The 3rd Act: Writing a Great Ending to Your Screenplay

by Drew Yanno

A film's ending is crucial. It is the last thing an audience sees, and often the last thing it remembers, before leaving the theater. Indeed, it is no stretch to suggest that, more than any other part of the film, the ending determines whether the audience likes a film or not. By extension, the ending of a script is probably the last thing the reader will remember when they put it down An otherwise great script will likely be passed on if it does not end well. The Third Act is the first screenwriting instructional book to focus entirely on that most important part of a script - the ending. Like the three-act paradigm for the entire screenplay, The Third Act offers a unique structure for the writer to follow when writing the last act of their script. No other screenwriting book offers this simple structural approach to endings in a three-act story. Additionally, The Third Act provides suggestions as to which type of ending writers should consider for their particular story. The book features detailed examinations of the endings of many memorable films, including Rocky, Rain Man; Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, Casablanca, The Breakfast Club, Se7en, Lost in Translation, and Gladiator. A checklist is provided at the end of each chapter, giving the reader some suggestions to apply in their writing based on the structural element being explored in that chapter. A longer and more comprehensive list of suggestions appears in an appendix.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Film

182 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Drew Yanno began writing for film in 1993 and has been a member of the Writers Guild of America since 1995. His first script was a finalist in the 1994 Massachusetts Film Office Screenwriting Competition. One year later, his script No Safe Haven was the subject of a bidding war, selling in less than eight hours to Universal Studios.

Drew also founded the screenwriting program in the Film Department at Boston College where he taught for eleven years.

In addition to writing and teaching, Drew has worked as a script consultant for writers, producers and directors, including actor Will Smith.

Prior to screenwriting, Drew was a practicing attorney and taught law in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

His first novel In the Matter of Michael Vogel was released February 26, 2013 and was a bestselling e-book in the Kindle Store.

The Smart One is his second novel.

Reviews

[Hosius Mr · Rating 4 out of 5]

یکی از مشکلاتی که بعضی از فیلم ها و فیلمنامه ها دارن اینه که خیلی طوفانی شروع میشن، اما در پایان بزرگ و ماندگاری ندارن! در مقابل خیلی فیلم ها هم هستن که پایان بزرگ و به یاد موندنی دارن. حالا چطور میشه برای یک فیلمنامه پایان بزرگ ساخت؟
.
نویسنده با توجه به ساختار سه پرده ای کلاسیک به توضیح این موضوع پرداخته و برای روشن شدن هرچه بیشتر موضوع از خود فیلم ها استفاده کرده و آن ها را مورد بررسی قرار داده. (مثال هایی از فیلم هایی با پایان بزرگ، و فیلم هایی با پایان ضعیف) و در هر مورد به نکات مثبت و یا منفی فیلم ها پرداخته.
.
در قسمت پایانی کتاب هم اشاره ای به فیلم هاایی با پایان خوب و خارج از ساختار سه پرده ای داشته، مثل داستان عامه پسند، و نکاتی رو برای نوشتن پایان در این نوع فیلم ها بیان کرده.
.
در پایان سی سوال مهم و کاربردی که در هنگام نوشتن فیلمنامه (و بعد از آن) باید از خودمون بپرسیم آورده شده (یکجور حالت چک لیست داره)
.
کتاب در بعضی قسمت ها به کتاب های دیگه مثل "داستان" (مک کی) اشاره داره که همون مفاهیم رو ساده تر توضیح داده.
در مجموع برای علاقه مندان به فیلمنامه نویسی کتاب خوبی هست.

[Pradeep Purayath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Execellent

[Mostafa Azizi · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب متوسطی بود برای افرادی که مبتدی هستند در فیلم‌نامه‌نویسی حرف‌های برای گفتن دارد.

[Kali Srikanth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called The Pledge. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call The Prestige.

Having read Syd Field and Robert McKee, initial chapters on structure, plot points etc., seemed irritatingly repetitive to me, but only without examples. But as book progressed it focused more on its "title" and its crucial connection with the First ACT of a screenplay a film-maker's magic trick.

It was quick, it was simple to understand meaning no high funda, it showed every blockbuster that was discussed in the book in new light and helped me understand their hidden structure. But what made this book a good read for me is for having seen all the films writer used over and over to dissect and analyze them.

Easily 4/5.

[CC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what to rate this, 2.5? 3?

I didn't learn anything new. I had hoped it would have a better break-down of third acts and not just a regurgitation of them.

Also, there was no mention of the difference between what a protagonist wants and what a protagonist needs in terms of the third act outcome. This -- want vs. need -- is one of the most satisfying and memorable things about a third act that is done well. To not mention it at all was pretty baffling. Meh.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and clear. This book's main thrust is that you should know the overarching ending of your screenplay before you start writing, even if you don't know the details of that ending. It also tells you how you should connect the first act to the third act in a helpful way. The book is very repetitive to drive the points across, but sometimes too much so. My only other complaint is that the book gives examples from movies that are all pretty much the same Hollywood fare, rather than giving a broad range of examples to help the writer looking to be able to take these instructions and apply them by example from a wide variety of films.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using it to help rewrite the third act of my screenplay, and finding it very helpful. It makes stuff clear, though none of these screenwriting books is particularly well suited to writing comedies, still, it's been helpful and useful.

[Mira Domsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent book about how to write a satisfying end to a screenplay, but many of the points can be transferred to writing endings in general. It was recommended to me by another writer, and I found this very useful in editing the ending of my novel.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, simple book that does exactly what it sets out to do. I wouldn't say I learned a whole lot, but it gave me enough supplementary knowledge to make the short read worth it.