I doubt anyone at Blake Snyder’s "Save
the Cat!" workshop at this year’s National
Conference left feeling they didn’t get
their money’s worth. For two hours, yes
two hours, he held a packed meeting room spellbound
with his presentation. Besides charming us with
his anecdotes, he shared keen observations and
detailed pointers on how to apply his screenwriting
techniques to our own writing projects. The sound
of pens scratching on paper was everywhere as
we soaked up one gem after another.
His claim to fame - twenty years as a screenwriter
and producer and the very successful author of
Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting
You’ll Ever Need, now in its twelfth
printing. Suffice it to say, the conference bookstore
was sold out fifteen minutes after the workshop
ended. It is available from his website www.blakesnyder.com
for $19.95.
You’re probably wondering where the cat
comes in. Blake made us wait for that explanation,
so will I.
The offspring of an early TV producer, Blake
has lived the industry ups and downs and persevered
his way to success. No mean feat given the caprices
of the TV/movie industry.
Over the years, Blake developed a fifteen-point
Beat Sheet that is his bible. It is not a formula,
where certain elements must appear in
order, but they must exist. I’ll
enlarge on just one of them - Point 8 - Fun and
Games. Blake explained this as "the promise
of the premise." It’s where all the
good stuff happens and it is the reason
the audience/reader is there. (You can download
the basic Beat Sheet from his website.)
He talked quite a bit about log lines. That’s
a twenty-five-word encapsulation of your story,
or what we often call the "elevator pitch."
For romance novels he suggests inclusion of who
the heroine is, the setting, and the conflict
involved. Visualizing a poster that would perfectly
represent your story is a good way to zero in
on its essence. To work, a log line must have
spark. Telling too much is a no no, but so is
"hiding the ball," or being afraid to
reveal the secret of the story. And, a killer
title never hurts.
Now, what about the cat? "Save the Cat"
is typical of shorthand speak used by screenwriters
to refer to inclusion of an important element
in their story. "Save the Cat" refers
to "that moment when we meet its hero and
he does something "nice" - like save
a cat." It’s an all important moment,
one that makes us like and want to root for the
character involved. It’s the moment when
the story becomes our story.
It was a wonderful two hours, shared with this
most genial and generous man. He actually gave
out his e-mail address and invited two hundred
plus authors to send him pitches for critique.
How generous, or insane is that? And, evidently,
he answers all his e-mail! (Look under bio on
his website.)
A member of RWA-GVC, Lin Bompas writes single-title
contemporaries. Still waiting for that elusive
book contract, she has many magazine and newspaper
articles to her credit.
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