One-Act Tips

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > STRUCTURE > LENGTH > ACTS > ONE-ACTS > TIPS

'I wrote all the time. Everywhere. When I wasn't writing, I was thinking about it or continuing to 'write' in my head. . . . I wasn't very good company. At that time, a major critic commented that I wrote 'disposable plays,' and in some sense he was probably right. But nothing mattered to me then except to get the stuff down on paper. . . . There was never a sense, in all this, of evolving a style or moving on to a bigger, longer, 'more important' form. Each play had a distinct life of its own and seemed totally self-contained within its one-act structure.'

-- Sam Shepard

Think of One-acts as great exercises, though the quirks of the form don't necessarily make these good training for the long-windedness required for writing what's at the heart of this business: The full-length play.

Some One-act tips . . .

• The shorter the play, the less emphasis you can have on:
  • Character Development

  • Subtext

  • The Consequences of Events

• There's a close connection to Screenwriting:
  • What-Happens-Next is often a driving force.

  • A strong Inciting Incident helps.

• The Climax comes as a punch.

• Subtlety is not always the virtue it is in full-lengths.