However, it still has a beginning, middle, and end. Yes, it has a teaser, the first act, the second act, and a tag or epilogue. But isn't a situation comedy just two acts? Now, how you specifically apply it to the content of your story requires some creativity and skill, and how you present the content of your story so that it is dramatic and compelling also requires some creativity and skill. The first act is the beginning, and the last two are usually the end.īasic dramatic structure is about the same for everyone. Most TV MOWs (movies-of-the-week) have seven acts. Shakespeare used five acts, and even when he was in love, there was a beginning, middle (Acts 2, 3, and 4), and end. They still have a beginning (which focuses on establishing story, characters, and situation), middle (mostly concerned with complications and a rising conflict, culminating in some kind of crisis), and end (the showdown and denouement). Some screenwriters like to think in terms of four acts-each about equal length. It has a beginning middle and end, just like a three-act story. Well, a nine-act story still has three main parts. What are your thoughts regarding nine acts versus three acts? Too often, I see something like the following in a screenplay: For example, if a character says "I love you" in a sarcastic way, and it is not otherwise apparent that he would be sarcastic, then that's the time to use the parenthetical (wryly). Their main purpose is to clarify the subtext when the subtext is not already apparent. If there are too many, then a reader is likely not to take them too seriously. So don't be unduly concerned about how much of your script will get read. Finally, when a production company gets serious about a script, then several people in the company may end up reading it. Keep in mind that before a producer reads your script, a professional reader reads it from beginning to end. It's true there are producers in town who only read dialogue, but that does not mean that they read the wrylies too, nor does it mean that all producers only read dialogue. Some say all of the action should be written in parentheticals since producers only read the dialogue, and some say that there should be no parentheticals at all. At a recent conference, I heard so many contradictory "rules" about formatting that my head is spinning.
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