Category: Writing for Photoplays

Why the Synopsis is of Paramount Importance.–The photoplay synopsis tells the story of your plot in de-tailed narrative form, generally without the use of- dialogue or useless description; consequently, it is a general view of your story, an abstract or summary of the action. Not including plot, the synopsis is the most important part of […]

How to Write the Cast.— When writing the synopsis, first note down the names of all your principal characters before you begin to outline the plot. Then, as you complete your synopsis, record each additional character’s name as soon as he or she appears. All of your important characters should be described briefly in your […]

Why the Scene-Plot is Not Especially Important to You.—As indicated in a former chapter, the scene-plot is the third division of the complete photoplay manuscript as produced in the studio. The scene-plot consists of a list of all the different scenes, both interior and exterior, used in the photoplay, together with an indication of the […]

What Good Dialogue Must Do.– Good dialogue must be convincing in quality, must portray exactly and suggestively the character from whom the speech comes. The reader will be as quick to observe falsity of speech as he is in natural life when a person with little or no education attempts to use words of whose […]

Elements of Setting.— Setting in a story is the time, place, and conditions under which the action of the story occurs. Setting bears the same relation to the story that the sound drum bears to the Phonograph. In both cases, the lack of the developing feature of setting and sound drum will detract greatly from […]

Style a Reflection of Self. — As the French academician observed, “Style is the Man.” Style in writing is just as true a portrayal of what a man is—how his texture of thought is woven together—as are the actions of his life. Style is a particular method of writing and no two men are gifted […]