The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-12-29
Even accusing the studio people of
the theft of their ideas

who tells the same tale Of shortage of acceptable
material. OF late he has gone mostly to the big
novels for material for Norma T~almadge.
Lest you be appalled, by the seeming hopeless
ness of your case, right here let me cheer you up
somewhat. II, rs the So-cailed scenario textbooks
tend to make you suppose, you had TO turn our
the finished product TO get your story accepted. you
might we'll feel ready to quit. But the opposite
Is the case. In fact, the amateur need not. and
should not, concern himself with anything beyond
a real story, simply and directly told. You need
not and should not worry about entrances; exits.
fadeouts and other technicalitics. Leave that TO
the specialiSt-the man or woman whose business
it is to put the accepted story into practical screen
form. The amateur is not expected to write "con-
tinuity'-that is a job separate and apart and is
the task Of the studio expert.
1T is true that only n small percentage Of the
stories submitted to motion picture produCVrs by
amateur authors is accepted" says Marshall
Neilan, one of this country's most notable prOduc-
ers. yet the reason for this seems rather obvious.
If n man advertises for original plans for a country
home ard n hundred different plans are received,
90 per cent being ubm:tted by amateurs and II
per cent by professional home builders. there is
little doubt that the accepted plans would be from
one Of the 10 per cent"
"Whilc among the plans submitted by the
amateurs there doubtiessly would be found many
exceptional ideas, yet the individual plans on the
whole could hardly be expected to measure up
to those submitted by the professionals.
Turning for q moment from the producers point
OF view, let us see what is the newspaper critics
angle on desirnbilities in screen stories. If what |
quote may seem TO smack more of production than
Of writing, there is, too, Il lesson for the author
whose business, after all, 1t Is. rather than the di-
rector's, To supply the situations.
Many of the scenes have beer made meaningful
as motion pictures Il quote the critic of "A leading
New York newspaper on Il recent flm.) "For in
stance, there 10 one in which Henry Garnet. know
ing that he must die soon, sits listening TO an mex
orable clock. 1t ticks and ticks. counting off The
seconds of his life. Finally, in futile desperation,
he seizes the pendulum and stops il, but as he holds
the metal bar, Il phantom pendulum behind it
swings on. Here is cinematography. Here is com
plete expressivcness within n picture! -
There it is in a nutshell. A real idea. logically
and simply worked out without needless discussion,
directly and clearly. to an inevitable conclusion.
Therein lies one way where your story won't come
back.
Hope Hampton, whose latest starring vehicle is
Light i'm the Dark tells me that the reason so
many scenario writer's fail is because they cannot
or do not put themselves in the place of the audi
ence. In other words. they canlOt properly visual
ie their work.
1T should always he borne In mind" says this
star, that thought and impression can be effected
OUly ny uNtoh i VII .pS an wa i'h "'"'' w
one in which there were no sDotitles at all. ] do
not know whether that could be, but the next best
thing is where the action is so clear, so convincing,
and the conclusion SO inevitable that only n mini
mum number of subtitles is necessary"
After all, you can't blame the producer, even
though he may err in sending your story back. IT'S
different with, say, a magazine editor. and even he
sends stuff back-lots If IL. The magazine editor
may, with not very disastrous results, use a medi-
OGRE or even a poor story. provided he makes sure
his magazine contains ut the same time two or
three good tales. The strong stories will carry the
weak. But with the p%hOtoplay producer 1t is very
different. All his eggs, so to speak. are In one has
ket. In accepting n story, or rather In making a
picture from il, he risks the possibility OF losing
something like 100000. 1t makes him more than
careful OF his choice.
You can. however. be practically sure of one
thing. If your story has real and full screen merit
and you keep it going visiting long enough 1T VIII
stop coming back at last. In its place will come "A
check. More writer's than one, by sticking eternally
at 1t and refusing 20 quit, have ultimately sold their
product. for IL is the very act Of writing and re-
writing that ultimately makes n professional out of
al amateur.