It is said that film maker Walt Disney was a ruthless film editor. He would cut any scene from a movie that interfered in any way with the flow of the story. No matter how beautiful, or funny, or brilliant a scene was, if it didn't fit, it was discarded.

Ward Kimball, one of the animators for Snow White, worked nearly eight months on a 4-1/2 minute sequence in which the dwarves made soup for Snow White. It was a humorous scene in which the dwarves wreaked havoc in the kitchen as they tried to make soup. Walt Disney thought the scene was funny, but ultimately decided it hindered the flow of the picture. So out it went.

Good writers will tell you, just as good motion picture directors will tell you, that it is often what you leave out of a work that determines whether or not it is effectiv…