Free Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble For... by Blake Snyder Page B

points denote the function of forcing the hero to learn his real lesson.
    And all of it ties back into Theme!
    Keep in mind the only reason for storytelling and why A and B must cross throughout: It's to show the true reason for the journey is not getting the tangible goal, but learning the spiritual lesson that can only be found through the B Story!
    The Theme Stated moment on page 5 of a well-structured screenplay ties in to the lesson the hero will learn. This is the place, up front, when you as writer get to say what this movie is about — and it might take a few drafts to enunciate precisely. A clue for finding it is seeing how the B Story “helps” the hero learn the lesson. When you do figure it out, state the lesson up front, tie it to the B Story's introduction on page 30, the raising of the stakes at Midpoint, the moment of clarity that helps the hero realize his error in Dark Night of the Soul, and the final push into Act Three the hero needs to learn his lesson — and triumph.
OTHER INTERESTING PHENOMENA
    The various sections of the Transformation Machine are each different. They serve a different need, have a different tone, and yet all point to the same goal:
change
. They also help troubleshoot our brilliant ideas that don't quite fit, or that we don't quite know what to do with — and even help with the problem of selling our scripts. The Fun and Games is a great example of this.
    “Fun and Games” is my term, and indicates, I hope, where the “promise of the premise” of a movie is found. It's the part where the hero first enters and explores the Antithesis world — and it's “fun” to the extent that we are not as concerned with plot as we are with seeing what this new world is about. But this term has also led to confusion. What's “fun” about the series of bodies found in this section of many murder mysteries and slasher flicks? What's “fun” about Russell Crowe in
Gladiator
being given up for dead andlearning the ropes of
Spartacus
-like combat? While not every Fun and Games section is purely fun, it does offer us a cool way to troubleshoot the problem of figuring out what the poster of your movie is, if you don't know. Why?
    Because the Fun and Games is your pitch!
    I can't tell you the a-ha! moment that occurred for me when this fact hit me. I was trying to help a writer get her adventure going.
It's like
Miss Congeniality,
I was telling her, by the time you hit page
25, the story is on! Tomboy FBI agent, Sandra Bullock, is undercover…
Then a lightbulb. I saw Sandra in her gown, crown, and sash, a gun in her garter. That's the Fun and Games of
Miss Congeniality
.
    It's the poster!
    It's the concept!
    To me, a guy very concerned with delivering on his premise, I thought that was enough to worry about. But knowing this new twist, I can also reverse engineer both what goes into Fun and Games and how to double-check to make sure it's my movie's crux.
    This is an important a-ha! because when you're trying to figure out what your story is, you will pitch all kinds of things: Setting, Theme, Catalyst, even the Finale of your tale.
    I've heard them all. And they're all
not
your movie.
    No, the movie is not where it's set. It's not its “meaning.” It's not how the hero is “called to action.” And it's not the big slam-bang Finale — even though all these are vital.
    It's the Fun and Games.
    That's your movie.
    And if your Fun and Games section isn't solid, or isn't delivering on your premise, now's the time to find out.
    Looking at the map on page 47, and seeing all the pieces of this flow chart, helps us see other points of interest, too, ones which, while I stood at the whiteboard, led to similar a-ha! moments.
    One really interesting point of comparison is the similarity between two sections: “
Catalyst – Debate – Break into Two
” and “
All Is Lost – Dark Night of the Soul – Break into 3
.”
    Just look at how these sets of plot points line up:
    –
Catalyst
and
All Is