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!
Save the Cat
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Customer Reviews
“ Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" will be the first and last book you'll ever need to read if you want to become a successful screenwriter. ”
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
281 of 311 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
OK, maybe not the last book you'll ever need, but if you are a screenwriter or play one on TV, this just may be the BEST book you'll ever need, or read, on the subject of how to break into the big screen big time as a writer of tall tales.
Blake Snyder is a working, selling writer himself, so that gives the reader a true inside glimpse into what it's like, what it takes, and what to expect on the long road to screenwriting stardom. Many screenwriting how-to tomes are written by guys and gals who have few or no real studio credits, so with this book you can be sure you are getting the info direct from the source of a successful member of the Hollywood elite.
Snyder starts out with a bang, describing how important a good title, pitch and concept are, and giving tons of useful advise for whipping those log lines into shape, the best shape ever in fact, for as the author points out, many industry powerbrokers won't even look beyond a log line...so it better be good. Damned good. He then discusses how to make your story like everything else out there, only different, and if you can come to understand that paradox, you will be a success indeed.
We also learn about the importance of creating characters that fit certain archetypes, like the hero and the villain, and how the use of Jungian archetypes can help you shape and mold real people that resonate with the audience. Also covered is the importance of knowing your genre and how to best amplify the style of that genre.
Another chapter deals with the author's own system of breaking a script down to 15 beats, and how every successful movie fits this same beat system. We also learn the art of building scenes and the use of those wonderful index cards for moving and changing scene progression, as well as following the basic rules of a great story, rewriting and reshaping the script, and of course, what the heck to do with the darned thing once you've finished. I really appreciated the glossary of screenwriting and industry terminology, something every writer should know (or at least pretend to know in meetings).
Although this book does follow the mold of many other screenwriting books before it, focusing both on writing and marketing the script and including summaries and exercises for the reader to expand their understanding, the difference that makes this book stand out is the honesty and directness of the author in giving the reader every best chance to comprehend and conquer the inner and outer workings of screenwriting. "Save the Cat" (I'll let you find out what the title means on your own!) doesn't hold back on doling out the solid advise, and presents it in a way that will not only inspire screenwriters, but also make them more aware of just how hard it really is to succeed. No sugar-coating here, but plenty of motivation and great info packed into one book.
So, "Save the Cat" may not be the final screenwriting book you will ever need, should for some reason the entire industry change and adopt some bizarro new standard of screenwriting that will require you to learn the metric system and Pig-Latin. But barring a drastic reshaping of the industry standard (I think most execs are too lazy to change much of anything), this is no doubt the one book that will do more to help you achieve success and get your two-brad-bound puppy through the door than any other I've read so far. And believe me, folks, I've read them all.
FADE OUT.
Blake Snyder is a working, selling writer himself, so that gives the reader a true inside glimpse into what it's like, what it takes, and what to expect on the long road to screenwriting stardom. Many screenwriting how-to tomes are written by guys and gals who have few or no real studio credits, so with this book you can be sure you are getting the info direct from the source of a successful member of the Hollywood elite.
Snyder starts out with a bang, describing how important a good title, pitch and concept are, and giving tons of useful advise for whipping those log lines into shape, the best shape ever in fact, for as the author points out, many industry powerbrokers won't even look beyond a log line...so it better be good. Damned good. He then discusses how to make your story like everything else out there, only different, and if you can come to understand that paradox, you will be a success indeed.
We also learn about the importance of creating characters that fit certain archetypes, like the hero and the villain, and how the use of Jungian archetypes can help you shape and mold real people that resonate with the audience. Also covered is the importance of knowing your genre and how to best amplify the style of that genre.
Another chapter deals with the author's own system of breaking a script down to 15 beats, and how every successful movie fits this same beat system. We also learn the art of building scenes and the use of those wonderful index cards for moving and changing scene progression, as well as following the basic rules of a great story, rewriting and reshaping the script, and of course, what the heck to do with the darned thing once you've finished. I really appreciated the glossary of screenwriting and industry terminology, something every writer should know (or at least pretend to know in meetings).
Although this book does follow the mold of many other screenwriting books before it, focusing both on writing and marketing the script and including summaries and exercises for the reader to expand their understanding, the difference that makes this book stand out is the honesty and directness of the author in giving the reader every best chance to comprehend and conquer the inner and outer workings of screenwriting. "Save the Cat" (I'll let you find out what the title means on your own!) doesn't hold back on doling out the solid advise, and presents it in a way that will not only inspire screenwriters, but also make them more aware of just how hard it really is to succeed. No sugar-coating here, but plenty of motivation and great info packed into one book.
So, "Save the Cat" may not be the final screenwriting book you will ever need, should for some reason the entire industry change and adopt some bizarro new standard of screenwriting that will require you to learn the metric system and Pig-Latin. But barring a drastic reshaping of the industry standard (I think most execs are too lazy to change much of anything), this is no doubt the one book that will do more to help you achieve success and get your two-brad-bound puppy through the door than any other I've read so far. And believe me, folks, I've read them all.
FADE OUT.
138 of 157 people found the following review helpful
By FaveDave
Format:Paperback
I'm a professional screenwriter, and here's a typical comment I get at parties: "Oh you're a writer? I have this great idea for a movie. All I need is someone to write the dialogue...I'll give you my idea and you write the dialogue and we'll split the money." These sadly misguided people are actually serious about this proposal. These people are the kind for whom "Save The Cat" is meant.
In other words, people who think so little of the art of screenwriting that it's just "an idea and some dialogue" to them. Ideas are cheap and plentiful, it's the execution of the idea that matters. "Save the Cat!" offers no insight into the art of screenwriting, but it is a concise guide to how to write a crappy script. The fact is: the author sold several hack scripts and made money on them. The implied reasoning is "I made money on crappy scripts, so you can, too!" There is no disputing that crappy scripts sell and get made all the time, but you can't build a career on them. And why would you want to? Clearly the author couldn't, either, hence this book and all the other products based on it.
If you haven't looked at his credits, he wrote "Blank Check" and "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot." These movies got 4.2 and 3.4 stars on IMDB. Of course, the writer is not responsible for the final product, but from the way he talks in the book, I'm sure these screenplays were only improved in the production process.
BTW, he had 3 co-writers on those movies, so we don't even know what his contribution to each of them was.
If you are a good writer with actual talent and something to say, you'll benefit from Robert Mckee's "Story." If your aim is much lower, then buy "Save the Cat." The concepts are simple and will propel you well on your way to hack-dom. If you want to write the next "Shakespeare in Love," this book ain't for you. But if you want to write the next Paris Hilton direct-to-DVD movie, the next woman-in-peril Lifetime Movie Channel schlock, or the next Tyler Perry movie, then "Save the Cat" is for you. (BTW, "Shakespeare in Love" has no "save the cat" moment in it. Shakespeare does not do anything to help anyone (or any cat) in the film. "Groundhog Day" has no such moment either -- which is kind of the point of the whole movie. Get the idea? If you want to be original, this ain't your book.)
I fully realize my review may sound snobby, and perhaps it is. To be fair, the types of movies that Blake Snyder's rigid cookie-cutter formula engender certainly have their place in the business. They've been made from the beginning of cinema and continue to be made. And if that's what you're meant to write, then go for it. Just don't expect this book to elevate your idea to anywhere in the realm of art.
It kind of reminds of the one and only class I ever took in filmmaking at UCLA. The teacher was an Oscar-winning producer. When he told the class the story of how he got attached as a producer to a film that won an Oscar, it was clear it was all kind of a fluke and that he personally had nothing to do with the artistic merit of the film. He concluded by saying: "My point is that if a no-talent schmuck like me can win an Oscar and make it in this business, there's no reason why you can't either." I will never forget his brutal honesty. But obviously, his career did not last since there he was teaching an extension course at UCLA. But his honest assessment of the business is oddly comforting.
The simple truth is that there are tons of people in the business with little or no talent who make a living. Seriously. I know -- I've worked with them. "Save the Cat" tells you how to be one of those people. Whether this is a good or bad thing, it's not for me to say.
On the flip side, there are tons of people with oodles of talent who *don't* make it in the business because they never actually finish their screenplay. Or more likely, they finish it but never do the necessary rewrites. So if this book gets you to write and rewrite, then it will have served a good purpose.
P.S. Other wonderful movies with no "Save the Cat" moment: Sunset Boulevard, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (I don't count him merely feeding his dog), Muriel's Wedding, Barry Lyndon, Bullets Over Broadway, Being John Malkovich, The Man Who Would Be King, True Grit, Election, The Lady Eve, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Social Network, and of course the highest-grossing movie of all time: Gone With the Wind. And these are only the ones I could think of off the top of my head.
In other words, people who think so little of the art of screenwriting that it's just "an idea and some dialogue" to them. Ideas are cheap and plentiful, it's the execution of the idea that matters. "Save the Cat!" offers no insight into the art of screenwriting, but it is a concise guide to how to write a crappy script. The fact is: the author sold several hack scripts and made money on them. The implied reasoning is "I made money on crappy scripts, so you can, too!" There is no disputing that crappy scripts sell and get made all the time, but you can't build a career on them. And why would you want to? Clearly the author couldn't, either, hence this book and all the other products based on it.
If you haven't looked at his credits, he wrote "Blank Check" and "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot." These movies got 4.2 and 3.4 stars on IMDB. Of course, the writer is not responsible for the final product, but from the way he talks in the book, I'm sure these screenplays were only improved in the production process.
BTW, he had 3 co-writers on those movies, so we don't even know what his contribution to each of them was.
If you are a good writer with actual talent and something to say, you'll benefit from Robert Mckee's "Story." If your aim is much lower, then buy "Save the Cat." The concepts are simple and will propel you well on your way to hack-dom. If you want to write the next "Shakespeare in Love," this book ain't for you. But if you want to write the next Paris Hilton direct-to-DVD movie, the next woman-in-peril Lifetime Movie Channel schlock, or the next Tyler Perry movie, then "Save the Cat" is for you. (BTW, "Shakespeare in Love" has no "save the cat" moment in it. Shakespeare does not do anything to help anyone (or any cat) in the film. "Groundhog Day" has no such moment either -- which is kind of the point of the whole movie. Get the idea? If you want to be original, this ain't your book.)
I fully realize my review may sound snobby, and perhaps it is. To be fair, the types of movies that Blake Snyder's rigid cookie-cutter formula engender certainly have their place in the business. They've been made from the beginning of cinema and continue to be made. And if that's what you're meant to write, then go for it. Just don't expect this book to elevate your idea to anywhere in the realm of art.
It kind of reminds of the one and only class I ever took in filmmaking at UCLA. The teacher was an Oscar-winning producer. When he told the class the story of how he got attached as a producer to a film that won an Oscar, it was clear it was all kind of a fluke and that he personally had nothing to do with the artistic merit of the film. He concluded by saying: "My point is that if a no-talent schmuck like me can win an Oscar and make it in this business, there's no reason why you can't either." I will never forget his brutal honesty. But obviously, his career did not last since there he was teaching an extension course at UCLA. But his honest assessment of the business is oddly comforting.
The simple truth is that there are tons of people in the business with little or no talent who make a living. Seriously. I know -- I've worked with them. "Save the Cat" tells you how to be one of those people. Whether this is a good or bad thing, it's not for me to say.
On the flip side, there are tons of people with oodles of talent who *don't* make it in the business because they never actually finish their screenplay. Or more likely, they finish it but never do the necessary rewrites. So if this book gets you to write and rewrite, then it will have served a good purpose.
P.S. Other wonderful movies with no "Save the Cat" moment: Sunset Boulevard, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (I don't count him merely feeding his dog), Muriel's Wedding, Barry Lyndon, Bullets Over Broadway, Being John Malkovich, The Man Who Would Be King, True Grit, Election, The Lady Eve, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Social Network, and of course the highest-grossing movie of all time: Gone With the Wind. And these are only the ones I could think of off the top of my head.
120 of 136 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The "Save The Cat!" title refers to a method of presenting your protagonist that draws the reader into the protagonist's personal story, even if the protagonist isn't actually very likeable!
It is, simply put, have him do something viewers feel a nice person would do -- i.e. "save a cat."
I just saw a jeans commercial where a bunch of guys go out on a clothesline to save a dog in order to impress some girls. It's as if the writer of that commercial had just read this book and spoofed it. It works.
The method for finding the correct action to introduce a particular protagonist is explained in spare and direct detail in this book, as is every other point in this book.
And that brings us to the sub-title. It is indeed the LAST book you will need (and you do need it) to create saleable screenplays.
That means it isn't the first one. This book summarizes and organizes, rearranges emphasis, and illuminates all the myriad other techniques taught in other books.
This book won't do you any good if you can't read a novel or watch a movie and identify the protagonist, antagonist, theme, Conflict, climax, resolution, denoument, and trace the plot, differentiating it from the story, and identify sub-plots, B-story, & C-story.
It won't do you much good if you can't write a story smoothly incorporating those basic elements, most especially conflict. (not necessarily a script, but a STORY. This book doesn't teach storycraft.)
You have to master all that storycraft first -- including spelling, punctuation and grammar (both common English grammar and script-ese.)
But this book will draw a picture in your mind -- give you the image of exactly what it is you are trying to learn from all those other books on crafting a story for the screen, and save you lots of time as it points you to exactly what you must learn.
Once you've mastered what all the other books have to teach you, and then you read this book again -- WOWWWWW!!!
SAVE THE CAT! is the AHA! book at the end of the learning cycle.
But it's more than that. This is actually a thumb-reference book, a volume you keep on your desk and refer to over and over as you are laying out the structure of your screenplay from basic concept to blocked scenes.
This slender volume, in ultra-condensed form, delineates most of the criteria that you must meet in order to produce a saleable screenplay.
It's a checklist reminding you of everything you already know about story telling -- but keep forgetting when you write. Keeping it on your desk and referring to it often can cut your production time in half by saving you many mistakes at the conceptual level.
This is the book you will keep after you've thrown all the others into the recycle bin or given them to the library.
But this is not the place to start if you haven't yet learned to turn a story on a clean conflict.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
It is, simply put, have him do something viewers feel a nice person would do -- i.e. "save a cat."
I just saw a jeans commercial where a bunch of guys go out on a clothesline to save a dog in order to impress some girls. It's as if the writer of that commercial had just read this book and spoofed it. It works.
The method for finding the correct action to introduce a particular protagonist is explained in spare and direct detail in this book, as is every other point in this book.
And that brings us to the sub-title. It is indeed the LAST book you will need (and you do need it) to create saleable screenplays.
That means it isn't the first one. This book summarizes and organizes, rearranges emphasis, and illuminates all the myriad other techniques taught in other books.
This book won't do you any good if you can't read a novel or watch a movie and identify the protagonist, antagonist, theme, Conflict, climax, resolution, denoument, and trace the plot, differentiating it from the story, and identify sub-plots, B-story, & C-story.
It won't do you much good if you can't write a story smoothly incorporating those basic elements, most especially conflict. (not necessarily a script, but a STORY. This book doesn't teach storycraft.)
You have to master all that storycraft first -- including spelling, punctuation and grammar (both common English grammar and script-ese.)
But this book will draw a picture in your mind -- give you the image of exactly what it is you are trying to learn from all those other books on crafting a story for the screen, and save you lots of time as it points you to exactly what you must learn.
Once you've mastered what all the other books have to teach you, and then you read this book again -- WOWWWWW!!!
SAVE THE CAT! is the AHA! book at the end of the learning cycle.
But it's more than that. This is actually a thumb-reference book, a volume you keep on your desk and refer to over and over as you are laying out the structure of your screenplay from basic concept to blocked scenes.
This slender volume, in ultra-condensed form, delineates most of the criteria that you must meet in order to produce a saleable screenplay.
It's a checklist reminding you of everything you already know about story telling -- but keep forgetting when you write. Keeping it on your desk and referring to it often can cut your production time in half by saving you many mistakes at the conceptual level.
This is the book you will keep after you've thrown all the others into the recycle bin or given them to the library.
But this is not the place to start if you haven't yet learned to turn a story on a clean conflict.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
It saved my cat
If you're an aspiring screenwriter like moi you must read it asap. It's an easy read, it has tons of useful info and it's pretty funny too.
Published 7 hours ago by Liviu
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
This is a must have for all screenwriters! It is one that you will return to again and again (and again).
Published 4 days ago by Jennifer F
5.0 out of 5 stars
I think I've just been saved ...
I'm not a screenwriter, I'm a novelist, and I tell you, this book has shed some light on so many things that I was aware of, but most times fobbed off. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Jessica Bell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blake Snyder is phenomenal
I'm a screenwriting novice and thought this book did a terrific job of introducing storytelling concepts. Snyder's writing is charming, easy to follow, and informational. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Dietrich Nissen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the last, but on the short list.
If you only read five books on screenwriting, this should be one of them. I find his structure formula extremely useful. Nobody has THE answer, but Mr. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Griffith Lambert
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally
Straight to the point approach to scriptwriting. Expands on the basics to inform the aspiring screenwriter how to approach and look at material/ideas from an studio executive... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Chris Trent
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bought it for a friend who can't put it down!
The humore also helps for ease in reading a book. My friend said this has been very helpful to his career.
Published 12 days ago by Heather Wallace
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book, stop looking for help, get this, it's all you need
If you want to know the "formula" to writing a script. This is it. period. I read a few others, and I should have stopped at this one.
Published 13 days ago by D. Apollo Z.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Guide
I was referred to this book. I regret not a penny used to purchase. It's a writer's bible for sure. Delivered on time and in new condition.
Published 14 days ago by MINU
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice
Thank you. This book is just what I was looking for. I needed to understand what makes a story compelling.
Published 15 days ago by Unitynow8
