What is Screenplay Structure?

Structure is one of the most argued and important words in screenwriting.

There are many theories about what exactly structure is. Here are afew short takes:  

--The proper placement of plot points.  

--The use of acts and sequences.  

--A script with 3, or 4, or five acts.

--A story with a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

-- A story with a beginning, middle, and end.

--The stages of “The Hero’s Journey”.

And on and on.

If you want to drive yourself crazy google “screenplay structure.”

Of course! I have my own “theory” about this screenwriting holy grail. 

Let me put you out of your structure overload and give my definition right up front:

Screenplay structure is the fusion of plot and form.

Let me explain.

The best definition of plot I have read is Ayn Rand’s: “a purposeful progression of logically connected eventsleading to the resolution of a climax.” When Rand discusses structure, she means plot. That is, her focus is on story content and how it is organized. (Of course, not all stories have to be plots, as Rand notes. Many film stories are chronicles but generally I think these are less dramatic than plots. Read more about this issue here.) 

What then is screenplay form?

Each form of writing has its own specific nature and way of being organized. A novel, for example, has many events and is broken into chapters. A narrative poem has a story made up of stanzas. A short story is a conflict about one incident that can run from a few lines to a short number of pages. And so on.

A screenplay is the written form of a film story shown in present tense scenes, sequences, and acts of events we are seeing and hearing live. This essential script nature and form can be further broken down into: Inciting Incident, Plot Points 1 and 2, Mid Point, and Climax. Each of these turning points helps organize or shape a screen story script. That is, form moulds the content of a story but is not the actual story content itself. That is the plot.

In short, form is the external shape or frame of a script. Plot is the interior content of the events.

While I believe that content -- plot -- is always king when writing a screenplay, a screenwriter has to accept that a film has a specific nature that must be obeyed. That a script is made up of organized live scenes.

Writing a screenplay thus demands the melding of plot and form. It is detrimental to writing a screenplay for a writer not to deeply focus on fusing plot and form. A screenwriter wants neither a weak plot nor a confusing form.

How to Create a Screenplay Structure

I will only briefly touch upon the practical ways for a screenwriter to create a plot and to fuse it with screenplay form to create a compelling and clearly written screen story. (This is a difficult skill that I show my mentees when we are working together on their screenplay over a 6-month period.) 

Plotting

First, to create a plot.

There is not a lot of discussion these days about how to plot. (Blindly following beats in Save the Cat or The Hero’s Journey is not plotting!)

To create a plot, a writer must first construct its central conflict, that is, its leading character’s main goals and conflicts and the key action problem the protagonist faces in the story. It is this central conflict that the writer develops into a long series of logically connected events with a beginning, middle, and end. That is, with a set-up, escalation, and climax. This development of a central conflict into a plot is similar to the DNA of a baby growing to an adult human being. Same DNA, different size body.  

As a simple example of building a plot from a central conflict statement, consider the original Die Hard film. Its central conflict is this:

A tough, resourceful, and sexist New York City policeman flies to Los Angeles for Christmas to win back his estranged wife, but she and her co-workers are kidnapped by terrorists and held hostage in their locked down skyscraper. The policeman must evade the terrorists hunting him to rescue his wife and the other hostages, alone.

The plot of Die Hard is the series of logically related, escalating, and climaxed events that are developed from this central conflict. That is, all the personal conflicts, murders, fights, escapes,counterattacks, and relationships in the film -- all the escalating complications -- are applications or expansions of this central conflict. In short, the central conflict logically determines the content of the plot. And the quality and potential of the plot is determined by the nature and quality of the central conflict.  

Forming and Fusing

A writer first creates the basics of his plot, but then he needs to write it in screenplay form. That is, somewhere during the process of creating that plot, the screenwriter begins organizing it so it suits the basic demands of proper screenplay form and formatting. As noted, on the most basic level this is shaping the story into three acts and a number of sequences.

This fusing of plot and form can be valuable to creating a stronger, more compelling screen story as it forces the writer to create and write to climaxes. As noted, the Inciting Incident and Plot Points 1 and 2, for example, are mini climaxes. Therefore, the content in these sections of the story must be refashioned to always drives towards these climactic script scenes.

A screenwriter (generally) first creates the main character conflicts and the logically developed and connected plot events before he solidifies these into acts and sequences, and finally into scenes. (This is part of the writing process I guide my mentees through.)

To be more specific and practical: When fusing your plot and screenplay form, you can take your plot and organize it into 3 acts and 8 sequences, a traditional but effective screenplay structure. (Two sequences in act 1, four in act 2, and two in act 3.)

(The above is not to say that a writer can’t go back and forth between content and form, but basic content must come first creatively.)

Plot vs. Form?

Consider the issue of which comes first -- plot or form -- and which is more important, this way:

What is more vital to a good story?:

Intriguing characters and exciting conflicts organized in a dramatic, logical series of events?

Or ordinary characters and clichéd events organized perfectly into sequences and acts?

Please note that I am not saying that form is not important. It is vital! But today there is way too much discussion of how to properly shape a story (plot points, mid-point, etc, etc.) and not enough on how to create original characters and a dramatic plot. There are many current movies that are well “structured” (plot points in the perfect places!) but the content of the films is awful.

The two hardest parts of writing a compelling/resonant screen story are creating an original, layered, and integrated central conflict, and then developing this into an exciting series of logically connected, escalating, andc limaxed events. This is where most scripts fail.

“How to” for You

As readers of my Story Guy Newsletter know, my writing tips center on two basics:

That stories are basically ideas in conflict and action.

and…

My writing tips focus on “how to.”

The above discussion is just the barest indication of “how to” create a well-structured screenplay. But I hope it indicates enough for you to try to apply these broad principles to your new script. It will be hard but rewarding. To know the principle of how to do something can unlock many creative doors.

Thoughts, disagreements, are welcome in the comment section or via email.

If you would like to learn more about how my ideas on structure can be applied to your script, emailme.

“I would recommend Scott to any writer and/or Producer wishing to engage an expert Story Consultant.” John Hipwell, producer, director,writer

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