Over the last few years, I’ve touched on screenwriting rather infrequently. I’ve discussed theme, how to write a simple pitch treatment, and analyzed other people’s stories, but most of the time, I’ve focused on color grading, computer gear, and cameras. It’s a little unbalanced, because post-production is such a small part of what makes films great.

If you haven’t read my article on Three-Act Structure yet, you should. This post will make more sense if you do, and so will the three books on screenwriting that I recommend.

I’m a big fan of Syd Field and his gamechanging book Screenplay, which was published in 1979. Prior to that, there wasn’t that much material on how to write movies, and what there was hadn’t been too specific on details. Field is the one who really nailed down the concept of plot points being part of a three act storyline.

Other authors quickly jumped on this concept of structured plot and pacing, but it also had plenty of detractors. Field’s paradigm has been rephrased and tweaked by every solid story specialist in Hollywood, but the best of them have stuck close to his formula. The most notable of these successors is probably Bob McKee, who after years of teaching screenwriting published the 1997 book Story.

Then, in 2005, the late, great Blake Snyder published his advice in the extremely practical Save The Cat. The book is subtitled “The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need,” and I think that’s actually a fair claim, especially if you’ve previously read anything by Syd Field or Bob McKee. Save the Cat fills in a lot of the blanks that those authors may have left, emphasizes their main points, and is a get-your-hands-dirty approach to the nitty gritty aspects of writing movies.

For example, Blake Snyder was the first writer I’ve come across who really described how to make the proper use of The Board, even though it’s a tool that virtually every screenwriter depends on. For example, here’s The Board for one of my projects:

It’s a giant piece of paper, divided into four horizontal sections. The top is Act I, the next two are the two halves of Act II, and the bottom is Act III. Written on the paper in the appropriate spots are the immovable Things That Must Happen* in any movie, and pinned in top are my story beats – all the main events, scenes, and ideas that tell the story.

It’s an easy matter to add, subtract, and rearrange these story points to get the beats of the story really hammered into shape, and it’s a great way to visualize where the story drags or is too rushed. This Board is in an early stage; it hasn’t been color-coded and there are no arcs on it, but soon a single glance will explain where specific events occur in space, in time, and in relation to all the other points in the film.

The only downside to this system is that it’s difficult to share with long-distance collaborators, and it’s not very portable. Of course, The Board can be altered and shrunk. I’ve seen rolled-up posters plastered with post-it notes, and folding whiteboards, and those are pretty good solutions, but I still tried my hand at making a digital one. . . .

To see the rest of this fascinating article and download a free scripting file, visit Outside-Hollywood.