i'm drawing a line [Music] [Applause] men are mice what'll it be the midpoint an extremely important turning point in your story theorist christopher vogler says this is where the hero first flirts with embracing the thematic change this is true sid field says the midpoint scene is a moment of great emotion often a reversal of fortune also true i say it's the location of one of your biggest set pieces and i agree with myself but the most important function of the midpoint is this by the end of your midpoint sequence your characters will pass a crossroads they will be unable to revert back to their former selves their only choice is to move forward into danger embrace change and finish their adventure michael hogue calls this the point of no return in jaws after brody's son michael is attacked by the shark brodie has no choice left but to take matters into his own hands i'm gonna hire quint to kill the shark inform his clear goal for the rest of the story today we're talking about the all-important midpoint hi i'm jonathan stokes and this is raising the stakes essays about story let's get into it [Music] in the karate kid daniel spends the first half of the movie getting beaten up and running away finally at midpoint he's beaten so severely that he cannot continue to live this way so this happens name a place tournament now daniel moves from reactive to proactive he has a goal the all valley karate championship if they don't show up it'll be open season on both danielson and miyagi so daniel has no choice he must be in his training with miyagi and embracing the change he's been resisting in the bourne identity jason bourne is on the run for his life for all of act 2a it's not until an intense midpoint scene when he fights a man to the death that he realizes this cannot go on this will never end he must find treadstone and solve the mystery of his own identity [Music] these people know who i am yeah i gotta i gotta stay here i gotta figure this out so figure it out in die hard bruce willis is not trying to be an action hero for the first half of the movie he's hiding and trying to call the police it's not until the midpoint that bruce willis realizes the cavalry can't be counted on to save the day he's going to have to become proactive and take the fight into his own hands sid field in 1979 is the first guy to define this structure and first to define the midpoint i would go further and say that every act has a midpoint i find that the call to adventure is almost always the exact midpoint of act one call it page 12 and a half of a 100 page screenplay meanwhile the peak of the drama in the act 3 climax or resurrection when the hero appears to die is often the midpoint of act 3. writers note that you can tell where your story is too scrawny or too bloated by checking these signposts in your script you don't really have to do this if you're a novelist but if you're writing for a studio you probably should all story theorists in sid field define the midpoint as the 50 mark and the right but i'd like to propose a little top spin in my experience the midpoint tent pole scene with great emotional turmoil happens at the 50 mark but the moment the hero realizes they've reached the point of no return we're gonna hire quint to kill the shark it happens immediately after this scene around the 55 mark to see why it helps if we move from what's sometimes called a diacronic chart to a synchronic chart will smith's production company uses a baseball diamond while joseph campbell types often use a circle see how it can't be equally easy for the hero to return home i'll let michael douglas explain it from just after the midpoint of falling down past the point of no return pat do you know when that is that's the point in a journey where it's longer to go back to the beginning than it is to continue to the end gina davis in thelma louise is more succinct something's like crossed over in me i can't go back yup fast forward to halfway through every good movie and you'll find a high-stakes emotional set piece followed by this line in the sand moment i'm drawing a line that creates a new direction for the rest of the story in back to the future marty mcfly is just reacting and screwing up the past until a big midpoint set piece where his mom becomes so infatuated with him she asks him to the big dance marty must now form a plan to reunite his parents and fix history okay let's go over the plan again 8 55 where are you going to be in castaway tom hanks spends the first half of the movie reacting to his situation it's not until the midpoint that he finds the porta potty that will become his sale and allow him to form an escape plan in legally blonde elle has a fight with her boyfriend at midpoint and decides she's gonna study hard and get the big internship i'll show you how valuable rocky is going to start to prepare to fight creed the hero discovers they cannot go backward they must go forward so when you structure your stories think about this point of no return moment and now that you know this there is no turning back your only path is forward [Music] you