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.

Again, while it is also necessary to observe strictly the rule of
sending the "synopsis only" to companies that demand it, one of the