ABSTRACT
American film production was torn between conflicting tendencies in the 1910s, and writing was the troublesome cause. Fortune and fame in the booming industry seemed within grasp of the amateur writer simply by putting ideas to paper, leading to the submission of hundreds of thousands of story ideas, synopses, scenarios and scripts to film companies. Encouraged through promotion in the trade press, screenwriting manuals, and elsewhere, writing for film was initially advertised as a task for which the industry not only desired, but needed creative input from the public. By the end of the decade, however, film writing had become a largely regulated and institutionalized function within the industry’s own production apparatus. As the industry took shape throughout the decade, consolidating into several dominant studios and streamlining and rationalizing production, writing was increasingly assigned to an ascendant class of professionals. By 1917 prospects were bleak for the amateur as the distinction between novice and professional gained definition; the trade journal Motography asserted, ‘There are only two classes of motion picture scenario writers – a few whose work is in real demand, who collaborate with the producers and get good prices; and a great many whose work is of little or no value and most of whom never will succeed’ (Motography 1917: 651-2). The diminishing prospects of success for amateur writers reflects the manner in which the newly consolidated American culture industry quickly defined and regulated its boundaries and its interests.
