Vera Caspary's 1934 Column: "Don't Write Originals!"
On March 19, 1934, The Hollywood Reporter published a special issue devoted to screenwriting, featuring the voices of industry notables on trade topics such as "Should Writers Produce?," mulling censorship ("Sense or Censors") and discussing the craft of writing for the big screen.Author Vera Caspary, who had published several novels by this time and had seen stories adapted for film,tackled a pressing question: should writers devote time to original stories to pitch to studios?Caspary's full guest column is below: I have been warned more often against the dangers of writing movie originals than I have against the pit falls of drink, dope and loose living.