I don't see any of them as mutually exclusive.

For example -- 3 Act vs 4 Act is really an arbitrary decision on how big of an impact your Midpoint is.

In ALIENS, at the midpoint the marines are ambushed by a horde of aliens. This forces them to change their tactic from advancing and extermination to retreat and survive.

However their objective is STILL to destroy the aliens. So --

Did the midpoint constitute an Act Break?

Does it matter?

The structure is still in place regardless of what you call it.

4 Act

Don't have time to retype it and Blogger won't let me upload my "Hero's Graph."

I try to avoid the use of page numbers because different genres are expected to range from 92-110 pages.

But I do count each sequence as a page length (comedy: 1-1.5, action: 1-2.5, drama: 1-2). Then I multiply by 60. Which assumes every script should have around 60 sequences (I use sequence in place of scene to account for the camera location changing but the scene continuing).

Semantically the 3Act and 4Act structure are the same where the midpoint of Act 2 breaks it into 2 acts.

The funny thing is that Aristotle described the qualitative as 3 Acts and the quantitative as four acts with two separate climaxes(internal\external).

Scott,

I'm open to discussion on story structure, BUT sometimes I can't help but roll my eyes. BEGINNING, MIDDLE, and END. How complicated is that?

I think the REAL discussion is plot points. That's where the sizzle in the steak is.

Structure = meaning. Stucture is there as a framework to ensure that your story is going somewhere and isn't a rambling wreck.

Anyway, I see structure through very simple lenses. That said, I am open to alternate perspectives.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Thank you for sharing this!

The sequences were really helpful. I have missed some form of minor units to work against.

Twenty pages of fun-n-games (Blake Snyder) is fine, but I need some hooks for the story.

Acts, I feel, are kind of not important any longer. It is a left over from the theater which before the electricity needed to take a break to change candles. So an act could not be longer than it took for a candle to burn down.

Hence the act structure.

So, I feel acts as a term is not valid. The structure with turning points and such is however.

I like the late Blake Snyder's beat sheet and use it as a base.

Nowadays I use a mindmapping program and call a branch structure and add all the beats and sequences. And then fill up with my ideas for this particular story.

I have to agree with EC. Sometimes simpler is better.

All these structure formulas/formats -- no doubt they can be quite helpful but don't let them get in the way of your writing... "My protagonist encounters her first test on page 24 instead of page 28, like Guru X says, now I gotta change the whole screenplay."

It's hard enough to write a screenplay -- don't make it harder or more complicated than it has to be.

Bill Cunningham at Pulp 2.0 (http://d2dvd.blogspot.com/) posted three questions awhile back that every screenwriter/writer/story teller should ask:

1) What is the main character's goal?

2) What's stopping her/him?

3) And why the hell should I care?

If your screenplay answers these questions well, then you got something.

This is great. I'm wondering if anyone on here has a similar thing for a TV episode. Same idea. Different Corresponding page counts and sequences.