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144 TECHNIQUE OF THE PHOTOPLAY Do not believe the misleading statements contained in the advertisements of self styled schools which declare that any boy or girl can learn to write photoplays. Give no heed to state- ments such as one recently to hand that declared that one could begin to write photoplays within three hours after re- ceipt of instructions. It cannot be done. A reasonably close study of a script will enable a person of average intelligence to turn out something that is in the form of a photoplay, but it will not be better than the form. Writing photoplays is as much a fine art as writing the drama of the stage or the story in fiction form. The rules differ and there is not required the mastery of phrase r.nd literary style that are demanded of the other forms, but this is offset by the need for being able to write in action so clearly that this action is as plain and understandable as the written word. The fact that literary style is not required does not also excuse the lack of inventiveness, of creative ability, of originality of thought. These are, in some ways, more necessary to the photoplay writer than to the fiction writer, since the latter is able, to a certain extent, to hide poverty of idea behind a plausible and fluent expression. Imagination and the ability to direct imagi- nation are even more essential to the photoplay writer than to the creator of fiction. Next to imagination, the most important requisites are patience and persistence; patience to endure the labor of practise, per- sistence to enable you to withstand the discouraging failures that will, at first, confront you. It is disheartening to spend days, perhaps weeks, even, on a script, only to be told that the idea has been used before, but you at least have had the benefit of the practice and your time has not been lost. Perhaps the most unfortunate thing that could happen to you would be the sale of your first two or three scripts. More than one promising career has been either ruined or retarded because the first few scripts sold promptly. It sometimes happens that the novice, coming fresh to the work, may have one or more ideas so good that the editor overlooks the structual faults for the sake of the uniqueness of the idea. Suppose that this happened to you. You would not be human did you not attribute these acceptances to your skill and not to chance. You promptly conclude that writing photo- plays is even easier than you thought and you sink into a careless habit of rattling off your ideas without any examina- tion of the plot. Everything that comes to you is an idea. Promptly it goes down on paper in hit or miss fashion, and as