Transcripts
1. Introduction into Act 1: Hi, I'm Jordan. Them Viola. I write it with many
produced projects, published works, and I've
sold several screenplays. Every great story has
a three-act structure. In this course, we'll
dive into how to write your first act and the
beginning of your story. I always feel it's
easier to write a story and you break
it down at Viagra, scene by scene, beat by beat, and write a little
bit every day. In this course, I'll
be using examples from critically acclaimed and
commercially successful movies, books, and TV shows. But you can use the
three-act structure for any type of story. If you're writing a screenplay, a book, a play, a graphic novel script, or a short story. You can use the
writing principles in this class to set up your
story and engage your readers. Now, let's break down X1
and get your story started.
2. Exciting Opening: From the start of your story, you want to hook in the
reader and introduce your protagonist or
your antagonist. Before we start, let's go over
some writing terminology. Protagonist. The protagonist is the
hero of your story. It's your main character. And the person who
we're rooting for. The antagonist is the villain, the entity that's
fighting against your hero and causing
them a lot of problems. I want to cover a few
more writing terms that I think will help break it down even more and make it
easier for you to write beat. A beat is a moment or
action by a character. For actors, when
they read a script, beats help them determine how
to act in a given moment. A group of beats
is called a scene. And usually a scene takes
place in one location. When your character moves
to a different location, it becomes a different scene. Your very first scene should
set the tone for the rest of the story and pique the
interest of your audience. The first scene of jaws is
the first shark attack. Even though we don't
see the shark, we are being introduced to
the antagonist right away. The first Harry Potter book, harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone, Voldemort is defeated and
the baby who survives the attack is dropped off at the Dursleys house
by Dumbledore. My favorite episode
of The Office is the injury written
by Mindy colleague. In this episode, the first
scene hooks us in right away. When Michael calls the
office and says he needs help because he burned his foot on a George
Foreman grill. The scene gets even better when Dwight races to go
rescue Michael, and then he crashes his
car into a pole within 3 min to members
of the office are now hurt and hilarity ensues. The best superhero films have
excellent opening scenes. And the first 4 min of Iron Man, Tony Stark is having fun and an army truck drinking and
taking photos with soldiers. When boom, the army
truck in front of him gets blown up and
they are under attack. Then Tony Stark gets kidnapped. That's the start of an excellent first scene and great story. Another great superhero scene
is from the first X-Men. When we see magneto as a little kid bending
metal to try and get back to his
parents when they are taken away from him in
a concentration camp. The opening makes us feel for the antagonists
of the movie. And this scene was so good. They did the scene again, an X-Men first-class
and the Dark Knight. And the first scene, we are
introduced to the Joker. We are hooked by a six-minute
bank robbery scene. Whatever your genre, you
want to set the tone. If you're writing a comedy, you wanna make your audience
laugh from the very start. One great comedy opening is from National Lampoon's
Vacation from 1983, written by John Hughes. This is the first of
several vacation movies. We are introduced to Clark
Griswold and his son Rusty, for the first time when a Clark tries to trade in his
car for a sports car. But by the end of the scene, the car dealership has
crushed his old car, and Eugene levy
convinces Clark to buy a new model of the same
car, they just crushed. This first scene sets the tone
for the rest of the film. Before moving on, jot down
some ideas for an opening that introduces your hero or villain and sets the
tone for your story.
3. Setting Up Your Story: After an entertaining opening, you want to set up
your main characters. Think about their wants, their problems in the
world they live in now before it all changes. In Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry has a terrible
life with the Dursleys, who taught him and
treat them so unkindly. He lives in a cupboard
under the stairs and has no idea of what's about
to come in Home Alone. Kevin wants to get
away from his family. And the first 10 min, we see him in constant
conflict with them. Kevin tells his mom, everyone in this
family hates me. His mom replies that maybe you should ask Santa
for a new family. He replies, I don't
want a new family. I don't want any
family. Family suck. I hope I never see
you jerks again. And he wishes they
would disappear. Setting up how, how soon get his wish and he'll
be home alone. And the pilot episode of the
marvelous have some nasal. We see Miriam measles,
pretty perfect life. Her marriage, her family, and her upscale apartment
on the Upper West Side. She seems to have
everything under control. Act one is all set up for everything that will soon
be crashing down on her. As much as you can find
ways to show. Don't tell. The pilot episode
of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel does a
great job at this because we follow and discover the main character's world
as she goes about her day. If you ever write
a character saying something the audience
needs to know, see if you can find
a way to show it. This is called show, don't tell. For another great example, watch the second
scene of Iron Man. We're told of Tony
Stark's history, but it's also shown to us with pictures and magazine covers. We find out Tony's dad was a tightened and
the weapons industry. And Tony is a genius. But it's presented very
quickly at an award ceremony. And we've already
been introduced to Tony Stark through an
excellent opening scene. In general, a good
guideline when setting up your story is you wanna meet all your main characters
who afford the story. And the first 10 min
of meet the parents. We meet Greg, his girlfriend
Pam, and her parents, Jack and Dina will meet the
rest of pants family later. But for now, we know the
foremost important characters, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, are the most essential
to the story. You want to give each character strong introduction and make them distinct and interesting. Make sure your characters have a specific attitude and
no one sounds the same. If they do sound similar right
now, for your first draft, it's okay because this is something you can
fix in later drafts. Don't make it too
hard on yourself. The most important
thing right now is to keep moving forward
with your story. To help you develop your
characters and set them up. I've added a character
questionnaire that will help you
discover your characters. Even more. Brainstorm and write down all your
main characters. And what is their
life like right now before it all changes? Also, think about their
wants and their problems.
4. Inciting Incident and Hero's Hesitation: After you set up your story, your main character will
experience an inciting incident. This is the thing
that will forever change their lives and
push her story forward. The Hunger Games, we learn
one boy and one girl from each district are selected by an annual lottery to participate
in the Hunger Games, where they must
fight to the death. Cat and a sister is
selected for this, but keratinous decides to
take her place instead. In Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone, mysterious letters
start coming to the house that Harry is
not allowed to open. Then Haggard comes to
the house and informs Harry that he's a
wizard and home alone. A storm causes all
the electricity to go out at McAllister house, and the whole family is
running late to the airport. They leave the house and forget the Kevin is still in the attic. Kevin's mom doesn't
realize he's not with them until they are
on the plane to Paris. And most origin
superhero movies, the inciting incident will be the thing that will give them their powers or make them use their powers
to save the world. In Spider-Man, Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive
spider. And Dr. Strange, Steven is a
neurosurgeon who gets into a car accident that
will prevent him from using his hands and
operating ever again. Wonder Woman, Steve, Trevor crashes in the water
of the mascara, aka Paradise Island, and Diana dives into
the water to save him. This will forever change her world for the
rest of her life. Your main character doesn't
necessarily know that the inciting incident will rock the real-world and push
them in a new direction. And the Goon is, the setup is about a group of
friends who have to move away from
each other when they find a treasure map in an attic, the treasure map will
push them into adventure. After the inciting incident, the hero will often
hesitate to accept change. Change is necessary for life, but that doesn't
mean people like it. Your hero maybe latching
onto their old world, even though it's best for
them to enter a new world. In Toy Story, what
he doesn't like, Buzz wants him to go away. They don't become friends
until much later in the movie. In one of my favorite
episodes of Parks and Recreation titled Andy
and April's fancy party. We find out the reason
for the party is that Andy and April or getting
married at the party. It's a surprise to everyone when the main
character, Lesley Nope, finds out she spends most of her time at
the party trying to dissuade April and Andy because they've only
been dating for a month. But as any Parks
and Rec fan knows, April and Andy are
perfect for each other. In the mask, the inciting
incident is when Jim Carey's car breaks down
and he finds the mask. He almost puts the
mask on right away, but hesitates when
the cops bottom. It's not until he's back in
his apartment is when he puts the mask on
in Wonder Woman. We find out what's going
on outside of the island. Steve, Trevor is wrapped
in the lasso of truth and talks about the
circumstances of World War II. This triggers Diana
to want to leave the island for the first
time and save the world. But Diane, his mom, doesn't want her to leave. This will bring us into act two. When the hero
enters a new world, write down some ideas for
the inciting incident. What's that thing that will forever change your
main character's life? And then think about how they
might hesitate to change.
5. SkillShare Superpeer Coaching Promo: Hey, if you're interested in one on one coaching sessions, I'd love to help you during your creative process to make sure your project gets finished. You're interested, you
can book a session on SkillShare using their
new Super purer feature. To book a coaching session, just click on my SkillShare
profile and click Book Now. These coaching
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whichever you prefer. I offer coaching sessions on
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your own film or series, and much more. I can coach you once a week or every two weeks to
make sure you stay on track and create the
accountability you need to finish your
story and project. Contact me to book your
first session now. Thank you, and now back to your regularly
scheduled course. H.
6. Review + Writing Advice: Here's a quick review of act one and some writing
advice that may help you have an exciting opening that will draw and
hook in your audience. Then set up your characters in an interesting way
after your setup, have an inciting incident. This is the thing that
will forever change their lives and push
the story forward. Then find a way to make your character
hesitate to change. Here's some advice for act
one and brainstorming ideas. Rule of ten. If you're having trouble
writing a scene, I'm a big believer
of the rule of ten. I think I heard Jerry Seinfeld
first talk about this, but I've heard many
others talk about it too. It's where you
brainstorm ten things. And then you will find
that one thing that works. When I'm stuck on a scene, I'll brainstorm ten
things that could happen. Some of them are good ideas, some of them are terrible. But I do find that one I
like after I brainstorm ten. Don't put pressure
on yourself to make all your ideas, good ideas. Sometimes writing
down a few bad ideas, you know, won't work well. Often spark good
idea that will work. Determine what your main
character wants and then put your protagonist and antagonist wants
against each other. Again, if you get
stuck in a scene, especially with
dialogue, think about what your characters
want in that scene. Show. Don't tell. If you ever find a
character saying something the audience
needs to know. See if you can find
a way to show it. Be disciplined
about your writing. If you want to
complete your story, you have to be disciplined
about your writing. And here's a few things
that can help that writing a little bit every day
will go a long way. Some people take
ten years to write one thing because they say
they never have the time. But all your excuses are not going to move
your story forward. If you write a little
bit every day, you'll have a lot
done after a month. And it'll make it easier on your brain to
remember what you have done so far and
where you're going. Five-minutes a day rule. I'm a big fan of the
five-minutes a day rule, and I often tell this
to my friends a lot. Before you go to bed each night, make sure you wrote
for at least 5 min. And 5 min isn't asking
too much of yourself. And many times, five-minutes
will become a lot longer if you become
inspired and if you don't, after five-minutes, just
try it again tomorrow. You have to treat the creative
process like a muscle. Muscles have muscle memory, work that muscle every day. If you wait a week for right, you'll spend half your
time thinking about what you've already done
instead of moving forward, find a ritual that
helps you, right? See if you can find the time of the day that works best for you. I always recommend
mornings before you go to work because this way, you'll think about your
writing throughout the day. Keep the file open
on your computer. Keep your writing file open
on your computer constantly. This will make you think about
your story more and more. Make it the last
thing you look at, and the first thing
you'll look at when you open your computer. I hope you enjoyed this class. Please leave a review and if you upload your project,
I'll check it out. If you liked this class, please follow me on Skillshare and check out my other classes. Thank you for watching right on.
7. Write a Movie This Summer / Screenwriting Coaching @ www.jordanimiola.com: Have a movie idea you've
been sitting on for years. This summer, let's finally turn it into a screenplay
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Jordan Imiola, Screenwriter
