The Page 55 Energy Shift
Higher stakes aren't a midpoint. What actually needs to flip at midpoint...
The first half of your script feels like one story. Then page 55 hits, and everything changes.
The tone shifts. The energy inverts. What felt like one kind of movie becomes something else.
That’s the midpoint working.
Something needs to INVERT at page 55.
What was passive becomes active. Your protagonist stops reacting and starts driving action. They were running FROM the problem. Now they’re running TOWARD it.
Or the stakes flip. What they wanted becomes what they fear. What they trusted becomes the threat.
Or the strategy changes completely. The approach that worked in Act 1 and the first half of Act 2 stops working. They need a different method. Opposite tactics. New direction.
Ask yourself: Does anything invert at page 55?
Their approach? Their strategy? The stakes? The goal itself?
If your protagonist keeps doing the same thing with higher stakes, you have their old way of being continuing. There’s not even a glimpse of change.
Find the inversion. Something has to change direction, not just intensity. And not just in the action, but the action must force the change in the character to start to crystallize.
More on this coming in a future Wednesday Writer’s Room post. Stay Tuned & Subscribe for more!
As a new writer, this is very helpful! I have a story that is continually morphing in my head. This helps to clear some of the clutter!