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Usenet Posted 18 years ago
Screenwriting
Happy Endings
So recently a writing partner and I put tweak on the last script written by an Oscar winner before he died. We have a director onboard and potential financing and will know soon how the director feels.
What was missing from the movie was that the hero goes through a lot and ends up with nothing at the end. So I gave him something.
Like the Robert McKee character says in the "Adaptation" movie, the audience will forgive a lot if you have a happy ending. I tend to agree with that in many movies, often depends on the genre.
I suspect that many here don't particularly try to write toward a happy ending or just resolution, but rather write indie type life is strange, *** happens, isn't that interesting? type endings.
Well?
What was missing from the movie was that the hero goes through a lot and ends up with nothing at the end. So I gave him something.
Like the Robert McKee character says in the "Adaptation" movie, the audience will forgive a lot if you have a happy ending. I tend to agree with that in many movies, often depends on the genre.
I suspect that many here don't particularly try to write toward a happy ending or just resolution, but rather write indie type life is strange, *** happens, isn't that interesting? type endings.
Well?
Top answer
[/nq] I think good movie stories have the hero (or heroine) going after something he wants desperately, and doing whatever it takes to get it, and not getting it - or getting it in a sideways, surprising way - but getting what he really needs. Like in Shrek - he went to get Fiona to save his swamp so he could be alone, but he ends up with True Love. I'm all for the happy ending, but it has to have depth and a twist.
- [/nq] I think good movie stories have the hero (or heroine) going after something he wants desperately, and doing whatever it takes to get it, and not getting it - or getting it in a sideways, surprising way - but getting what he really needs.
- Like in Shrek - he went to get Fiona to save his swamp so he could be alone, but he ends up with True Love.
- I'm all for the happy ending, but it has to have depth and a twist.
- I deeply dislike hero-lose-all movies - what's the point?
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42 Answers
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[nq:1]Well?[/nq]
I think good movie stories have the hero (or heroine) going after something he wants desperately, and doing whatever it takes to get it, and not getting it - or getting it in a sideways, surprising way - but getting what he really needs. Like in Shrek - he went to get Fiona to save his swamp so he could be alone, but he ends up with True Love. I'm all for the happy ending, but
I think good movie stories have the hero (or heroine) going after something he wants desperately, and doing whatever it takes to get it, and not getting it - or getting it in a sideways, surprising way - but getting what he really needs. Like in Shrek - he went to get Fiona to save his swamp so he could be alone, but he ends up with True Love. I'm all for the happy ending, but
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And even horror movies have a "happy ending" in that some people rise above the horror and survive - the boy saves the adorable girl, say - zombie movies are like this too. You root for someone and they make it, against all odds, showing that the human spirit will not be quenched, despite the deaths of many. Good war movies are a perfect example of a horrible situation revealing nobility of man's
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[nq:1]So recently a writing partner and I put tweak on the last script written by an Oscar winner before he died. We have a director onboard and potential financing and will know soon how the director feels. What was missing from the movie was that the hero goes through a lot and ends up with nothing at the end. So I gave him something. Like the Robert McKee character says in the "Adaptation" mov
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[nq:1]mean, would Gone with the Wind really have been better if it had had a "happier" ending if Scarlett ... sad, maybe someplace in the middle and a lot of times it just ends up lost in the thicket.[/nq]
Post of the week. Thanks.
Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.
George Carlin
Post of the week. Thanks.
Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.
George Carlin
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The example you gave is a great example of what I think is a just resolution, an ending that "makes sense" to most people. A serious movie makes a point with such an ending.
I've known so many women who idolized Scarlett O'Hara yet they don't quite get that she didn't really deserve Rhett at the end - at least I don't think she did. The women I know were all Southern women and loved how Scarle
I've known so many women who idolized Scarlett O'Hara yet they don't quite get that she didn't really deserve Rhett at the end - at least I don't think she did. The women I know were all Southern women and loved how Scarle
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In Gone With The Wind, Scarlett got what she deserved - but it was a correct ending, like you say - and her bullheaded optimistic determination that "Tomorrow is another day" made the movie. Her hubris did in any chance of love.
And I don't think Titanic would have made more money if Leo had survived - so I guess the point is, if you can pull off tragedy well, go for it, Romeo and Juliet didn'
And I don't think Titanic would have made more money if Leo had survived - so I guess the point is, if you can pull off tragedy well, go for it, Romeo and Juliet didn'
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[nq:1]I think that the real problem for a lot of writers is that the premise fires off the arrow of ... sad, maybe someplace in the middle and a lot of times it just ends up lost in the thicket.[/nq]
The most interesting shot ends up in the Nile, I mean audience denial. Rocky actually lost the first fight, or Scarlett at the end of Gone. There are audience members who will deny the reality of
The most interesting shot ends up in the Nile, I mean audience denial. Rocky actually lost the first fight, or Scarlett at the end of Gone. There are audience members who will deny the reality of
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NMS:
[nq:2]Like the Robert McKee character says in the "Adaptation" movie, ... try to write toward a happy ending or just resolution[/nq]
[nq:1]The phrase that you've used above is an interesting one "a happy ending or a just resolution" but what if those two things aren't necessarily the same thing?[/nq]
FWIW, McKee (in the movie) doesn't say anything about a "happy ending". He just s
[nq:2]Like the Robert McKee character says in the "Adaptation" movie, ... try to write toward a happy ending or just resolution[/nq]
[nq:1]The phrase that you've used above is an interesting one "a happy ending or a just resolution" but what if those two things aren't necessarily the same thing?[/nq]
FWIW, McKee (in the movie) doesn't say anything about a "happy ending". He just s
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[nq:1]So recently a writing partner and I put tweak on the last script written by an Oscar winner before he ... happy ending or just resolution, but rather write indie type life is strange, *** happens, isn't that interesting? type endings.[/nq]
I write comedy, so I write happy endings.
My one historical piece, where the hero is an old, blind, sick man and he dies at the end, you know from
I write comedy, so I write happy endings.
My one historical piece, where the hero is an old, blind, sick man and he dies at the end, you know from
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[nq:1] tickle them all and let *** sort them out.[/nq]
I'm trying to remember the story - a short story, Poe? - wherein someone plays a practical joke on someone, and the victim dies, but the joke was so funny the guy died smiling...
I'm trying to remember the story - a short story, Poe? - wherein someone plays a practical joke on someone, and the victim dies, but the joke was so funny the guy died smiling...
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