Screenplay Structure: Act I – The Set-Up

Act I is easy to write, but difficult to do well. Everything must be boiled down, and must start with a bang, drawing the reader or viewer in immediately. If they’re not hooked by page 10, forget it. If page 1 isn’t either funny, mysterious, intriguing or gripping, the reader will think, “Great… another 119 pages of drivel.”

Good writing jumps off the page, like a beautiful girl entering a room. All eyes notice her. And all eyes will notice your snappy actions lines and quip-filled dialogue. The reader will gladly turn off his phone, put his feet up and hungrily devour your screenplay for the afternoon. These people lie awake wondering if a good script will ever cross their desk again.

Don’t bore the ass off people with your protagonist waking up, stretching, brushing his teeth, making coffee, reading the newspaper. Get to the point. Does he run over a child on his way to work? If so, put your protagonist in the car, swerving away from a head-on collision with a truck. Have him slosh coffee down his suit, swear his head off, wipe his crotch then flatten the child. You ready for page 2 now?

The other mistake, which is worse than moving too slowly, is moving too fast. You can always cut slow scenes. It’s creating them that’s tricky. But beyond that, rushed drama lacks sentiment. Give the audience time to empathize with your characters. Let the drama evoke emotion.

The film Kramer vs Kramer embodies these difficult screenwriting concepts. It starts very efficiently, but is never rushed. Dustin Hoffman is a high-flying business executive with a wife (Merrill Streep) and a little boy. The film opens with Hoffman accepting a promotion from his boss. He goes home for dinner, and in the first conversation with his wife, he doesn’t listen to her. He keeps interrupting, gloating about his job and success. From the first two or three scenes, the audience can tell his marriage is failing, he’s a disinterested father and work dominates his life. The characters interactions show us these various levels of conflict. The story is about divorce and child custody, and the Inciting Incident is when his wife walks out. Why not open with Dustin Hoffman meeting his wife, the honeymoon days of their marriage and tracing its decline? There’s no need. The story is about divorce and child custody. It must start at the tipping point – the day it falls apart.


Find The Essence Of Your Story

A screenwriter’s job is to select the correct opening. This must reflect the core of the plot – the essence of your story. This is why the ending must be worked out before you start Act I.

The openings of films are the first steps heroes take along their conflict-ridden paths. Let’s take another look at Kramer vs Kramer. Dustin Hoffman starts out as an insensitive man lacking family values. His wife walks out, and he is left with a little boy he hardly knows. During the film he becomes a caring father, one who will sacrifice his job, career and possibly his life for his son’s happiness. This is a complete character arc, (which Hollywood producers love), but it is also the nature of films. Heroes must go on journeys and return better men, just like Ben Kramer, who learned that family was more important than the office.


Plotting Act I… The Inciting Incident

Divide Act I in half at page 15. This page contains the Inciting Incident, which, put simply, is the event that happens in your hero’s life that doesn’t happen every day. It’s the catalyst that produces a butterfly effect, setting the film in motion. It is the critical moment when the snowball slides off the peak of a mountain and starts to roll downwards, gathering momentum and weight. It is the first big moment where cause meets effect for the first time.

Hollywood screenplays are written in 15 page sequences. The first sequence ends with the Inciting Incident. The second sequence takes the audience to page 30, where the Goal is established. At this moment, the Hero begins his journey.


Inciting Incident vs Goal

In “The Wizard of Oz” the Inciting Incident is the tornado scene. When Dorothy lands in Oz and steps out of her house, here ends Sequence 1, NOT Act 1. We don’t know Dorothy’s Goal until the Good Witch tells her to follow the yellow brick road and find the Wizard of Oz, who will show her home to Kansas. Act 1 ends when Dorothy sets off down the yellow brick road. You can almost sense a curtain coming across the screen to signify the end of the act. This is how Act I must be crafted.


Finding The Goal

Ask, “What must my hero do in Act II to win the prize in Act III?” Answer that question and you have the Goal. Act I is about formulating a series of conflicts that prepares the Hero to pursue the Goal. Animated films are very good to watch if you’re a beginner. The structure is obvious, the dialogue is on-the-nose. “You mean we have to cross the Dark Forest and enter the Castle where the Princess is tied to a flaming cross?” “Yes. And something tells me it won’t be easy.” Lines of this nature usually mark the end of Act I. In more advanced films the end of Act I is less obvious, but it’s always there.


Mastering This Information

Watch the first half hour of a dozen movies. Write brief descriptions of every scene in Act I. Identify the Inciting Incident. Learn how much conflict is needed to fill the first 30 pages, and how Act I always contains the essence of the Hero’s journey and ends when the Goal is established.