Screenplay Structure Analysis

September 5

Written by Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum. Co-Written by Alex David · Historical Drama/Thriller · 108 pages · 111 scenes · 3-act natural structure · linear organization · Analysis confidence: High

An ABC Sports television crew covering the 1972 Munich Olympics finds themselves thrust into broadcasting live coverage of the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes, transforming from sports producers into history witnesses over a harrowing 24-hour period.

Tone
Tense, urgent, claustrophobic

Tension curve

Dramatic intensity across September 5 from first page to last, sampled at 40 points on a 0–10 scale. Values: 2.1, 2, 2.4, 2.9, 3.5, 4.2, 5.1, 6.3, 7.3, 7.4, 7, 6.4, 6.3, 6.7, 7.1, 6.9, 6.6, 6.4, 6.8, 7, 6.5, 5.5, 5, 5.1, 6.4, 7.4, 8.3, 8.3, 8, 7.7, 7.3, 7.7, 8.2, 8.8, 7.5, 7.4, 7.4, 8.6, 7, 6.1.

Structure at a glance

Act 1 break
Page 21, 19% of the script: The crew learns about the terrorist attack and shifts from sports coverage to breaking news.
Inciting incident
Page 22, 20% of the script: Geoff bursts into Bader's sleeping quarters announcing shots were fired in the Olympic Village, specifically at the Israeli apartment according to Marianne's radio report.
Midpoint
Page 65, 60% of the script: Roone joins Geoff as they return from commercial break to interview Tuvia Sokolsky, the weightlifting coach who escaped, with McKay introducing him and his translator on live television.
Act 2 break
Page 82, 76% of the script: The hostage situation reaches its climax as the crew covers the events at the airport in real time.
Climax
Page 91, 84% of the script: Carter's footage shows the camera chasing silhouettes toward a distant glow with tanks rolling across fields, then captures Marianne in a crowd at the airport fence when automatic weapon fire erupts with muzzle flashes in the darkness.
Peak tension
8.8 out of 10, reached about 85% of the way through; the script averages 6.4.
Average scene length
1.4 pages

Structural personality

This script follows a compressed, real-time structure that mirrors the intensity of live television production. The story unfolds linearly across roughly 24 hours, creating mounting tension through the claustrophobic studio environment and the escalating crisis outside. The three-act structure serves the escalating stakes: Act 1 establishes the sports broadcast routine before the crisis hits, Act 2 sustains the tension of live coverage under impossible circumstances, and Act 3 delivers the tragic climax and aftermath. The structure brilliantly uses the confined studio setting as a pressure cooker, with the outside world entering only through monitors, radios, and phone calls.

Pacing

The pacing accelerates dramatically after scene 22 when the crisis begins, with increasingly rapid scene cuts between control room, editing rooms, and transmission areas. The script uses short, punchy scenes (averaging 1.4 pages) to maintain urgency, particularly in the middle section where technical coordination becomes frantic. The final act slows slightly for emotional weight, especially in the aftermath scenes (105-111).

Themes

Similar shapes

Screenplays whose tension curve most closely matches September 5.

Scene summaries and structural markers are generated by AI analysis of the screenplay text and may contain minor inaccuracies. ScriptGraph analyzes structure and does not reproduce screenplay text.

Compare September 5 with another screenplay · Browse all 156 analyzed screenplays