How to Make Sure Your Act Two Is a Page Turner

Week 1– This is an all inclusive look into act two. Lee will go over some of his biggest pet peeves when reading act two’s and what he tells his own clients when they are revising the middle of their story.

• The Break into Act Two

-How to establish your hero’s journey clearly.

-On what page this should occur and how many pages this turning point should take.

-How to make sure the break into act two matches your tone.

• Set Pieces to Call Back

-The importance of creating set pieces to call back at the end of the story to reflect change in perspective.

-Lee will take a couple examples from his favorite movies on how they successfully called back set pieces to help portray the characters’ arcs.

• Overall Basics of Act Two

-Roughly how many pages should act two take up.

-The inclusion of other characters brought in during act two that weren’t set up in act one.

-What development executives and studios look for in an act two.

-The importance of an emotional crescendo in act two.

HOMEWORK #1- Write a one page synopsis of your act two highlighting the conflict and protagonist’s journey.

Week 2– This week will cover conflict and tone. Lee will give examples of scripts he has read where the conflict successfully crescendoed and make the script a page turner. Lee will also discuss the importance of tonal consistency.

• How to Create Ongoing Conflict

-Establishing conflict that directly affects your protagonist’s journey.

-How supporting characters can also add conflict that mirrors the protagonist’s journey.

-How to make sure your conflict matches the tone of your film.

-Tips on how to avoid lulls in act two with the help of conflict.

-External conflict vs Internal Conflict

-The importance of each and how both should complement each other.

-What types of obstacles should face your protagonist.

• How to Use Tone to Showcase Your Unique Voice

-Tips on how to make sure you use set pieces to showcase your unique voice no matter what genre you are writing in.

-How to make sure your tone feels fresh and examples of scripts Lee read that felt dated due to the writer’s commitment to a certain kind of tone.

-Overall tips on how to make sure your tone is consistent in act two.

HOMEWORK #2- Outline 3-6 conflicts in your act two and how it directly affects the protagonist.

Week 3 -This week will dive deeper into the writing process and how to start putting all your thoughts on the page and how to edit your own work.

• Streamlining

-How many twists is too much?

-Tricks to avoid an executive from putting down your script in the middle of act two because of sloppy storytelling.

• Subplots

-How to successfully layer your act without it feeling too dense.

-How to make sure your protagonist’s throughline continues to stay in the foreground.

• The Break into Act Three

-What plot points should be established right before the break into act three.

-How to crescendo your story so it seamlessly leads the reader to this important act.

HOMEWORK #3- Write the first 10 pages of your act two .

Week 4- The final week will dig deeper into your writing process as well as give you the steps to pitch your concept and prepare your concept for the marketplace. Lee will give tips on how to make sure act three compliments your act two and they don’t end up feeling like two separate movies.

• Trimming Your Pages

-Tips on how to analyze your own work and how to decipher what to keep and what to cut.

-Around how many pages should lead you to the midpoint and how many pages after should lead you to the break into act three.

• Pitch

-How to properly pitch your film.

-How to make sure your act two shines in your pitch and avoid getting the dreaded pitch note that “your story feels too thin”.

• Sales strategy.

- Getting it out to the right people.

• How to figure out who is right for your project.
• Networking tips.

• Final thoughts and advice!