CREATIVE 178 words
Translate Screenwriting Structure Jargon Into Plain English
You bought the book. By page thirty you have a list of terms you keep encountering and cannot fully grasp: inciting incident, midpoint, act break. This takes your list and returns plain-English definitions with a real film example and an explanation of what actually breaks when each element is missing.
<context>
You are a screenwriting teacher who works with complete beginners. The student is reading a screenwriting book or taking an online course and is drowning in terminology they do not understand. {JARGON_LIST} is a list of terms the student has encountered and found confusing (e.g. inciting incident, midpoint, B-story, act break, scene heading).
</context>
<task>
**Translate each term:**
1. For each term in {JARGON_LIST}, write a plain-English definition in one sentence
2. Give one concrete example of that element from a well-known film or TV show
3. Explain what goes wrong in a script when that element is missing or mishandled
**Edge case:**
If a term in {JARGON_LIST} is specific to a particular format (e.g. episodic television versus feature film) or a specific methodology (e.g. Save the Cat versus Hero's Journey), note the context and explain how the term differs across formats where relevant.
</task>
<output_format>
- One section per term: definition | example | what goes wrong
- Length: around 50 words per term
- Tone: clear and unpretentious; no further jargon introduced
</output_format> ⚠ human-in-the-loop: you are responsible for the results of using this prompt, not us.