CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MASTER SPREADSHEET WITH ALL MY MOVIE PLOT BREAK DOWNS
| Beat | Acts | Action Sequences | Beat Description | Storylines |
| 1 |
1
Marty goes through a day in his life, showing the goals and traits of the main characters. Doc is killed by terrorists while showing Marty his time machine, and Marty uses the time machine to go back in time to 1959 |
Introduce Marty Inciting incident/call to action |
Marty plays his guitar and blows his speaker being wreckless. Doc calls and tells Marty to meet him at the mall later. | Marty Doc |
| 2 |
Marty fails to get to school on time because of his flaw.
Principle and Marty get to know each other |
Marty races to school on his skateboard. | Marty | |
| 3 | Marty meets Jennfier at the front of the school, and they try to sneak into school but gets caught by the principle and lectured on his flaws. | Marty | ||
| 4 | Marty fails his band audition because of his flaw. | Marty auditions for the battle of the bands and loses. | Marty Judges |
|
| 5 | Marty and Jennifer get to know each other while walking home. | Marty walks home with Jennifer. He states his dreams and is given a piece of paper stating the day and time the clock tower is struck by lightening. | Marty Jennifer |
|
| 6 |
Marty watches his family fail because of their flaws.
|
Marty enters his home to find Biff bullying George. | Marty George Biff |
|
| 7 | At dinner, Marty’s family dismisses him and his dreams. Lorraine tells the story of how she met George and then fell in love with him at their high school prom. | Marty George Lorraine |
||
| 8 |
Marty watched Doc fail because of his flaw, causing Marty to have to go back in time.
|
Marty meets Doc at the mall, and Doc shows Marty how the time machine works. | Marty Doc |
|
| 9 | Terrorists attack and kill Doc. Marty escapes in the time machine. | Marty Doc |
||
| 10 |
2
Marty tracks down Doc and recruits him to fix the time machine. Then they come up with a plan to fix the time machine. But on the way to Doc’s house, Marty takes George’s place in the story of how his mom and dad fell in love, disrupting the space time continuum. |
Marty experiences the reercussions of Doc’s failure and his own successful escape.
Marty has mixed success looking for Doc. |
Marty arrives in 1955 and is attacked by a farmer who mistakes him for an alien. | Marty |
| 11 | Marty hides the time machine and walks to town. | Marty | ||
| 12 | Marty finds a pay phone and unsucessfully tries to call Doc. Marty gets Doc’s address from the book though. | Marty | ||
| 13 |
Marty meets his father and strays from the path because of his flaw, resulting in the inciting incident for Marty’s quest to get his parents to fall in love.
|
Marty sees Biff bully George, and Marty tries to talk to George, but George runs away. | Marty George |
|
| 14 | Marty chases George and gets hit by Lorraine’s dad’s car causing Lorraine to meet Marty instead of George. | Marty George |
||
| 15 | After Marty regains consciosness in Lorraine’s room, Lorraine hits on Marty. Marty flees the house. | Marty Lorraine |
||
| 16 |
Marty finds Doc, and after a brief refusal of the call, convinces him to begin the quest to go back in time.
Marty and Doc make a plan to send Marty back in time. |
Marty arrives at Doc’s house and convinces Doc to help him fix the time machine. | Marty Doc |
|
| 17 | Doc and Marty retrieve the time machine and relocate it to Doc’s garage. | Marty Doc |
||
| 18 | Doc and Marty create a plan to power the time machine using the lightening bolt that hits the clock tower. They also discover Marty is disappearing because he altered history and needs to get his parents back together. | Marty Doc |
||
| 19 |
3
Doc and Marty make a plan to make George fall in love with Lorraine. After three different approaches, Marty convinces George to ask Lorraine to the prom. George fails. Marty saves George from Biff only to make Lorraine more interested in Marty and makes more of an enemy out of Biff. |
Doc and Marty make a plan to get George and Lorraine to fall in love. Marty fails three times to convince George to ask Lorraine to the prom before succeeding.
|
In the high school hallway, Marty introduces George to Lorraine, but Lorraine only has eyes for Marty. | Marty Doc |
| 20 | Marty and Doc make a plan to get George to ask Lorraine to go to the prom with him. | Marty Lorraine |
||
| 21 | Marty and Doc make a plan to get George to ask Lorraine to go to the prom with him. | Marty Doc |
||
| 22 | Marty unsucessfully tries to convince George to ask Lorraine to the prom while George writes a sci fi story. | Marty George |
||
| 23 | Marty saves Lorraine from Biff, making Biff mad at him and Lorrain more infatuated with him. | Marty George Lorraine |
||
| 24 | Marty begs George to ask Lorraine to the dance, but George says he’s going to stay home and watch a scifi show on the night of the prom. | Marty George |
||
| 25 | Marty pretends to be an alien and scares George into wanting to ask Lorraine to the prom. | Marty George |
||
| 26 |
Marty trains George in seduction and gives George a quest to ask Lorraine to the prom, which he fails because of his flaw, resulting in Biff trying to fight Marty. Marty wins, but it’s a false victory since it makes Lorraine more in love with him.
|
George asks Marty to coach him on talking to Loarraine, which Marty does unsucessfully. | George Marty |
|
| 27 | George unsucessfully tries to ask Lorraine to the prom. | George Lorraine (Marty ) |
||
| 28 | Marty saves George from Biff, angering Biff more and making Lorraine more infatuated with him. | Biff George Marty Lorraine |
||
| 29 | Biff and Marty have a major fight, and Marty wins. This angers Biff more and makes Lorraine more infatuated with him. | Biff Marty Lorraine |
||
| 30 |
4
Doc explains his plan to power the time machine to Marty. Lorraine asks Marty to the prom. Marty prepares to stage a fake rape so George can impress Lorraine by saving her. Marty fails to fake-rape Lorraine and gets kidnapped by Team 2. George confronts Biff and knocks him out, winning Lorraine’s heart. |
Doc states his plans and preparations to send Marty back in time.
Marty tries to warn Doc of his death. As a repercussion to Marty’s successful fight against Biff, Lorraine asks Marty to the prom. |
Marty returns to Doc’s garage, and Doc states the plan to power the time machine and the consequences of failure. | Marty Doc |
| 31 | Marty tries to warn Doc of his death in 1985, but Doc refuses to listen. | Marty Doc |
||
| 32 | Lorraine arrives at Doc’s house and asks Marty to the prom. Marty accepts. | Lorraine Marty Doc |
||
| 33 | Marty and George plan and prepare for George to impress Lorraine by saving her from Marty. | Marty tells George his plan to pretend to rape Lorraine at the prom so she’ll hate Marty and George can save her. | Marty George |
|
| 34 | Doc and Marty prepare to enact their quest to send Marty back in time. | Doc and Marty set up the “weather experiment” that will power the time machine. | Marty Doc |
|
| 35 |
Marty and George enact their plan for George to save Lorraine from Marty, but Biff intervenes, but George overcomes his flaw and knocks out Biff, winning Lorraine’s affection.
|
Marty unsucessfully attempts to sexually assault Lorraine. Biff catches them and takes Marty’s place while Marty is locked in the trunk of a car by Biff’s goons. | Marty Lorraine Biff (George ) |
|
| 36 | The prom band rescues Marty from the trunk and runs off Biff’s goons, but Marty can’t get back to George in time to warn him about Biff. | Marty (Biff ) (George ) |
||
| 37 | George confronts Biff and knocks him out, winning Lorraine’s affection | George Biff Lorraine Marty |
||
| 38 | Marty celebrates George’s victory and seals their fate by playing guitar. | Marty joins the prom band to help serenade George and Lorraine to kiss. | Marty George Lorraine |
|
| 39 |
5
Marty and Doc prepare and successfully enact their plan to power the time machine. Marty goes back to the future. |
Marty tries to warn Doc of his death, but Doc refuses the call. | Marty returns to Doc and tries to warn him of his death in 1985 again. Doc won’t listen. So Marty writes him a note. | Marty Doc |
| 40 | Marty and Doc enact their plan, and despite slapstick complications and dramatic time limit, Marty goes back to the future. | Marty and Doc enact their plan, and despite slapstick complications and dramatic time limit, Marty goes back to the future. | Marty Doc |
|
| 41 |
Marty fails to save Doc, but it’s a false failure, because the note he gave Doc earlier already saved his life.
|
Marty attempts to reach Doc to warn him about the terrorists, but the time machine breaks down. | Marty (Doc ) |
|
| 42 | Marty arrives at the mall after Doc has been shot and learns Doc was wearing a bullet proof vest because he read Marty’s note. | Marty Doc |
||
| 43 |
6
Denouement |
Marty returns home to find all his dreams have come true and all his family’s flaws have been fixed.
|
Marty returns home to a wonderful life where he got everything he wanted in Act 1. | Marty George Lorraine Biff Jennifer |
| 44 | As Marty looks forward to the future with his girlfriend, Doc arrives in the time machine and tells them they have to go back to the future to help their future children. | Marty Doc Jennifer |
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