I recently had an lively email exchange with a member here over a script he was working on. He asked for blunt criticism—the kind I never give unless asked for—and he got it. But in the process the conversation touched on a lot of points about story structure, the act structure, and the difference between theme and plot. I decided to excerpt some of my notes and share them here, since they relate to topics touched on previously.
Continuing with...
THE MIDPOINT TWIST/TURNING POINT
One thing that came up was whether or not a two-part episode should be written under the umbrella of a single Three Act structure, or if each episode/segment should have Three Acts of their own. The example posed was "The Best of Both Worlds", and while writing my response I realized it relates to the topic of the midpoint twist. To wit:
What's the end of Part One? It's the Midpoint Twist/Turning point. We thought we were fighting the Borg; now we're fighting Picard. We've been reactive to this point (trying to occupy the Borg so Starfleet can assemble a defense), and next we must actively try to subvert the damage done by his assimilation. The Second Act culmination is the recovery of Picard (resolving the immediate problem but not the big one). In short: the two-parter is one story.
Continuing with...
THE MIDPOINT TWIST/TURNING POINT
One thing that came up was whether or not a two-part episode should be written under the umbrella of a single Three Act structure, or if each episode/segment should have Three Acts of their own. The example posed was "The Best of Both Worlds", and while writing my response I realized it relates to the topic of the midpoint twist. To wit:
What's the end of Part One? It's the Midpoint Twist/Turning point. We thought we were fighting the Borg; now we're fighting Picard. We've been reactive to this point (trying to occupy the Borg so Starfleet can assemble a defense), and next we must actively try to subvert the damage done by his assimilation. The Second Act culmination is the recovery of Picard (resolving the immediate problem but not the big one). In short: the two-parter is one story.