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He's made millions of dollars selling screenplays to Hollywood and now screenwriter Blake Snyder tells all. "Save the Cat" is just one of Snyder's many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketablle and your script more satisfying - and saleable, including: The four elements of every winning logline
| Ch. 1 | What is it? | 1 |
| Ch. 2 | Give me the same thing ... only different! | 21 |
| Ch. 3 | It's about a guy who ... | 47 |
| Ch. 4 | Let's beat it out! | 67 |
| Ch. 5 | Building the perfect beast | 97 |
| Ch. 6 | The immutable laws of screenplay physics | 119 |
| Ch. 7 | What's wrong with this picture? | 143 |
| Ch. 8 | Final fade in | 163 |
First of all, I must say that if you're a critic that knows everything, then don't buy this book. But if you're open minded to a new method and an easier way to break down a script, and actually WRITE something then you should own this book.
After reading all the bad reviews and comments about Blake Snyder, I couldn't believe they were so wrong, even if they had a reasonable point; but Blake really makes it happen in this book, and I am glad I bought it because it helped me write what I wouldn't and couldn't. It stopped me from procrastinating and now I have so much more space in my head after I already laid out about 7 scripts from my head.
His method is different, but it's fun. I love it. This is so much easier now, I don't have an excuse to NOT write!!! This book has been my greatest motivator and mentor. I wish I could've bought it 3 yrs ago!
If you're a beginner... you should get it. If you're stuck in a script then you should also get it. Trust me. Be open minded and give it a shot. Instead of being critical. Your missing piece might be in this book.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 13, 2009
Being an aspiring script writer, I've read a lot of books on writing screenplays but this one captured the heart of most of them in a readable and concise way. In fact a couple points, like "Pope in the pool" finally got through to me. But to be honest, I didn't believe his page structure premise at first so I watched a few top selling movies like "The Devil Wears Prada" and saw for myself just how right he is. I have now adjusted my scripts to hit Blake's beats. We'll see how it goes.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.gerrigee
Posted December 30, 2009
I recently became an intern for a writer's agency in L.A. and found this book the be all, end all study guide highlighting the "rules" of screenwriting that are absolutely required to get a screenplay read in Hollywood. Synder presents priceless insider knowledge in an entertaining easily understood manner. A must for any aspiring screenwriter! The author passed away this year and will be missed. His work has proven a valuable resource for the writing community.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.NKNK
Posted September 26, 2009
If you're even just thinking about writing a screenplay - you must get this book. The author writes to YOU and has a great approach and gives very great step by step advice on writing your script.
Absolutely must have this book on hand.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 25, 2012
Best screenwriting structure book EVER!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I bought this book based on the recommendation of a member of one the book writing groups I belong to. It tells how to write movie scripts, but the friend who told me about it said the same principles could be used to help make novels better. Since I was about halfway through my latest book, I decided to hold off on writing until I studied the techniques described in this book.
Snyder, a successful screenwriter who died in 2009, describes how every good movie script is organized. It is an easy-to-understand description of 15 beats along with a description of each beat and how many pages one should have for each beat. Examples are included to make the material even easier to understand.
I could see right away how to apply the techniques to novel writing. However, there are two follow-up books, Save the Cat Goes to the Movies and Save the Cat Strikes Back, that I think I better read before finishing the novel.
Anonymous
Posted March 23, 2012
This is a great book! It does not tell you that you can do anything and do well. It is designed for those that want to write commerical movies. If you do not follow his rules and you do not try to do the activities you will not sell your script easily. Too bad we are not in the days where they used to be in a bidding war... It is a shame however that we lost the writer so young. I would have loved to email him a couple of times since he was encouraging many to send emails to him. It has really helped me in my process and it is a good follow up to Syd Fields (which I have a 1996 or so edition that I have been reading about using computers.. LOL!).
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 18, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Blake Snyder does a wonderful job with explaining the script writing process and I am one for having a process for everything. He was the most successful Hollywood script writer prior to his death. With that success comes lots of lessons learned and he puts them forth in the book.
Though the book could be considered a technical manual of how to lay out a story, it is not in anyway a dry boring textbook. This paper is something that you can keep with you and refer to as you are building your characters and developing the structure of your story. One thing that this book does for sure is talk about the structure of a film and how it should be laid out. Once you have the structure laid out and you've figured out where the problem areas of your story are, the way that Snyder shows how to do this makes the screen writing process seem easy.
Then for the hard part, or not, you have to write something! I hope you're creative...
Anonymous
Posted April 17, 2010
Save the Cat is not only full of great insight and lessons, but is also an extremely fun and entertaining read. Mr. Snyder keeps the reader interested while going through the basics of creating a commercially viable film.
He does not pretend to have a mathematical formula that must be followed, nor does he tell the reader "how to write." Instead he leads them through the whole process, from finding and incubating a workable concept to building the whole story and fixing any holes, and finally what to do with a completed spec script. He makes sure the aspiring writers do not get ahead of themselves and eventually lost in the great undertaking of writing a full screenplay by sharing his expert opinions on how to build up the concept and story before even beginning to write a script.
I think anyone who wants to write or even direct or produce a commercially successful blockbuster should absolutely read this well crafted filmmaker's bible first. I guarantee it will be a quick and fun read that will teach you a lot.
Anonymous
Posted June 24, 2006
Blake Snyder's 'Save the Cat!' rocks! I just found out he's doing a weekend-long seminar in Manhattan on July 29 &30. You can check out his website for the contact info to sign up at... blakesnyder.com Seriously, I've read every book on screenwriting out there and this one blows the rest away. I have a friend who did his seminar in Maine and she's still raving. I can't wait for him to come to NYC. (My friend said the seminar was small so everyone got lots of support. No Robert McKee stadium. Yuck.)
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Posted December 30, 2009
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Posted May 27, 2012
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Overview
He's made millions of dollars selling screenplays to Hollywood and now screenwriter Blake Snyder tells all. "Save the Cat" is just one of Snyder's many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketablle and your script more satisfying - and saleable, including: The ...