Hello, everyone!
Just looking to make some new connections with the marvelous creatives of Stage 32!
I'm Stacy, and while I love writing my own scripts, and have had successes with them, I've recently discovered I have an unexpected knack for helping others to rework and improve their screenplays.
Even though I'm a strident structure wonk and truly love the form as I learned it, I am open to new and different ways of structuring a film. It is always such a bonus to discover fresh perspectives while working with other writers to realize the full potential of the stories they're trying to tell.
Are any of you out there working on screenplays in structures different than the traditional three act structure?
Cheers!
S.J. Coffey
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Welcome! I do the three act structure as well.
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Hi Stacey! I'm currently exploring a 4 act structure for a TV movie project. What do you think of a 4 act structure?
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Stacy Coffey , Acts and structure can be connected or not. Have you seen Linda Aronson's work? Say more what you mean by Structure.
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Stacy Coffey sounds exciting!
Yes, I worked a bit last year on concept art, notes, storyboards / visual outline and pages to lay the foundation for an epic sci-fi feature spec concept that is a Shakespearean
5 - Act structure, with a flavorful and saucy ensemble cast, protag is a fire-dancing schizophrenic Mexican soccer star.
Classic "quarantine" project idea that I put on the shelf in favor of completing a couple of pieces that are a bit more contained so I can eventually tackle that monster maybe next year.
The large vessel of five acts gives me room for great vision, and I think the eventual story material could develop into a feature and sequel or pilot + episodes, so I'm excited about creating space for epic scope via the Five-Act leap.
Hi Teleah! Yeah, me, too. I know there's some industry folks who feel like the three act structure is confining, but it's kinda always worked for me. So far, I've never felt like I couldn't work within those parameters. That said, I may just not have come up with a story that needs a different structure. Might need to one day. Never know!
Hello, Kurt! You know, I'd love say I have an opinion on four act structure, but I just don't know enough about it, as yet. Generally, I write features and am still learning about formatting for streaming content. I'm guessing that's where four and five act models might be more common, yeah?
Hi Stacy! Sounds good, looking at different ways of working is always an excellent idea!
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Hi Sandeep! I was referring to three act story-telling; beginning, middle, end. Most screenplays are (or at least, were) written this way, but recently, I've heard of writers like Daniel who are using four or even five acts. Writing scripts in three acts isn't the standard everywhere, though. It's just the way western storytelling has been done for a long time. In my opinion, there are as many ways to tell a story as there are storytellers. So, if you have a story that needs more room, try more acts. It might work, and I think the industry may be becoming more tolerant of different story structuring these days, especially with regard to streaming content.
And damn skippy, Daniel! A fire-dancing, schizophrenic, Mexican soccer star!! That's fantastic! If any story would need five acts it would be that one, for sure. I would LOVE to see that made! And sci-fi could absolutely be Shakespearean. When you get a chance, tell me more about the Five Act leap. That is totally a new one on me.
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Hi Stacy, I've discovered there is a lot of scope within the three act structure. The first feedback I had on my script was that it lacked a clear three acts. Once I got that sorted I had a way better story, so don't feel confined by it. You can apportion it into five acts, as Daniel suggests, or seven, or use the beat formula that uses fifteen, whatever works best for you.
Hi Stacy Coffey , Stace, for movies the number of Acts, in my humble opinion a red herring past three as defined by Syd Field, for features I mean. For quite a bit, where I've read most clearly articulated.by Linda Seger, and Michael Hauge, second Act is seen as two different acts even for features.
Sitcoms, can be two, or four.
While shopping or getting comments on your movie script three acts, inciting incident and midpoint will probably be used most often. Similarly for whatever TV stuff you write.
Age old models, like Freytag, have five acts, and once again nothing prevents you from using that should your story be, e.g., Shakespearean.
Number of acts is just one piece of structure. Some paradigms, fairly structural e.g., classic Hero's Journey or Virgin Story (Kim Hudson) can be fit into anything from two to 12 acts, with only the writer knowing it, and likely noticed only by writers. You can play that game with structures from Billy Mernit, Helen Jaycee, and the well known six steps of Michael Hauge. With streamers I am told, you are freer, until the currently unlikely dawn of a more standardized ad supported age. E.g., right now the ad supported movie content is not broken worrying if people won't change the channel. This is just my opinion though.
Hi Stacy,
I envy anyone who enjoys the editing process. I personally never think in specific 3 act structure when crafting stories. I simply tell a story. But I will acknowledge that most of the stories I tell end up being 3 act structure as it is innate to the type of storytelling I gravitate to.