Blake Snyder

THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACK poster

We’ve just received this email from filmmaker Dave Sharkey in Seattle:

“So what do you do when you have no way to prepare, only 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and master a 8 minute movie to DVD? You turn to Save the Cat! Software and the big board, of course. My name is Dave Sharkey, a Seattle Producer, and I’m an alumni of TheFilmSchool in Seattle, WA, where John Jacobson introduced us to Save the Cat method & software. A group of TheFilmSchool alumni (including myself) and a few other Seattle filmmakers competed in the 48 Hour Film Contest as a team called “Remote Viewing Apparatus.” We were able to secure the Seattle Monorail for our location thanks to help from the Mayor’s Office on Film & Music, but we knew the secret to success would be a great script. It’s about the STORY.

Our goal was to use what we had learned to make the best story complete with 3 acts, beats, & conflict in 8 minutes. Well, at 7 p.m. Friday, we drew Romance as our Genre, nail file for a prop, the line: “What time do you get off?”, and the character: Mike Jordache, a paparazzi. We used the Save the Cat software set to 7 pages, set the genre to Buddy Love and followed the revised beat sheet. Then we set up the board on the table, and handed out blank 3×5 cards to brain storm. It was a great tool to work as a group while keeping us focused on the beats. We had a complete script by morning, and thanks to a great cast & crew, we wrapped at 10 p.m. Saturday. The editors took over and by Sunday, we had created the short, Wrong Side of the Track, shot entirely on the Seattle Monorail.

We received an email yesterday that our entrée won the Audience Award for our showing. It will be up on the contest site www.48hourfilm.com in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the Save the Cat method & the software - it really works.”

Screenwriter Mark David Hatwood

One of the first Save the Cat! seminars took place in a castle in England. It’s true. That class at the Cornwall Film Festival was held on the grounds of an amazing medieval estate. It was there I met so many writers who would become my friends, and the first to hear me say: “You can do it!” — even while jet-lagged. Just heard from one of the writers I met there, Mark Hatwood, who’s finally seeing his screenplay come to life.  Marcello Marcello is a charming tale of a boy’s first love and, as the poster below indicates, will be premiering on the “big screen” (and that is not hyperbole)  August 12th at the International Film Festival of Locarno, Switzerland. The showing will be on the Piazza Grande on what is literally the biggest screen in the world and a potential crowd of 5,000. Mark writes that Save the Cat! “has become my bible” and wanted to keep us up to date as I had requested. I am truly impressed with Mark’s achievement and wish I could be there to say: Bravo! Best of luck, Mark, and thanks for keeping in touch!

The Marcello Marcello Poster

Doug Spoors

A day after The Great American Pitchfest, we received this email from writer Doug Spoors. Like many of those I spoke to this past weekend, Doug found the event to be a great success. Congratulations to all!

“Blake,

I can’t thank you enough for your input on my logline. As it turns out, I changed the logline and it changed my pitch. While having my morning coffee before the pitches began, it finally clicked completely… the logline is the pitch! If you can get the story into a really great logline, you’ll have a really great pitch! After I did it a couple times, I had a pitch with an agent who told me at the end: ‘Wow, I gotta tell you, you have that pitch down perfectly! That is nothing less than amazing… Great job!’

As it turned out, I pitched to 14 studios, developers, production companies, etc. (all non-agents) and 12 out of 14 wanted more …. even after I told them the script was only up to plot point 1 at 30 pages, they all wanted the treatment and more. One even asked that we get together in the next two weeks to discuss an option.

Then I turned to pitching agents and managers - 100% interest at that point. I have my first meeting with a management company for this coming Wednesday.

What an amazing day! Thanks so much for your input - I could not believe that between the time of giving your class and by 5:00 p.m. I had your comments by email - you are an amazing person. If ever there is any way I can repay a favor, please please call on me!

Best regards,

Doug Spoors”

Saeed (and friends)

We’ve received this great news from screenwriter Saeed Faridzadeh:

“My screenplay, Mittens (which stands for Multinodal Intelligence uniT v10), got second place in the family category in the Storypros screenplay competition.

And to think this all started on an impulse buy of your book, that someone at another writers group mentioned to me! I bought on a whim, read it, loved it, and a week later when I went to the Writers Store, saw that you had a second book and would be doing a meet and greet there. A week later I saw you talk and KNEW I needed to attend your workshops.

I came into your Beat Sheet Workshop with a script about a lonely girl and a snarky cyborg cat, and I thought I had gold. Then I realized it needed some serious work, but came out with a better story. Then going into the second workshop, your Master Class, I thought that what I had coming out of the first was, once again, gold, but found it still needed work… and once again came out with a seriously revamped story that ended up MUCH MUCH better.

That second workshop got me the script I ended up submitting to Storypros, and landed the second place. But what’s funny is that the fellow LA Cats read that version and gave me even more notes that helped make that story even better. So now I have what I hope is a kick-ass script that has evolved and come a long way.

This second place is proof to me that I’ve got something here with Mittens. And I owe you so much. Your book, those two weekend workshops, and the great Save the Cat! LA Group are the best things to have happened to my writing.

And one day, your book will have a chapter devoted to the beats of Mittens.

Thanks for everything so far. Now I’ve got to sell this sucker!”

Saeed www.thezerospace.com

The prolific Ian Noakes

We just received this terrific email from screenwriter Ian Noakes:

Hi Blake,

I just wanted to say thanks for Save the Cat! I was introduced to your book by a writer I collaborated with, and we used your book and beat sheet to help us write our first thriller. After we completed our script, Dark Passenger, we sent it off for coverage and it garnered a RECOMMEND. We were able to use the endorsement letter and coverage we received to secure an option agreement for high five to low six figures. The producer hopes to be in production within a year, and all eyes coming into contact with the script continue to be impressed.

Coverage quote: “Dark Passenger is one of the rare instances where a drama\thriller actually provides enough depth of character, entertainment value, logic grounded more or less in science, and complexity to lure us in at once and never let go from start to finish. In this reader’s opinion, it is much better than any number of produced films in recent memory.”

Since DarkPassenger, I’ve had two options, three commissions to pen two thrillers and a comedy series (six episodes go into production this summer), plus I’ve had three of my latest scripts requested by a big management/production company. I have found the beat sheet an excellent tool for my writing, but I think your readers also need to take note of the numerous tips you put in your book, especially the one you name the book after: Save the Cat!

Anyhow, many thanks… I’d better crack on.

Best regards,

Ian D Noakes

www.iannoakes.com

 Frederick Ayeroff on the Ace of Hearts set in Vancouver.

I met Frederick Ayeroff today at the Beverly Hills High School Career Day. I was excited to meet him — but I was more excited when he sent me this:

Dear Blake,

From you I learned to condense my ideas into a single, effective sentence.  So how’s this: With your brilliant books as my north star, I wrote two original screenplays in quick succession – both of which got filmed and will be released in 2008.  Ace of Hearts, a family drama from Fox and Peace Arch Films, is now widely available at Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Amazon, etc.  Soccer Mom, a family comedy co-starring Emily Osment and Missi Pyle, will be released theatrically on September 30.

The blank page is much less daunting with STC! on my desk right next to the dictionary and thesaurus. 

Gratefully,
Frederick Ayeroff 

In the Writers Store Tent with PitchFest’s Signe Olynyk.

This past weekend, Save the Cat! was part of the LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA. Over 150,000 attended the event and our little corner of the world was overwhelmed with visitors. Among our tent mates were Anne Lower, our partner at Final Draft, Signe Olynyk of Great American Pitchfest, and the good guys and good buys of The Writers Store — the amazing Dana, Mario, Sam, John and the Writers Store owner, Jesse. Also on hand were a couple of surprise visitors including Kevin Hogan, one of our Barcelona Cats in town to pitch the script he wrote last summer after our workshop. Thanks to everyone who made the festival such a smashing success!

Gary Wheeler with Malcolm McDowell on the set of The List

Hey Blake,

My name is Gary Wheeler and I am a filmmaker in NC. I’m in the final stages of selling my last film (wrote and directed), The List, to Fox. It had a small theatrical run last year and a big DVD release is scheduled for June 10th for Fathers Day. It stars Malcolm McDowell and Will Patton.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that after finishing my deliverables two weeks ago I took my family on vacation to the beach. I picked up Save the Cat! to read while I was there. I too have read them all - McKee, 21 days, etc - and worked with Linda Seger on my last three films. But Save the Cat! changed everything. It was amazing and practical. I’ve been hired to write and direct a novel called “The Sacrifice” (a Whydunit?… The List is Dude with a Problem) and am in the beginning stages of the adaptation. As I read STC I kept telling my wife - “This is it,” “I’ve got it now,” etc.

I bought three copies of the book, gave them to the author of the novel and the exec producers, and said this is the model we are going with.

Thanks for writing it… I’m telling everyone about it.

All the best,

Gary Wheeler
Co-Writer/Director - The List
www.thelist-themovie.com

Received this email from writer Michael Buchanan:

“Just a quick note to say thanks for writing your Save the Cat! books. They proved invaluable in my screenwriting efforts. My co-author and I were asked by the president of an Atlanta movie production company to write a family story that revolved around a true Southern legend. We came up with: How can three kids be helped by Civil War ghosts to find the lost gold of the Confederacy? The real gold has never been found and was with Jefferson Davis until the day he was captured in eastern Georgia. As novelists, we were able to come up with the tale and the essential riddle to be solved. But if it were not for your books and their “cut to the chase” style, we might still be floundering on Treasure of the Four Lions. At this point, we have two studios (Riverwood Productions, who did Fried Green Tomatoes, and Southern Sky Pictures) who have agreed to provide production facilities, distribution and post production, along with casting, etc. The deal is such that when investment monies for pre-production are in place, the movie is greenlit. To date, and with signed agreeements, three of the four million budgeted are set. I thought I would write to offer my thanks. I hope to meet you at a conference someday, thank you in person, and have you sign my copies of your books. You can read the synopsis on the movie website and about my co-author, Diane Lang, and I on the other.”

Check out these sites: www.fourlionsmovie.com www.micahschild.com