Skip to main content

Developing a Meta-Theatre Comedy – The Play with Speeches

 

Developing a Meta-Theatre Comedy – The Play with Speeches. Plus, New Beat Sheet Workshop!
View this email in your browser
News & Updates From Our Master Cats

Developing a Meta-Theatre Comedy – The Play with Speeches


When it comes to the stories he likes to tell, guest writer James Woolf -- who took a 2009 workshop with Blake Snyder in London -- is no stranger to breaking traditions while being a stickler for structure. His latest triumph is no exception: a stage play made up of a series of audition speeches. On this week's blog, he illustrates how Blake's Beat Sheet helped him weave all the pieces together.
 
READ MORE »

NOW ENROLLING FOR THE MARCH 11-19 WORKSHOP!

 

Save the Cat!® Beat Sheet Workshop

 

Start with an idea and finish with the 15 beats of your story, across 4 LIVE 2.5-hour sessions on Zoom with Master Cat John Yearley.

A MAXIMUM OF 8 STUDENTS MEANS YOU WILL BE GUIDED BY THE INSTRUCTOR STEP-BY-STEP, BEAT-BY-BEAT.

You'll...

  • Find your story according to Blake’s four elements of every successful logline.

  • Learn to “beat out” your story using the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet (the BS2).

  • Pitch your story to the class using the 15 key beats every successful story must have.

  • Pitch your pillar beats: Opening Image, Catalyst, Break into 2, Midpoint, Break into 3, Final Image.

  • Discover the five steps that make a great finale.

  • Pitch your entire beat sheet.

ENROLL NOW »

Learn How to Write a Great Pilot

STILL TIME TO REGISTER!


Triple down on your goal to get your stories onscreen with 3 sessions of expert TV-writing instruction! Watch the remaining live session and the recording of the first two sessions.

We're proud to announce our brand new TV Pilot Webinar beginning at the end of January, where Save the Cat! Writes for TV author Jamie Nash lays out the absolute essentials of developing a compelling TV series.
 
REGISTER NOW »

Save the Cat! 5.0 Is Here: Introducing Our Focused Layout


We've been listening carefully to our subscribers, and are proud to unveil the newest evolution of the software you've trusted for all your story plotting needs. Introducing Save the Cat! 5.0 -- featuring a new interface that gives you instant access to all the key elements of your narrative. Story structuring has never been so streamlined!

CHECK IT OUT »

SAVE THE CAT! LATEST RELEASES

LEARN MORE

2023 Save the Cat! Challenge Open for Submissions!


The SAVE THE CAT!® SCREENPLAY CHALLENGE is the only screenwriting competition that offers a guaranteed full read and a detailed 50-point analysis of every script you submit. Don't miss your chance to compete for our grand prize, which includes a 3-day trip to Los Angeles, a live table read, industry meetings and more!

Submit your feature film, 60-minute, and 30-minute TV pilots now!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Breaking up Your Story into Beats

  What scenes or story beats do you need to tell this story? You’ll add what you need to the basic framework you already have in your premises. Let’s work from the Jackie Chan Adventures premises we have so you can see how it’s done.   Basic structure of Jackie Chan Adventures: “Queen of the Shadowkhan”  Premise: •Jade, as one of the main characters, is the star of this episode. Her character fl aw is her need for peer acceptance/respect. This fl aw motivates a whole chain of problems for everyone around her. •We go to the end to see what, if anything, she learned. She learns not to succumb to peer pressure, and she realizes that indeed she did not succumb to Shendu’s pressure. (Theme: Respect earned from someone you admire is better than respect from all others!) •Jade’s initial goal is to be cool (have a tattoo) and gain respect. That snowballs as she begins to abuse the respect she gets from the ninjas. •Shendu is the villain who uses Jade in an attempt to destroy Ja...

Three Acts

  “Leaves of three, let them be.” A helpful little phrase when it comes to avoiding poison oak in the woods, but when it comes to your  screenplay , three absolutely is company. This is the core of screenwriting.  Three Act Structure is your framework and the almighty epoxy of  the screenplay . These three parts, often literally taking place in different worlds – physically and/or figuratively – can work independently of each other, yet when connected, they build a solid whole. 

Q&A – Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (Bob Stookey)

  Actor Lawrence Gilliard Jr., who plays Bob Stookey on AMC’s  The Walking Dead,  talks about his apocalypse-ready clarinet skills and how his character from  The Wire would react to zombies. Q: You’ve been in a lot of crime-centric shows. Were you excited to do something different on The Walking Dead ? A: Yeah absolutely. You get to play and have more fun and be more creative when you’re doing a show like this. Killing zombies — that’s what you do as a kid! Now I get to do it as a grownup. I definitely looked forward to the change and I’m having fun. Q: Your character is a medic. Do you have any skills that would be useful in the apocalypse? A: I play clarinet. I also play the drums, so I could keep the spirits lively and entertain everyone. That’s all I could do. Q: Bob is a pretty good shot. Did you do any weapons training for the role? A: None so far. When I was young, I learned to shoot, so I don’t really need any training for that. Q: You’ve...