We should not advise the young writer to put the price demanded for his script in the upper right-hand corner of the first sheet, though this is where it should go if he does wish to stipulate the amount for which he will sell it.  It is very much better simply to write:  “Submitted at usual rates.”  Even after you have sold to a given company, it is better, as a rule, to leave the matter of payment to the editor.  You may be sure that he will pay you just as much as your story is worth, being governed only by the price-limit fixed by the manufacturer.  Today, almost every manufacturer realizes that the day of getting “something for nothing” is past.  In other words, he realizes that the script—­the story—­is the very keystone of the photoplay arch, and if the story is purchased from a free-lance writer, he must be prepared to pay a fair price for it.

It is impossible, in a work of this kind, to say what certain companies are in the habit of paying, but it may roughly be said that the minimum price per reel today is $50.  Most of the larger producing companies are glad to pay a minimum of $100 per reel for satisfactory material, and $1,000 for a five-reel script—­or even for a five-reel story in synopsis form, if that is the company’s policy—­is regularly paid by those who are entitled to be called “the leading producers.”  Most companies have a fixed, uniform price-scale; and it would be silly for any one to say that you will be paid a certain amount for your story “if it suits them.”  We have in mind a certain large company that is in the habit of paying $1,000 for all the five-reel synopses it purchases.  If your story is not what this company wants, of course it will not be purchased at all.  If your story does suit them, you may be certain of receiving a check for $1,000 at least—­and we say “at least” because they have been known to pay still higher prices if the story is really unusual and hence especially valuable to them.  This same company—­as do nearly all concerns—­frequently pays a price greatly exceeding $1,000 for the work of authors with “big names,” because, of course, the value of the big name is not to be denied.

Experience alone will teach you which companies pay the best prices; after you have sold several scripts, and have become acquainted with the price-scale of different studios, you will, if the play suits that particular market, naturally offer your material first to the company that has paid you best.  But just as soon as a script comes back from one company—­so long as you feel certain that it is not in your power to improve it before letting it go out again—­send it out to another, and then to another, until it is either accepted or so worn or soiled that it is politic to recopy it.  And don’t wait too long to do this simple act of justice to your brain-child.  Whatever you do, don’t stop with three or four rejections—­keep at it until you are sure the market is exhausted.  But be certain to review your script for possible improvements each time it comes back to you.