A Quick Look At Developing the Most Important Element of Your 2nd Act

Today I want to focus on developing the strength of your unique moment. What does that mean, exactly, “unique moment”? And how is your unique moment connected to the 2nd Act as a whole? It's something I stress over and over; delivering your "recurring moment." Burn that term into your brain! "Recurring moment." I've used it before in previous breakdowns and I will reference it over and over again if you end up working with me 1-on-1 - whether you're writing for TV, film, a novel, or anything else. Here is a reminder of what I mean by the unique moment, or the "recurring moment”. It's essential to creating this "obstacle course" of a 2nd Act:

The Basic Definition: Situational Action That Is Created Out of the Main Character's Flaw

That above definition is basically just another way of defining your 2nd Act as a series of obstacles. But what I want you to understand is that by saying "obstacles," I don't ONLY mean a big boulder that has fallen in the middle of the road. It's not JUST a physical obstacle that blocks your main character's journey toward achieving a goal. It is what the boulder represents that defines the series of obstacles. It's a fine line, I know, but when you understand that every single person, event, situation, twist, turn, complication, etc, that gets in the way of your hero is an outward representation of the emotional battle that is going on inside your hero, your 2nd Act will quite quickly begin to take shape…and so will your recurring moment.

It's why I put so much emphasis on creating a character with an emotional problem or flaw, because the 2nd Act (the middle of your story or TV episode) is designed to draw out that flaw, present it on a silver platter, and force your hero to confront it whether they want to or not. So, again, how does this relate to a recurring moment or, as I defined above, the situational action that is created out of the main character's flaw?

Let’s get into it…

Your 2nd Act will be a series of obstacles.

It’s an obstacle course that not only keeps your hero from achieving the goal, but also pushes against and threatens their previous way of thought, feeling, and action. The main character needs to change, even though they don't realize the need. So, your recurring moment is the ongoing series of obstacles that are directly related to the hero's emotional problem, or “flaw”.

Example? I always reference Jim Carrey's "LIAR, LIAR" because it's so simple. Fletcher is a liar. He's selfish, self-centered and ambitious to the point of being a bad father. So what kind of series of moments and obstacles does he need to experience in order to no longer be that way? He needs to be completely and physically unable to lie for 24 hours. That's his 2nd Act Series of Obstacles - his recurring moment. He NEEDS to experience this series of obstacles otherwise he will always be a liar, self-centered, and a bad father, etc. The unique moment is then, what? Fletcher trying, over and over again, to lie! The audience is willing to see this guy try to lie in as many situations as possible because it's funny! It's difficult, it's a challenge for Fletcher, and we can tell that he so desperately wants to lie (especially because of the plot situation he’s in with his law firm), but he just can't. The recurring moment is in virtually every single scene during the 2nd Act, but when looking at the structure and breakdown of the 2nd Act more specifically…

The 2nd Act is technically split into two halves...

...the first half of the 2nd Act, and the latter half of the 2nd Act (Act 2a and Act 2b, if you wanted to name them). The split between the two hinges on the 6th sequence, the mid-point, the complication, the twist. After that sequence, everything shifts and changes, but the recurring moment is still there - the main character has simply made a decision to deal with it differently in the latter half of the 2nd Act. We're touching on Structure a little bit here and to just help prove a point about the Hook/Recurring Moment:

Through sequences 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and eventually 9 (the Low Point), which all make up the 2nd Act, we see the evolution and arc of not only the main character, but of the recurring moment because of the series of obstacles experienced on the journey. The series of obstacles IS your movie or show. The series of obstacles is the inherent entertainment, and from a pitching standpoint, THIS is what the executives need to be able to see and understand when first hearing or reading your pitch.

Getting back to the 2nd Act: The audience thinks they are watching the main character evolve (which, technically, they are of course), but really they’re watching the screenwriter evolve the recurring moment. If you can let that sink in, you'll understand how much simpler this process can be than what you were originally thinking it to be. All the 2nd Act is, in a nutshell, is the evolution of a moment; a moment that was introduced in the 1st Act as the coming 2nd Act situation and then delivers in big, setpiece-oriented ways in the middle of the story that audiences will enjoy watching over and over again.

I know that sounds incredibly technical, so I’ll make it simpler: the flaw of the main character encounters situations throughout the 2nd Act that test the flaw. The flaw (ie. the main character) is continually affected and therefore it gets broken down, little by little, until by the end of the 2nd Act it breaks.

Because I briefly mentioned pitching earlier, it’s good to look at your concept from that viewpoint of “recurring moment” because it helps you deliver a really quick reference to the basic idea of the story itself. I call them “Hook Statements”, and you’ll see they resemble something I talked about in a Substack post last week. Your hook is basically your recurring moment.

Here are examples of so-called "Hook Statements"

• Ghostbusters - Smart, know-it-all scientists chase the supernatural, from ghosts to unbelievable monsters, through New York, one location at a time.
• The Hangover - Close-to-over-the-hill adults search for their lost friend in Vegas, and must re-live the horrors of their previous night of binge-drinking in order to do so.
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off - A smart-ass, high school senior skips a day of school to show his risk-averse, nerd best friend a great time in Chicago.
• Finding Nemo - An over-protective and risk averse father ventures into the depths of the ocean with a forgetful, orphaned fish in order to recover his kidnapped son.
• Breaking Bad - A cancer-diagnosed science teacher teams up with a drug addict to make and sell meth in order to provide for his family, unwittingly creating the biggest drug ring in the Americas.
• Game of Thrones - Ego-maniacal and prideful leaders of seven different families fight, both politically and physically, for their kingdom's throne.
• Turn: Washington's Spies - George Washington, during the Revolutionary War, employs a secret network of common citizens to break the defenses of the English and win their independence, all through the perspective of a common citizen turned rebel.

What do these resemble? A logline! The purpose of a logline is to present the hook, ie. the recurring moment.

I could keep going, and it would be a good idea for you too as well! For any show that you're currently watching, or for any movie you have recently seen, try writing a one-sentence statement like the ones above. This becomes your pitch practice in a way, too. Even more importantly...

...write one for your project! If you can break your project down to one particular type of moment, you will have a MUCH easier time understanding how to progress your 2nd Act, AND how to pitch your project to someone. It's all about the recurring moment. The entire story and its entertainment value hinges on that moment because audiences want to experience something fun and unique over and over again! Where does that moment occur? In your 2nd Act.

As always, keep reading scripts. Keep writing something - every day. Immerse yourself in the process of story development. We all need to be nerds about this, otherwise we won’t be able to fully develop our own craft and abilities.