Blake Snyder’s ten “genres” and fifty “subgenres” in his Save the Cat books are my single favorite tool for screenwriters. I have long believed that studying this system of story types, and making sure each script you write clearly fits within one of them, is one of the most important and helpful decisions a writer can make.
It seems to me that pretty much every good and successful movie does have the key elements of one of these ten genres, and really squarely fits within one of them. When I see movie trailers, or read loglines of scripts that sold, or just go to the movies, I constantly see endless new variations on these. And it’s usually crystal clear which type of story is on offer.
In my script consulting work, when I read scripts that I think have significant conceptual issues (which is pretty normal), one of the key problems is virtually always that there is not a clear, compelling and difficult enough story problem and goal for the audience to get behind. And that’s what these ten genres offer — ten specific types of viable story problems and goals which have worked over and over again, in all the best movies, with near infinite potential variations.
On the Save the Cat website, there’s a handy chart breaking down each of the genres and subgenres, with lists of titles that Blake Snyder felt fit within each type, plus the three main criteria for a story in each genre. For instance, the genre he calls “Dude with a Problem” always focuses on an “Innocent Hero,” who, after a “Sudden Event,” finds themselves engaged in a “Live and Death Battle” — that takes the whole rest of the movie to resolve. As in Die Hard, The Bourne Identity or, in a very different subgenre, Apollo 13.
For the top listed title under each subgenre, Blake also offered a full “beat sheet” for the movie in his great reference book Save the Cat Goes to the Movies.
Since Mr. Snyder is no longer with us, I have taken the liberty of adding more titles to this master chart, as they occur to me — including newer movies that have come out since his passing, such as Bridesmaids, The Hangover, Twilight, Enchanted, An Education, Temple Grandin and Up.
So check out my modified version of this pdf, where you’ll see little “sticky notes” under most of the subgenres, containing additional titles that to me, show how these genres continue to power the most popular and best-loved stories that make it to theaters. (Hovering over the sticky note icons should be enough to reveal the additional titles.)
And of course, feel free to comment if you disagree on where I place certain titles!
Your site is amazingly helpful and inspirational. Do you find it most useful to find the right genre for the A story when the idea is a germ, or do you start writing, outlining, building your story and then attaching a genre in the rewrite?
Thanks Mark!
I definitely advise finding the genre when you’re in the “germ” stage — because it’s part of making sure you have a concept (ideally expressible in a logline that grabs people) that has the best chance of working, when you then go through all the time and effort of writing it. I wouldn’t advise moving forward with a project until or unless you have those things really locked down and solid, and ideally vetted with objective professionals, if possible. (This is why agents and managers beg their clients not to write a spec script without pitching the concept to them first — and they often try to talk their clients out of spending time on projects that they don’t think work on the “germ” level.) 🙂
Mr. Bork,
I’m working on an original idea and I have no formula. Reading most of the genres I have nowhere to place my character’s journey. Is it possible to have a concept or intangible entity to represent the Nihilist Monster? My protagonist is not necessarily the NM but as a result of American economic advancement he makes a choice to proceed knowing that his choice for wealth will turn humanity upside down.
Well, usually the NM would not be the protagonist, but would be the “killing machine” that the main character is trying to survive and defeat. And if it’s not actively killing and trying to kill, it probably doesn’t fit “Monster in the House.” I’m skeptical about a concept or intangible entity fulfilling the requirements of that genre. It’s possible that what you currently have doesn’t quite fit any of the genres and might have challenges with audience emotional investment as a result, but it’s hard to know without knowing more… Feel free to e-mail me to discuss further! 🙂
Thanks for this Eric how do you know FOR SURE you got the right
genre? sometimes 2 or more genres bleed very close together.
I never know absolutely for sure. 🙂 And I agree that often you might see more than one genre seemingly on display in the same movie. But I think ultimately there tends to be one home genre that the A Story of the movie fits more than any other, possibly with elements of others (or others used for a B Story/subplot).
For instance, THE GODFATHER is both Institutionalized about Michael becoming part of the family business, and a bit of a Golden Fleece about the family defeating the other families. We’re invested in both things.
JERRY MAGUIRE is both a Sports Fleece about Jerry’s career, with Rod, and a Buddy Love about his relationship with Dorothy.
The key is to have at least one home genre that fits like a glove.
I concur: Every successful movie falls into one of the ten categories. The creative failure of 47 RONIN, for example, can be attributed in part to the story’s lack of adherence to a defined set of genre conventions: It starts as an Institutionalized, then seems to take an abrupt left turn into Golden Fleece territory mid-story. (For the record: I don’t claim to have conducted a scholarly analysis of 47 RONIN; I barely stayed conscious through it!)
Most movies are pretty easily identifiable, as Erik notes, as belonging to a particular category, but, every so often, when I run into one that seems like it could go one way or the other, I ask myself what the CENTRAL DRAMATIC QUESTION is. For example: STAND BY ME and FERRIS BUELLER are both about a group of young friends on the eve of a new phase in their scholastic careers (junior high school and college, respectively) who work through their separation anxiety (among other issues) over the course of “one last adventure” together. Both films seem like they fit firmly alongside AMERICAN GRAFFITI and AMERICAN PIE in the “Adolescent Passage” sub-category, but only FERRIS does; because the central dramatic question of STAND BY ME is, “Will the boys find the dead body?”, it’s a “Buddy Fleece.” So, when you’ve got a story that straddles the line between two genres, zero in on the precise nature of the conflict that’s providing the plot’s central thrust, and the proper category will become self-evident.
I’m a SAVE THE CAT! enthusiast as well, and I can’t imagine developing a concept without Blake’s genre classifications. I’m at present writing a an epic historical adventure (with a major love-story component) that could’ve worked just as easily as an Institutionalized (in the vein of AVATAR, DANCES WITH WOLVES, THE LAST SAMURAI), where the “event” is at the forefront and the romance is B-story, or a Buddy Love (like TITANIC, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, DR. ZHIVAGO), where the romance is the A-story and the historical circumstances are relegated to backdrop. Knowing that each approach carries its own set of genre expectations, I used SAVE THE CAT! to analyze the very DNA of the story I was setting out to write and definitively choose one genre over the other. (And looking to precedents in your particular SUBgenre is a must.) Without Blake’s tool, I’d’ve likely plowed ahead and would up with an unsatisfying hodgepodge of both genres that didn’t fully satisfy the requirements of either. And I wouldn’t have known WHY it wasn’t working. It’s an indispensable tool.
Love this site, Erik. Lots of great content.
Thanks Sean! Really great analysis — I couldn’t agree more!
Thanks for this brief article and the additions to the STC genre list. I’ve been hoping someone would add new movies to the list. Your comments also help me understand the problem I’m having with my current script. I’m starting in one genre and trying to finish in another.
That’s such a common issue, mixing genres in ways that can throw off the audience, without the writer even realizing it. Each genre sets up certain expectations and feelings on the part of the audience, who is hopefully invested in a certain kind of outcome — and if you switch genres to the point where they don’t know what to be invested in anymore, or feel they’re in a whole different kind of movie, that can be a problem! Thanks so much for the comment…