Rejection in Black-and-White

An Old Chicago Film Studio Knew What They Wanted – and It Probably Wasn’t Your Script

Found on the Internet: a bit of ephemera from an old Chicago film studio.

The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an American film studio founded in Chicago in 1907. In 1908 they moved to their address at 1333-1345 West Argyle in Uptown. They made early westerns and even famously stole Charlie Chaplin from another studio in 1915.

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Apparently the silent film studio received enough unsolicited manuscripts to craft a form letter to silence prospective writers.

The letter reveals a few choice nuggets about the movies of the era. This particular copy has checked off reason #5 for rejection: “Idea has been done before.” That seems like a reason for acceptance by today’s standards.

And reason for rejection #17 includes “Murder…and all scenes of an unpleasant nature should be eliminated.” That edict would murder the industry as we now know it.

Essanay lasted in Chicago until 1925 then headed west to Hollywood, with its better weather and diverse topography. The building on Argyle was sold and later gifted to WTTW in 1973. It was designated a Chicago landmark in 1996 and has since been acquired by St. Augustine College.

Save your postage though – I checked, and St. Augustine is currently not accepting manuscripts.

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