ted, for the same reason that the synopsis is also finally
prepared when the scenario has been finished.

Keep a sheet of paper beside you as you write your scenario. First put
down the names of all your _principal_ characters so as to have them
before your eyes as you write. Then as you work out your scenario,
scene after scene, set down every character introduced; for example,
if you use a doctor, who merely pays one visit to a patient appearing
in only one scene, set down the following on your memorandum sheet:

Doctor, in 2.

and so on. At the time you write Scene 2 you may think that that _is_
the only one in which you will use the doctor; later on, perhaps as
you are giving the action of Scene 16, you may find that you have
occasion to introduce a doctor again. Unless Scene 16 is supposed to
be located in another part of the country, the chances are that you
might just as well bring in the same physician again, and you then
simply make it

Doctor, in 2 and 16.

_7. Naming the Characters_

Of course it is unnecessary to give a name to _everyone_ appearing in
a picture. The cast of characters is made up of the names only of
those whose work in the photoplay materially advances the action in
some way or another. On the "legitimate" stage any character who has
even a "line" to say may be said to have a "speaking part." Only these
are supposed to be in the cast proper. Similarly, in the photoplay no
one whose work in the picture is not in some way necessary to the
working out of the plot need be given a name. In the same way that you
would write "Doctor, in 2 and 16," or "Policeman, in 8," write

Guests at ball, in 13.
Stock brokers and clerks, in 22.
Clubmen, in 27.

The following is quoted from Mr. Epes Winthrop Sargent's weekly
department, "The Photoplaywright," in _The Moving Picture World_. He
says all that could be said upon a subject that is of the greatest
importance, no matter on what division of the photoplay script you are
at work--the necessity for simplifying everything so as to make it
quickly and easily understood by editor and director alike:

"When you start to write a play decide what you are going to call your
characters, and adhere to your decision. If you have a character named
Robert Wilson, do not indiscriminately call him Bob, Robert, and
Wilson. Decide on one of the three and use that one invariably. If
your character travels under an alias, being known as