Three Act Structure | You Are a Storyteller

People often mistake a good film for a bunch of good parts put together—costumes, set design, special effects, etc. Brian likes to call these pearls. It isn't the pearls that make the necklace, it's the string. What ties everything together? Is everything working together in concert? If one thing is standing out—sound, cinematography—it's not working. In actuality, a good story is a whole, made up of three distinct parts: the first act, the second act, and the third act. As Billy Wilder, further iterating the importance of the whole, once said, “If there is something wrong with the third act, it’s really in the first act.” On this week’s episode of You Are a Storyteller, Brian McDonald and Jesse Bryan break down three-act structure, helping us understand why structure matters and laying out the essential components of each act.