Save the Cat! Books
This ultimate insider's guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who's proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat!
In the long-awaited sequel to his surprise bestseller, "Save the Cat!," author and screenwriter Snyder returns to form in a fast-paced follow-up that proves why his is the most talked-about approach to screenwriting in years.
Break out your favorite pencil and roll up your sleeves! The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook provides key writing prompts and asks all the important questions—but you bring the story, filling out the pages that walk you step-by-step through the Save the Cat! process. The official hands-on companion to the best-selling Save the Cat! and Save the Cat! Writes for TV , this interactive workbook helps you dig deep into every aspect of your story. It’s inspiring, easy to manage, and your guide to: • Idea and Concept Brainstorming – Unlock your idea engine with a series of exercises and prompts geared to help you find your best story idea. • Meaningful Themes – Explore yourself, matching your story to something that speaks to your soul and represents your tastes and personality. • Story Genre Identification – Nail down that pesky question of “What is your story?” with the Save the Cat! Story Genres. • Create Fully Developed Characters – Give life to main characters who have wants, needs, and flaws. Surround them with a supporting cast that provides opportunities for conflict and thematic tension. • The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet – Discover the tools and detailed exercises to give your story the structure to succeed.
Blake Snyder, author of Save the Cat! and Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies, has delivered the book countless readers and students have clamored for. Inspired by questions from his workshops, lectures, and emails, Blake listened to you and provides new tips, tactics, and techniques to solve your writing problems and create stories that resonate: - The 7 warning signs you might have a great idea - or not - 2 sure-fire templates for can’t-miss loglines - The difference between structure and formula - The Transformation Machine that allows you to track your hero’s growth step-by-step - The 5 questions to keep your story’s spine straight - The 5-Point Finale to finish any story - The Save the Cat!® Greenlight Checklist that gets to the heart of every development issue - The right way to hear notes, deal with problematic producers, and dive into the rewrite with the right attitude - Why and when an agent will appear - How to discover the potential for greatness in any story - How to avoid panic, doubt, and self-recrimination… and what it takes to succeed and dare to achieve your dreams Get ready to face trouble like a pro… and strike back!
From 2005 until his death in 2009, Blake Snyder wrote his 3 best-selling Save the Cat!® books along with 209 blogs on the Save the Cat!® website. The 112 blog posts in this book have been carefully curated and edited from Blake’s originals. We have selected posts that we believe are timeless, resonating as powerfully today as on the day Blake wrote them. In addition, we’ve created 10 chapters in which we’ve bundled posts according to categories, to simplify your search for the information, encouragement and enthusiasm that were Blake’s hallmarks: - Ideas and Concepts - Themes - Titles and Loglines - Genres - Heroes - Structure - Dialogue - The Pitch - Going Pro - Inspiration. Enjoy these meaningful and helpful lessons in screenwriting… and life. Also included are photos that have never been published.
In his best-selling book, Save the Cat!® Goes to the Movies, Blake Snyder provided 50 “beat sheets” to 50 films, mostly studio-made. Now his student, screenwriter and novelist Salva Rubio, applies Blake’s principles to 50 independent, auteur, European and cult films (again with 5 beat sheets for each of Blake’s 10 genres). From international sensations like The Blair Witch Project to promising debuts like Pi, from small films that acquired cult status like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to Euro-blockbusters like The Full Monty, from unexpected gems like Before Sunrise to textbook classics such as The 400 Blows, from Dogville to Drive and Boogie Nights to Cinema Paradiso, here are 50 movies that fit both the “indie” label and Blake Snyder’s 15 beats. You’ll find works from Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, David Lynch, Roman Polanski, Danny Boyle, David Mamet, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sofia Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, and the Coen Brothers, among other renowned writers and directors. If you’re a moviegoer, you’ll discover a language to analyze film and understand how filmmakers can effectively reach audiences. If you’re a writer, this book reveals how those who came before you tackled the same challenges you are facing with the films you want to write. With these 50 beat sheets, you’ll see how “hitting the beats” creates stories that resonate the world over.
Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! , the world's top-selling story method for filmmakers and novelists, introduces The Last Book on Creating Binge-Worthy Content You'll Ever Need. Screenwriter Jamie Nash takes up Snyder's torch to lay out a step-by-step approach using Blake's principles for both new and experienced writers, including: -How to write and structure a compelling TV pilot that can launch both your series and your TV writing career -All the nuances, tricks, and techniques of pilot-writing: the Opening Pitch, the Guided Tour, the Whiff of Change, and more -The 8 Save the Cat! TV Franchise Types that will improve your story and your pitch -The not-so-secret TV Pitch Template that turns your TV series into the necessary read-over-lunch industry document -a how-to in creating layered characters who are driven by complex internal struggles -Beat sheets of the pilots of Barry , Ozark , Grey's Anatomy , The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , What We Do in the Shadows , Black-ish , The Mandalorian , This Is Us , Law and Order: SVU and more to help you crack your story Create your binge-worthy TV series with Save the Cat! Writes for TV .