It _should_ be concise; it _must_ be
clear and readily understandable. A busy editor has no time to waste
in re-reading certain paragraphs or even sentences the meaning of
which is obscure. One of the first things to remember is that certain
companies send out the call for "synopsis only" because they prefer to
have their staff writers do the continuity of scenes (write the
scenario), instead of accepting the scenario prepared by the author
and upon occasion, altering it in the studio to suit their special
requirements. Why so many concerns prefer to do this is easily
understood. Instead of cutting up the originally submitted scenario
and substituting different settings or locations, and perhaps, even,
different large and difficult-to-obtain "props," they simply provide
the staff writer with the synopsis of the story purchased from you,
and tell him to go ahead and prepare the continuity, knowing as he
does, and keeping in mind while at work, to just what approximate
expense the company is prepared to go, just what sets are available or
can be built, what necessary locations can be reached within a
reasonable time, and what players--especially if they must be
distinctive types--are in the company or may be readily engaged.
These, of course, are matters over which the outside writer can have
no control; if he is selling to a concern that demands the synopsis
only, he must make up for what he does not know about the inside
workings of the studio by giving the editor and (especially) the staff
writer _every needed detail_ of his plot.
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