Save The Cat! Goes To The Movies

This is a pretty good read and an interesting take on the "how to write screenplays" genre that seems to be flooding the market. It's not perfect, but it does kind of rewire a person's brain in how to look at movies and your scripts in a different light. I'm very cautious reading any of these types of books in large part because it's usually a retelling of the same ideology handed down from
Syd Fields, who I think is the biggest farce ever.
Everyone takes his theory as gospel, when if you look at it, is nothing more than him just saying every story (i.e. movie) has a beginning, middle and an end. He leaves so much un accounted for that "learning" from him doesn't exist. Telling me a plot point occurs at the 60 minute mark does not tell me anything about characters, plots, etc...
The guy is a sham. In this book, at least the author
Blake Synder is giving you clear ideas of what your story has to have in order to fit a specific type of story you are going for. It's kind of a "paint-by-numbers" approach, which can be viewed as cheating. But who the f uck cares? If it gets you to write, then it's successful. All
Syd Field's mumbo jumbo has made me want to punch him in the face for conning so many people and brainwashing them to think in his terms, which are unrelatable to the craft of sitting down and writing.
This is definitely worth a
Rent if you want to see a different take on the same ideas.