picture play
which has already been released. Bear in mind, too, that many
photoplays are released bearing poor, commonplace, and inappropriate
titles, and the foregoing are not so much named as models as for the
purpose of illustrating the specific point now being discussed--that
the _feature idea_ may often direct your choice after the story is
worked out.

A great many comedies have titles which state a fact, or specifically
make an announcement concerning what happens in the photoplay, as
"Arabella Loves Her Master," or "Billy Becomes Mentally Deranged."
Photoplays with such titles are, as a rule, the product of the
European makers. Once in a while a dramatic picture will be given such
a title, as "Tommy Saves His Little Sister"--a picture made in
France--and "Annie Crawls Upstairs," the last a beautiful and touching
picture by the well-known writer of magazine stories and photoplays,
James Oppenheim, produced by the Edison Company. Again, there are more
general titles exploiting the theme of the story, as "The Ways of
Destiny," "The God Within," and "Intolerance." There are also
symbolical titles, which have, naturally, a double meaning, playing
upon an incident in the plot, as "A Pearl of Greater Price," and
"Written in the Sand."

_7. The Editor and the Title_

Some successful writers have expressed dissatisfaction when editors
have ventured to change the titles of their scripts after having
accepted and paid for them. Doubtless some of these objections have
been not without reason. Many editors and directors have, in the past,
taken entirely too much upon themselves, in this and other respects
taking liberties with the scripts received which, if known to the head
of the firm, would have led to their being at least reprimanded. But
in such studios, the editors, and especially the directors, worked for
days at a time without having once come in contact with the head of
the firm; as a result, they all did pretty much as they liked. During
the last few months, however, changes have been made in every studio
in the country, and at the present time the scripts that writers send
in are not only handled much more carefully, but, if the title of a
story is changed in the studio, there is usually a very good reason
for so doing.

Let us suppose, for example, that a certain company (such as, at this
writing, Goldwyn) is featuring women stars only. A writer sends in an
unusually good script entitled "Not Like Other