Anyone would hear it. . . would it be a brave choice? Should I take that direction in a world that tells you and wants to make you do something you may not want to? Unk?

“for the Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Didn’t exactly like A. H. X. as people may only see the beginning and misread the message. They will hear what the guy used to believe . . . and may stick to it.

I find it helpful to think of the selling process in this way::

Put yourself in a privilaged directors position.

It’s not your writing. Someones giving you THEIR work, and now you’re forced to live and breathe these characters for up to a year or more.

This script better be something worthwhile. And it better blow your fucking mind. If you cant see it blowing your mind when you pitch it…

keep working.

They are:

It’s all just talk until the cheque clears.

Do you want it right, or do you want it right now?

and finally

In the movie biz it’s 98% inspiration, 98% perspiration… the other 98% is creative accountancy

My reaction as I began to read your post.

1. Egad, I have to fly?!? (I am terrified of plane flight and its held me back all my life). Yes, I know if I want to get anywhere (which I intend to do) I will have to deal with this. Lordy!

2. I would tend to open with an anecdote. I did that recently in pitching a TV reality show and it worked really well (but this is another topic and I WILL stress, my anecdote took all of 20secs and explained what led me to devise the concept so it was relevant and wasn’t just talking fluff and smoke).

3. I am understanding. I admit when I looked at Unk’s beat sheet I see there is a snappiness and directness to it that I don’t feel with the 3 Act Structure. It sounds a bit freaky but I felt the meeting of what I have been using and this new structural outlook was like introducing two cousins who have shared bloodline but speak in different accents. :)

4. I think there is a tremendous spirit uplift in being able to ‘inspire’; that’s a gift outcome. Again, well done.

So, you look up from your coffee and you deliver the entire story in six concise, logical sentences… one to set up your main characters and their relationship, one to set up your theme and then four sentences which cover the character’s journey through each of the four acts…

I can guarantee that you’ll knock that director’s socks off… because they’re not used to writers who can sum up their story…

Now, imagine instead you’re a three act screenwriter… you understand your opening, you understand your ending… but your second act is a sprawling fifty pages that contain your A,B and C plots, character development and some great emotive scenes… when asked to explain your film, chances are you haven’t got a concise explanation, because 3Act writing doesn’t require it as part of the process.

One of the strengths of 4Act is it forces you to see your plot as a simply progression and transformation of your protagonist… and it only works if you can sum that transformation up neatly.

When you’re more familiar with the material you’ll understand what I’m talking about… I’ve been using 4Act successfully for about five years now… and everything I’ve written since then has had option offers and has opened doors for me at the highest levels… both in the US and Europe.

A lot of my success is as much about my ability to explain my plots in a way that inspires as it is in my writing ability

Firstly, isn’t there a step outline for both 3 and 4 acts? Ok, Unk (I HAVE skimmed the doc) offers a pro forma “beat sheet”. Despite the headers being different than the step outline I have, its still a sequential outline of sorts. If there is potentially no material difference but just a different terminology, then both 3 and 4 act structures have step outlines. Yes?

I do conceive that beats are indeed potentially easier to achieve with the 4 act structure.

Secondly:
“because they don’t know which elements are central to their story and which aren’t.”

I find that puzzling. I find it puzzling that an act structure, as such, would make a difference to this. I am again reminded of the folks who rush into the script writing without having worked through some form of written description – whether that be “step outline” or “beat sheet”.

On an adjunct issue, I thought it may be interesting to complete Unk’s beat sheet this weekend given I have recently completed a step outline. My gut tells me that if the step outline is half way decent, then I *should* be able to fill out the 4 act beat sheet fairly readily. If I can’t, that may well give a pointer to a weakness or omission. Thoughts?

If the only reason for using 4act over 3Act was merely the shorter act lengths, then you’re right a step outline would get me there just as easily…

However, the key difference between 4 act and 3 act is the transformation of the protagonist into a more active exploration of her/his goal at the transformation from second to third act… 4 act is radically different from 3Act in this respect.

So, the breaking of the script into lumps of 25 pages isn’t merely cosmetic and replaceable by any old breakdown… each 25 page lump has a specific purpose in the protagonist’s character arc… and therefore unlike in a 3 Act structure, where you have a wilderness of fifty pages labeled “stuff happens”… with 4 Act you have more of a map to follow.

The fact that I have four equal length phases to my story allows me to much more confident in my story telling… and for some reason makes it much easier to get the script both broken down into beats and also written.

I’ve also found it makes pitching much more effective as well, because I can talk about the protagonist’s journey in four distinct phases, of which I already understand the significance.

This is a real advantage when talking about a screenplay to a director or producer, because I’ve seen lots of screenwriters get lost in these sessions… because they don’t know which elements are central to their story and which aren’t.