Introducing the Beat Plate (8 Mini-Movie Template)

The editable (and thus functional) Apple Keynote files used to illustrate this post can be downloaded for a small fee. See this link. Also see the Beat Plate blog post here.

During a recent story consultation I unwrapped the Story Diamond and laid it out vertically in an Apple Keynote file based on the eight-mini-movie scheme. In the image of the template at right, each mini-movie is 12.5% of the story. The straight forward layout provided an easy to manipulate document that allowed us to beat out the story over Zoom by sharing my screen.  (See Moral Premise's Writing Aids page.)

While the structural elements (colored boxes) are locked in place, the white boxes can be typed in with any style or color of text, and the boxes can be changed in size or moved easily. 

The template at right is laid out for four characters, where each of the character's main beats journey vertically from top to bottom. But this is probably not as practical as using the entire beat plate for one character's entire main plot. Thus  you'd have much larger boxes and probably only one column. (see image below)

One of the great aids this template suggests is to start each mini-movie with the character's goal for that 12.5% or 12.5 pages, and end each with a disaster where the mini- goal is NOT achieved, and which spurns the character on to the next chapter in the story.  Only the end of mini-movie 8 ends with success. This also provides the dynamic and REGULAR roller coaster effect you want for your audience (no dull or slow spots, if the disaster escalate and truly endanger your protagonist's achievement of the goal.)

The template (as displayed here) should also remind you that the story is about the protagonist (thus the most beats) and less about the other characters (with fewer beats.)