View source for Three-Act Structure

{{Useful Notes|wppage=Three-act structure}}
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{{quote|“I took a master class with Billy Wilder once and he said that in the first act of a story you put your character up in a tree and the second act you set the tree on fire and then in the third you get him down.”
|''[[Star Wars]]'' and ''[[The Empire Strikes Back|Empire Strikes Back]]'' Producer '''Gary Kurtz''', [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/08/star-wars-was-born-a-long-time-ago-but-not-all-that-far-far-away-in-1972-filmmakers-george-lucas-and-gary-kurtz-wer.html ''LA Times'' interview]}}

The [[Three-Act Structure]] is a typical and frequently-used narrative structuring template. Most of the mainstream movies released by Hollywood conform to this template, but it can be found in other story-telling forms as well. The idea is that the story is structured so that all of the action falls into one of three acts, with regular plot-points (or reversals) used to bridge each act, and send the narrative into a different direction than it had previously been going. 

The '''First Act''' is the '''Setup'''. Generally speaking, it lasts the first quarter of the story, and is where the main characters are introduced and the dramatic premise (i.e. what the story's about) and the dramatic situation (i.e. the setting and context in which the story's taking place) are established. At some point in the First Act (usually half-way, but not always) the [[Call to Adventure]] (or in more mundane settings, an [[Inciting Incident]]) occurs to set the plot of the film in motion. Whether the protagonist [[Jumped At the Call|accepts it]] or [[Refusal of the Call|not]], it doesn't matter; [[The Call Knows Where You Live|events are set in motion]] causing the protagonist to follow the path of the narrative, whether they want to or not. 

Related to the first act is a general screenwriting rule of thumb which states that the protagonist, the central supporting characters and the scenario must all be introduced and clearly established within the first ten minutes of the movie in order to hook the audience's interest—any longer, and you risk losing them.

The '''Second Act''', the '''Confrontation''', is the longest. In this act, the main character(s) meet their [[Mentors]], [[Love Interests]] are established and, most especially, the protagonists will encounter [[Threshold Guardians|obstacles]] in the form of people, objects and settings that appear with [[Rising Conflict|rising potency and increasing frequency]] in order to stymie the protagonist. In particular, the presence of [[Villains|the foe]] will be felt, causing the first clashes between [[The Protagonist]] and [[The Antagonist]]. 

At some point during this stage (often halfway), the protagonist will seem to be close to accomplishing the ultimate goal, but events will conspire to prevent success. As a result, the protagonist will reach [[Darkest Hour|his/her lowest point]] and will often temporarily [[Ten-Minute Retirement|give up in despair]]. 

The '''Third Act''', the '''Resolution''', is where the story wraps up. The protagonist [[He's Back|returns to the fight]] (even coming [[Back From the Dead]] to do so, in some cases) and the struggle will renew.

[[The Climax]] is where the battle reaches its peak in emotional and physical intensity. The protagonist will either prevail or—if it's [[Downer Ending|that sort of story]]—fail again, and fail so painfully and completely as to make further continuation of the struggle impossible. 

After this comes the [[Denouement]], where things calm down and an equilibrium similar to the state of affairs at the very beginning is restored. However, having experienced the events of the story, the characters have hopefully [[Character Development|grown and evolved]] beyond what they were at the beginning, and often [[So What Do We Do Now?|have difficulty re-adjusting to the way things were]]. 

If done well, the Three Act Structure is a useful tool in making interesting stories that develop and progress logically. If done poorly, there's a feeling that what we're experiencing is something we've seen many, many, ''many'', many times before. 

See [[Act Break]] for how the Three Act Structure gets adapted for the small screen.

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[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Script Speak]]
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[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
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