Act 3

Act three, the end of the film. This is the part the viewer has been waiting for. They have endured all the character development and exposition for this final payoff. Leave them satisfied and they will love you, disappoint them and you will be crucified. Tough crowd.

14) Finale (p 85-110) Look at that, the one sequence takes up the final quarter of your film. Everything has come together. The subplot has entwined into your main plot, the plan has been hatched and now they are into it. They guy is working on getting the girl back and proving that he is a good guy, the action hero is killing everyone leading up to the big boss. They have found where the big creature is and they are going to confront it, or they have found where the treasure is hidden, now they just have to get around all the traps and bad guys to get there, of course they are fighting the biggest bad guy while some time trap is counting down about to kill them all.

One quick note about endings is that there has to be some device making things happen. It can be that they run out of options leaving only confronting the problem head on. The guy has lost the girl and can’t get her back unless he changes his hedonistic ways, or else they run out of time. The girl is at the altar with the other guy who has been her friend forever. There needs to be something raising the stakes and making things happen for them to get to that point.

Build up your finale, start with the easier things to overcome and lead up to the biggest one. The girls friends cut the guy
off and he has to convince them that he is sincere, or else he has to convince his friends and promises them that they can get with her friends if they help out… Build it up to the very end when the guy gets the girl, or whatever your story is about.

15) Final Image (p110) - The last thing the people see, it’s a reflection of the first image and lets you know that things have changed. Think about what had to be overcome and show that it has been. Make it interesting so you go out on a good note, then stop. As soon as your story is finished it is time to write FADE OUT.

A problem a lot of new writers have is that they start the story too early and they end it too late. As soon as the big bad is beaten the story is over. It doesn’t matter how the guy gets home. Anything you add after the climax will be boring by comparison so leave it out. No-one cares that they couple fight over which side of the bed to sleep on, we just want them together.

The same happens at the start of a story. Look at your premise again. If yours is the story about some killer fish eating the residents of a small town one super hot summer then start your story with fish killing people. It doesn’t matter how the fish got to be there, if you have to tell that do it later on. Anything before the story starts is boring also. If your story is about a selfish guy whose girlfriend gets sick of him and leaves then it doesn’t matter that they were high school sweethearts and that he was romantic at first. Show him being selfish, show her leaving. Beautiful, that’s all we need to know about the story. You can get the other stuff across later on if it is important to the story.