Thanks for your reflections, Tim.

Thanks for your reflections, Tim. My point is a writer can write whatever they want and however they want to write it. The key is to immerse oneself in the lives the story’s characters because no matter what approach to screenplay structure a writer uses, if they have all of this character content surfaced through brainstorming and character development exercises, two things: (1) That content will almost invariably suggest a path into and through the Protagonist’s journey, so Character = Plot actually makes sense. (2) No matter what structural paradigm they use, the script can come to life because of all their interfaces with their characters.

But know this — as noted in the OP — everyone in Hollywood development circles uses three act structure when discussing stories. So writer beware!