A Great Method For Plotting Your Screenplay

I’ve been working on a feature-length version of my short film Big and Tall, and I’ve been using The Storyclock Notebook as a tool to help me through the writing process.

If you’ve never heard of, or used, The Storyclock Notebook, it’s a great resource to help you visualize the entire plot of your film from start to finish, ensuring that important beats hit at just the right moment, and that moments you set up in the first act pay off by the third act.

To do so, write those story beats at the corresponding running time of the film, using the clock diagram as a guide (see above). For example, if you’re writing a 90-minute feature…

• the 3 o’clock position will be roughly 22 minutes into your film,

• the 6 o’clock position approximately 44 minutes in,

• the 9 o’clock position about 66 minutes in, and

• finally the 12 o’clock position will land around the 90 minute mark.

With those time markers in mind, you can start to fill in all the important moments of your film and when they need to hit.

• The inciting incident needs to occur right in the middle between 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock. This is the start of act two.

• The midpoint of your film needs to happen around 6 o’clock. This is the moment in your story when the hero recommits to the goal, going all-in.

• The fall should happen right around the 9 o’clock position. This is when it seems your hero has been defeated and all is lost. This is the beginning of act three.

There’s also space in the notebook to jot down your thoughts about your script: general ideas, themes, and character insights.

And for general research, there’s also space for you to plot out story beats from other films. This gives you a chance to watch and learn from other screenwriters about how they construct their scripts. I touched on this method of a story grid in an earlier post.

What tools help you the most when screenwriting? Leave your recommendations in the Comments.