cable"
anywhere else. For markets such as this, the fact that a synopsis only
is usually called for is a real benefit to the writer, saving him much
time and disappointment in the event of non-acceptance.

Another thing that experienced writers know is that certain of the
larger producers of slap-stick comedy are not in the market for
outside material. After being deluged with all kinds of "comedy"
stories for years, the Keystone Company finally found it necessary to
announce that nothing could be considered from free-lance writers, on
account of the peculiar nature of the comedies produced by them and
the necessity of having them written by inside writers who were
familiar with the studio, its players, and the surrounding possible
locations.

Thus, in its way, the market for comedy scripts or synopses is more or
less limited, and yet there is, as has been said, a good demand for
first-class humorous stories for the screen. One important rule to
keep in mind is that they should be, in every case, just as long as,
_but no longer than_, the idea that is back of them. You must never
pad a comedy plot, or even a comedy idea; to do so is fatal to the
attainment of artistically perfect results, if not to its acceptance
by the editor.

In writing dramatic stories, on the other hand, more freedom is
allowed. To be sure, here padding is bad also, but in a dramatic
subject the central idea is almost always big enough to justify one of
the several lengths to which screen dramas now run; but, largely
because comedy action is played so much faster than dramatic action,
you must firmly refuse to allow yourself to expand a humorous story by
even so little as a single scene beyond its logical and natural end.

Comedy ideas, perhaps more than any others, should be carefully
classified, and in classifying you should try to determine, from the
very first, the length to which that particular story ought to run.
Having once arrived at your decision, keep to it. It is
quality--clever situations and funny action--and not quantity that
counts in the writing of humorous photoplays. Most of the good comedy
themes have been worked over so often, either by the authors
themselves or by the director, that it requires considerable skill to
give them that much-desired new twist[30] that is necessary to make
them acceptable. In the writing of dramatic photoplays, a word or two
will often suggest the necessary "business" of a certain character,
bu