{"cards":[{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ae","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":2908269,"position":0.5,"parentId":null,"content":"##  How to use this template\n\nEach card describes what that scene or act should contain. Edit the cards, and replace the description with your own story elements.\n###### *Template based on Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet. To read more, read his book [Save the Cat!](http://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/ref=sr_1_1_ha?ie=UTF8&qid=1373547401&sr=8-1&keywords=save+the+cat)*\n\n###### *It's not as pretentious as other books on screenwriting, but it has a wealth of information.*"},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002af","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":1,"parentId":null,"content":"### ** Start Here**\n# Logline\nQuite simply, what is your story about?\nHere are a few tips to improve your logline:\n\n- Make sure your logline contains **irony**\n- Use the question \"What if?\" to trigger the imagination\n- Can you make it universal?\n\n**EDIT** this card to replace this with your logline."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b0","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":1,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002af","content":"## Act I\n#### *The Situation*\n\nPresent the “normal world” of your film—before everything goes haywire.\n\nThe end of Act I should be a “point of no return.” Usually something is taken away from your protagonist, and they can never go back to the way things were.\n\nThey have no choice but to continue into Act II.\n"},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b4","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":1,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b0","content":"### Opening Image\n###### page 1\nIf you had to choose a photo to establish what \"the world\" is like before your story starts, this is it.\n\nMake it stand out, because first impressions matter. They set the tone and mood and scope, and hook the audience (or reader).\n\nIf it's a vast epic, the opening image should be grand. If it's a small intricate family drama, the opening images are small and subdued."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b5","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":1.5,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b0","content":"### Theme Stated\n###### page 5\nIt might not be clear at first, but your story should have a theme.\n\nYou can think of the theme as an argument, that the rest of the movie has to prove.\n\nRemember that a theme is there to guide you as a story writer, and provide a strong undercurrent to your story. It's not a restriction, it's **a fountain** for your imagination. If you ever get stuck, go back to your theme and you will find your answer there."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b6","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":2,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b0","content":"### Set-up\n###### pgs 1-10\n\nBy the first 10 pages (or 12 at most), you need to have set up your story.\n\nIf you think of your story as a cannon shot, by page 10 the cannon needs to be loaded, aimed, and ready to be fired."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b7","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":3,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b0","content":"### Catalyst\n###### pg 12\nAgain, with the cannon analogy: Your cannon is aimed in pages 1-10, it needs to actually fire by page 12.\n\nHere again, the size and scope of the catalyst event must match the size of your story. If it's a small drama, it could be a phone call announcing a death in the family, or it could be a breakup.\n\nIf it's a sprawling epic, it should be something grander. The outbreak of war, or the destruction of a planet."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b8","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":4,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b0","content":"### Debate\n###### pgs 12-25\nIf your hero starts moving towards his goal immediately, it'll seem as though he's just reacting to what happens around him.\n\nNo one wants to see a hero react, they want to see him or her *act*.\n\nThat's what the debate section is for. This is where the hero shows that he/she knows that it'll be a long road, but consciously decides to act.\n\n"},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b1","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":2,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002af","content":"## Act II a\n#### *Rising Action*\n\nIn the beginning of Act II, we get to explore the \"new world\" of the story. We meet its characters, as the hero is put through greater and greater challenges, until..."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b9","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":2.5,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b1","content":"### Break into Two\n###### pg 25\nOnce the hero decides to act, it's time to step through a membrane, and enter the world of Act II.\n\nFor example, in *Star Wars*, the catalyst is Luke's parents being killed, but the Act II event occurs when they board Han's ship, and the journey begins."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ba","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":2.75,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b1","content":"### B Story\n###### pg 30\nThe audience has been through a lot of turmoil to get to this point. Introduce a secondary story to give them a rest.\n\nThis B story usually involves a romance, or a new friendship, or some other relationship with a character from the \"new world\" of Act II.\n\nIt also serves two useful tools for you as a writer:\n1. It lets you have a second storyline to \"cut to\", when needed. It's like having a second camera to cut to when editing.\n2. It's an avenue you can use to discuss the theme.\n\nThis is where the B Story starts, but it runs throughout the rest of the movie."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002bb","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":3,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b1","content":"### Fun and Games\n###### pgs 30-55\nThis is where you get to have fun (yes, even in a serious drama).\n\nWith your logline, you asked a question: \"What would happen if ____?\"\nThis is where you answer that question.\n\nYou've set up your story, your characters, and propelled them along in their journey. This is where you get to explore what happens.\n\nIf there was a teaser for your movie, most scenes will come from this section.\n"},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b2","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":2908270,"position":2.5,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002af","content":"## Act II b\n#### *Raise the Stakes*\nSomething drastic happens, to change the course of the hero's journey. Where before things felt like \"rising action\", now it feels like \"spiraling out of control\". The challenges seem insurmountable, and the hero is beat down, again and again."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002bf","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":0.5,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b2","content":"### Midpoint\n###### pg 55\nYour cannonball has reached it's peak. The fun and games are over. There's no better way to put this, than: \"Shit just got serious!\"\n\nThe midpoint is where the stakes are raised.\nIf people are to die in your story, this is where the first character dies. If it's a smaller drama, a bombshell is dropped here.\n\nSomething important has to happen at the midpoint."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002c0","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":1,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b2","content":"### Bad Guys Close In !!\n###### pgs 55-75\nThings get progressively worse... the challenges are getting harder, while the hero is getting more downtrodden.\n\nDon't hold back, or feel sorry for your hero. Give 'em hell."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002c1","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":2,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b2","content":"### All is Lost\n###### pg 75\n.. until it seems there's no hope. This is the darkest part of the screenplay, where the hero realizes how bad things are. If there's no death in your story, you might give a \"whiff of death\" here (even in comedies)."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002c2","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":3,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b2","content":"### Dark Night of the Soul\n###### pgs 75-85\nHow does your character feel about the darkness around him/her?\n\nEven if it's brief, this moment is critical. The hero is not only beaten, but he/she *knows* it. Your hero must admit defeat, and must learn humility.\n\nOnly then can your hero..."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b3","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":3,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002af","content":"## Act III\n#### The Resolution\n\nThe resolution of the story and its subplots. The climax is the scene or sequence in which the main tensions of the story are brought to their most intense point and the dramatic question answered, leaving the protagonist and other characters with a new sense of who they really are."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002bc","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":1,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b3","content":"### Break Into Three\n###### pg 85\nFind the solution!\n\nBecause of everything that's happened so far, and with the help of B story characters, the hero finds his last best effort to find a solution.\n\nThe idea for the solution is at hand."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002bd","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":2,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b3","content":"### Finale\n###### pgs 85-110\nWrap it up.\nThe climax must be the *result* of the entire chain of events leading up to this point. A chain that should be linked by the words \"therefore\" or \"but\"... it's not enough for Y to follow X, Y must happen because of X.\n\nYour climax is the result of\n\n1. Who your hero is.\n2. How your hero has changed.\n3. The events leading up to this point.\n\nDispatch all the bad guys (literal or figurative), in ascending order. At the end, a new world is born.\n\nNot only must the hero suceed, but he/she must change the world."},{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002be","treeId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","seq":1,"position":3,"parentId":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002b3","content":"### Final Image\n###### pg 110\nThe opening image is your \"before\" shot, this is the \"after\".\n\nThe world must have changed, and the difference between the opening image and the closing is the proof of this change."}],"tree":{"_id":"52a946d8f250cb0e170002ad","name":"Screenplay","publicUrl":"screenplay"}}