FS: Can you tell me why you titled your book, Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need?

Blake Snyder: I’ve been a successful screenwriter for over 20 years and because I’ve sold a lot of scripts, screenwriters would ask for my advice, which tended to be the same. I wanted to put into a book everything I learned about screenwriting and pass it on as a gift to others. I wanted it to be fun and slangly, so that’s why it’s called Save the Cat! I wanted my book to be special and different mainly because I have been successful at selling scripts. I did get a lot of slack for writing the sequel, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies. And the third coming out is Save the Cat! Strikes Back which is about troubleshooting.

FS: After so many successful years as a screenwriter, what made you decide to write a book on the subject?

Blake Snyder: Everything that I learned along the way has been that all creative endeavors, especially in the Film & Television business, is the intersection between art & commerce. To be an inspiration to want to do something, there has to be a practical consideration of how are you going to do it and who are you telling it to? The turning point in my career that got me to writing Save the Cat! is when I got out of college, I entered this industry as a page at NBC and a production assistant.

At some point, it just became clear that what I really wanted to do was write and like any young writer I was banging my head against the wall a lot. For me it came down to the point where I had to ask myself, do I want to have this career or not?

After my father passed away, I studied what movies sold and what log lines attract attention. What is it about a script that people like? That’s when I turned the corner and started selling spec screenplays. I went from very poor, digging coins out of my couch to being a millionaire in 18 months. That’s from applying these things.

FS: One of the most important things you mention in your book about movies is the simple phrase, “What is it?”

Blake Snyder: In my opinion there are many opportunities for screenwriters today than there’s ever been. When my father was in this business there were three networks, NBC, ABC, and CBS. If he ticked off someone at CBS, he was down to two thirds of his market. Today, there is absolutely no excuse for any writer not to have his/her movie made. I’m very blunt about that.

FS: What do you recommend for new filmmakers today in telling their stories?

Blake Snyder: You can make a movie and put it on YouTube or a website, but the question is, will anyone care. What’s going to make people stop the dial and listen to you? Hollywood gets a lot of slack for their story methods, but that the same ones we need to use. What’s the intriguing hook of your story. Why should I watch your film? And it starts with a basic concept of “What is it?” I think you can make your “What is it?” more attractive.

Blake Snyder passed away on August 4, 2009.
(Article originally published in May 2008 on Suite101.com)

An interview with Independent Filmmaker David Spaltro who shares what it takes to direct a feature film, while still balancing his day job.

David Spaltro is the Director, Writer, & Producer of a low-budget independent feature film set in New York City that was semi-autobiographical about his college experience during film school and completely financed with his credit cards. Filmmaking Success sat down with David to find out what it takes in terms of passion and dedication to tackle a movie as a first time director.

FS: What was it like embarking on your first feature film?

Spaltro: Filmmaking is such a long, arduous journey that you may never see the light at the end of the tunnel for and if you're working on something you don't feel in your heart every second you NEED to be... it's going to be even longer and less fulfilling. If you're going to take plunge, do it with something that makes your heart beat.

FS: What is your day job and how did you balance that with making this movie?

Spaltro: I was working for an executive recruiter while doing a year of pre-production for the film, good hours and decent pay and access to the internet. When shooting I left the job and when I returned it was gone, so I spend the last two years bouncing around various forms of freelance work; construction, waiting tables, bartending, bouncing, janitorial, personal training; whatever I could get my hands on and spending the remaining hours working on the film. So no sleep in a very long time.

FS: What kind of advice do you have for first time feature film directors?

Spaltro: Just write and keep telling your stories however you can or have to. No matter what your situation, financial or whatever, no one can take the pen out of your hand and the paper away from you. You can do that much. Even if it's just baby steps and it all seems like an improbability to complete. Surround yourself with good people, people you enjoy seeing and working with and collaborating with. It makes all the difference not just in the work but in the entire process. A great teacher, Larry Hillier, also told me to do what you love, pick the projects you love.

FS: Anything you'd like to add for filmmakers to keep going and finish their projects when things get rough?

Spaltro: It just takes dedication, commitment, and endurance to get up every day (assuming you did go to bed the night before), sacrificing relationships and other opportunities, and staying passionate about something. What kept me going were the people who bled for it and put good work into and making sure that got recognized.

…Around Official Website

• Starring: Robert Evans, Molly Ryman, Marcel Torres, Ron Brice, Berenice Mosca
• Director/Writer/Producer: David Spaltro
• Running Time: 104 minutes
• Genre: Drama

Directing is one of those unique skill sets that require a tremendous deal of finesse to pull off effectively. It's akin to taking a human being and guiding him/her to becoming an entirely different person. It's like Michelangelo looking at what most people would perceive as a giant slab of marble, but instead, envisioning the shape of David. A master sculptor such as Michelangelo possesses a high level of artistic control to shape a near perfect anatomical resemblance of the human body. However, a Film Director who controls and dictates too heavily the beats of emotions for his/her actors may have the opposite effect, as actors are not made of marble. They are living, breathing human beings.

Change My Vision into Our Vision
One of the best ways I've discovered to work with actors is to become as collaborative as possible by inviting actors to contribute and share their vision for the story. It may feel scary to let go of your control by allowing others to shape your story's vision, but what can occur in this process is that you will bring out the best performances in your actors. Actors revel in the ability to play with their emotions, which is best utilized if they feel empowered to make choices of their own free will.

Learn to Let Go
Emotions are a tricky nuance of human behavior to convey, even within ourselves in real life as our emotions can guide us towards irrational behaviors and desires. And when we direct actors by imposing behaviors that we are comfortable with and are based on our life experience, we are forcing a box for the actors to perform within. This has a tendency to stifle their emotions by treating the actors like robots rather than human beings, whose myriad of emotional ups and downs can never be defined or confined within a box. By telling someone to act/react in a specific way at a specific moment, we are effectively robbing them of their choice to bring forth what they feel is an appropriate emotion within that moment. Allowing actors to express their own emotions, in their own unique way, will ring much closer to truth for audiences.

Directing without Directing
Here are some things you can say to your actors to bring out their performances and allow them to fully collaborate in a shared vision of the film: Tell your actors that acting is their job, not yours. Tell them that they are free to direct themselves in any way they choose and there are no wrong choices. Impart to them that they need to take ownership of the scene, ownership of the project, and ownership of how their overall performance will affect audiences for years to come. Tell them that they are to listen to each other, and not you, to shape their actions and reactions. Invite them to move freely within the scene from beginning to end of each rehearsal. Allow them to explore, play, and lose themselves with each rehearsal and allow them to rehearse as many times as possible, until they feel comfortable in conveying the truth of their characters. And let them know that if they need help from time to time, to please ask you and you will do your best with your guidance. Tell them that the work that they do is something they should be proud of for the rest of their lives.

Camera Placement After Rehearsals
And what to do with the cameras? Once you know where the actors comfortably and naturally move within the scene, and then build your shots based off of their movements. By directing this way it will allow the actors to perform at their best and place the truth of the performance as the highest priority. This way, actors will be free to express themselves as if they were actually living and breathing in the moment of their characters. They will go where they want as their own emotions bubble forth and dictate their behaviors to what they feel is appropriate to the moment. With this approach you will discover some wonderful and magical moments that will occur from the collaboration of many minds as opposed to just one mind. Giving your actors the space to play and perform and then built the shots around them.

In Conclusion
Personally, this has been the best way I've discovered to direct actors and bring about natural performances. Remember that the key is to empower your actors so that they take ownership of their job as an actor. In doing so, you will have released their fears of getting it perfect as they will begin to focus on doing the best job for the Film, rather than for you. Much of this letting go of control will appear strange to many Directors, but before judging this technique, I invite you to try it for one of your films and see what happens. Feel free to comment and share if you were courageous enough to let go and empower your actors.

Learn how to writing an effective log line. Includes an example, complete analysis, and an easy to follow guideline.

A screenwriter who plans to present a story to an industry professional has four unique tools to convey their story.

• Log line
• Pitch
• Treatment
• Screenplay

The shortest of these is the Log Line, which is defined as: A one or two sentence description that captures the unique & conflicting elements of your screenplay.

Purpose of a Log Line: Identify a protagonist, genre, inner & outer conflict, and lead towards a climax, without giving away the ending. They need to be short, easily recited during a conversation, and highly unique. The log line is not intended to tell the full story. Instead, it promotes the story in as few words as possible with the goal of attracting enough interest from a Producer so he/she requests to read a treatment or screenplay, which are salable material.

Include the following 5 elements to write a complete Log Line:

1. Protagonist – Identify a main character along with his/her profession.
2. Genre – Reveal the story's setting when presenting the Conflict.
3. Inner Conflict – A personal issue for the Protagonist to overcome.
4. Outer Conflict – An action from the Protagonist that threatens the Antagonist.
5. Climax – Lead towards a major conflict between the Protagonist and Antagonist.

Example of an effective log line: A mechanic shunned for carrying a disease, rescues an android, secretly repairs her, and fights to protect her when she endangers the colony.

Analyzing the structure:

- A mechanic shunned for carrying a disease...
This phrase identifies the Main Character (Protagonist), states his Profession, and reveals his Inner Conflict because of how people are repulsed by his disease.

- rescues an android...
The Genre is reveal as Science Fiction by the mention of an android, a piece of technology that doesn’t exist in the modern era.

- secretly repairs her...
Outer Conflict is represented as the character discovers and hides something that he knowingly will pose a danger to society(Antagonist) in this case.

- and fights to protect her when she endangers the colony.
The major climax at the end is hinted when the android becomes known to society and the Protagonist must take direct action against the Antagonist.

Lead towards an ending, but never give it away:
The ending should be hinted at, but never revealed to leave the listener wanting more. The trick is to pique their curiosity so they request to read the treatment/screenplay and discover the ending for themselves. If someone presses you for the ending you’re on the right track, but refrain from divulging it. Simply invite them to read your material.

Final Note:
Remember, the purpose of a log line is to attract enough interest from an industry professional so they will request your treatment or screenplay.

- Written by Joe Lam

Plot: The pattern of events or main story in a narrative or drama.

Character: The combination of qualities or features that distinguishes a person, group, or thing from another.

Plot & Character Combined
Many writers will stress that story plot is more important than character, or vice versa. However, these two are equals and heavily rely on each other. You cannot have one without the other. Plot is defined as the pattern of events or main story in a narrative or drama. The story's location and what takes place around the main character makes up the plot. The two are interowoven and should be seen as two parts of a whole because when one changes, so does the other.

Examples from two Classic Movies
Superman - This character is unique because his superhuman abilities separate him from ordinary humans. However, if you remove the most major plot element by changing the fact that if his homeworld Krypton was never destroyed, then Superman would be a normal person without strength from the Earth's yellow sun. The entire story would fall apart.

Lolita - Humbert's desire to sleep with his underaged stepdaughter Lolita generates a tremendous amount of conflict due to the fact that they live in a modern society that restricts adults having sex with anyone under age 18. Pluck them from the setting and transport them into the time of the Greek empire where there would be no restrictions in sexual conduct and the story becomes drastically different.

How to Use Plot & Character
A story's plot must draw readers into the sequence of events involving the characters goals and desires. It's not enough to merely state a series of factual events to generate an effective plot. The structure of a story must elicit emotion in readers by giving reason for why the characters place themselves in certain situations.

Plot Without Character
Take this simple phrase as an example: "The boy nearly froze to death in a snow storm." It's a factual statement that at it's core reveals that a human being survived death. We don't know why he almost died and most people wouldn't care. Hundreds die every year in the snow so why bother telling this story? To solve this delimna, inject the character's qualities into the story. Give reason as to why a character finds himself in certain situations.

Plot With Character
Here's how to solve it by adding a character trait: "The boy nearly froze to death in a snow storm while venturing to save his dog." Now you have something. An effective plot and character trait that draws emotion gives reason as to why the boy nearly died. We can all relate to losing something and doing whatever it takes to find it, especially a loved one. It gives him a purpose for wandering dangerously in the snow. It's no longer a factual event, but it's a story about a boy with a strong goal (character trait) who risks his life in a snow storm (plot).

Dying to Be Cool

Some teens are willing to risk everything to boost their popularity. For whatever reason, these kids didn’t have the money, fancy car, cool clothes, rockin’ attitude, or whatever it was that would elevate their social standing. There’s something missing inside that begs for attention. These teens see the cool kids and are jealous of how they get loads of attention wherever they go, seemingly without even trying or caring about it. It’s as easy as breathing to them and the teens who are jealous of that attention... are dying to get it. The main question raised in this scenario is, how far are they willing to go to achieve this level of status?

The movie that comes to mind for the Dying to Be Cool sub-genre is the R-Rated extreme party romp, Project X. The story follows three outcast friends on a mission to throw the ultimate party so they can ‘change the game’ and make a name for themselves. Thomas (Thomas Mann) is convinced by his best friend, Costa (Oliver Cooper), to throw a party at his parent’s house while they’re gone for the weekend. Costa in true troublemaker fashion, uses his friend’s resources, a la parents house, to advance his own personal desires. Thomas’ dad is more of an aloof parent and thinks his son is a loser, so he’s sure nothing will happen while they’re away. Meanwhile, Costa posts the party invite online and the party grows from a small gathering into over 1,500 partyers.

During the party, Thomas is constantly worried that things will get out of hand, but when he tries to take control, he stops himself because teens applaud him, including a popular girl he likes, Alexis (Alexis Knapp). With inhibitions running wild, Thomas reveals his affection for long-time friend, Kirby (Kirby Blanton), by sharing a kiss with her, but problems with the house continually arise and pull him away. As the party spirals more and more out of control, Costa reassures him that everything will be fine and he’s doing it for Thomas to become more popular. The dilemma here is that as Thomas’ status rises, so too does the risk to his parents home due to the partying. As the audience, we wonder if he will be responsible enough to respect his parents house or serve his own self-interests in becoming known for throwing a killer party.

This film is possibly one of the first teen comedies to be shot in what is known as “found footage” style, where the cameras appear to be recorded by one of the characters. It’s a reality TV style that helps create more realistic moments of drug use, drinking, and sex; elements that were necessary in showing how extreme and out of control a party could get. In this instance, the comedy comes from seeing how much debauchery and destruction could occur in one night.

A movie like this became enormously successful because of the premise in seeing an out of control house party that police couldn’t shut down. It was the ability for teens to live out a fantasy through the main character and see the possibilities that might occur if a real-life party ever got that out of hand. A tagline that ran in big letters across one of the Project X posters read, “The Party You’ve Only Dreamed About.” And, for teens who love to party, it was the ultimate escape.

- Excerpt from the Joe Lam's book Teenage Dreams: How to Make a Successful Teen Comedy Movie, which offers a variety of Teen Comedy Sub-Genres such as:

• Coming of Age
• First Love
• Rivalry
• Rebellion
• Need to Succeed
• Sex Crazed
• Back to School
• Dying to Be Cool
• Like Me or Not
• Dark Satire

She’s the Queen Bee, the epitome of teen girl perfection. Through a combination of charisma, force, money, looks, will, and social intelligence, this girl reigns supreme over the other girls…”
- Quote from Queen Bees & Wannabees by Rosalind Wiseman


            Author Rosaline Wiseman is the first to apply the term Queen Bee to describe the most popular and manipulative teenage girl in a high school. Origins of this scientific term of Queen Bee can be found on Wikipedia that says, “When a young virgin queen emerges from a queen cell, she will generally seek out virgin queen rivals and attempt to kill them.” Every institution has a hierarchy with a person at the top. Whether it’s a CEO of a company, leader of a group, or for our purposes, the most popular girl in high school. Of course, not every girl at the top of her social status is mean, but if you introduce a Queen Bee into a teen comedy, it immediately sets her up as a villain for the main character to challenge.

            And as the quote that opens this section suggests… there can be only one Queen Bee. A quintessential Queen Bee is represented by Regina in Mean Girls. Along with her two friends, they form a clique called the Plastics and are regarded as the meanest girls in school. At first, Regina accepts the main character, Cady, into her group to boost her popularity and make her one of the Plastics. However, when Cady takes a liking to Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron, her jealous nature arises and she’s influential enough to win back Aaron, not because she likes him, but because she doesn’t want anyone else to have him. As a result, Cady takes on the mantle of Queen Bee in order to destroy Regina’s reputation, thus kicking off the rivalry between the two and delivering on the title’s promise.

Queen Bee Traits

Pros

• Highly Attractive
• Very Opinionated
• Leader of the group
• Effectively influences others toward her decisions
• Is the object of desire by many boys
• Is emulated by many girls
• An expert at arguing her position

Cons

• Needs constant attention
• Friends do not completely trust her
• Selects friends to increase her popularity
• Humiliates others to maintain superiority
• Manipulates friends by favoring one of the other to create jealousy
• Rarely takes responsibility for wrongdoing
• Has a controlling nature due to feelings of insecurity

Excerpt from the book - Teenage Dreams: How to Make a Successful Teen Comedy Movie