Screenwriting Advice From The Past: The Kinds Of Stories That Sell [Part 3]

“The exhibitor wants the sort of story that can be exploited from the box office point of view, for a photoplay that does not lend itself to advertising and publicity in all forms will not draw the crowd.”

If you are a screenwriter, you should know about Anita Loos. Loos was one of the most influential writers in the early stages of American cinema, associated with 136 film projects per IMDb.

Married to writer John Emerson, the pair wrote one of the first books on screenwriting in 1920: “How to Write Photoplays”. I have been running a weekly series based on the book.

Today: The Kinds Of Stories That Sell [P. 73].

The exhibitor wants the sort of story that can be exploited from the box office point of view, for a photoplay that does not lend itself to advertising and publicity in all forms will not draw the crowd.

This is the exact same issue movie studios face today. The challenge is even greater than 1920. Back then the competition was other movies. Today? Every form of entertainment: social media, video games, Internet, TV, and so on. When a studio considers buying your script, they immediately consider the story’s financial upside, and that involves this question: Will this play in theaters?

That’s why you have to ask yourself of your story: Can I honestly see this opening in 3,000+ movie screens? Can I see the one-sheet? Can I see the trailer? Does this story have a legitimate shot to connect with a big audience?

Tomorrow: More screenwriting advice from the past.

You can read “How to Write Photoplays” via Google books online here.

For the rest of the series articles:

Introduction
Getting Ideas
Conflict and Crisis
Situation
Theme
Star Sympathy
Action: Part 1
Action: Part 2
Action: Part 3
Action: Part 4
Action: Part 5
Story Synopsis
Continuity: Part 1
Continuity: Part 2
The Title
Marketing the Script
Writing for the Camera
Scenery for Scenarios
The Actor’s Angle: Part 1
The Actor’s Angle: Part 2
Character On The Screen: Part 1
Character On The Screen: Part 2
Character On The Screen: Part 3
Character On The Screen: Part 4
The “Interest”: Part 1
The “Interest”: Part 2
The Kinds of Stories That Sell: Part 1
The Kinds of Stories That Sell: Part 2

Note: I ran this series originally in 2012. Unfortunately, the individual articles got bungled up on the site in some sort of technical snafu. So, I am recovering them one by one in this reprise of the series.