Act breaks

[Cyfress]

Act breaks are moments of rising tension, there is no curtain dropping in film, but there are transitions - smaller beg. and ends which lead to the grander BEG and ENDS.

Nick Kazaan once said something that turned a light bulb on in my head, he refers to Act Breaks as 'Act Outs'. And he stresses how he needs that scene, he needs to know how he's leaving each act.

Act Breaks are something the writer uses/references when he/she is envisioning the design of the story. But the finished product is seamless to the reader, no breaks.

And Rocky I def. has a structure which is identifiable, I haven't seen the movie in quite some time and so it's not fresh. But it's there, in fact it's talked about in a lot of screenwriting books.

[DUCPHO]

Act Breaks are used by the writer to envision the design of his story, which appears seamless to the reader!

Ditto that! Act Breaks should only be of concern to the writer and naturally will be needed to construct an initial working outline.

Scene transitions... on the other hand, will occur throughout the script and may coincide with where your first/second or third act begin or end, and scene transitions afford key, if only occasional, opportunities to add a bit of additional clarity and "vavoom", for a reader, depending on your skill with employment of craft techniques and terms.

There is no fixed rule but 30-60-30 is the average norm.

Set up and introduction of the Protag/inciting incident/introduction of Antag(usually but not always) by page 30 or there-a-bouts.

Page 30-90 sets up the goals of your protag and the conflict or obstacles your protag must overcome to obtain these goals.

Around page 90 your resolution needs to begin.

The need to delineate these structural act changes for the reader is non-existent!