Chapter 10: Openings and Endings

The opening of your screenplay could make the difference between your screenplay ending up on the bottom of a growing pile of scripts awaiting their turn to be read by the producer (or more likely their assistant) or rising to the top and capturing the reader’s attention within the first few pages; pages so powerful, that time seems to stop and the only thing that matters at that moment is finding out what happens next to your Hero. That’s the kind of opening you want to create.

To begin, jump in with a bang! Start with an awesome image, an unsolved problem, a hilarious complication – something that gets us hooked and makes us want to know more. The opening image or scene sets the mood of the film, establishes the genre and conveys the theme. What do you want to say with your movie? Start with an image that speaks to your implicit message and stirs emotions in your audience. For example, a story about a boy looking for his mother could begin with a magnifying glass, enlarging the inquisitive eye of a little boy searching for clues and answers. Or a speeding train could bolt us into a movie about a young man who can’t leave his small town and troubled past fast enough.

The ending of your movie is just as important as your opening. Your audience trusts you to take them to their desired conclusion. Whether that’s solving the mystery, bringing the lovers together, or resolving the impending threat so that all may live another day. Audiences want the story to come full circle, and feel the deep satisfaction of having been entertained.

Like the opening image, the ending is where you get to remind the audience of your implicit message and themes. What do you want the audience to come away with? How do you want the audience to feel? For example, for a chilling horror movie, by the end you may want your audience to feel that all is well in the world, that good overcomes evil and that they are safe…for now. This is where you can slide in the “open” ending where the audience soon realizes that there is still more evil to be overcome – and of course, that’s a perfect set up for your sequel.

Keep in mind that most moviegoers watch movies for entertainment. It’s been this way for over 100 years since silent movies started delighting audiences with the first-ever moving images on a screen. Your ending should wrap it up and leave us feeling satisfied. We want happy endings – or at least an ending where we know that all was not in vain. Sure, you can write an unhappy movie with an unhappy ending, where the Hero does not get what they want – this is “real life, right? You may get some viewers for your film that don’t already have enough “real life” in their lives and want to experience more – but most moviegoers want to escape their hardships for a while, and take solace in a movie where everything works out in the end.