Freytag's Pyramid Screenplay
A balanced and approachable screenplay structure.
Overview
Most stories are designed to introduce a series of complications, all leading up to a final climactic moment towards the end. However, not every story is meant to aggressively serve the outcomes of the third act. Some are distributed more evenly, with the climax landing somewhere in the middle, leading into a second that half focuses on the aftermath of the Midpoint. This template will help keep an even distribution of both rising and falling action scenes throughout the structure. It’s commonly used for novels, short stories and short films.
Structure
Exposition
Sets up the story world and main character.
Inciting Incident
Something happens to the main character that presents a problem.
Rising Action
The story builds and more complications are put in the path of the main character.
Climax
Every choice the main character has made leads them to a do or die moment, where they must dig deep, and access what they have learned in order to triumph.
Falling Action
The triumph over or failure to defeat the antagonist has changed the inner world and perhaps outer world main character.
Resolution
Having now been changed by their recent journey, the main character ties up loose ends in ways they were previously unable.
Denouement
The ending of the story that should leave readers with a sense of what comes next for the main character