That there is a great deal of truth in what M. Prevost says seems to be proved by the fact that when famous playwrights and best-selling authors have supplied photoplay plots to the manufacturers, they have been exceptionally well paid.  We refer, of course, to stories specially written for the photoplay stage, for when a film manufacturer produces a story by a well-known fiction writer, which originally appeared in novel or in short-story form, the manufacturer does business with the author’s publishers, unless the author has specifically reserved for himself all dramatic rights—­a practice which, by the way, is becoming more and more general.

[Illustration:  Arrangement of Electric Lights in a Photoplay Studio]

[Illustration:  An Actor’s Dressing Room in the Selig Studio]

An editorial in Motography says:  “The best motion picture dramas produced today are reproductions of literary classics.  These films do not achieve immortality; they merely further assure the immortality of the original work.  Why cannot a photodrama be produced that is fine enough to live on its own merit—­why must the picture always seem to be secondary while literature and the drama continue to furnish the primary motives?

“The answer lies in the peculiar requirements of photoplay authorship.  The writer of printed fiction is a master of words.  He revels in artful phrases and unique constructions.  He woos immortality not by his plots, but by his clever handling of words—­his ’style’.”  And then the editor goes on to say that the photodrama will become great when it has developed its own great men.  “The photoplay author of fame,” he says, “must be a specialist.”

This also is true; but at the same time he must, as in any other profession, first of all be a student.  He must serve his apprenticeship; and while he is serving his apprenticeship he must cultivate the imagination which M. Prevost declares to be so essential.

Imagination cannot be developed by remaining in a rut.  Experience is not only the best teacher, but the very finest developer of thought, and of a vivid and facile imagination.  Thus constant practice causes the building of plots to become a sort of second nature.

Granting that you have the technical skill to develop the plots you evolve, the question which you have to answer is:  What are the most suitable themes for photoplays?

No one can give you such a list, though he may do what has been attempted in another chapter—­furnish a moderately full list of what not to choose as themes.  Some general positive principles, however, are important, and these are now to be considered.

4.  Write of What You Know