When Do You Use the Beat Sheet?
naomi beaty and don roff
1 min read
How do you integrate the beat sheet in your writing process? Naomi Beaty and Don Roff provide a cornucopia of answers among these considerations: Is the right character at the center of your story? Should you start with the Final Image? How much do you rely on the beat sheet as you write? How much does your beat sheet change as your characters change? How important is it to know your genre? What is a “beatment” and how could it help you? How do you build to the Midpoint? And… how do you use the beat sheet to shape your rewrite?
[art: Anthony Tomine for The New Yorker]
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naomi beaty and don roff
Naomi Beaty is a screenwriter and script reader who was mentored by Blake Snyder and worked with him on Save the Cat!® Goes to the Movies. She was an editor of Save the Cat!® Goes to the Indies and teaches in both our online and in-person writing workshops. Award-winning author Don Roff has written nearly 20 books, including Snowblind and the upcoming Clare at 16, which is being produced as a film by Dead Rabbit Films.
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4 Comments
Hi Naomi & Don,
Another very informative podcats…
You’ve inspired me to use my Beat Sheet during my current rewrite. As Don suggested, I’m going to rewrite my Beat Sheet using my revised script to see if I’ve hit all the beats. What a great idea!
Thanks,
Bob Woods
Believe you will find this a useful and laser-focused tool in your revision process, Bob. Thanks for listening and happy revising!
Great podcast. It’s filled with nuggets of valuable information.
Thank you for listening, Lynda!