THURSDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:

ACT 2 - IT'S CONFLICT!


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Everyone seems to have problems with Act 2, but I've learned the solution to all Act 2 problems is just to remember what it's there for...

The three act structure has been around for about 2,400 years (it was *not* invented by Syd Field) - Aristotle noticed that every story that worked followed a simple pattern:

Act 1: You get your hero up a tree.
Act 2: You throw rocks at him.
Act 3: You get him down from the tree.

(That was the way Billy Wilder described the 3 Act Structure... and Wilder's last movie was almost a decade before Field's book.)

So...
Act 1: Sets up your conflict.
Act 2: Is the conflict. (and escalation of conflict)
Act 3: Resolves the conflict.

Act 2 can't begin until the conflict fully involves your protagonist. Usually in an action script, the hero gets in the way of the villain's plan. Act 2 begins when the villain tries to remove the hero from his path - that's conflict. The hero and villain tangle through Act 2, the villain trying to get around the hero - but the hero just keeps getting in the way.

In DIE HARD Act 2 kicks in when McClane kills his first terrorist... and ends up with the detonators. Hans NEEDS the detonators. His plan will fail if he can't get those detonators back. So McClane has gone from being a stray party guest to a MAJOR PROBLEM for Hans. McClane is right in the path of Han's plan - there's no way to escape - it's like a freight train headed at him at 90 mph. Now Hans sends the guys out to find McClane and get the detonators back.

Act 2 is a dangerous game of hide and seek, with machine gun battles when McClane and the badguys cross paths. Conflict, conflict, conflict!


DEMONS ARE IN THE DETAILS

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Keanu Reeves is the luckiest man in Hollywood... or maybe the smartest. While other stars decide not to do heavy effects heavy films in favor of more realistic or more dramatic material, Reeves ends up starring in high concept action flicks like SPEED and THE MATRIX movies and CONSTANTINE. The film is based on the HellBlazer graphic novels, about demon hunter John Constantine - rejected by both heaven and hell - fated to roam the streets of (London or) Los Angeles, maintaining the balance between good and evil. As the MATRIX movies were winding to a close, Warner Bros. Began searching for a new franchise for Keanu. Heck, even I was called in to pitch ideas. They thought CONSTANTINE was the answer - a cool supernatural noir film that seems to have all of the elements... but still seems to sag in the middle.

The film flopped... and then we got a TV series... which NBC cancelled. Maybe this story is best told in comic book form?

The film version opens with a cool exorcism scene where Constantine (Keanu) captures demon in a mirror, then breaks the mirror (and the demon) into a million pieces. Then we get to the story - a woman with psychic powers jumps from the roof of a hospital. Her twin sister - a Detective with the LAPD (Rachel Weisz - who also ends up in high concept hits), thinks her sister was murdered. Detective Dodson and Constantine keep crossing paths - at the crime scene, at the Cardinal's office (she is trying to get her sister a Catholic burial, he's got a meeting with Gabriel the angel), and at another crime scene where Constantine's alcoholic exorcist buddy is killed.

Eventually she decides to go to Constantine for help... and he refuses. Eventually he decides to help her, and she admits that she was psychic as a child, but repressed the gift when she saw how much pain it brought her twin. Eventually she decides she needs to see the demons who walk among us, and Constantine performs the ceremony. Meanwhile, weird things are happening - demons are walking around on Figeroua Street, the sky is black with flying demons, and a dude gets killed in a bowling alley. Though most of this is fairly normal in Los Angeles, Constantine thinks something is wrong on a cosmic level. Some demon is breaking the rules. Eventually there's big battle between Constantine and the higher power behind all of this... but that battle happens at the very end of the movie.

Brockovich DVD - Buy it!

Until then, it's a whole lot of great special effects and nihilism and noir... but not much actual conflict. Sure, the alcoholic exorcist is killed, as is that dude in the bowling alley... but these conflicts don't involve Constantine on a physical level. Bad things happen to his friends, bad things happen to the Detective... but Constantine is still a bystander to the story. There is no actual Act 2 struggle - and that's why it seems to drag. Everything that happens is peripheral to Constantine. It's still setting up the conflict between Constantine and the antagonist... and the stuff that sets up the conflict is ACT ONE material. ACT TWO is the struggle - the conflict - between the protagonist and antagonist (or force of antagonism). But the conflict doesn't involve Constantine until the end of the movie - ACT THREE. So the middle of the film seems a little cold and uninvolving. It's great to look at, but often not as exciting as it should be.


WHEN ACT 2 BEGINS?

Act Two can't begin until the *protagonist* is LOCKED into conflict with the antagonist. Until the conflict fully involves your protagonist... not just when the conflict is *introduced* or when the conflict is introduced to the protagonist. That still allows wiggle room for the protagonist to avoid dealing with the conflict... and that's not Act Two. Conflict avoidance is still part of Act One.

Usually in an action script, the hero gets in the way of the villain's plan. Act Two begins when the villain tries to remove the hero from his path - that's conflict. The hero and villain tangle through Act Two, the villain trying to get around the hero - but the hero just keeps getting in the way. Because Act Two is the conflict act, a conflict is the fun stuff. But we can't get to Act Two until the hero is *locked* into that conflict and has no choice but to deal with it.

In "Die Hard" Act Two kicks in when McClane kills his first terrorist... and ends up with the detonators. Hans *needs* the detonators. His plan will fail if he can't get those detonators back. So McClane has gone from being a stray party guest to a *major problem* for Hans. McClane is right in the path of Han's plan - there's no way to escape - it's like a freight train headed at him at 90 mph. Now Hans sends the guys out to find McClane and get the detonators back. Act Two is a dangerous game of hide and seek, with machine gun battles when McClane and the badguys cross paths. Conflict, conflict, conflict!

Guess what? Same thing applies to comedy screenplays and drama screenplays and romance screenplays! Act Two is the protagonist directly dealing with the conflict. Locked into that problem (which may be a funny problem like a College Fraternity moving next door to you) for the middle part of the story. We look at all kinds of Act Two conflicts in the Act Two Blue Book, and how it's a direct struggle for the protagonist no matter what the genre.

Act Two is the conflict act - all struggle. The protagonist and antagonist locked in conflict. Act Two *is* the conflict.... and Constantine doesn't really get locked into the conflict until the end. Everything up until that point is Act One.

I suggest you pick your three favorite movies. Watch them and take notes. Use the clock on your DVD player to keep track of when things happen.

Somewhere on this website I have a couple of films broken down into 5 minute segments - I tell you what happens every 5 minutes. I think I have T-2 and 48 HOURS. Eventually I'll put up some more. I take apart films like this to see how they work - look at the pacing and the structure. If you do this with films similar to the one you're writing you can see how other writers handled their Act 2s and how those Act 2s worked.

Remember - Act 2 is CONFLICT. If the protagonist isn't fully involved in the conflict, you aren't in Act 2 yet. I've read scripts that didn't get to Act 2 until page 70! You want to get to the conflict at around page 30. Maybe page 25, maybe page 35... but not page 70!



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IS HALF OF YOUR STORY IN TROUBLE?

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What is a scene and how many you will need? The difference between scenes and sluglines. Put your scenes on trial for their lives! Using "Jaws" we'll look at beats within a scene. Scene DNA. Creating set pieces and high concept scenes. A famous director talks about creating memorable scenes. 12 ways to create new scenes. Creating unexpected scenes. Use dramatic tension to supercharge your scenes. Plants and payoffs in scenes. Plus transitions and buttons and the all important "flow"... and more! Over 65,000 words! Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 210 pages!

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GRAND FINALES Blue Book!

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The First Ten Pages Of Your Screenplay Are Critical,
But What About The Last 10 Pages?

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All About LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING!

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E BOOKS PAGE

bluebook E BOOKS: New Blue Books and Novelettes!
I am expanding all of the Blue Books from around 44 pages of text to around 200 pages! Some are over 250 pages! See what is availabale and what is coming soon!Also, I've been writing Novelletes and there will soon be novels.
E BOOKS: BLUE BOOKS & NOVELLETES

BOOKLETS & PRODUCTS

bluebook FIRST STRIKE BLUE BOOKS
Each Blue Book is 48 pages and focuses on a different aspect of screenwriting. Dialogue. Visual Storytelling. Your First Ten Pages. Act 2 Booster. Protagonists. Great Endings.
Seventeen Blue Books now available!

THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING OUT OF PRINT!