Screenplay Beat Sheet Board

Blake Snyder's 15 story beats mapped as a visual board — every beat, its page number, and how the acts connect, on one shareable canvas.

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.

  • Act Two — Confrontation Pages 25 to 85: the upside-down world

  • Act Three — Resolution Pages 85 to 110: synthesis

  • THE BEAT SHEET Blake Snyder's 15 story beats · three acts · one canvas

  • The Page Math Beat targets on a 110-page screenplay — scale proportionally for yours

  • Act One — Setup Pages 1 to 25: the world before the story breaks it

  • Structure is rhythm, not formula

    110 pages, 15 beats

    Structure is rhythm, not formula

  • Structure the audience feels but never sees

    The payoff

    Structure the audience feels but never sees

  • Every structure starts on page one

    FADE IN:

    Every structure starts on page one

  • Act Two is where scripts are won or abandoned

    The long middle

    Act Two is where scripts are won or abandoned

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • Image credits — Unsplash: Jorge Salvador, Waldemar Brandt, Seyed Amir Mohammad Tabatabaee, Miguel Alcântara, Clay LeConey · Pexels: Polina Zimmerman, Maria Mileta, Abdulvahap Demir, KoolShooters, Bence Szemerey

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.