Wendall Thomas: STORY & STRUCTURE

Billy Wilder said if there's a problem in the third act, there's a problem in the first act. This session focuses exclusively on the all-important set-up of your story, character, genre and tone, drawing on both classic and modern film examples.

Discussed are the importance of the inciting incident and how it relates to the climax of the script; the importance of creating empathy with the protagonist; the economical set-up of your world and central conflicts, as well as the pivotal first act break, which starts the story in earnest; and resisting the impulse to force too much exposition, too many subplots and too many characters into the first 30 pages.