Free calculator
Save the Cat Beat Sheet Calculator
Enter your script's pages or minutes: Blake Snyder's fifteen beats land on your story, act by act, with a target page and a percent of the script.
The fifteen BS2 beats
Beat sheet · 110 pages
Tap a beat for its note
Act One
pp. 1–25Act Two A
pp. 25–55Act Two B
pp. 55–85Act Three
pp. 85–110From grid to page
You have the structure. Now write the scenes.
In Cinequill you pick Save the Cat among eight narrative methods and work on beats, scenes and pages in one project, with the dramaturg beside you. Copy this beat sheet as text and take it with you.
How it works
- 01
Enter the length
Pages or minutes, from a short to a feature. Roughly one page is one minute.
- 02
Read the grid
The fifteen beats fall into the four BS2 acts, each with a target page and a percent of the script.
- 03
Take it into the writing
Copy the beat sheet as text, then open your project in Cinequill and turn the beats into scenes.
Example
Back to the Future, read on 110 pages
Back to the Future runs about 116 minutes. The notes below read the film on the 110-page board this calculator shows by default. It is an example of where the beats fall, not the pagination of the production draft. The wording is ours.
- 01p. 1 · 1%
Opening Image
Marty tears through 1985 Hill Valley late for school, and the McFly dinner table has already quit.
- 02p. 5 · 5%
Theme Stated
The principal tells Marty he is headed the same way as George. The clock will answer that the future is not written yet.
- 03pp. 1–10 · 1%–9%
Set-Up
Biff, the failed audition, Jennifer, and a father who cannot look a bully in the eye. The ending has to reverse all of it.
- 04p. 12 · 11%
Catalyst
Doc is shot in the mall parking lot. Marty escapes in the DeLorean and lands in 1955.
- 05pp. 12–25 · 11%–23%
Debate
His parents have not met. Doc tells him to stay out of it, then that he cannot go home until they do.
- 06p. 25 · 23%
Break into Two
Marty chooses to make George and Lorraine fall in love, or he is never born.
- 07p. 30 · 27%
B Story
Doc in 1955 is not only the inventor of the time machine. He is the relationship that carries the theme.
- 08pp. 30–55 · 27%–50%
Fun and Games
Calvin Klein, the invented guitar, George rehearsing a punch, and the Enchantment Under the Sea plan. This is the trailer.
- 09p. 55 · 50%
Midpoint
George knocks Biff down at the dance. It feels like a win, and the lightning is still the only way home.
- 10pp. 55–75 · 50%–68%
Bad Guys Close In
The cable, the clock, and a kiss that can still miss. The clever plan depends on a single strike.
- 11p. 75 · 68%
All Is Lost
The DeLorean stalls as the storm arrives. The wire is the only road left, and the car will not start.
- 12pp. 75–85 · 68%–77%
Dark Night of the Soul
A few seconds with a dead car and Doc on the tower. The old escape is gone.
- 13p. 85 · 77%
Break into Three
Doc gets the cable in place. Marty restarts the car and aims at the wire.
- 14pp. 85–110 · 77%–100%
Finale
The strike sends him to 1985. Biff waxes the car, George is a writer, and the family at the table chose differently.
- 15p. 110 · 100%
Final Image
Marty leaves with Jennifer from a house the opening dinner could not have imagined.
How the beats are calculated
Enter a page count or a runtime and the fifteen Blake Snyder beats land on a target page and a percent of the script. This page only does the math. When to trust the beat sheet, and when to leave it, lives on the method page.
What it calculates, and what it does not
The calculator takes the fifteen BS2 beats and redraws them on your length. It does not write the scenes, pick the genre, or decide whether the midpoint holds.
The Save the Cat method page answers a different question: whether the beat sheet helps you see pressure, or whether you are filling it in to satisfy the list. The two pages link to each other and do not stand in for each other.
Where the percentages come from
The BS2 was written against a 110-page screenplay: Catalyst on page 12, Break into Two on 25, Midpoint on 55, All Is Lost on 75, Break into Three on 85, Final Image on 110. The percent is that page divided by 110, rounded to the nearest whole number.
This calculator does not use the round figures that circulate online (Catalyst at 10 percent, All Is Lost at 75 percent, act three at 80 percent). On 110 pages those figures do not land on 12, 75 and 85. At 110 pages you get 12, 75 and 85. At 90 pages the Catalyst falls on page 10, which is still about 11 percent of the script.
Minutes use the production rule of about one page per minute. A 110-page script runs about 110 minutes. Action pages play shorter and dialogue pages play longer: it is a compass, not a stopwatch.
Frequently asked questions
What is a BS2 beat sheet?
The BS2 is Blake Snyder's 15-beat board, written for a 110-page feature. Catalyst on page 12, Midpoint on 55, All Is Lost on 75, Break into Three on 85. This calculator scales those anchors. The method page explains when to use them.
Does the beat sheet work for TV and short films?
Yes, as a proportion. A 45-page television hour or a 12-page short uses the same ratios, so the beats sit closer together. They are targets, not a statute. A series also has episode breaks the board does not know about.
How long does a 110-page script run?
About 110 minutes. The usual production rule is one page per minute of screen time. Action pages run shorter and dialogue pages run longer. When you switch the input to minutes, the calculator uses that rule.
Do the pages have to be exact?
No. On a 110-page script the calculator returns Snyder's classic targets. On any other length it rounds to the nearest page. Landing the Catalyst a page early does not break a story. Landing the midpoint at 70 percent of the script usually does.
Is this the Save the Cat software?
No. Save the Cat and BS2 are trademarks of their owners. Cinequill is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. The calculator is free to use in the browser, with no account. An account is only for opening a project.
From calculator to project
Write your story with the Save the Cat method
Create a free account: pick Save the Cat among eight narrative methods and keep beats, scenes and pages in one project, with the dramaturg beside you. The calculator stays free, in the browser.
Related resources
Keep going from the calculator
Save the Cat and BS2 are trademarks of their owners. Cinequill is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. The calculator is free to use in the browser.