BSA 104 (Scriptwriting) Week 2 : Three Act Structure

This week we learned about Three Act Structure. This is basically the Hollywood standard, a screenwriting model that breaks up a film into three distinct parts: the beginning, middle and end.

Each of these serve a specific purpose, the first is about setting up the characters, world and conflicts. This is called the Setup phase. (ACT I)

The second phase is the Confrontation, this is where the protagonist works towards solving the problem established in the Setup, he/she is usually faced with an antagonistic force that attempts to keep the protagonist from achieving their goal. (ACT II)

The last act is the Resolution, this phase brings the story and all subplots to a conclusion and leaves the characters changed. It features the climax of the film. (ACT III)



We watched Gladiator (2000) in class, a movie that roughly follows three act structure. In that film most of the running time is spent on ACT I and II, with quite a lengthy beginning, with the inciting incident coming only when the protagonist is captured and starts his quest for revenge.

The ACT III of Gladiator is interesting because it meets all the points of a third act but is very short. This is because of how late the lowest point comes, something that is hard to pinpoint.