CHAPTER I

WHAT IS A PHOTOPLAY?


As its title indicates, this book aims to teach the theory and
practice of photoplay construction. This we shall attempt by first
pointing out its component parts, and then showing how these parts are
both constructed and assembled so as to form a strong, well-built,
attractive and salable manuscript.


_The Photoplay Defined and Differentiated_

_A photoplay is a story told largely in pantomime by players, whose
words are suggested by their actions, assisted by certain descriptive
words thrown on the screen, and the whole produced by a moving-picture
machine._

It should be no more necessary to say that not all moving-picture
productions are photoplays than that not all prose is fiction, yet the
distinction must be emphasized. A photoplay is to the program of a
moving-picture theatre just what a short-story is to the contents of a
popular magazine--it supplies the story-telling or drama element. A
few years ago the managers of certain theatres used so to arrange
their programs that for four or five days out of every week the
pictures they showed would consist entirely of photoplays. On such