A Vitagraph Miscellany
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Re: A Vitagraph Miscellany
Last edited by Andrew Sholl on Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A Vitagraph Miscellany
Hints on Photoplay Writing by Leslie Tufnell Peacocke (1916) urges would-be screenwriters to "Let 'slapstick' comedies alone. The world's pretty weary of them anyhow, and any that are needed will be manufactured on the inside."
The book also contains a section written by Colonel Jasper Ewing Brady, manager of Vitagraph's Scenario Department, who writes:
"The Vitagraph is in the market for good one-reel comedies, and three, four and five-reel dramas. We do not want costume stuff, and a military play would have to be of sterling worth to get a hearing. If the various authors and would-be authors would send a commonsense synopsis with their scripts they would get a great deal quicker consideration.
"I make it a point never to hold a script longer than a week at the most. I know this has not always been the ease, but it is now and will continue as long as I am in charge of the scenario department. My theory is that an author honors us when he or she sends us a script. Perhaps their living depends on their writings. If that is so, it is but right that they should have prompt action, either for or against. I think you will find that the day has gone by when a company can hold a script as long as it pleases and pay for it when it pleases. Good scripts are too scarce to have any foolishness along these lines.
"Comedies are the hardest things to get — good, bright one reelers with a story running through their foolery. I want stuff for Frank Daniels, Billy Dangman and Hughie Mack, and the Vitagraph will pay well for it.
"Some days we receive as high as three and four hundred scripts, and many times not one is found acceptable. After a big murder case or some startling crime the mails are overburdened with scripts dealing with it in every conceivable form. I wonder if the public do not realize we are onto our jobs, and that our staff writers are looking for such things?
"The necessity for the trained scenario writer is here — but he has not reached the top of his earning power. That time is coming — and coming with the speed of a prairie fire — which, you will admit, is some speed. It takes a peculiar combination to make a good scenario writer, and few have the necessary qualifications."
The complete text of the book can be viewed here: http://www.archive.org/details/hintsonp ... 00peacgoog
The book also contains a section written by Colonel Jasper Ewing Brady, manager of Vitagraph's Scenario Department, who writes:
"The Vitagraph is in the market for good one-reel comedies, and three, four and five-reel dramas. We do not want costume stuff, and a military play would have to be of sterling worth to get a hearing. If the various authors and would-be authors would send a commonsense synopsis with their scripts they would get a great deal quicker consideration.
"I make it a point never to hold a script longer than a week at the most. I know this has not always been the ease, but it is now and will continue as long as I am in charge of the scenario department. My theory is that an author honors us when he or she sends us a script. Perhaps their living depends on their writings. If that is so, it is but right that they should have prompt action, either for or against. I think you will find that the day has gone by when a company can hold a script as long as it pleases and pay for it when it pleases. Good scripts are too scarce to have any foolishness along these lines.
"Comedies are the hardest things to get — good, bright one reelers with a story running through their foolery. I want stuff for Frank Daniels, Billy Dangman and Hughie Mack, and the Vitagraph will pay well for it.
"Some days we receive as high as three and four hundred scripts, and many times not one is found acceptable. After a big murder case or some startling crime the mails are overburdened with scripts dealing with it in every conceivable form. I wonder if the public do not realize we are onto our jobs, and that our staff writers are looking for such things?
"The necessity for the trained scenario writer is here — but he has not reached the top of his earning power. That time is coming — and coming with the speed of a prairie fire — which, you will admit, is some speed. It takes a peculiar combination to make a good scenario writer, and few have the necessary qualifications."
The complete text of the book can be viewed here: http://www.archive.org/details/hintsonp ... 00peacgoog
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Re: A Vitagraph Miscellany
Motion picture acting; how to prepare for photoplaying, what qualifications are necessary, how to secure an engagement, salaries paid to photoplayers by Frances Agnew (Reliance Newspaper Syndicate, 1913)
http://www.archive.org/details/motionpictureac00schgoog
http://www.archive.org/details/motionpictureac00schgoog
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Re: A Vitagraph Miscellany
From the same 1913 book:
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