Story Campaign Acts

Act 2: Something Bad Happens/The Hook

• Accomplish: the story leaps into motion with an event that we cannot ignore. Often a henchman, rarely the Big Bad.
• Crucial: the goal implied by the end of this scene is the wrong one for the hero. Avoid a boring slow start with a great hook!

a. The rebel blockade runner is boarded by Darth Vader (but not the emperor). b. The Ringwraiths enter the Shire (but Sauron doesn't). This is the third five minutes of a TV show.

Act 3: Enter the Hero/Heroine

• Accomplish: We meet the naïve proto-hero and his/her friends.
• We get attached/invested into them, while
• the hero gets three increasingly strong nudges out of normal life and into the epic plot.
• We also see how scary the henchman is, because the True Villain must be even scarier.

a. Luke Skywalker is bored on Tatooine, gets shut down on joining up as a stormtrooper, goes to visit Obi-Wan Kenobi. We meet Luke, Obi-Wan, Leia, Han Solo, and Chewie. b. Frodo chats with Gandalf, Bilbo gives Frodo the Ring, Bilbo disappears completely. We meet Aragorn, Frodo, Samwise, Gandalf, Pippin and Merry, and mention the rest of the eventual crew (Boromir and Faramir, and the Dwarves. This is fifteen minutes/several scenes of a TV show.

Act 4: Commitment

• Accomplish: the hero/protagonist gets an irreversible shove into the epic plot.
• There's no going back and it cannot be refused by the hero.
• This choice is Better Than The Alternative/For Your Own Good/A Trap/An Outright Lie.

a. Uncle Owen and Beru are killed, Luke finds their still-smoking bodies; he must flee to space and leave everything he's known once he uncovers Leia's message. b. Frodo must run for his life out of the Shire and everything he's known, to the Inn of the Prancing Pony. This is usually a single scene in real-time, about five minutes in a TV show.

Act 5: The First Goal Is Wrong But Fun

• Accomplish: The hero goes after the obvious/wrong goal created in Act 2 (Something Bad Happens). The hero goes for the right goal for the wrong reasons or the wrong goal for the right reasons.
• Plot proceeds via three complication "whammo" scenes: complications, blunders, narrow escapes. Mysterious strangers, backstory reveals. The three whammos finish with
• a short, critical rest period with the hero battered into his/her lowest moment. The Hero is facing death and defeat. Basically the darkest hour before dawn is now.

a. Luke Skywalker battles his way out of Mos Eisley on his way to Alderaan with the Death Star's vulnerability, and then Alderaan is blown up. Oh shit moment. b. Frodo and Sam fight through Moria, then escape the Ring Wraiths with Aragorn, then run out of gas after entering Mordor, convinced they'll fail. Oh shit moment. In a TV show this is about 30 minutes, 8-12 minutes for each of the three complications/battles/sub-quests/whammos.

Act 6: Reversal Moment

• Accomplish: the hero reaches the critical reveal (the True Villain gives a history lesson/Help From a Friend/Awful Realization) and now knows the real goal hidden by the obvious wrong goal.
• The hero must redefine their goal instantly. In an epic this is usually switching focus from the henchman onto the real villain.
• This short scene explains Act 2 and sets the true goal in front of the Hero, but
• the true goal will cost him/her everything (risking or agreeing to death). Nothing exists outside this moment: the story is laser-focused on this critical transition.

a. Sam convinces Frodo that Aragorn, the Rohan riders, and Gondor itself will be obliterated unless the One Ring is delivered, even though they probably will not survive the journey. b. Luke can't reach a destroyed Alderaan anymore so his focus shifts now to defeating the Emperor's Death Star directly once the plans reveal the Death Star's vulnerability, even though they probably will not survive the journey. c. In a TV show this is 5-10 minutes, usually a single scene.

Act 7: Go For The Real Goal

• Accomplish: The hero faces a ticking clock, some deadline to doom.
• Now the hero and the true villain battle it out, each gaining and losing the advantage.
• Favors Repaid/Magic and Divine Intervention/Help From All My Friends. The hero is uncertain but must follow through!
• Eventually, the Hero plays whatever trump card he/she gained in the previous Act (6, Reversal Moment) to
• defeat the True Villain, but it comes at a terrible cost. Maybe even death.
• The True Villain is killed/judged/banished and their evil empire crumbles.

a. Aragorn lays the armies' lives on the line to distract Sauron while Frodo tosses the Ring into Mount Doom. Gandalf defends Helm's Deep then sends the eagles to rescue Frodo. All in parallel, all in real-time. b. Death Star rebel fleet assault, trench run, Millenium Falcon assist, Force-guided torpedoes. Kabewm. All in parallel, all in real-time. In a TV show this is 20 minutes.

Act 8: Back to the Beginning

• Accomplish: peace restored! Kiss in the sunset!
• Back to normal yet Nothing Is The Same anymore since the hero has been transformed by destiny/gods/magic/technology/sacrifice.
• Indications of Something Accomplished. They get the guy/girl.
• You send the audience home feeling whatever emotion you want the story to show.

a. Frodo retires to live with the Elves now that evil is defeated. b. Luke is a Jedi now and must train with Yoda. In a TV show, this is only 5 minutes since you can predict what happens easily, but you gotta give fanservice!

Sources

http://www.jordandane.com/writers_9.php http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue%2015/websitereview.htm https://gideonsway.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/the-nine-act-structure-of-screenwriting/ https://killzoneblog.com/2011/05/9-act-screenplay-structure-novel.html http://www.ibiblio.org/cdeemer/wright/9act.html The Nine Act and Three Act Screenplay Structure