that an experienced fiction writer would fail in the field of
photoplay writing once he had learned to put the plot together in
proper form and had mastered a knowledge of the limitations of the
moving-picture stage, it is also just as unlikely that the most famous
writer living could legitimately sell a photoplay that was essentially
faulty in construction and absolutely lacking in screen quality. If
the idea were a good one and the writer were to submit it to the
producing company under his own name, the chance is that the company
would accept it, and, after using his idea to construct the photoplay
in proper form, produce and even feature it--on account of the big
name won in the field of fiction writing. If, on the other hand, he
should submit it under a pen name it is possible that, provided the
plot, or even the fundamental idea, proved to be exceptionally good,
he might be offered a moderate sum for the plot or for the idea alone,
to be worked up and produced as the director thought best. In making
him the offer, the company would probably explain quite frankly that
the script was not suitably constructed; that it would require
rewriting in the studio; but that the idea was worth the amount
offered. Here, then, is one point upon which the novice may
congratulate himself: he, as an untrained writer of photoplays, is not
alone in having to learn the secret of what will suit the screen, for
until the famous author learns that secret, he, too, is an untrained
writer--of photoplays, and his "prices" will suffer accordingly.

[Illustration: Producing a Big Scene in the Selig Yard. See Cameras on
the Right]

[Illustration: Film-Drying Room in a Film Factory. The Films are
Rolled Around the Racks which are Suspended from the Ceiling and in
the Hands of the Operators. Moist Warm Air is Introduced through the