IX

		moving to the beat of the music, etc. Screenplays in fact became detailed shooting scripts that were given to the director for implementation.

		The idea here was not that writers were necessarily better than directors at visualizing a scene but that, in general, a practical method could be systematically applied to preordain the action into "thrilling and telling" material. 5 Ince himself was known as "an expert plot builder" who was not only extremely good at condensing the scripts submitted for his approval but also at segmenting them into an appropriate series of shots.6 For Tom Stempel, the result spoke for itself: "the scripts, the notes on the scripts, and the cutting of the films all add up to films that told stories clearly and cleanly."7 As the film was undergoing this process, other specialists would go over the script to determine what would be required by the production team in terms of sets, props, titles, stock footage, and the like. All in all, the detailed continuity script became the engineering blueprint of the entire film project. As inefficiencies in the making of films were significantly reduced, films could be shot more profitably than ever before. Pointing out similarities with other industries involved in mass production, Staiger describes the continuity script as the necessary tool that provided ''the uniformity and regularity that guides multiple workers in their filmmaking."8 In effect, an industrial "quality" control could be maintained on the entire output regardless of the specific projects or the individuals involved. What did directors think of this system? According to Peter Milne, "individualists oppose Mr. Ince and belittle his methods. He doesn't bother about them often as he employs directors who are willing to work into his scheme of production and these for the most part have been richly rewarded."9 As for the studios, needless to say, they benefited the most from the introduction of a detailed writing format.

		III

		This situation came to an end as the silent cinema gave way to the talkies. The problem faced by the writers and the studios was a vexing one: how to adapt the existing screenplay format to the unique demands of the new sound movies. Previously, the bulk of the writing concerned the actions of the characters: what the protagonists actually did in the shot, how they reacted to one another. It made their gazes clear, it spoke of their emotions. As early as 1911, Epes Winthrop Sargent had suggested that these