The Florida Project
The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.
Despite its tight budget of $2.0M, The Florida Project became a financial success, earning $11.3M worldwide—a 465% return. The film's unique voice connected with viewers, confirming that strong storytelling can transcend budget limitations.
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
The Florida Project (2017) demonstrates deliberately positioned narrative design, characteristic of Sean Baker's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 52 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 6.6, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Moonee and her friends play and cause mischief at the Magic Castle motel, spitting on a car. This establishes their world: vibrant childhood freedom within grinding poverty, living in the shadow of Disney World.. Structural examination shows that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 13 minutes when Moonee is banned from playing with Scooty after the car-spitting incident. Her world contracts - her first experience of consequences affecting her childhood freedom.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 29 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 26% of the runtime. This indicates the protagonist's commitment to The children venture beyond the motel grounds on their own, going to get ice cream and exploring abandoned buildings. Moonee fully embraces her agency in navigating this world, for better or worse., moving from reaction to action.
At 56 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Structural examination shows that this crucial beat Halley's friend Ashley refuses to help her hustle anymore and distances herself. The adult support network begins to crack. False defeat: the precariousness of their situation becomes undeniable., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 84 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, DCF arrives to take Moonee away from Halley. The childhood magic shatters completely. Halley breaks down, Moonee witnesses her mother's devastation. The whiff of death: the death of their life together, of Moonee's innocence., reveals the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 92 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 82% of the runtime. Moonee runs away from the DCF workers to find Jancey. The child makes her choice - to flee into the only magic she has left: friendship and imagination., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
The Florida Project's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs systematic plot point analysis that identifies crucial turning points. By mapping The Florida Project against these established plot points, we can identify how Sean Baker utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish The Florida Project within the drama genre.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include Eye for an Eye, South Pacific and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Moonee and her friends play and cause mischief at the Magic Castle motel, spitting on a car. This establishes their world: vibrant childhood freedom within grinding poverty, living in the shadow of Disney World.
Theme
Bobby the motel manager tells Moonee: "You know why this is called the Magic Castle? Because when you live here, anything can happen." The film's central question: can childhood magic survive in systemic poverty?
Worldbuilding
Introduction to life at the Magic Castle: Halley's hustling, Bobby's protective management, the children's adventures, the precarious economic reality of families living week-to-week in budget motels near Disney.
Disruption
Moonee is banned from playing with Scooty after the car-spitting incident. Her world contracts - her first experience of consequences affecting her childhood freedom.
Resistance
Moonee adapts by making new friends (Jancey) and expanding her adventures. Halley continues her hustling schemes. The episodic structure establishes the rhythm of their lives and the creative resilience required to survive.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
The children venture beyond the motel grounds on their own, going to get ice cream and exploring abandoned buildings. Moonee fully embraces her agency in navigating this world, for better or worse.
Mirror World
Bobby emerges as the film's moral center - he protects the children (chasing away a predator), maintains order, and represents the adult attempting to preserve their childhood against overwhelming odds.
Premise
Summer adventures: ice cream runs,探险abandoned houses, befriending Jancey, helicopter watching, the safari trip. The "Fun and Games" of childhood poverty - the children create magic from nothing while the adult world's problems simmer.
Midpoint
Halley's friend Ashley refuses to help her hustle anymore and distances herself. The adult support network begins to crack. False defeat: the precariousness of their situation becomes undeniable.
Opposition
Halley's schemes become more desperate (selling perfume, suspected prostitution). She fights with Ashley. The motel management grows concerned. DCF investigation looms. The children remain oblivious, but the walls are closing in.
Collapse
DCF arrives to take Moonee away from Halley. The childhood magic shatters completely. Halley breaks down, Moonee witnesses her mother's devastation. The whiff of death: the death of their life together, of Moonee's innocence.
Crisis
Moonee and Halley's final moments together. Halley tells Moonee she loves her. The devastating reality sets in: they will be separated. Bobby watches helplessly, knowing he cannot fix this.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Moonee runs away from the DCF workers to find Jancey. The child makes her choice - to flee into the only magic she has left: friendship and imagination.
Synthesis
Moonee and Jancey run together, crying. They run toward the Magic Kingdom - the ultimate symbol of childhood fantasy, now their desperate escape from unbearable reality. Bobby chases after them but lets them go.
Transformation
The girls run into Disney World (shot guerrilla-style, switching to iPhone footage). The final image mirrors the opening's childhood freedom, but now it's tragic flight, not play. The magic castle was always an illusion. Negative transformation: loss of innocence completed.