From an earlier discussion about The Fugitive I got the impression that the acts in the four throughlines do not start and end at the same time. For example, in The Fugitive the IC is only introduced at the start of OS Act 2. Does that mean that IC and M/I Act 1 both start while OS Act 2 is ongoing?
I would question whether or not someone/something else acts as the IC before Gerard is introduce. The official analysis has him as the IC, but it doesn’t give “the gist,” so to speak. Wouldn’t the so-called forces of justice serve this purpose early in the story until his character is introduce, handing the function off?
I seem to recall Melanie stating in one of her videos that it’s important to avoid starting toward the next signpost of a throughline until all of them have been explored (I could be mis-stating that, but that’s how I’ve worked it: one doesn’t move from IC SP 2 to IC SP 3 or any other “3” until the other SP 2’s have been explored.)
EDIT: Just saw Chris’s response on the other thread which is more or less the same for the IC question.
@JBarker is right. There most likely is some other character acting as the Influence Character. Also know that the analysis of The Fugitive was done a long time ago and as such is susceptible to misinterpretations. It is quite possible that what is there is not entirely accurate.
To answer you questions, theoretically the four Throughlines start at exactly the same time. In stories this is not usually possible and thus the starts and stops of each stagger across the narrative timeline. In theoretical terms again ALL the Signposts of each Throughline must be completed before moving on to the next. In other words you would have to cover OS Signpost 1, MC Signpost 1, IC Signpost 1, and RS Signpost 1 before encountering the next Story Driver. This would then turn the Act into the next Signpost. Then you would do all the 2s until the next Story Driver and so on.
Just noticed, Chris Huntley answered this question already…
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