About

About the Project

ScriptGraph was built by director Pete Capó to answer a question that kept coming up while writing and studying scripts: why do some movies feel the way they do? The question is about the sensation of watching them, apart from whether they're any good. Some films tighten a screw the entire time. Some stay calm until suddenly they aren't. Some escalate in waves.

Kurt Vonnegut argued that stories have shapes you could draw on a graph. ScriptGraph applies that idea to real screenplays. Each script is read scene by scene and scored for dramatic intensity based on what literally happens in it. Those scores become a tension curve, and a multi-pass analysis places and validates the act breaks, inciting incident, midpoint and climax so that any two films can be read side by side.

The result is a way to step back and see the whole shape of a story at once: where the pressure builds, where it releases, and where it turns.

Frequently asked questions

What is ScriptGraph?

ScriptGraph is a public library of screenplay structure analysis built by director Pete Capó. Each produced film's screenplay is read scene by scene and mapped as data: a tension curve across the whole story, the act breaks, the inciting incident, midpoint and climax, and scene-by-scene pacing. You can view any film on its own or overlay two films to compare their shapes.

What does the tension curve show?

The curve maps dramatic intensity scene by scene, scored on what happens in each scene, wherever it falls in the story. Physical danger and emotional devastation are scored on the same scale, so a quiet drama can reach the same peaks as a thriller. Kurt Vonnegut's story shapes tracked a character's fortune. ScriptGraph tracks tension instead, meaning the pressure an audience feels whatever the outcome.

How are act breaks and key moments identified?

They come from several passes over the screenplay text itself. A first pass reads the whole script and places candidate act breaks and key moments. A second pass scores every scene individually. A third pass validates each structural placement against what happens in that scene and replaces candidates that don't hold up. The result is then checked against where those moments conventionally fall.

What do the confidence labels mean?

Every key moment carries a confidence rating of high, medium or low, plus a short ruling that explains why it was identified or adjusted. A validated marker was confirmed against structural criteria. A corrected marker means the first candidate was replaced during validation, and the ruling says what changed and why. Scripts also carry an overall confidence label. Non-linear, circular and episodic films tend to resolve less cleanly, and their markers should be read more loosely.

Why is every film mapped to a three-act framework?

So that curves can be read side by side. A non-linear film, a triptych or a circular narrative is still passed through the same structural lens for comparison. The structure type label on each script tells you how the story is really organized. The act markers show where the strongest structural pivots fall within that form. Read the overall shape rather than any single page number.

Can I compare two screenplays?

Yes. Select two scripts in the library and open Compare. The comparison view overlays both tension curves and places every structural marker from both scripts on a shared timeline, either normalized so both run 0 to 100 percent or scaled to true page length.

Does ScriptGraph host screenplay text?

No. ScriptGraph analyzes structure and does not reproduce screenplays. What you see are graphs, scene counts and structural observations drawn from the scripts. All scripts analyzed are produced films whose screenplays have been publicly released or widely circulated, and all rights remain with their authors and rights holders. This is a non-commercial educational project.

How accurate is the analysis?

Scene summaries and structural markers are generated by AI analysis of the screenplay text and may contain minor inaccuracies. Story structure is not math: two careful readers can disagree about where a turning point really lands, and both can be right. The graphs are the main thing. Use them to see how a story moves, where it breathes and where it escalates, and treat the scene details as background.

ScriptGraph analyzes structure and does not reproduce screenplay text. All rights to the underlying works remain with their authors and rights holders. This is a non-commercial educational project by Pete Capó.