FILM PRODUCTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 206, 28 August 1920, Page 17

FILM PRODUCTION.

HOW A PLAY REACHES THE PUBLIC.

The way in which a film reaches the cinema audiences is rather like a variation on the theme of the House that Jack Built. It starts with the story. This is very often based on a novel, but even if it is an original plot it must be turned into a "scenario," which may be called the "book of the play," for it contains details of all the scenes necessary for the film. So the first step is the scenario writer, called in the United States continuity writer, which is really a more suitable term. Then comes the producer. He is a mightily important person in the making of a film, for he is the organiser of the whole affair. He selects his stars and other artists, and tells them what they have to do. He is continually instructing and advising, and by the individual work he puts into the picture to males it one harmonious production the film will eventually be judged. He, of course, has the assistance of a camera man, electrician, studio manager, and many experts, but the picture stands or falls by him. When the picture is completed the manufacturing company for whom it has been made either sells it to a renter or hands it over to him in accordance with a contract already made. The renter is at present, in England, the keystone of the business, for it is he who" deals with the exhibitor who is going to show the film.

The trade show has now been reached. The theory of a trade show is that a picture will be shown to the best advantage to the exhibitors who are thinking of booking it. In practice in London the indiscriminate issuing of invitations usually brings together a number of people bent' on a free entertainment who sometimes crowd the exhibitor out. The exhibitor finally books the film usually for a date about a year ahead, and It eventually reaches the audience. Some American firms are themselves renting the films they produce in the L'nited States direct to the exhibitor, but this practice has not been followed largely outside the States. As this is the system at present in use iv the British industry it is presumably the most suitable, although it is a matter of wonder sometimes whether there is a good chance of the audience's wishes reaching through all the steps of the organisation to those who are responsible for the first conception of a picture in any reasonable space of time.— C, in the "Daily Mail. 1 '