Editing Screenwriting (section)

===Three-act structure===
{{Main|Three-act structure}}
According to this approach, the three acts are: the setup (of the setting, characters, and mood), the confrontation (with obstacles), and the resolution (culminating in a climax and a dénouement). In a two-hour film, the first and third acts each last about thirty minutes, with the middle act lasting about an hour, but nowadays many films begin at the confrontation point and segue immediately to the setup or begin at the resolution and return to the setup.

In ''[[Writing Drama]]'', French writer and director [[Yves Lavandier]] shows a slightly different approach.<ref>[http://www.clown-enfant.com/leclown/eng/drama/livre.htm#1STRUC Excerpt on the three-act structure] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118203139/http://www.clown-enfant.com/leclown/eng/drama/livre.htm#1STRUC |date=2014-01-18 }} from Yves Lavandier's ''Writing Drama''</ref> As do most theorists, he maintains that every human action, whether fictitious or real, contains three logical parts: before the action, during the action, and after the action. But since the climax is part of the action, Lavandier maintains that the second act must include the climax, which makes for a much shorter third act than is found in most screenwriting theories.

Besides the three-act structure, it is also common to use a four- or five-act structure in a screenplay, and some screenplays may include as many as twenty separate acts.