Picture this scenario, you’ve poured your heart and soul into your outline and come up with the perfect story structure for your movie or TV pilot. Excited to bring it to life, you fire up Arc Studio (or some worse screenwriting software) and start writing the script.

But… something is going wrong.

The magic of the story isn’t translating onto the page. Instead you're left with lifeless scene after lifeless scene. You seem to be hitting all your story beats, so what’s the problem?

You may have a problem with your scene structure.

What is scene structure? Why is it important?

Scene structure is the often overlooked but just as important younger sibling of story structure. The idea is simple, just as your story develops over the course of your entire script, it should also develop over the course of the scenes. Proper scene structure is crucial because scenes are the building blocks of your script. You can’t build a solid wall out of crumbling bricks, and you can’t build a solid script out of scenes that like structure.

In contrast, strong scene structure maintains a sense of momentum in your script that keeps readers hooked along the way.

So how do you do it?

Build the scene structure from the POV character

The way I like to think about scene structure is from the perspective of the main character in the scene. You can break it down into three parts:

1. The scene starts because the character wants something.
2. They face an obstacle to get it.
3. The scene ends because they succeed or fail, launching us to the next scene.
   

You might notice those three points match up neatly with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Let’s look at them one by one.

1. The scene starts because the character wants something

Having them want something is important because it means the scene is motivated. It’s happening for a reason. We’re not just randomly following people around in their life. The fact that they want something makes a promise to the reader that they should stick around to see how it turns out. It also pushes the character into action, because they’re going to have to actually do something to get the thing they want. Finally, it gives the scene stakes. If they have something they want, that means they have something to gain, but they also have something to lose. This makes the character care about the scene, which in turn makes the reader care about the scene.

The actual thing that the character wants can very widely. It doesn't have to be their primary goal for the script. Often it’s a smaller thing that will bring them closer to the big thing that they want. You can think of it as one step on the path. It could be information on a murder or a sandwich. It could be to stay awake behind the wheel or to sneak out to a party. It could be to make their loved one happy or to hurt someone. It could be to avoid pain or to seek pleasure. The possibilities are endless.

2. They face an obstacle to get it

The problem is, there is some obstacle keeping them from getting it. If they want information on a murder, the witness is reluctant to talk. If they want a sandwich, they’re out of bread or the deli has a long line. If they want to make their loved one happy, their flaws get in the way. Dealing with obstacles is where drama comes from. Generally you don’t want it to be too easy to overcome. If it’s simple then what was the point?

How they deal with the obstacle gives us a greater insight into who your character is and what makes them unique. Are they brilliant or sloppy? Are they patient or impulsive? Are they full of resolve or easily discouraged? Are they wild cards, or do they play by the rules? We see both their strengths and their flaws by how they react to the obstacles.

3. The scene ends because they succeed or fail

After they confront the obstacle (or don’t confront it because they’re a slacker), they either succeed in overcoming it and get what they want, or they fail. Either can happen depending on your story, but they should both help push your story forward. If they succeed, it leads them to the next thing. (Maybe they got what they wanted, but there is a catch.) If they fail, they have to deal with the complications that creates.

The ending launches us into the next scene

The easiest way to launch into the next scene is for the preceding scene to end in such a way where there is a question the reader wants answered or an uncertainty they want settled.

For the clearest example of this, think about what happens at the end of the scene in a TV show right before a commercial break, also known as an act break. The audience is usually left in a place of suspense. The character is hanging off the edge of a cliff. Their grip is slipping… And now the commercials! We’ve just experienced a literal “cliffhanger.” The point of this back in the pre-streaming era was to get the audience to stick around during the commercials so they find out how the situation was resolved when the show resumes. Did they drop to their doom???

Of course not every scene should end in a cliffhanger; it’s just the most obvious of the options. But the principle holds for your other scenes. The audience needs to keep watching (or the reader needs to keep reading) because they want to know what happens next.

Maybe there is some mystery or twist at the end of the scene. Maybe a character did something that is going to provoke a reaction when  another character finds out. Whatever it is, the reader has no choice but to keep reading your script.

David Mamet’s Three questions for every scene

Finally, I’ll leave you with David Mamet’s three questions for every scene. I recommend you writing these on a Post-it note and sticking it next to your computer.

1. Who wants what?
2. What happens if they don’t get it?
3. Why now?
   

If you have strong answers for those three questions, you’ll be well on your way to great scenes.

A brief caveat on sequences

Sometimes what I’m describing might technically happen across a few scenes, AKA “a sequence.” That’s fine. The point is to be building the big story arc of your script out of many small story arcs along the way.