INT. DARK MYSTERIOUS ROOM – NIGHT
Close up on a pudgy man, DAVE, 35, tied to a chair, groggily waking up.
In front of Dave are two doors.
Someone appears behind Dave, untying him. This is ALISTAIR, 60, a “former game show host” vibe to him. After Alistair finishes untying Dave, he takes a position in front of him.
DAVE
Where am I? How did I get here?
ALISTAIR
Not important, Dave. If that is your real name. What is important is that behind me, there are two doors. These doors are the only two ways for you to leave this building. You will have to choose between them. Behind the first door is a room that contains a version of coronavirus that is 100x more contagious than the normal strain. The chances of you getting out of that room without contracting the virus are less than zero. Behind the second door—
DAVE
I pick the second door.
ALISTAIR
But I haven’t told you what’s behind the second door yet.
DAVE
I don’t care. There’s nothing you can tell me about that second room that’s worse than the first one. I’m ready. Room 2. I’ve made my decision.
ALISTAIR
Are you absolutely sure?
DAVE
I’m positive.
ALISTAIR
Because in Room number 2 you will be forced to sit down in front of a computer and not leave until you’ve written the entire second act to a feature screenplay.
Hold on Dave’s face.
He then BURSTS UP, SPRINTS PAST ALISTAIR, YANKS DOOR 1 OPEN AND DISAPPEARS INSIDE, the door slowly inching back closed…… CLICK.
Fin.
Yes. All of us can sympathize with Dave. Act 2 is scary.
Which is why I’m going to help you get through it.
Here’s your screenwriting lesson of the day.
The stronger your hero is in his want for something, the better your second act is going to be.
That’s because when your hero wants something badly, all you have to do as the writer is follow him as he attempts to get that thing.
So in The Equalizer, one of my favorite screenplays, once we set up that Denzel is going to go after all the corrupt forces taking advantage of the people in the city, the second act writes itself.
You just write a scene where dirty cops shake down a local Chinese restaurant for money as a “protection” fee. Then have Denzel corner the cops in the alley and make them give the money back. The cops say no and now you have a scene on your hands (Pro Tip: The “no” is what makes a good scene. “Yes,” there’s no scene. If they say, “No,” the two sides are forced to battle.).
But let’s say you don’t have a traditional hero-going-after-a-goal narrative. What do you do then? Uncut Gems kind of falls into this category. The goal is coming more from the bad guys, the bookies. They want their money from Adam Sandler. So they’re driving the majority of the narrative.
What you want to do in these cases is take the overarching goal-driven approach that’s usually dictating the narrative, and apply it to individual scenes. You then keep doing that over and over again for each scene. As long as you have a character with a strong goal in a scene, you’re going to write good scenes.
For example, in Uncut Gems, Sandler has a big blow-up with his mistress after he thinks she cheated on him. He then goes back to his wife, who he’s divorcing, and he tries to get her back. THAT’S THE GOAL OF THE SCENE. He realizes his mistake with this other woman. He wants to call off the divorce. His goal is to convince his wife that he’s changed and that it’s a good idea to stay married.
It’s a simple scene but a good one. And all that’s happening is the writers are making sure that there’s an actual directive in the scene.
Another thing you can play with in the second act is CAUSE AND EFFECT. You want to throw something hard at your hero, knocking them off their path, which then forces them to reestablish order – get back on track.
Parasite. They find a family hiding in the basement, jeopardizing their ability to continue working in the home. This is the cause. You then use the next 1-5 scenes for the effect. They tie the secret basement family up. Should they kill them? Let them go? Might they come back and reveal their scam? The nice thing about cause and effect is that you can stretch it out for a long sequence, get a good 20 pages out of it if you want to.
Finally, the second act is where you’re digging into the relationships, specifically the unresolved issues between the characters. A lot of writers are scared to put two characters in a room for a no-frills dialogue scene. And they should be IF THERE’S NOTHING UNRESOLVED ABOUT THAT RELATIONSHIP.
But if you’ve constructed two characters with something unresolved – whether it be differing political views, differences in how they approach life, abusive relationship, they have a complicated past, they avoid problems in their relationship, they plain don’t like each other, or anything that creates tension between the characters – these character-based scenes can be highly entertaining.
TV is really good at this but feature writers are scared of it for some reason.
I was just watching “Devs,” Alex Garland’s show on Hulu. In the show, Lily’s boyfriend is murdered by the company they work for. The only person she trusts who can help her prove this is her ex-boyfriend, Jamie, who she left on bad terms. Their unresolved past means that every time they’re in a scene together, there’s tension in the air. That’s the kind of stuff you want in your second act.
The most important thing of all though is to KEEP WRITING. I’m seeing people say they’ve only gotten to page 12 or 14 or whatever in the comments. Unacceptable. Again, I’m not asking you to write Chinatown. I’m asking you to write a first draft quickly. That means some sacrifices will need to be made. One of those sacrifices is to stop doing things the way you’ve always done them. Do them the way I’m telling you. You can decide after this is over whether my way or your way works better. But you’re not going to improve as a writer if you don’t try new things.
The only reason you wouldn’t be writing is if you’re being too critical on yourself. Don’t listen to the critical side of your brain right now. He’s worthless. Listen to Carson. He’s saying, “Keep writing. No matter what. Keep writing.”
