Reader Question: Is there a danger of having an Act One that is too short?
“There is a reason most first acts clock in between 20–30 minutes long and that is because it takes that much time to establish a baseline…
“There is a reason most first acts clock in between 20–30 minutes long and that is because it takes that much time to establish a baseline of experience for the moviegoer about where the Protagonist starts out.”
From Pliny the Elder:
I’m writing a drama, in what Linda Aronson calls a “multiple protagonist narrative” style and my script comes in at 110 pages.
So far so good, and I’m happy with my character development, but while I’m pacing my overall structure using my A story, my first act comes in at a short 22 pages (and when I rewrite, it’ll probably end up shorter).
I know Snyder likes to hit the 2nd act by page 25, but I feel that maybe I’ve overdone it a little.
What are the perils of making the first act too short, and how short can I get away with it being?
Hollywood readers do develop an instinct about the timing of a script’s Plotline points and act breaks. So you are right to be mindful about this. And I could go the easy route and tell you point blank, “Yes, your first act definitely has to be 25 pages long.”
But let’s step back a bit. First off page counts can vary by genre. For example, if the genre you are writing is an historical drama, a reader may expect a script to come in at 120 pages or more. A first act in that type of movie could be 30–35 pages. If, however, you are writing an action-drama script, a reader will be looking for something in the 95–105 page range. There you might expect a first act to be 20–25 pages. Genres, sub-genres, and cross-genres can have an impact on what people might expect with your first act.
Beyond that the bottom line is this: There are no rules, just principles and guidelines. Anyone who tells you otherwise is doing you a disservice in terms of learning the craft of screenwriting.
My first line of interest in your story would be for you to look at it from within the story universe, not outside from the perspective of what you — in theory — should or should not be doing.
In other words, does your story work in and of itself?
That should be the biggest concern you have.
Broadly speaking — in my view — a first act has to accomplish certain things:
• Introduce the story’s Ordinary World
• Introduce the story’s primary characters
• Establish the story’s genre
• Set into motion the story’s central narrative device
• Present the story concept
• Create Protagonist identification
• Set up Plotline and Themeline [almost always tied directly to Protagonist’s journey]
• Establish tone, style, voice
• Create curiosity
• Entertain the reader
And if you’re thinking in real macro terms, it needs to have at least these three Plotline points:
• The Opening: Generally either a soft opening (e.g., a typical day in the life) or a hard opening (e.g., some dramatic event that immediately grabs the reader’s attention).
• The Hook: Basically something happens. Usually in the form of an incident, message, or challenge to the Protagonist, an ‘invitation’ to the upcoming journey.
• The Lock: Either the Protagonist willingly goes along onto their journey or they are dragged along unwillingly, but in any event they leave their Old / Ordinary World (which has been established in Act One) and plunge into the New / Extraordinary World.
So if you apply all that to your Act One and you can honestly say, “I nailed every point,” I don’t care if it’s 15 pages long, as long as it works, it works.
That said I suspect there is a reason most first acts clock in between 20–30 minutes long and that is because it takes that much time to accomplish all that stuff above and — perhaps most importantly — establish a baseline of experience for the moviegoer about where the Protagonist starts out, their world, their people, their life, etc.
Consider the movie “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” That first act that takes place in Hobbiton is a long one. But it’s absolutely critical to create that experience of what it means to be a hobbit, these peaceful, warm, friendly types, and their community. Once we leave, we don’t go back until the very end. But we carry with us — as do Frodo and Sam (especially) — memories of what it is the hobbits left behind which in turns reinforces over and over their courage, and the impact of what they are doing.
So long-winded response, I’m afraid, and let me make it even more diffuse: Your first act needs to be as long as it needs to be! As a guideline, if you come in between 20–25 pages, you’re probably on target, and you certainly won’t get any complaints from script readers. But at the end of the day, what is most important is the story itself. And to know if it works, you need to go into that story universe and feel your way through the first act to see if it works.
[If you are picking up the subtext that I don’t like cookie cutter approaches to screenwriting, you are quite right. Find a structural paradigm with which you are comfortable to help your story development process, but always carry the awareness that stories are organic in nature. Attempts to mash them into a precise lineup of plot point page counts is, I think, counterproductive and fundamentally uncreative.]
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