Seeking Film Story Material

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 14 September 1940, Page 6 (Supplement)

Seeking Film Story Material

STORIES of simple human people are what film companies want to-day, according to E. J. O'Brien, head of M.G.M.'s story department in England. Mr. O'Brien and his staff get about 175 items through their hands weekly—novels, plays, biographies, musical pieces and original scripts. In addition, some 50 or 60 magazines and newspapers are combed for short stories each week. About a third are in English. The rest may be in French, German, Italian, Walloon, Flemish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Portuguese, Serbian, Croatian,. Slovenian, Estonian, Spanish, Yiddish, Icelandic, WeJsh or Provencal. Mr. O'Brien himself reads French, German and Italian easily; Dutch and Spanish with more of an effort. Among his staff, some of them well-known continental novelists, he has one man who can muster 18 languages.

Thei readers eynopsise the material and give a report of its screen possibilities— one typewritten page for material not recommended,.. 10 to 40 or 50 pages if it seems good. One reader is constantly on the spot for "emergency stuff," stories for which a quick decision may have to be made and which have to be covered in proof in 24 hours.

"A considerable part of my job," Mr O'Brien told the "Observer" (London) "is intelligence services getting news about plays and stories as quickly as I can, because competition is keen.

"We cover all first nights in England, .Scotland and Ireland, and as many as we can on the Continent. One of my jobs is to watch the foreign newspapers

for announcements of new plays in foreign capitals and get the play scripts sent to me. We like to see the actual production as well as reading the script, whenever we can, to study the reactions of the audience." One result of the war, Mr. O'Brien finds, is that repertory companies are producing new plays all over England instead of mainly in London. Mr. O'Brien is dry, Irish, and scholarly. He looks like a younger H. G. Wells. In his time he has been editor, author, lecturer, traveller. The short story is his pa-ssion. "My private indoor sport," he calls it. His twenty-sixth collection of American short stories is just off the press, and his nineteenth English collection just going to it. From 1915 to 1930, he considers, the English short story was more vital and interesting than the American; since then, the American contribution has been the most important in the world. "Still," he admits, "there was an English short story that cattle out round about Christmas a few years back. Nobody paid much attention to it until it was republished in the 'Atlantic

Monthly' a few months afterwards. It simply swept America and then careered back to England. It was called 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'." He finds the countries most productive of material for Hollywood to be England, France, Hungary, and work written in German but published in Amsterdam, Stockholm, Zurich and London, particularly Amsterdam. "One rather interesting point, perhaps, is the effect of Hitler on publication,"] says Mr. O'Brien. "Eighteen months ago we were getting 25 Czech books and plays a week, and as many Polish. To-day there is nothing* In strong contrast to this, Finnish publication hasn't in the least diminished. It came regularly at weekly intervals right through the war. There has been some interruption of new play production in Helsinki, of course," lie added drily. They do not buy stories primarily for any star, but normally on their own merits. "We are very apt to mention so-and-so in recommending a story, but if we have no, one in mind at the moment that would not prevent us from sending it in," concluded the busy story sleuth.