Write a Script in 10 Weeks

TV STORY SHAPE Once you nail your core concept, you're ready to tackle the story shape for the pilot episode. In TV, this is pretty straightforward: a teaser and four acts. The teaser is usually something dramatic or intriguing to pull the audience in. The first act develops the situation (the cops discover the murder) and ends on a story developme

You could use a variety of intellectual, physical and emotional challenges for them to overcome.

the hurdles don’t hurt the protagonist, they aren’t strong enough.

If your stakes all feel a bit pointless and random, consider this – have you raised the stakes for your antagonist too?

Syd Field says the midpoint is where the protagonist seems furthest from fulfilling the dramatic need or objective.

WHAT’S AT STAKE FOR THE STORY?

The midpoint is a useful place in your script to raise the stakes and jeopardy beyond a point of no return; to ensure something happens to compel the protagonist further so they can't back down. Up until now, the hero has had the inciting incident (will they/won't they get involved in the story?) and the end of act one (they decide to actively solv

It's about clarity of story purpose: what is your story ultimately about? What is it trying to say? And how is it saying it through the protagonist's experience and ultimate story outcome?

Well, everything you set up in act one regarding your protagonist and their situation should probably be paid off or resolved in act three. The resolution should be causally and emotionally connected rather than the plot going off on indulgent tangents and giving the audience a vague sense of conclusion.