Reddit reviews Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
We found 16 Reddit comments about Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
To be fair, this is literally how almost every movie has been pitched since the beginning of time. "It's castaway meets futurama"
Comparing your movie to others in this way is considered one of the most basic, essential skills in pitching. Undoubtedly "It's like Inside Out meets Wreck it Ralph" was a phrase uttered dozens of times when Tony Leondis was pitching this movie.
Source:
Save the Cat - one of the most respected guides on screenwriting in the world.
I'm at least 70% sure OP is a troll post, but let's do this.
Here's the deal. "Secret cabals" aren't secret because they're exclusionary and snobby groups of elitists. They're exclusionary for the same reason that when you and your friends go to the bar for happy hour, you aren't inviting random people over to share your pitcher of beer. It's got less to do with "elites vs. plebes" and much more to do with just who your friends are.
"Secret cabals" are just groups of friends and peers. I'm in most of the "exclusive subs", and while I will say they've been and continue to be immense sources of help, the best and most helpful "secret group" I'm in is just a slack group of peers that came together organically through just word of mouth and friends of friends getting to know each other.
Someone - Seth Godin maybe? - coined the phrase "find your tribe", and I don't think I can impress upon you how important that is in this industry. My tribe is awesome. We all work full-time (well, way beyond full time). We all feed off each other's motivation, creativity, and help, and we're near-sociopathically driven to push each other higher. The reason I can tell you with near certainty that no one is conspiring to "keep the little guy down" is that we're all far too busy keeping each other up to even have time for pettiness like that.
So, again, only being ~30% confident you aren't trolling, here's the advice I can give you: work your fucking ass off. If you're doing shorts, and putting out three a week isn't giving you the results you want? Put out six. Hell, put out ten. Not seeing great numbers for your mailing list sign-up? Go read every social media marketing guide you can find. Want to get into novel-length romance but worried you don't understand story structure and plot points? Here, read this. Do ALL of this, because ALL of this is your job if you want to make this work.
The world is always going to be full of misinformation, but it's your job do the grind, do the work, put in more hours doing this than you ever though you would, and eat, sleep, live, and dream this job. It is not easy, and there are no breaks, or secret tips, or cheat codes, or secret clubs that will give you the special keywords that unlock Bezos's treasure room. It's literally just hard work - every single day.
But, like I said, there's one thing that'll make this easier, more fun, and honestly, more likely to work for you:
Find your tribe.
For me, my biggest trick is something I call a "reverse outline"--basically, I don't outline until I get to the end of the book. Then I plot the main points on a big sheet of paper (Save the Cat was a great resource for that). Reverse outlining helps me see where the pace was slow, and where I got off topic--or where I need to beef something up.
At the same time, I chart out the physical journey and the emotional journey. I want to see the hero change on at least these two levels in some significant way, and I'm basically just making sure that change is there. It's nothing huge, and is often as simple as:
As long as I touch on all three of those in some way, I figure I'm good.
I know a lot of people who plan and chart before they write the novel, but I can never see the forest for the trees then. So I always do it after.
Pick up a book on structure, for example Save the Cat!
You should be aiming towards highs and low points, with a slow progression between each where the character struggles and fails towards transformative crescendos. Failure is how your character changes, not successes - so keep legit stamping on your protag's face.
Act 1 - 25% of the book - Establish the world, the rules, the principle character and its relationship to them. Halfway through this act you should throw them into the adventure then spend the rest of the act getting them to accept their role in it. This is setting up the story you want to tell.
Act 2 - 50% of the book - Do the fun and interesting stuff that makes up the body of the book. If its a detective story, this is where the crime scene inspections happen and the witnesses are met a few times. If its a cliche fantasy series this is the "journey" to the evil castle. Halfway through the act you should have a false high (everything looks great but isn't) or a false low (everything is hopeless but isn't). This is where you develop a love interest and character interactions. Act 3 is when the point of no return is passed and you enter the endgame.
Act 3 - 25% - the Endgame. The character recovers from a crippling loss and "transforms" spiritually. This is the scenes at and inside the evil castle where the changed protagonist uses what he learned from act 2 to beat the villian. This is where the twists go since you are breaking rules you have solidly established and where you have the mature protagonist to properly digest those twists.
In terms of how to connect scenes and order them, alternate the scenes where your character is trying to accomplish a goal and then recovering from the failure to achieve it. ABABAB. As in another thread I'd recommend Tecniques of a selling writer for this. However you can find a synopsis by more modern writers if you just search with "scene and sequel", which are the terms he coins in the book.
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder - usually criticized for taking a one mind ultimate approach to structure. He provides basically qa formula for screenwriting which people often say is the completely wrong way to go about it.
Story by Robert Mckee - a book that delves into a little bit of everything.
Syd Field - A well known author with a fairly large catalog.
The issue a lot of people have with these books is that they often preach a step by step or formulaic process for writing a screenplay. Something people argue kills the art/creativity of it and makes it boring. Personally, I don't they will hurt you much. I'd advise if you read anything don't take it as rules, just what works for someone else and might help you some along the way. Don't read Save the Cat and feel like you have to hit every mark on the exact page. Like you probably want to have an act 1 break into act 2 but don't force it to land exactly on p30. Look at everything you read as basic guidelines, the great thing about writing is there are NO rules.
As for formatting, don't worry about it. If you aren't yet, use screenwriting software. Use SCREENWRITING SOFTWARE. USE SCREENWRITING SOFTWARE. It does everything for you and there are a lot of great free alternatives(I really like Fade In right now). Seriously these days formatting should be at the bottom of what you are worrying about.
Yep! If you’re looking for good screenwriting 101 resources, you should check out:
• Save The Cat (book) - the only book I think is worth buying, any other - get it from the library
•Screenwriting Resource Hub - UCLA Extension - also a really solid screenwriting program at UCLA Extension if you’re looking for classes
• Screenwriting Archives @ Moviemaker.com - moviemaker.com is a great resource for all things indie filmmaking
• Celtx - free screenwriting software which will make formatting a breeze
Edit: Added link
There were many books before Save the Cat (which is an OK book for screenwriting and/or storytelling technique).
The earliest writings on story structure, though, go back right to Aristotle in Poetics.
Humans have been telling stories ever since speech had developed.
There are two kinds of storytelling books. Snyder's method is a perscriptive method. He gives you a formula and tells you that the only way to a good story is to fill those beats. Syd Field does this too in his extensive bibliography on the subject of screenwriting.
On the other hand, Robert McKee gives a more descriptive method in Story and explains the process of "writing" as opposed to "filling a beat sheet".
The best book on writing (that is, the one which gives out the greatest tips on actually taking your own ideas and putting them into a coherent story) is Stephen King's On Writing. It has nothing to do with movies, and everything to do with stories, which is exactly what great screenwriting should do.
Nevertheless all writing books give out tips, tricks and cheat sheets. Good writing comes from within the writer and, as many "gurus" insist, you cannot become a good writer, you have to be born one and get training.
Source: Screenwriter/Writer here.
https://www.amazon.com/Save-Cat-Last-Screenwriting-Youll-ebook/dp/B00340ESIS
Most useful book on plot and character I ever read back when I went from shorts to long form romance. Recommend it most highly. You see cat saving all the time in films after reading it!
This. In Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! he talks about THIS EXACT TITLE as being overused, overly generic and gives virtually no insight into the film.
Here's the reading list for what I call the "$20 Film School" [Referral Links]:
I recommend these books because they are written by people who have actually sold screenplays and made movies.
Good luck and Happy New Year!
I think my reply went elsewhere.
But I use (or try to, rather) Save the Cat beat sheets. It's for screen writers, but it helps with pacing, etc. For me, it seems to cause more anxiety though. I feel like I have to force my characters into a box they refuse to go in. But, my characters refuse to do a lot of what I want. My characters and I need to go to family therapy.
www.amazon.com/dp/B00340ESIS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I've been thinking about your post because you seem to be passionate about your ideas. Anyway, don't quit.
You might or might not have the right recipe to put your ST concept back on the air. But I think we'll never know until you put it forward. Hence comes the hard part. I think the best strategy for moving your concept forward is to write a screenplay for the pilot. That's a two hour pilot, by the way, so it's a big undertaking. If you submit a pilot screenplay along with your vision for the series bible, you'll have a much bigger chance of being taken seriously.
I don't know if you've had any practice in fiction writing. But if you haven't, the good news is that it's a craft, and it can be learned. You'll need to learn how to write a screenplay, but there's a subreddit for that; here's the 101.
Buy and read Save the Cat!.
If you can drum up some ideas and need some critique at any point in the process, you can get peer reviews from /r/scifiwriting and /r/WritersGroup.
Keep on Trekkin'.
Get the book, "Save the Cat." Read it and reread it. You'll be glad you did.
My editor made me read Save the Cat, which has solutions for stuff like that. The idea behind the tip in the name is that you make your character do something (early in the manuscript!) that, when interpreted by the reader/viewer, give a hint as to who the character is deep down inside.
A quick Google gives me this set of examples.
Keep in mind that unlike a novel, you don't need to get too specific with the little details like one would with a novel. Only include things that are important to the story, ie: don't bother mentioning a green dress unless it has meaning to the over all story. Learn the inner workings of story structure.
Write often, make sure to set aside some time everyday to practice.
Book that might help:
http://www.amazon.com/Save-Cat-Blake-Snyder-ebook/dp/B00340ESIS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407745828&sr=8-1&keywords=save+the+cat
Pretty close to what I am learning in school.
You are the ideal candidate to read Save The Cat. You're 16, and Save the Cat will teach you the basics of structure. You can use it to crank out scripts. As you get older, you can expand your skills.