Instead, this is the moment to set up relationships, locations, character dynamics, and the theme. Set-Up (Pages 1-10)īoth "opening image" and "theme stated" come under the setup - the story hasn't kicked in yet. Often, this can be a piece of dialogue or implied through an image. While introducing the protagonist, you need to explicitly state the story's theme early so that the reader knows exactly what this story is about. If you're writing a rom-com, a shot of a scary-looking house might not be appropriate. Unfortunately, this isn't the place for a whimsical montage if you're writing a horror movie. The opening shot determines the tone and style of your script, so it's best for this to be striking and evocative. This is a Save the Cat beat sheet, split across four acts (act two is divided into act 2A and act 2B) Snyder highlights key aspects that every story should hit and what page they should show up on. Here's Savannah Gilbo's fantastic graphic to get us started: Your movie is divided into acts, and an act is composed of several scenes, which are all made up of beats. It leaves your audience considering what will happen next and adds more mystery and suspense to your film.Īnother way of thinking about story beats is as the smallest structural competent of your plot.
What is a Story Beat?Ī s tory beat is a moment in your screenplay that moves your story along. However, it can be made very complex, as we see in films such as Interstellar, which we will dive into later in this blog. Many people love this screenwriting structure because it's relatively straightforward and not as complex as others. However, even if you think you have your screenplay plotted impeccably, it can still be an excellent activity to study Save the Cat and see if you can tighten up any of your beats before sending it off to agents or directors. This screenwriting format is for people struggling with the structural aspects of their story.
The Save the Cat story structure originates from Blake Synder's book of the same name.
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