Again, by
"costume" plays we mean stories ranging all the way from Bible times
down to American Civil War times. What is regarded by the editor as a
costume play, also, may not be wholly that; it may be a story in which
only a few of the scenes are laid in a past age, as when, in the
Paramount production of "The Devil Stone," the heroine, in a series of
"visions," sees herself as the wicked Norse queen of centuries before,
and learns how the fatal emerald first came into her possession.
There is absolutely no way of knowing what company will be most likely
to buy a so-called costume play. If you honestly believe that you have
the material for an unusual story calling for settings or costumes of
other days--or even of our own day but of foreign lands--go ahead and
write a comprehensive synopsis of it. If you send it to a company
which asks for synopses only, you will be playing safe whether it
interests them or not. If, on the other hand, you plan to submit it to
a concern which likes to pass on a full script, with both synopsis and
scenario, you can send in the synopsis alone and explain that if they
are at all interested in _that_, you will submit the continuity of
action.
As might be expected, stories of this kind are usually written in the
studio, because the staff-writer has the opportunity of finding out
just when and where the picture can be made, what types of male and
female players will be able to take part in it, and what special
effects he may include.
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