John Yorke Five-Act Structure: Crafting a Compelling Narrative

John Yorke is one of the prominent figures who advocates and teaches how to use the five-act structure, especially for screenwriting. New writers usually find this story structure the simplest way to learn and understand the basics of shaping stories. In this post, I’ll discuss in greater detail this five-act dramatic structure and include relevant examples, so you can apply it to your own story.

About John Yorke

John Yorke is a well-known author, narrative expert, television producer, and screenwriter. In 2005, he formed the BBC Studios Writers’ Academy that gives a year’s paid training to UK-based television drama screenwriters. This academy has produced many successful writers, who have been recognized by different film and television organizations, including BAFTA and RTS.

In John Yorke’s book Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story, he deep dives on the five-act structure to help writers understand how stories work and why they connect with people. Yorke explains that every successful story follows a basic structure, regardless if it’s a love story or a horror story.

Once you understand that most stories share a similar structure, it’s easier for you to tell any kind of story and get your point across effectively. However, while this is true, different plot structures, such as the five-act structure and the more common three-act structure, provide different ways of looking at how a story is built.

Before we discuss the five-act plot structure in greater detail, let’s first talk about why it’s better than the three-act structure.

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Three-Act Structure vs. Five-Act Structure: Key Differences

Whether a story has three parts or five parts, they usually follow the same basic steps:

• The audience learns about the protagonist’s world and initial circumstances.
• Tension increases.
• The main conflict reaches its most intense point.
• Then, the resolution.

But as you might’ve already guessed, the five-act structure and the three-act structure aren’t entirely the same. The most glaring difference is their number of acts, with the five-act plot structure putting emphasis on the third act or the climax, which directly influences the rest of the story.

The three-act story structure has this middle section. But it doesn’t carry the same level of impact or weight as the climax in a five-act structure. This is partly because it’s more condensed, so there’s less room to completely develop the tension needed to make the climax leave a strong impression on the audience.

Not all stories follow this structure.

That said, the three-act plot structure commonly works better in films and short stories because it provides a straightforward and quick way to tell an effective story within a short span of time.

The five-act plot structure is often used in plays, TV series, and longer books or films. This is because they typically need you to dig deeper into your story’s theme and fully develop your characters.

As you can see, the length and nature of a story usually influence a writer’s choice of plot structure. By understanding the basic similarities and differences of these plot structures, it’s easier for writers to explore more specific methods, such as Yorke’s five-act structure.

John Yorke’s Five-Act Structure, Explained

Now that you already know how the five-act plot structure can make your writing process easier, let’s discuss each of its five acts. And to ensure you understand how each act works, we’ll use the film “Erin Brockovich” as an example.

Act I: Inciting Incident

The first act has two phases:

Exposition: This part introduces the audience to the main character’s familiar world, their present situation, and their desires or needs. This story structure differentiates itself from the typical beginnings by requiring a more thorough introduction. This doesn’t just establish the characters, but it also lays the foundation for the core ideas and the overall emotional feel of the story.

Inciting Incident: This moment forces the main character out of their comfort zone and into a new, unfamiliar situation. This usually comes from outside sources, such as a mysterious letter, losing a job, and discovering a secret.

Erin Brockovich

Act II: Rising Action

The “Rising Action” act of John Yorke’s five-act story structure follows up on the inciting incident of the first act. In this second act, the hero faces a series of difficult situations that typically push them to their limits, making the story more gripping and interesting.

As the hero experiences more difficult challenges, such as losing a key evidence, betrayal of an ally, or making a difficult choice, tension and momentum builds up to move the story forward. Every scene serves a purpose—to bring the hero closer to their desired outcome.

Erin Brockovich

After uncovering the medical records, Erin asks Ed Masry to allow her to investigate the case further. She starts looking into how they affect the town’s health by interviewing the Hinkley residents and searching for evidence of PG&E’s water contamination.

She needs to collect more evidence and build her case to file a class-action lawsuit. As she uncovers more information and the number of affected residents increases, Erin has to deal with the push back from the local government and PG&E.

Act III: Climax

In a plot outline with five acts, the climax serves as the turning point that sends the hero into a completely new direction in the established story world. This is the moment that everything that happened during the protagonist’s journey—their decisions, actions, and the outcome of those choices—all comes together.

But the climax isn’t just the most exciting and nerve-racking part of a story. Here, the protagonist’s internal struggles, such as doubts and fears, have finally reached a critical point. It also causes a significant change in the character because of the valuable lessons they learned from losing or winning.

Erin Brockovich

The most intense or significant part of the movie “Erin Brockovich” is the arbitration hearing. It’s where PG&E faces the most intense pressure to admit what they did wrong. Also, all of Ed and Erin’s hard work and the Hinkley residents’ testimonies finally pay off. This high-stakes confrontation will decide the success or failure of the pair, which will ultimately affect the lives of the Hinkley residents.

Act IV: Falling Action

The fourth act, also called the Falling Action, is essentially the climax’s aftermath. This moment helps define the final story shape as it heads toward its ending.

At this stage, the story might have some insignificant loose ends and minor unresolved issues. But there are fewer major conflicts.

The feeling of anticipation, pressure, or unease is significantly lower compared to the climax, although this doesn’t mean the tension completely disappears. There’s no final moment of tension during the Falling Action because there might still be remaining issues, questions, and a smaller, future conflict that can still come out as the story goes on.

Knowing they might face new conflicts or a final battle, the protagonist develops new strategies to overcome them and achieve their goals. They might also try to adjust to their new world and often reflect on their journey and how they’ve changed because of it.

Erin Brockovich

The falling action in the film focuses on two crucial outcomes:

Act V: Resolution

In this final act, the audience gets closure to the story. The protagonist overcomes the challenges and aftermath of the original problem, allowing them to move on with their lives. Depending on your story, this last act often introduces a final, crucial challenge to the protagonist, which determines whether the audience gets a happy or tragic ending.

Erin Brockovich

Winning the case and getting a settlement bring a feeling of justice to the Hinkley residents. But despite this major milestone in the life of Erin and the victims, the movie’s ending hints at the possibility of future problems regarding the fair and transparent distribution of the settlement money to all those who were affected by the contaminated groundwater.

Try the John Yorke Five Act Story Structure

Choosing the right plot structure can help you create a great story, regardless of whether it’s comedy, drama, or any other genre. John Yorke’s five-act plot structure is just one way for new writers to structure stories and character arcs, as well as learn the foundations of storytelling.

So, give this plot structure a try the next time you want to learn the basics of storytelling or want to experiment with your writing.