The 3 Act Film Structure

How to move your story along

The 3 act structure is the most common of all film structures. The 3 acts are very basic and consist of the following elements

1. Beginning
2. Middle
3. End

These three components make up the foundation of the film's structure. All scenes hang on this three act structure. Think of the 3 acts as three pieces of the same line that all have the purpose of moving the story along. In the simplest terms, Act 1 sets up the story, Act 2 develops the story and Act 3 builds towards the climax and finally the resolution of the story.

When you're watching films from this point forward, start paying attention to the structure of scenes and the three act structure in particular. As you watch movies with more of a filmmaker's eye, you'll start to see the similarities between films from a formatting standpoint. 

Sometimes, I keep a notepad with me, and I break a film down while viewing it.  See if you can find the 3 acts in the film you're watching!

Writing an outline for your screenplay

Your outline will consist of about 50 - 100 lines, each of which describe the particular scenes within your script. While an outline is often not as long as a treatment, it is a very good thing to create before you start writing your script. This is because while the treatment provides a great opportunity to talk about the general ideas, settings and characters in an easy to read format, the outline on the other hand, is a little more technical and will allow you to see the story you are creating scene by scene. In an outline you don't need to include each small scene, but you will use your outline to identify the larger scenes. For example look at the following outline.

Location: Bedroom - Establish the relationship of young daughter and mother
Location: School - Show daughter's dialogue about her mothers lack of care
Location: Party - Establish shots that show the young girl's mother being irresponsible and partying late while her daughter is home alone.

________________________________________________________________________


As you can see, if you described your larger scenes in this format it would be much easier to create your script. This allows you to analyze each scene and how they connect to each other before you start writing the dialogue.

An outline is a 1-2 page, point form snap-shot of your screenplay and can help ensure your screenplay is cohesive and logical. Changing around the items in your outline is much easier to do than changing around entire scenes in the actual script.

As an amateur screenwriter you must create both a treatment and an outline. The reason being that poor organization is one of the primary causes for screenplays to fail. Often, beginner writers will go off on tangents and will lead their readers along pointless or dead end adventures that don't pull the story forward according to the overall goal / concept of the film.

There are no hard and fast rules for the number of scenes in a film but a good guideline to keep in mind is that each page of your screenplay represents about 1 minute of footage and scenes should be approximately 2 pages each. If you're film is going to be 90 minutes long then you'll have about 45 different scenes. Again, this is just to be used as a guideline. Some of your scenes may be longer and some shorter.

Many new filmmakers want a set of mechanical guidelines (i.e. how many scenes per film, how long should each shot be etc). These mechanical rules simply do not exist. We will try our best to provide "ranges" for you but remember, film-making is an art and you'll have a lot of freedom to experiment.
 

How To Write A Screenplay Treatment

Generally speaking, a film's treatment is similar to that of an overview or synopsis of the film idea. It usually ranges from 8 to 15 pages and includes all the important conceptual elements, structured in 3-5 acts, each with a beginning, middle and end. When you submit your script, your treatment will often be the first document to be glanced over. If the main concept is enjoyable and your treatment is well written maybe, just maybe, your script will make it into the hands of the "professional script reader". This is an important element of screenwriting which you should know about. When you submit your script to producers, you will not be submitting your scripts to the major decision makers first. Your script will first have to pass through a filter that these large production companies have put in place. 

A film treatment states how the audience will experience the film. It's important to write treatments in an active voice and avoid the use of hyperbole (such as "this unique film will explore" etc). When writing treatments you want your audience to be able to visualize your film. You will want to write in present tense and provide an overview of the characters, locations and details of the film. You can write your treatment creatively. The purpose of a treatment is to allow your audience to smell, taste and experience your environment. Reading a treatment (second only to reading a full script) is the closest written equivalent to the look of your film.

That being said, it's important to leave out technical information. In a script you may include camera information if necessary (movement etc), but in a treatment you'll want to keep it limited to non-technical information.

Similarly, you won't want your treatment to have an editorial tone. Again, it's important to stress that you need to avoid editorial writing when writing treatments and instead speak in an active and present voice. Similarly, you should avoid using words and phrases like

"Next we see" - Don't start sentences with "we see". Tell the audience what they see without introducing your sentence with "we see".

Try to avoid passive words such as: Should, will, might and maybe.

Passive words evoke less emotion and take the audience out of the story. Feel free to use dialogue snippets, descriptions of the environment and characters. Essentially use any non-technical element that helps you paint as colourful of a picture as possible.

A treatment helps investors visualize your idea in a personal manner. Treatments don't have a "business feel" to them. They sound dramatic, personal and honest.

Good luck!