Have you ever tried writing a novel or a screenplay, and finding yourself struggling to figure out what to write in the next scene? This normally happens when you don’t have a clear picture of where the thing is going, or even if you do, what steps you need to take to get there.
Perhaps you might benefit from using tested and proven plotting tools. A lot of Hollywood’s best screenwriters use a technique of planning out the key frames throughout the story. This is called a beat sheet.
A beat sheet is a document that outlines your story from the first scene to the very last one. It lets you list out key plot points and crucial frames. One of the most popular beat sheet templates is the Save the Cat Beat Sheet.
What is Save the Cat Writing Method?
Blake Snyder first coined the screenwriting term “Save the Cat.” He is a speculative screenwriter who worked on the movie “Blank Check” which came out in 1994, and a few episodes of the TV series “Kids Incorporated,” which aired in 1993. He wrote about this strategy in his best-selling book, Save the Cat, published in 2005, to help authors plot dramatic structure.
The Save the Cat Beat Sheet uses fifteen plot points that authors can use to create your plot structure. This makes it a simple template that both screenwriters and novelists can use. What sets it apart from other beat sheets is that we start off the story with the protagonist doing something noble in order to win the audience’s admiration.
Why is it called Save the Cat?
The name for this framework came from the 1986 movie “Aliens,” where the scene opens and we find Officer Ripley’s cat gone, possibly captured by vicious extraterrestrials. As the protagonist works to “save the cat,” Snyder proposes that an effective way of winning the audience’s affection and loyalty is to show them doing something admirable from the get-go.
Save the Cat Beat Sheet Summary
This plotting tool actually elaborates on the classic 3-act story structure, expanding on the different acts to help you plot the scenes much more easily. Here are the plot points:
Act 1:
Opening Image – Setup – Theme Stated – Catalyst – Debate
Act 2:
Break into Two – B Story – Fun and Games – Midpoint – Bad Guys Close In – All is Lost – Dark Night
Act 3:
Break into Three – Finale – Final Image
It might seem a bit complicated to remember at first glance, but the key is to remember that this beat sheet is meant to help you time your scenes well. You can copy these headings on index cards or onto an Excel Sheet to guide you along.
Remember, your protagonist has a mission which some antagonistic force is trying to hinder. Keep this in mind as you bring your hero through the beginning scenes all the way to the midpoint.
When you get to the midpoint, this is where you reveal a big plot twist, and the hero is, by now, in a crucial decision point that could mean life or death. From then on, you lead the story towards the final scene, which can be a win or a loss for your protagonist.
Save the Cat Beat Sheet Plot Points
Here we will break down the details in each “beat” in the Save the Cat structure:
Beat #1. Opening Image
The opening image is the first impression you give your audience about your protagonist. Think of it as the “before” picture of who your protagonist is before anything changes to move your story forward.
This may possibly where you show your hero doing something that endears him to your audience. (Remember, get him to “save the cat.”)
Beat #2. Theme Stated
Next, you establish the theme. This can include your story arc (for example, a rags to riches, a Cinderella-type story, or a riches to rags telling of your hero’s downward spiral to ruin), or the life lesson you want your protagonist to learn.
Beat #3. Setup
Here, you go deeper into your protagonist’s life, perhaps showing his relationships and enemies. Use this scene also to show your hero’s tragic flaw, his misbelief, or his wrong expectations about future events.
Beat #4. Catalyst
By this time, you throw your protagonist into a major crisis: is it a divorce, a sickness, a death? Think of life-changing events. In other story structures, this is known as the inciting incident, which pushes your hero into making an earth-shattering decision that challenges their entire worldview.
Beat #5. Debate
In response to the catalyst, your protagonist is now wondering what to do next. This scene may include a friend who gives good advice but which your hero rejects or resists. A looming event can trigger this debate, and the scene shows the audience the character’s reluctance to make changes.
This then brings us neatly into Act 2.
Beat #6. Break into 2
The title is an easy way to remember that we’re now in Act 2.
Your protagonist now has to rise up to the occasion or else tragedy could occur. Perhaps it might require him to make a change, and find ways around roadblocks and other things that stand in the way.
Beat #7. B Story
Still in the first half of Act 2, you can have your protagonist meet a helper for their journey. This can be anyone: a mentor, an old or new friend, a love interest, or even a rival!
Beat #8. Fun and Games
As the title suggests, this is the part where you have fun: think of scenes where your protagonist can flounder in his efforts to meet his goal, or you can even have him succeed at some points.
Although it’s called “fun and games,” think of it also as the scene where you fulfill the promise you give in the overall summary of your story. For example, in Jaws (1975), the main promise is that the shark will eat someone. Throughout the first act, we see scenes that indicate the presence of the shark, but it’s only in this scene when the shark actually attacks a swimmer.
Perhaps a better way to think of it is that it’s “fun and games” UNTIL the inevitable happens.
Beat #9. Midpoint
Here we now reach roughly 50% of the storyline. At this point, your protagonists comes into a false victory or a false defeat.
Why false? It helps to raise—and dash—audience expectations to encourage them to keep reading, or watching, whichever the case may be.
Beat #10. Bad Guys Close In
After you show the false victory or defeat, things take a turn for the worse as the bad guys close in on your hero, which leads to tragic consequences. You’re essentially upping the stakes and urgency for your hero.
Beat #11. All is Lost
At this point, throw the ultimate curve ball at your protagonist: it could be a death or any other major loss that causes the world to crash down around him. You will want this scene to flow seamlessly into the next.
Beat #12. Dark Night of the Soul
In this reflective beat, you get to portray how much your protagonist has changed since the story began. Your character might have several realizations, or lessons that he or she learned along the way.
Beat #13. Break Into Three
Now you’re ready for Act 3, where your main character finally comes to terms with what he must to do fix the problem. For stories with a happy ending, this is where they come up better than ever before.
If you opt for ending your story on a tragic note, this is the time when your hero will realize his weaknesses, which may already be too late.
Beat #14. The Finale
You’re almost there! In this scene, your protagonist’s world is wholly chanaged: it can be that he has triumphed over his enemies, or achieved whatever goal he set out for in the first place.
Beat #15. Final Image
In movies, this is a final mirror of the cinematic image that opened in Beat 1 to show us the character. It may also be a literary paragraph mirror that kind of serves like book ends for the opening paragraphs.
Just as Beat #1 shows us a snapshot of who our hero is before the story unfolds, in Beat #15, we show a snapshot of who he has become after everything he went through. It shows the resolution of the whole theme or story arc, wrapping it up neatly and memorably for your audience.
Should You Use the Save the Cat Beat Sheet
Now, not all of us are plotters. Some prefer to write spontaneously. Even if you like to plan, you might have your own preferred structures to use. Still, we recommend you to give the Save the Cat Beat Sheet a shot.
Even if it may seem complicated at first, it can help you pick only the most necessary plot points to include in your outline, and that will already have saved you oodles of time in editing out irrelevant scenes from your first draft!
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- Using the Seven-Point Story Structure To Build Your Narratives
- Using a Short Story Structure to Write a Great Story
- Using the Dan Harmon Story Circle to Structure Your Narrative
- Freytag’s Pyramid and the Importance of a Dramatic Structure
Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
