What is the inciting incident? The inciting incident, also known as the catalyst, is the moment the protagonist's world changes in a dramatic way. I love to think of it as the point of no return.   Another thing to remember is that the inciting incident should only be a page, no more than two. This is something so quick, thinking it of the first point of acceleration in your story. A quick burst of speed or power that gets your characters at an even plain of turmoil or action. This is quick.    The inciting incident is also the first part of the rest of the story arch, something that I'll go over in more detail in a future podcast.

1. What do your characters want?
2. What might prevent them from getting it?

So many people forget about the inciting incident or mistake it for the climax. It is important to create a compelling and incredible inciting incident within the first 5-10 pages of your script. This literally sets the stage for the whole story. If you inciting incident is not believable then what inspires your characters to go on the journey through the rest of the script.    Examples:

• Titanic - Old Rose seeing her drawing on the television. This is what inspires her to call and then tell her story. This is the beginning of the entire movie and we go on this journey because we want to know how her picture was found after so long! We are locked in at this point.
• Harry Potter - Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts but his Uncle refuses to give it to him. This peaks our interest as well. Harry's world turns completely upside down from the moment he sees the letter from Hogwarts and we are locked in to the ride with Harry and his friends.
• Avengers - The tesseract starts acting up. Up until this point we have been introduced to all the heroes but something big has to bring them all together and it started all with that bright blue box. 
• Lord of the Rings - Bilbo gives Frodo his ring and Frodo must take the ring away. They don't know what they have to do yet but it starts the whole journey that will bring them Mordor.
• Breaking Bad - Walter White gets cancer. I know this one was fairly easy but this inciting incident had to be so great to inspire five seasons and 62 episodes. This is a great one that drops away later by smaller inciting incidents but this is the beginning. 
• **Or one that is really popular right now…Game of Thrones. What was the inciting Incident? One could argue that it was Ned Stark getting beheaded but it actually started right in the beginning with the death of the previous King's Hand that made Ned go to King's Landing and then another inciting incident when Brand was pushed out of the window. These two incidents pushed multiple character storylines into action. It's hard with a show like that, they have so many storylines to follow that of course they would have more than one inciting incident. 

  Will your protagonist succeed? And the answer should not be clear at this point. If we all know the answer then your audience may not stick with you through the journey. Create high odds that will bring it to a great climax that will keep your audience guessing.    Think about it. When we are first entered into the story, it is in balance. We are shown the happy (or sad) medium that our characters have gotten used to.  From the previous examples: 

• Titanic - Brock Lovett is in the midst of searching for a diamond. He is happy in his knowledge of the Titanic, he has one goal. Old Rose is happy in her life until she sees the drawing and changes everything.
• Harry Potter - Harry has gotten into a routine with his horrible family but this is the life he has accepted until the letter comes flying into his home.
• Avengers - This one isn't the best example because we are thrown right into the fight. There is no balance. Which is how Avengers grabs us from the first minute.
• Lord of the Rings - does a great job of introducing us to the beautiful life of the Hobbits. This also serves to show what is in danger. There will be so much loss if Frodo fails. That was the perfect beginning. Because we knew who we were rooting for right from the start.
• Breaking Bad - I think we all felt for Walter from the very beginning. We went along with him to the two jobs he didn't like up until he finds out that he has cancer. Another punch to push the protagonist into action.
• Game of Thrones - Life at Winterfell. We meet all the siblings and get a taste of their life before the events happen that separate them all one by one.

What can we learn from this? Create a world of balance and throw it into chaos. Sometimes the greatest swing of the pendulum will result in the greatest story. So don't let the inciting incident slip through your fingers. This is all about the first 5-10 pages. Grab your audience by the short hairs and make them pay attention. Don't let them stop reading or watching.    This has been Page 5 of our podcast and rightly so! We've only scratched the surface of screenwriting. There is much more to come. And stay tuned as we get closer to announcing the winner of the April Monthly Writing Madness. I'm so excited. The winner will be getting $150, an interview on this podcast, and a profile on the website. Registration for the next Monthly Writing Madness is now open. It's all about writing those first 5 pages. Practice makes perfect. Let's see what you can do. You can enter at www.ink2screen.net.    If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe to it no matter where you are listening from. And you can also find us on Facebook under Ink 2 Screen.    Well, time to go. Hope to hear the furious scratch on the paper or the gentle tapping of a keyboard. Until next time.