How to Write a Screenplay

THE BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE: RISING ACTION

In the middle of the story, we should have a protagonist who pursues a tangible goal.  If there were no obstacles in the way, the protagonist would achieve the goal and the movie would suddenly be over.  Instead, he must come into conflict with forces that oppose him.

A little refresher from 10th grade English class, there are three types of conflict:  “man versus man,” “man versus nature,” and “man versus himself.”  During the first half of the middle section of your story, your character will be faced with opposition that will challenge and frustrate him.  He will have successes and setbacks.

Remember our key words: change and surprise.  In this section, they come in the form of escalation.  If the challenges for the character require roughly the same effort or a similar type of effort, the audience will be bored.  No one wants to watch the same thing over and over again.  Imagine you are watching a crime film and the detective interrogates a reluctant person to get an address and then interrogates a really reluctant person to get a phone number and then has to interrogate a slightly more reluctant person to get a zip code.  Okay, you can wake up now. Consider a fantastic story in another medium; any of the video games in the Zelda series.  The allure of the game is that the 7th Dungeon Quest is harder than the 3rd Dungeon Quest.  That’s how stories work.  The stakes—what’s at risk—and the consequences and the conflict continue to increase.  This rising action keeps the viewer or reader engaged in the story.

THE MIDDLE OF THE MIDDLE: POINT OF NO RETURN

Whenever you travel, the moment you pass—even by an inch—the midway point, you reach a point where you are closer to the end than to the beginning.  So there is no turning back.  You have reached the point of no return.  A change or revelation will turn your story and point it a little more clearly toward the end.  Syd Field coined an appropriate name for this point in the middle of the story; he called it a midpoint.

In a romance, this might be where a character declares, “I love you.”  In a crime film, it might be the moment the chase becomes personal.  If the later end of the second act will be where the cop’s partner is killed, this earlier point might be where the cop’s dog is killed.  It raises things up a notch.

Movies are sometimes referred to as roller coaster rides.  The metaphor is worth exploring to add some insight into the process.  The slow ascent up the first hill is like the opening of your screenplay.  The first hill is like the inciting incident.  The incident is a slingshot that propels your story.  Your story can only go as far as the power of your inciting incident.  If Rocky gets a chance to fight the state champ for $500, that would be like a kiddy roller coaster on the back of a rusty truck at a local carnival.  Rocky gets a chance to fight to become the world champ.  That’s Magic Mountain. 

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