Screenwriting : First Plot Point by Anthony Murphy

Good question, Anthony Murphy. I don't think both would have to be present, so long the other protag has his/her own moment locking them into the journey. I think something can affect two ppl enough to push them into an irreversible situation without both parties being there, but it helps the audience to connect more if we can see some emotion along with it. Even something as small as their reaction to finding out about the inciting incident.

But I say this, not having tried it myself. I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks.

Unless they are conjoined twins, the audience will probably see many scenes in which only one protagonist appears. However, I think your question is: how soon does the no. 2 protagonist have to be introduced? I looked it up and Jerico writers defines plot point as: A plot point is a moment in your story that impacts the character or the direction of the story in some way. It's a major turning point. It's a door that once your character has walked through, there is no going back. (I call it a precipitating event, or the tipping point, or motivating event, turning on the ignition, preheating the oven .... no, wait, that's the cooking show ... ) Anyway, my answer is ... it depends on where act one begins. For example, two strangers are having a meal at a restaurant when the chef is shot by Mr. Meanie. A shared experience, even between strangers, is a way to bring them together. We find out the guy is Superman and the gal is Wonderwoman. If the event is an auto accident, wherein Superman is taken to the hospital, loses a leg, talks to a priest, a therapist, starts drinking and goes to A.A. and meets Wonderwoman when she stands at the podium and says, "Hi. I'm Wonderwoman and I'm an alcoholic..." well, then that's where they meet. If this is a series, it doesn't matter if we know Superman's backstory before Wonder's, because we have seasons to get to know WHY she's there. If it's a movie, she better give a speech at that meeting and have a flashback of the plane crash when she became blind. If Superman and Bond are the protagonists (buddy movie) then Bond better be the doctor, the priest or the therapist. 'Cause they're buddies, and you know how guys are .... :)

The short answer is "No".

Ty Strange For instance, I've never seen the movie "Taken" starring Liam Neeson, but I think I know the inciting incident and 1st plot point(1st plot point occurs at the end of Act 1 and spins the story into Act2), which are his daughter asking to go with her friend to France and then the daughter being kidnapped. Liam's character is in the USA, but I believe I saw a scene where Liam's character is on the phone during the kidnapping to satisfy his presence during the first plot point; but, could the kidnapping(plot point 1)happen without even his phone presence, or would the first plot point be when he is later informed of the kidnapping?

No, because if I remember right CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON took until about a half-hour in before introducing its third major character Jen Yu.

I don't have advice on writing two protagonists, Anthony Murphy, but I wanted to talk about the inciting incident in "Taken." The inciting incident (also called the first plot point) is when his daughter gets kidnapped because it sets the story in motion/hooks the audience into the story. His daughter asking to go with her friend to France puts them in the place where they'll be kidnapped, but without the kidnapping, the story would be they went to France, had a fun time, then came home. The story (the dad tracks down the two girls and relies on his old skills to save them) doesn't get set in motion until they're kidnapped. The second plot point (sometimes called Break into Act Two) is when he starts tracking down the girls.

If I was on a mission and someone joined me. Me would then become we. Which may be okay.

Each person can be introduced separately. like in Lethal Weapon.

They don't have to John.

Ty Strange I didn't mean to suggest that "Taken" was a 2 ptrotag movie. I used it as an example ecause the protag is not physically present when the the first plot point occurs.

Maurice Vaughan I was using STC and The Story Solution as structural models, so you have an inciting incident that is followed by the first plot point, which occurs at the end of act 1 and spins into act 2. Next there is the midpoint, and then at the end of act2 there is plot point 2, which spins you into act 3, like the 1st plot point spun you into act 2.

Alicia Vaughan Thank you.

Craig D Griffiths Thank you.

Lisa Lee My protag is in a situation similar to what you describe. He drops his love interest off at her home, where she is raped by her father, who has molested her since she was a small child. I want to use the father slipping into his daughter's bed as the first plot point, even though my protag is of course not present.

Timothy Liebe Thank you.

Jenean McBrearty I explain my protag's situation to Lisa above. Thank you.

Michael Elliott Mike, thank you, Your advice is always appreciated.

Dan Guardino Thank you, Dan.

Oh ok, @John Murphy. I know about STC, but I don't know The Story Solution structural model.

Here are articles on writing two protagonists:

www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-write-dual-protagonists/

https://thescriptlab.com/blogs/16373-how-to-write-a-story-with-more-than...

https://industrialscripts.com/dual-protagonists/

https://nofilmschool.com/how-to-write-dual-protagonists-two-hander

More recently, I saw a film entitled, "How to Blow up a Pipeline". This is an ensemble cast, each one being introduced one at a time, and each was driven to conclude that the only answer was to act. Very well written. Of course there is Thelma & Louise, essentially a buddy movie. Have a look at how they introduce each character.

Maurice Vaughan Thank you.

Dan MaxXx Greg Wong Thank you.

You're welcome, @John Murphy.

Dan Guardino Thank you, Dan. I'm doing what you suggest, letting the story ultimately dictate structure. I think STC and Eric Edson's The Story Solution and other guru books are helpful, but like I've said before, it's not a chicken or egg matter, for Field or Edson or any of the screenplay gurus are just structurally "outlining" the work of successful writers, for three act story telling existed long before screenplay gurus. I wrote the screenplay I'm trying to sell now without looking at any of the guru books until I was done with my screenplay, and was a little surprised on how my story hit on the exact page of every plot point, including inciting incident and mid-point, but even more so, how it hit these points in the exact way that particularly Edson espouses. For example, Edson teaches that the first plot point should occur as one quick act, as in getting punched in the jaw, but not as a sequence of scenes, and my first plot point is my protagonist getting his eyeball knocked from his socket; on the other hand, the midpoint, or the door of no return, should occur over a sequence of scenes, which happens in my story with my hero being betrayed by his boxing manager, surviving the fight, confronting the manager and firing him, before going to the press about the fix and walking through a door of no return. Dan, if you were to compare my screenplay to Eric Edson's paradigm, you would swear that I followed his prototype, but I didn't even order his book until after writing the script. I just wrote my story with a basic understanding of 3 act structure.

I would say no. It all depends on how you structure your story Anthony Murphy

Nick Waters Thank you, Nick.