Draft:Elizabeth R. Carpenter

Elizabeth R. Carpenter was an American screenwriter and short story author active during the decade of 1910. As a successful independent freelancer, her work was adapted by various studios, including Reliance, Vitagraph, Lubin, and Edison. She was also frequently mentioned in the press as E. R. Carpenter.

Carpenter's earliest known short story, “The Dean’s Checkmate”, won the New York Evening Telegram’s weekly Prize Story Contest in 1910.. She also published several stories aimed at a children's audience, under titles like “Blessed are the Merciful: True Story of a Bluebird”, "Billy Breeches: the Boy Who Defended His Honor” , “Huff Lays the Ghost” or “Quits”.

Early in her career, she corresponded regularly with the Photoplay Clearing House, an organization that sold scripts to production companies on behalf of authors. As her reputation as a screenwriter grew, she received acknowledgements from authors like William Lord Wright and Epes W. Sargent . Carpenter was also referenced as a model of good authorship in the 1914 screenwriting manual How to Write a Photoplay, which included a transcription of her script for the film Fogg's Millions.

Carpenter's most prolific years were 1914 and 1915. Afterwards, her productivity slowly decreased until her final film, The Quickening Flame, was released in 1919

A surviving print of Carpenter's film The Good in the Worst of Us was screened at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in 2021, as part of the Women Screenwriters of American Silent Films program.

Selected filmography
The Quickening Flame (1919)

Mary from America (1917)

Jane's Husband (1916)

The Little Fraud (1916)

The Test of Chivalry (1916)

She won the prize (1916)

The Reprisal (1916)

Behind the Veil (1916)

The Good in the Worst of Us (1915)

Her Husband's Son (1915)

The Voice of Conscience (1915)

Refining Fires (1915)

A Heart of Gold (1915)

The Girl at Nolan's (1915)

The Spy's Sister (1915)

Who Bears Malice (1915)

The Life Line (1915)

Sam's Sweetheart (1915)

The Toll (1914)

The False and the True (1914)

John Rance, Gentleman (1914)

Fogg's Millions (1914)

Taken by Storm (1914)

His Wedded Wife (1914)

The Greater Love (1914)

The Widow of Red Rock (1914)

The Disguise (1913)