Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder

This book on screenwriting focuses on the "craft" of writing popular movies. It stresses what is needed to fit into the pattern of popular movies. There are things that people expect in movies. Stories follow the appropriate arc. Characters must be sufficiently rounded to keep the audience invested. (Even the villain should "save the cat" to show his positive attributes. Special abilities and magic should be kept inline. Having one "magic" system is ok. Adding a second just confuses things. 

Within the strict confines of the "blockbuster structure" there is still a lot of room for creativity. This should be made to shine by having a catchy name as well as a quick description with appropriate irony. (The author wishes he could have come up with the title "Legally Blonde").

The book will not showcase ways to bend rules, but will give plenty of areas to work within the rules to create screenplays. Alas, he also mentions that the ability to write screenplays on spec has faded away, so getting into the field remains a challenging task.