In this compendium episode, John and Craig fast-forward to the third act to talk about endings. How do they work? What makes them great? And how do you fix them when they’re not working?

They look at how to connect your ending to your characters, crafting a twist that surprises (but doesn’t confuse), the function of the climax, the importance of the denouement, and how to make it all satisfying for your audience.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Drew welcome back Megana Rao to ask: do we still need reunions in the age of social media?

Links:

• Episode 44 – Endings for beginners
• Episode 170 – Lotteries, lightning strikes and twist endings
• Episode 366 – Tying Things Up
• Episode 392 – The Final Moment
• Episode 524 – The Home Stretch
• Too Many Cooks
• America’s best decade, according to data by Andrew Van Dam for The Washington Post
• All Fours by Miranda July
• Callipeg
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
• John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter
• John on Mastodon
• Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)
• Segments originally produced by Stuart Friedel, Megan McDonnell and Megana Rao. Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.