Frameworks · 3 of 8
Syd Field's paradigm
Three acts with plot points.
Where it comes from
Syd Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (1979) and The Screenwriter's Workbook (1984), which added the midpoint and the pinches.
Who uses it
The vocabulary of Hollywood development: "plot point one", "the midpoint", "act two problems". Every later framework is a refinement of this one. Page guides assume a 120-page script.
What it is good for
Best as a map for the whole film. Its weakness is Act 2, which is 60 pages long and gets two signposts; the sequence approach exists to fix exactly that.
The stages
- 1Act one: set-up
The first ten pages must establish the main character, the dramatic premise (what the story is about) and the dramatic situation (the circumstances). Field said readers decide by page ten.
- 2Inciting incident
Field separated this from Plot Point 1 later in his career: the incident starts things, the plot point commits the hero to them.
- 3Plot point one
Anything that hooks into the action and turns it. It ends Act 1 and poses the question Act 2 will fight over.
- 4Act two: confrontation
Field's rule: the hero must have a clear dramatic need, and Act 2 is the series of obstacles to it. Conflict is the engine; without a need there is no conflict.
- 5Pinch one
A signpost midway between plot point one and the midpoint. Often a small confrontation with the antagonist or a reminder of the stakes.
- 6Midpoint
Field added this after teaching writers who lost their way in Act 2. The first half is often the hero reacting; after the midpoint they act.
- 7Pinch two
Mirrors pinch one and raises the pressure. Between the pinches the subplot usually does its work.
- 8Plot point two
Usually the hero's lowest point or a discovery that changes everything. After it the question of Act 2 is answered and a new one, the resolution, is posed.
- 9Act three: resolution
Field insisted that resolution means "solution", not "ending". Know how the story resolves before you write page one; the ending (the last scene) can be found later.
Seen in
- Chinatown
Field's standard example. Plot point one: the real Evelyn Mulwray walks in and Gittes realises he was set up. Midpoint: the affair and the "bad for glass" clue in the pond. Plot point two: Gittes finds the bifocals and understands who killed Mulwray.
- Thelma & Louise
From Field's Four Screenplays. Plot point one: Louise shoots Harlan in the parking lot (page 25 almost exactly). Midpoint: the robbery, after which they act rather than run. Plot point two: the police close the net and the women choose not to be taken.
- The Silence of the Lambs
Plot point one: Lecter offers Clarice a trade. Midpoint: Catherine Martin is taken and the clock starts. Plot point two: Lecter escapes, and Clarice is on her own.
Try it
Add these 9 stages to your film as plot beats