How to Write a Great Ending

endings the part of your story where it's all supposed to come together it's the big climax the reason we're watching it's also one of the most difficult parts of a story to write and very few stories pull off a fantastic ending in the last two videos I talked about the mistakes writers make in acts 1 & 2 with this video I'm going to go in a bit of an opposite direction I'm gonna start out by explaining how to build a great ending show some examples of a couple great endings and how they work and then go through some mistakes afterwards the reason I'm doing it this way is because many people have different ideas on how ending should work and what goes into a great one so when I talk about fixing some of these mistakes I want you to know what I mean when I talk about building a strong ending for your story before I begin I want to say that some parts of storytelling are natural and organic meaning we can see the pattern and identify how to emotionally and meaningfully impact an audience and then some parts of storytelling must be figured out within the specific context of a particular story this video is not the end-all be-all of how to write a great ending merely an examination of some of the organic and natural parts of how stories work let's begin first we have to ask what do we want an ending to do in a narrative drama you want your ending to bring the emotion and meaning in the story to its highest point of tension then resolve in a clear way that is both emotionally impactful and meaningful to your audience most writers understand the emotion side of course you want to leave your audience feeling emotionally impacted but many writers fail on the meaning part which is why there are so many forgettable stories with endings that seem well structured when I'm talking about an ending being meaningful I'm talking about what the ending is saying about how people should live or what they should believe I'm talking about the values beliefs and philosophical ideas embedded in the conflict of the story the meaning is the part of the story that stays with you after you leave the theater this is what people mean when they say that the story had something to say when you're building a great ending it's not just about ending it at the highest point of conflict and letting your hero get whatever they want it's about creating meaning in your story so that your climax is not only emotional but also deeply meaningful okay so how do we create an ending that is both emotionally impactful and meaningful to understand this we need to look at the stakes of the story the stakes are what can be gained or lost as your character pursues what they want your story should have three levels of stakes there are three different things that can be gained or lost in a story the first level of stakes is the external stakes this is the external thing the character is trying to do or get when I talk about a characters want that usually is in the external stakes and Django Unchained Django wants to find and free broom-hilda his wife broomhilda's freedom is at stake in the Shawshank Redemption and he wants to get free of the prison his freedom is at stake the second level of stakes is the internal stakes which you could also call the relational or emotional stakes in Django Unchained its Django and his relationship to broom-hilda if Django cannot rescue her they will always be separated and the relationship will be lost in the Shawshank Redemption it's andis relationship with red and II wants to instill hope within red and the third level of stakes is the philosophical stakes which most people forget to add into their story but this is where the meaning comes in this set of stakes is about what the characters believe how those beliefs influence what they do and how those beliefs are put into conflict with the world around them usually the philosophical struggle will focus on two competing value systems that are constantly in conflict throughout the story in Django Unchained there are two values that compete the values of freedom represented by Django and dr. Schultz versus the values of oppression represented by the various slavers Django and dr. Schultz encounter but mainly Calvin Candie in the Shawshank Redemption there are also two values that compete the values of Hope represented by an D and the values of despair represented by Brooks and warden Norton the philosophical conflict is where the meaning of your story sits it's the reason the audience truly cares because through the events of the story the philosophical conflict will make a statement about the world or how life should be lived in the Shawshank Redemption the story is making a statement about hope in Django Unchained the story is making a statement about freedom so that is the three sets of stakes in a great story now let's talk about implementing them into a story way before you get to the end of your story you need to understand what the stakes of your story are if you don't begin your story establishing mistakes you will not be able to build a strong climax at the end in the first scene of Django Unchained we see Django as a slave this is Django in oppression he is freed by dr.

Schultz who shows Django freedom from the very first scene we are dealing with the philosophical stakes embedded in this story freedom versus oppression this begins a change in Django a change in how he sees himself and how he should live he grows in skill and confidence as he handles different external obstacles like capturing bounties then dr. Schultz and Django set off with a new goal finding and rescuing Django's wife broom-hilda in the Shawshank Redemption we begin with Andy on trial for the murder of his wife and her lover he is innocent and is wrongly accused he's then sent to prison full of guards and prisoners who want to harm him immediately the story establishes the philosophical stakes Andy is in a hopeless situation will he be able to remain hopeful immediately we see the external stakes in the philosophical stakes of the story the internal stakes of the story develop a bit later as Andy and Redd become friends the beginning of your story will be about clearly setting up what's at stake without stakes this story is meaningless if the story is meaningless then it will sit in the pile of thousands of other mediocre screenplays that are trying to become a movie the final important element is to make sure to bring the story to a clear climax in the end this is extremely important for both emotional impact and meaning you want it to be clear whether or not your character passed or failed in regards to each of the stakes in the story this clear pass or fail gives clarity to the audience when this is set up correctly the audience feels exactly what you want them to feel because there is no confusion and the film can clearly say something let's look back at our examples does Django free broom-hilda or not pass or fail does Django reunite with broom-hilda pass or fail does Django embrace freedom or fall back into oppression pass or fail does Andy escape from prison pass or fail does Andy instill hope in red pass or fail does Andy hold onto his hope or does he fall into despair pass or fail when there is confusion the audience doesn't feel anything confusion rarely brings deeper meaning or emotional impact some films have successfully done so but the list is extremely short [Music] so now that you understand what goes into a strong ending let's begin building out the climax of your story your goal should be to create a sudden reversal in the story all hope is lost but suddenly everything is flipped on its head and your hero wins or the hero has clearly won until suddenly everything is flipped on its head and your hero loses everything this creates an intense moment of emotion and meaning and this needs to happen with all three of your stakes to create a strong climax ideally to create a strong emotional reaction as well as strong meaning you want to build a sudden reversal that happens after multiple major setbacks feelings are relative levels of joy and satisfaction are closely tied to levels of pain and suffering and so if you want to build a climax with the highest amount of emotional impact you must create events that are emotionally opposite from that climax so all is lost your hero won't get what they want they will also fail in their relationships and the values they fight for will be overrun but suddenly all of this changes this brings the audience from despair to elation or elation to despair depending on the type of ending your story has okay so now let's take a look at two films and examine how they follow these ideas to create emotionally impactful and meaningful endings first we'll look at django unchained let's quickly remind ourselves of the three sets of stakes in the story does Django free broom-hilda or not pass or fail does Django regain his relationship with broom-hilda pass or fail does Django embrace freedom or fall back into oppression pass or fail as we enter into the third act of the film it seems like Django is going to get exactly what he wants Django and dr. Schultz are just about to rescue broom-hilda from candy candy figures out the ruse and why Django and dr.

Schultz are really their candy forces them to pay $12,000 for broom-hilda and this is a semi success the external and internal stakes of the story will be satisfied Django is about to rescue his wife and his relationship with this wife will be restored but candy insists dr. Schultz shake his hand Schultz makes a rash decision and kills candy this is a major setback suddenly everything changes Django tries to shoot his way out but it doesn't work to save broomhilda's life Django surrenders another major setback those still alive at Candyland decide to sell Django to the lequint Dickey mining company a company notorious for the egregious treatment of slaves yet another major setback at this point Django has completely failed in the external stakes he has failed to free broom-hilda his partner and only friend is dead and he has been sold back into slavery to live out the rest of his days in a living hell in the internal stakes he has failed to regain his relationship with his wife and in the philosophical stakes oppression and cruelty have won out over freedom this is the lowest point in the story and the stage is set for a fantastic climax while on the road to the lequint Dickey mining company Django tricks the slavers he gets them to set him free and hand him a gun Django kills the slavers and the music kicks in you is the philosophical climax of the story Django is not given up in this moment freedom has won out over oppression notice that in this moment it's just him and the other slaves as Django rides away we cut to one of the slaves in the cage and he smiles we see the philosophical climax of the story in his eyes live free fight oppression be liberated he watches someone who looks like him be a free man Jenga rides back to Candyland and in this moment we have the internal climax of the story here broom-hilda believes all hope is lost until this may Peck [Applause] [Music] everything changes Gengo and broom-hilda have been reunited this time as free people and finally we have the external climax of the story jingo goes back to Candyland kills those who are left blows up the big house and rides off with broom-hilda Django has freed room Hilda he has regained his relationship with her and freedom has prevailed over oppression now let's take a look at the Shawshank Redemption again let's remind ourselves of the three sets of stakes in the story will Andi be able to get out of prison pass or fail will Andi be able to instill hope in Redd pass or fail does Andi keep his hope or does he fall into despair pass or fail just like Django Unchained The Shawshank Redemption enters its third act with a false victory followed by a horrible setback in Django Unchained they almost rescue broom-hilda before dr.