Who wants to discuss this very important topic? As a former literary manager in Hollywood turned Stage 32 exec, I can tell you that in all my years of developing scripts with top writers and newbies to be groomed... the two most important thing in a script are...... (at least for me) Dialogue Dialogue Dialogue ... but universally there's one thing that I believe every script has to have. It's that ah-ha moment. That moment where the lead realizes what they have been trying to achieve all through act 2 (30-90) is their WANT. And now after pages of work and conflict and struggle and trial and error and effort when they are about to throw in the towel that have that discovery (as a plot point or character realization) where what's crucial to success is not their WANT but their NEED (page 75). Something more intrinsic and deeper. Something that is their arc in the moment of the script where they grow and become wowed with a new sense of purpose or finally have the missing link to what they needed to go win the day or solve the crime. Now, because of this discovery and arc.... they are ready for battle and RESOLVING their journey as they enter the third act (90-120 - Also known as the resolution). I can't stress enough how this is so crucial to scripts working regardless of the genre. The best movies have this working for them. I dare you to watch movies and time them... The arc moment is usually 75 mins into the movie and more like 65/70 if the movie is less then 120 minutes. A minute a page is the rule. Hope this helps. Happy to expands on it.
Screenwriting : Second Act Arc page 75 wants vs. need by Ilan Breil
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This is great! A nice post-it note to attach to my computer monitor.
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Well this is a great topic to bat around. The page 75 Want to Need moment can be, and often is, a great moment in a film. But I don't agree that every script must have it. What about FORREST GUMP? No such moment. Or NIGHTCRAWLER? Dan Gilroy, the screenwriter, has argued that the main character did not even arc. And the further back in time one goes, the less often you'll find this Want to Need moment. Henry Fonda doesn't have one in 12 Angry Men. Cary Grant doesn't in North by Northwest. In Casablanca, the audience, at least, doesn't learn of the change in Bogart until the climactic airport scene at the very end when he tells Bergman she's getting on that plane with her husband.
I put this between the "All is Lost" plot point and the "Act Three Starts" plot point. The Arc Moment/the "Ah-ha Moment" is when the main character realizes he (or she) needs to overcome their flaw or he won't be able to complete the journey. This usually happens after the mentor has a deep talk/intense exchange with the main character and the main character reflects on the journey.
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I agree with Eric Christopherson, screenwriting is a formula now. Some of the greatest films of all time don't have this moment or indeed character arcs at all! (Ghostbusters, the greatest film of all time, The Thing, the greatest horror film of all time...). But they can help a story and execs will expect them so best to put them in
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You are all right in your own way. Eric. You are right in those films and others. Especially ensemble casts. But if it’s not a character I guarantee you that aha moment is within the story… there’s an arc to the symphony of the script at the very least if there’s not a character arc on page 75 …, then there’s a story shift it happens at that point. I challenge you to watch the movies you mentioned and see how that moment in the film exists even in terms of the plot points. A story can arc too if not the lead. I guess it’s all I’m trying to say that pivotal point within 70 pages of the script exist if not from the character from the story itself does and the story is a character in and of itself.
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That's the beginning of act 3/end of act 2 essentially, right? There has to be some kind of shift there to take you into the final act
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If we are talking 120 script/mins. The arc is at 75. The shift of want into need. I assure you it’s in almost every movie. And it’s typically a prep period of training where a character now preps for what they need given the discovery they found. 75-90 is like Rocky training for the fight. Then at 90 the third act kicks in and things shift to being resolved at a quicker pace with more success then it was initially moving in the conflict of act two (30-90). Now it moves with and towards resolution. Hope that makes sense. No all apply but I assure you more than 75-80% of movies do. Cheers.
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Not in Europe it ain't, where uve got Academy, Goya, Berlinale and what-no-so-ever royalty winners at 78 pages or less...some of them stories don't even have 'arcs', 'acts', whatever...just characters speaking truth to each other...truth of the world they live in...and boy, are folks succers for truth...
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Character, plot and theme are all essentially tied together.
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A great exercise I teach in my Character classes that always helps with plotting and arcs especially if youre stuck, is... list 3 Deal-breakers for your protagonist. 3 things that they would never do, that go against who they are. Now, choose ONE of them and force your character to break it in order to achieve a larger goal, which should force them into a dilemma. And breaking it, should cause consequences in the story, and a change in your character. It's a good way to advance character arc AND plot together.