The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-26
How MotIOn Picture
 Plays Are Written

pIainedz in the. plot, or, technically speaking, the synoEais In the seen ario departments of the fnaJof1tSN oI the big film producing compan'es there are two branches; namely, the
 staff writers and the readers; both branches being under the direct su- I pervfsion of the scenario editor
 l The. readers receive all the scripts | submitted by outside parties and it is their duty to carefully read them, and
 any that are found to be original in
 plot or as likely to appeal to any. Of the producing directors of the com pany are then submitted by the read l CT to the scenario editor, who reads
 the script and, more often than not,
 brings the staff writers into consIlta-
 tion, and if the Scenario meets With general approval, as being original, and as likely to appeal to one of the
 producing directors of the company 1 then the manuscript is Submitted TO
 the director, and if it appeals to him
 for production, then the scenario is
 purchased. So, you see that it is the producing directors who really de- eide on the merit of a script. The
 staff writers have to submit to the
 same ordeal, and if they work out a l ph ot o play that does not appeal to any of the producing directors or the com pany, the scenario is placed in colc i storage until some director may hap 1 pen along who will, perhaps see sufh- i cient merit in it to warrant its pro-
 duction. The staff writer has this ad- vantage, however. He, or she, Is
 usually in direct communication with 1 the scenario editor and the directors
 and knows what style of story is mosC 1 likely to appeal to each director ac l thek moment. The personnel of the i stars and the actors of the various i companies is also known to the staff { writer and the aim of the writer is to cater to the immediate demand or
 
 | In a scenario. department each writ
 CT ~consuIfs with his editor and his 1 feIIow-workers before, he starts to
 work on Ia scenario, to ' ascertain
 whether his plot is original or as like 1 Iy to appeal to the directors for pro duction, and if the consensus of opin- i ion is in favor of the story, then he | goes ahead and develops 1t. Then' l again, very often a director may con ceive an original idea which he would
 like to have. developed, and this work falls, naturally, to. the. staff Wr1ter- Most staff writers have freelanced for several years, and have achieved some success in scenario writing, and in the majority of cases their seats at the office desks have been gained | by precious hard work.
 A great number of producing direc- 1 tors are scenario writers of the first class, in fact, feel myself safe in
 stating that fully twenty-five per cent. of the directors in the motion picture field are capable of writing their own productions and a very great number of them do. This, of course, helps to limit the field for the freelance
 writer, but then, que voulez vous? If l a director can develop story that suits him and which he knows will fit the requirements of his company, l then he is indeed wise to rely to a large extent on his own judgment, al- though think he would be wiser still if he would, prior to productions, thrash the story out with the scenario editor of the company, as the experi- enced and seasoned head of the edi- tor may assist him materially in l strengthening the story. Some direc- tors do this, and the result is always more than satisfactory.
 The free lance writer should, above all else, visit picture houses and watch the current releases on the screen and try and gauge the style of stories that the various companies are producing. If a certain company Is featuring 1 some particular actor or actress, then it is well to write a story that would be likely to appeal to him or her.
 If a company is working in Califor-
 mia or some other sunny cline, then
 snow scenes are ina dvisabIe. To an Eastern company Western stories are
 not likely to appeal Old magazine
 writers have nearly all been filmed,
 and the current magazine stories that will stand for production are being submitted by the rightfuI authors Of
 the stories, so they are better left alone.
 It is surprising, however, to find the
 great number of writers who seize on
 the magazine stories and revamps them
 in various forms and submit them 10
 a scenario department Fully fifty I-per cent. of the manuscripts received are, so the authorized readers claim magazine stories that have recently been published or dead steals fro1.. film releases.
 Original plots are, naturally, getting scarcer every day, considering that. on an average, each big producing company is receiving from 100 to 150 1 scripts daily from free lance writers. dozens of which often embrace the same theme. ~@ This is readily account ed fors as some newspaper article may, perhaps contain. an idea that will make a film story, and hundreds of writers may seize on it at once. Very often staff writer may do so and his or her scenario will naturally be given the preference If the storxsis produced, then the cry will arise that the story was pirated from others. No such thing occurs as story-piracy bv any of the reputable producing com panies. The editors of the various companies are all well known and honorable men, who have won their way through the scenario field and are anxious to help the earnest work CTS to success Writers have heard from them and of them Calder Johnstone, editor of the Universal: F. P. Schulberg, of The Famous Play CTS; G. T. ~Fitzmaurice, of Pathe | Frefes; Frank Woods, now scenario | editor of the Mutual Company; C. R 1 Hoadley, the beloved Pop whose aS- vice has assisted many novices to a l niche in the field; Phil Lang, George Terwillerger, William Lord Wright. l Jack Byrne, Harry Stafford, Herman E. l.. Beyer and other scenario editors | and writers of note. Would such men as these tolerate story piracv7 No+ 1 for one moment |
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