Writing Screenplays: About Three Act Structure

It has been said in the past that rules exist purely to be broken. While this is true in certain situations, there are some rules that are considered important for a reason. When writing a screenplay, one of these “rules” that you should follow is the three act structure. The vast majority of all movies ever made, including all of your favorite movies, follow this structure. Before you can follow the structure, you must first understand the specifics of it. The writing process does not involve bending your story to fit the three act structure, but using that structure to tell a better story in the first place.

The first act of a screenplay is designed to introduce the audience to your world. The first ten or so pages should introduce not only your character, but that character’s normal daily life. The audience should see the things that character goes through on any random day when the adventure of your story isn’t taking place. Also in the first act is the “inciting incident,” which is the moment where your main character sets off on the journey you want him or her to go down. In George Lucas’ film “Star Wars,” for example, the “inciting incident” is when Luke Skywalker sees an epic battle taking place in space from his home down on the planet Tatooine.

The end of the first act comes around the thirtieth page in your script. This is the moment where your hero starts out on his or her journey. To continue with the example of “Star Wars,” this would be when Luke and Ben Kenobi leave Tatooine with Han Solo and Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon.

The second act is the time for your hero to encounter trouble on their journey. This act, much like the first one, is around thirty to forty pages. Just because you aren’t writing an action or adventure movie doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow these rules. In Kevin Smith’s romantic comedy “Chasing Amy,” for example, the main character finds out that the girl he was secretly in love with was a lesbian in the second act. Your hero needs to face obstacles in the second act.

The third act is the resolution of the story. Your hero has been presented with the obstacles that stand between himself and his goal, and in “Act III” he will start to overcome them. The important thing to remember in “Act III” is that, at the end, your main character needs to be profoundly changed. He or she can’t go back to the “normal” world you established in the first ten pages. It wouldn’t be enough anymore, due to all the things he or she learned on the journey you took them on as a writer. If the character you’re writing on the last page of the script is fundamentally the same as the character you introduced on page one, you need to go back and rewrite to give your character more of an arc.