by Salva Rubio
But for Cat’s sake, many people don’t realize that all of the films Blake mentioned in Save the Cat!® Goes to the Movies were released before he wrote the book. I don’t think Blake invented something that wasn’t already there, and I don’t think he ever said otherwise. The beats had always been in the stories! What Blake did was figure them out, give them a name and teach us all how to use them, and we must thank him for that. (Or maybe the problem for many was that he used such an approachable language and light-hearted, made-up terms instead of academic-heavy prose. Well, guess which approach this book has used?)
If today Blake’s teachings are being used in boring and non-creative ways, especially in the Hollywood realm, please don’t kill the messenger. Ask the executives who greenlit those scripts, deciding that mass audiences are dumb and deserve “the same, but not different.” Because those audiences sometimes come out in great numbers to choose smaller, fresher, more surprising films! Ask the producers of The Blair Witch Project, The Artist, Trainspotting, The Full Monty or Little Miss Sunshine, will ya?
So, are the Save the Cat!® principles a formula? No, because a screenplay is a format. There is a big difference between the two words, because they mean that screenwriting itself, and feature films as we know them, must be written with a format in mind. After all, pop songs are another format, yet nobody complains when they are good! That is what makes them incredibly popular, but when done badly, they are just plain boring and justly labelled as formulaic... just like mainstream films. So if Hollywood is “pop music,” we will think like singer-songwriters who don’t avoid pop structure or formats... but rather, are creative with it.
Seriously, have you heard anyone tell you that Beethoven’s symphonies (hey, they’re a format, too) are formulaic? Or that you should not write sonnets (another closed format used for hundreds of years) like Petrarch... or you won’t be creative? Or to forget about haikus and their wonderful 17 -syllable format? I think that screenplays are a format too, and you simply can choose to be boring or to be creative and thus more interesting. Creative people do not need to avoid format, but rather they use it cleverly to their own advantage.
Would anyone dare say, “Formulaic!” about the works of Sofía Coppola, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Danny Boyle, Darren Aronofsky, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Lars Von Trier, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Joel and Ethan Coen, Quentin Tarantino or François Truffaut? Huh?
HAVE FUN AND SUCCESS... YOUR WAY!
Not so many years ago, there was one great paradigm in the mainstream cinema industry: write a great spec, find an agent, move to Hollywood and triumph! Or be a miserable failure.
But times have a-changed, and now, there’s not just that one goal for aspiring screenwriters, directors and actors — despite what the many books published with the word “Hollywood” in their title want you to believe.
For starters, there are many people who may dig industry films (we all love some!), but they want to make a different kind of cinema, as art school filmmakers, indie directors, European-style realisateurs, and global screenwriters from all over the world. Some of us do not only have Hollywood in mind, but rather Sundance’s Program lab, the Cannes market, Berlinale Talents, the Dreamago workshop or your local short film contest. And some of us do not necessarily dream of having an Oscar ® in our bedroom — our outer success is measured in BAFTAs, Golden Palms, Goyas, César awards or the dreamt prize of your choice.
It used to be expensive and hard to make films, and studios were needed. Now, if you have an iPhone, you’ve just ran out of excuses to shoot, produce, cast and distribute. There is Netflix, YouTube or many online platforms and apps to fund, produce, edit and show your work, launch your career and who knows — maybe even reach Hollywood, if that’s your goal after all!
Many of the filmmakers that belong to this “global filmmaking” generation will not need to move to Los Angeles or ever work for a studio, and they will be able to make a living receiving commissions, crowdfunding their films, selling them through alternative distribution channels — all through the internet. And more than making a living, they can also become rather successful and, what is even more important… happy.
Films, documentaries, shorts — visual content is needed everywhere, now more than ever! And this is only the beginning! A new era of visual media has begun.
Forget being forced to rely on gatekeepers, producers and studios. You are the one to decide what kind of films you want to make, sell and see.
We have written this book to help you make them... and make it!
BLAKE SNYDER’S STRUCTURE AND GENRE GUIDE
To make the most of this book, you should know a little more about Blake’s beats and genres. Of course, we have three books’ worth of information on them, so we advise you to read the former volumes of this series: Save the Cat!®, Save the Cat!® Goes to the Movies! and Save the Cat!® Strikes Back! For now, here is your Cat! 101 course guide for this book!
THE BEATS
Blake’s method is structured around two main tools: the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet and his genres.
As for the first, it consists of a 15 -point structure of “beats” or “moments” that happen in any well-written story or script, in a particular order. In each beat, something must happen to the main character/protagonist/hero for the maximum enjoyment of the reader or the viewer and must serve to move the story forward.
Opening Image: At the beginning of the story, we must give a good first impression of the “before” image of our story’s world and hero. There is usually one systemic problem that the main character will fix (or fail to fix!) so we can have a contrasting Final Image at the end of the story.
Theme Stated: In the first minutes of the film, one of the characters usually utters a line, sometimes said to the main character, in which the theme is summarized — it’s what the movie is about. This is one of the two “mobile” beats than can appear anywhere in the beginning of the script.
Set-Up: Next, there is the section of the script where we come to know the protagonist better through the Six Things That Need Fixing. Sometimes we will see the protagonist in his “at home,” “at work” and “at play” moments. A “Save the Cat!” scene — when the hero does something that makes us like him or her — is a good thing to have here, and also a Stasis=Death moment to show how much the hero needs to change.
Catalyst: It was a normal day in the life of our main character until... kaboom! In this beat, something happens that disrupts the hero’s life. From an H-Bomb exploding, to a simple call at work, to a knock on the door or a personal tragedy, nothing will ever be the same!
Debate: Of course, our protagonist still does not know how much the Catalyst is going to affect his life, so we need to have a few scenes debating the impact, the next steps to take, or the overall craziness of a situation he or she never thought about. Can they dodge the adventure?
Break into Two: Our hero “gets the case,” so the story is properly set in motion. Usually, this takes the form of a symbolic gateway or a journey with “no turning back.” We are about to enter the upside-down world of Act Two!
B Story: The second mobile beat, the B Story usually introduces a character who will carry the theme or love story. This beat can happen basically anywhere up to this point, and sometimes even after. Of course, we as writers will cause A and B Stories to cross a lot.
Fun and Games: The promise of the premise, as Blake famously put it, this is the section of the script in which the plot lightens up to let us and the main character explore the new world. Set pieces and trailer moments belong here — this is what we came to see when enticed by the poster or logline.
Midpoint: One of the most challenging beats, this usually takes more than one scene. In it, our character will have a false victory or a false defeat, plus a public coming out which indicates who he is becoming in his character arc. It is also the moment where stakes are raised, there is Sex at 60, clocks start ticking and A and B Stories usually cross.
Bad Guys
Close In: The opposition of the antagonists comes with full force in this section. Our hero had miscalculated his own powers and pressure mounts, not only from the outside, but from the inside as well, as the “team starts disintegrating.” “Bad guys” can be both external (plot machinations) and internal (emotions).
All Is Lost: This beat is crucial! The hero is “worse off than when he started” and in many cases there is a whiff of death that makes victory seem impossible.
Dark Night of the Soul: The hero dwells on his low point as he slowly realizes that he has avoided change for so long and is in dire straits because of his inaction... so now it seems like there is no solution.
Break into Three: A moment of realization, a spark of genius or a sudden idea makes the hero realize that maybe the story’s goal can be attained after all! This possibility is usually triggered by the love interest or mentor as A and B Stories meet.
Finale: Our Act Three starts, and the film is nearing its end! Here comes one of Blake’s most useful tools, the bullet-proof 5-Point Finale to finish your story on a great note:
Gathering the Team: Ready for the final assault, the hero “gathers” with another character(s) to “amend hurts,” to announce his plan or to “prepare the assault.”
Executing the Plan: The “plan” is carried out as devised by the hero, and it seems to work! Victory is in sight!
High Tower Surprise: “It’s a trap!” Unfortunately, the baddies had something in store for our hero, so the plan is not useful anymore. The main character finds himself on his own and with everything depending on him. Will he find the strength now?
Dig, Deep Down: The determination to win makes the protagonist “dig, deep down” inside for the courage to do what he never thought himself capable of accomplishing.
The Execution of the New Plan: So with that newfound strength, the hero confronts the baddies again, usually winning the battle... but sometimes losing it despite everything.
Final Image: As the film ends, we see a contrasting image that is often the opposite of the Opening Image. The world, our hero or his/her allies have changed forever, showing that “All Stories Are About Transformation.”
THE GENRES
This is what the book you’re holding is all about. We’ll get into more detail about each genre in each chapter, but let us give you some basic guidelines before we dig deeper.
Blake’s 10 genres are universal templates which every story ever written fits. Audiences know these genres, and they want to be told the same story all over again when they go to the cinema, only in a different form. They know them so well (executives included) that when the screenplay is not told by each genre’s “rules,” audiences are sure that something isn’t working right. In fact, sometimes everyone knows but the writer, who usually is so knee-deep in the story that he doesn’t realize there are problems. Strike a bell?
For this reason, it’s really useful to find out what your story is in terms of genre before you even start working on it. You will then know the three fundamental components each genre must have and how those components work in terms of characters, structure and theme.
And what is even cooler is that each of these 10 genres have 5 subgenres of their own, further enlarging your narrative possibilities!
Knowing these genres will give you other kinds of advantages. Your movie world is about to change! Until now, you probably thought of genres in terms of comedy, drama, action, western, Wes Anderson, etc.
From now on, you’ll realize that horror cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and German political drama The Lives of Others are basically the same film! And David Lynch’s disturbing The Elephant Man and Soderbergh-directed, Julia Roberts-starred Erin Brockovich belong to the same genre! And Dogville, the obscure avant-garde piece by Danish auteur Lars Von Trier, and the charming love letter to film that is Cinema Paradiso, tell the same story!
And so do the enchanting Amélie and macho-piece Fight Club!
And so does a dark, violent film like Reservoir Dogs and a light, comedic one like Little Miss Sunshine !
And... stop me, will you?
1MONSTER IN THE HOUSE
It should be no surprise that we start this book about “indie, auteur and European” movies with one of the most productive genres in independent cinema history: the “Monster in the House.”
MITH films are one of the most primal among the 10 Save the Cat!® genres, and also more akin to their commercial or mainstream counterparts. This is completely logical, since many of the classics of the genre are technically independent films, even if they are now mainstream franchises, like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.
As we will see, some of the most literally gut-wrenching, terrifying and scary MITH films are still considered in the realm of independent cinema — even consecrated European auteurs have given it a go.
Some of these “small” (by Hollywood standards) films demonstrate how a limited budget can only boost imagination, passion and talent, turning some of the movies we are about to analyze into classics that have shaken up the conventions of genre, if not cinema history itself. Is not an “infectious” British movie (28 Days Later) responsible for the resurrection and (ahem) new life of the zombie genre? Did Saw not inspire a new, original and successful franchise? We just expect this display of creativity to follow a story as old as time — aren’t we simply re-telling the Theseus, Ariadna (the first “Final Girl”), the minotaur and the labyrinth story?
So if you are a fan of horror films and want to write a MITH, what do you need, besides morbidity, a dark imagination and lots of ketchup?
The first element you need to create is what we call a monster. Monsters can come in all shapes and sizes but have one common component: supernatural power. Even if they are (or were) just humans, there is something in their skills, intelligence, insanity, evil or appearance that makes them superior to the average human — from zombies to the infected (28 Days Later), from masked evil beings chasing teenagers in slasher films (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre)to the super-evil and super-polite teenagers in Funny Games. In any case, the real menace is that that these monsters seem able to take both your body and your soul. As Blake reminded us, make your monsters powerful, or your script’s possibilities will suffer accordingly!
The second element you will need is the house. We can mean this literally (as in Les Diaboliques or Single White Female) but the house can also be any “labyrinth” or enclosed space our heroes are trapped in with the monster — from a really small location (the boat in Knife in the Water) to places as big as an endless forest (The Blair Witch Project) to a whole quarantined country (28 Days Later). The houses can be metaphorical too, as the all-encompassing surveillance that unknowingly haunts our characters in The Lives of Others. In any case, make sure your characters can’t escape!
The third element is a sin, because deep within all these films (unlike our “Dude with a Problem” genre, in which everything that happens to the protagonist is undeserved), the characters somehow earned the problem. It is a sin of some kind which makes them deserve what they are going through, which is why we see the retribution as some kind of retaliation from higher forces. Perhaps this is why in so many movies the pure, innocent girl in the group defeats evil — she was not condemned like the rest. The sin can be simply hatred (28 Days Later), lying (The Lives of Others) or disrespect to the supernatural, as in The Blair Witch Project. The sin is utterly necessary (except in the “Nihilist Monster” subgenre, as we will see shortly).
There is also a peculiar character whom Blake defined as the Half Man that tends to show up in MITH movies. This personage “knows the nature of the beast” because he seems to be in touch with the supernatural, and usually warns our protagonists about dealing with such dark powers. In some cases, he will even help them in their fight — many times suffering because of it, since he should have known better. The Half Men are damaged, flawed, often dark mentors, like the barbecue man in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
or Wiesler, our POV character in The Lives of Others, who knew better the workings of the Stasi because he was a member.
As with the rest of our 10 genres, the MITH category has five subgenres of its own, each with a different twist to better nail the movie you are analyzing or writing.
The first of them is called the Pure Monster, dealing with “supercharged beasts,” including zombies or the infected — they are creatures with super-strength, super-animal behavior or super-killer instincts that will hunt down your characters one by one. Just remember The Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead or any of its sequels, and you will understand the blueprint.
We also can write the Domestic Monster, in which the beast is very much human and the story tends to happen in an everyday environment, with the “monster” being someone who may appear to be just normal or caring — even family! But wait until you incur their wrath. The Lives of Others, Hard Candy or The Stepfather are worthy examples.
Next, let us study the Serial Monster variety, which has the workings of the tried-and-true genre called the “slasher film.” The independent and European realm truly have their share of this kind of monster’s doings, as seen in such films as Cold Prey, Halloween or the über-terrifying (and the sexual tourist’s worst nightmare) Hostel.
Our next subgenre is the Super-Natural Monster, featuring beings, creatures or entities that come from other realms or dimensions, and thus can torture, kill and maim our bodies… and our souls… for eternity! Hits like The Ring, The Shining, The Exorcism of Emily Rose or our chosen example, The Blair Witch Project, reflect our deepest fears.
Last, but not the least scary, is the Nihilist Monster, the exception to the “sin” requirement. Unlike the rest of the monsters, who seemingly need a provocation to attack, the Nihilist one will assault us just because! No sin is seemingly committed, although ignorance could be one — you didn’t deserve it, you just happened to be passing by or were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The cruelest of our monsters will get you, like they did in Saw, Cabin Fever, Audition or Funny Games.