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A review by leonard_gaya
Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder
4.0
This is a "how to" handbook, targeting aspiring screenwriters, composed by a man who actually has some track record in writing comedy scripts for Hollywood.
It basically guides the reader through all the stages of writing for the movie industry: how to turn an idea into a marketable "logline"; how to fall within a given genre (Snyder suggests an interesting genres taxonomy, based on what actually happens in the story); how to build a protagonist (again, he offers an original vision of characters archetypes); how to set up the story structure following a 15 steps "Beat Sheet" (Snyder follows the 3 acts framework already put forward in Syd Field's [b:Screenwriter's Workbook|1525896|The Screenwriter's Workbook|Syd Field|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388860263s/1525896.jpg|1517834]); how to lay out the 40 (sic!) scenes of a movie on a pin-board (that's, in my view, probably the most interesting and practical part of this book); how to avoid common pitfalls and how to double-check one's work.
It is, in the end, a very enjoyable read (Snyder is a very upbeat chap!), although I can't help but think that following his advice to the letter might lead to somewhat formulaic results... such, of course, that might be most bankable in Hollywood land -or in mainstream publishing land, for that matter!
It basically guides the reader through all the stages of writing for the movie industry: how to turn an idea into a marketable "logline"; how to fall within a given genre (Snyder suggests an interesting genres taxonomy, based on what actually happens in the story); how to build a protagonist (again, he offers an original vision of characters archetypes); how to set up the story structure following a 15 steps "Beat Sheet" (Snyder follows the 3 acts framework already put forward in Syd Field's [b:Screenwriter's Workbook|1525896|The Screenwriter's Workbook|Syd Field|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388860263s/1525896.jpg|1517834]); how to lay out the 40 (sic!) scenes of a movie on a pin-board (that's, in my view, probably the most interesting and practical part of this book); how to avoid common pitfalls and how to double-check one's work.
It is, in the end, a very enjoyable read (Snyder is a very upbeat chap!), although I can't help but think that following his advice to the letter might lead to somewhat formulaic results... such, of course, that might be most bankable in Hollywood land -or in mainstream publishing land, for that matter!