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Topic : Re: The Protagonist and the 'Mid Point' of a Screenplay I'm currently working through the preparation process before I start to write my first feature length screenplay, helped in no small part by - selfpublishingguru.com

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The midpoint is all about the main character! And it could be argued that it is the most important plot point in your story, at least for some aspects.

K. M. Weiland calls the midpoint a second inciting event. It divides the story in two and pushes the main character from being reactive to proactive, from being on the defense to being on the offense. It usually provides information that finally gives your character a much more complete idea of what the conflict is and who the antagonist is.

James Scott Bell, in his "Write Your Novel From the Middle" describes the midpoint as a mirror moment where the protagonist sees themselves as if in a mirror. They see their situation for what it is and has an epiphany about the truth of the conflict.

Stanley D. Williams, in "The Moral Premise" describes the midpoint as a moment of grace where the main character decides to follow either the truth/the moral path (for a story with a positive ending) or the lie/the immoral path (for a story with a negative ending).

The fun thing about these three examples is that even though the main character knows what the conflict is and who the antagonist is, and have had an epiphany about the truth of the conflict, even how to fix things, and have decided to follow the truth (or not) the story is just halfway done and far from over.

We know this from our own lives (from new years eve and on) having it all in our head, promises and plans made, is not the same as having solved the problem. And that's where the story can make some great connections with the audience showing the character fighting some real battles involving doubt, fear, and recurring failure.

The fact that we know, the main character know, and still they struggle is what makes this connection possible.

The fact that the character, in Scott Bell's vocabulary, is fighting death (physical, mental and/or professional) is what makes this struggle worth following through each and every heart-wrenching twist and turn.

Having said all that, I'd argue that what you are describing is not a mid-point.

Unless it's a mid-point in a subplot or another dramatic event in the middle of your script? Other than the mid-point?

Looking over the above examples of what a mid-point should contain, you might (correctly) draw the conclusion that it's hard, even impossible, to get all that into a single scene.

Some scripts will let you do that. Some won't.

I don't think it's a problem if you have more than one scene located as close as possible to the middle of the script to perform all these tasks.

And then make your reveal just one more of those scenes.


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