# Three-act structure > A common story shape: setup (Act One), confrontation (Act Two), and resolution (Act Three), with major turns at the act breaks that re-aim the protagonist's goal and cost. Also known as 3-act structure, three acts ## In practice Act One establishes world, want, and the inciting incident that makes the old life impossible. By the first act break, the protagonist should enter a new problem space with a clear pursuit. If Act One only tours tone without a decision that costs something, Act Two has nothing solid to complicate for the next hundred pages. Act Two is escalation and reversals, not a flat middle of tasks. The midpoint should redefine the goal or the cost so the second half is not a repeat of the first. B-stories and character arcs braid here; if they never pressure the A-plot want, they read as side quests the audience can skip without feeling the loss. Act Three forces a final confrontation and a changed world — victory, failure, or a costly mix. Three-act language is a map, not a prison: TV may split acts for commercials, and some forms use five acts. Use the model to test whether pressure rises; do not force empty "Act IIb" labels that do not change tactics on the page. ## Try it in a free tool - [Free screenplay pacing map](https://www.inkwell.software/tools/pacing-map): See how a draft is distributed across its own clock: action share, scene density, and cast arrival, tenth by tenth, against a published screenplay corpus. Private in your browser. ## Common questions ### Do all films use three acts? Many do in broad shape, but it is a diagnostic map, not a law. Some stories use four or five movements; the test is rising pressure, not matching a template brand. ### Where does the midpoint sit? Roughly around the middle of Act Two — a turn that redefines the goal, the stakes, or what the protagonist believes is true. ### Is TV the same as feature three-act structure? Episodes often use act breaks for format and commercials, plus a series engine. Still ask whether each movement re-aims want and cost. ### How does a beat sheet relate to three acts? A beat sheet names the turns inside the acts — inciting incident, midpoint, climax — so you can test the spine before drafting every scene. ## Related terms - [Act break](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/act-break): The turn that ends an act — a cliffhanger or reversal in TV, a major structural shift in features — that re-aims the story’s pressure. - [Inciting incident](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/inciting-incident): The event that breaks the protagonist’s ordinary world and forces the main story to start — early, concrete, and hard to ignore. - [Midpoint](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/midpoint): A major turn near the middle of the story that raises stakes, flips power, or reveals a truth — so the second half is not a repeat of the first. - [Beat sheet](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/beat-sheet): A short outline of a story’s key moments — the beats — used to plan structure before or during drafting without writing every scene yet. --- Canonical page: