principal action and rising incident?

RylenolFlu said:

I am familiar with 3 act structure but am currently overwhelmed after graduating from college and have multiple ideas for films in the story phase. My question is this, is the principal action that changes the fortunes for the protagonist the inciting incident or the first turning point? From what I understand the inciting incident occurs at about page 10-12 of the script while the first turning point occurs at around page 25. I am just trying to understand how the inciting incident relates to the act I spin. Again, I am new to these boards so I am sorry if my questions are overly vague. Thank you.
Ryan

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The title of the thread is meant as a joke, right?

My understanding is the same:

Pg 10-12 =--> Inciting Incident (II)

Pg 25-30 =--> Plot Point 1 (PP1)


My understanding is that the relationship between the two is that II is what happens to the "world" in which main protag lives/exists/functions (and he might or might not even be around to IMMEDIATELY witness it happening there on Page 10/12). But PP1 is AFTER he starts to become privy to the world being rocked out of balance, and he is then confronted by ADDITIONAL events or circumstances (and these are ideally going to be culminating events or mounting stakes) that FORCE HIM to make a no-turning-back decision to act upon this whole situation of the world being tipped out of kilter.

Plot Device said:

The title of the thread is meant as a joke, right?

My understanding is the same:

Pg 10-12 =--> Inciting Incident (II)

Pg 25-30 =--> Plot Point 1 (PP1)


My understanding is that the relationship between the two is that II is what happens to the "world" in which main protag lives/exists/functions (and he might or might not even be around to IMMEDIATELY witness it happening there on Page 10/12). But PP1 is AFTER he starts to become privy to the world being rocked out of balance, and he is then confronted by ADDITIONAL events or circumstances (and these are ideally going to be culminating events or mounting stakes) that FORCE HIM to make a no-turning-back decision to act upon this whole situation of the world being tipped out of kilter.

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I would say that the "inciting incident" can easily happen at any point from page 1 on, depending on the story. The inciting incident is whatever it is that "puts the world out of joint" -- creates the problem that the progtagonist is ultimately going to have to address. The protagonist may not even be aware of what that problem is for awhile -- and in some cases, we come into a story in which the inciting incident has already happened and we literally stumble into the story, in effect, already underway.

But if it hasn't happened by Page 10-12, you're really pushing it.

The other point I'd like to make is that the use of the term "Plot Point" as you've used it here, is by no means a universal usage.

I don't know whether it's a McKee term or comes from some other popular Screenwriting book -- that whole "Plot Point 1, Plot Point 2, etc." thing -- but I and a lot of other people know and use that term in a much broader and more generic fashion.

That is that a plot point is simply anything -- any action or dialogue on screen that's been inserted specifically to advance the plot.

Like, for instance, if early in Act Two your heroine happens to mention to somebody that she was a jai alai champ in college. That would be a plot point (as I've always known and used the term) -- because we all know that somewhere further down the line she's going to be knocking some bad guy's head off with a jai alai ball.

NMS

NM Stevens, as usual, you know best.

Thanks for correcting me and clarifying to everyone that the inciting incident can happen at any point --even prior to Page 1. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly.

As for this usage of Plot Point 1, I believe it IS indeed a McKee-ism. I never called it Plot Point 1 until I came to this message board and began seeing other poeple here use it in this way. When I asked here on the boards about PP1, I was told it originated with Mckee. So then I referred back to my barely-skimmed copy of Mckee's "Story" and there it was: Plot Point 1.