> Screenwriting sample
BLAKE SNYDER BEAT SHEET
OPENING IMAGE
Night.
A car moves down a dark road outside Zagreb.
A guitar in the trunk.
The protagonist drives toward the production base.
An ordinary man from an ordinary life heading to another background acting gig.
Music plays on the radio.
Two days in a world that isn't real lie ahead of him.
SET-UP
The production base.
Extras arrive one by one.
Coffee from a vending machine.
Costumes hanging on racks.
Makeup.
We meet the protagonist.
He's no beginner.
He already knows the procedure.
He greets familiar faces.
Some have worked dozens of shoots together.
Others are new.
An accordionist and a violinist fall in beside him.
The three of them stick together.
THEME STATED
An older extra says during the wait:
"The best part about background work is you never know who you'll meet. And by tomorrow you might never see them again."
The protagonist smiles.
He doesn't think much of it.
CATALYST
Arrival at the location.
An abandoned restaurant.
Dead from the outside.
The doors open.
Inside: a cabaret from the fifties.
Smoke.
Music from the speakers.
Extras in costume.
Spotlights.
As if they've stepped into another time.
DEBATE
While they wait for the first shot, hours pass.
Lighting adjustments.
Camera position changes.
More waiting.
The protagonist wonders:
Why does this keep pulling him back?
Why does he come to shoots for a small daily rate and hours of standing around?
BREAK INTO TWO
First:
"Action!"
The orchestra takes its place.
From that moment the protagonist enters the temporary world of the cabaret.
Life inside the film's illusion begins.
B STORY
Conversations among the extras.
Stories from other sets.
Other series.
Other roles.
Some are retirees.
Some are students.
Some are actors between jobs.
A sense of fellowship emerges among people who keep stepping in and out of other people's stories.
PROMISE OF THE PREMISE
Shooting.
Repetition.
New position.
New lighting.
A new version of the same scene.
The humor comes from the tricks of filmmaking:
- musicians playing without sound
- guests laughing without a voice
- conversations conducted without words
- dancing that looks passionate while the room sits in near-total silence
We observe the work of:
- the assistant directors
- the script supervisor
- the sound mixer
- the director of photography
- the director
The film factory of illusion running at full capacity.
MIDPOINT
Late in the evening.
The shooting finally flows.
One take lands on the first try.
The crew relaxes.
The cabaret looks its most beautiful.
Smoke.
Lights.
Extras.
Actors.
The orchestra.
For a moment everyone forgets they're standing in an abandoned restaurant.
The magic feels real.
BAD GUYS CLOSE IN
Day two.
Exhaustion.
The same shots.
The same positions.
More waiting.
People begin leaving for home.
It becomes clear everything is drawing to a close.
The scaffolding of the illusion starts coming apart.
ALL IS LOST
The final shot is in the can.
The assistant director says:
"Thank you everyone, that's a wrap."
Silence.
No more retakes.
No more "Action!"
No more cabaret.
The death of the illusion.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
Costumes are returned.
Makeup is wiped away.
People change back into their everyday clothes.
Suddenly everyone is ordinary again.
The protagonist surveys the nearly empty space.
The cabaret dissolves before his eyes.
BREAK INTO THREE
He understands something.
He hadn't come for the television.
He hadn't come for the money.
He hadn't come for the camera either.
He had come for the feeling of belonging, for two days, to something larger than himself.
FINALE
He says goodbye to the accordionist and the violinist.
A few words are exchanged.
Maybe they'll meet again.
Maybe they won't.
People leave in different directions.
The production crew stays on to finish their work.
The spotlights go out one by one.
FINAL IMAGE
The same abandoned restaurant.
No lights.
No music.
No smoke.
No extras.
No film crew.
Just an empty building in the dark.
The protagonist's car disappears down the road.
The cabaret existed for only two days.
But it will stay with him far longer.
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