Open up any screenwriting book or Google “how to write a script” and you’ll come across a litany of terms both familiar and foreign: “protagonist,” “antagonist,” “beat,” “plot,” “climax,” “inciting ...

But it’s the scene that changes the story. In the film American Beauty (1999), the moment Lester Burnham quits his job, walks out of his cubicle with a beer in hand—that’s it. That’s his turning point ...