37 pages • 1 hour read
Blake SnyderA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Snyder uses this term to describe a script that has at its heart a basic drive or motivation for a character. Hunger, sex, survival, and protection of one’s home or loved ones are primal urges. The author repeatedly exhorts the reader to anchor their story’s premise in something primal.
Beats are individual scenes in a movie or story. Each beat should feature a conflict and a change in the emotional tone. In the BS2, Snyder allows for 40 beats spread over three acts.