In screenwriting, we hear a lot about three act structure. There are different breakdowns – some writers talk about sequences – some writers have more acts – some writers have specific moments they try to hit at certain points in the screenplay. All is lost. The call is refused. Cats are saved.
Use it if it’s useful to you. Don’t if it’s not. Though working out what’s useful and what’s not is easier said than done.
But there are other places to find structure (aka a framework) for your story.
And a lot of the time, the story’s subject will lend you a framework, if you listen to it.
POSE does this brilliantly. (There will be spoilers)
It’s about the balls in late 1980s/1990s New York, and the Black and Latino LGBTQ communities that spun them into being – at the same time that AIDS was ravaging those same communities, abetted by the indifference (at best) of powerful U.S. politicians (Jesse Helms, Ronald Reagan) who sat on their hands or even undermined public health efforts, because they considered the people dying to be disposable.
The balls – competitive and celebratory – are the show’s chorus.
They’re the familiar refrain that comes at predictable intervals. We hear Pray Tell cry ‘And the category is….’ – and know we’re about to see a show – usually something beautiful, sometimes something extraordinary.
As well as providing an anchor (and a contrast to the often bleak circumstances of the characters outside the ballroom) – the category choices and accompanying music offer an opportunity for comment on the action and characters (another function of a chorus).
To give one example, having just blown off an ACT UP protest attended by the rest of her community, Miss Elektra shows up in a spectacular Marie Antoinette costume complete with cake, carousel, and guillotine to contest the category ‘Bring it like a French Revolution’ – which she wins and loses all at once as Pray Tell calls her out on her non-attendance (Season 2 Episode 1 Acting Up).
Once the balls are established as the structural chorus / refrain of the show, they can also be used as a source of surprise. What if the chorus does not come as expected? Or arrives unexpectedly as in Season 2 Episode 4 ‘Never knew love like this before’ where it appears to heartbreaking effect at Candy Ferocity’s funeral
Seriously. If you haven’t watched POSE go watch it. And then go watch it again to try and unpick everything they did there. It is an extraordinary accomplishment.
WORDS AND THE SPACES BETWEEN THEM 