Well? Shakespeare wrote his plays in what is now called the 5 act dramatic structure, so has this ever been tried in a movie? I mean of course, outside of adaptations of plays. I really don't understand how it couldn't work. I'm sure most screenwriting teachers will say that you have to stick to the 3-act structure, no exceptions, but perhaps using the 5-act structure will add a different style to the movie. A dark tragedy perhaps? Or a different kind of comedy? Or is this all just a really bad idea?

I won second prize in a local playwriting contest for a play I called THE PROFESSOR which was written in the five act structure.  I'm in the process of adapting it into a screenplay.  The screenplay will have a different title.

I believe four weddings and a funeral was written in 5 act structure. Then again, Shakespeare's Acts were also written that way to permit breaks for scenery changes...

And there's no such thing as "no exceptions." Beginning, middle, and end just happens in a story, but the "3 Act Structure" is basically a tool to help you write.

I've used the 5 act structure when I wrote an episode for a series and it helped a lot in making it easier to write.

I may know this already, but what exactly are the elements of the five act structure? Isn't the three act structure, beginning, where the problem is set up and the characters and situations are introduced, middle, the main portion of the script where most of the action and events happen, and end, where the situation is resolved, for better, or for worse. Or am I thinking of something else?

The five act breakup primarily has to do with plot points. Instead of two main plot points that change up the action, the 5 act structure has four major shifts in the storyline. You will still have your exposition in the beginning and the main climax at the end. The center three acts will work almost like unresolved mini-stories that will all tie up in the fifth act (or that's how Shakespeare tended to do it).

Oh, I see, thanks George.