The salaries of players and the expense of purchasing a story do not enter into our calculations here. The matter of costuming is one that should not trouble the amateur either, for his story should be written so as to make the lightest of demands in this regard. The members of the organization should also be able to secure the necessary permission for the use of all exterior settings without paying for the privilege, as the film-manufacturing concerns must often do. It is also possible for the author of the story to so construct it that no interior settings are necessary, thus obviating the expense of engaging a studio or else of paying for portable lights to be used in the actual interiors mentioned in the story. The advantages offered by the locality in which the story is to be pictured will determine the decision to be made on these points. There is another point to consider; only organizations located near film-producing centers will be able to rent studios without the expense of transportation for the company. On the story depends in great measure the success or failure of an amateur effort at screen production. While the principal idea, the plot, may be the work of one man, the work of production should not begin until every point in it has been threshed out by the combined wisdom of all the members of the committee in charge of the production. Test each bit of the action to see that it can be done with your facilities; don’t attempt an elaborate story and then be forced to rewrite it after the work of production has started. That means time lost--for which you are paying salaries--and a weakened production. Construct a story, as has been said above, that uses exterior scenes almost entirely. See that the locations are convenient; it does not require many journeys from one end of the town to the other to eat up valuable time. Don’t hesitate to use the same setting more than once. The points enumerated here would appear to be only “common sense,” yet it is our experience with the efforts of amateur photoplaywrights that they invariably lift the check-reins from their imaginations, allow the story to wander up hill and down dale, and seem to make a special effort to have each bit of action take place in an entirely new location. If the organization holds within its membership-lists some players of more than ordinary ability it might be possible to successfully stage an ambitious drama. For productions of this type the light comedy form is, however, best suited. The rôles, being more natural, are better handled by the players, while at the showing of the picture the audience, instead of being in the seriously critical frame of mind induced by a drama, is receptive and ready to overlook minor faults. The exaggerated melodrama is probably the greatest favorite with amateurs.