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Day 1 Assignments
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Dev Ross – Writing Great Endings
I didn’t watch a favorite or even great film but one doing good box office now.
What I learned is how carefully one must set up all the potential story elements so they can be played out significantly – most specially to make the end meaningful and satisfying.
FANTASTIC BEASTS – The Secrets of Dumbledore
Set ups in first two acts:
The most important set-up is the relationship between Albus and Grindelwald. They are lovers who see the worlds very differently. Between them, they have a charm that can turn on either of them if, in the future, either goes up against the other. Of course, the big event in the third act is when they do confront each other and fight a magical battle. What they swore they’d never do, of course, they do.
Other set ups are the unrequited love between a muggle and witch. Grindelwald would forbid all mix marriages and he has the witch under his control.
There is also an unresolved father and son relationship, and an unresolved love relationship for Newt.
BASIC STORY UP TO 3<sup>RD</sup> ACT:
Albus knows the powerful, dark wizard Grindelwald wants control of the wizarding world and, once he has it, he wants to destroy the ‘lesser’ muggle world. Albus secures Newt to lead a team of witches and wizards to stop Grindelwald’s plans of gaining domination. Grindelwald has murdered a magical beast that the magical world uses to choose leaders. It chooses them by their pure hearts. Grindelwald has made a zombie of the beast and wills it to do his bidding – which is to choose him in front of a great gathering. Grindelwald learns that there is a twin magical beast and sets out to capture it from ‘the good guys’ so it won’t give him away.
At the climax – The true magical creature is captured – or so we are led to believe- and is on route to be given over to Grindelwald. In the meantime, his zombie creature chooses him to be leader. Newt, our intrepid hero, calls Grindelwald out but has no proof until another of his team produces the magical creature. The real magical creature snubs Grindelwald and chooses Albus as the true leader.
The surprise is that Albus declines. His heart knows where he can do the most good – at the school where he is headmaster.
The magical beast now makes another choice and it’s a good one.
Grindelwald is exposed and takes his revenge on Albus. The charm goes crazy and prepares to attack them both for lifting up arms against one another. The charm could tear them apart. But Albus refuses to kill his love. He protects himself only and spares Grindelwald. This contradiction shatters the charm.
RESOLUTION: Albus is very much alone as he happily watches two friends, muggle and witch, marry in peace. Before this, the father and son relationship also resolves, and new hope is given to Newt and his love interest.
In this inevitable but surprising ending, love conquers all for some but not for others. Albus’s love for the greater harmony of the world makes him a hero willing to pay the price with his own personal happiness.
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Cameron Martin’s Great Ending
What I learned doing this assignment is…just how much goes into setting up a satisfying final act. It’s almost like an entire film is setup for the big finale and delivery of the story’s themes, and if the final act feels more like a deviation from the setup of the rest of the film (looking at you WONDER WOMAN), it’s going to lead to an unsatisfying mess. I just watched ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, and it’s very similar in this strategy, basically incorporating the same runtime as TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY to setup a Tarantino wet dream of a third act. With this in mind, I completely agree with Hal’s take that the ending should be figured out first, because everything else you write is going to set it up for success.
MOVIE: TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY
BASIC STORY UP TO THE 3RD ACT: Picking up from the events of the first film, John Conner is a foster child, hunted by a new terminator model, the T-1000. Meanwhile, in a twist of irony, the terminator model from the first film (T-800) is the one sent back in time to protect John from the T-1000. At John’s request, the T-800 helps save John’s mother, Sarah Conner, who’s a far cry from the woman we watched in the first film, having taken on the call to be a warrior and raise John to be the same. Sarah makes a plan to stop the machine apocalypse by killing the man responsible for developing SkyNet, Miles Dyson. However, John and the T-800, who’s been learning and modeling human emotion, stop her from killing Dyson, who turns out to be an innocent family man. Dyson agrees to destroy his research and prevent the forward momentum toward “Judgement Day.” And then…
3RD ACT POINTS:
3RD ACT TURNING POINT – The Conner’s, the T-800 and Miles Dyson go to Cyberdyne to eliminate the terminator threat before it can exist, in a role reversal of the setups of this and the previous film where the machines send a terminator back in time to kill Sarah, then John before they can become what they will be in the future.
TWIST – Written authorization is needed for the Conner’s and the T-800 to enter. They “insist” by threatening to shoot the security guard, which leads to the silent alarm and the authorities being contacted. “Everyone in the area” is coming to stop them.
PAYOFF – John can hack the locked down system, just like he hacked the ATM earlier in the film. “Easy money.”
TWIST – The group was ahead of the T-1000 for a time, and they may have been able to avoid him, but because it’s connected to the police scanner, it knows exactly where John and Sarah Conner are, and it’s coming for them.
CRISIS – All of the police and the T-1000 against the four of them.
PAYOFF – T-800 sticks to his promise of not killing people, by unloading a mini gun and a grenade launcher on the cars, but not hitting a single cop.
TWIST – The SWAT team shoots Miles Dyson, who’s holding the detonator, and pins down Sarah Conner. There’s nowhere to go.
TWIST – The T-800 gets Sarah Conner out. Miles Dyson is left behind, holding the detonator while telling the SWAT unit he “doesn’t know how much longer he can hold this.” The SWAT unit evacuates, as Dyson finally triggers the detonator, killing himself and destroying all of the knowledge that would lead to SkyNet and Judgement Day.
PAYOFF – The T-800 again sticks to his earlier promise when faced with the challenge of getting John and Sarah past the SWAT unit blocking their exit. He shoots their kneecaps while remaining invulnerable to their bullets. He then disperses the remaining cops by using tear gas grenades.
PAYOFF – The T-800 shows he’s learned from a previous lesson, pulling down the visor flap in a truck and catching the keys that were hidden there.
PAYOFF – To conclude the crisis, the T-800 crashes the SWAT car through the front door, and opens the back, allowing John and Sarah to get inside and the three are able to escape from “Everyone in the area”…except…
CLIMAX – The T-1000 arrives at the scene and hijacks a helicopter. Once again, the T-1000 is after John and Sarah, but with superior positioning: They have a van, It has a helicopter. They won’t get away this time.
TWIST – In the ensuing firefight, Sarah takes a bullet to the leg. The T-800, realizing their positioning and the danger Sarah’s in, hits the brakes, causing the helicopter to crash into the van and onto the freeway. Meanwhile, the T-800 is unable to maintain control of the vehicicle, and the van also crashes.
SETUP – The T-1000 is unscathed from the crash, hijacking a big rig that’s carrying a tank of liquid nitrogen. Meanwhile, the trio, with a limping Sarah Conner, is stuck with a pickup truck that can’t go above 55 miles per hour (continuing the motif of the T-1000 always having bigger and better things).
TWIST/SETUP – The T-800 goes in pursuit of the T-1000. He loses his last grenade in the bed of the pickup truck, but grabs an assault rifle, climbs onto the big rig, and blasts away at the T-1000, causing the big rig to crash. Meanwhile, John crashes the pickup truck into a steel foundry, with the big rig sliding right behind them, which leads to a breach in the tank causing liquid nitrogen to spill everywhere.
PAYOFF – The T-1000 is frozen solid by the liquid nitrogen, unable to pursue the trio.
PAYOFF – “Hasta la vista, baby.” this is a line the T-800 not only learned from John, but also exemplifies his capacity to creatively apply John’s lessons in a very human way. The T-800 uses it when he shoots the frozen T-1000, causing It to shatter like glass…
TWIST – But, because they’re in a foundry, the heat is able to thaw and melt the frozen 1-000 back into its deadly form.
SETUP – The T-800 grabs that last grenade that he lost out of the truck bed.
TWIST – The T-1000 gets the jump on the T-800 and is able to separate him from the grenade launcher.
TWIST – The T-1000 pins the T-800’s arm under heavy machinery. It’s now…
RESOLUTION – John and Sarah against the T-1000 hunting them.
TWIST – The T-800 is able to break off his own arm, freeing him to go save Sarah and John.
TWIST – Sarah sends John away so she can fight the T-1000 herself and save John. It doesn’t go well, as the T-1000 impales her shoulder and demands she “call to John.”
PAYOFF/TWIST – The T-800 saves Sarah and continues his fight with the T-1000. It does not go well as…
TWIST/SETUP – The T-1000 brutally, effortlessly beats the T-800 and deactivates him. The T-800 was inches from the grenade launcher.
TWIST – The T-800 has an alternate power source. He’s able to do what a terminator does best, relentlessly fight to the end.
TWIST – Sarah Conner calls to John. They reunite.
TWIST – Another Sarah Conner appears behind the first one. She aims her shotgun at Sarah. The T-1000 is about to get her!
TWIST – The Sarah holding the shotgun is the real Sarah, and she blasts the T-1000 impersonating her. She backs him up to the edge, where he can fall into the pot of rolling melted steal, but…
TWIST – She runs out of ammo before she can finish her plan. The T-1000 heals right back up.
PAYOFF/TWIST – The T-800 comes up, firing that last grenade into the T-1000, causing it to fall into the melted steel, and finally die.
FINAL SCENE – “It’s over.” Except in order for it to be truly over, the T-800 must be “terminated” as well. John has to say good buy to only the best father figure he’s ever had.
PAYOFF: The T-800 fulfills that promise of being a father by comforting John.
PAYOFF: The T-800’s final moments are expressing himself in a very human way, by giving a thumbs up.
PAYOFF: The “black highway” referenced earlier and the challenge for the audience to learn the value of human life in the same way a machine could.
SETUPS IN FIRST TWO ACTS:
OPENING: A glimpse into the future, and what all of our characters are fighting for…
SETUP: What’s at stake? We see millions of people, living their lives, transitioning to kids laughing and playing on the swing set, and conclude on that same city in ruins, most people dead, and those that remain are caught in a hellish world. “Three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997.”
SIDE NOTE: Another impactful moment is the panning camera move ending on the same playground we just saw children playing on, but now it’s blanketed in human skulls, with a terminator crushing one of them under its foot.
SETUP: “SkyNet sent two terminators back through time…the first was programmed to [kill Sarah Conner]. The second was set to strike at John himself when he was still a child.”
SETUP: “As before, the resistance was able to send a lone warrior. A protector for John.”
SETUP: As the opening credits role, we go back in time through the nuclear fire that washed over the world, yet another reminder of what’s at stake.
INCITING INCIDENT: The T-800 and the warrior arrive in modern day…
SETUP: The T-800 does…well, whatever a T-800 does. In case you forgot what this thing is all about from the previous film, he is an unstoppable killing machine, and takes what he wants: clothes, boots, a motorcycle, a shotgun, and some stylish sunglasses.
SETUP: We see what we assume to be the warrior sent back in time to protect John. He does what we just saw the T-800 do, but is much sneakier about it, taking a police uniform, standard issue pistol, and police cruiser. Both the T-800 and the mystery warrior (eventually revealed to be the T-800) display exactly how they’re similar and how they’re different in their respective openings, and how each will deal with each other in the final act.
SETUP: We see who John is: a foster kid who’s a punk. We see his mother, Sarah Conner is missing, and that he’s in desperate need of parents who understand him (something the T-800 will learn to become for him).
SETUP: We find Sarah Conner is in a mental institution, which is why she’s not with John. While we believe her, she is clearly mentally unstable and a complete 180 from the average waitress we saw in the first film. Knowing the truth did her no favors.
BY PAGE 10…:The mystery warrior shows up at the foster parents’ house and we find out the T-800 has already been there. It’s a race to see who can get to John first, a retread of the previous film’s first act.
SETUP: John is a skilled hacker. Sarah Conner did teach him some things, and he uses those lessons to rob an ATM. “Easy money.”
SETUP: John has a very troubled relationship with his mother. “She tried to blow up a computer factory,” which led to her being arrested and then institutionalized. This act that tore them apart because of how unstable she was will ironically be something they do together in the final act, with Sarah protecting John as a mother should.
SETUP: Cyberdyne, the computer company John claims Sarah tried to bomb, is in position of a computer chip and arm from the T-800 that attacked Sarah in the previous film. We’re introduced to the lead researcher of the arm and chip, and the man responsible for creating SkyNet.
ACT 1 TURNING POINT: In the major twist that differentiates this from the previous film, the mystery warrior this time is the terminator, a T-1000, and the terminator model from the previous film, the T-800, is John’s protector.
SETUP: This whole reveal is done perfectly, showing that the T-1000 is better than the T-800 in every way: it’s smarter, stealthier, stronger, can take on any appearance, etc. Somehow, the machine that outmatched everyone in the previous film is completely outclassed in the same way by this new terminator. This will raise the stakes between these two in the third act fight, as we’ll be engaged to find out just how you can stop something that is to the T-800 what the T-800 is to humans.
SETUP: The first car chase scene, which will mimic the climax of the film: with the T-1000 having the bigger, heavier, or just plain better vehicle, and John and the T-800 having something smaller and easily overmatched. It’s just more representation that the T-1000 is going to have every conceivable advantage, all the way through to the final scene.
SETUP: Our first look at what the T-1000 really is: an amorphous, liquid killing machine. In the first film, you could at least crush the T-800, which appeared to be the only way you could kill it. It’s more setup in asking the audience to answer the question: how are you going to stop this one?
NOTE: Future John reprogrammed the T-800. It’s a logical progression from hacking simple computers to hacking advanced machines.
SETUP: We get our introduction to one of the T-1000’s most important abilities: it can physically copy anyone and shape-shift. This will play a role in the final act for when the T-1000 impersonates Sarah Conner to get close to John.
SETUP: We also get our introduction to how the T-800 works with John: he has to do whatever John tells him to do. “My own terminator.” This will also translate to John teaching the T-800 to express human emotions due to John’s own sense of morality compelling him to value human life. By extension, this “mission parameter” will lead to the T-800 becoming the best father figure John has ever had, which plays out with an emotional crescendo in the final act.
SETUP: We also first see the T-800’s compromise with “not killing anyone:” he’s going to shoot them in the kneecaps. “He’ll live.” This is maxed out in the final act when we go from just one security guard here, to an entire SWAT unit and “Everyone in the area.”
PAYOFF: The T-800 saying “Come with me if you want to live.” Further expressing the role reversal of the T-800 in this film.
SETUP: We get a small shot of a part of him that broke off integrating with him again. This will again be relevant in the final act when the T-1000 is blown to shards of frozen metal, but when the metal starts to melt again, we understand that the multiple parts can and will just go back together again.
SIDE NOTE: This is a consistent format throughout the first and second acts of this film, where things are introduced in the smallest fashion, so that they can be expressed in grandiose fashion for the third act. It’s a brilliant way of setting things up so that when we see these same elements again, they are taken to their logical extreme, making the experience “new” again.
SETUP: Sarah doesn’t see John as her son, but as an asset. This is going to be relevant in the final act for when Sarah has to learn to be a parent. It’s also an opportunity for another…
SETUP: John tears up due to his mother’s callousness, prompting the T-800 to ask why. Yes, this plays out in the end with the T-800 saying “I know now why you cry, even though it’s something I cannot do.” It’s also a very small sign that the T-800’s inquisitive nature makes him a more understanding figure, where his mother is so overwhelmed by events past and future that she can’t even see the emotional damage being done to her son in the present. The T-800 isn’t just a protector and eventual father figure, but leads Sarah to becoming the mother and parent John needs.
SETUP: The T-800 tears into the car’s ignition to start it, when John just pulls down the car’s visor flap, catching the keys that were hidden there. He asks “Are we learning yet?” This plays a role in the final act.
MIDPOINT: With a new car, and Sarah joining the T-800 and John, the three travel south. Meanwhile…
SETUP: John teaches the T-800 some slang, so that he can emulate humans better. “It’s not ‘affirmative.’ It’s ‘No problemo.’” This is also where we first learn the iconic line “Hasta la vista, baby.” The T-800 will use this line for when he finally bests the T-1000.
SETUP: John watches two little kids fighting. It’s another reminder of what’s at stake, what the machine’s motivations are, and first raises the question, “Can we change?”
SETUP: The T-800 gives a history lesson, and Sarah Conner’s target, Miles Dyson. Dyson will play an important role in the final act and will sacrifice himself to save mankind.
SETUP: The trio end up at a Mexican ranch where they will acquire many of the weapons used in the final act.
SETUP: In the scene where the T-800 is basically a listening ear, the question of crying comes up again. In addition, the T-800 being so involved with John leads Sarah to the conclusion that the T-800 is the perfect father for him. “It would never stop. It would never leave him. It would never hurt him. It would never shout at him or say he was too busy. And it would die to protect him.” This is the kind of setup that gives the final scene its emotional power.
SETUP: In Sarah’s dream, we’re given yet another reminder of what’s at stake, as a nuclear bomb drops on LA, and a look at what Sarah’s life could’ve been, the same life we all have: unaware and apathetic to the reality that still haunts us. The nuclear bomb isn’t a work of fiction, and we have the capability to turn that dream into reality at any time, on any day, without the help of the machines. Human beings can end the world all by themselves. “Can we learn?”
SETUP: After her dream, Sarah chooses to go to kill Miles Dyson, leaving the clue “NO FATE,” which John concludes as “There’s no fate, but what we make for ourselves.” The T-800 leads John to the answer of where his mother’s going and what her plan is, setting up the…
SECOND ACT TURNING POINT: John and the T-800 set out to stop Sarah from killing an innocent man, broadcasting the importance of showing humanity to man, regardless of the end result that may come of it.
SIDE NOTE: Playing the Terminator’s theme over Sarah’s advance on Miles is pitch perfect for the story’s themes. Sarah is operating with a pure, cold “The End justifies the Means” mentality, the same kind a machine would use. It’s perfect comparison to John operating with a “The Means justify the Ends” mentality, and maintaining that human lives are more worth preserving at any cost.
SETUP: While Sarah couldn’t go through with killing Dyson when she looked in his eyes, John and the T-800 still come to his rescue and explain the circumstances to Dyson: All of his research and the previous terminator’s chip and arm will result in the rise of the machines and the end of the world, prompting him to lead the trio into the third act and destroying SkyNet before it can exist.
SETUP: The “black highway” motif is introduced, just as we cross into the third act, setting up the fact that the future is uncertain and not predestined.
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<div>PS81 – Dana’s Great Ending
</div><div>What I learned Doing This Assignment.
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The amount of detail revealed in the third act that was setup in the beginning of the movie/script was amazing. Every detail seemed innocuous until the truth was revealed in the Climax and Resolution. I need to understand my ending in detail before I start writing the beginning.
MOVIE: THE USUAL SUSPECTS
BASIC STORY SETUP TO THE THIRD ACT
Five career criminals – Dean Keaton, Verbal Kint, Michael McManus, Fred Fenster, and Todd Hockney – are unwillingly recruited by a mysterious crime boss, Keyser Soze, and forced to raid a ship holding $91 million worth of cocaine. The cash for the transaction is their reward, should they survive.
3<sup>RD</sup> ACT POINTS
Parked at the marina, Keaton explains the certain death scenario of the heist. But the team doesn’t care. McManus and Hockney are determined. They want their cut if they go in. These are men who never lay down, as stated by Verbal in the Opening.
McManus remarks “The news said it’s raining in New York.” SUBTEXT: How did we get here? All the men reflect on the statement.
That night, they raid the ship and kill the gangsters and begin their search for the cocaine.
SETUP: Before the raid, Verbal identifies the language of the drug dealers at Hungarian. He’s smarter than he pretends.
TWIST: During interrogation, Kujan learns that there was no cocaine on the ship.
REVEAL: During the raid, a man hiding in a cabin aboard the ship, who is eventually shot by an unseen assailant, cries out – “He’s here. He’s here. It’s Keyser Soze!”
CRISIS: Hockney and McManus are killed. And from his hiding place on the dock, Verbal watches a mysterious figure shoot and kill Keaton and set fire to the ship.
CLIMAX: Kujan explains his theory to Verbal that Keaton must be Söze.
1) The man killed on the ship was Arturo Marquez, a drug dealer who could identify Söze.
2) Argentinians were selling Marquez to Söze’s rivals for $91 million.
3) Keaton organized the lineup through his contacts as a NYPD cop.
4) He wrangled the will of men he knew he could march into certain death.
5) Keaton knew his girlfriend, Edie Finneran, represented Marquez in an extradition.
6) Keaton used the raid as camouflage to kill Marquez and fake his own death.
7) Eddie was found murdered in a Pennsylvania hotel.
Verbal breaks down and confesses Keaton was behind everything. “It was all Keaton. We followed him from the beginning.”
Kujan warns Verbal that Keaton is waiting to kill him once he is released and to testify against him in court. But Verbal refuses. He’s not a rat. Verbal is then released.
At the hospital, the sketch artist completes the sketch of Keyser Soze, which his faxed to Baer at the police station.
REVEAL: Verbal collects his belongings from the property clerk, his gold cigarette lighter and his gold watch, and leaves the building. These are the same cigarette lighter an watch used by Keyser in the opening scene.
RESOLUTION: As Kujan sips his coffee relaxing, he suddenly realizes Verbal made-up the entire story from details found in the office where Kujan conducted the interrogation. A VOICE OVER of Verbal’s false statement’s plays as the story, with flashbacks, unravels.
REVEAL: The manufacturer’s label on the bottom of Kujan’s coffee mug reads: Kobayashi.
Kujan races after Verbal as the fax arrives at the station. Bear, waiting by the machine, examines the fax.
REVEAL: The composite looks like Verbal, proving Verbal is Keyser Soze.
REVEAL: On the street, Verbal loses his limp and flexes his crippled hand. He lights a cigarette with his gold lighter, holding it European style, as he did when released from the NYPD police station.
Verbal climbs into a Jaguar driven by Kobayashi, and they drive away, leaving Kujan standing on the street exasperated and defeated.
SETUPS IN THE FIRST TWO ACTS:
OPEN: Dean Keaton lies wounded on a ship. He lights a cigarette and uses the matches to ignite the fuel spilling over the deck. The flame is extinguished by a dark figure who then confronts Keaton. Looking up, Keaton recognizes the man he calls “Keyser.” Using his left hand, Keyser shoots Keaton and sets the ship on fire making his escape.
SETUP: Keaton has been betrayed by someone named Keyser whose identity is revealed in the final act of the movie. Keyser lights a cigarette with a unique gold lighter and wears a very expensive gold watch.
Interrogated in the Attorney General’s office, Verbal Kint recites events in VOICE OVER:
In NY, the “Usual Suspects” are arrested: McManus, Hockney and Fenster. Keaton is arrested by Agent Kujan during a dinner meeting in an Italian restaurant, suspected of a truck hijacking.
SETUP: Agent Kujan is obsessed with Keaton, a one-time cop gone bad, which plays out in the Third Act when he convinces himself and Verbal that Keaton is Keyser Soze.
Verbal, a cripple with bad left arm, limps through hallway leading Keaton and the others into a lineup still telling the story in Voice Over. During the interrogation, Verbal describes the “Usual Suspects” as men who would never lay down for anybody.
SETUP: This description is proved true at the beginning of the Third Act when greed for the $91 million overpowers their reason.
INCITING INDICENT: To get revenge on the cops, McManus proposes to rob a smuggler being escorted by corrupt cops. Keaton wants nothing to do with the job. He has a new life with his lawyer-girlfriend, Eddie Finneran.
The next day, FBI agent Jack Bear arrives on scene to witness the carnage at the marina. He’s told about the two survivors: a Hungarian mobster, and a cripple from New York – Verbal Kint.
SETUP: A body of a man (Arturo Marquez), wearing a bathrobe, floats in the bay.
Special agent Dave Kujan arrives in LA to interrogate Verbal, while FBI agent Jack Baer questions the Hungarian survivor in the hospital.
SETUP: The Hungarian blurts out the name Keyser Soze, identifying the mysterious figure on the boat, intriguing Jack Baer.
Kujan interrogates Verbal at the police station, who describes events via flashback.
Released from the police station, Keaton laments the events of his arrest to Eddie, realizing the cops will never let him go straight. In his frustration, he makes eye contact with the others loitering nearby on the street. They know they need him for the job, but he’s torn between revenge and loyalty to Eddie.
SETUP: Verbal smokes a cigarette holding it European style.
At Eddie’s apartment, Verbal recruits Keaton with the promise no-one gets killed. The job goes off as planned. No-one is killed, the team earns millions in emeralds, and the corrupt cops are arrested. They decide to lay low in LA.
SETUP: During the interrogation, Kujan reveals Keaton’s background to Verbal: a corrupt ex-cop who killed witnesses and faked his own death. See CLIMAX #6.
SETUP: At the hospital, the Hungarian describes Keyser Soze to a sketch artist. The sketch is revealed during the Climax.
Keaton and the others travel to California and fence the jewels through McManus’ associate, Redfoot, who tells them of another job.
SETUP: Verbal says about Redfoot that “he seemed like a good guy. But they should have known.”
They accept the job, but the robbery goes wrong. They inadvertently kill a drug dealer and steal the heroin belonging to Keyser Soze.
SETUP: Verbal kills the drug dealer, exposing them to a murder charge used to blackmail them into raiding the ship.
They learn the job was arranged by a lawyer named Kobayashi, working for Keyser Soze, who setup the lineup in NY hoping to approach the men regarding the raid. He explains how each man unwittingly stole from Soze in the past, and they need to repay their debt by raiding the ship. He blackmails them by threatening to turn them over to the police for killing the drug dealer.
REVEAL: Hockey hijacked the gun parts at the beginning that drew the others into the plot.
ANTICIPATORY DIALOGUE: During his interrogation, Verbal tells Agent Kujan about Soze’s legend. Soze was a drug runner who killed his own family and the mobsters holding them hostage, then murdered the mobsters’ families, their friends, and anyone who owed them money before he vanished. Soze became a legend, working indirectly with other criminals who never knew his identity.
END OF ACT 2: Fenster is found killed after trying to escape. The team decides to kill Kobayashi, believing Soze is a “spook story.” But when Kobayashi threatens to kill their loved ones, including Eddie Finneran, they’re forced to accept the assignment, believing Keyser Soze is very real.
SETUP: Eddie is working unwittingly for Soze, via Kobayashi, on an extradition case that is revealed during the Climax.
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June Fortunato’s Great Ending
What I learned doing this assignment is I am amazed at how many payoffs happen in the last 30 minutes. Astonishing, satisfying and that’s what I have to do. Thanks for this great assignment.
MOVIE: Green Book, 2018
BASIC STORY UP TO THE 3RD ACT- the last 30 minutes.
Buddy story.
A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South. 1962. Tony Vallelonga aka Lip, lives in the Bronx and barely makes a living for his wife and two kids. They have a large, extended and supportive Italian family. He and his family are racist except for his wife. Tony’s laid off for two months from a club where he’s a driver for the owner, and a bouncer. He’s nicknamed, “lip” because he’s known as someone who can talk anyone into something. Dr. Shirley, a genius and highly admired musician, refined, worldly and incredibly well educated African American, decides to perform a concert tour of the American South – a dangerous place for African Americans. He hires Tony Lip to be his driver and protector. They’re opposites in many ways. The story goes back and forth between who’s the teacher, and who’s the student, and they teach each other, help each other, and become deep and lifelong friends. Tony’s wife insists that Tony get home by Christmas, and that he write letters to her.
THIRD ACT POINTS:
3rd ACT TURNING POINT: Dr. Shirley is about to play his last concert of the tour in Birmingham, Alabama. Tony Lip and the two members of Dr. Shirley’s trio, eat in the upscale dining room prior to the performance. Dr.Shirley (DS). has a literal closet for a dressing room. One of the trio explains why DS, who could get far more money and respect staying in NYC, decided to do the tour. “Genius is not enough. It takes courage to change people’s hearts.”
When DS enters, gorgeous tux, impeccable, to have dinner, the maître de refuses to seat him. If he doesn’t perform, Tony and the other performers don’t get paid. D.S tells Tony the decision is his. Play, or leave? Tony gets the gravity of it, and they leave.
TWIST Tony whines about his place in life. Completely vulnerable for the first time, DS declares that Tony has a family and people who understand him. DS doesn’t fit anywhere. He’s not accepted by ‘his people’, he’s “just another N…. when he walks off of a ‘white’ stage- and he’s queer so he’s not considered to be a real man. It’s a revelation for Tony.
TWIST They head for an African American club for dinner. People stare at DS. The bartender challenges him to play something. DS finally plays something he loves and blows everyone away- including Tony Lip, who already thinks DS is a genius. DS has a brilliant time.
TWIST They try to get home for Christmas but there’s a bad snow storm. They get stopped by a cop- and earlier in the story when they got pulled over, they got arrested and thrown in jail. This spells trouble- but instead, this cop tells them they have a flat tire and directs traffic while Tony changes the tire.
CRISIS Blinding snowstorm, Tony is being mesmerized by the storm and cannot drive any further. He gives up getting home for Christmas eve.
CLIMAX For the first time, DS drives the rest of the way and drops Tony off at his home for Christmas eve. DS declines Tony’s request that he come in and join the party.
RESOLUTION Tony rejoins his family to much fanfare. Someone refers to DS in a racist way, and Tony tells him not to call him that. Tony’s wife is surprised and pleased. DS drives to his own, gilded apartment. It’s perfect, pristine and he’s very alone.
FINAL SCENE Tony is surrounded by a lively family, and DS arrives- he’s decided to join them. Tony is so very happy, Tony’s wife is in awe of the man and everyone embraces him and makes a place for him at their fest.
PAYOFFS in the last 30 minutes:
PAYOFF Tony learns that DS could make a LOT of money, but has chosen to take the tour and that DS has more courage than anyone could imagine.
PAYOFF They refuse to perform in the club that refuses DS a seat in the club
PAYOFF In the African American Club – they eat fried chicken- which DS had never had (yuk greasy) until Tony insisted that he try it.
PAYOFF Tony Lip mashes a quote from John Kennedy, but it’s a good try and DS humors him.
PAYOFF DS plays the piano in the AA club, and there’s a glass of booze on the piano, which he removes.
PAYOFF Finally, the AA musicians and patrons of the club dig him, accept him, and DS has a blast of a great time.
PAYOFF DS Also plays what he loves to play, not what the music label contracted him to play for the concert tour.
PAYOFF Tony Lip scares two would be thieves away by shooting off a gun- which he told DS he didn’t have
PAYOFF End scene DS has a ‘lucky rock’ which is a running gag- Tony stole the jade rock- DS insisted that he pay for it or return it- Tony pretended to return it but kept it- DS knew all along and cites it earlier. Now DS has the lucky rock.
PAYOFF An officer actually helps Tony and DS
PAYOFF Tony gives up on the drive
PAYOFF Tony’s wife looks for him during the Christmas eve party but Tony is not there- to DS has decided to drive them the rest of the way home.
PAYOFF Tony gets home for Christmas and DS is home, and lonely. Tony has taught him it’s ok to be vulnerable and loved.
PAYOFF Tony tells his family not to make a racist comment.
PAYOFF There’s a knock on the door- but it’s someone else- and Tony misses his friend and wants him there.
PAYOFF DS arrives. Big payoff! The two friends embrace.
PAYOFF Tony’s wife thanks DS for helping Tony write the love letters to her.
SETUPS IN FIRST TWO ACTS:
OPEN Tony Lip bounces a man from the club- steals a hat to ‘find it’ for his boss, and then the boss owes him a favor. Tony goes home to a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, where he, his wife, and two kids all sleep.
SET UP Tony refuses to work for the mafia. Tony is interviewed to drive for DS and demands more money and fewer management duties.
SET UP DS teaches Tony how to write letters. Tony teaches DS about popular AA music, and basic things- how good fried chicken is…
SET UP – many problems at the venues. Tony takes control and insists that the vendors respect DS.
SET UP – DS is gay and jailed for it. Earlier, a suit shop refused to let DS try on a suit- after the jailing, Tony bribes the cops to let them go by giving them money for suits.
SET UP – Tony and DS are pulled over because they’re lost and on backroads in the deep, racist south. Tony hits one of the cops. They’re both jailed- and DS calls someone important to get them out. He has called the attorney general- Robert Kennedy!
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Antonio Flores’ Great Ending movie
What I learned doing this assignment
I’ve heard that “Back to the Future I” is a model of structure in screenwriting. Anyway, it is my favorite movie of all times. I found endless examples of the skills we have explored in the Pro Series, including dramatic suspense, dialogue, character and story subtext.
The third act has plenty of examples of all of these skills, but what makes the great ending is the roller-coaster of hope-fear sequences that combine the main plot (Will Marty make his parents fall in love and kiss at the dance?) with the subplot (Will Marty be able to go back to the future and prevent Doc from being killed by the Libyans?), the setup-payoffs, and the ultimate, so enjoyable and surprising, yet inevitable flying car going into a new adventure to the future… flying, yes, flying! Because “Where we’ going there are NO ROADS,” says Doc.
ASSIGNMENT
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1. Select a movie you’ve seen that you think has a great ending:
Back to the Future I
2. Fast forward it to the beginning of the 3rd act. Usually, that
means you’ll be watching the last 30 minutes of the movie.
3. Watch the 3rd act, taking notes about what makes it a great
ending. Especially note how it is surprising, yet inevitable.
— In 1955, Doc develops a plan to get Marty back to the future using the power of lightning from the storm that damaged the town’s clocktower.
— Lorraine, Marty’s mom, falls for Marty and pushes him to take her to the prom dance where she was supposed to fall in love with George McFly, Marty’s dad.
— Marty coaches George about how to call Lorraine’s attention, they plan to fake a scene where Marty is taking advantage of Lorraine in his car and then, George comes to her rescue.
PAYOFF: When Marty and Lorraine get to the dance parking area. They stay in the car. Marty gets dumbfounded when Lorraine is comfortable sitting in the car with him. Then, she reveals that she likes drinking and smoking. She kisses Marty, but feels it’s wrong “as if she had kissed her brother.”
TWIST: Something goes wrong. Instead of George coming to the rescue, Biff the bully and his gang come to the scene and get Marty away. They lock him into someone else’s car trunk. What’s worse, the car trunk keys are inside the locked trunk along with Marty.
— George arrives at the scene, ready to rescue Lorraine, but he chickens out when he finds it’s Biff. The bully twists George’s arm.
TWIST: Unexpectedly, George gets courage from nowhere and knocks Biff unconscious with a single punch.
TWIST: Marty gets free. The hand of the guy who got the trunk open gets hurt. He is the band’s guitar. They plan to cancel the dance unless they find someone to substitute the guitar guy. Marty takes his place.
— George takes Lorraine to the dance and stands as a ‘hero’ in the eyes of Lorraine and everyone.
TWIST: Someone interrupts their dancing, taking Lorraine away from George, who walks away as a loser he is. Marty feels he is fading away, same as the images of his siblings on a picture that he carries in his wallet.
TWIST: Unexpectedly, George gets Lorraine back, pushes the punk away, and kisses Lorraine. Marty recovers his strength. The images of his siblings reappear on the picture.
— Marty gets to the town square where Doc has everything ready to send him back.
NEW FINDING FOR ME: When Marty reports to Doc that George behaved courageous like never before, Doc gets alarmed. His reaction confirms his fears. No matter how careful they had been so far, their actions have already altered the future!
TWIST: lightning and wind cause a tree branch to unplug the cables that Doc had installed to fuse the car’s time-travel system. Now Doc will have to climb the clock tower and fix it in a rush or miss the time when the thunder strikes the tower.
— Marty modifies the arrival time for ten minutes, so he can alert Doc and prevent him from getting killed.
CLIMAX: Doc manages to plug the cables, but another connection gets unplugged near the opposite far end and there is no way that Doc can fix it on time.
— The car dies out. Marty cannot get it started. At last, Marty’s frustration turns into his head hitting the car’s driving wheel, which gets the engine going.
— With one minute of time left, Doc slides through the cable, falls, gets back on his feet and connects the cables right on time for the electric current to pass through the circuit and fuse the time-travel system.
— Marty gets back to the future, but the car dies out again and he has to go on foot just to witness the killing of Doc.
— Fortunately, this time Doc wore a bulletproof vest. He read the warning letter Marty wrote 30 years ago.
RESOLUTION: Doc takes Marty home and leaves on a trip to the future. For Marty everything has changed
— The future was altered. Marty lives now in his dream world where his family is prosperous. Most of all, his sweetheart, Jennifer and he…
TWIST: But right when Marty is about to enjoy his new dream reality, Doc reappears. He is back from the future and needs to take Marty, and this time Jennifer comes along as well on a new adventure. Doc throws trash into the fuel system of the car. It’s the kind of fuel the car uses now.
FINAL SCENE: Marty warns Doc that the road is too short to reach the 88 mph the time-travel system needs to kick off. Doc says: “Roads? Where we’ going there’re no roads” The car flies into the air and away, back to the future!
4. Rewind it and watch the entire movie. This time, note everything
you see that SETS UP the ending. This is a very important step.
Don’t skip it. It will show you how important those setups are to
the success of the ending.
The movie’s premise is about what would happen if you could meet your parents when they were young? Marty McFly has his chance to find out.
— Marty Mcfly befriends a crazy scientist, doctor Emmett Brown, AKA Doc, who developed a time-machine in form of a sports car.
— The day before the test, Marty fails an audition to perform with his band at the school dance.
SETUP: Disheartened, he goes to town square where he gets a “Save the Clock Tower” campaign flyer with the exact details about the storm that damaged the clock tower 30 years in the past. He keeps the flyer because Jennifer is going to spend overnight at her grandma and she wrote her grandma’s phone number in the back of the flyer.
SETUP: At home, when Marty’s sister tells Marty that Jennifer called, he and his siblings get to hear the story about how mom and dad met and how much mom dislikes the idea of girls calling boys and sitting in cars at a parking area.
INCITING INCIDENT: Unfortunately, to get the nuclear components for his project, Doc gets involved in deals with Libyan terrorists. They find out that Doc cheated them and on the night of time travel test, the Libyans shoot him dead.
LOCK IN: Marty runs away from the Libyans in the car. But when he reaches 88 mph the time travel system gets activated and Marty goes to the time when his parents met in 1955. The date was selected by Doc when showing Marty how the machine worked. He said that was the year when he designed the flux capacitor that allows for time traveling.
— Marty looks for Doc in 1955 and requests his help to fix the car so he can go back to the future.
PAYOFF: Doc is skeptical about what Marty says about him coming from the future, but when Marty describes how on that day Doc fell, bumped his head and designed the flux capacitor, he gets Doc’s attention.
SETUP: Doc, however, anticipates that their actions may have an impact on events and change the future. He also estimates that it is impossible to get enough energy to power up the time travel system, which takes the equivalent of a lightning bolt. He explains that it is impossible to predict when and where lightning would strike.
PAYOFF: Yet, Marty shows him the flyer from the “Save the Clock Tower” campaign, where the exact time lightning stroke the tower is detailed.
SETUP: Doc makes Marty aware that if his parents don’t get to dance and have a kiss that night, the future would change and Marty would not exist.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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ANNA HARPER’S DAY 1 WRITING GREAT ENDINGS
MOONSTRUCK WRITTEN BY JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
WHAT I LEARNED:
How important it is to layer meaning throughout the work to fulfill the intention of the movie, and to come up with a non-cliche ending.
The setups for this rom-com run all through every part of the movie from the way the sets are dressed, of course, the soundtrack,, and even the placement of seemingly insignificant items, (always two glasses) is geared to evoke a romance movie vibe. While all the rom-com tropes are there the ending is a new twist, and I did not experience it as cliched, it was a satisfying fulfillment of the tropes of the genre.
The opening to the movie is very important in terms of the setup of expectations. This is a romance and of course, we want a happy ending.
The beginning of the movie set me up wondering if it could be a happy ending. The opera Boheme is emphasized throughout the opening of the movie, with scenes of the backstage, scene equipment, etc., for the Mets, La Boheme, and the music from the opera is playing. Of course, we know that at the end of La Boheme, also a romance, Mimi dies.
So I was wondering if this was going to be a happy ending, I was hooked, by the potential subtext, hoping for the HEA ending.
MOVIE: Characters: The two lead characters are Cher playing Lorretta,
Nicholas Cage playing Ronny.
Most of the notable cast have problems in their love lives. The whole movie sub plots are about the travails of romance,
The parents of Lorretta, have romance problems of their own (Lorretta’s father has a woman on the side forbidden love).
Her aunt and her husband, are two happy romantics.
Rose the mother enjoys the attention, but not the intentions of a younger man.
The grandad loves five mutt dogs. Which gets him threatened with being “Kicked to death” by Rose the mother.
They all live in the West Village in Brooklyn. They are an Italian family, more or less religious. Their speech is in Italian dialect and reflective of working-class idioms which are highly amusing.
Everything about the movies fits together. The sets are often neutral with big hits of red, as in the bedroom scene. Loretta’s house is shot in dark shades, while Ronny’s scenes move from the dark dungeon of the bakery to the light and music and red throws on the bed of his bachelor apartment. The shop signage is all about romance, the hairdresser’s “Cinderella” and the deli with a neon heart. And the Bella Luna moon gets a lot of attention. All but one of the scenes with drinks show two drinks being poured, people in twos at dinner tables. Where there is Rose alone, another man comes to sit with Rose. A metaphor for her unsatisfactory relationship with her husband.
Throughout the movie, the soundtrack is from La Boheme. The opera is played to mirror the emotional intensity of the scenes.
The main aim of the first act is to introduce the characters, what they do, and the story world of the Italian district.
Loretta is an unhappy widow, she wants to be married as a confirmation of her success in life and a release from the bad luck of her husband’s death. She is engaged to Johnny Cammerari an immature Momma’s boy. The first act shows them engaged with zero evidence of chemistry, however, Johnny has got himself a new mother figure.
Johnny goes off to Italy to see his supposedly dying mother who is feigning illness to get Johnny to come for a visit. Johny asks Loretta to visit his brother Ronny while he is away and invite him to the wedding. The brothers have had a bad falling out. And Johnny wants Loretta, his new mommy, to fix the problem for him.
ACT 3
Johny’s away and the mice they will play.
Lorretta reluctantly visits Ronny in his bakery, while he fires the loaves of bread in the dark basement of his bakery business. He is half-naked, sweating, and very angry. His performance at this point is very theatrical mirroring his love for the opera.
It seems that Johnny, Ronnies brother distracted Ronny while he was working in the bakery and Ronny cuts his hand off with the slicer. His fiance dumped him and he has been angry ever since. He refuses the wedding invitation to a stunned Lorretta. There is the beginning of some conflict-driven frisson between Ronny and Lorretta.
Lorretta suggests they talk about it. They end up in Ronny’s apartment, opera playing and they have a heated and symbol-laced exchange. Ronny throws the table and chairs to one side and carts a very agreeable Lorretta off to bed., saying she hopes it breaks the curse of her bad luck.
TWIST The morning after, Lorretta is quite business-like and proceeds with her agenda of going home and marrying Johnny. Ronny says he loves her and begs for one last evening at the opera with her and then he will leave her alone. Lorretta agrees.
Character arc development. Lorretta is changing on the inside as well as the outside, taking big risks. On the way home, she goes to the spa for a major makeover and to a dress shop. She looks like a million bucks, and don’t forget the sparkling red stilettos. This scene begs the question is she trying to floor Ronny, is she thinking of leaving Johnny. Either way, she is bringing out the big guns of seduction.
Ronny looks amazing in a tuxedo, he is blown away by Lorretta’s transformation,
Lorretta is blown away by the splendor of the Met. They are both happy. During a particularly sad part of the opera Loretta starts to cry, this only affirms to Ronny that she is the one. And it becomes obvious that she has fallen for Ronny.
Surprise, shock, horror. At the intermission, Loretta encounters her father with the other woman, and Loretta’s father encounters Loretta with a man other than her intended Johnny. They agree to have not seen anyone at the opera.
Loretta is arguing as to why she cannot go on with the relationship, suddenly being aware that they are at Ronny’s place, and she agrees to spend the night ( after a very poetic/theatrical about the meaning of life in the now) outpouring from Ronny. Is there no turning back?
TWIST The next day she returns home with the intent of marrying Johnny.
The final scene has all of the family assembled around the dinner table for breakfast. Soon the doorbell rings, it’s Ronny. He is not taking no for an answer.
The doorbell rings again, an awkward silence is broken by the arrival of Johnny.
SURPRISE AND SATISFYING ENDING
He says he cannot marry Lorretta as his mother had a miraculous recovery when he mentioned he was getting married and now he must spend more time with his mother. (Hooray). Ronny comes to the rescue and proposes on the spot, of course, Lorretta accepts. Champagne appears (in sets of two glasses) and all is well that ends well. Right to the credit rolls, we are shown the importance of the Italian family with the camera panning both ancient and new family portraits. The MUSIC is an allegro of La Boheme., upbeat.
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PS81 Day 1 (Writing Great Endings) Anita’s Great Ending
What I learned: It was very interesting looking at this movie from the ending first, and then analyzing the set-ups. I did not recall the flash-forward / flash-back structure, telling his story non-linearly – but it still works as a classic 3 Act film. I had remembered the ending as powerful – both surprising and inevitable. But I didn’t remember how the entire third act was one reveal after another, like an onion. And also, the final resolutions were done as Graphics, revealing the most surprising facts about Alan Turing and his life. Somehow these facts presented so starkly at the end held even more punch for me – reminding me this was a true story, based on one person’s incredible life.
MOVIE: THE IMITATION GAME
BASIC STORY UP TO THE THIRD ACT: During WWII a brilliant mathematician (Alan Turing) leads a team to break the German’s notorious ENIGMA machine. The first two acts establish Alan Turing as extremely socially awkward but a math genius. Today he would likely be diagnosed as either on the autism scale or a savant. He was also a homosexual, which in <st1:country-region w:st=”on”><st1:place w:st=”on”>England</st1:place></st1:country-region> at that time was considered illegal and punishable with prison – meaning he had to keep that aspect of himself a secret. We learn Alan is also good at keeping secrets for the government, as his work is classified Top Secret.
THIRD ACT POINTS:
TURNING POINT: After months of grueling effort, the 5-person British team lead by Alan cracks the German ENIGMA code machine using Alan’s computer (he has named after his first love), ‘Christopher’.
TWIST: Alan blocks the disclosure that they’ve broken the code because it would tip the Germans off. This decision costs the lives of many civilians on a supply convoy ship, including the brother of one of the team members.
CRISIS: Alan and Joan travel to <st1:city w:st=”on”><st1:place w:st=”on”>London</st1:place></st1:city> to meet MI6 Agent Mingus to keep their secret and devise a plan to leak and use information very judiciously – a plan that became known as ULTRA, and would ultimately help the Allies win the war.
TWIST: Alan discovers one of his team members (Ken Cross) is a Russian spy, and when confronted, Ken threatens Alan with disclosing his homosexuality.
DOUBLE TWIST: MI6 Agent Mingus reveals he knows about the Soviet Spy and uses him as a useful idiot to control information to Stalin. He then tricks Alan into becoming a kind of double-agent to further this plan. Alan breaks off his engagement with Joan (thinking to protect her from this web of deception) disclosing to her his homosexuality.
CLIMAX: 2 more years of ULTRA go by – the secrecy early breaking Alan. Finally! Victory is declared in the war – <st1:country-region w:st=”on”><st1:place w:st=”on”>England</st1:place></st1:country-region> has prevailed. But they must burn EVERYTHING, keeping their entire work secret forever.
Years later, Alan (who has been a math professor these many years), has been acting as his own narrator divulging his story to a detective who has had him arrested for homosexuality. He challenges the detective to judge him: Is he a machine? A person? A war hero? Or a criminal?
RESOLUTION: The law requires Alan Turing be sentenced for indecency and instead of prison is put on “hormonal castration” – drugs that have robbed him of his sharp mind, his bodily and mental health. Joan visits him and finds him in this withered condition. She reminds him how special he is; how many lives were saved because of him; and that the new field of computer science now exists because of him.
FINAL SCENE: In a series of slates over the visual of the Enigma team burning everything in a huge bonfire we learn the following:
– After a year of hormonal therapy Alan Turing committed suicide in 1954 at the age of 41.
– Between 1885-1967 49,000 men were convicted of homosexuality in <st1:country-region w:st=”on”><st1:place w:st=”on”>Great Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
– In 2013 Queen Elizabeth granted a posthumous Royal Pardon to Turing honoring his unprecedented achievements.
– Breaking ENIGMA shorted the war by 2 years and saved an estimated 14 MILLION lives.
– Their work was kept secret for 50 years.
– What was initially called Turing Machines are now known as computers.
SETUPS IN FIRST TWO ACTS:
OPEN: Alan Turing is being interrogated by a detective, allowing him to act as narrator to his own story.
SETUP: Turing has been robbed but blows the police off, causing him to look suspicious and therefore have his background investigated.
INCITING INCIDENT: 1939 – <st1:country-region w:st=”on”>Britain</st1:country-region> declares War with <st1:place w:st=”on”><st1:country-region w:st=”on”>Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
SETUP: Naval Commander Denizen interviews Turing. He is revealed as terribly awkward but a brilliant cryptographer/ mathematician.
SETUP: The team is introduced to a smuggled ENIGMA machine. They will only have 18 hours for each decryption attempt before it gets reset. Personalities and tensions are established: Alan is not a team player.
SETUP/PAYOFF: Alan, unliked by his team or by Denizon causes Turing to write to Churchill who then puts Turing in charge of the project.
SETUP: Flashbacks to his school days reveal how he was bullied; but also how he had one friend (with which he forms a bond and ultimately falls in love with) – Christopher – who introduces him to cryptology.
PAYOFF: There is a payoff here at two critical points later in the film: 1) when Alan repeats words of encouragement first told to him by Christopher, to Joan; and 2) at the end when Joan finds Alan at his lowest point, she quotes this saying back to Alan. Alan also names his decryption machine – Christopher.
SETUP: <st1:city w:st=”on”><st1:place w:st=”on”>London</st1:place></st1:city> is being bombed in the blitzkrieg. Alan must beef up his team and places a crossword puzzle in the paper.
PAYOFF: This nets Joan, who will become the only woman on the team (and later Alan’s fiancée of convenience) and one of his best allies.
SETUP: Hugh (former head of the Enigma team) tries to smash Christopher. Denizen accuses Turing of being a Russian Spy. Later, Denizen tries to stop Turing’s work with Christopher.
PAYOFF: Joan has broken the ice for Alan with the rest of the team. Hugh defends Christopher and buys them another month of effort.
SETUP: Joan says she has to leave because of her parents. Alan proposed to keep her on the team. Alan, worried about the impending marriage confesses to Peter that he is homosexual.
PAYOFF: When Alan discovers Peter is the Russian spy, Peter threatens to ‘out’ Turing so Alan keeps quiet about the spying.
PAYOFF: Joan’s friend who works as a Morse code translator says something that gives Alan the breakthrough he needs to give Christopher the basis for decryption and ultimately breaks the ENIGMA machine’s code.
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DAY 1 Writing Great Endings
Lisa’s Great Ending
WHAT I LEARNED: is that every scene is basically a set up and should move the story along.
MOVIE: “IT’S COMPLICATED”
BASIC STORY UP TO THE 3RD ACT: Jane is divorced from Jake. She is working with an architect, Adam, to re-design her house. She goes to NYC to her son’s graduation from college and sleeps with her ex-husband who is married. They are sneaking around behind the kids’ backs, but Harley the son-in-law sees them and puts two and two together. Jane dates her architect too.
3rd ACT POINTS:
3rd ACT TURNING POINT: At her son’s graduation party, Jane takes Adam, her architect. Her ex-husband, Jake is jealous and his wife, Agnes notices it.
TWIST: Adam wants chocolate croissants; Jane makes them for him at her bakery and they have an incredible time. Adam asks if she’s seeing anyone, Jane says she was but isn’t anymore. They kiss.
TWIST: Jake revels in Jane’s cooking. Jane berates Jake and says she thinks Agnes threw him out. “What’s the difference” he says…so he lied. Jake is there when Adam calls Jane. Jake makes popcorn and has movie night with Jane and the kids…like old times. Kids reminiscence about their childhood and how Jane and Jake weren’t lovey-dovey.
CRISIS: Jake turns up in Jane’s driveway and says he left Agnes. He confessed to her about their affair. Jane is not happy. The kids ask Jane to let him stay. Jake cries and the kids cry, and Jane caves under the pressure. Jake revels in Jane’s cooking. Jane berates Jake and says she thinks Agnes threw him out. “What’s the difference” he says…so he lied. Jake is there when Adam calls Jane. Jake makes popcorn and has movie night with Jane and the kids…like old times. Kids reminiscence about their childhood and how Jane and Jake weren’t lovey-dovey.
CLIMAX: Janie is in her room talking to Adam via the computer. She’s helping him sort clothes. Janie goes to the bathroom and Jake comes in and gets naked on the bed. He moves the computer so it’s in front of his private parts. Adam comes back to his computer and sees it! Jane comes out of the bathroom and screams! The kids come running in. They want to know what’s happening. Adam listens as Jake explains that he left Agnes for Jane and he never stopped loving her. Adam clicks off when Jake says “I hope she’ll take me back”. Kids say they’re still getting over the divorce. Kids ask if they’re getting back together. Jane says they’re not. Kids leave. Jake leaves. Jane sleeps by the pool.
RESOLUTION: Jane explains to the kids that maybe she and Jake had unfinished business after the divorce. Kids say it’s bonkers for two people who couldn’t be in the same room for years to have an affair. Jane says she did it for herself and Jake. But found out that they really don’t fit. And it’s over.
Jane goes to see Adam to apologize. He says he can’t see her anymore because he thinks her relationship with jake isn’t done and needs to be resolved. He was thinking of another architect to step in to complete her house. She says, “I hope you don’t”.
Jake comes to Jane’s house. Jake apologizes for everything. They decide they both made a mistake…too much time has passed and too much has happened. “It was complicated”. Jane cries. Jake doesn’t regret it. Jane doesn’t regret it either.
FINAL SCENE: It’s raining buckets. There is a tent in Jane’s front yard. Jane comes out to the tent. The workers part and there is Adam. It’s good luck to start in the rain. Jane offers everyone coffee in her house. Adam asks Jane if she has any of those amazing chocolate croissants. She’ll go into town and get some.
SETUPS IN FIRST TWO ACTS:
OPEN: Shots of Santa Barbara. A party on a lawn overlooking the ocean. See Jane and Jake clinking glasses with another couple. Celebrating the other couple’s anniversary. It appears that Jane and Jake are a couple talking about a trip they made. But then Agnes and her body come over. See Jane’s face of slight distain. Jane says she’ll see Jake and Agnes in NYC. We realize Jake is with Agnes a much younger woman. Awkwardness. It’s been ten years since their divorce.
SETUP: Kids ask if she’s afraid to sleep in the house alone. We know she’s by herself. Remarks are made by the kids about Jane and Jake being at the same party and how strange it must have been. We see her in her house alone.
SETUP: Jane’s bakery is a thriving business. Jane is the boss lady. Jane meets Adam over plans for her house renovation. She compliments Peter on each design aspect and Peter says it’s all Adam. She doesn’t want his and hers sinks. Adam asks if she won’t want one later. Jane says the other sink makes her feel bad.
SETUP: Jane goes to see a plastic surgeon to see about lifting her eyelids. We know she’s insecure about getting older. But runs out when she finds out how they do it. She meets Jake, Agnes, and Pedro in the elevator. She holds up her eyelid showing her insecurity. Jake has a fertility booklet.
SETUP: Jane has dinner with her friends. We find out that Pedro is not Jake’s kid. Agnes had left him, had Pedro, and came back. Tell Jane she has to date someone, anyone.
SETUP: NYC. Kids run off leaving Jane alone. Jane goes to hotel bar and sees Jake is there eating alone too because Pedro got sick. It’s been 10 years since they had a meal together. They talk about him having a baby at his age. They laugh, reminisce, dance, flirt, drink, have fun and end up in bed.
SETUP: Jane forgets she has a meeting with Adam. He drives by and picks up Jane and is playing a how to cope with divorce tape in the car. Jane gives him advice on how to be divorced. They work on the architectural plans for the house. Jake arrives. Jane introduces Jake and Adam. Jake gets upset because Jane won’t return his calls. Jane feels guilty. Jake doesn’t. Jake makes a case for having the affair. They sleep together again.
SETUP: Jane talking to her girlfriends. They say it’s genius. And wrong. They say Jane’s never done anything bad or wrong ever.
SETUP: Jane forgets her meeting with Adam again. Jake calls and Jane ignores it.
SETUP: Jake tries to call Jane in the bathroom. Pedro interrogates Jake about what he was doing. Jane and Adam have a date. Adam explains that his wife cheated on him with his best friend. Jake spies on them…jealous. Jane lies to Adam and says she doesn’t have a man in her life.
SETUP: Jake says Jane always says no before she says yes. Jake explains that his marriage is not how he hoped. They fight all the time, and she wants a bigger house and help, and she wants a baby. He wants to cut back. Jake is stressed. Jake has a joint that he leaves for Jane to smoke with him later. Jake says the nerdy architect likes you. Jane’s phone rings and it’s the kids. Jake’s phone rings and it’s the kids. They are lying to the kids.
SETUP: Jane waits outside her shrink’s office and begs to see him. Jane asks if her affair is good or bad. Shrink says it’s neither. Jane has a list of what the affair is about. She mentions that she’s been in therapy for 8 years. She wants the shrink to tell her what to do. Shrink says to “let go, it can’t hurt”.
SETUP: Jake is at the fertility clinic. Jane calls him for “lunch”. Harley, their son-in-law sees them sneaking around a hotel. Jake gets dizzy and passes out. Doctor comes to the hotel and Harley hears that the doctor is for Jake. They are comfortable with each other. Jane finds out that Jake is also sleeping with his wife.
SETUP: Adam asks Jane out to a movie, but Jake says he can see her. Jane turns down Adam. Jane goes all out making Jake’s favorite meal and she bought a new dress, but Jake can’t get away. Jane is stood up.
SETUP: Jane announces in front of everyone that she’s bringing a date to her son’s graduation party. Jake tells Jane he couldn’t get away. Jane says she doesn’t want to do it anymore. It was humiliating. The untruths mount up.
SETUP: Jane smokes the joint and is eating a big piece of cake when Adam arrives for his date. As a PAYOFF, Adam gives her an appointment book. She accidentally kisses him. Jane and Adam smoke the joint that she was supposed to smoke with Jake.
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Matthew Frendo’s Great Ending.
WHAT I LEARNED: I learned way more about endings than I thought I would from this, tbh. I’ve seen TOP GUN more times than I can count and I just realized what the movies is about. It’s not about planes or war. It’s about one man dealing with the trauma of loss. Of course, I knew it included loss, but the WHOLE THING is about trauma from loss. At first, he’s rebelling against everything due to the loss of his father. Then, after Goose dies, he withdraws from everything. These are the 2 standard ways people deal with trauma. At the end, they have him take two big actions, which show he’s gotten over both losses and is moving on. And it’s all done through airplanes and combat school…
TOP GUN
Setup:
Maverick and his navigator Goose get into the top military aircraft dogfighting school in the country. Maverick is an individualistic pilot who doesn’t play by the team’s rules.
At school, Maverick and Goose are rivals with Iceman and Slider. They all compete for points. During one mission, Goose dies, but it wasn’t Maverick’s fault.
However, Maverick can’t get over it. He can’t take a shot at people or fly like he used to. He feels he’s “lost the edge.”
He’s told can still graduate with his class if he wants to. He decides to go to the graduation ceremony. But he’s still not sure he can fly or fight again.
3<sup>rd</sup> Act Turning Point: At the graduation ceremony, Maverick and the others get called to a mission.
SUSPENSE: Maverick is placed in backup position, with Iceman stating that he’s not sure Maverick can handle it.
SUSPENSE: More enemy fighters attack, making the pilots up there vastly outnumbered.
TWIST: Hollywood is shot down. Now the only person up there is Iceman, Mav’s rival, who’s facing 5 planes. They call Maverick to action.
TWIST: Due to a malfunction, they can’t launch anymore aircraft. All that is up there is Mav and Ice.
TWIST: Mav goes through someone’s jetwash, causing the same problem that killed Goose earlier. Mav barely gets it together.
CRISIS: Maverick disengages after the jetwash. He holds Goose’s dogtags and asks his friend to “talk to me,” as Iceman battles all five below. After a moment of introspection, he reengages and gets back to battle.
Maverick takes his first shot since Goose’s death…and it’s a direct hit.
TWIST: Maverick is in danger…but decides to follow the team’s rules instead of his own desires and refuses to “leave his wingman,” like he did during practice.
CLIMAX: In the next dangerous situation, Maverick does a move that is against Navy protocol, showing his individualism and guts are still there too. This causes the other enemy fighters to flee.
Mav does a flyby, like he used to do with Goose, to show he’s ready to live again.
RESOLUTION: Mav celebrates the win by embracing rival Ice as a friend and decides to go teach at Top Gun. Then he throws Goose’s dog tags into the ocean, showing he’s letting it go.
FINAL SCENE: Maverick then reconnects with his girlfriend and they kiss.
SETUPS IN FIRST TWO ACTS
OPEN: Maverick and Cougar are both flying against some enemy aircraft. Maverick has fun with them, but when one gets Cougar into his sights, Cougar shuts down and can’t fly anymore. Maverick disobeys an order to go and save Cougar, bringing him in for a landing.
Cougar then retires, saying he can’t fly again and that he’s “lost his edge.” This is how Maverick and his navigator Goose get called to an elite training school called Top Gun.
SETUP: Maverick is a freewheeling pilot who is unpredictable and breaks the rules as he pleases, but he also cares about his teammates and will do anything to save or help them. And now, he’s going to the top aviation school in the land.
They go to Top Gun. Maverick meets Iceman, who will be his biggest rival. Iceman who “flys ice cold, no mistakes.”
SETUP: Freewheeling Maverick and Strait-laced Iceman are exact opposites. This is setting up the rivalry that will drive them both during their training.
Maverick meets a girl he’s into at the bar and serenades her, but ends up “crashing and burning.” She ends up being a civilian aircraft expert names Charlie.
SETUP: This sets up the romance, as the against the rules Maverick wants to date one of his superiors, who is by the book.
At Top Gun, Maverick breaks the rules to win…and gets no points. He also gets yelled at for doing a fly by. His instructors wonder if he’s a good fit for Top Gun. Iceman and Maverick get into a conflict because Iceman thinks Maverick is “dangerous.”
SETUP: Maverick may not make it at this school with his rebellious attitude.
Find out Maverick’s dad was a fighter with some kind of murky history and that’s why Goose thinks he flies the way he does.
SETUP: Maverick is flying against the ghost of his father and has emotional issues with it.
Charlie invites Maverick over for a secret dinner. But she mostly wants information he has on Russian fighters. We find out Mav doesn’t know what happened to his father because it’s classified. They told Mav that his father screwed up, which is why he died, but Mav doesn’t believe it. Charlie asks if that’s why he’s always second best.
SETUP: Mav’s issues with his father are making him less of a pilot than he could be, and causes a chip on his shoulder against the military command.
Goose’s family comes to visit. Charlie berates Maverick in class, and then chases him when he’s angry. She tells him she is into him and they start getting together. She also says she sees real genius in his flying.
SETUP: Romance angle begins between Mav and Charlie.
Mav goes up against Viper. During the battle, he leaves his wingman, Hollywood, which results in Hollywood getting hit. Iceman tells Maverick he’s worse than the enemy for them right now and he needs to remember whose side he’s on.
SETUP: Maverick’s desire for action and personal glory over teamwork can get his teammates killed.
Maverick and Iceman compete for a shot. Maverick gets caught in Iceman’s jetwash, which causes the plane to go haywire. Mav cant’ get it in control and Goose ends up getting killed. Mav can’t take it and is a shell of himself.
SETUP: Will Maverick still be able to fly or will he “lose his edge?”
Instructors put Maverick in the air again…but he won’t engage the enemy. Instructors wonder if he’ll ever make it back.
SETUP: Maverick quits Top Gun. Charlie and him break up on not-so-good terms. He’s now completely alone and near broken.
Maverick talks to his instructor, Viper. Finds out Viper flew with his dad in the war. He finds out what happened to his father, which was he was a hero, but the Pentagon couldn’t say that due to politics. Maverick now has a choice…
SETUP: Maverick can either graduate with this class and move on or quit. What will he do?
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