What Mr. Wilder means”…the third act must build, build, build…”,
is to make the tension of what your main character is
doing to achieve her/his goal go up, up, up, like using
a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine. The more you
twist, the tighter the tension in the cork becomes, until something
gives, the cork breaks, or whoever is screwing in the
corkscrew, decides it is time to pull out the cork with
the corkscrew.
In other words, make it more and more difficult for
your main character to achieve her/his goal until
she/he comes to a point where he/she must either
give up her/his goal, or, he/she “goes over the top”,
experiences an epiphany, and accomplishes the
goal. Each obstacle (difficulty) must be more
challenging than the last. It’s like putting your
main character on a tree branch. Her/his
opposition throws rocks at her/him until the
branch breaks. Then, he/she falls in a raging
river. Then, in the river, he/she fights to keep
from drowning until he/she comes to a roaring
waterfall. The question is, will she/he, survive
the waterfall, or not?
When you have your main character at the “waterfall”
of your story, then you have your main character
decide at that point, what she/he has to do to
survive tumbling over the waterfall. To conquer
this, the main character must overcome her/his
greatest fear of accomplishing his/her goal
throughout the story. If he/she does, then he/she
experiences an epiphany. He/she faces her/his
fear and overcomes it. Perhaps, instead of tumbling
over the waterfall, getting battered to death by
rocks, and drowning, which has been your main
character’s primary fear that has been keeping
her/him from accomplishing his/her goal in the
story, that of the fear of drowning, your main
character swims back upstream and saves
herself/himself.
This is the last event in the third act. From
this point forward, wrap up all loose ends
from your story, send your main character
to the Olympics as a champion swimmer,
and end your screenplay.
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
The Zen of Writing and Filmmaking
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
About Donald L. Vasicek
Award-winning writer/filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek studied producing, directing and line producing at the Hollywood Film Institute under the acclaimed Dov Simens and at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute. He studied screenwriting at The Complete Screenplay, Inc., with Sally Merlin, daughter of the famed Hollywood Merlin family of screenwriters and writers, as his mentor.
Don has taught, mentored, and is a script consultant for over 300 writers, directors, producers, actors and production companies.
He has also acted in NBC’s “Mystery of Flight 1501”, ABC’s Father Dowling starring Thomas Bosley, and Red-Handed Productions’ “Summer Reunion.” These activities have resulted in his involvement in over 100 movies during the past 23 years, from major studios to independent films including MGM’s $56 million “Warriors of Virtue”, Paramount Classic’s “Racing Lucifer”, American Picture’s “The Lost Heart” and “Born To Kill” starring the Charles Bronson of Korea, Bobby Kim, and his internationally-known brother, Richard, who directed, Incline Productions, Inc.’s “Born To Win”, 20th Century Fox’s “Die Hard II” starring Bruce Willis with Rennie Harlan as director, and Joel Silver as producer, Olympus Films+, LLC’s “Haunted World” with Emmy-nominated PBS Producer Alison Hill, and Olympus Films+, LLC’s “Faces”, “Oh, The Places You Can Go” and the award-winning “The Sand Creek Massacre” documentary film.
Don also has written and published over 500 books, short stories and articles. His books include “How To Write, Sell, And Get Your Screenplays Produced” and “The Write Focus.” He has been a guest screenwriting and filmmaking columnist for Hollywood Lit. Sales, Moondance International Film Festival’s e-zine, Screenwriter’s Forum, Screenplace, Screenplayers.Net, Screenwriters.Net, Screenwriters Utopia, Spraka & Kinsla (Swedish), Inkwell Watch, and Ink On the Brain. Writing recognition includes Houston’s WorldFest International Film Festival, Chesterfield’s Writer’s Film Project, Writer’s Digest, The Sundance Institute, The Writer’s Network, and the Rocky Mountain Writer’s Guild, Inc.
Don completed producing “The Sand Creek Massacre”, a documentary film project that includes the completed and award-winning documentary short, a book, a classroom video, Interactive Media, a study guide, and a lesson plans. The film is being distributed by Films Media Group.
Don is on the board of directors of the American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston. He is the founder and owner of Olympus Films+, LLC, a global writing and filmmaking company and a screenwriting volunteer on AllExperts.com.
Don’s screenwriting agent is Robin Kaver of the Robert Freedman Dramatic Agency, Inc., 1501 Broadway, Suite 2301
New York, NY 10036, 212-840-5751.
