Explaining Act 1 - Story Structure - Screenwriting

[@vietanhnguyengia2422]

this vid better than StudioBinder one, it focuses analysis on only one film and provides a analogy simple enough for beginner to understand. Whereas StudioBinder puts tons of cuts from other movies :V

[@grossbrosparodies9610]

How do these videos not have thousands of views??? I feel like I just discovered gold. Your website is outstanding as well. Great job!

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Thank you so much for your encouraging comment!

[@nomoresunforever3695]

They do now ❤ 😊

[@강준혁-w7b]

thanks for big help for ACT 1 writing!

[@mboniledawson229]

Wow!!!, thank you!!! I really do appreciate that you got into it right away!. Thank you for sharing this.

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Thank you for your enthusiastic comment!

[@Diogosetgo]

Thank you.

[@hoodiejack]

thank you for adding captions 🙏🏽

[@ScriptwritingTips]

It is a must

[@patriciamendes7557]

Great video, great analogy, much more easy to understand. Thank you!

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Thank you for your kind comment!

[@patriciamendes7557]

@@ScriptwritingTips and I made a mistake: much easier to understand oops... not native, sorry.

[@ScriptwritingTips]

@@patriciamendes7557 Don't worry! Me neither :-)

[@danielscrew4329]

Thank you, I am learning.

[@parthoghosh4168]

Ur explanation style .....is very good... Thanks

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Thank you, thank you!

[@omarbradosti4172]

thank you very much for this amazing video

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Thank you for the nice comment!

[@ranaghm231]

Thank you for your clear explanation. I just want to ask you don’t mind, how can you upload scenes with no copyright?

[@commercialand]

So professional writers that I've talked with, say the inciting incident must happen before the 12 min mark. Can you give me more details as to why you think it can happen after that. Mine hits around page 17, and I'm thinking about moving it with 12min.

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Hello! I know. Even some books insist that the inciting incident goes on page 12. Of course, it's good to have the inciting incident as early as possible and if you can move it earlier without deeply disturbing the flow of your story, then by all means, do it. I mean if you can hit the inciting incident on page 2 it's perfect! All I'm saying is that all of these are guidelines, not strict rules. Many aspiring screenwriters get confused and they are trying to keep these rules strictly, while forgetting the flow of the story. Then it gets all bumpy and rough. Furthermore, where each plot point hits, it's proportional to the duration of the film. Whether you have an 80minutes or a 3-hour screenplay affects your acts and therefore your plot points accordingly. So, IF you can hit the inciting incident during the first 10 pages, you should do it. But if your story is so engaging and needs to build up a bit more, it doesn't matter if you hit it on page 15. I hope this answers your question. :)

[@Rafael-kb1ql]

Yet another great video! In Silence of the Lambs, Act 1 almost feels like a micro-story within the major plot, considering the hurdles she has to go through just to get to TP1, where Lecter agrees to team up with her. It seems that the Incident Incident to Act 1 is the FBI agent breaking up Clarice's routine exercise, her boss sending her off to Lecter is the TP1 of Act 1, the failed interview being the first half of Act2, Lecter sending her off on a riddle is the midpoint, her searching the premises the final half of Act 2, the head in the Jar being the Climax and Lecter agreeing to help being the resolution. It almost seems like you can layer in a subplot if it's able to satisfy the requirements of the Act... And it seems more complex and easily could break up the organic flow of things if done incorrectly. Am I reading too much into this?

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Hello Rafael, First of all, I need to say that the way you are thinking this is generally correct. I’m really glad that you have understood so well the fact that the TP1 is what begins the journey. Even if it sounds simple, it’s a puzzle for many people. Having said that, I must say that many many times finding the right plot points in a film is a real headache for all of us. Now, in The Silence of the Lambs, which is a quite complicated story, in order to make things clearer, you need to ask the question what is Clarice’s main goal, her journey? The answer is: to find Buffalo Bill. (It's also to advance her career but in another level). When does this journey begin (aka TP1)? When Lecter decides to help her find him and he gives her the first clue - Miss Mofet. Before that, we don’t know that Clarice is going to take this case, because she’s just starting her career and her boss would never assign her such a difficult case. So, he only asks her to try to get an interview from another serial killer. Her boss says also that he doesn’t actually believe that Lecter will talk to her, but he has to try it, so he sends her. That’s not the actual case of Buffalo Bill but the start, the initiating event that will lead her, eventually, to take this case. That’s why this is the inciting incident and not the TP1. The fact that they call her in her boss office is not so much of a serious event. Look at it this way, if it was a phone call instead, would you say that the inciting incident is the ringing of the phone or the message itself when they talk? Definitely, the message. I hope this analogy helps you better to figure things out. Don’t hesitate, if you have any other question!

[@Rafael-kb1ql]

@@ScriptwritingTips I understand now. thank you very much for the detailed response and clarification. Your examples helped clarify my confusion. I've said this in a previous video, but I just want to stress again how helpful your videos have been in understanding the 1st Act, which gave me the most difficulty in wrapping my head around. Thank you again!!!

[@Musicasportugal1324]

Congratulations, very good video.

[@joshuadouglas8745]

Great video! The music playing over the video is distracting. It makes it hard to hear the actual content of the video.

[@elliotleboeuf9268]

I really feel if your going to cite the opening of The Silence of the lambs you should mention the reason it opens with her running is because of Hannibal’s diagnosis. She is still the little girl running from the screaming lamb.

[@ScriptwritingTips]

I really thank you for the input! Yes, you're probably right, I should have added that as well, but I'm going to make a video just about openings at some point, so I will try to remember and mention much more details. However, I'm sure you know that this is not the only reason for this particular opening. We don't just watch her running, we watch her climbing up from a deep cliff slope and trying hard to go forward. All of these are symbols and they are connected in an organic way with the rest of the story and her own personal story. Thanks again!

[@kr5746]

and LRRH ;) too

[@ЖудаМ]

How do a Four-Act movie structure works? Is it recommended to long screenplays?

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Hi there! Actually, the way I'm suggesting to work with 3-Act structure is in fact a four-act, because we add a very important turning point in the middle of the story (aka midpoint) which turns the 3-Act structure into a 4-Act! This kind of building is necessary for all feature films. I'll explain it more in future videos.

[@ЖудаМ]

@@ScriptwritingTips Thanks :)

[@melodymundy5985]

The BEST

[@lukesmhudson]

Intriguing video but the accompanying soundtrack is distracting and kept making me think there was a faint alarm going off in my room, and for thank I deduct 50 points from Gryffindor

[@ScriptwritingTips]

lol I'm really sorry you felt this way and... for Gryffindor

[@chrissystewart6268]

Thanks for the details I'm interesting learning

[@EMMandM1]

Hi I wonder what difference there is between the first plot point and the beginning of the act 2 1:54

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Hello! Sorry for the late reply, I'm working on a soap opera and I have zero time lately. To answer your question, usually the first plot point is the "push" that the protagonist needs to start her/his adventure. The beginning of the act 2 is where the adventure actually starts!

[@EMMandM1]

@@ScriptwritingTips Np! Thanks a bunch

[@sangeethlalmadhavam6783]

❤️

[@jayashreechakravarthy4949]

Every clip of me crying is to be shown to Abhigel.

[@jayashreechakravarthy4949]

I’ll be very gentle. Say things at your own pace. Slap me as many times as you want. Downstairs-our house. Do anything you want. Just don’t be nervous.

[@jayashreechakravarthy4949]

Abhigel I will not question a single thing you tell me.

[@artistprrenibifamovon696]

MyPemiere17,44pm

[@artistprrenibifamovon696]

World women's Day Reards

[@Magsndlovu]

The voice 🥴

[@ScriptwritingTips]

Hahaha, can't change it, sorry if you don't like it, that's it! 😂

[@calebwitts1232]

@@ScriptwritingTips I appreciate you

[@ScriptwritingTips]

@@calebwitts1232 Thank you so much!