Well here we are, Day 10 of The 10-Day Screenplay course. By the end of this writing session, you’ll have a finished script that achieved all the objectives of the Nine Essential Chapters of Drama and also brought the audience to a fulfilling ending with the hero winning both his External and Internal Conflicts.
Chapter 9: The Finale runs about 15 pages, from Page 95 to Page 110.
However, you can go longer or shorter as necessary. Home Alone’s final chapter runs 24 minutes while Scream’s runs just five minutes.
This is the grand finale, when we see our hero rise to the ultimate challenge and achieve beyond his wildest dreams.
It is essential that we now recognize a new and much-improved hero from the person we were introduced to in the beginning of our movie.
This is the point of tremendous satisfaction for our audience: the victim kills the madman, the boy somehow wins over the girl of his dreams, the action hero goes out in a blaze of glory and comes out on top, and the hero realizes dreams really can come true!
Of course, not all movies have to have the proverbial happy ending where the hero’s dreams are achieved. A fulfilling finale could be the moment that our hero realizes that what he wanted all along was with him all along. It could be the moment he realizes that the goal he has been chasing was an unworthy goal. It could be the moment he learns a valuable lesson such as crime never pays or cheaters never win.
In either case, it needs to be satisfying to the audience. And it will be if you do two things:
1) Make certain that the hero ends this journey a better person than he was when the journey began.
2) Let your character dictate this ending from the heart: don’t force it! You’ve now spent 10 days with your character; you know what feels right. Listen to your character’s voice. The ending that is meant to be may not be the ending you originally had in mind and that’s perfectly acceptable. Your character really came alive during this process, don’t stifle his voice when it matters most.
My experience has shown me that writers sometimes have a tendency to rush through this final chapter. They see the light at the end of the tunnel and they want to get there as quickly as possible. Avoid this urge. Don’t rush through a Chapter 9 that quickly wraps everything up nice and neat. Let the audience really enjoy this moment.
Don’t be afraid to add several “oh no” moments throughout your finale. These are moments when the hero is just about to grab the diamond he’s been after and it slips away. With each of these moments, your hero keeps finding a way to overcome the new problem (and remember that each “oh no” moment needs to look worse than the last). You may also want to add another “ticking clock” that is even more dangerous and suspenseful than any “ticking clock” used earlier in the movie.
Ultimately, we want to satisfy the audience and let them really enjoy the finale. It’s what we’ve waited two hours to see unfold. Let it unfold in the most satisfying and heartfelt way possible.
• Rocky: Rocky shocks the world and goes the distance with Apollo Creed. Rocky actually loses the fight, but he doesn’t care one bit. All he wanted was to go the distance and hold Adrian in his arms after the fight.
• Home Alone: A long finale of Kevin leading Harry and Marv through the obstacle course of booby traps he created to save his house. Harry and Marv eventually get arrested after Old Man Marley saves Kevin from them. We end on Christmas morning when Kevin’s family returns home.
• There’s Something About Mary: Ted goes out of his way to track down Brett Favre and do “the right thing” by explaining to Mary how Tucker sabotaged their relationship. Ted is willing to give up his love for Mary to do what is right and honorable. Mary surprises Ted by telling him she wants to be with him. The “oh no” comedy moments in this final sequence should be studied closely.
• Die Hard: In John’s final confrontation with Hans, he tricks Hans and saves his wife. Hans dies by falling out a window 30 stories high and plunging to his death (another note: the more evil the bad guy in an action or horror movie, the more extreme his death usually needs to be). The final showdown between John and Hans features several excellent “oh no” action moments that should also be studied.
• Scream: Sydney kills Stu with a television set and then right before she is killed by Billy, her enemy at the start of the movie, reporter Gail Weathers, saves her by shooting Billy. Sydney gets to deliver the final blow as Billy jumps at her one more time before Sydney shoots him dead.
Your Script is Done, Now What?
What do you do now that you’ve completed this course and finished your screenplay? Celebrate of course!
I also think it’s essential at this time to take at least a few days off and let your script sit without thinking about it for awhile.
Once you’ve had time to get the script out of your system and approach it with a fresh perspective, you’ll want to go back and read it through. You’ll probably catch typos and grammar errors that can easily be corrected.
You also may find certain areas that need to be tightened up and other areas that should go on a little longer.
Now is also a great time to start thinking about changes that could enhance your movie.
For instance, foreshadowing is something that is sometimes more difficult to think about when you’re actually writing your script. But foreshadowing is an excellent dramatic technique that enhances almost every movie. You may find the need to go back and add some foreshadowing early in the movie that could pay off for the audience later in the movie.
For instance, did a blunt object conveniently end up in your hero’s hand in Chapter 9 when he was fighting off the bad guy? Why not instead add a moment early in the script with your hero receiving some type of gift from a
loved one that could actually be used as this blunt object? This adds a dramatic punch on so many new levels.
Just remember that while the draft you finished may very well end up being your final draft, it doesn’t have to be. If you feel some key changes would make it a better movie, then go right ahead and make all the changes you want. There’s no failing grade for making changes to the initial draft. In fact, changes are encouraged!
The bottom line is this: you have finished your feature-length screenplay! And if you followed this guide closely, including the idea test questions, the character development techniques, the chapter-by-chapter objectives, and all the other little tips and tools I’ve included in this guide, odds are excellent that you’ve written wrote the kind of screenplay that has the potential to blow readers away and launch your career as a screenwriter.
You should be extremely proud of what you’ve accomplished! It’s time to do some celebrating.
And when you’ve got another idea and you’re ready to start your next blockbuster screenplay, open this guide right back up, follow the course, and 10 days later, you’ll have another script completed.
P.S. – I love to hear about success stories from my readers and I also love to hear about any questions or recommendations you may have for future updates to this guide. Please don’t hesitate to contact me by sending an email to: [email protected]
My schedule doesn’t permit me to personally respond to each and every message I receive, but I do read each of them and address them whenever possible.