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ghosthills's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.75
It's a classic so you feel like you have to read it... but it's also a bit of a memoir and is very of its era and perspective. The actual explanation of "saving the cat" is a great lesson though, and was the one bit I'll remember to take into my writing. I read this as an audiobook on my daily commute though so I couldn't take notes and as such a lot of it is in one ear and out the other. Only the cat part stuck.
Content Warnings
internetspacegirl's review against another edition
2.0
some helpful insight but felt very basic on its level of advice. additionally, i dont really know how much i can trust the word of someone who's movies he wrote got a 2 and 2.5 star rating like yiiikes
ultimatumman's review against another edition
3.0
Good introduction book to screenwriting. More experienced writers would enjoy this, but would probably find other screenwriting books more relevant to their experience level.
johnbreeden's review against another edition
5.0
There are some solid recommendations in this book. As someone who's considering writing a novel, the idea of the beats makes sense from a different perspective. I've seen several referrals from published authors to this book. I'll have to agree that it makes some good points. I have markers for places that, as I plan, I intent to go back to. It is definitely written for its audience of screenwriters, but the storytelling applications reach beyond just that single method.
anitaashland's review against another edition
4.0
This has excellent tips for coming up with log lines, titles, and structuring a story using a board and index cards. This book would benefit all types of writers, not just screenwriters.
amandaleigh518's review against another edition
3.0
This was an okay read. I won't say it was a total waste of time. Some of the information on structure proved to be useful. I don't know if I'll follow it to a T because it seems very regimented but the general idea could be helpful.
I felt his tone was pompous and arrogant. His views seemed very "my way or the highway." I liked some of the movies he criticized. And some of the rules I don't agree with. Some almost feel like they're insulting the intelligence of the audience.
But there was some useful information. I did find some of the stories about spec script sales interesting and entertaining. Plus, using a cork board to help with plotting books seems to be helping. An okay read.
I felt his tone was pompous and arrogant. His views seemed very "my way or the highway." I liked some of the movies he criticized. And some of the rules I don't agree with. Some almost feel like they're insulting the intelligence of the audience.
But there was some useful information. I did find some of the stories about spec script sales interesting and entertaining. Plus, using a cork board to help with plotting books seems to be helping. An okay read.
patrickwadden's review against another edition
2.0
To be fair, Blake Snyder reveals in the opening pages of the book that he thinks, lives & dies by the dollar. He claims this book will make you a screenwriter, which I believe to be technically true, as long as you don't mind making extremely generic and repetitive films for your career. If you want a guaranteed income in the screen biz, this ain't bad. If you want to make art, move along.
Blake Snyder has boiled down the essentials of writing into what some may call science, but I would call a set-in-stone no-fun formula. Literally, beat for beat and with little leeway for subversion of genre/ creativity. He does not speak one word of how critically appraised by fans or academics films should be, but instead is concerned with creating a bidding war for your script.
He comes off very confident, burgeoning a tad bit on cocky for me, which he does have the paycheck to show for it (as he explicitly tells you in chapter one), but his movies are panned across the board. And I guess to a certain extent you need to sound this way when you're writing a book in the 2nd perspective, a teaching book. But I can't help but compare this with the great 'Adventures of the Screentrade' by William Goldman. Although that book was much older, I took much more away from the self-conscious Bill that constantly doubted his writings and would wear this on his sleeve, while he wrote great pieces!
If there's anything I wanted from this book after getting dug into it is one little paragraph saying "here are all the rules and the page-by-page of making a movie but try to break one rule for your next piece and see how that affects it..."
If the Pen is indeed mightier than the sword, by GOD, don't live & die by your own pen.
Blake Snyder has boiled down the essentials of writing into what some may call science, but I would call a set-in-stone no-fun formula. Literally, beat for beat and with little leeway for subversion of genre/ creativity. He does not speak one word of how critically appraised by fans or academics films should be, but instead is concerned with creating a bidding war for your script.
He comes off very confident, burgeoning a tad bit on cocky for me, which he does have the paycheck to show for it (as he explicitly tells you in chapter one), but his movies are panned across the board. And I guess to a certain extent you need to sound this way when you're writing a book in the 2nd perspective, a teaching book. But I can't help but compare this with the great 'Adventures of the Screentrade' by William Goldman. Although that book was much older, I took much more away from the self-conscious Bill that constantly doubted his writings and would wear this on his sleeve, while he wrote great pieces!
If there's anything I wanted from this book after getting dug into it is one little paragraph saying "here are all the rules and the page-by-page of making a movie but try to break one rule for your next piece and see how that affects it..."
If the Pen is indeed mightier than the sword, by GOD, don't live & die by your own pen.
clayjs's review against another edition
4.0
A smart book for dumb people who want to write screenplays, Save the Cat! makes it about as easy as it could possibly be. Blake Snyder's shifty filmography and shiftier taste in movies aside, he's come closer than anyone else out there to conceiving of a usable formula for screenwriting. If you're interested in the way stories are structured in the industry, this is the Cliffnotes, and once you've read it, you'll be surprised how religiously its tenets are followed by Hollywood's story people.