Dear List An interesting issue in non-linear forms (which often tend to be multiple or parallel narratives, jumping in and out of time frames etc) is the matter of truncation. Very often there are so many stories to handle that the stories are truncated at Turning Points in what would be their three act structure - with some very interesting effects A very clear and witty example is in Crimes and Misdemeanors - where Woody Allen deliberately takes the three act structure for a traditional Hollywood love story (Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back) and a Hollywood Crime and Punishment-style thriller (Villain Commits Crime, Villain is hunted and feels pangs of guilt, Villain is caught and Punished) and turns them into Boy gets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, End of Film (!) and Villain Commits Crime, Villain is hunted and feels pangs of guilt - and Villain lives happily ever after(!) The clear and stated moral being that life isn't like a Hollywood movie. Another interesting example is The Sweet Hereafter, which has eleven stories in nine different time frames. This stops a lot of the stories at what would normally be their first act turning point - to make them end on a question, which, in a three act model, would really be the 'start' of the story ( most clearly, the central story of the surviving girl who rejects the chance to get revenge). In the flashforward story of the lawyer in Sweet Hereafter, the story ends at what, in the traditional Western model would be its Second Act TP - closest point to despair before rallying for final battle - where the lawyer, of his daughter, says that his love has 'turned to piss'. There is no third act battle towards love and reconciliation. City of Hope uses truncation into one act and two act stories, too. The new palette of effects truncation provides is fascinating. Linda Aronson ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite