Screenwriting Book - Save the cat!

Screenwriting Book - Save the cat!
By: Blake Snyder
Michael Wiese Productions
2005

A book pretty much focussed on structure of screenplays based on his own experience analysing movies and his successful writing career. It also focusses on how to get your screenplay sold by sharing how to write a good log line and pitch. It doesn't actually give much of any valuable advice for actual content, it's more of a story structure guideline. A unique thing in the book is the "Black Snyder Beat Sheet", which outlines the structural elements in stories. 

“Amping up a great logline with the hero who makes the idea work best is how the idea comes to life. And let’s be clear, the trick is to create heroes who: Offer the most conflict in that situation. Have the longest way to go emotionally and… Are the most demographically pleasing!”

What this book taught me:-

I learnt plenty considering it's more of a technical minded structural blueprint or guideline as opposed to something like The Writers Journey" which is about psychology of archetypes and so on. While it has been pointed out to me by a university lecturer that his points are god for a starting point but shouldn't be used as gospel, I did learn a great deal by looking at his breakdown of movies. I always secretly knew the beat sheet in my head from watching movies but have never expressed the structure out loud because I wasn't consciously aware of it. It was  a "Ah-ha!" moment while reading this book. His way of organising beats of a scene with cards was also very interesting in that it helped me understand how I mentally organise my writings before I actually write them. While I most likely won't use the cards idea, I will use what they represent which is a concious organisation of the emotional wins and losses, dramatic tension beats and emotional beats of each scene adn their relationship and presentation in the grander scale of a film.

“The +/- sign represents the emotional change you must execute in each scene. Think of each scene as a mini-movie. It must have a beginning, middle and an end. And it must also have something happen that causes the emotional tone to change drastically.”

Should you buy it?

I would say so. While you might not end up using some of the material and teachings in this book or maybe you will use it all but with a pinch of salt, you will still come out the other end having learned something valuable. I would definitely say it's worth it. After all, it's a very cheap book and the take away it quite substantial.  

“Whether it’s physical or verbal or simply a guy who really needs to pee and get to the bathroom soon or else!, that conflict must be foremost on your mind when you conceive each scene.”

Link to buy: (Copy&Paste):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Save-Cat-Only-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421157960&sr=8-1&keywords=save+the+cat