
The 2005 screenwriting book that’s taken over Hollywood - markcmyers
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/07/hollywood_and_blake_snyder_s_screenwriting_book_save_the_cat.single.html
======
georgemcbay
I haven't read "Save the Cat" so I can't speak to it specifically, but the
article doesn't do a great job of selling me on the idea that the book is
responsible for the sameness of movie plots considering that for all the
examples of "beats" given in the article, I can think of dozens and dozens of
movies that hit those beats well before 2005 (when the supposedly ruinous
screenplay manual was published).

If anything, it seems like the book was just clearly documenting what nearly
every writer was already doing anyway, in some cases basically as far back as
three act storytelling has existed (even prior to movies existing at all).

~~~
tptacek
Since the author of the article says the same thing directly, this is a
somewhat superficial critique of that article.

~~~
scott_s
Really? I missed it. Granted, I didn't read it too carefully because I felt he
got repetitive, but I definitely got the impression that he was claiming that
the book caused the scripts, and not the other way around. Near the beginning:

 _Maybe that’s what Snyder intended. But that’s not how it turned out. In
practice, Snyder’s beat sheet has taken over Hollywood screenwriting. Movies
big and small stick closely to his beats and page counts. Intentionally or
not, it’s become a formula — a formula that threatens the world of original
screenwriting as we know it._

I read that as "this book caused this kind of screenwriting," not "this book
documents the kind of screenwriting that goes on."

~~~
tripzilch
I suppose the point is, analysis of storytelling elements isn't new, there's
many more books written about it than just the _Cat_ one.

An interesting question (and one that the article IMO does not quite attempts
to answer) would be: the _Cat_ 's description of storytelling-elements is
quite formulaic, descriptive and precise. did the explicitness of this
particular book cause (or play an important role in causing) the explosion of
formula Hollywood plot-lines[0], or is it merely part of a general movement,
flavour of the times? in short, is this "beat-sheet" literally used as a
"cheat-sheet", or does it just continues the tradition of storytelling
deconstruction?

Maybe this is what you meant by the article not really selling you on it,
though.

(there's a couple more questions along this line that I would think are
interesting as well, but you can probably guess them)

[0] in particular, the part of phenomenon that is real and not based on
selection bias.

------
joshuak
As others have pointed out the concept of a more detailed screenplay structure
has been around for a very long time, and typically pretty well understood by
working screenwritters.

I remember reading about the 9 act structure in the 90s (can't remember if
this is the guy who started it, but I think so): __Edit __corrected link
(thanks to hncommenter13
below):[http://web.archive.org/web/19961103105817/http://dsiegel.com](http://web.archive.org/web/19961103105817/http://dsiegel.com)

The problem with modern blockbuster films as described in the article is for
the most part not because of a better understanding of structure but because
of less understanding. Perhaps poor writers are using tools like Save the Cat
to believe they understand writing better then they do. Or perhaps studio
executives (who are notoriously near pathologically risk averse to new ideas)
reading new screenplays use a poor understanding of Save the Cat to validate
perspective scripts.

I can say for sure that many modern movies, particularly summer movies, are
absolutely not following these structures, good or bad. Mainstream narrative
filmmaking always follows the hero's journey, whether your hero is a neurotic
writer in new york, a young black girl in New Orleans, or a genetically
modified super hero.

Summer blockbusters these days are focused on something different. Visceral
response. Well structured storytelling (whether you think that's "Save the
Cat" or something else), is about stories and human relatable emotions and
characters. Recent films have started focusing more on the roller coster ride
of the visuals, and will do any distortion of the story necessary to motivate
a visceral impact on the audience. Good storytelling takes a second seat to
putting the audience into the most intense situations possible.

This has been helping get people into the theaters because the trailers for
these types of films make them seam very exciting. But I would argue that
Hollywood is struggling right now - the visual effects industry in particular
- due to the audience getting wise to these ploys. A bad film is still a bad
film, formalized story telling structure won't save you. Even less so if you
ignore it so that you can have a bigger explosion.

Want to be a good screenwriter? First learn how to write a story. And then
guess what? You can still have explosions too.

~~~
olalonde
> the trailers for these types of films make them seam very exciting.

The sad truth is that it's what people like (at least, if my friends are a
representative sample). I personally wish there were more "12 angry men" type
of movies. I'd even be willing to pay a premium to compensate for the fact
that there is a smaller market for such movies. Which makes me wonder why
price discrimination hasn't been tried on movies (not sure this is the right
term). What if every movie was priced differently?

~~~
prof_hobart
I'm interested in what you mean by "12 angry men" type movies. Do you mean
ones with less action and more human drama?

If so, I think those films are out there. They just don't make it to the big
cinemas very often. I've just checked my local art-house cinema and it's
currently showing

\- a film about a Saudi girl who is banned from buying a bike

\- a re-telling of Snow White as a bullfighter

\- a "passionate ensemble drama of family dysfunction"

\- a documentary about Pussy Riot

\- a comedy about a bunch of blokes trying to recreate an epic pub crawl

~~~
olalonde
I guess I meant movies that don't follow the "blockbuster recipe" in general
(the movies you mentioned do sound good to me). I know they are out there but
I feel they were more common in the past. Of course, it could just be due to
the fact I don't hear about the mediocre old movies. That being said, I hear
that opinion quite often so I'd say it's plausible that there's some truth to
it.

~~~
rmc
Selection bias. You don't remember the films from the past that were bland
pap. You're also taking the best 10 films from a decade (say) and comparing
them to what came out this year or in the last 2 years.

~~~
olalonde
Yes, I already said that.

------
gandalfgeek
There's a sidebar that has the detailed outline, also called a "beat sheet".

[http://www.slate.com/content/slate/sidebars/2013/07/the_save...](http://www.slate.com/content/slate/sidebars/2013/07/the_save_the_cat_beat_sheet.html)

If you read that, you will notice that the arc of the hero almost exactly
matches the one of the prototypical hero from many cultures and mythologies,
as explained by John Campbell in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces)

There are just so many elements one can make a compelling story out of.

~~~
wj
My favorite screenwriting book is based on Joseph Campbell. It is called the
Writer's Journey and applies the Hero's Journey to the three act structure.

Based on that book I've decided that Die Hard was one of the better scripts
ever written. It just nails the Hero's Journey.

This topic has actually been on my todo list to write a blog post about for a
while.

------
__david__
This reminds me of pop music. At some point you realize most of the songs on
the radio are "verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus" with only
subtle variations in structure.

But in the end, I don't actually think that's a bad thing. There is a _lot_ of
variations you can do, even within such a limiting structure. Summer
blockbusters are the pop music of movies. And just like pop songs, even if you
know the overall structure you can still be surprised and entertained
throughout.

And, just like music, it doesn't mean that there can't be things that break
the mold entirely, even if they aren't quite as popular. There's always going
to be someone out there pushing the boundaries, and there's always going to be
someone really skilled who makes something really popular that doesn't conform
to the formula at all.

~~~
bitwize
_This reminds me of pop music._

There was a book of this sort written for pop music, too: _The Manual, or How
to Have a Number One the Easy Way_ by Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty, also known
as The KLF.

It's brilliant and hilarious; at one point they describe "Never Gonna Give You
Up" by Rick Astley as the perfect pop song because it plays so deliberately
into schoolgirls' fantasies.

~~~
tripzilch
> It's brilliant and hilarious; at one point they describe "Never Gonna Give
> You Up" by Rick Astley as the perfect pop song because it plays so
> deliberately into schoolgirls' fantasies.

Oh I didn't catch that part, I only read it half-way. I should pick it up
again :)

BTW anyone interested can find several plain text copies of this book with a
simple search query. The KLF (Discordians) were pretty big on Kopyleft afaik,
so I doubt they mind either.

------
thenomad
I may be somewhat odd for a professional filmmaker in this, but my reaction is
less "aargh, no, my pure pure art!" and more "Hmm, interesting, I wonder if I
have time to try that out?"

Frameworks work well for visual design, adverts, web design, music (to a
certain extent), so I can't see a problem with them for films.

Of course, if one framework becomes the One Possible Framework, that's more of
an issue. But there are enough filmmakers out there willing to try seriously
wierd shit that I don't think that's a problem yet.

For example, David Lynch is working on a new feature film right now. Call me
crazy, but I don't think he'll be sticking to Save The Cat's formula.

~~~
georgemcbay
Well, among the supposedly "Hollywood killing" samey movies mentioned in the
article is "The Dark Knight", regarded by many as the greatest "action" movie
of all time.

Which goes to show that there's still plenty of creativity to be had while
following classic structure, and proving once again that broad ideas are
meaningless and execution is everything.

~~~
foobarqux
Th best action movie as determined by whom? Obviously the generally movie-
going populace likes the movies that Hollywood produces otherwise they
wouldn't go see them.

~~~
thenomad
The comment above just said that TDK was "regarded by many as the greatest
"action" movie of all time.", rather than making an absolute judgement.

I think that's a reasonably defensible statement -
[http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-dark-
knight](http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-dark-knight).

~~~
foobarqux
I'm questioning the validity of using the general population as an
authoritative source of film critique. Although it's probably silly to ask for
an artistic critique of an action film at all.

~~~
georgemcbay
Who said I was using the general population as an authoritative source of film
critique?

"regarded by many as the greatest "action" movie of all time" means just what
it says. I never claimed nor even implied that the view was authoritative
simply because it was widely held.

~~~
foobarqux
You stated explicitly that you thought it was a quality film due to its wide
popularity.

(As an aside the article itself never criticizes Dark Knight for being poor
only for being formulaic).

------
dugmartin
Some friends and I made a simple hot-or-not style site using the "Save the
Cat" formula as a way to kill time on a 6 hour drive:

[http://www.pitchwar.com/](http://www.pitchwar.com/)

~~~
manish_gill
Haha. Those were some terrible pitches (sorry!). We have something similar on
our IRC bot. Can be hilarious sometimes. :D

<me> !movieplot

<•rbot> Summary: He's a scrappy voodoo gangster from the Mississippi delta.
She's a high-kicking mute pearl diver with the power to bend mens minds. They
fight crime.

<•rbot> Summary: He's a Nobel prize-winning white trash rock star looking for
a cure to the poison coursing through his veins. She's an enchanted African-
American detective from the wrong side of the tracks. They fight crime.

etc etc.

~~~
thirdtruck
There's at least one real physicist turned rock performer out there.

------
davidgerard
See KLF's "The Manual", which did the same thing for pop music.

[http://rocknerd.co.uk/2013/07/19/the-manual-hollywood-
editio...](http://rocknerd.co.uk/2013/07/19/the-manual-hollywood-edition/)

Intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle-eight, chorus, chorus. Verse
sixteen bars, others eight or sixteen bars.

This didn't _ruin_ pop music at the time (1988) because it was describing what
was already happening. But the Manual damage over the next couple of decades
is another question.

------
Zimahl
All I have to say about this is _maybe_. I mean, tropes are used, overused,
and come and go - that's how the industry works. Writers are who they are just
like directors. You aren't all of a sudden going to turn Zack Snyder into
Scorsese or Abrams into Tarantino.

But then again, Scorsese and Tarantino aren't making movies like 'Pirates of
the Caribbean 7: Wet, Hot Caribbean Summer' that can be absolute shit, but as
long a Johnny Depp is playing Jack Sparrow it's a billion dollars globally.

~~~
RockyMcNuts
There are a lot of tropes -
[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NarrativeTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NarrativeTropes)

sort of think anyone who is going by a formula wasn't going to do a
masterpiece in the first place.

~~~
anigbrowl
Masterpiece != originality. Originality is extremely overrated.

------
adamnemecek
Monomyth
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth))
slightly adjusted for the 21st century? Sounds a lot like it.

~~~
dragonwriter
On that point, I seem to recall Vogler's _The Writer 's Journey: Mythic
Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters_ (1992), which is more directly
an adaptation and application of Campbell's monomyth, getting quite a bit of
the same kind of "formula that's killing Hollywood originality" criticism.

------
petegrif
I was a pro screenwriter for 20 years and am intimately familiar with a great
deal of 'prior art' in thinking about screenplays. There is nothing new in
'Save the Cat.'

------
gojomo
In the mid 90s, writer David Siegel argued (in his writing and consulting)
that a very, very similar "9 act" structure was the key to Hollywood
screenplay success, based on his study of hundreds of blockbusters. See:

[http://web.archive.org/web/19980206083911/http://www.dsiegel...](http://web.archive.org/web/19980206083911/http://www.dsiegel.com/film/Film_home.html)

So I agree with others that the 2005 book is more descriptive of long-existing
patterns (and requirements of the movie format), than prescriptive and
culpable for recent practice.

~~~
julespitt
I remember that site! It's a shame he didn't get any recognition - IIRC his
outline was a little more vague than the one being described in this article,
and therefore had more room for surprise and creativity.

------
zhemao
If you look at the actual beat sheet.

[http://www.slate.com/content/slate/sidebars/2013/07/the_save...](http://www.slate.com/content/slate/sidebars/2013/07/the_save_the_cat_beat_sheet.html)

They all seem pretty general. I'm pretty sure you could stick to the structure
without being very formulaic.

And yes, I'm pretty sure most movies had a structure very similar to this one
even before the book came along.

------
chocolateboy
It's odd that the article fails to mention the most high-profile film to
follow Snyder's template, How To Train Your Dragon. Unlike the speculative
examples in the article, the creators of that film have explicitly
acknowledged Snyder's role in the development of their story (he's thanked in
the credits). [1] I guess the fact that it was a huge commercial and critical
hit (98% on Rotten Tomatoes) doesn't fit the simplistic, tabloid template
that's taking over serious journalism.

[1] [http://www.blakesnyder.com/2010/03/26/how-the-dragon-
really-...](http://www.blakesnyder.com/2010/03/26/how-the-dragon-really-got-
trained/)

~~~
davidgerard
The three-minute pop song is as formulaic, as horrible done badly, and as
wonderful done _well_. It's like haiku, for lots of money.

------
stfu
No way! I am pretty sure big data strongly indicated that based on the past
performance of similar movie structures these are going to perform strongly in
the future. And I am quite confident that the studios are already implementing
a data driven decision making process. At least since Google went around
pretending being able to predict the box office numbers/success of a movie
[1]...

[1]
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/07/googles-s...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/07/googles-
success-at-predicting-movie-success/)

~~~
ippisl
Gladwell did a piece on using computers to predict a hit formula :

[http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_10_16_a_formula.html](http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_10_16_a_formula.html)

------
jemfinch
What I'm more interested in, but the author (unfortunately) didn't expound
upon: tell me what movies _don 't_ follow the expected "beats". Those are the
ones I want to see.

------
6ren
It makes sense we'd refine our theory of story telling. It is modelling an
aspect of humanity, analogous to how lossy image compression models human
visual perception.

Along the way, we might have a spuriously precise theory, that excludes
perfectly good stories that would resonate with us.

But ultimately, when the theory is as accurate as it can be, it does not mean
that stories become formulaic. I don't just mean that some variation is still
possible. I mean that the theory is merely a way to communicate effectively -
like spelling and grammar, like public speaking techniques, and the
fundamental ancient story rules, like having a narrative, having characters,
having a problem to solve, having help from outside. Is having a narrative - a
sequence of events - really that limiting? Yes, it is. But you can still work
within that structure. There are infinite possibilities within it, the same
for any other framework for communication.

However, a more serious problem is that the "theory" of summer blockbusters is
not modelling the human story perception at all - it is modelling the
particular demographic of male-adolescent story perception. Who knew? I think
it's perfectly fine that some particular demographic is being served - like
bubble gum pop music. Other movies are still being made, with the long tail,
as are books and blogs etc.

And, really, male adolescents are not _completely_ divorced from the rest of
humanity. We can still enjoy their films.

------
cafard
After seeing "Top Gun" ca. 1986, I said to those I went with that Hollywood
had forgotten how to make movies. It knew how to make commercials (TG is full
of sequences that would fit right into a Navy recruiting commercial) and music
videos ("You've lost that loving feeling"), but that was about it. The rest of
the movie was negligible, though perhaps I should have added in video games to
allow for the fighter-jet stuff.

But was it ever that different? The stuff we still watch is the exception.
Hollywood cranked out a hell of a lot of stuff 80 and 70 years ago that nobody
but a film studies graduate student could bring himself to sit through. Read
for example S.J. Perelman on how the studios worked.

As for "adolescent men coming to grips with who they are", arrested
development is one of Hollywood's favorite subjects. I noticed this in
watching "Sideways", but would Dean and Brando have ever made their names
without it?

[Edit]

On consideration, isn't "adolescent men coming to grips with who they are" a
large theme in Western literature? (And I suppose, but can't cite, other
literatures also.) The Odyssey kicks off with Athena inspiring Telemachus to
independence. Shakespeare's Henry IV plays are all about Prince Hal becoming
Henry V. _War and Peace_ follows three men from adolescence to maturity, and
one of them, Prince Andrei, to a couple of levels. And I think one could find
examples of literature following adolescent women through.

------
philmcc
You don't actually have a problem with movies using formulas, you have a
problem with them feeling formulaic. (Chances are.)

Formulas exist because, when followed properly, they work. For the casual
movie viewer, I'm sure that 90% of your favorite movies adhere to this
structure, more or less. That, alone, won't cause your movie to feel bad.

There are countless other variables that affect whether or not a movie feels
formulaic but, very roughly, I'd suggest that it's when a writer/production
team feels like the formula -alone- is enough, that it should work. The beats
are just there, but there's still no pulse.

IMHO, this summer, Fast Six nailed the beats perfectly, and people walked away
mostly satisfied. Man Of Steel didn't, people were unhappy. Most Pixar movies
are lockstep with this structure. Few people gripe about the formulaic pixar
movies.

You could probably convince me that movies, as an artform, are more or less
built for this structure in the same way that sonnets have a particular rhyme
scheme. Sure you can make other kinds of poems, but if the audience really
likes sonnets, what's the point? I think the average movie-goer really likes
Sonnets, so to speak. And there's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone has
seen enough movies to develop an appetite for The Tree of Life.

Note: I've read Save the Cat, have studied screenwriting at a graduate level,
and have a (very humble) IMDB listing. So consider this my 2.1 cents worth.

------
snikolic
I would argue that this trend stretches back well before "Save the Cat" or
even Syd Field or Joseph Campbell, all the way to Aristotle. This isn't really
new stuff.

A few years ago I was backpacking through the Gobi desert and stayed with a
Mongolian family. On the floor next to my bed I found a copy of Syd Field's
famous guide to screenwriting. Until that moment, I hadn't realized just how
widespread this philosophy of storytelling had become.

------
anigbrowl
_When Snyder published his book in 2005, it was as if an explosion ripped
through Hollywood._

Yes, like _The Writer 's Journey_ was an explosion that ripped through
hollywood, and _Story_ and a bunch of other books. It's amusing and
instructive to look at classics like the Iliad or Macbeth through this
structural formule. Clearly, this nefarious writer also owns a time machine!

Hey, I think that story could sell...

------
icesoldier
Sounds to me like someone just packaged up the Monomyth[0] in a version that
makes more sense for movies. Formula in fiction is not necessarily new, as the
article points out at the end. The trick is to dress it up, change it around,
or throw it out if necessary.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth)

~~~
pazimzadeh
Also
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Writer%27s_Journey:_Mythic_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Writer%27s_Journey:_Mythic_Structure_For_Writers)

------
x0054
It's not that they are so formulaic, it's that they are so identical. It's as
if every one who used bootstrap for web design also used identical color
schemes and layouts.

Take a look at the upcoming "RIP Department." It's like someone just took the
Men in Black script and replaced all references to aliens with references to
the undead. It's the same movie!

------
lukifer
Stories have always made use of templates and archetypes. However, I vastly
prefer Dan Harmon's story circle:
[http://media.screened.com/uploads/0/4570/673288-danharmonsto...](http://media.screened.com/uploads/0/4570/673288-danharmonstorytellingchartwired.jpg)

~~~
robin2
Apparently Michael Moorcock swears by the Lester Dent Master Plot Formula:
[http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/dent.html](http://www.paper-
dragon.com/1939/dent.html)

------
hristov
I remember an old Vladimir Nabokov quote that is very apropos to this. I do
not remember the quote exactly and i do not have the book with me, so I cannot
look it up, but it went something like this:

"The play was in perfect harmony with the modern rules of drama and
storytelling or, in other words, it was perfectly idiotic."

I read this quote about 10 years ago in a Nabokov short story but I keep
getting reminded of it whenever I see a modern movie. And they are getting
very idiotic. The strict plot structure is making characters say or do stupid
things just so the action can follow the predefined plot lines. This really
prevents one from creating believable characters. All the reverses (the false
victories and false losses) often make characters reverse themselves until
they become mostly unbelievable to anyone that tries to remember the entire
movie from beginning to end.

------
Semiapies
Structure is important to storytelling, or else you end up with something like
this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xslyoK9uobE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xslyoK9uobE)

On the other hand, _dang_ , you need more than going beat-by-beat with nothing
else to say.

------
gohrt
Oh boy, I can't wait to see the article Peter Suderman writes when he
discovers tvtropes.com.

------
gohrt
See also Dan Harmon's story circle, a less detailed version of this:
[http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_...](http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit)

------
ColinWright
Single page:

[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/07/hollyw...](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/07/hollywood_and_blake_snyder_s_screenwriting_book_save_the_cat.single.html)

------
guard-of-terra
These days I try to avoid going to movie unless it promises something
genuinely new and interesting.

All kinds of comic-inspired movies are hard no.

And when you spend less time on crap you actually begin to explore the good
parts!

~~~
angersock
Er, Avengers was pulled off pretty well.

I'm not sure that you should auto write-off comic movies...

~~~
guard-of-terra
I'm not sure I lost anything by not watching it.

~~~
anigbrowl
How would you know, though? I personally found it Good Fun, but some other
films such as The Dark Knight mentioned above are masterpeices, comic origin
or not.

Incidentally, Joss Whedon's latest film (which he made in his spare time
between shooting and editin g _The Avengers_ ) is a fantastic rendition of
Shakespeare's _Much Ado about nothing_ , and stars some of the same actors.

~~~
guard-of-terra
I saw The Dark Knight and I would not have lost anything if I didn't. What's
so good about it? Yes it has one or two nice jokes; the whole Joker character
is nice; but not enough to agonize thru a 3 hour movie.

(Inception was even more boring, they have one good joke and no Joker)

While Avatar, for example, is a movie that does deliver something you would
not have if you didn't watch it.

~~~
anigbrowl
_De gustibus non est disputandem_ (an ancient proverb stating 'in matters of
taste, there is nodispute [that can result in an objective conclusion]).

Ironically, the plot of Avatar is largely a retread of an animated 1992 film
called Ferngully
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest)).
Other than showcasing some interesting 3d technology, and high-quality CG,
it's not particularly groundbreaking. Come to think of it, the most impressive
thing about Avatar (with a few years' perspective to think about it) was the
marketing campaign.

~~~
colomon
Avatar also owes a lot to Disney's Pocahontas, which is itself a blend of an
old American legend with West Side Story, which is a retelling of Romeo and
Juliet, which was based on an old Italian story....

------
yurylifshits
Notes on screenplay structures by Reddit's CEO Yishan Wong

[http://algeri-wong.com/yishan/things-i-learned-from-my-
wifes...](http://algeri-wong.com/yishan/things-i-learned-from-my-wifes-
screenwriting-education-part-i.html)

Vladimir Propp was the original pioneer of narrative structures, published the
foundational research on fairytale sequences in 1928
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp)

~~~
anigbrowl
You might want to check into Aristotle's _Poetics_.

------
ricardobeat
For anyone still doubtful of how much structure and intent there is in a
screenplay, this deconstruction of Jurassic Park is an amazing read:
[http://www.blakesnyder.com/2013/04/05/the-jurassic-park-
beat...](http://www.blakesnyder.com/2013/04/05/the-jurassic-park-beat-sheet/)

While not exactly following the 'save the cat' formula, and probably being a
much better movie for that, it clearly rests on the same principles.

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callmeed
I have read this book 3x and it has always been a favorite.

The thing is, as soon as you read this book, you'll recognize the formula in
most movies you watch, _including_ movies that came out before the book and
especially family + rom-com movies.

Personally, I doubt the book is responsible. It just heightened awareness.
After all, Hollywood rarely likes to take risks. If a formula works, they're
going to green light such projects.

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6ren
It's a refinement of the Hero's Journey (see Vogler's memo; Joseph Campbell).

The formula itself:
[http://www.slate.com/content/slate/sidebars/2013/07/the_save...](http://www.slate.com/content/slate/sidebars/2013/07/the_save_the_cat_beat_sheet.html)

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lazyeye
Globalization is a significant influence on screenwriting big films. Because
blockbuster are now being produced for a global market they turn up the
special effects and visual action and turn down the plot subtlety and
complexity which might otherwise be confusing to a non-English speaking
audience.

~~~
icebraining
I don't get it, why do you assume a non-English speaking audience would be
more confused by subtlety and complexity? From my experience, Hollywood movies
have always been less subtle than the films from most other countries. And not
only in movies; for example, British comedy seems to be turned into a
caricature of itself when remade in the US.

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6ren
About 2/3...3/4 the way through, the mood felt a bit forced, and it occurred
to me that he was applying the formula to the piece itself.

This may be a taste of the problem... but I think it's more imperfect
application than damning the formula itself.

Like grammar, it constrains but doesn't limit.

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linuxhansl
Not surprised. It's not about making a good movie, but about making money.
Specifically making money safely, with low risk. Making a different movie is
risky, and thus producers prefer tried formulas, no rough edges, no thinking
really.

Shame.

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vampirechicken
The write lost me completely when he complained about the main character of
the Oz movie being the main character of the book on which it's based.

That's just stupid. I want my three minutes back.

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biot
It sounds like a good way to bootstrap a movie script. If someone came up with
the same type of framework but for web development, would we end up with a lot
of formulaic startups?

~~~
icebraining
Well, we already have a lot of formulaic web designs thanks to Bootstrap.

~~~
biot
It appears my reference was too oblique...

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VladRussian2
couple notes:

\- did author himself followed some formula (essay, etc..)writing this
article?

\- after watching many Hollywood movies during last decade, i recently re-
watched (as i had almost forgot the content of the movie, it was almost like
watching for the first time) "For a fistful of dollars" \- about half the
movie in i was ready and felt like it was the climactic end with the showdown
(bank robbery) and was genuinely surprised that it continues well beyond it

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foobarqux
For anyone else who doesn't like Hollywood here are some recent film
recommendations:

New World (South Korea)

Le Capital (France)

The Berlin File (South Korea) (although the end is disappointingly formulaic)

After Fall, Winter

~~~
icebraining
I liked Barbara (Germany) and Lore (Australia/Germany), both from last year.
The former reminds me of a verse from Pink Floyd's _Time_.

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TrevorJ
It's like anything else - to create, it is first helpful to be able to
deconstruct examples first and understand how they work.

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steve19
Is there an equivalent popular/influential book for modern fiction?

