In Anaheim sits the mighty mouse the creation of the late great Walt Disney. From coast to coast Space Mountain was known as the ride of the century. As a writer your goal has been to create a thrill ride, one that has created a vision, your vision. If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage and it's a very hard sale. If you have carefully crafted your story then, you are prepared to exit ACT 2.
Act 2 must end just as Hamlet shuffled off the mortal coil, Act 2 must fulfil its purpose, and the intent of this article is to ensure you do it right without redundant cliches just written.
It has been a bumpy ride as Betty Davis once said. I began this journey a year ago with the purpose to enlighten you. A good script can be written in three weeks a great one may take a year. I hope your year has been good, so sit back, relax and get ready for an exit strategy.
Act three begins at page 85 to 95 of your dramatic script. While it overlaps the end of ACT 2, Act three has a distinctive feel. In Hamlet the last Act reveals the protagonist plan via a conversation between Hamlet and his best friend Horatio. But it's a play and we are writing movies. Remember Act 1, exposition and narrative while great techniques to reveal story, is best left for the novel. Further, don't kill off your main character in Act 3.
Remember this if anything. Sequel, Sequel. Since 'Airport" and before Steven Spielberg Hollywood has specialized in audience members lining up to see their favorite characters once again. While the names changed Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney revisited the gangsters' role several times. Never kill off your protagonist, unless it's required as in " Hamlet or the latest blockbuster "Troy." If you want to ensure your revenue stream make sure, your protagonist doesn't take one for the Gipper.
The Hollywood Ending
If you chose to write an independent film, and intend to finance your own movie let your character suffer a major fall. He might not die, but at the end of the movie via " Mystic River" Sean Penn is definitely transformed into something we did not quite expect. He has somehow changed into a protagonist we wont recognize and garnered an Oscar from Brian Helgeland's script.
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