However, now that the market has expanded from one to five, and even more, reels, the limit of words is not so closely drawn.  Indeed, today, whether the studio is one that asks for the complete script or insists upon examining the synopsis only, you may almost feel safe in sending in a synopsis containing just as many words as are really needed—­which means, simply, that the editor’s first consideration is to be able to “get” your whole story from one reading of your synopsis, whatever its length.  It should be concise; it must be clear and readily understandable.  A busy editor has no time to waste in re-reading certain paragraphs or even sentences the meaning of which is obscure.  One of the first things to remember is that certain companies send out the call for “synopsis only” because they prefer to have their staff writers do the continuity of scenes (write the scenario), instead of accepting the scenario prepared by the author and upon occasion, altering it in the studio to suit their special requirements.  Why so many concerns prefer to do this is easily understood.  Instead of cutting up the originally submitted scenario and substituting different settings or locations, and perhaps, even, different large and difficult-to-obtain “props,” they simply provide the staff writer with the synopsis of the story purchased from you, and tell him to go ahead and prepare the continuity, knowing as he does, and keeping in mind while at work, to just what approximate expense the company is prepared to go, just what sets are available or can be built, what necessary locations can be reached within a reasonable time, and what players—­especially if they must be distinctive types—­are in the company or may be readily engaged.  These, of course, are matters over which the outside writer can have no control; if he is selling to a concern that demands the synopsis only, he must make up for what he does not know about the inside workings of the studio by giving the editor and (especially) the staff writer every needed detail of his plot.  Only by so doing can he feel sure of eventually seeing the story on the screen in the form of an artistic and satisfactory working out of his original idea.

Some companies that request the synopsis only also like the writer to submit two synopses.  The first, for the special benefit of the editor, and shorter than the two-hundred-and-fifty-word synopsis of a few years ago, is intended to show the editor or his reader almost at a glance if the story is what that particular company could use at all.  The second synopsis, of course, is the longer and more detailed one from which both he and the staff man can get all the necessary details if your story is purchased.  By reading the market departments of such magazines as The Writer’s Monthly, and the various trade journals, you can keep posted as to which concerns like this double synopsis.  For your own good, always observe the rule if the company lays it down, and remember that it is an easy matter to make a brief synopsis from the longer one already prepared.