reserving the synopsis for improving and polishing at
the very end of the writing may easily be understood. Suppose an
author were to write the complete synopsis of his story first, and
then in writing his scenario follow that synopsis rigidly, adding no
scene not indicated in it, introducing no character that it does not
mention, and otherwise being bound by his earlier work. He might
indeed produce a good scenario, but would it be quite as good as it
might have been had he allowed himself a freer rein in working it out?
Might there not have been a scene or two added that would have aided
materially in making every little detail of his plot clear to the
spectators?

Again, a writer will frequently find, when working out his scenario,
that he can improve his story by transposing some of the scenes as
originally planned. In fact, there are a dozen ways in which the story
may be altered for the better while in course of construction. Why,
then, should the author hamper himself by obstinately adhering to his
original plan or synopsis of it? In photoplay writing an author should
not promise himself never to change his mind.

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