Arizona republican., 1921-12-13
1y.H. H. Van Loan

The moving picture industry mas introduced a new writer to the pup lie. His work is entirely different from that of the dramatist,. novelist and short story writer. The screen has brought opportunity to writers who have been handicapped in the past because there was no market for their product. There were many writers capable of creating big dra- matic plots wh, were unable to sell their stories in the past because they had no particular style. If they had style 1t was not attractive enough to command the attention of mag azine editors or book publishers. They might have been experts In handling narrative or descriptive matter, but inefficient when it came to dialogue Or, perhaps they could write good descriptive or narrative material and yet did not know how to build up action On the other hand they might have been able to write good dialogue but lacked descriptive and narrative ability. Therefore. up until recently, there was al solutely no market for the material they turned out. Again, lack of sufficient education has pre- vented the work of many writers from being accepted by editors of magazines and periodicals. They might have had wonderful plots, filled with big act on, but were incapable of describing that action in a smooth and attractive style
 But, the motion picture has given these writers an opportunity of dis posing of their work This is due to the fact that the screen picturizes the plot, and depends very little upon the dialogue or other elements so necessary to fiction writing.
 At first, the screen writer. as have stated before. was not taken se- riously. He belonged to no profes- sion and hi, work was not accepted as an important part of the success of the picture This was because the picture itself wSs not accepted as a form ot entertainment that would ever become popular with the masses. It appealed to limited number of people in those days. But, as the screen progressed and gradually in terested the more serious minded, the scenario writer advanced with it and it wasn't very long before the pro-. ducer began to realize that this style of writer was becoming a very val uable asset to the production. The scenario writer himself compelled the producer to recognize his importance. He began 70 spend more time on his stories and the price of his creations consistently arose because they rep resented more care and thought. The producer soon began to admit that the success O. failure of his produc- tions was largely due to the work O; the scenario writer He realized more and more that the continuity was caN pablo of reaping big financial hary- ests or absolutely spoil any chances the story might have had of suc- cess.
 Then came the period when pro- ducers stampeded for the screen right to popular books, plays and short stories. and in their delirious attemps to outdo their competitors the pro- ducers paid enormous prices for per- mission to reproduce these works on
 the screen. Soon they. discovered they had maae a mistake and mill lions Of dollars were spent before the producer learned that screen writing is an art in itself and requires a spe- cial kind of work. .ssss .- s,f.... Novelists and p1aywrights rushed to gather in some of the shekels that seemed to be within their grasp and made great efforts to become photo playwrights. They soon discovered that photoplay writing is different from all other styses of writing. They were weighed 1T the balance and found wanting. They had ignored the screen in it's early days and had refused to accept it seriously. with the result that the screen meantime that it was not, a temporary fad, but | hade made great strides and had come to stay.
 Meantime, the screen writer had plugged along corservatively and consistently Ev. ntually the pro- I ducer began to refer to him as the 1 screen author" and every effort ol l his was given closer study. When famous writers and screen authors submitted their stories, the latter l were given more careful considera- l tion- The screen author knew his 1 screen, and, if his story was good | his work was given the preference Today, if you ask a producer whose work he prefers he will immediately l confess that he would rather have l a good story written by one who I knows his screen than by the mos l famous fiction writer who has nc
 knowledge of photoplay writing. I To illustrate: A few months ago { l screen author submitted a story to { I well known producer. The produces II 1Shd IL eAiiu dSNCPNcQ It, AAtci VI dI II,
 he stated that at the same time h, purchased this story he refused
 script written by a famous playwright
 He gave as his reason, the play
 wright had refused to take the screel
 seriously and had written a yer.
 poor story. which revealed great lacl
 of care, thought and study in it
 preparation. The writer had fel
 convinced that he could sell the stor,
 on the strength of his reputation
 But he must have been sadly sur \ prised when the story was returne,
 to him. His story had been told il
 three typewritten pages, while tn
 story written by the screen autfo
 was on 50 pages and. to quote tn
 producer, was written by one wh
 knew his screen"
 These things are told the reade
 to show. that the screen is the infan
 amusement. and to emphasize it importance and familiarize the unac quainted with the reyolutionizin steps which have been taken. Tn III