Thursday, July 1, 2010

TODAY'S NUGGET: Midpoint Madness

Bill Pace (http://twitter.com/scripteach), a NYC writer/teacher/filmmaker, twittered 2 articles that he uses when he gets stuck at the Midpoint. They're worth downloading. Thanks to him for generously sharing with us!

The 1st is a list of helpful midpoint definitions & examples.

The 2nd is titled ACT II - THE ELUSIVE HEART OF THE SCREENPLAY by Jengo Robinson, a London script consultant, which analyzes The Graduate.

I really liked the latter article b/c it shows WHAT the midpoint's purpose is (heighten drama) and more importantly, HOW to ramp up to it and what to do after it.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Many scripts flatten in Act 2. Why? Often it's b/c they are not driving toward a midpoint where something drastically changes & now the protagonist is in an unforeseen mad, mad world.

(In the article above, Robinson calls this the "flip the script" moment.)

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