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Act 2 End Game

© Darrell Banks

Act 2 The End. By Darrell J. Banks Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved If you have read Aristotle's "Poetics" then you know that a good story has to end. Like life itself, you must find a way to end your screenplay. Remember the "Golden Globes" of 1997, back then Jodie Foster was nominated for Best Actress. While she lost that award, the picture "Contact" is an excellent example of the rise and fall of the protagonist in Act 2.

In " Contact" you find three principals, science vs. religion, faith vs. technology and the ultimate belief vs. non-belief. While these analogies sound similar, they are fact all different. Ms. Foster's character like David Duchovony's role in the " X-Files" is a devoted skeptic.

Now as a writer your job is to change the protagonist. In " Contact the protagonist was changed from and agnostic to a true believer. The conclusion of Act 2 must confirm this transformation.

You cannot try the backwards approach to ending Act 2 as Charlie Kaufman did in " Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Your goals in Act 1 and the first part of Act 2 was to leave key pieces of the puzzle ( see past articles) that lead the audience to confirm the characters major readjustment to life on page 90 through 100 of your script.

In " Contact" writers James V. Hart (screenplay) and Michael Goldenberg (screenplay) leave subtle yet obvious clues to what will happen to the protagonist. Faced with the lost of her parents, defiant of God, yet amazed with the creation of the universe the protagonist searches for life where no one believes it exists. At the beginning of Act 2 the protagonist is strong, defiant all knowing in her belief in science.

At the conclusion of Act 2, the downward spiral has reached the inner conflict of the mind. The protagonist ,the heroine has reached and an abyss. Has she suffered a mental breakdown via her mythic space journey? No one believes her trip has occurred

As a writer you have to make this downward spiral very interesting. In " Die Hard" Bruce Willis's character has killed several terrorists. But not just ordinary terrorists, super neo terrorists. He is confused and no one believes him. At the end of Act 2 in both this dramatic science fiction film and the drama- action of "Die Hard" change has occurred.

Unless you pace the downward spiral of the protagonist, you will find your self emerged within a maze that you and the audience cannot understand. If you have plotted, paced and moved the characters within a story that is meaningful and full of life as "Contact and Die Hard" then you are ready for the conclusion of your story Act 3. Until next month, Ciao.

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