Quotes from Blake Snyder

UN TÍTULO CONTUNDENTE

Público y coste. Debe delimitar el tono, el público al que se dirige y el coste aproximado, para que los compradores sepan si puede dar beneficios.

Un título contundente. El doble gancho de una buena premisa ha de incluir un gran título, uno que «diga de qué va» y lo haga de forma ingeniosa.

Si no pasa la prueba del «¿Dice de qué va?», no has dado con tu título. Ni tienes aún el doble gancho que constituye junto a una gran premisa.

True originality can't begin until you know what you're breaking away from.

To be a screenwriter is to deal with an ongoing tug of war between breathtaking megalomania and insecurity so deep it takes years of therapy just to be able to say "I'm a writer" out loud.

To know how to avoid the cliche, to know what tradition you are pushing forward, begins with knowing what that tradition is.

Save the what? I call it the "Save the Cat" scene. They don't put it into movies anymore. And it's basic. It's the scene where we meet the hero and the hero does something — like saving a cat — that defines who he is and makes us, the audience, like him.

Because liking the person we go on a journey with is the single most important element in drawing us into the story.

You can be near the cliché, you can dance around it, you can run right up to it and almost embrace it. But at the last second you must turn away. You must give it a twist.

The point is that a good logline, in addition to pulling you in, has to offer the promise of more.

Once you learn to think like the people with the checkbook, you're one step closer to success.

Like eating too much marzipan, a little goes a long way where ideas are concerned. And more does not always mean better.

Danger must be present danger. Stakes must be stakes for people we care about. And what might happen to them must be shown from the get-go so we know the consequences of the imminent threat.

follow the money

Tom finds a new skill: ping-pong. Why? Because he does what's put in front of him without judgment.

Y concéntrate en escribir una frase. Una línea. Porque si aprendes a contarme «de qué va» mejor, más rápido y de forma más creativa, mantendrás mi interés. Y, de paso, al hacer eso antes de ponerte a escribir el guión, también harás que sea mejor la historia.

Un nuevo empleado de una gran compañía asiste a una convivencia de fin de semana de la empresa y no tarda en descubrir que alguien intenta matarle: The Retreat (Convivencia de empresa).1

Un profesor aprensivo planea casarse con la chica de sus sueños, ¡pero antes debe acompañar a su futuro y sobreprotector cuñado –un policía– a una patrulla infernal!: Ride Along [Compañero de patrulla].2 (Atención al detalle: cualquier cosa «infernal» aporta siempre un plus de comicidad.)

The template: On the verge of a Stasis = Death moment, a flawed protagonist Breaks into Two; but when the Midpoint happens, he/she must learn the Theme Stated, before All Is Lost.

The Covenant of the Arc is the screenwriting law that says: Every single character in your movie must change in the course of your story. The only characters who don't change are the bad guys. But the hero and his friends change a lot.

También valoro la obra de Joseph Campbell. El héroe de las mil caras: psicoanálisis del mito

Me gusta uno de Viki King, que lleva el aventurado título de How to Write a Movie in 21 Days

Un policía va a Los Ángeles a visitar a su mujer, de la que está separado, y unos terroristas asaltan el edificio en que ella trabaja: La jungla de cristal.