Show FILM PLAYS INDIG IN 1 DIG BIG GRAVEYARD Amateur Scenario Writer lias Has No Xo Chance to- to Sell Work ork BY DY GEORGE E BC lInS J Special Correspondent 0 ot of The The Standard Examiner Standard Copyright 1926 By The Tha Consoli Consolidated dated Press Association HOLLYWOOD Calif There There There are arc about manuscripts manu manu- scripts tiled filed lied away though the en- en envelopes envelopes en envelopes have been opened just enough to find out what was In them and none ot of o their contents has been read or Is likely to be read The young woman quoted was indicating a a ser series s ot of dust covered pigeon holes lining the entire side ot of a big bars bare room In lit a u frame building on the lot ot or one ono of o the tho lh largest motion picture studios of Hollywood The manuscripts re- re re referred to were photoplays sent to the producers by more mure or less gifted authors In all parts of ot the United States Slates They had hadd reached the end of ot the rainbow and there there wasn't a pot of ot gold DEAD 11 VIrtually every large studio In mm film land has hns a similar burIal vault of ot dead hopes grave graveyard ard Into which are ruthlessly thrown wIthout ceremony both bolh the good and nd the bad In that literary charnal house may rest a play pIny aflame with genius but It Is con con- condemned condemned con condemned to oblivion because the name of tho the author Is unknown to the young person Into whose indifferent hands It chane chances s to fall How many masterpieces rest under the dust In these theRe studio filing rooms wInever will wI never be known The young woman clerical work work- worker worker worker er who conducted tho the writer through this studio came here several years ears ago ngo from a small smalltown smalltown smalltown town In the tho middle west One of oher her duties dutlE's Is fa to preside at the tho obsequies of the brain children o of unknown authors MOSTLY NUTS There mostly all nuts she observed critically I u used ed to try to read some of ot the stuff Bluff but too many of them used words I couldn't get so BO I gave It up All AllI AllI AllI I do now Is to make millee sure the thing was wag meant to be a II play and then shunt It to the filing room We try to keep the comedies and the dramas In different pigeon pigeonholes pigeonholes pigeonholes holes but that's about the best we can do So far as ns I know leno the only time they're touched Is Ie when hen some somo gage maker cant can't find anythIng funny In his own noodle and comes here to swipe a joke jok or two There are aro orders order agaInst swIping the stuff but the tho gag gagmen gagmen gagmen men have to live Are none of the plays plas reject reject- rejected rejected ed rd she wa was asked How Flow can they bo be rejected with without ou t being read she re- re returned returned re returned turned the authors author InquIre what has become of ot their stuff and wo we send them a form letter telling them to be patient nt If Ie they come back we have to dig up the tho sheets and shoot them back to papa Lot Lots of ot this stuff has been on our shelves fIve years HAS NO Ch CHANCE CIL ANCE Investigation at other studios revealed that there Is la actually no chance for the unknown author to get his play piny read not men men- mentionIng mentioning mentioning having hn It produced unless he can bring the strongest kind of Influence upon upen the producer The filing tiling rooms at many of ot the larger studios are under the care of young boys and girls through whose Immature and heedless hands all unsolicited manuscripts pass Rarely does docs anyone any one with authority even see the outside of the envelopes A famous producIng producing producing ing director explained that financial finan finan- financIal financial cial safety dictates this adopted policy polley We strive to eliminate box of- of office of office fice flee uncertainty by making pIc- pIc pIctures pic plc pictures Mures tures of popular novels or em- em employIng employing em employing writers of ot proved popularity popularity larity he ho said Experiments has taught us that It pays better belter to use a noted authors author's book or name than to experiment with an unknown even It if the tho latter'S book Is superior which Is often oCten the tho case However I know that 90 per cent of ot the plays sub sub- submitted submitted sub submitted by amateurs Is rubbish We Ve haven't time to search through a II ton of o chaff for or a few kernels of ot grain In all kindness I would advise young writers to forget the movies and save saye them them- themselves themselves hem hem- selves the certainty of ot disappoint disappoint- disappointment disappointment disappoint ment ment |