Writing Screenplays: About the "Act II" Climax

When writing a screenplay, there are always a few important things that you’re going to want to keep in mind. Screenplays are about stories, yes, and you should have a burning desire to tell whatever story you’re currently working on. Screenplays are also in large part about structure, however, and structure is unfortunately something that a lot of people tend to overlook. One of the most important structural aspects of any screenplay is the “Act II” climax. This isn’t the big moment at the end of your movie, but is rather the big moment that leads to that big final moment at the end of your movie. Without a good “Act II” climax, you’re going to lose the attention of your audience very quickly.

Typically, your character needs to be at his lowest possible moment at the end of “Act II.” If the whole screenplay tells the story of how your character gets from wherever he starts to his goal, he needs to be either emotionally or physically as far away from that goal as possible at the end of “Act II.” In J.J. Abram’s “Star Trek” reboot, for example, the “Act II” climax would be when Spock’s home planet of Vulcan is destroyed and Kirk has been exiled from the Enterprise onto one of Vulcan’s snowy nearby moons. Both of our heroes are experiencing the worst events that they will go through in the entire movie at this moment.

This can come in the form of a sudden revelation. Maybe he’s secretly related to the bad guy he’s been chasing all along. Maybe he’s trying to save a particular person, but it turns out that the person in question is already dead or gone. Whatever it is, this climactic moment needs to be the most difficult thing your character will have to overcome throughout the rest of the piece.

The “Act II” climax also needs to achieve a certain momentum that will be used to carry your hero, and the audience, through to the end of the script. In action movies, for example, a big action sequence might come at the end of the second act. In Christopher Nolan’s film “The Dark Knight,” the “Act II” climax would be when the Joker destroys two separate warehouses. One of the explosions kills Batman’s one true love, Rachel Dawes. From that moment on, the audience is riding the momentum of that moment because they now want to see the Joker punished for this particular crime above all others.

Mastering the “Act II” climax won’t guarantee that you’ll have a great screenplay. But a great climax at this particular point is certainly one massive step in the right direction.