I have never worked harder on any project than I have writing Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies.
This is the effort of a career’s worth of insight into what makes stories work, and two solid years of watching and re-watching and re-watching the 50 movies I talk about in the book.
And we are nearly done.
What I have learned in the last six weeks and put into the final-final changes in the book is truly remarkable.
At last I feel like I have done what I set out to do: Find a unified field theory of screenwriting!
This book is about two things: genre and structure. It can be used by screenwriters, development executives, and movie fans to better get at what makes a movie work. But it will be the most useful for working screenwriters.
What KIND of movie are you writing? That’s what the 10 genres in the book are about. While flying back and forth to Spain last week, I caught a lot of movies on ze plane. While watching Blood Diamond, I realized, ah-ha! it’s a Golden Fleece and follows EXACTLY the rules of what a good GF must include. Also saw the movie Shooter, and realized that though it is a great example of a Dude with a Problem (DWAP) story, it veered from some of the rules of it — and was a less powerful film because of that.
As to structure? It is THE KEY to telling a good story. And what I have discovered in that past few weeks is how AMAZING it is to find how the Theme Stated moment — that occurs in EVERY good movie — ties in to the B story, and tells us what this movie is about.
I can go on. For those of you who have read only the galley copies of this book, the changes we are making now blow away earlier drafts! This book is now so precise, and so, dare I say, essential, to understanding story that I get a little giddy just thinking about it.
It is THE tool we will need to crack any story problem, and unlike any other screenwriting guide out there, gives us something we can actually DO to solve the problems we face every day.
Do I sound excited? I am!!
So, back to work, just a little more, just a little better.
Oh! But before I go, here’s a photo of the Cat!alonians workshop in Barcelona, Spain.
We spent a week together figuring out and discussing story structure in the scripts these writers are working on, and they did amazing work. That Board behind me was filled many times over! We had a ball. We were interviewed for Spanish television, got photographed and interviewed for two English-speaking newspapers there, and even got to see a little of the locality. Thanks to Marian and Simon of Actors Space for making the event such a huge success. Check out their site for further examples of the great performing arts workshops they sponsor, all against the stunning backdrop of Catalonya. Fabulous.
Okay.
Back to work!
