Jamie Nash - Save the Cat!® Writes for TV: The Last Book on Creating Binge-Worthy Content Youll Ever Need

Blake Snyder would be so proud of Save the Cat! Writes for TV because like all his books, it cuts straight to the truth: No matter where you are in your TV writing career, a newbie or a 25+ year veteran (me), you need to write a fresh, new pilot. Author Jamie Nash uses Blake's life-changing beat sheet and adjusts it for TV's "wonkiness." Whether you're writing a comedy or drama for network, cable, or streaming, this book with its thought-provoking exercises, sage advice, and beat sheets from successful TV shows will definitely get you closer to FADE OUT... and quite possibly your own TV show!

Kriss Turner Towner, Executive Producer, Greenleaf; Consulting Producer, Black Monday, The Soul Man; Co-Executive Producer, The Romanoffs, Everybody Loves Chris, The Bernie Mac Show

While I wish it were called Save the Dog!, I believe Save the Cat! can open eyes and demystify some of the biggest challenges TV writers face on that daunting blank page.

Steven Levitan, Co-Creator, Modern Family

Save the Cat! Writes for TV will help you wrap your arms around the process of turning inspiration into a script and more importantly, a series. Highly recommended.

Nick Bakay, Executive Producer, Mom; Consulting Producer, Bob Hearts Abishola, The Kominsky Method, 'Til Death, The King of Queens

There's joy in TV Land! As a longtime user and fan of Save the Cat!, I've found Jamie Nash has shifted the focus (without losing the principles) of Blake Snyder's groundbreaking work, creating a whole new way to look at developing television series that's filled with insight, ingenuity, and a generous sprinkling of humor. A new must-read for newcomers to the field and veterans looking to shake up their process.

Paris Barclay, Director/Producer/Writer, Sons of Anarchy, Glee, House, The Good Wife, In Treatment, Scandal, Empire, CSI, Lost, The West Wing, ER, NYPD Blue

This book should be required reading not only for writers, but for all the film producers out there who are looking to branch out into TV. It breaks down the fundamental tenets of television storytelling in such a delightfully entertaining way that you often forget how much you're actually learning!

Juliet Berman, Producer/Head of Development, Treehouse Pictures (Set It Up, Sand Castle, That Awkward Moment)

This book will be by my side the next time I'm staring at a blank screen and wondering, "How do I do this again?" Eye-opening and inspirational, Save the Cat! Writes for TV is an invaluable tool for anyonefrom first-time writers to pros like me.

Lilla Zuckerman, Co-Executive Producer, Prodigal Son, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ; Supervising Producer, Suits; Consulting Producer, Haven

The opportunities to write for television have exploded in the last few years and Save the Cat! Writes for TV is the book TV writers have been waiting for. Beyond formulas and restrictive templates, this great new book provides the guidance we all need to shape and organize our ideas into well-structured scripts. I have been writing TV for decadesif only this book was around when I started! Just like Blake Snyder's original, this new member of the Cat! family will become a go-to industry standard.

Rick Drew, Producer/Story Editor/Writer of over 100 episodes of television, including MacGyver, Airwolf, Goosebumps, Lonesome Dove; Screenwriting Teacher, Vancouver Film School

Da Cat makes the leap from film to TV and definitely sticks the landing! This easy-to-read book is a must for writers in search of a well-structured TV script. It scores a perfect 10 from me.

Geoff Harris, TV Writer and Consultant, Former Network Development Executive

Published in the United States by Save the Cat! Press,
Los Angeles,CA

www.savethecat.com

Cover Design: Shadow Works Ltd.
Interior Design: Gina Mansfield Design

Copyright 2021 by Blake Snyder Enterprises, LLC
All rights reserved.

Save the Cat! is a registered trademark of
Blake Snyder Enterprises, LLC.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020946914
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9841576-9-3
ebook ISBN: 978-0-9841576-2-4

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE
OF
CONTENTS

THE COLD OPEN

I've been using Save the Cat! longer than anybody on planet Earth.

Anybody.

I think.

I'm 90% sure.

I'd bet a dollar on it.

Back in the early 'aughts (2000s not 1900s), I cyber-met this ultra-friendly screenwriting dude named Blake Snyder. He was by far the most successful screenwriter person I had ever met. Which made me suspicious. Why was he talking to me? Some wannabe screenwriter-goof living in Maryland and writing quirky scripts, trying to be the next John Waters or Lloyd Kaufman or Roger Corman.

Blake checked out a few of my screenplaysthe ones I didn't think I could pull off on my $500-to-feed-the-crew budgets. He liked what he read. He saw something. And not too long after, Blake enlisted me to co-write a script with him that we'll call Untitled Fast & the Furious-Style Talking Car Movie. (Call me Disney+. I'll send the PDF.) I was a baby-screenwriter and this was the guy who wrote the Disney hit Blank Check and sold a big spec script to Steven Spielberg and bagged a blind-script deal (whatever the heck that meant). Blake had everything I didn't: IMDB credits, a fancy agent, and Spielberg's home phone number. He was also a screenwriting Jedi Master. A Yoda of parentheticals and sluglines. The Mr. Miyagi of three-act structure and character arcs. He made me "wax his car " and "paint his fence," somehow magically teaching me how to write good scene descriptions and less "on the nose" dialogue.

I was still struggling to understand how Joseph Campbell and Robert McKee applied to my Farrelly-Brothers-rip-off-gross-out comedies when Blake started dropping brain bombs about putting trailer moments into my "Fun & Games" and how the Magical Midpoint's "false victory" upped the stakes on my "Bad Guys Close In."

This pre-dated Blake's writing of Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by a few years. He was just an experienced co-writer/mentor spewing hard-learned techniques that helped make all that high-minded Campbell and Mckee stuff more palatable.

I assumed Blake's nuggets of wisdom were all "common industry" rigamarole. I didn't realize I was some guinea pig in his lab experiment. I figured if I stepped into CAA or Universal Studios, they'd all be talking about "Dark Night of the Soul" moments and asking about my hero's "shard of glass." Blake had a bunch of different wrinkles toothe good stuff you discover through years of experience. His generous sharing allowed me to level up and fast-forward from a clueless newbie... to a slightly clued-in newbie.

I was ahead of the game.

I had an edge.

I knew all the valuable secrets.

Then he gave them all away.

Save the Cat! is Blake in a book. It's that experienced Steven Spielberg on speed dial Obi-Wan for everyone to share. The book allows the reader to live my experience. It's an invisible co-writer/ mentor/showrunner challenging you, asking, "But what's the Mid-point?" or "Is the All Is Lost coming too early?" or "Why is this paced so slowly?"

The questions Save the Cat! plants in your psyche will be the ones you'll hear in writers' rooms and ask of co-writers. Sometimes, you'll ignore them. Sometimes, they'll cause you to go back to the drawing board. But there will always be a strong reason to ask the question, a note-behind-the-note. And having that co-writer there to always have your back...will make you better. It'll level you up.