An experience of a certain writer will serve to illustrate the impracticability of writing the final form of the synopsis first.  A few years ago, when all editors were asking for the complete script, and when most companies were insisting upon a synopsis of approximately two hundred and fifty words, the editor of a company for which he writes suggested that, instead of preparing the complete script before submitting it, the author should merely write out his synopsis in the usual way and send that in.  If the synopsis was satisfactory, his being told to go ahead and finish the script would mean that the story was as good as purchased.  Appreciating this kindness, three synopses were submitted by the writer, and two of them accepted; the third was for certain reasons unavailable.  It was necessary, then, to write out and send in the scenarios for the two satisfactory synopses, and the author started in.  Notwithstanding that the firm in question places no restriction on the number of words in the synopsis of scripts submitted to them, and that this author, for that reason, seldom sent in, even in those days, a synopsis of less than a thousand words, giving the theme and details of the plot, he found that in working out the scenarios of both stories the original plots could be improved, strengthened, given a more decided “punch,” by making some changes.  In one, he added a character and transposed several scenes, thereby strengthening the whole plot.  In the other, elimination of two scenes of minor importance made it possible for the director to give more footage to a big scene.  These changes being made in the scenarios, the original synopses could not be used.  It was therefore necessary to write two new ones which corresponded with the scenarios that went with them.  Thus the original synopses of the two accepted stories really amounted to nothing more than working, or first-draft, synopses.

5. Length of the Synopsis

How many words should be allowed for the writing of a synopsis still remains a matter of opinion.  Almost every writer wishes that he could use, within reason, an unlimited number.  The acceptance or rejection of the script depends so almost entirely upon the interest the editor takes in the synopsis, that it unjustly hampers a writer to be limited in the number of words he may use.  This is peculiarly true if the plot should happen to be one that requires the explanation of several minor, yet important, details of the story.  And even though you are sending to a company that asks for the complete script, you must bear in mind that some editors base their decisions wholly upon what they get from the synopsis.

On the other hand, more scripts suffer from having the synopses loosely and wordily written than from being over-compressed.  The young writer especially cannot be too careful in drilling himself in the art of clear-cut, concise, yet effective expression.  To be able to tell a story in outline, using few but vivid words, is an art worth cultivating.