Cat Lady and Story Structure Analysis

Finally picked up some new colors ( with the help of some nifty coupons of course!) Heres me testing out the 3 new salmon-y colors I picked up today on a cat-woman-y character.

Also did a little story structure self study, and re-watched Dallas Buyers Club with a stopwatch, pausing every now and then to fill out the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet provided in his "Save the Cat" series.

 I really love Dallas Buyers Club (spoiler alert) because the hero has such an amazingly grandiose character arc from beginning to end:

Ron Woodruff is introduced to us as an ignorant trailer trash, money grubbing, selfish, homophobic, racist, and drug addicted sex fiend who gambles at rodeos and hangs around shitty dive bars. But by the end of the film he has transformed into an altruistic, selfless, international businessman who helps countless people, by teaming up with his drag queen friend Rayon to develop and pioneer a cure for AIDS. He protects his gay friend from the insults of white trash idiots and even learns how to be a gentleman by taking his doctor out on a proper date to a classy restaurant. 

I think the theme stated occurs at minute 4 when Tucker the cop tells Ron to "Handle his business, and get his life together." Little does he know that HIV will be his vehicle for doing this. I think their goal in this movie was to show how something like AIDS could be a catalyst for transforming this man from a sleaze bag to someone that should be celebrated and admired for his courage and altruism and achievements in pioneering a cure.

Side note - Ron's "Save the Cat" moment happens when he yells at his co-workers to call the ambulance for a worker who got his leg stuck in an oil rig. The others are hesitant to call the ambulance because this worker is an illegal immigrant. This scene illustrates that underneath all that tough guy cowboy persona, Ron actually does have a heart.

Here's a snapshot of the beat sheet in case you're interested. It basically hits all the beats perfectly. Thank you Blake Snyder!