Save the Cat Goes to the Movies Read online

  “Blake Snyder has done the single hardest thing there is to do in Hollywood: Produced a sequel to his terrific Save the Cat! that is surprising, entertaining, informative, and smart. His genius isn’t in telling how to write movies #x2014; i.e., laying down clichéd dictates of what has to happen on what page — but rather, it’s the way he teaches you how to think about writing movies.”

  — Bruce Feirstein, Writer, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies,

  The World Is Not Enough; Contributing Editor and Writer,

  Vanity Fair Magazine

  “Even if you’ve read and analyzed 50 screenplays, you still wouldn’t learn half as much as you could from reading this book. Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies proves that not only is Blake a great screenwriter, he’s also a great screenwriting teacher.”

  — Stephanie Palmer, Author, Good in a Room,

  www.goodinaroom.com

  “Blake has created an extremely valuable guide to engaging and entertaining your audience, both in the big idea and moment-by-moment. This amazing book is a window into how successful writers and developers think.”

  — Luke Ryan, Vice President, MTV Films; Executive

  Producer, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

  “Blake Snyder unlocks the secret of successful screenwriting by deconstructing the framework of cinematic storytelling and redrawing genre lines along new borders. His revealing analysis shows how seemingly unconnected films are actually related and unveils deeper links between movies that occupy the same traditional genres, offering the reader fresh insight into what makes films tick. Surprising, enlightening, and fun.”

  — Kristofer Upjohn, B-Scared.com

  “Blake has done it again! Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies puts his easy-to-digest theories to the test and proves them time after time. With great insight and wit, Blake has identified the key components of good storytelling and presented them in a clear, indisputable form that is at once universal and immediately applicable … no matter where you are in the writing process. Blake is a lightswitch in the dank, cluttered basement of story. What an eye-opener.”

  — Dean DeBlois, Co-Writer/Director, Lilo & Stitch

  “Blake’s book breaks everything down in a way that pinpoints precise reasons I’m stuck and allows me to fight my way through it. I can’t tell you how many times Save the Cat! has saved my ass!”

  —Jeremy Garelick, Writer/Producer, The Break-Up

  “You can’t think outside the box until you understand what it is — and nobody understands the box that movies come in the way Blake does. A fantastic book!”

  — Jeff Arch, Writer, Sleepless in Seattle (Oscar®-nominated),

  Saving Milly (Humanitas Prize Nominee)

  “Blake Snyder proves once again that his practical, strategic approach to writing is the foundation for great movies. His wildly informative and entertaining follow-up to Save the Cat! is an invaluable guide to foolproof storytelling.”

  — Craig Perry, Producer, the American Pie and Final Destination films

  “With so much over-emphasis on special effects in today’s films, thank heavens for Blake Snyder and Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies. Snyder reminds budding screenwriters it’s the story that counts — and he does so with plenty of wit and the inclusion of extensive personal knowledge as a screenwriter himself. Bravo!”

  — Betty Jo Tucker, Editor and Lead Film Critic,

  ReelTalkReviews.com; Author, Confessions of a Movie Addict, Susan

  Sarandon: A True Maverick

  “Blake Snyder does it again! His enthusiasm for film and screenwriting shines through every page of this amazing book. Fantastic!”

  — Matthew Terry, Columnist, www.hollywoodlitsales.com

  “Blake Snyder has managed to reinvent the wheel and improve the way it rolls. His Save The Cat books pack a two-fisted punch to help you understand what makes a story work and how to make your story work better. Save your script — read this book!”

  — Catherine Clinch, Publisher, www.MomsMediaWorld.com

  “Funny and genuinely useful, this is a perfect follow-up to a groundbreaking book for screenwriters. You’ll never look at films the same way again.”

  —Jenna Glatzer, Author, Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer,

  The Street-Smart Writer

  “The perfect companion to Save the Cat! Blake Snyder again delivers a fun and informative guide that doesn’t disappoint. If you think that people in Hollywood don’t watch other movies to solve problems in their own scripts, you’re already behind the game. This book easily breaks down what makes all of your favorite movies work to their core and will help you apply those principles to your own scripts.”

  — Luis Guerrero & Chris Lemos, Producers, Vital Pictures

  Published by Michael Wiese Productions

  3940 Laurel Canyon Blvd., #1111

  Studio City CA 91604

  Tel. 818.379.8799

  Fax 818.986.3408

  [email protected]

  www.mwp.com

  Cover Design: Michael Wiese Productions

  Layout: Gina Mansfield Design

  Editor: Brett Jay Markel

  Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., Saline, Michigan

  Printed on Recycled Stock

  Copyright 2007 by Blake Snyder

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Snyder, Blake, 1957–

  Save the cat! goes to the movies: the screenwriter’s guide to every story ever told/by Blake Snyder.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-1-932907-35-3

  1. Motion picture authorship. 2. Motion pictures–Plots, themes, etc. I. Title.

  PN1996.S64 2007

  808.2′3–dc22

  2007025210

  TABLE

  OF

  CONTENTS

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  FOREWORD

  In which producer Sheila Hanahan Taylor (American Pie, Final Destination) confirms the success stories of the Save the Cat! method and tells how this may be the best Cat! yet.

  STC! 2: THE INTRODUCTION

  Why a sequel? — “Genre” and “Structure” — Plus some Final Words that define terms used throughout the Cat! series.

  CHAPTER ONE: MONSTER IN THE HOUSE

  The definition of one of the most popular story types ever, plus breakdowns on Alien, Fatal Attraction, Scream, The Ring, and Saw.

  CHAPTER TWO: GOLDEN FLEECE

  How Jason and the Argonauts begat The Bad News Bears (1976); Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Saving Private Ryan; Ocean’s Eleven; and Maria Full of Grace.

  CHAPTER THREE: OUT OF THE BOTTLE

  Magical analyses of movies using magic: Freaky Friday (1976), Cocoon, The Nutty Professor, What Women Want, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

  CHAPTER FOUR: DUDE WITH A PROBLEM

  The “dude” is an innocent and in big trouble in Three Days of the Condor, Die Hard, Sleeping with the Enemy, Deep Impact, and Open Water.

  CHAPTER FIVE: RITES OF PASSAGE

  Growth through pain in stories where “transition” is the obstacle: 10, Kramer vs. Kramer, Ordinary People, 28 Days, and Napoleon Dynamite.

  CHAPTER SIX: BUDDY LOVE

  The broad range of “love” stories include The Black Stallion, Lethal Weapon, When Harry Met Sally …, Titanic, and Brokeback Mountain.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: WHYDUNIT

  The “detective” seeks the dark side and discovers “us” — as seen in All the President’s Men, Blade Runner, Fargo, Mystic River, and Brick.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: FOOL TRIUMPHANT

  This “fish out of water” tale stars an underdog we overlook in Being There, Tootsie, Forrest Gump, Legally Blonde, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.


  CHAPTER NINE: INSTITUTIONALIZED

  Who matters most, the individual or the group? It’s Man vs. “the herd” in M*A*S*H, Do the Right Thing, Office Space, Training Day, and Crash.

  CHAPTER TEN: SUPERHERO

  Extraordinary man faces the ordinary world… and its Lilliputians in Raging Bull, The Lion King, The Matrix, Gladiator, and Spider-Man 2.

  AFTERWORD

  So what about Ghost? — How to best use this book to create any story you’re working on and make it resonate!

  GLOSSARY REDUX

  Even More Terms from the 310 Area Code — An updated slangfest of Cat! phrases explained once and for all, including such new terminology as the “chase to the airport,” the “button,” the “Half Man,” and the “eye of the storm.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  So many people contributed to this book. Thanks to Pete Barnstrom (especially for the Kathy Bates line) and Olivia Bohnhoff (for her insight into female superheroes), Hilary Wayne (for getting me started), my manager Andy Cohen (for introducing me to Sheila Taylor), my attorney Chuck Hurewitz (for his continued guidance), Rich Kaplan (for joining our team just when we needed him most), and Jesse, Dana, and Mario at The Writers Store for being supporters of this and all Cat! projects. I am also thrilled to thank Naomi Beaty, brilliant researcher and writer, and the one person I can email at 3:00 a.m. to ask who said what when in nearly ANY movie! Thanks too for the amazing Gina Mansfield, whose artistic eye for layout and design made this book, and the first, Cat!tastic. Almost last, but not least, are the dynamic duo: publisher Michael Wiese and Ken Lee. But mostly I want to thank my longtime friend, business partner, editor, and le mot just genius, Brett Jay Markel, without whom this book, or the last, would not be possible — or even legible. He and his wife, Tanya, step-daughters Deborah and Rebecca, son Noah, and assorted cats are the hearth where I have learned what love really means.

  FOREWORD

  Sheila Hanahan Taylor

  Producer, Practical Pictures

  When Blake told me he was rolling up his sleeves to write a second Save the Cat! I literally whooped for joy.

  I was excited because, while the original book generated amazing feedback and results (there’s nothing like getting an email from a CAA-repped writer telling me how much he loved STC! and how he retooled and SOLD an idea after reading it!), we both secretly knew Blake’s work as a story guru and Sherpa through the mysteries of Hollywood was not yet complete.

  Yes, the words of wisdom in STC! had enlightened and motivated movie lovers of all types, but as readers across the globe discovered and explored the book, some really smart questions arose. Some people, including my film students at UCLA, couldn’t or wouldn’t believe Blake’s theories on story type held up for all movies, so they asked for more proof. Some gobbled up the comparisons between similar movies and clamored for more to noodle on. Others just needed a few more examples to really get their heads around the approach Blake presented.

  And so, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies was born.

  I wish I were exaggerating when I say that six or seven years ago I told a co-worker, “Until someone takes the time to help filmmakers see the bones of storytelling from the buyer’s point of view, we’ll continue to meet writers with great voices but no real chops for surviving in Hollywood.”

  Well, Blake’s taken the time — all to help the next generation of film lovers join the club. He found 50 benchmark films and masterfully walks through the mechanics of their structure and story beats. He shows the reader exactly what I wished for so long ago — all in 3 or so pages per! How delightful is that?

  And for those of you who lean more toward the art and less toward the commerce, STC!2 reveals how some fantastic, beautiful “art house” films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Maria Full of Grace have the same story bones and the same core as their big, fat studio-sized cousins. Because Blake knows that to compete in today’s movie-marketplace, every filmmaker needs to speak the same language.

  I would encourage anyone flipping through this gem to go back and explore the original, but if this is your first stop on the Save the Cat! journey, jump right in! The water’s fine.

  In fact, it just doesn’t get any better than this.

  Sheila Hanahan Taylor is a partner at Practical Pictures, where she has over 20 feature projects set up at major studios, is an executive producer on hour-long TV series at both AMC and Paramount Television, and recently entered into a first look deal with award-winning producer Scott Rudin at Disney Studios. Along with her producing duties, Sheila is also an associate professor at UCLA’s film school, teaching year-round in the MFA Program for Producing.

  STC! 2:

  THE INTRODUCTION

  Godfather 2.

  Terminator 2.

  Spider-Man 2.

  What do these titles have in common?

  Each represents that rarity of rarities in the movie business: the sequel that outshines the original!

  In movies we always expect the first one to be the best. If the storytellers are doing their job, what more is there to say? And yet if you’re a true fan, you know there’s always the chance for a curtain call. Do we really believe Freddie Kruger is dead-dead? Can’t all those dinosaurs be moved to the ’hood for Jurassic Park 5? And even though we know he bit the big Rosebud, isn’t there maybe a prequel to Citizen Kane?

  And this time… let’s really do it right!

  So when you author a hit screenwriting how-to titled Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, you can see the tempting of fate that goes with sticking a “2” on the end of it. Well, isn’t that just typical Hollywood?! Trying to wangle every last dollar out of us, to squeeze the rag dry!! Is that what this is about?

  Well… yes.

  But maybe, just maybe, the second one is better.

  The reason for a continuation in my case is actual requests from hundreds of readers for more. Somehow, I made the foolish mistake of including my email address in the first book. Since then, I have been deluged with 5 to 10 missives daily from readers, many of whom I’ve helped by offering advice on their loglines or their movie pitches.

  And that’s when we get down to the nitty-gritée.

  In these email interactions, we inevitably wind up discussing “what to do next.” Okay, so you have a solid concept and a “poster” for the best movie ever made.

  Now what?

  As most sequels do, I return to the heroes of the first installment, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen… and Ladies, my writing partners to whom I dedicate this book. Yes, I am a successful screenwriter who has been writing and selling scripts to Hollywood for over 20 years — and my “war stories” sometimes star only ME — but without Howard Burkons, James Haggin, Colby Carr, Mike Cheda, Tracey Jackson, Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, Sheldon Bull, C. David Stephens, and many others I have met along the way, I’d be nowhere. They taught me everything.

  And our process is always the same.

  Once we think up the idea, pitch it around, and get the right reaction, we ask: “So what is this movie most like?” — and we proceed to take the next step everyone in Hollywood takes when writing a screenplay.

  We cheat.

  That’s right. You heard me.

  We look at every single movie that our story bears any resemblance to and see how other writers did it. We learn what they did right, what they did wrong, and how our script MUST be a big step forward in the evolution of the genre in which we are working. And frankly, to do otherwise strikes me as foolish. I don’t just mean surveying the last five years of movie history either, because believe it or not, there are movies made before we were born that beat us to the punch on our “original” idea.

  Why not take a look?

  Usually if I am working with a partner we’ll divvy up the film-watching assignments. I’ll take two or three, she’ll take two or three, and we’ll “screen” them with a timer and a yellow p
ad to mark down where each “beat” of the story takes place.

  And why.

  We open up the back of the Swiss watch and take a look at how the mainspring and gears of each movie are put together. We acquaint ourselves with the requirements of the tale we’re trying to tell and see if we must use certain conventions or if we can throw them away and create new ones.

  And everyone, and I do mean everyone, does likewise.

  In this book I take the 10 movie genres I coined in Save the Cat! and give you five examples of each from the iconic films of the ’70s right up to their 21st Century counterparts. I detail the variations in each genre, and also show how a movie from 1975 begat one in 1987, which led to the most recent incarnation. And if you look at this enterprise as a whole, you can start to see the method of my Cat! madness.

  To paraphrase Jodie Foster in Contact, this is an “encyclopedia galactica,” a compendium of every story type ever told for film. It is, in short, the most useful tool I can think of for any screenwriter, the “cheat sheets” for 50 of the most instructional movies from the past 30 years, to give you the clues to write your movie.

  It will reveal how other screenwriters who came before you tackled the same challenges you are facing with the film you want to write — or the one you are currently working on. And to use this book, all you need is a good idea to get started. Right now. Today.

  How’s that for a sequel?

  For those of you new to my approach, I realize there is nothing worse that tuning in to a re-run of The X Files and seeing that this is Part II of an episode you missed. There is no more sinking sensation than to feel left out, or that you’ve come in late. To that end, I have tried to make this book complete unto itself. I’ve given you a second that adds to the first, enhances what came before — yet stands alone. If you’ve never read Save the Cat! (poor soul!), you don’t need to in order to use STC! 2. But I’m hoping that if this is your first Save the Cat! experience, you’ll want to go back and see where it all began. And if you’re a veteran Cat!-ite… this book will blow your mind.