You must teach yourself, as you watch the
screen, what to _leave out_, as well as what to put in; we may learn
much from the mistakes of others.
One point especially worthy of notice is that when you see a good
picture on the screen it may be one written by a successful
photoplaywright, and as such likely to repay close study to see how
the successful construct their stories. Or it may be a picture written
in the producing studio from the bare idea purchased from an
"outsider." In either case, look out for and carefully study the
pictured stories produced by writers who are "putting them over."
If you are taking up photoplay writing as a profession, or even as an
avocation, there is only one way to undertake it--be fully equipped to
succeed. It is not enough, as we said in an early chapter, to have had
previous training as a fiction writer; nor enough to have acquired a
knowledge of photoplay form and construction. You must be "up to the
minute" in your knowledge of the market for scripts. Therefore be in
touch with what writers, editors, and producers are doing. Do
everything in your power to avoid writing stories similar to others
that have been done within the past year or two, at least. It is not
merely a question of plagiarism, important as that is--it is a matter
of helping yourself to sell your script by not offering old ideas to
the editors.
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