PRICES FOR STORIES

Evening Star, Issue 22893, 26 February 1938, Page 5

PRICES FOR STORIES

HUGE SUMS PAID High prices are sometimes paid for stories to be adapted to the talking screen. Film companies use about 700 stories a year and reject nearly 70,000. Among recent high prices were £20,000 to Fanny Hurst for a novel that had not yet been published, and £12,000 for 1 Hurricane. The sum of £22,000 was paid for ‘ Dinner at Eight,’ and the lucky authors of ‘ Dodsworth ’ and ‘ Dead End ’ received £32,000 and £33,000 respectively from Samuel Goldwyn, just for giving him, permission to use their books as talkie material.

Going back some years the men who owned the rights to ‘ Ben Hur ’ sold them for a half-share in the screen earnings They netted £60,000. Thomas Dixon, writer of ‘ The Clansman,’ received no less than £160,000 when his novel was filmed as ‘ The Birth of a Nation.’

Once Paramount wished to title one of their screen plays ‘ The Dance of Life.’ This, however, happened to be the name of a philosophical study by Havelock Ellis. To avoid complications he was paid £B,OOO. Some of America’s foremost screen writers are women. Miss Bradley King began by publishing three or four short tales in a, cheap magazine. Movie magnate Thomas Ince told her that her literary style was awful, but because she had a sense of drama he engaged her at 50 dollars a week. Today she earns a weekly cheque of £3OO. Top of all scenario writers in Hollywood is Miss Frances Marion. She has written 300 successful stories in the last 20 years. Among them are 4 Alin and Bill,’ ‘ The Champ,’ and ‘ The Big House.’ She receives a fabulous salary.