I love this phrase from Blake Snyder's "Save The Cat" and "Save The Cat Goes To The Movies," I am a feature spec screenwriter and a devoted adherent to the STC lexicon and philosophy, albeit with a strong preference for working through his methodical and structural ideas and then taking them much further than just formulaic beat-sheet story-lines.
For skeptics who think STC dropped the ball or is no longer relevant I can say that I got connected with a creative team in the industry this year to do development work on a script of mine, and the first thing the producer and managing partner said to me was "We really like to work with the Save The Cat model for screenplay development because it's such a widely-accepted industry standard."
I was super-glad to hear that because I've read each of those books ten times, deconstructed the genre beats in a detailed spreadsheet, applied the genre concepts to creating some amazing hybrid-remix story ideas, and made sure that my scripts integrate the story beats; even when I take the liberty of changing the order or using them metaphorically instead of literally, I am always happy to get immersed in the analytic conversation around that type of breakdown and it's evidently really helpful for a lot of people.
So The Promise Of The Premise of course is just what it sounds like, as an author I am responsible for delivering on that.
The Premise is the concept, title, logline, character web in arena of story, the holistic expression of an idea that is the foundation of my cinema vision.
And when we make that Promise to ourselves, to a reader, to an audience, in Act I, in the first ten pages, in the title and the logline, the pitch deck, the poster, it is crucial to have clarity and focus, and above all accuracy so that we are creating the spine of the story in a way that is integral and solid from beginning to end.
As the writer you are in complete control, so it's a responsibility to facilitate unity of story no matter how long it takes to get there, and then go back and fulfill the Promise through editing and packaging and using your authority to do the follow-up work.
It's helpful in the craft; without these kinds of structural models I can lose my way, and disappoint myself with an unfinished project that was poorly-conceived, or worse follow through and make it poorly-crafted and then try to pitch it or sell it and get a pie in the face because I didn't unify the concept, I didn't deliver on the Promise.
The logline is a condensed version of the set-up or central idea that needs to be accurate, concise, visual, cinematic, evocative, true to genre, fast-paced (usually 25 words or less), coherent, lyrical and poetic, innovative, unique and distinctive, refreshingly-familiar, pretty much solid gold.
And the title should be even like a magical kernel of a phrase that squeezes the logline down into just a word or two or three that deliver the spark of the idea in a reader's mind.
That's the promise of the premise, unifying the entire story and presentation to excite and entertain on an intellectual and emotional level. Creating a literary property in screenform that works the magic of conjuring up a visual experience in the mind of the reader!
And here's the cool thing, I can write wackadoodle nonsense all over the place, work it, build it, tear it down, go off on tangents, and then ultimately it's my editorial abilities to sculpt, cut, clarify, rewrite and reconceive the whole thing until I have a screenplay that is a banger, that's the work and the craft.
And THEN come up with a new title !! And rewrite the damn logline three dozen times so that it reflects what is in the story that I've written. I don't want to be attached to my original logline once I've gone way beyond it. A fresh screen story deserves a reboot on the logline, so that it is really accurate and reflects all the work I've done!
That way I am circling back to make sure everyone including me and the characters and the whole panoply of fame and song and story concurs that I have fulfilled The Promise Of The Premise!
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I expect that you've also read 'Save the Car! Strikes Back'.
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Doug Nelson no I moved on to John Truby's "Anatomy Of Story" and David Howard's "Screenwriting Masterclass" and got into more of the psychology at that point and skipped over that one but thanks for the reminder I will add it to my Kindle stack!
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Dan Guardino yes I do see that "all it is is a formula" response quite commonly,
to me it's more of a literary-theoretical deconstruction of cinema psychology that yields an inquisitive mindset for me as a writer,
and celebrates the rollercoaster of characters' shifting value-charges in a structural / analytical framework to help craft story timelines, provides a launch platform for the further organic development of the holistic property in many layers beyond the superficial, formulaic view.
As I might have implied above, I think that's where the detractors sort of give it a glance and relegate it to the category of formula, without caring to really explore the possibilities, it's so much easier to be dismissive than it is to actually do the work of delving more deeply, but of course we all have our favorite ways of doing things!
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Not a fan of STC. Have seem to many films where the beats were shoehorned in. But if works for you - that is all that matters.
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I use the Save the Cat best sheet as a structure, but still play fast and loose with the rules.I’ve studied so much about structure over the years, from Syd Field to Joseph Campbell, that is all is basically the same or similar.
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David Clarke Lambertson cheers yeah there is a level on which it has been applied in a paltry and debatably ineffectual way, but ironically to me that speaks to the power of the model, if some clown-boxer who skimmed the thing can make use of it and sell a quick pitch then maybe for a diligent acolyte there's actually a lot more there lol
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James Welday that's exactly 100% right my friend, "fast and loose" is the work of using your imagination to take it further in my opinion that = doing the work
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Wally Wu myself, recognizing that foundation of appreciation !! The attitude of gratitude; the employment of enjoyment.
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Awesome! So much info! Daniel Stuelpnagel let me know when you find a beat breakdown for 30-minute anime dramedy. (My biggest battle right now! Am I going to have to write one?)
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So many beat-sheet formulas and opposing screenwriting strategies are valid. They are all "Tools in our toolbox" to become the best in our own niche writing.
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Daniel, super happy for you. I can’t follow anything but the story and where it leads. I have several 40 pages screenplays. They are what they need to be. We are happy with them (they are happy to be 40 pages and I am happy I wrote them).
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I get that Craig, when you've reached a level of craft and you have an artist's sensibility you probably are deep into an organic collaboration with your pages
and that's a place we'd all love to be able to get to,
I know that I benefit from riding my bike with the training wheels of structure for now,
you are a writer and you and your pages are in concert so that is the ultimate craft, super happy for you!!
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Rachel that sounds like an exciting specific genre for you to develop your unique approach!
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Daniel, my background is in intelligence analysis. So I have spent a lot of time understanding people and making inferences. Based on that I believe (in my heart) that stories are about people.
Formula etc, look at story void of people. Yes, they move a character through plot. But people are not a consideration in these things. That is why they never talk about what makes people unique.
Formula of midday, I am midnight for a metaphor.
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I hear you.
I think my early drafts are me as a director convening a first rehearsal on the page.
I sit down with those "people" and encourage them to workshop the characters and bring them to life, so that each successive draft before we actually "shoot" lets the facets of story emerge through character as you imply, so interesting all the different ways we can approach this.
I think once I get through months of story work that the scaffolding of formula and plot mechanics falls away and yields to the heartfelt flow and uniqueness of the people who are indeed what the story is about.
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Why I'm anti STC; I knew Blake back around '99-00 when I traveled up & down the Coast regularly. I recall lunch at the Roosevelt Patio with him when explained his theory to me. He said that it was intended as guidance for new writers (he was involved with the old Writer's Store then). I suggested that it would be taken as a paint-by-numbers road map for new writers that would result in a lot of poorly written scripts. All I can say is that we are under a tidal wave of incredibly poor scripts today. I blame Blake as do a lot of the studio execs.
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Doug Nelson that is super interesting to me;
With respect, I can't fathom why anyone would blame him for incompetent newbies failing to explore fully and properly utilize his foundational ideas?
It seems absurd to me.
Blame new writers for not being good enough immediately to satisfy your standards for what's good?
Don't you think quality is awfully subjective? Or is it really that stark and clear in your mind?
As I felt compelled to ruminate above, ironically to me that speaks to the power of the model, if some clown-boxer who skimmed the thing can make use of it and sell a quick pitch then maybe for a diligent acolyte there's actually a lot more there.
Moreover, if I even felt compelled to "blame" anyone for my broad-brush critique of the tsunami of ostensibly-atrocious spec cacabooti, well, "sour-grapes" is not my favorite flavor, I really prefer a nice Pinot Grigio.
And hey paint-by-numbers is how a lot of us get our start as artists. Just because I'm using training wheels and you are blazing by in the Tour de France why would you thumb your nose at me, metaphorically speaking?
With respect, in my view it's a lazy habit of mind to lash out like that with broad generalizations about the so-called atrocious state of the world/industry/marketplace, as I mentioned above it's so much easier to be dismissive than to just walk away ("The Lord Humungous rules the wasteland. Just walk away."), or to perhaps even admit to myself that there are other things I'm angry about?
Anyway all that's none of my beeswax so thanks for continuing this lively discussion!
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I love the save the cat beat sheet as a brainstorming/rewriting tool and plugging my script into it after a first draft. I never think about my script from the STC perspective before I've written a draft though. Love it for rewriting, possibly shuffling, moving things around, etc.
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Sounds cool and functional.
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I don't blame Blake at all for today's flood of inept writing but experience and observation allows me to understand the readers. Every writer - you, me - must start from some place of complete ignorance and strive to achieve greater knowledge. STC presents the writer's easy path to fame. glory and riches as a simple page by page Beat Sheet. It just isn't that easy.
I'm not angry about anything but I am terribly disappointed about the lack of desire/dedication that I see (perceive to be) in the new crop of screenwriters. Maybe I ought to admit my failure, pack up my experience based wisdom and shuffle off into the setting sun with my glass of Pinot Noir. Actually, sounds pretty good to me.
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I consume a lot of movies. So I need more films to be made. And therefore more writers with new voices. But there is no other art form that can do what things like STC does (not in a good way).
I play guitar. There is no cheat sheet for that. I have to do the 10,000 hours of practice. I have been playing for close to 40 years. I am not professional standard. It is obvious straight away.
But writing has these tools to keep people hopeful. I don’t want people to stop writing. But I want them to be the best “They” can be. Not the best and filling out a form and conforming to someone else’s vision of a story. I need you. Not someone else.
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Anyway the original post was about the writer presenting an intention and fulfilling it, for themselves and for the audience, irrespective of whether the source resonates with people or not, my thought here was simply coming full circle with continuity from title and logline through fulfillment of the story concept that is presented in a unified way;
A holistic integration that fulfills the promise of the premise of the story.