Standard Story Company

The Secret to Writing Strong Endings

I’ve been thinking about screenwriting a LOT lately while:

  1. writing my next short film.

  2. filming writing exercises that I’m probably going to turn into a new series of videos for the channel.

  3. planning out a mini-course for writing low-budget shorts.

  4. giving feedback on scripts in the WRAPPED Discord and in 1-on-1 consultations.

And in all this, there’s an idea about endings that I’ve been struggling how to best articulate, and I think today I cracked that code:

Every film needs a “reason”.

 

Endings & Reasons

The biggest struggle I see with novice short films, is that the story doesn’t end strongly. It merely resolves the main conflict and then the credits roll.

On paper, sure that works… but I want more than that! 

I want that sweet, sweet moment of AHA! So that’s what this story was moving towards this whole time!

And why are there so many weak endings? I’d argue it’s because these films lack a reason to exist in the first place.

That sounds harsh, but bear with me.

TLDR:  How could you ever write a strong ending without knowing the reason for your story? If you want to hit a target, you must first aim your arrow.

 

What gives a film a reason?

Some films have a message:

Protect the planet. Equality for all. Believe in yourself. Etc etc

Does that mean EVERY film needs a message? 

No. 

In fact, I find many of these films to be too preachy and heavy-handed with their messaging.

So a reason is not a message… but it could be.

Meanwhile, other films have an intellectual or philosophical idea they’re exploring:

Does nature or nurture determine our character? Can we ever truly change? Does time heal all wounds? Etc etc

Does every film need an idea like this driving the story? 

Nope.

Just like with messages, if an idea like this is the core from which you write, you risk over-intellectualizing the story, and disconnecting us from what makes the story work on an emotional level.

So a reason is not an idea… but it could be.

…See where I’m going with this?

Some films have a moral contradiction at their core.

Some lead up to a violent blood-bath.

Some recount a historical event.

Some re-imagine our world.

Some just make us laugh really hard.

Or make us scared to turn off the lights.

These are all REASONS. Reasons to make the film.

When you know your film’s reason, you can find your film’s best ending, because they are one and the same.

The ending is simply the ultimate delivery of the reason.

For example, if your reason to make the film is to make people laugh – the ending is the funniest part of the film. If you can’t figure out a funny way to end the story, then you have a fundamental misalignment of your goal and the story you’re actually writing. 

Think about this and ask yourself, were you creating this story for a different reason all along? 

If so, maybe the ending is the ONLY part of the film that’s right. In that case, you need to work backwards from that and re-write the earlier parts of the film in order to make the ending stronger.

If not, then find a new ending that’s funnier. Otherwise it’s not going to end strongly, it’ll just fizzle out. Who wants to watch a comedy short film that ends without a punchline?

More examples:

If the reason is to explore a moral contradiction, the ending is the confrontation between the two sides of the contradiction.

If the reason is exploring the idea “can we ever truly change?”, then show someone changing, or not changing, or refuse to answer it and instead pose the question to the audience.

Does this make sense? This focus on a single reason makes your short film’s story cohesive, driving everything towards a strong final moment.

In the past, I’ve referred to this concept as a “point”, but I think “reason” is the better word. “Point” implies an idea or message of some kind. But if the point is just to scare the audience, that’s a totally valid reason for making a short film.

So make sure you have a REASON for your story. Because without one, your film is just… things happening, and your ending is just tying up loose ends (boring!).

 

 

Favorites this week:

🍿 Movie: Short Cuts (1993)

Rewatched this Robert Altman classic for the first time in years, and loved it. With it’s ensemble cast, interweaving storylines, and Los Angeles backdrop, this was clearly a big inspiration for PT Anderson’s 1999 film Magnolia (one of my favorites).

Short Cuts also has one of the most stacked casts ever, seems like every popular actor from the era. Not surprising since Altman was the hippest director of his day, and every actor wanted to work with him.

Each storyline is based on a Raymond Carver short story, and except for one which felt a bit tedious and underdeveloped, you get emotionally engulfed in all of them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be streaming on any major platforms, so you may have trouble tracking this movie down, but if you get the chance, definitely give it a watch.

 

📹 Video: I Redesigned the ENTIRE IMDB UI from Scratch

It’s funny how you forget how awful some websites are until you see what they COULD be. IMDB is ugly, it always has been, and it’s amazing that such a widely used website has been so clunky for so long.

 

That’s it for this week.

Let’s make some movies.

-Kent

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1 thought on “The Secret to Writing Strong Endings”

  1. Thanks man!! I totally agree with u in every point. It’s important to have a short film to end in an impactful way.
    Would love to learn how to write a scene more impactful with the kind of shots we put.

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