FNB Op-Ed: Blake Snyder’s Last Love Letter to Hollywood

By Catherine Clinch

As we approach the annual ritual of Valentines and chocolates, champagne and bubble baths, long stemmed roses and naughty little silk thingies, it’s worth noting another offering of love from a Muse who is no longer with us.

In 2005, Blake Snyder burst onto the scene with a book that commanded us to “Save The Cat!” More boldly, the subtitle boasted that this was “The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need.” Definitely gutsy – bordering on arrogant – except that this claim had two strong legs to stand on. Rare among the world of authors who write books about how to write screenplays, Blake Snyder had two of his screenplays produced. “Blank Check” and “Stop! Or my Mom Will Shoot!” both earned respectable domestic box office receipts, but both of those pale in comparison to his other professional accomplishment. You see, Blake grabbed the golden ring that we all dream about – he sold a screenplay to Steven Spielberg!

But it was long after these accomplishments that Blake did something even more significant: He discovered a pattern that was hidden within every successful film story. Then, because he was a generous sort of fella, he figured out a way to explain it to the rest of us. The three books that make up the “Save The Cat” trilogy are focused on separate stages of the creative process and should be read sequentially. In the first book, Blake explains the pattern, fits it into a “beat sheet” and explores the ways that it can be effectively included in the creative process. In “Save The Cat Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter’s Guide To Every Story Ever Told,” Blake shows how the beat sheet fits into the structure of the ten specific genres of film story. Then he takes it a step further by analyzing three completely different films within each of these ten genres. Finally, he left us with “Save The Cat Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get Into … and Out Of.”

This last book is a summation of everything Blake learned by working with screenwriters at all levels in the five years since he embarked upon this teaching process. It was published posthumously after his sudden and untimely death last August. To those of us who knew and loved Blake, his passing left a hole in our hearts. To those who never had the privilege of meeting him, there is only one opportunity to experience his gifts. So, this Valentine’s Day, give your loved one (or yourself) three opportunities to increase the quality and productivity of your creative endeavors in Hollywood. They go exceptionally well with chocolate and champagne, can be read while taking a bubble bath or curled up in one of those naughty little silk thingies.

Catherine Clinch is the founder of Nuclear Family Films and is a frequent contributor to Film News Briefs. She can be reached at Catherine@Nuclearfamilyfilms.com.

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