A GOOD STORY is the only firm foundation for a successful film. You cannot compensate for the lack of one by pulling all the technical tricks there are, or even by sheer excellence of production. A good film needs both a good story and good production.

This book will tell you how to adapt your thinking to suit the special needs of the film. If you have not been very successful so far it is probably because you need guidance. Your creative energies must be funnelled into the proper channels instead of running wild in directions which are no good to anyone.

Richard Harrison is a first-class story writer and film man who believes in living his parts. Apart from writing fifteen novels and working in London and Hollywood studios, he spends his leisure studying crime, once even to the extent of chasing a Chicago gangster with a borrowed sawn-off shotgun. However that may be, considering that he is also a very active amateur script writer, there can hardly be a better man to ask about film stories.

In this book you have the benefit of his knowledge with the emphasis placed upon the slender budgets of private productions.