What is a plot?

Plot - all the events in a story

Most often it follows the three-act structure, and that's the one we'll mainly discuss on this site.

What is a three-act plot in short?

Act 1:
Exposition:

Show someone like us - not omnipotent, sometimes flawed.
The viewer must see themselves in the character and care about them. Then blow up their comfortable life with something unfair and leave them no choice.
They must fight back! The audience should feel outrage and disbelief.

Act 2:

Show how they struggle against overwhelming forces. They lose, hit rock bottom, finally give up, almost die. But at that bottom, they find a spark that revives them, and they rise to fight again. They prepare for the final confrontation with a seemingly invincible enemy.

Act 3:

The decisive battle - victory or defeat. All main themes are resolved, and the viewer leaves with satisfaction, compassion, or reflection. That's the short version.

How to start writing a screenplay?

First and foremost, you must have something to say.

No one buys worthless products - they won't buy a worthless story either!

The conveyed value should have:

• A moral - the audience learns something, understands the world better; in instructional films they learn how to achieve something
• Entertainment value - comedies, thrillers - they create tension and allow catharsis - emotional cleansing - ?a weight off the viewer's chest?
• Inspiration - lifting someone's spirits

The theme of the work

You need to know the subject of what you're writing.

The audience must feel satisfaction at the end of the film - even if it's just relief that the hero achieved their goal.

Sometimes, however, you must show the hopelessness of a corrupt system, destructive behavior, and the hero's defeat.

Story structure

Usually, it follows three acts:

Act 1 - A short introduction to the story, presenting the time and place of the action and briefly introducing the main characters.

Then a complication arises - something the hero cannot ignore and must confront, whether they want to or not.

Usually, the opposing forces exceed their abilities.

Here, the main goal of the story is defined.

Act 2 - The attempt to achieve that goal begins, and it turns out to be nearly impossible.

The conflict escalates. The antagonist becomes stronger and more determined to achieve their opposite goal.

The hero gives up, then tries again, but the chances of victory look grim.

The tension and stakes rise, sometimes fluctuating, but ultimately building up toward the main climax in Act 3.

Act 3 - The main climax occurs - everything that happened before leads to this point.

After the final battle, the sports competition, or the struggle to regain love, everything becomes clear: victory or defeat.

Now it's time to close all threads and end the screenplay.

You may show what happens after the climax - is the hero happy now?

If the antagonist was defeated, are they in prison? Did they reconcile, and so on?