Embrace the Beats!

In this podcast, inspired by a recent Save the Cat!@ Weekend Intensive she taught, Master Cat Naomi Beaty shows how movies of any type can share a basic structure and still engage audiences with new, interesting ideas. When a writer asks, “Will the beats work for <<my kind>> of story?” Naomi provides the answer: Don’t fear the beats—they actually stimulate creativity.

She points to beat sheets of Pulp Fiction (in Save the Cat! Goes to the Indies); the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?; and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies)—3 very different films that all hit the beats, delivering engaging stories with satisfying “rides” and resolutions.