Save the Cat Quotes

“True originality can’t begin until you know what you’re breaking away from.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“To be a screenwriter is to deal with an ongoing tug of war between breathtaking megalomania and insecurity so deep it takes years of therapy just to be able to say “I’m a writer” out loud.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“To know how to avoid the cliche, to know what tradition you are pushing forward, begins with knowing what that tradition is.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Save the what? I call it the “Save the Cat” scene. They don’t put it into movies anymore. And it’s basic. It’s the scene where we meet the hero and the hero does something — like saving a cat — that defines who he is and makes us, the audience, like him.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“You can be near the cliché, you can dance around it, you can run right up to it and almost embrace it. But at the last second you must turn away.
You must give it a twist.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“But here’s my little trade secret that I put into every All Is Lost moment just for added spice, and it’s something that many hit movies have. I call it the whiff of death. I started to notice how many great movies use the All Is Lost point to kill someone. Obi Wan in Star Wars is the best example — what will Luke do now?? All Is Lost is the place where mentors go to die, presumably so their students can discover “they had it in them all along.” The mentor’s death clears the way to prove that. But what if you don’t have an Obi Wan character? What if death isn’t anywhere near your story? Doesn’t matter. At the All Is Lost moment, stick in something, anything that involves a death. It works every time. Whether it’s integral to the story or just something symbolic, hint at something dead here. It could be anything. A flower in a flower pot. A goldfish. News that a beloved aunt has passed away. It’s all the same.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Because liking the person we go on a journey with is the single most important element in drawing us into the story.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“The point is that a good logline, in addition to pulling you in, has to offer the promise of more.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“The Covenant of the Arc is the screenwriting law that says: Every single character in your movie must change in the course of your story. The only characters who don’t change are the bad guys. But the hero and his friends change a lot.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Danger must be present danger. Stakes must be stakes for people we care about. And what might happen to them must be shown from the get-go so we know the consequences of the imminent threat.”
― Blake Snyder, Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Like eating too much marzipan, a little goes a long way where ideas are concerned. And more does not always mean better.”
― Blake Snyder, Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Stupid Screenwriter Tricks - However clever we think we are, sometimes we go too far in our enthusiasm. We are creative people and think everyone will get it - well, they don't. Stunts don't work. Lame attempts to get attention don't work. Here are some other don'ts: Don't package yourself in a big crate and mail yourself to William Morris. Don't take out a full-page advertisement in Variety with your picture and phone number with the slogan: Will Write for Food. Don't have your picture taken with a cut-out photo of your favorite movie star and send to him autographed with the phrase: We should be in business together! And whatever you do, don't threaten to leap off the Hollywood sign as leverage to get someone to read your screenplay. It's been done, babe, it's been done.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“The stories of these heroes and the mathematical equations that makes their stories work is already sewn into our DNA. Your job, your simple task, is to forget the stars, concentrate on the archetypes, and strive to make them new.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“The perfect hero is the one who offers the most conflict in the situation, has the longest emotional journey, and has a primal goal we can all root for. Survival, hunger, sex, protection of loved ones, and fear of death grab us. It is usually someone we can identify with primally, too, and that’s why mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters, husbands and”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“the starting point of getting any movie made. “What’s it about?” and “Who’s in it?” are the first two questions any moviegoer asks, and that goes for everyone else as well, from agent and producer to studio executive. It’s how the “who” and the “what is it?” come together in an intriguing combination that makes us want to see this story unfold.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“SLAVE TO THE LOGLINE When you have found the perfect hero for your story and nailed down just what his primal goal is, it’s time to go back to your logline and add in what you’ve learned to make it perfect. And if it sounds like I am insisting that you become a “slave to the logline” — well, you’re right.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Has stakes that are primal and ring true for me. Follow”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“The rule of thumb in all these cases is to stick to the basics no matter what. Tell me a story about a guy who… > I can identify with. > I can learn from. > I have compelling reason to follow. > I believe deserves to win and…”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Make the hero want something real and simple: survival, hunger, sex, protection of loved ones, fear of death.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“The theme of every Golden Fleece movie is internal growth; how the incidents affect the hero is, in fact, the plot. It is the way we know that we are truly making forward progress — it’s not the mileage we’re racking up that makes a good Golden Fleece, it’s the way the hero changes as he goes. And forcing those milestones to mean something to the hero is your job.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“logline is like the cover of a book; a”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“فكل كُتَّاب السيناريو الجيدين هم أناس عنيدون ومتصلبو الرأي.”
― Blake Snyder, ‫أنقذ القطة!: لن تحتاج إلى كتاب بعده لكتابة السيناريو‬

“الأصالة الحقيقية في كتاباتك لا يمكنها أن تظهر حتى تعرف ما الذي تحاول أن تتحرر منه.”
― Blake Snyder, ‫أنقذ القطة!: لن تحتاج إلى كتاب بعده لكتابة السيناريو‬

“Once you learn to think like the people with the checkbook, you’re one step closer to success.”
― Blake Snyder, Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

“Un título contundente. El doble gancho de una buena premisa ha de incluir un gran título, uno que «diga de qué va» y lo haga de forma ingeniosa.”
― Blake Snyder, ¡Salva al gato!

“Público y coste. Debe delimitar el tono, el público al que se dirige y el coste aproximado, para que los compradores sepan si puede dar beneficios.”
― Blake Snyder, ¡Salva al gato!

“Una imagen mental sugerente. Debe germinar en la imaginación de quien la escucha. Debe sobrentenderse por ella una película entera, incluido, a menudo, un marco temporal.”
― Blake Snyder, ¡Salva al gato!

“Ironía. Debe ser irónica e involucrar emocionalmente al destinatario: presentar una situación dramática que sea como un picor que uno ha de rascarse.”
― Blake Snyder, ¡Salva al gato!

“Para crear un buen «¿De qué va?», el guionista independiente ha de ser capaz de formular una buena premisa: una explicación que enganche y lo diga todo en sólo una frase o dos. Para ser efectiva debe cumplir cuatro requisitos:”
― Blake Snyder, ¡Salva al gato!

“Si no pasa la prueba del «¿Dice de qué va?», no has dado con tu título. Ni tienes aún el doble gancho que constituye junto a una gran premisa.”
― Blake Snyder, ¡Salva al gato!