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Show DnffiraSS ' I HE idea that anyone can writa IJ mff yf a salable moving picture play, , f that It takos less brains and B IH less ability than any other I lfl kind of writing, seems to bo I alarmingly provalont. ( V This 'condition Is caused by ) the claims of self-confessed teachers who assert In the lltorature thoy send out that almost any school boy or girl can mako 515 to ?20 a week writing photoplays In their spare time; that It does not tako any special literary ability to write photoplays, and I other absurd things of tho same nature. I You do not have to bu a Milton or a Victor Hugo, or, to camo down to modern times a Robert W. Chamboro or a. George iBcrnard Shavr ' to think up a good picture plot. You do not need tho word skill that these writers uso to write your play, but you do need something Just as important. You need to bo jH a Judgo of dramatic values, and you nocd to be a skillful plot builder, and, most of all, you must know life In nearly all of Its phases. Newspaper writers mako good photoplay-rights photoplay-rights because they understand the value nf JH space-saving and getting the punch whero it lH bolongs, in tho first half dozen words of every 'H paragraph. J Literary ability such as is used in books would not hblp the photoplay writer much if he did not havo a plot; but given a plot, it helps 'H him greatly. While a writer of photoplays may not bo ablo to write a novel or a short story. 1 ho might produco strong pictures, and tho JM writers of books and stories might not be nbl to writo any kind of a saJoblo picture play at UBut It takes ability and brains and hard grinding toll, and tho sooner thoso who rea Ire JH that writing photoplays Is not child's pla th. WM sooner they will mako their work welcome, in IH tho studios. Il |