I recently finished reading “Save The Cat: The Last Book On Screenwriting That You’ll Ever Need” by Blake Snyder. If you’re at all interested in screenwriting, I highly recommend reading this book cover to cover. The parts I found most interesting are below. You can buy the book here.
“Liking the person we go on a journey with is the single most important element in drawing us into the story.” (xv)
“The “Save the Cat” scene is where we meet the hero and the hero does something – like saving a cat – that defines who he is and makes us, the audience, like him.” (xv)
“Insisting on irony in your logline is a good place to find out what’s missing. Maybe you don’t have a good movie yet.” (7)
“The second most important elemtn that a good logline has is that you must be able to see a whole movie in it.” (7)
“A good logline, in addition to pulling you in, has to offer the promise of more.” (7)
“If you don’t have the logline, maybe you should rethink your whole movie.” (8)
“Another thing a good logline has, that is important in attracting studio buyers, is a built-in sense of who it’s for and what it’s going to cost.” (8)
“A great title must have irony and tell the tale.” (9)
“A great title must say what it is.” (10)
“To be a screenwriter is to deal with an ongoing tug of war between breathtaking megalomania and insecurity so deep it takes years of therapy just to be able to say “I’m a writer” out loud.” (11)
“When it was put into a pithy logline form, the conflicts were brought into sharper focus too. They had to! Or else the logline wouldn’t work. The characters became more distinct, the story became more clearly defined, and the logline ultimately made the actual writing easier.” (12)
“You find out more about your movie by talking to people one-on-one than having them read it.” (13)
“Logline must satisfy four basic elements to be effective.
1. Irony. It must be in some way ironic and emotionally involving – a dramatic situation that is like an itch you have to scratch.
2. A compelling mental picture. It must bloom in your mind when you hear it. A whole movie must be implied, often including a time frame.
3. Audience and cost. It must demarcate the tone, the target audience, and the sense of cost, so buyers will know if it can make a profit.
4. A killer title. The one-two punch of a good logline must include a great title, one that “says what it is” and does so in a clever way.” (17)
“Movies must travel and be understood everywhere – over half of your market is now outside the U.S.” (17)
“Insisting on those twists, defying that inner voice that says “Oh, well, no one will notice,” is a universal struggle that good storytellers have been fighting forever.” (21)
“The badder the bad guy, the greater the heroics. So make the bad guy as bad as possible – always!” (32)
“A great logline must also include: an adjective to describe the hero, and adjective to describe the bad guy, and… a compelling goal we identify with as human beings.” (48)
“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.” (52)
“Primal urges get our attention. Survival, hunger, sex, protection of loved ones, fear of death grab us. The best ideas and the best characters in the lead roles must have basic needs, wants, and desires. Basic, basic!” (54)
“Don’t cast the movie before you’ve sold the script! Don’t write parts for certain actors! Don’t get married to the idea of one particular actor doing the part – you’ll always be disappointed.” (56)
“Your leads should be able to be played by many actors and actresses.” (57)
“If you always remember to write for the archetype, and not the star, the casting will take care of itself.” (58)
“The logline is your story’s code, its DNA, the one constant that has to be true. If it’s good, if it has all the earmarks of a winning idea, then it should give you everything you need to guide you in writing the screenplay.” (63)
“Somewhere in the first five minutes of a well structured screenplay, someone (usually not the main character) will pose a question or make a statement (usually to the main character) that is the theme of the movie.” (73)
“A good screenplay is an argument posed by the screenwriter, the pros and cons of living a particular kind of life, or pursuing a particular goal.” (73)
“The hero cannot be lured, tricked, or drift into Act Two. The hero must make the decision himself.” (79)
“The midpoint is either false victory or false defeat.” (84)
“Put two things on each note card: +/- and ><. These two symbols should be written in a color pen you have not used and put at the bottom of each card.
The >< denotes conflict.
The +/- sign represents the emotional change you must execute in each scene. Believe it or not, an emotional change like this must occur in every scene. And if you don’t have it, you don’t know what the scene is about. Until you figure out the emotional change for each of the 40 cards using this simple +/- code, don’t start. And if you can’t figure it out, throw the card away. odds are it’s wrong.” (110-111)
“A screenwriter must be mindful of getting the audience ‘in sync’ with the plight of the hero from the very start.” (121)
“When you have a semi-bad guy as your hero – just make his antagonist worse!!” (122)
“You must take the time to frame the hero’s situation in a way that makes us root ofr him, no matter who he is or what he does.” (123)
“The Pope in the Pool gives us something to look at that takes the sting out of telling us what we need to know.” (125)
“Simple is better. One concept at a time, please.” (132)
“The Covenant of the Arc is the screenwriting law that says: Every single character in your movie must change in the course of your story. The only character who don’t change are the bad guys. But the hero and his friends change a lot.” (134)
“Bring the press in with care. Unless your movie involves a worldwide problem and we follow stories with characters all over the world, and it’s important for them all to know about each other, Keep The Press Out.” (139)
“As long as I maintain the attitude that he next script will be my best yet, and keep being excited about the process, I know I can’t fail.” (144)
“A hero never asks questions! The hero knows and others aroudn him look to him for answers, not the other way around.” (146)
“The hero and the bad guy are a matched set and should be of equal skill and strength, with the bad guy being just slightly more powerful than the hero because he is willing to go to any lengths to win.” (149)
“Whether it’s a comedy or a drama, wringing out the emotions of the audience in the name of the game.” (152)
“If your script feels one-note emotionally, go back and flesh it out using all the colors in the palette. Where is your lust scene/ Where is your frustration scene? Where is your scary scene?” (153)
“Bad Dialogue Test: Take a page of your script and cover up the names of the people speaking. Now read the repartee as it goes back and forth between two or more characters. Can you tell who is speaking without seeing the name above the dialogue?” (154)
“Selling a script has a lot more to do with thinking of your screenplay as a “business plan” than ever before.” (164)
“Here are a few signs that you are making progress in marketing you:
– An agent or producer says your project is not for him, but to keep him in mind for future scripts.
– You talk to an agent or producer that you like.
– You have whittled a list of 50 possibles down to three maybes. Those 47 no’s had to be gotten through. Every no is one step closer to a yes. But by God you did the work! The yes is that much nearer.
– You get a referral. Everyone you contact must be asked this question at some point in the process of saying no: “Is there anyone else you can recommend that I contact about my career?” Referrals are gold and everyone I know is thrilled to oblige with one. Believe it or not, people want to help you succeed.” (171)
“They buy into someone’s “heat” and ignore others, more talented, who are unknown. They often don’t read scripts thoroughly. And they are more interested in the headline and the opportunity you represent than your growth as an artist. But that’s the nature of business.” (180)
“The powers-that-be can take away a lot of things. They can buy your script and fire you, or rewrite it into oblivion, but they can’t take away your ability to get up off the mat and come back swinging – better and smarter than you were before.” (180)
“You must try to find the fun in everything you write. Because having fun lets you know you’re on the right track.” (181)
If you liked the quotes, please buy the book here.
