Frameworks · 1 of 8
Freytag's pyramid
Five-part dramatic arc.
Where it comes from
Gustav Freytag, Die Technik des Dramas (1863), describing the five-act shape of Greek and Shakespearean tragedy, built on Aristotle's Poetics.
Who uses it
Theatre, and the default way story is taught in school. Screenwriters know it but rarely plan with it.
What it is good for
Best for a play with one rising line of conflict and a decisive turn. Weak for ensemble pieces and for stories whose climax comes late (most films), because it puts the climax in the middle.
The stages
- 1The world before
Exposition. Who these people are, what they want, and the pressure already building under the surface. The audience needs enough to care and no more.
- 2The spark
The inciting moment, sometimes folded into the exposition. Something arrives, is discovered or is lost, and the old balance cannot be restored.
- 3Rising trouble
Rising action. Every attempt to fix things makes them worse or costs something. This is the longest stretch and where most of the plot lives.
- 4The turning point
The climax, in Freytag's sense: the peak of the protagonist's fortunes and the moment the outcome is decided, often by a fatal choice. In tragedy this is the point of no return, not the final fight.
- 5The unravelling
Falling action. Consequences arrive; the protagonist may struggle against them but the direction is set. Suspense comes from how, not whether.
- 6The new world
Dénouement, or catastrophe in tragedy. The threads are tied, the cost is counted, and the audience is shown what the story was about.
Seen in
- Macbeth
Exposition with the witches and Duncan's favour; rising action through the murder and the crown; the turning point at the banquet, where Banquo's ghost shows Macbeth cannot hold what he took; falling action as Scotland turns; catastrophe at Dunsinane.
- Romeo and Juliet
The turning point is the killing of Tybalt in the exact middle of the play: from there every scene falls toward the tomb.
Try it
Add these 6 stages to your film as plot beats