certain theatre, none expressed themselves as being satisfied with it,
although only a few were able to say directly that they did not
approve of the play because of the frequently shifted interest.

Thus the picture failed because whoever wrote it did not keep in mind
the important fact that divided interest will go a long way toward
destroying the dramatic value of any story, regardless of how perfect
it may be otherwise.

Use as few principals as possible, no matter how many minor characters
or extra people are employed; and be sure to keep the subordinate
characters in the background sufficiently to prevent them from
detracting in any way from the interest that should be constantly
fixed upon your principals, and especially the _two_ principals who
make possible nine-tenths of all the stories written.

_8. Managing Changes of Scene_

In preparing the scenario it is important to remember that if a leader
is introduced _before_ a scene, the leader should be written first,
and followed by the number and description of the scene. And in
describing your scenes you should study the convenience of the
director: where more than one scene is to be done in a set, refer back
to the _original_ scene number. Thus if Scene 5 is the sheriff's
office, and the same background is used for scenes 7, 9, and 14, when
writing Scene 14 say:

14--Sheriff's office, same as 5--

No matter how many times that setting may be used as the background
for a scene of your story, write it out every time just as you did at
first. Do not merely say: Same as 5. Follow the scene number, whether
it be 7, 9, or 14, with: "Sheriff's office;" then add the "same as 5."
Also, do not forget what was said in Chapter VI regarding the writing
of your scene-number at 0 (or 0 and 1, if there are two figures) on
the scale-bar of your typewriter. In this way, if 5 is your left
marginal stop, you will have almost a half-inch space between the
number and the description of the scene. Bridge this space with the
hyphen or short-dash character, and you will be sure that the
director's attention is quickly drawn to each change of scene.

It is extremely important to remember that in telling your story in
action even the slightest change of location means another scene. Let
us make this point perfectly clear:

Suppose you have a scene in which a fire ladder is placed against the
wall of a burning building, only the lower part of the ladder showing
in the