The Ending

Once the climax is past, a good screenwriter knows that brief is better. Once the story is over, so is the film. When the hero has achieved his/her aim and the consequences have been shown, the story ends. If the story has been well told, by the end viewers will have received all the information they wanted and any extra explanations become irrelevant. Don’t let the screenplay drag on pointlessly with an absent subject. You’d risk boring your readers.

If your story is complex, you probably have several subplots to tie up and consequences to show, which can lead to several ending scenes. Everything that has begun must end. Each of your story’s plots and sub-plots must be concluded.

EXERCISE 32 According to what you have developed in the other exercises, decide what consequences result from your hero’s adventures. If there are several consequences, describe them and decide whether you will show them in one scene or more.

HELP Your ending may contain a twist that changes your story’s outcome. The hero thinks he/she has achieved his/her goal but realizes that in fact not at all, he/she was mistaken, has been defeated or is on the wrong track. An unexpected attitude or event can also change everything. This kind of twist is also commonly known as a “surprise”.