How To End A Script (pt 2)
In this post we’ll continue our look at writing the perfect ending to your screenplay by looking at some popular films and what they did wrong!
Million Dollar Baby
Again, this film takes a turn for the worse at the Act 2 climax. In this case, Maggie, (Hilary Swank) receives a surprise punch in the ring, cruelly ending her boxing career. Up to this point, her goal has been to overcome her trailer trash upbringing and make something of herself as a prizefighter. She’s helped by a mentor, Frankie (Clint Eastwood) who starts guiding her to victory after the midpoint. But what happens in the final sequence?
Well, Maggie spends Act 3, lying inert in a hospital bed with a broken neck. The question of whether Maggie will or won’t make it as a fighter is replaced by whether Frankie will or won’t help her to die. This not only splits the main goal of the film but the theme as well. “It takes courage to reach the top,” morphs into, “When the going gets tough, give up.”
To further complicate matters, Frankie shifts into the role of main protagonist. He is now the one driving the action and who has to decide whether or not to fulfill her wish to die. So, again, the climax fails to answer the dramatic question posed in Act 1.
Anything by Judd Apatow
A frequent result of films with unrelated goals and endings is that they seem to go on forever. A speciality, it seems, of Mr. Apatow.
Well written comedy scripts are usually between 90—100 pages. But, because Apatow is revered as the new “King of Comedy,” he gets to do special things, like ignore advice from all his associates and stretch all of his films out way past the point anyone still cares what happens.
So, after the first 100 minutes of Knocked Up, wondering whether Katherine Heigl will stick it out with Seth, we get another half hour watching her give birth. Again, splitting the initial goal and climax.
The 40 Year Old Virgin also outstays its welcome, thanks to extended scenes and sequences, as does Funny People which comes in at a whopping 146 minutes. (Or 153, if you’re lucky enough to catch the unrated version.)
Don’t try this at home. Judd Apatow has already made it. He can do what he wants; but a struggling writer trying to break in should probably stick to one of the unwritten rules of comedy—keep it short.
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