I thought it might be interesting to go through the script in Comments and identify the major plot points in the script. And we can discuss the concept of 'plot point' as well.

Okay, to kick things off, how would you define a plot point? How is it different than a story beat? Why are plot points important? And did you know that while the term plot point is generally attributed to Syd Field from his book "Screenplay: The Foundation of Screenwriting," we have actual video proof here where the term was in use much earlier than 1984 when Field's book was first widely published and 1979 when an initial version of it came out.

Seems every guru has different terminology, so this can get confusing. The Syd Field plot point shifts the story in a new direction, he usually sees them toward the end of Act I and end of Act II. Not sure what he considers the midpoint to be, since this also typically shifts the story in a new direction. My interpretation of story beats is points throughout the script that represent key moments in both plot and character, you can see these in many paradigms, from Hero's Journey to Save the Cat, to your own Narrative Throughline. That said, I know you call these Plotline Points, so maybe you have a different take on this?

Re the importance of plot points -- they keep the audience from getting bored! By shifting the direction of the story at the End of Act I/Break into II, Midpoint, and End of Act II/Break into III, it breaks a 2-hour story into 4 more easily digestible 30-minute chunks. When I'm in the early planning stages, these 3 points are key for me to nail down to ensure (hopefully) the story will stay energized and interesting, and I'll fully explore the premise.

Toy story 3 - Plot Points (Using Syd Field’s nomenclature) *Inciting Incident: - The Call - REVEAL: Andy’s going to college - Problem revealed: WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE TOYS? - Woody: We have to be there for Andy *Key Incident: - Toys escape garbage truck and head to a new home - Woody: It’s gonna take us forever to get back [home]! - Reveal dramatic need: Toys: Find new home. Woody: Returning home. *Pinch 1: - Toys love new place vs. Woody prefers home. They part *1st culmination: - Toys: Nightmare (Reversal) * Woody: Captured by Bonnie (Reversal) *Midpoint: - NOSTALGIA - Buzz becomes enemy *Pinch 2: -Toys: New haven becomes prison (need to return home) - Woody: Torn between home and family (Need to save family) *Plot Point 2: - Down the trash Chute (All is lost) *Climax: - This is the End and they are all in it together *Resolution: - Saved by the claw (All agree on home sweet home) *Denouement: - Andy plays with them for the last time. - Toys find new home. Woody stays with family.

Toy Story 3 - Sequences 1. The Good Old Days 2. The Call (Reveal) 3. Fate of Toys (Set up) 4. It’s happening 5. That’s not Trash (reversal) 6. On the curb 7. Jessie’s Decision 1. A New Home /Lotso’s welcome 2. Woody and the toys part 3. Woody escapes from Sunnyside 4. Toys’ Nightmare (Reversal) 5. Woody’s adopted by Bonnie 6. Lotso’s gang(Reveal)/Buzz is restored to factory default 7. A vision. Gotta go Home 8. Woody finds a way home 1. Toys confronted by Lotso and spellbound Buzz 2. The dark side of Sunnyside/Lotso’s heartbreak 3. The nightmare resumes 4. Woody learns enemy’s modus operandi (Reveal) 5. Woody and toys reconcile 6. Escape from Sunnyside underway 7. In the trash chute (Setup)/Mutiny against Lotso 8. Garbage truck (Payoff) 1. Buzz is back 2. Dumped and doomed 3. Lotso’s betrayal (Twist) 4. We’re all in this together 5. Saved by the claw (Reversal) 6. Woody’s decision (Final Twist) 7. Last play with Andy/New owner Bonnie

Beginning / Middle / End B: Fate of the toys M: Trying out new homes ([x] Sunnyside, [~] Bonnie’s) E: Worst case scenario ([xxx]Trash ? death, [+] Andy’s attic) Denouement: New home ([+] Bonnie’s) better than attic. Hero's Journey: Separation: from Andy’s room (HOME) Initiation: New home (Sunnyside + Bonnie’s) Return: Home ? courageous decision: Call Bonnie’s place home Thesis / Antithesis / Synthesis Th: Old owner will cause heartbreak/ Old home doesn’t welcome toys anymore A: No owner isn’t better either/New home is a prison S: Get new owner/call a new place home

Safe to say Anna gets today's GITS Gold Star for busting down TS3 using a variety of structural paradigms. A nice springboard to analyzing TS3 as well as discussing the relative merits of various approaches. Later on tonight, I'll address why I use Plotline points and provide a different vantage point on TS3's narrative structure: More of its emotional plot.

First let's talk about the concept of a 'plot point'. A standard definition from Wikipedia: "A significant event within a plot that digs into the action and spins it around in another direction." Here is one way I talk about it with my students: In every scene, something happens. A plot point is a big something that happens because it changes the course of the narrative. I tell a story about my oldest son Will when he was about five years old. I was on the phone talking with a fellow screenwriter. Evidently I was going on about 'plot point' this and 'plot point' that because after I hung up, Will asked, "Daddy, what's a plop point?" That is another way to think of a plot point: They are plop points because something big happens that goes PLOP right there in front of them. The characters can't ignore it. It forces them to react. Now to be clear, while a plot point can be a 'big' event -- a character dies, a tornado hits, someone hits the jackpot -- it can also be a 'little' big event: A character makes a decision, someone reveals a secret, someone shaves off their beard. It all depends upon the story universe, concept, genre, and context. Big or little, if it is significant enough to 'plop' down into the narrative and changes its course, it's a plot point.

So why do I call them Plotline points? Because in my screenplay approach -- Narrative Throughline -- we look at the story universe as being comprised by two realms: • The External World: Actions and Dialogue • The Internal World: Intentions and Subtext When something happens in the visible External World, something else happens in the invisible Internal World. We call the External World the Plotline. We call the Internal World the Themeline. You may think of the Themeline as the emotional plot of the story. Note: If all you think about when you are dealing with the structure of your script is the Plotline, you are missing half of the story. Whereas the Plotline may have 10 Major Plotline Points, the Themeline most often has 4 Movements: Disunity - Deconstruction - Reconstruction - Unity This speaks to two dynamics present in most movies: (1) Metamorphosis. (2) Most Protagonists go from a 'negative' psyche state to a 'positive' one. Next let's explore the four Themeline movements in Toy Story 3.

Let me preface this by saying, these are simply my interpretations. They are not facts, rather impressions. Anyone can have their own take. There is no right or wrong in movie analysis. In my view, Toy Story 3 has Dual Protagonists: Woody and The Other Toys. From a Themeline perspective, Woody's story is pretty simple: He never once doubts Andy's affection for the toys and his default mode of being -- being with Andy, getting back to Andy -- is only challenged by the positive experience of being with Bonnie (in Act Two). The Other Toys, on the other hand, do doubt Andy, believing he basically threw them away. So they opt for the alternate path in the fork-in-the-road: find a new home. With that in mind, let's consider the four Themeline movements: Disunity: (1) The toys have lost some of their toy companions (from Toy Story and Toy Story 2, so they feel a sense of separation. (2) They are aware of what happens when children turn into adolescents then head off to college. (3) There is disagreement among them about how to interpret what happened with the bags and boxes of toys. (4) But most fundamentally, they know something has to change. In going off to college, Andy is forever transforming what the toys have known as Home. And the knowledge of that and what to do about that creates anxiety, fear, and distrust among the toys. All signs of Disunity. [If you want to look at it existentially, it recalls themes played out in TS and TS2 about what is the function of being a child's toy. Here the question is, what if the child doesn't need the toys anymore? This creates fundamental issues of self-identity: Who am I? Why am I? Again reflecting Disunity]. Deconstruction: At the core of this dynamic, which plays throughout the first half of Act Two, both Andy and The Other Toys engage in their respective journeys tied to this question: Can I find a home apart from Andy? Both of them have -- at first -- a seemingly positive experience, Andy with Bonnie and The Other Toys at Sunnyside. So what is deconstructed is the belief that they must be connected to Andy to have a home. [Psychologically this is important because it demonstrates to Andy and The Other Toys, they can in fact survive apart from Andy, which lays the groundwork for their final destiny. But first, a big transition.] Reconstruction: Sunnyside turns out to be a nightmare. And Woody's commitment to Andy and The Other Toys sends him Sunnyside where he finds himself in that living hell as well. What is reconstructed is their desire to be back with Andy: escape and return to their owner becomes their goal. [One interpretation you can make is the subtext that toys should be owned by one child -- that is an authentic experience. To be shared by a zillion kids who are simply looking for a few minutes of diversionary play is inauthentic, the toys are mere objects, not creative entities as part of the one child's imagination and storytelling experience.] Unity: The toys return to Andy, then Andy hands them off to Bonnie. [To me this is the most important moment in the script, it's what everything in the trilogy has been building to: The dispensation of the toys when Andy moves on with his life. So when I say "hands them off to Bonnie," that doesn't do justice to what happens in the Denouement. What transpires there is an almost sacred act, Andy initiating Bonnie into the world of imagination, play-acting and storytelling. Only when she passes that test does Andy feel comfortable enough to leave Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toys with Bonnie, a literal passing on of that tradition to a surrogate version of Andy. And with it, the toys achieve a kind of Unity: Now they have a new home, one very much the same as the one they knew with Andy.] At a fundamental level, stories are a journey of the psyche. With the Dual Protagonists of Woody and The Other Toys, the story explores various layers of what it means to be 'owned' by one child vs. the chaos of the group. Despite their different paths, Woody and The Other Toys must deal with the loss of Andy in order to move on to the next chapter of their lives which they do with Bonnie.