The Act One Break is a huge moment in any script. This is the point in which your hero is forced to leave the world he’s known behind, and strike out (usually alone) into a NEW and DIFFERENT phase of his life. Once he’s stepped foot into the murky world of Act Two, he can never go back to the way things were in Act One...
You’ll know right away that your Act One has problems if you aren’t reaching your first act break between pages 25-35. If you Act One is less than 25 pages, it’s too thin and needs more punch. If your Act One is more than 35 pages, it’s too fat and needs to be thinned down or rewritten altogether.
See the posts The First Ten Pages and Page 17 to review the beats that should shape the opening pages of a good Act One. By page 25, you should be at or close to a point in which your hero is FORCED to venture into the unknown. They must leave the relative comfort zone of their Act One lives, and actively move into a new world, and/or strike a new and dangerous course. At the Act One Break, the time has come for your hero to REACT against the pressures that have started your screenplay moving, and your hero should do so in a HANDS-ON, extremely-active fashion. They don’t need to be running down the street with a MK-47, but your audience should KNOW that your hero has left something behind, and is now engaged in a new game, with new rules.
