Screenwriting Advice By Herb Sennett

[Rachel Galvin]

Simple Thoughts on Screenwriting

By Herb Sennett

A question I’m often asked is “Why is a screenplay supposed to be divided into three acts?” Allow me to venture an “educated” answer. In a simplistic way, that’s the way it’s done. And I don’t mean to be flippant about that answer because the top guru in screenwriting is Syd Field who has explained in several books and hundreds of workshops that very reason. For many years Syd Field worked as a script analyst for several major studios in Hollywood. After nearly twenty years of reading and recommending numerous award winning scripts, he realized that the best of the best seem to follow the same basic format. And that format was what he called the “paradigm” that included three acts (setup, conflict, resolution). Anyone who has watched a standard two-hour movie on the big screen realized very quickly that the first thirty minutes usually sets up the story and introduces the main characters. Then next hour or so develops the story in depth and follows the main character’s struggle to either solve a mystery or achieve a specific goal. Then the final thirty minutes contains the final struggle and climax to the story. Thus, three acts.

Now, do all movies have to have three acts? Of course not. But then not every filmmaker wants or cares whether he or she has an audience that follows and understands their story. So, they write whatever way they want. But, the filmmaker that wants to people to watch their movie, tell other people to watch their movie, and have people think their movie is really good… well… I think you get my drift.

There is nothing wrong with tweaking the structure and making it do what you want it to do, such as is the case with such films as PULP FICTION and possibly RENDITION. But even those movies easily flow from set up into conflict and end with a resolution of some kind wherein the story being told is done.

In reality, screenwriting is more of skill than an art form. But like any skill, it can be used as an art form by an artistic genius. There just simply are not very many artistic genius’s in the world. So, good writing to you and go out and watch a movie this week.