Screenwriting : Finishing a Script: The "Which-Act" Slog by Nash Peterson

Nash Peterson

Finishing a Script: The "Which-Act" Slog

Speaking from recent experience, I just finished my delivery driver slasher script "The Reaper's Affiliate" almost two hours ago.

After finishing this script, I found I had a pretty good idea of where the script was going to end up from Day 1. Even after changing my outline over a dozen times.

My concept was strong, I had a good idea of tone and/or the look I was going, and a deep pool of experiences to draw from in case I got stuck.

However, while working through the sequences of the script, I found Acts 1 and 2 were pretty easy to write.

But the third Act raked me over the coals. 

In terms of wrapping up loose ends, making sure all the build-up has been paid off, or post-humorously insert new details in the previous acts to put a bow on the script.

Personally, I found myself unable to move forward until I fixed a "logical knot" in my script. Which required going back inserting new details and scrapping large portions of my previous pages.

What do y'all think? Which act is the hardest to write? And what techniques do you use to push through writer's block or undo knots in your scripts?

Kiril Maksimoski

First u get this big knot of an idea. Then u sit down and outline it into 5-6 major events...then u treatment it into tubes, or laces merging those events together....

Then u start writing a script.

Phil Clarke

Usually, screenwriters struggle with Act 2 (or the middle acts if you're a proponent of a structure of more than 3 acts). Following Act 1's rather straightforward set-up, writers often find the meat of the confrontation that takes place in the main body of the story to be much harder to nail. There are so many opportunities to veer off on a tangent, straying from the path of your story. This is why Act 2 is often referred to as The Wilderness. It's so easy to get lost.

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