CHAPTER 22

Using The Z-Pattern

Let's get real.

When you ask a producer, "How long should I make the screenplay?" he'll tell you, "As long as you need to tell the whole story," while actually meaning, "As long as you need to tell the precisely-measured-one-hundred-and-twenty-page-long whole story."

"The whole story" means a specific number of Events that tell the story from beginning to end.  It implies a strict number of Scenes that unfold the Plot in as close to two hours as possible.  The "magic number" of Events for such a calculated script is Forty-Eight.  Our story should have about Forty-Eight events from which we'll create the same number of Scenes that tell a complete and fulfilling story.  Within the Three-Act Structure, we'd have twelve Events in the First Act, twenty-four in the Second Act and twelve Events in the Third Act.  Roughly three per Sequence in a sixteen Sequence structure.