It will be highly important, therefore, to review
this chapter after finishing the sections of this volume which deal in
particular with the several parts of the photoplay.
It is to be regretted, let us reiterate, that so much has been said,
by manufacturers and others, to the effect that no literary training
is necessary in order to write salable photoplays, for, as a result,
countless absolutely "impossible" scripts are constantly pouring into
the editors' offices--impossible, in a great many cases, not because
of the lack of idea, for very often the illiterate writer has both a
vivid imagination and the power to use it, but because frequently the
good idea is expressed in such unintelligible language, and with such
execrable spelling and hopelessly incorrect punctuation, that the
thread of the plot, its meaning, and values, cannot be grasped by the
editor. Even when the story itself is not utterly lost to the script
reader, he is too busy a man to wade through it bit by bit, struggling
to make something out of a jumble of confusing words. The demand for
good scripts is greater than the supply--but the supply is increasing,
and the standard is rising. This means that although there are
dozens--to put it mildly--of men and women entering the field each
week, easily three-fourths of these brand themselves as hopelessly
unqualified when they drop their first script into the mail-box.
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