Screenplay Beat Sheet Board

A screenplay beat sheet is a one-page map of a script's fifteen key story moments — from Opening Image to Final Image — each with a target page number. This board lays out Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! version for a 110-page screenplay, with labeled arrows tracing how each beat causes the next.

Updated

The classic 15-beat screenplay structure from Blake Snyder's Save the Cat!, laid out the way a writers' room would pin it to a corkboard: one card per beat with its target page on a 110-page script, arrows tracing the causal chain from Catalyst to Finale, and the three acts grouped so you can see the whole shape of a story at a glance. Use it as a reference while outlining, or copy the layout and fill in your own logline, beats, and scene ideas. Made with Soleil Clusters.

THE BEAT SHEET

Blake Snyder's 15 story beats · three acts · one canvas

A 2×3 visual grid — The writers' room (6 images) — view it on the board above.

Structure is rhythm, not formula
110 pages, 15 beats — Structure is rhythm, not formula

Act One — Setup

Pages 1 to 25: the world before the story breaks it

1 · Opening Image — p. 1
A single frame that captures the hero's before state. It will be mirrored by the Final Image, so choose something that can transform.

2 · Theme Stated — p. 5
Someone tells the hero the lesson of the movie, usually in passing, usually dismissed. The rest of the script argues the point.

3 · Set-Up — pp. 1–10
Plant every character, tic, and flaw that pays off later. Show the six things that need fixing in the hero's life.

4 · Catalyst — p. 12
The telegram, the firing, the diagnosis, the knock on the door. Life as the hero knows it ends here.

5 · Debate — pp. 12–25
Can I really do this? The hero resists the call. The debate sharpens the stakes before the leap.

Every structure starts on page one
FADE IN: — Every structure starts on page one

Act Two — Confrontation

Pages 25 to 85: the upside-down world

6 · Break Into Two — p. 25
The hero chooses to act and steps into the antithesis world. It must be a decision, not an accident.

7 · B Story — p. 30
The love story, the mentor, the friendship — a new relationship that carries the theme while the A story carries the plot.

8 · Fun and Games — pp. 30–55
The promise of the premise. The trailer moments. The reason the audience bought a ticket.

9 · Midpoint — p. 55
A false victory or a false defeat. Stakes are raised, the clock starts, and fun and games are over.

10 · Bad Guys Close In — pp. 55–75
External enemies regroup and internal doubts fester. The team frays. Pressure from both directions.

11 · All Is Lost — p. 75
The opposite of the Midpoint, with a whiff of death: something — a mentor, a dream, an old self — dies here.

12 · Dark Night of the Soul — pp. 75–85
The hero sits in the wreckage and finally absorbs the theme stated on page five. The lesson lands only after the loss.

Act Two is where scripts are won or abandoned
The long middle — Act Two is where scripts are won or abandoned

Act Three — Resolution

Pages 85 to 110: synthesis

13 · Break Into Three — p. 85
Thanks to the B story and the theme, the hero finds the real solution — and chooses to fight with new knowledge.

14 · Finale — pp. 85–110
Five steps: gather the team, execute the plan, the high tower surprise, dig deep down, execute the new plan. The hero proves the change.

15 · Final Image — p. 110
The mirror of the Opening Image. Proof, in one frame, that transformation happened.

Structure the audience feels but never sees
The payoff — Structure the audience feels but never sees

The Shape of the Story

All 15 beats in one glance, the tension curve, and a treatment template to steal

Tension rises for 85 pages, peaks at Break Into Three, resolves in 25

One-page treatment template

One-page treatment

Logline: a [flawed hero] must [visible goal] before [ticking clock], or [stakes]. One sentence, under 30 words.

Want vs. need: the want is external and visible; the need is the theme. They pull in opposite directions until p. 85.

Beats to nail first

• Opening and Final Image — write them as a mirrored pair

• Catalyst by p. 12 — the day life stops working

• Midpoint at p. 55 — false victory or false defeat, stakes up

• All Is Lost at p. 75 — include the whiff of death

• Break I

The 15 beats in order

  • 1 Opening Image p. 1 · the before photo
  • 2 Theme Stated p. 5 · the lesson, dismissed
  • 3 Set-Up pp. 1–10 · plant every flaw
  • 4 Catalyst p. 12 · life stops working
  • 5 Debate pp. 12–25 · can I really do this?
  • 6 Break Into Two p. 25 · a choice, not an accident
  • 7 B Story p. 30 · the theme carrier
  • 8 Fun and Games pp. 30–55 · promise of the premise
  • 9 Midpoint p. 55 · false win or false loss
  • 10 Bad Guys Close In pp. 55–75 · pressure from both sides
  • 11 All Is Lost p. 75 · the whiff of death
  • 12 Dark Night of the Soul pp. 75–85 · absorb the lesson
  • 13 Break Into Three p. 85 · the real solution
  • 14 Finale pp. 85–110 · prove the change
  • 15 Final Image p. 110 · the mirror shot

The Page Math

Beat targets on a 110-page screenplay — scale proportionally for yours

15 beats at a glance

p. 1Opening ImageAct I
p. 5Theme StatedAct I
pp. 1–10Set-UpAct I
p. 12CatalystAct I
pp. 12–25DebateAct I
p. 25Break Into TwoAct II
p. 30B StoryAct II
pp. 30–55Fun and GamesAct II
p. 55MidpointAct II
pp. 55–75Bad Guys Close InAct II
p. 75All Is LostAct II
pp. 75–85Dark Night of the SoulAct II
p. 85Break Into ThreeAct III
pp. 85–110FinaleAct III
p. 110Final ImageAct III

Emotional temperature

  • Setup blue — #3E5C76
  • Fun and games gold — #F5C518
  • Bad guys crimson — #8B2635
  • Dark night — #191524
  • New life green — #4E7A46

Where this comes from
The 15 beats are from Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! (2005), the most-used beat sheet in working screenwriting. Treat the page numbers as rhythm markers, not law — every great script bends them.

Save the Cat! — official site
Scriptnotes podcast

Frequently asked questions

What is the Save the Cat beat sheet?

It is a 15-beat story structure template from Blake Snyder's 2005 book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need. It divides a screenplay into three acts and assigns each beat — Catalyst, Midpoint, All Is Lost, and so on — a target page on a 110-page script. It remains the most widely used outlining tool in working screenwriting.

What are the 15 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, and Final Image. The first five form Act One, the middle seven form Act Two, and the last three form Act Three.

What page should the Catalyst happen on?

On page 12 of a 110-page screenplay — roughly ten percent of the way in. The Catalyst is the event that ends life as the hero knows it: the telegram, the firing, the diagnosis. Snyder's page numbers are proportional, so on a 90-page script the Catalyst lands around page 10.

What is the difference between the Midpoint and All Is Lost?

The Midpoint (page 55) is a false victory or a false defeat that raises the stakes and starts the clock. All Is Lost (page 75) is its mirror opposite — if the Midpoint was a false win, All Is Lost is a true collapse, and it should carry what Snyder calls a whiff of death: something old must die so the hero can change.

Does the beat sheet work for novels and TV?

Yes. Because the beats are proportional rather than fixed, they scale to any length — Jessica Brody's Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (2018) restates each beat as a percentage of total page count. TV writers use the same causal chain per season arc, though episodic structure adds its own act breaks.

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