Field taught screenwriting for the Master of Professional Writing Program at University of Southern California until 2001. In the mid-1970s, Field began teaching screenwriting at the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College (now Sherwood Oaks College) in Hollywood. He also led screenwriting workshops across the world. Previous students include Judd Apatow, John Singleton, Anna Hamilton Phelan, and Alfonso Cuarón. The paradigm Field's most notable contribution is his paradigm "three-act structure". In this structure, a writer sets a film's plot within the first twenty to thirty minutes. Then the protagonist experiences a plot point, providing the protagonist with a goal. About half of a movie's running time focuses on the protagonist's struggle to achieve this goal. The second act is called the confrontation. Field also refers to the midpoint, a turning point around the middle of the screenplay (such as on or around page 60 of a 120-page screenplay). This turning point is often a devastating reversal of the protagonist's fortune. The third act depicts the protagonist's struggle to achieve (or not achieve) his or her goal, as well as the aftermath. Personal life He met his second wife, Aviva, while leading a workshop in Vienna in the early 1990s. He had one daughter from a previous marriage. His brother is a doctor. Field died on November 17, 2013, aged 77, at his home in Beverly Hills, California. Books Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (1979) The Screenwriter's Workbook (1984) Selling a Screenplay: The Screenwriter's Guide to Hollywood (1989) Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay (1994) The Screenwriter's Problem Solver: How To Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems (1998) Going to the Movies: A Personal Journey Through Four Decades of Modern Film (2001) The Definitive Guide to Screenwriting (2003) References External links Interview by Karel Segers 1935 births 2013 deaths People from Hollywood, Los Angeles Deaths from anemia Film theorists Screenwriting instructors University of Southern California faculty Writers of books about writing fiction UCLA Film School alumni Hollywood High School alumni