Holy crap I love this site! Great article. Thanks Scott.

I've heard Zemeckis talk about how the Second Act really is the story you are trying to tell. Back to The Future illustrates this notion.

Isn't the compelling part of the story that Marty nearly erases his own existence?

The conflict is how he messes it up past timeline. The pay off is how he fixes it. (And the act three payoff is how it's better).

The story has this incredible device in the clock tower. The plot literally can't move forward until the lightning storm.

The subplots are a necessity. Without them, the main plotline is rail thin.

Act Two is kicked off by Marty being stuck in time. The first thing he does is seek out Doc Brown. The very FIRST thing Doc Brown tells Marty is to avoid all contact with your parents. The whole "messing up the space/time continuum" thing.

And what's the very first thing Marty does?

Runs into his father. Pisses off Biff. Winds up in his mother's bed in his boxers.

This cuts right to the heart of the story. And it's all subplot.

And (imo) more crucial to the overall story than the larger plotline itself. Does it really matter how Marty was trapped in time? Or how he is going to get back?

Early drafts of this script have a MUCH different 3rd Act. And yet, the 2nd act remains, for the most part, unchanged. If anything, that illustrates the importance of subplot.

Back To The Future is the best popcorn/summer movie screenplay of all time.

Great article. Best part is that as you're reading/watching all of this is so well assimilated.

So perfect. Thanks for pointing this out.

Great article, Scott!

Back to the Future is a great screenplay, should have won awards, and did get nominated for a Golden Globe and WGA.

Another trick of the screenplay that is worth noting is that the real protagonist of the story is GEORGE McFly, not Marty. He's the one who must undergo the biggest character arc. Marty is actually more of a trickster archetype (force for good/force for evil).

All in all, one of the best comedy scripts to learn from.

I try to do that for every thing I write. I find the definition of subplot is a secondary character with their own issues and each should indeed have a beg,mid,end.

I think that's where we should try to be clever; finding unique ways of intersecting the plot and subplots.

[...] The subplots of Back To The Future. [...]

Good article, though Biff wasn't George's brother, nor was the line, "Son, I know it’s hard for you to understand, but the fact is, I’m just not a fighter.”