For as long as screenwriting books have been around, young writers have been taught that movies have a three-act structure. Each act is seen as a 30- to 60-page snippet of plot, and when pieced together, they provide a beginning, middle, and end to your story.
Countless screenwriters, critics, professors, and producers have used this structure to break down great movies and analyze how they are put together.
But while this can be a great way to view a finished script from a critical perspective, it’s not particularly useful for screenwriters. When you’re starting a new project, it’s not exactly groundbreaking news that your story is going to need a beginning, a middle, and an end. The real challenge is figuring out how to structure your story in a way that captures the essence of your character’s journey.
Trying to use a three-act structure to create your movie’s story is like trying to run a marathon. You might start out strong, but by the time you get to the middle of the story, you’ll most likely be running out of energy. The plot begins to feel external, fabricated, predictable, or fuzzy. Ideas just don’t come anymore. Or you find yourself spinning in all sorts of directions that take you away from your main character and the story you were telling.
This is a common disease. It’s called “losing yourself in the second act.” And he’s killed more good scripts than any Hollywood big shot.
That’s why I came up with the seven-act structure.
Seven Act Structure is not for producers. It is not for reviewers, teachers, or development executives.
Seven Act Structure is for writers.
To understand the structure of the seven acts, you must begin by understanding the idea of an act.
An act is not just a plot
That’s because great movies are so much more than a plot. These are interesting characters who go on deep journeys that change them forever.
Think of any movie you’ve ever loved and you’ll know it’s true. Plot details blur over time, but those powerful moments stay with you forever.
So instead of thinking of an act as something you “stuff” with plot, I’d like to encourage you to think of it as a way of tracing the journey your character takes, and how that journey changes them forever.
Each act is just one step in changing your character
People don’t change easily, and neither should your character. Take a moment to think about what it would take to completely change your own life, how many fears you would have to overcome and how many challenges you would have to face, and you will have a taste of type. stamina your character is fighting. Structure evolves as a way to push your character into deep change, whether they want it to or not.
As you develop your structure, you can think of each act as a small step in the sea change your character is undergoing.
When you start thinking about an act in this way, one thing jumps out pretty quickly.
Trying to use the three-act structure to create a movie means you’re trying to take a character through their life’s deepest journey in just THREE STEPS.
That’s 30-60 pages per step.
And that’s a lot of pages!
No wonder writers tend to get lost in the second act!
Seven Act Structure is a new way of looking at structure from a character’s perspective, allowing you to break character change into manageable chunks and give yourself a structure you can actually use.
Due to the unique “motor” built into the structure, it is impossible to run out of power. It keeps your focus where it should be, on your main character.
And best of all, it lines up perfectly with a studio’s “three act” expectations, so Hollywood bigwigs will never know the difference.
copyright (c) Jacob Krueger 2009
