of the man, set down clearly and briefly, are in the
last degree valuable in showing what a character really is and _why_
he does what he does.

_Conciseness._--But this desirable sort of scenario elaboration
MUST NOT lead to over-expansion. Brevity and conciseness are
not necessarily one, any more than are fullness and prolixity. Be
concise--cut close to the line; having started your action by setting
forth a basic incident at once interesting and plausible, keep the
wheels of your story in motion, letting it accumulate speed as it runs
on, and never slow down until after the climax has been passed. Keep
your eye--your "picture eye"--on your characters as they move about
and carry out the actions which you have planned to have them perform;
but describe those actions, as well as the motives which actuate them,
in just as few words as possible. Do not trifle with the tendency to
be wordy, or even to introduce too many scenes.

The time is rapidly coming when the production of a photoplay will
mean the earnest and intelligent cooeperation of the author, editor,
and director. But there is a very decided difference between including
in the paragraphs of action everything really necessary to the proper
understanding of the motives actuating the different characters and
the indiscriminate introduction of extraneous details that neither
assist in telling the story nor help in making it interesting.

_Over-Condensation._--On the other side of the golden middle-ground
lies the weakness of too great brevity, and this is the very fault
that some otherwise good writers at times permit themselves to
display. Their plots are strong, and their work is so well and
favorably known that their scripts are accepted; but because they have
over-condensed it becomes necessary for the editor or director to add
to the business of a certain character, or possibly to devise
explanatory inserts. Too little is worse than too much. In many cases
it is the writer's failure to include a few words describing a bit of
by-play or a short piece of business that makes the scenario faulty,
even though it may find a grudging acceptance.

_The Number of Words._--The question has frequently been asked by
amateur writers: "How many words are there in a full-reel
photoplay--what is the average number of words to a scene?" and so on.
No such consideration as the number of words in a script enters into
the production of a motion-picture drama. "Photoplays ar