Listening today to NPR's Fresh Air Sunday edition, Terry Gross interviews Ira Glass and comedian Mike Birbiglia. They bring up a film term I hadn't come across: "Save the cat." According to the discussion when filmmakers want to get an audience to identify and bond with a character, they throw in a scene that is merely there to show what a character is like. You want the audience to feel the hero is a nice guy, have him "save the cat." In Glass and Birbiglia's new film, Sleepwalk with Me, in order for the audience to feel Birbiglia and his girlfriend had a strong relationship, they added a short scene where they merely bond. The purpose of the scene was merely to "save the cat."
[Update: I bought Blake Snyder's Save the Cat on Amazon. Billed as the ultimate insider's guide which "reveals the secrets that noone dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who's proven you can sell your script if you can save the cat!"]
[Update: I bought Blake Snyder's Save the Cat on Amazon. Billed as the ultimate insider's guide which "reveals the secrets that noone dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who's proven you can sell your script if you can save the cat!"]
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