The Screenplay in Three Acts

"Screenplays are structure." ---William Goldman

The three act screenplay is pretty standard. You should already have a copy of Syd Field's Screenplay and/or The Screen Writer's Workbook. If you want to write a screenplay, you have to understand how the three acts work. This doesn't mean you can't create a new kind of screenplay with more or fewer acts, but you can't do that until you have an intimate understand of this format.

The Ancient Greeks broke stories down into three categories: Man vs. Man, Man vs. Himself or Man vs. Society.

Intro: The intro of your screenplay is at the beginning of Act I, but it's important enough to discuss on its own. Depending on the kind of story you're trying to tell this part of your script needs to hook the reader. Producers are extremely busy people and reading is not considered a virtue in Hollywood. Get to the point quickly and you'll go a long way to helping sell your story. Remember, this is a visual medium so a striking visual is often a good element to add.

Act I: Intro the character and establish the problem or conflict. The first act should be somewhere between 20 and 40 pages (approximately a minute per page) depending on the length of the entire screenplay. (Screenplays should be about 90 but no more than 120 pages. Act one takes up about a quarter of the screenplay.

By the end of the first act, the problem should be getting worse. The transition between the first and second act should be what Syd Field's called a plot point. This is the point in which an event occurs that set the stage for the second act.

Act II: In the second act the problem should get worse. Your main character might be trying to solve the problems, but this usually make things worse. New obstacles arise that are even bigger that the previous ones. A second plot point then leads us into the third and final act.

Act two is much larger than the other acts and usually takes up about half the screenplay. Depending on the length of the screenplay it should be about 40 to 60 pages long.

Act III: This act is crucially important because it contains the climax of the movie. Your hero overcomes his obstacles: Sarah Connor kills the Terminator, the Blues Brothers pay the taxes on the orphanage, the X-men defeat Magneto, etc. (This is usually where the studio spends a lot of money on special effects.)

The third act is about 20 to 30 pages long. It's about a quarter of the screenplay, but its usually shorter than the first act by a few minutes.

Conclusion: The third act ends in a conclusion or a denouement. Sarah Connor, having defeated the Terminator drives off into the desert to raise John Connor. The Blues Brothers, having paid the taxes are caught by the police and sent to jail. The X-men, having defeated Magneto, etc, etc. If you have a happy ending in your screenplay, this is where the hero walks into the sunset with the girl.

It may all sound very formulaic, but don't think of it as a formula, think of it as a format. It's only a formula if you plug in the same tired characters, events and other elements. Once you master the format, then you can move on to changing it and making it better.

There are plenty of websites and books on the structure:

From AFI: http://www.fathom.com/course/21701762/session3.html

Screenwriting from Stephen J. Cannell: http://www.writerswrite.com/screenwriting/lecture4.htm