of Harvard. In his text, "Dramatic Technique," after asking what is the common aim of all dramatists, he answers it thus:
"Twofold: first, as promptly as possible to win the attention of the audience; secondly, to hold that interest steady, or better, to increase it till the final curtain falls."
Professor Baker is addressing his remarks to the writer of stage plays, but they apply equally as well to the photodramatist. In fact, these things he mentions must be accomplished much more forcefully in the picture drama than in the stage drama. For the audiences of the photoplaywright are of greater variety, and far more restless when not entertained, than the audiences of the playwright who creates for the spoken drama. The stage play usually draws those who are interested in the particular subjects upon which a play is written. The cinema drama draws everyone within walking distance of the nearest movie house!
Furthermore, the photoplaywright must bear in mind the fact that his story must be presented cinematically within one and one-quarter to two hours. The average time for running of a standard thousand foot reel of film is fifteen minutes, or one and one-quarter hours for a five-reel picture. In that brief space of time the characters must be presented, must begin to act, must develop the story, bring it to its climax, and conclude it.
How, then, may I ask, can we expect to accomplish all of this unless we set out to construct a story with a definite, concrete idea or theme in mind? Can we in this brief space afford to permit our characters to wander around in a series of fanciful or beautiful "shots" or scenes, all of which have nothing whatever to do with the story we intend to tell?
I have been told that one of the most successful of our American authors, the sale of whose books has run into the millions, first sits down and writes out a thesis, or
