January 10
12 comments
January 10
12 comments
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“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” It’s interesting—and refreshing—to see such repudiation of the SAVE THE CAT formula. Though I’ve always appreciated it for helping me break a story, I’ve often felt confined by it, choosing to simply drop beats if they didn’t feel natural for the story I was writing (while feeling guilty for it).
Thanks, David. When I first started screenwriting, I told my screenwriting teacher (Tom Vaughn) that I hated structure! But, he told me that once I learned the rules, then I could “break” them. As you’ve eloquently stated in this piece, it’s not about following a formula. Every story has it’s own structure – it’s own character and heartbeat. The three-act structure of four-act structure and beyond, acts a guide – not a solution. In my mind, every story has a beginning, middle, and end. What happens in between is…life. The character’s life. This is the approach I shifted to some years ago – not relying on “hitting” this or that on page 10 or 20. I’m still a work in progress and ever evolving, so I appreciate this reminder, and I will be using the beat sheet!
Saved the Cat was my first required book during my MFA. It was drilled into us as the first and foremost structure to follow. It’s a relief to know that the structural game has expanded!
Question: Did the AI robots get this memo? It seems as new writers we have to survive the cyber gauntlet before human eyes that are aware of these changes – get a chance to see if your piece is a game-changer and profitable.
Like life, storytelling is always evolving. There are some solid truths to adhere to, but if the fundamentals are honed, it is more fulfilling to read and also write scripts that differ from everything else made before. SINNERS is a great example. Thanks for letting us know the new rules.
The easy way to find out is to write a prompt for professional-level screenplay analysis at Google Gemini, Perplexity, ChatGPT, ClaudeAI or whichever LLM you use. Ask it to breakdown the structure of some contemporary screenplays from the library and, perhaps some of your work. Compare the output.
Cool. Just tried that. Gave some good responses that pointed out weaknesses. It’s not perfect, but many suggestions were actionable and will lead to overall improvement.
Super informative – deleting Save the Cat as my blueprint is type hard but there’s definitely a new wave of storytelling. I’ve always written features with one protagonists journey told from several POVs.. thank God that type of formatting is very relevant today otherwise I’d be in bad shape. My question is do we write original pieces or a sequel to proven IP?
Brilliant. I listened, took notes and downloaded the OBS beat sheet. I will now apply all of this gold to my own learning curve. Thank you! Interestingly enough, some of the most unlikeable characters can be fascinating. I think some of this comes down to finding the core of their humanity.
I find that one of the challenges that I have to overcome is the need to always make my protagonist totally likable. Sometimes, doing that makes the character seem very one dimensional. This, as well as the other start of the year articles, are so helpful.
People who are seasoned writers could probably get away from using templates like SAVE THE CAT, but I would recommend new writers still follow some kind of format. As a former contest script reader, I’ve read many scripts that meandered all over the place. They were not compelling reads.
For newbie writers, I agree. That’s why I had to stop being a reader!