About Beat Sheet: Story Structure for Screenwriters
A fiction-planning template with fifteen story beats, an act-based board, scene planning, target word or page positions, rollups, and a short craft reference.
What’s included
- Fifteen beats with purpose notes
- Story Spine and scene planner
- Length targets, word-count rollups, and craft primer
How to use it in practice
Outline the major turning points of your current story before trying to fill every beat. Add a few scenes with their goal, conflict, and turn, then check whether the structure clarifies the reader’s experience. Adjust target positions to the story’s needs rather than changing a strong scene only to match a percentage.
Set it up in your workspace
- Open the original Notion Marketplace listing and add the template to your chosen workspace while signed in. Keep its example records until you understand how the pages connect.
- Outline the major turning points of your current story before trying to fill every beat.
- Try one complete example before adding a large backlog. Check that its views and any calculations show what you expect, then replace the sample content with your own.
Who it suits and what to consider
Novelists and screenwriters who want a visible structure before drafting or revising a story. The supplied beat framework is one planning approach, not a rule for successful fiction. Length targets and health indicators reflect the template’s structure rather than an editorial judgment.
