Film Courage: What is the purpose of act one?
Naomi Beaty, Writer, Screenwriting Teacher and Consultant: Act one gives us all of the
context that we need in order to understand the story that we're about to watch and understand
it basically sets up the who wants what of of your movie so if we look at each movie as being a story
of someone wants something once it badly goes after it against big conflict great opposition
then act one sets up all of those pieces right so it tells us who it tells us what they want it
tells us why they want it and it tells us what they're up against so all of those pieces that
create the foundation of the story or that like story engine that we were talking about earlier
that's what act one does it sets up all of those things so that when we launch into act two or
that like act two adventure you might have heard it called when we begin that we have all of the
information that we need in order to understand who are we watching what are they trying to do
what are they up against why do they want it so badly like all of that's been established
so that we can just watch everything escalate in act two does that make sense it does and so as we
talked about earlier a lot of people have a great idea and maybe the act one is really strong but
then subsequent acts seems like it's very murky and that's where the outline would help them
yeah and I think just knowing that act one is set up it's where you set up all of that context and
then understanding that act two is escalation so you have all those pieces in place in act one and
then act two is just playing with them and forcing them to butt up against each other and create
bigger and bigger conflicts and higher and higher stakes that's where that's the fun of act two is
watching how everything that you've set up in act one watching how that blossoms now how or explodes
what mistakes do writers often make in act one well I think the the probably big bucket maybe a
lot of different things fall into this but the the main thing is not setting up all of the context
that we need right so not clearly establishing those those foundation pieces of the story those
main elements that we need to understand and appreciate act two so it's the protagonist it's
their story goal it's where the conflict is coming from that main conflict or the antagonist
and it's the main thing that's at stake for the protagonist right so all of those pieces have to
be in place in act one and when when they're not properly established I mean I think that's the
that's the most common mistake that that writers make in act one what mistakes do writers make in
act two oh act two is so wide open right it's the escalation of your story and it's watching
the thing that you've set up it's watching it play out but it can go in so many different directions
right I think maybe if I had to name one thing probably the biggest would mistake would be no
I have to I have to do two so the first one is not having their protagonist pursue the goal
consistently and urgently right because that's really what moves your story forward is the
protagonist trying to achieve that thing so that's a big one and then I would say maybe the other big
one and this is connected is not escalating things so hitting the same note over and over
not intensifying the conflict not raising the stakes because we want things to
to grow right we want the conflict to double back on itself and compound and things to get harder
and more intense and to feel more important and more urgent for the protagonist that's
the progression of act two should should have that building feeling to it and so I think that's
probably the other the other big one is maybe hitting the same the same intensity level or
re reworking the same conflict without making things harder or making things more important
or urgent yeah that was the great thing about hustle is that so many new things came up without
spoiling it for those who haven't seen it once you got through one hurdle a new one was presented
yeah and it's really not even until the end where I mean you're like this can't end this way but
anyway yeah and that was they they did such a good job of having conflict come from so many
different directions too right it wasn't just that this is a difficult thing to achieve and
so it's Adam Sandler trying to get the basketball player in shape or ready to compete at this level
you had other players with their own agendas you had the like we talked about the owner has his
own agenda things going wrong so you had conflict coming from all these different directions which
is great because again growing the intensity across act two right that's what keeps you
like leaning in over and over again going like oh no what's gonna happen now what's
what could possibly go worse for this character and and that keeps you like reinvesting in the
outcome I don't know if you've seen did you watch the series made oh absolutely love it yes so that
is such a good example just even the first episode of that series is such a good example
of conflict and building conflict and nothing going right for the protagonist like one of the
comments I think that writers hear a lot is like things are too easy for your protagonist or you
need to increase the conflict or make things hard put your character through hell right like those
are all tidbits of advice that writers hear but I feel like writers like their characters sometimes
and don't want to make things too hard or or don't see a way for the character to get through it if
they make things too hard but that that first episode of made was such a good example of like
nothing went right for that character every single thing went wrong and she still I mean that's the
point is like that makes us root for her even more because it's everything's stacked against her
and we're we're on board we're watching we want her to succeed so I don't think you can ever make
things too hard for your protagonist right and and that was one of the things in listening to the
audiobook that it was based on it was so like I felt so bad for this woman and and hearing it and
then I guess it was just easier for me to watch it play out and and I don't know it was still
difficult but yes I mean it was so many different things being set up I don't want to give that
away but yeah I absolutely love that yeah I think that's a great one for writers to watch if if you
ever you've ever gotten the note of like you're not making things hard enough on your character
watch that and see just how hard you can you can be on your character without breaking them
because I think maybe that's what scares writers is like if I make things too hard
I won't be able to figure out how they're going to keep going or I won't be able to figure out like
how to get them through it but that dialing up that intensity is is good it's good for your story
and that's what your audience wants sure and she would have these meltdowns and then she would get
back on the horse and then new things would happen yeah and we like her more for that too for not
giving up so right yeah she was very likable yeah as a character what is the purpose of act three
well act three is to resolve that question that you've asked or that main conflict that you've put
your character into so it's really it's to resolve the the question that we've been exploring over
the over the course of the movie right when you set up all those pieces that we talked about in
act one all of the foundation pieces of your story and then we watch them play out across act two
act three is where you answer that central dramatic question wrap up your story resolve that
conflict if you want to think of it that way it's basically the resolution act that's you've done
all the escalations and there will still be some escalations in act three but it's building toward
resolving your your main conflict and answering that central dramatic question what mistakes do
writers make most often in act three well I think the big one maybe the most obvious one
would be just not resolving that central dramatic question or that main conflict that we're we're
we're watching the movie to understand how that's going to wrap up and so I think not resolving that
is is maybe the the biggest or the most common like newer writer mistake sometimes sometimes
newer writers again out of fear maybe that their story is getting boring or they don't know how to
how to escalate it and don't know where to go from here they they take a left turn and start
tracking a different question or a different conflict that their protagonist engages in
and we really want act 3 to like complete that through line not take such a hard left that we're
now watching a different movie and is that often when we see comments underneath the trailer oh the
trailer is better than the movie is it often the act three do you think or the act two or there's
no hard and fast rule yeah I wonder I don't know for sure but I would I would guess that maybe a
really good trailer was cut from from a movie that didn't have as much going on in act 2 and probably
act 3 as well but since act 2 is really like the movie that's what the movie is it's the character
trying to do this thing it's conflict escalating it's stakes raising that's really the act two and
that is the movie that we're there we're there to see so I would imagine if if a trailer or
if a movie is getting those comments of like the trailer was so much better than the movie the good
interesting or entertaining moments were cut into the trailer and maybe there just wasn't enough
going on in the movie to sustain interest or to to maintain our investment in the outcome of it.