# Book Notes: Save The Cat I took an acting class my freshman year of college. [*Save The Cat*](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5709101W/) by Blake Snyder is one of the books the professor talked highly of a few times. So it has been sitting on my reading list for years. I finally picked it up from the library and decided to give it a read. I don't know much about screenwriting, or Hollywood in general, so I can't compare it to much but the book was entertaining on it's own and had some good nuggets. Here are my notes: * You gotta have a good hook (aka logline) and title * High Concept - When it's easy to see what a movie is about from hook/title * You can, and sometimes must, near cliche but you always need a twist * Make the hero likeable * A good structure stops people from rewriting your script too much to take credits * Save the cat - Make the hero relatable * Double Mumbo Jumbo - Stick to one kind of magic per movie * Laying the pipe - telling the character backstory * Keep the press out - preserves the magic for the audience * If your hear is too neutral make the bad guy badder * Touch many emotions during you movie * Give minor characters a limp and eye patch to make them memorable Photo by Daniel Nyman on Unsplash