The three acts structure

Hollywood film narrative tends to be organised in the 'Three Acts Structure'.

Writer Side Field has identified what he calls the ideal paradign three act structure which says:

• A film must be set up within the first 20 to 30 minutes before the protagonist experiences a 'plot point' that gives them a goal to be achieved.
• Approximately half the films running time must show the protagonist's struggle to achieve their goal
• Field also sometimes refers to a subtle midpoint which happens in act 2, where a confrontation has an apparently devestating reversal of the main character's fortune.
• The final quarter, or third act, shows the final struggle by the protagonist to finally achieve, or not achieve, their goal.