Classical Storytelling and Contemporary Screenwriting

Twenty-FiveResolution

Stepping Stones of Act Three

“An end … is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity or as a rule, but has nothing following it.”

(Poetics, Part VII)

Act Two was all about the pursuit of the hero’s objective that had been set up in Act One, and it concludes with the end of that pursuit. So as our metaphorical curtain rises, we find our hero now in Act Three, the Beginning of the End.

Once again, let’s follow our film examples to their resolution and look for useful patterns.

Act Three of Star Wars goes something like this:

With the empire closing in, and no time to mourn his lost friend, Luke and the rebels are debriefed on the death star’s one weakness. Thinking the plan to be a suicide ...