until after the story is purchased. Neither does he follow the picture through all the complications of cutting and editing after the last scene is "shot." Selection of stories and the supervision of costs and editing are among the responsibilities of an associate producer. There are several methods of placing selected stories before associate producers. Some producers make their selections by reading the full stories themselves. But such men, under stress, rarely find time to make more than a very few pic [50]