The Heart of Your Script: Mastering Your Middle Act

The title of the 2025 London Screenwriting session was actually “The Heart of Your Script: Mastering Your Middle Act”, but the “dark forest” metaphor was so useful and dominant during this talk by Ted Wilkes and Phillip Hughes that I thought it deserved a chance to shine in the recap. This duo has written multiple books on screenwriting and storytelling, including Character is Structure – The Insider’s Guide to Screenwriting. So if you are interested in learning more about the concepts in this post, make sure to check it out! (And if you want to see more amazing sessions in person or online for the 2026 festival, tickets are on sale now!)

In a nutshell, their underlying principles going into the talk are:

• Character is at the heart of all good stories – and character IS defined by choices.
• Our job as writers is to create a space that forces them to change (i.e. make different choices)
  
  

This “space” they are referring to here isn’t necessarily a literal location so much as a section of your narrative where the “Chosen One” is challenged. In a traditional monomyth, this would be the “underworld” but they argue we have become more sophisticated as writers and consumers of fiction, so we can have more complexity in the narratives we build. To be clear, when they use Chosen One in their book and as I am using it from here on out, this doesn’t refer to those narratives like Dune or Harry Potter where there literally is a prophecy. Instead, it means “the one that has been chosen by the writer.” Or perhaps most accurate of all would be to call them “The Choosing One” because choices (AKA taking action) is what defines a character.

Before We Set Foot Out the Door…

Wilkes and Hughes use the visual metaphor of a dark forest from Red Riding Hood to represent this space (or section of the screenplay) that challenges your Chosen One on a fundamental level. They are forced to act (or dissolve under pressure) – AKA they make choices that have consequences and lead to change. Their trek through the dark forest usually includes five fundamental elements:

The Path: achieving the want, a direction to move in, steps to follow, clues to hunt down, a way forward. This is what appears to be the direct route from beginning to end, but it’s when the Chosen One veers from the Path, is dragged from the Path, or the Path veers in an unexpected new direction that change and growth can occur. This is the most important element when it comes to discussion of the Chosen One below, but the other elements are also helpful extensions of the metaphor.

The Gate: a goal to achieve, a false end to the path, or something that blocks their way. The Chosen One can expect the Gate or be surprised when they reach it. There could also turn out to be more than one Gate.

The Key: a piece of information, a special object (MacGuffin), a character or characters. The Chosen One may know what they need to pass through the Gate or they may only discover it once they arrive and are turned away.

The Wolf: an antagonist and its surrogates, an unfeeling force working against them, a ticking clock. The Chosen One (and the audience) may know all along, but they may not recognize the Wolf until it is too late.

The Suit of Armor: skills and protection The Chosen One already possesses that gives them confidence to enter the dark forest, but ultimately isn’t what they need to succeed. This could be because the Path veers into a different type of terrain or the Suit of Armor was never the right one in the first place. Either way, new skills, experiences and perhaps allies are required to make it out of the forest alive.

To Grandmother’s House We Go…

Now that we are armed with our basket full of archetypal goodies and yummy metaphors, let’s see what happens when different types of Chosen One start on their journey. Wilkes and Hughes defined four types, plus a fifth that is basically an inversion of the others. They also discussed how all characters are answering the question “Who am I?” through their actions at all times. But different types of Chosen Ones and Paths also lead to more specific variations that can help guide you when you get stuck.

THE WILLING CHOSEN ONE

This is generally the most recognizably “heroic” type, and one you will know well. She runs toward the path and its dangers, especially if it means protecting people who can’t protect themselves. However, she could also be someone who runs toward the Path because she’s trying to outrun something else. Being willing does not necessarily mean that someone is noble.

They are constantly asking “How can I fix this?” because they identify themselves as fixers and doers. Their Suit of Armor could be things like past experience/knowledge, blind optimism, or the illusion of control through meticulous planning. Taking on everyone’s burdens can make them extremely isolated because they are unwilling or unable to rely on others. They may come off as stuck up or condescending. Even if everything ultimately does end in a showdown with The Wolf, their “leaving the Path” journey likely involves discovering they do not have all the answers and cannot do everything alone.

Example: Joy (Inside Out 1 & 2) throws herself into the task of managing and fixing everything alone, but needs all the emotions to bring comfort and stabilize Riley’s sense of self. Peter Quill (Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2) is happy to do crime and salvage to get away from the Ravager life, and only steps up and does noble acts for the weak and with his allies at the climax.

THE UNKNOWING CHOSEN ONE

This is someone who is off having a life and then something comes into their world and disrupts it. She is likely asked to do something that seems simple but turns out to be much more complicated and scarier than they knew. The one doing the asking may know or it may just be a situation that gets out of hand. The Gate and the Key that seem obvious are only the first – there is a second and much more difficult Gate that requires actual growth.

Their Suit of Armor will only get them to the midpoint, then she must work up the courage to go in her skivvies (let herself be vulnerable) and make progress without it. As things collapse around her in the Dark Forest, she’s focused on “How do I get out of this?” until the true Gate is revealed. Then she commits to the rest of the journey with fuller knowledge of the goals and stakes. If there is a Wolf, she will likely be revealed late and also have been in plain sight.

Example: Colt (The Fall Guy). He is following a Path to a Gate – but finds a corpse instead. His Path veers, and even though he’s in great shape and can do incredible things, the Suit of Armor (swagger and bravado) has got to go if he’s going to actually get the Key (Jody’s love) to the True Gate. The Wolf is the producer who put him on the Path in the first place and always knew there was greater danger.

UNABLE TO BELIEVE/DISBELIEVING CHOSEN ONE 

In an interesting twist, this type’s Gate is unlocked the whole time, but the Chosen One resists walking through. When this type of Chosen One falters on her Path (which remember, often leads to a want, not the deeper need anyway), she will insist there is nothing good or special about her at all. She will say there’s been a mistake, the quest needs someone better, faster, stronger than her. Her “main character energy” and optimism drains away, taking the Suit of Armor with it. This could look like abdicating the responsibility to others she deems more capable, making a ‘strategic’ retreat when the team could have pushed forward, or closing her eyes and hoping the bad things go away rather than regrouping at all.

My favorite tidbit about this type of Chosen One is the added element of a mentor/tormentor who is there to drag our wayward daughter back to the Path, no matter how scary. Unlike the monomythic mentor, this (tor)mentor does not just get The Chosen on going, they are there at this key moment to give the heroine the kick in the bum she needs.

Example: Barbie (Barbie). They showed us a great clip in the seminar where you see Barbie literally lie down in the grass and insist someone else take care of things. The (tor)mentor in this case is Gloria, the person who still believes in Barbie even if she can’t believe in herself. In this case, Barbie sheds her pursuit of a safe, plastic existence and chooses a human life where she can build meaning for herself rather than just be a symbol.

ACCIDENTAL CHOSEN ONE

These poor folks spend a lot of their journey on the wrong foot. They stumble around a lot, and we are off-kilter right there with them. The Path may appear clear like a road made of bright yellow bricks, but it wends its way through treacherous lands full of unknown foes and obstacles. The Path itself may be the Wolf because of its many dangers, or when the Chosen One reaches the Gate a Gatekeeper appears to assure her she’s not ready to pass through it yet.

It may appear this Chosen One has no armor at all, but her perseverance and inner strength eventually prevails. The Gate may not be clear, but the Key was always in reach. The challenge is breaking her down so she finally reaches for it. There may be no Wolf at all, or only lesser antagonists who make things interesting along the way.

EXAMPLE: Evelyn (Everything, Everywhere, All at Once). The Key is reconciling with her daughter, but it takes universe-ending stakes to push her over the edge into understanding and vulnerability. The Gatekeeper is her daughter’s other self, who turns Evelyn away whenever she tries to approach. Evelyn must shed her rigidity and go with the flow if she – and the universe – has any chance at survival.

THE MISTAKEN CHOSEN ONE

This last type of Chosen One is the final, and what Wilkes and Hughes referred to as an “inversion” of type rather than a discreet type of its own like the others. Hitchcock was especially a fan of this type of suspense narrative. If there really was a “mistake” as the disbeliever fears, your Chosen One probably isn’t making it out alive. This type is more prevalent in horror and the more “arthouse” dramas where it turns out everyone dies in the end or at minimum you’re meant to walk away feeling shaken. Because of the universe’s perverse sense of humor, she probably has no Suit of Armor and is blown around by the winds of fate.

This Chosen One may reach a point where “on The Path” and “off the Path” become too blurred to separate. They become subsumed by their want, and their need is never fulfilled.

EXAMPLE: Mia (Talk to Me). After a little hesitation, Mia gets going on her Path, but she’s so intoxicated by the journey that she can’t recognize (or isn’t willing to recognize) the threat that is actually looming.

There’s No Place Like Home
Which brings us to the end of our journey together for now. I only summarized a tiny bit of the scholarship Ted Wilkes and Phillip Hughes as contributed to the screenwriting world. So if you liked these ideas, don’t forget to check out their books.

Did you miss this session? No problem! There’s another one coming up on Feb 17 – Writing a Low-Budget Blockbuster with Fenella Greenfeld. Can’t make it in person? That’s okay! Sign up now and you’ll get a replay in your inbox.