TER XX

COMPLETE FIVE-REEL PHOTOPLAY SCRIPT "EVERYBODY'S GIRL"

Adapted from "O. Henry's" Short-Story, "Brickdust Row," by A. Van
Buren Powell, and Produced in Film Form by The Vitagraph Company[35]

[Footnote 35: Used by permission. Copyright, 1918, by the Vitagraph
Company of America. All rights reserved.]

The mere reading of the following photoplay script will not do you any
good. To get any benefit from it you must _study_ it.

The script, which is an adaptation--the short-story of a famous
author, "O. Henry," translated into screen technique--is in the form
in which it was accepted for production. An adaptation rather than the
script of an original idea is chosen for two reasons: the story from
which it was made is accessible in every library, and the translation
into production-form offers certain problems which make it a more
effective lesson in idea-building.

Pretend that you are a staff writer, and that you are to "do" a
certain story by "O. Henry." Get from your library the book of
short-stories by the famous author which contains "Brickdust Row"--the
volume is entitled "The Trimmed Lamp." Read the story--read it until
you are thoroughly familiar with its every word. Read it analytically.
You are to make an adaptation of it. What must that adaptation have
for its fundamental purpose?--the preservation of "O. Henry's" charm
of atmosphere; the utilization of his cleverness with words, wherever
possible in leaders; the emphasizing of his purpose in writing the
story. What was that purpose? Was it not to show how a man's code of
ethics, mistakenly clung to, resulted in his misjudging a perfectly
innocent girl, with resultant tragedy? And, contributory to this, was
it not the aim of the original author to emphasize and excuse the
conduct of the girl--conduct arising naturally from her environment
and station in life?

These things must be conveyed, then, through the medium of
characterization, with the help of little human touches. The girl must
be shown as sweet, clean, without a wrong thought; the man must be
clearly depicted, his reason for being so seemingly churlish and
careless of the duties imposed upon him by his ownership of many
tenements must be handled in such a way that he will not be an
unsympathetic character.

Then we are confronted with certain studio conditions. The story must
be made of feature length--five or more reels. Again, tragedy is not
welcome on the screen. Arguments might