Screenwriting Course
Lessons

Here’s how Pixar pitches the three-act structure to their animators:

Act One:

• Once upon a time
• And every day
• Until one day

Act Two:

• And because of that, this happened
• And because of that, this happened
• Until finally

Act Three:

• And ever since that day
• And the moral of the story is

While some writers like to fly by the seat of their pants, others, including Ron Osborn doesn’t start writing until he knows the following:

• Starting
• First Act Break (Conflict kicks in)
• Mid-Point
• Second Act Break (All is lost moment”
• Ending

Coverage readers expect a good script to grab them in the first ten pages and around page 17 the main character to make a decision that pulls them down a path for the rest of the movie. A standard feature film screenplay is around 100 pages, the first 20 get us to the first act break, the next 60 get us to the second act break, and the last 20 get us to the resolution of the conflict and the end of the screenplay.