Here it is, the first pass at the detailed SAVE THE CAT outline for THE WITCH IN THE WOODS.
I'm going to bed.
GOOD NIGHT.
-Jake T.
BEAT THE WITCH
So far, the overwhelming favorites for the pitches are ...AND DEATH FOLLOWED and THE WITCH IN THE WOODS, so those are definitely going on the list. A number of others have had a lot of support, including some particularly savvy recommendations to pursue HACKSAW, so that one will probably make it on as well. I've decided for my first script out I'm going to go for THE WITCH IN THE WOODS as, I'll be honest, it's possibly the doofiest one, I could see myself having a lot of fun with it, and it's the one I see fitting easiest into the Save The Cat setup.
Consequently, I've begun building the official Blake Snyder "Save the Cat" beat sheet for it. We're officially in motion on Script #1.
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This blog is about process. That means I'm going to really get into how the sausage is made. Which means that if you want to read the final scripts clean, you should turn back now. I'm about to put up the first planning document, a full beat sheet, the whole kit and caboodle as it stands at inception.
What I'm talking about, essentially, are spoilers.
Seriously.Spoilers, you guys.
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OKAY. Everyone who doesn't want to be spoiled is gone, only spoiler-happy story process wonks remain.
And so, without further ado, here is the first pass on the beat sheet for THE WITCH IN THE WOODS.
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So there you have it! The humble beginnings. This weekend I set up my Big Board, get out my note cards, and start putting this thing together.
Until then, everyone to their Dragulas!!!
-Jake T.
STEP ONE: TITLES, LOGLINES & GENRES
So you want to write 5 scripts in 1 year using the SAVE THE CAT method? Well, YOU probably don't, you're probably at least somewhat sane, but I do. The first step according to StC is to craft a stellar logline and a compelling title to assist it. So write some log lines and titles I have!
Another section of Snyder's book lays out 10 "genres" of movie. They're not so much genres as they are...molds of action, I suppose? I must say, I struggle a bit with these, but in order to try and wrap my head around them while ALSO coming up with some titles and log lines for my 5 scripts. 10 genres, 5 scripts. May the odds be ever in my favor.
Below are the 10 genres, along with a title and logline I've written (and images grabbed from quick Google Image searches to help break up all that text) that will hopefully fit each genre and, if fortune smiles, will possibly be the starting point for some of these scripts.
Without further ado, 10 pitches:
Genre #1: MONSTER IN THE HOUSE
Title: HackSaw
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Logline: A wannabe evil genius uses his startup millions to create a warehouse of murderous traps to teach his former high school foes some gory lessons, but things don't go as planned when his victims prove to be not quite as helpless as he'd hoped.
Genre #2: THE GOLDEN FLEECE
Title: ...AND DEATH FOLLOWED
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Logline: A surly teenage girl loses her father and no one knows how to reach her...until her uncle takes her on the road to film her father's unmade cheapie horror screenplay, "...And Death Followed."
Genre #3: OUT OF THE BOTTLE
Title: INSPIRED
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Logline: A harried, overlooked high school English teacher finds the glitterati hanging on her every word when a vapid celebrity starlet names her as her primary inspiration, and the more she rants the more they love her...much to the starlet's chagrin.
Genre #4: DUDE WITH A PROBLEM
Title: LAST CALL
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Logline: When his best friend, a former mob enforcer, kills an unhinged gangster's brother, a curmudgeonly anti-social bartender must work both the mob and the cops to keep his friend alive.
Genre #5: RITES OF PASSAGE
Title: NONE MORE GOTH
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Logline: A petulant Visigoth princess must battle her cocky brother in a bizarre, violent Goth Gauntlet to claim her birthright from their warrior king father.
Genre #6: BUDDY LOVE
Title: THE HONEY POT
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Logline: When her ex gets engaged to the woman he went undercover to protect from a mad super-villain, a secret agent threatens to blow the case, and get everyone killed, when she uses a new threat as an excuse to crash the bachelorette party.
Genre #7: WHYDUNIT
Title: UTOPIA!
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Logline: A plucky cub reporter discovers that an idealistic hippie-dippie Brooklyn commune may be built on murder and the occult!
Genre #8: THE FOOL TRIUMPHANT
Title: SKIN IN THE GAME
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Logline: A snarky writer for a hip political website decides to expose the system from the inside by enlisting a burnt-out campaign manager to run for a coveted senate seat.
Genre #9: INSTITUTIONALIZED
Title: THICKER THAN WATER
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Logline: A young black girl whose father was accidentally killed by a cop has her life turned further upside down when her radical activist uncle returns to get justice from the cops by any means necessary.
Genre #10: SUPERHERO
Title: THE WITCH IN THE WOODS
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Logline: When a coven of evil witches attacks a 19th Century New England town, their only chance may be the witch they tried to burn alive 15 years earlier.
There they are! 10 pitches! If you find any of them particularly striking, let me know! If you have thoughts on how they could be improved, I'd love to hear them! If you're ambivalent about the whole thing...I mean, I guess that would be valuable, too? But honestly, man, come on. Give me something!
I'm contemplating doing a special "Director's Cut" version of these pitches with some of my thoughts and feelings on them laid out beneath each pitch, but for the time being I wanted them to stand alone. Maybe I'll do that in the comments later? I'm also contemplating trying to to each of these again, but make each one a very explicit horror movie (though a couple of these already fit that mold), as horror is my genre of choice.
But anyways, enough of all that. Thus begins the beginning. As the wise man said, every journey begins with a single blog post.
And away we go...
-Jake T.
The Mission
The last post was the WHY of this little endeavor, but here's the WHAT. I've written a couple scripts, and whenever I've given them to professional writers out in Los Angeles, one of the more consistent bits of feedback I've received is "Have you read SAVE THE CAT?" I had not. I'd resisted. For a number of reasons I'd had little interest in reading the late Blake Snyder's self-purported "Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need." It just didn't seem like my thing, it didn't seem to mesh with the reasons I'd had for wanting to set pen to paper. But what I wanted to do was play with the pros, and the pros were saying "Read SAVE THE CAT."
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So I read it.
And I read it again.
In some ways I was right, a lot of the book rubs me the wrong way for what are purely aesthetic/personal reasons. But what it is at heart is a simple, mercenary way to structure stories to go down easy with the Powers That Be. I can certainly see how that would be valuable, and within that I think I can still do what I want to do with the stories I want to write. At least, that's the hypothesis. So here's the experiment.
This year I will write 5 screenplays using Snyder's method, hammer and tongs. One month planning, one month writing, 5 screenplays in ten months with some wiggle room to allow for life and madness.
Yes. 5 screenplays. 1 every 2 months.
Is this a ridiculous thing to do? Assuredly. Will these screenplays be any good? Probably not. But the idea is (1) to force myself to write fast and loose (and I always work better on assignment anyways, and (2) I want to get these guidelines, this lexicon, into my bones.
On this blog I'll walk through every step of the process. Ideally some of those same pros who directed me towards StC and gave me a hefty dose of incredible notes will keep an occasional eye on this and help me in my writing crash course. And, of course, all other help and guidance will be greatly appreciated.
I'm here to learn.
And also, you know, write 5 film scripts in a year.
Because I'm a lunatic.
The journey begins next blog! I'll see you there!
-Jake T.
The Mission Statement
I, Jake Thomas, being of completely unsound mind, have decided to make 2016 the year I attempt something I've long wanted to do, but haven't had the gumption to: become a professional writer. This blog will be a journal documenting that journey. For those who don't know, I'm an editor at Marvel comics. That job entails a rather absurd number of responsibilities, many of them at cross-purposes, and on any given day so many seeming like they are set up for failure and disappointment. Perhaps I'm alone in feeling this way, but my guess is that any of my fellow editors reading this are probably chortling to themselves in weary recognition. Hopefully courting similar recognition, one of the reasons I believe we stick around (it's certainly not the money or acclaim) is that, on a good day, on the best days, we make someone's dream come true. We help a writer or an artist tell stories they've been longing to tell since childhood. We help them create something beautiful and fulfilling and of themselves. There is absolutely nothing better than that.
This blog won't be about that job. So if you're here looking for a peak behind the Marvel curtain, I suggest you go elsewhere. Tom Brevoort's Formspring is always good. This blog will be about me and my attempt to make my dream come true, to get my stories out there, to, in the immortal words of Jim Morrison, break on through to the other side.
There's a very real possibility that this will be the story of a noble failure, the tale of a man whose reach vastly exceeds his grasp. This could, in short, become heinously ugly. What I'm hoping for is that this might, in some way, lead to a bit of community. I'm going to be running an experiment this year to be outlined in the next post, maybe some will choose to join in, or lend some critique or thoughts, or just some sympathy and encouragement. I'm hoping, in some way, to make this experience of locking myself away from friends and loved ones for long periods of time to be a bit less lonely.
More shortly. Hopefully MUCH more. I'll see you there.
Play us out, Lizard King:
-Jake T.