Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet

Screenwriting has always been a fun activity, but now it can be a fun activity with your friends rather than alone in the corner of a coffee shop! Screenplays are so formulaic that there is an unofficial guide to writing them. “Save the Cat” by Blake Snyder outlines a “beat sheet” that provides writers with a structure to which their story must adhere. I’ve taken this beat sheet, tweaked it a bit, and turned it into a game where you must improvise your own 3 act story.

Setup

What you’ll need:

Colour Printer

Scissors

Scotch Tape

Steps:

Download this PDF

Print the first two pages twice

Cut the pages in half and tape them together to form two identical strips

Print the final pages on both sides of the paper to create cards with a black back

Cut out the cards and separate them into 3 piles with (Act I: 20 cards, Act II: 16 cards, Act III: 12 cards)

When you’re done, your game table should look like this:

Gameplay

Screenwriting: The Game is played between two parties. I’ve found that it’s much more fun to be in teams of two or three, but you may also play with teams of one. Each team gets one of the “storylines.”

Start by taking 4 cards from the “Act I” deck and placing them face up.