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144 ACTION AND BY-PLAY any scene, but surprise will be sacrificed if providing that reason ex- cites suspicion that plans are being laid. John tracking Henry for a definite and understandable purpose is logical. If he merely "hap- pened" to be out hunting and Mary "happened" to be going through the woods to visit a girl friend and Henry "happened" to be there because he lost his pocket knife the week before, then John's appear- ance on the scene in which he finds Mary struggling with Henry would be suspicious. We should see John starting out to hunt. We should see ]Mar>' explaining to her mother that she was going to visit Lizzie. We would see Henry getting worried about the lost knife. Long before the third of these premises could be established, most spectators would' know that we were planning a scene between the three, but if we knew that John and ISIary had a trysting place and that Henry knew about it, the appearance of the three would be nat- ural and understandable without explanation. i 23. Action must be true to life and coincidence forms but a small ' part of real life. It may be that a series of coincidences will occur in real life that will combine to make a startling story, but it will not make a good photoplay if it depends upon coincidence, because audi- ences will not accept as fact what does not impress them as fact, no matter whether it happened or not. Death bed confessions have been made, but they have been overworked in photoplay. Do not use them. If the play requires it, throw the play into the discard until you can get some other ending. Action must be true to life but not to the un- realities of life. 24. You have been told that in plotting you will find much that will not be accepted though true. This holds good of the action as dis- . tinguished from plot. You cannot require a person in your play to 1 perform an unnatural action any more than you can base plot on an ) unnatural happening. Do not confound unnatural with unusual, how- ever. It would be unusual to show two men fighting with their feet instead of their fists, but it would not be unusual if the scene of your play were to be laid in France where la savate is practiced. We might not accept two Canadian backwoodsmen solemnly poking at each other with their forefingers, but we might understand two Japa- nese noblemen employing jiu-jitsu. Even at that New York audiences have laughed heartily at a terrific combat performed by the Japanese players. 25. Style cannot be employed to embellish your plot, as style is un- • derstood in fiction work. In photoplay your style is to be found in j the manner in which you elaborate and strengthen your plot and in the 1 degree of skill wnth which you make your action support your story. You have a good style if your plot development is good and the ac- tion that tells the plot gives the fullest value in dramatic or comedy effects as the <;ircumstances may require. To become known as an author who writes good plays in good action is to establish yourself among the elect. Only by the exercise of the greatest care can you gain this reputation. You must not only write the plot with a punch