2 stars**

Ashton Kutcher is still better known as being Demi Moore’s young husband, but he’s working on it as we see more of him than her, on the big screen, these days.

Movies need their stars to surpass a certain chemistry, for their new found love to be believable. It could be that Mr Kutcher’s wife was on set during the making of this movie which would explain why there was a lack of chemistry, but Katherine Heigl starred opposite Gerard Butler in The Ugly Truth and that lacked more than just chemistry. Perhaps it’s just not meant to be and Ms Heigl needs to select better screenplays as sadly, she’s also responsible for Knocked Up. That’s a trio of movies that most would want to avoid from an actor’s acting point of view, but then the money must have been very good, which may be enough to sway the talent.

So what’s it all about?

Spencer Aimes (Kutcher) is just your average, undercover, government-hired super-assassin accustomed to a life of exotic European locales, flashy sports cars and even flashier women. But when he meets Jen Kornfeldt (Heigl), a beautiful, fun-loving computer tech recovering from a bad break-up, he finds true love…and happily trades international intrigue for domestic bliss, until Spencer and Jen are on the run for their lives.

The movie starts of as a mild laugh and then gets serious. It’s like being in two completely different movies, except that both only just do enough to keep the audience interested. The twists and turns are just plain tedious and are obviously meant to come across that way, but it only succeeds in the ticket payer thinking they’ve been had.

The silliness wouldn’t be lost in a Monty Python film, but here is just looks like a seven year old wrote the screenplay at times. Perhaps Blake Synder’s Save The Cat would be helpful here.

This movie had a good chance to be great but it missed out buy a long way. Perhaps they should get their chemistry set out again if they intend a follow up.

While reading it section by section, it didn’t appear to zip along at the pace of his previous books, but that’s because it attaches you only to those parts that apply to you. Howzat?

Save The Cat – The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need – laid out the basics to help any new (or current) screenplay writer. His second book – Goes To The Movies – gave examples of how his screenplay structure worked in big name movies. The third book is all about being a screenplay writer – in real life.

Fortunately he takes you right to the heart of the main focus of problems you may have in writing your multi-million dollar screenplay. You’ll find out about the seven warning signs you might have a good idea and the five questions to keep your story’s spine straight.

Perhaps more important to some rather than others there’s also the 5 point finale to finish any story; this is the part that many people appear to have the greatest amount of problems with. We don’t all need bland obvious Hollywood endings, guys.

The style is still very easy reading, like you’re talking to a friend, a good friend. Judging by his website’s comment before and after he died, he was that friend to a lot of people.

Sadly, Blake Snyder’s death has taken away a great guru from the screenwriting world. He’s one of the few that has been there and got the t-shirt and then let us all know what he knew.

I found the start of the book hard going, but only because I didn’t have the problems that he was explaining away. Only when I reached the parts of greater interest, did the words finally hit me like a punch as I latched on to whatever move I could make next, which instantly sent me running to my desk to make some notes.

After all, the beauty of this type of book is that it might only take one paragraph from the whole book to change your latest screenplay and by action, perhaps your whole life.

You get the picture; Blake’s influence on the world of screenplay writing has been immense. To hear of his death from cardiac arrest this week at just 51 is a bolt from the blue.

Most movie goers won’t know his name and what he did; what he brought to the industry.

His Save The Cat books have shown screen writers the world over not only many ways in which to prepare planning for the script, but also (in his second book) show how this works in tangible practice. We were due a third book from him later this year: Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get Into… And Out Of. I understand it is finished, but obviously his family will have a say in what happens next.

Many people have been inspired to write more due this one man’s efforts to show and teach us all how to better our skills. His books will live on for a long time and I’m sure we’ll all still be talking about his planning methods for years to come.

The best way we can honour his loss is to write, with your beat sheet by your side.

To read the review of his first Save The Cat book, click here.

It’s a good screenplay, the laughs come along regularly and there aren’t any parts where you feel the need to write your grocery shoping list while getting bored.

So often ‘Disney’ type films for children are so sanitized, that they offer just a few big action moments and not much story in between. Some Disney films are quite brilliant, but the current trend into meaningless animated features with star names for the voices, leaves so much to be desired, but I’m not seven years old anymore; I’m not their target market, although the theatres like children’s movies because they bring their parents/guardians/uncles/grandparents and get to sell three over-priced soda and popcorn/hot dog selections. This isn’t a Disney product, but comes from Dreamworks with Nickelodeon. Perhaps that’s why it doesn’t ‘feel’ like a Disney. It ‘feels’ more like a complete movie for all ages.

The story comes from Lois Duncan’s novel of the same name (I must go get a copy), with the screenplay being adapted by Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle. These guys have attacked the structure of the screenplay like an ‘A’ listing Hollywood movie. It has all the plot points at exactly the right position and could all have been using Blake Snyder’s ‘Save the Cat’ methodology for writing this screenplay.

Emma Roberts and her brother Jake T Austin are two kids who live with weird foster parents (including Friends’ Lisa Kudrow playing the same Phoebe Buffay type character, but perhaps slightly stranger, if that’s possible.) The kids have a dog – Friday – who they have to hide from their foster parents and find a good local home for him when they stumble across a local disused hotel. Word gets around and suddenly the hotel is full of dogs. The kids teach the dogs to entertain and look after themselves while the trainers are at school. Subsequently a problem occurs when the kids are elsewhere, the adults find out and the police get involved.

Enter the quite brilliant Don Cheadle who looks like he acts without trying, a sure sign that he’s working very hard. His short regular appearances keep the long term plans alive and being (almost) a children’s film, we have the worrying points just before the ‘everyone loves everyone’ big finish. The ending is exactly as you would have guessed all the way through the film, but it will guarantee that everyone is smiling when they leave the cinema. The extra sensitive movie critics will be looking for the sick bag, but that’s just because they can’t believe a kid’s film can be this good. More so, they won’t be able to bring themselves to admit it.

The use of good looking Emma Roberts, who must have been around sixteen when she made the film, will satisfy the male audience from ages 14 to 90, while children will idenfity with Jake T Austin’s eleven year old character. Apart from some cat lovers, the dogs will appeal to almost everyone. Throw in Don Cheadle for the women aged 25 and over and you’ll see how cleverly the writers have matched a movie for all audiences.

Interestingly, Lois Duncan herself emerges as an extra in a crowd scene. That’s a nice touch and a thank you to the original book author.

On a budget of $25 million, they’re over 100% ahead already before DVD sales, even after accounting for the theater’s 50% share. Perhaps other studios could take note of the high quality throughout this movie, great screenplay, appeal to all ages and the cost is a quarter of most budgets these days.

This is an excellent movie, take all the family and you won’t be disappointed unless you expect monsters and aliens and big blow up everything scenes. However, in their place you do have to admire the excellent variety of dogs on show and their wonderful comic moments. The dog training must have been of the highest order.

Dogs using human toilets? Yes toilet humor is still alive and working.

Once you’ve read and taken in the section on screenplay planning, you’ll know that you should have the overall plan for your writing ready, before you write.

You can use Save The Cat software to plan those scenes for you so you know exactly what will happen in each scene before you write it. Movie Outline cuts a similar flow as does Movie Magic.

You may choose to have your 3×5 cards (one for each scene) on a pin board over your desk so you can see the whole screenplay in one image.

Don’t number your scene headings; they won’t be needed until your movie goes into pre-production.

Each scene heading (called a slug line) gives you information about when and where the scene exists. It has three parts:

1. INT. or EXT. – either an interior or an exterior shot
2. Where – the tangible location where the action takes place
3. The time of day – day or night.

Examples could be:

EXT. HEATHROW AIRPORT – DAY
INT. TOM’S DINER – NIGHT

If you move from an INT shot to an EXT shot, use a new slug line. Keep the reader informed.

Scene locations must be unambiguous and descriptive. If it doesn’t matter what type of train station you’re in, then no name is necessary, but if it must be Grand Central, then say so. It tells the reader where you are. They can picture it, the people and the structure. Once you use a location, always call it the same throughout your script otherwise confusion may arise.

You may have wasted an opportunity to show the reader a ‘picture’ of the location if you don’t name it, but naming Don’s book shop in Manchester when it doesn’t mean anything to anyone (sorry Don) won’t help.

Your scene must contain sufficient emotional content to move your lead characters on. There must be conflict to ensure the movie moves forward.

Don’t bore the reader. Make them want to read to the next scene as soon as possible. Make them want to turn the page.

Make your characters different from each other. Make them stand out. William M Akers has a great line that goes ‘get into the scene as late as possible and get out as early as possible.’ You don’t want to have your characters doing things that aren’t necessary. When someone walks into a house, unless it’s for dramatic effect, we don’t need to see him or her get their keys out, put them in the lock, open the door and walk in. Cut to the chase.

Your action and dialogue must be worth every word you write. Show and not tell is better than telling the reader everything. Let them use their mind to see what you’re after.

Don’t direct either actors or the cameraman through scene instructions. They’re the experts and with the director, they’ll work out what to do.

After you’ve written a scene, cut out all the loose writing. The extra words you don’t need.

Finally, make every scene memorable. If it’s not, change it around until it is, or cut it out.

Need help getting your screenplay ready to show to a reader, producer, studio or agent? Check our screenplay analysis service first. No second chance to make a first impression!

5 stars*****

There’s a substantial difference between wanting to write a superior screenplay that you would like to write and a killer screenplay that you want to win the academy award. If you follow Blake Snyder’s rules you’ll be on target for your academy award rather than the screenplay you really sought to write.

Blake shows us the rules for writing the blistering screenplay; the script that will be set up with a structure that matches exactly what Hollywood is looking forward for, down to the very page where vital action must occur. You (and your script) will need major surgery if you don’t have the ‘all is lost’ moment on page 75! Dare you move it to page 74 or 76? According to Blake you’ll put it exactly where he says otherwise Hollywood and studio executives will turn to page 75 and if they fail to see your ‘all is lost’ moment, your screenplay may be heading for the trash can. Can you cope with such detail as a screenwriter?

If you want to write a full flowing masterpiece and it doesn’t matter to you if it can get made, if you want to break all the rules; then it’s best you know all the rules first, so you know which ones to break and where.

Blake has had great success as a screenplay writer, seen his screenplays as movies, so his opinion does count. He has also sold a high number of scripts that have yet to be turned into films, so he must know what he’s talking about, but his opinion is just an opinion and as is the way with opinions, others will disagree. They’ll say he’s too structured in his approach, but he agrees with that thought. His structures are what Hollywood business studios want; it’s the type of script they’ll buy.

Blake suggests you spend a lot of time getting your logline ready first. You should make it so good that once heard, you’ll just need to see the script.

Next he talks through genre. He’s created ten different named genres, but the way he takes you through them, you know he’s right. He leaves little room for disagreement. If you know your logline and your genre inside out (watch movies in your genre!) you’re well on the way to organising your plan.

Blake takes us through the necessary planning of your hero. Where he’s been, where he’s going. What he has to go through to get there. You’ll need to know your hero through your logline.

Now if you think you’re ready to write your script Blake will tell you otherwise. Now is the time to really plan your movie into his specific 15 ‘beats’ which provides the structure of your screenplay, explaining how it can be cast on your storyboard. His software matches the beats and storyboard exactly – we’ll review it and post it here.

Blake expertly shows us how a major movie exactly matches his ‘beats’ planning. His second book (Save the Cat Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter’s Guide to Every Story Ever Told) takes fifty movies and breaks them all down to his perfect 15 beat arrangement. We’ll review that later and let you know what we think.

Finally you get to write your script and it’s here that this book also guides you though the problems you may come across and how to solve those issues.

It’s a wonderful, friendly read. He comes across as your friend, but don’t mess with his views, because he’s right!

You’ll either love or loathe Save The Cat. I suggest you give it a read if you want to write your academy winner. If you just want to write your movie for pleasure and not necessarily to gain a hit, the book is still a great read because it shows you all the rules you’ll need to break, and you might just prove Blake Snyder wrong.