What is the midpoint of your screenplay?

A good midpoint changes everything for your main character for life and drives the second half of the screenplay.  If your main character has super powers, he should lose them permanently at the midpoint.  If your character is a lawyer, he should be disbarred at midpoint.  If your character is a man, he should be a woman by midpoint.  There should be no turning back, no undoing of the midpoint.

“Godfathers” One and Two each have the perfect midpoints.  In One, Michael Corleone loses his status as the one respectable member of his family and cements his future role of Godfather by killing two men in cold blood at midpoint.  In Two, Michael finds out that his own brother set him up to be killed and loses all ability to love anyone ever again at the midpoint. You broke my heart, Fredo,  But you gave a great midpoint.

Start in the middle and work backward and forward all at once.  Let you midpoint make the difference. In “About a Boy,” the main character attends a Christmas dinner and loses all ability to be an island.  At midpoint.  Next thing he knows he’s working on a permanent relationship, something he never allowed himself to want.

Let your midpoint change everything.  Your third act will thank you.