Scrin

Guides

Beat Sheet Template: The Fifteen Beats and Where They Fall

Published

Short answer: a beat sheet is a list of a story's major turns, and the best-known one has fifteen lines. Blake Snyder placed them by page in a screenplay. Jessica Brody placed the same fifteen by percentage in a novel.

Both lists are in the table, with the percentages worked out for 50,000 words. Below it is a blank copy of the same table, to fill from an outline before the draft or from the draft after it.

What a beat sheet is

Wikipedia: "A beat sheet is a short list of the pivotal actions and emotional turning points in a story."

Jamie Nash, on the Save the Cat! site, defines the unit first. A beat is "a significant story moment that changes the direction of the plot, reveals new information, or shifts the emotional stakes."

Then the list: "A beat sheet is an outline of the major story beats in a screenplay or a novel."

Kaelyn Barron, for TCK Publishing: "A beat sheet differs from an outline in that each beat is generally short and concise (think bullet points)."

What a beat is and what a beat sheet is each have a page on this site; the difference between an outline and a structure has one too.

Where the fifteen come from

Wikipedia: "Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need is a 2005 non-fiction book on screenwriting by spec-screenwriter Blake Snyder, exploring plot structure in mainstream film."

Its fourth chapter "introduces what Save the Cat! is most famous for: the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet (or the BS2, as he calls it)."

Snyder "(October 3, 1957 – August 4, 2009) was an American screenwriter, consultant, author and educator". His list "follows classic three-act structure but is more specific."

Jessica Brody, a novelist, carried the list to novels in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (2018).

On her site: "This blog post features my tried and true 15 steps to writing a book. Also known as the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet."

Her claim for it, in her words: "These are the 15 'plot points' that are found in almost every successful novel ever written."

The fifteen beats, by page and by percentage

The page numbers are Snyder's, as Wikipedia reproduces them; page 110 is the last. The percentages are Brody's.

The fifth column applies her percentages to 50,000 words, the usual total of a month of novel writing; replace it with your own total. The last column quotes Brody on each beat.

#BeatScreenplay, by pageNovel, by percentageIn 50,000 wordsWhat happens there
1Opening Imagep. 10–1 %the first 500"a 'before' snapshot of your main character"
2Theme Statedp. 55 %word 2,500"a statement is made by a character (typically not the hero) that hints at what the hero's arc will be"
3Set-upp. 1–101–10 %500 to 5,000"the hero's status quo life and all its flaws"
4Catalystp. 1210 %word 5,000"an inciting incident (or life-changing event)"
5Debatep. 12–2510–20 %5,000 to 10,000"the hero debates what they will do next"
6Break into Twop. 2520 %word 10,000"the hero decides to accept the call to action"
7B Storyp. 3022 %word 11,000"a new character or characters who will ultimately serve to help the hero learn the theme or life lesson"
8Fun and Gamesp. 30–5520–50 %10,000 to 25,000"the hero in their new 'upside down' world of Act 2"
9Midpointp. 5550 %word 25,000"either a 'false victory' … or a 'false defeat'"
10Bad Guys Close Inp. 55–7550–75 %25,000 to 37,500"the hero's deep-rooted flaws (or internal bad guys) are closing in"
11All Is Lostp. 7575 %word 37,500"the lowest point of the novel"
12Dark Night of the Soulp. 75–8575–80 %37,500 to 40,000"the hero takes time to process everything that's happened thus far"
13Break into Threep. 8580 %word 40,000"The 'aha!' moment"
14Finalep. 85–11080–99 %40,000 to 49,500"the hero must prove that they really have learned the theme and have transformed"
15Final Imagep. 11099–100 %the last 500"A mirror to the Opening Image"

Brody writes "Break Into 2" and "Break Into 3" where Snyder's list has "Break into Two" and "Break into Three"; the beats are the same.

Three acts hold the fifteen. Brody, of the Opening Image: "This is the first beat of Act 1". The Break into Two opens "the new 'upside-down' world of Act 2". The Finale: "Now in Act 3, the hero must prove that they really have learned the theme".

The two columns do not line up exactly. Divided by 110, Snyder's pages put the Catalyst at 11 %, the Break into Two at 23 % and the B Story at 27 %.

By the same arithmetic, All Is Lost falls at 68 % and the Break into Three at 77 %. Brody's novel version has 10, 20, 22, 75 and 80.

What the numbers are worth

Brody, in a Reedsy Live session: "With each beat, you'll see a percentage mark — which is roughly where the beat should come within your novel."

Where they come from: "these guidelines are taken from averages of really successful novels."

Her Novel Calculator does the arithmetic of the fifth column for any length: "a tool to determine where each beat should be placed in your manuscript based on the total page count or word count".

Its page adds: "The calculator's result is meant to be a guideline only."

In the same Reedsy session: "People get very nervous about sticking to these numbers." Then: "I say, don't worry about them. Use them if you need them, and let them go."

Snyder's own position, as the critic Peter Suderman reports it in Wikipedia: "In Save the Cat!, [Snyder] stresses that his beat sheet is a structure, not a formula, one based in time-tested screen-story principles."

Suderman's view of what followed, in the same article: "In practice, Snyder's beat sheet has taken over Hollywood screenwriting." Wikipedia's summary of the book's reception: criticism "for offering what is perceived as an overly formulaic view of structure."

A blank to copy

The same fifteen lines, with the target in Brody's percentages. Two columns are left to fill: the chapter or scene that carries the beat, and where it falls once the draft exists.

BeatTargetYour chapter or sceneWhere it falls in your draft
Opening Image0–1 %
Theme Stated5 %
Set-up1–10 %
Catalyst10 %
Debate10–20 %
Break into Two20 %
B Story22 %
Fun and Games20–50 %
Midpoint50 %
Bad Guys Close In50–75 %
All Is Lost75 %
Dark Night of the Soul75–80 %
Break into Three80 %
Finale80–99 %
Final Image99–100 %

Brody offers it as a template you can use "to outline, write, or revise any novel of any genre." Before the draft, the third column comes from an outline. After it, the fourth comes from a word count.

A line left empty points to a missing beat. Brody: "If you compare what you have to this Save the Cat! beat sheet, you can easily see what needs to be revised".

Before the draft, or after it

Brody, on the finished story: "It can be a diagnostic tool for looking at a story you're already working on." And: "It's also an excellent tool for revising an existing story."

The page on this site that defines a beat sheet says the same of the order: a beat sheet "works just as well built afterward, as a way to check a finished draft for the turns it might be missing".

A chapter-by-chapter outline on this site keeps a column for it, "Belongs to (act, point or beat)": one row per chapter, "recording what changes, not only what happens".

Not every beat sheet has fifteen lines

Barron, for TCK Publishing: "it helps to divide your story into three or five acts, then fill in key beats for each of those acts."

Her example has twelve: "Opening Scene", "Introduction", "Theme Statement", "The Spark", "The Doubt", "Subplot", "New Characters", "Midpoint", "Low Point", "Climax", "Falling Action", "Final Scene". Of the eighth: "The midpoint, as the name suggests, is found halfway through the story."

The same page, on who uses them: "Beat sheets are typically used by screenwriters to help map out their screenplays, but they can easily be used by authors and novelists too."

How Scrin does it

Scrin is a home where pages grow into books: you keep writing, from an untitled line to a chapter, and Scrin keeps the rest.

It serves long writing of every kind: a novel, an essay, a screenplay, a run of articles.

Scrin does not place the beats. Once a draft exists, you can ask it for a map of the manuscript: "an outline scene by scene, a synopsis, the characters and places with their scenes, the threads that run through it." The text leaves the device for that "only once you have said yes, every time."

Read against the blank above, that outline lists the scenes to choose from. Which scene carries which beat is yours to decide, before the draft or after it.

The draft is written in the browser, with "no network needed after the first visit, nothing to log into."

The text leaves whenever you want it to: Markdown, .docx, EPUB, HTML, or PDF when you print. One page says what it does today and what it does not.

Questions

What is a beat sheet? "A beat sheet is a short list of the pivotal actions and emotional turning points in a story" (Wikipedia). Jamie Nash, on the Save the Cat! site: "A beat sheet is an outline of the major story beats in a screenplay or a novel."

How many beats are in a beat sheet? Fifteen in Blake Snyder's, the best-known list, from Opening Image to Final Image. Twelve in the example Kaelyn Barron gives for TCK Publishing, from "Opening Scene" to "Final Scene"; her advice, given just before it, is to "divide your story into three or five acts".

What are the fifteen beats, in order? Opening Image, Theme Stated, Set-up, Catalyst, Debate, Break into Two, B Story, Fun and Games, Midpoint, Bad Guys Close In, All Is Lost, Dark Night of the Soul, Break into Three, Finale, Final Image. Brody's novel version keeps the same fifteen, in the same order.

Where does the midpoint of a novel fall? At 50 % in Jessica Brody's version: word 25,000 of a 50,000-word draft. In Snyder's screenplay version, page 55 of 110. Brody: "This is literally the middle of the novel".

Are the percentages rules? Brody, who wrote them: "Now, these are rough guidelines." And: "I say, don't worry about them. Use them if you need them, and let them go." Her calculator's page says its result "is meant to be a guideline only."

Can a beat sheet be used on a finished draft? Yes, in Jessica Brody's words: "It can be a diagnostic tool for looking at a story you're already working on." And: "It's also an excellent tool for revising an existing story." The blank table above has a column for where each beat falls.

Sources