Save the Cat!® Podcats: Your B Story
jose silerio and naomi beaty
1 min read
The B Story is your opportunity to play out your Theme, but where does the B Story appear and when do you introduce your B Story Character? In this conversation that includes examples from Midnight in Paris and Back to the Future, you’ll hear how to bring your audience the information they need when they need it.
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jose silerio and naomi beaty
José Silerio, a screenwriter who served as Blake Snyder’s Development Director, has been integral to the success of Blake’s workshops and classes as he worked alongside Blake schooling writers in the Cat! method. Naomi Beaty is a screenwriter and script reader who was mentored by Blake and worked with him on Save the Cat!® Goes to the Movies. Both Jose and Naomi have written many blogs and beat sheets for this website.
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7 Comments
Excellent podcast!! Thank you so much for explaining this (& for using my topic suggestion. Yay! :-D) Very helpful!! Love these podcasts.
Christina,
Thank YOU for the suggestion and sorry we missed the chance to give you a personalized shout-out in the episode. Glad you found it helpful! 🙂
Naomi
Superb podcast! Jose and Naomi give great descriptions and examples.
A hint for you two. Sit comfortably in your chair and place the mic about chin level (place stand on books if needed). Make a “hang ten” sign with your hand and put the pinkie on the mic and the thumb on your chin and you are at a proper distance. Hang your coat on the wall behind you, and another on the wall directly in front of you and your sound will be perfect.
Thanks for the tips, Dale! You sound like you must know what you’re talking about. Appreciate the help and encouragement. 🙂
I think I ran across a good example of a B story that’s actually split between two plotlines, so you have the theme playing out in a B and a C story:
Good Will Hunting
A Damon vs Skarsgård
B Damon vs Driver
C Damon vs Williams
Both B and C stories push Will to consider what he wants from life, while Skarsgard’s character makes Will’s decisions for him.
Give that a watch and let me know. It seems like you have B and C lines in there expressing theme, not just the one story?
William, that’s a really interesting observation (and a movie I love). It sounds like you’re right on. Can’t wait to watch it again with that in mind. Thanks!
You could also consider Damon’s character passively resisting Williams and Skarsgård as action line stories.
Minnie Driver’s a crystal clearn relationship line.
I just don’t know about William’s plotline. I want to say it’s a relationship line, but I’m not quite convinced yet.