So yesterday the Daily Variety announces this:
Hong Kong action hero Chow Yun-fat is set to follow up his role as the ancient philosopher Confucius with a part in Chinese helmer Jiang Wen’s $18 million period Western laffer “Let the Bullets Fly.”Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures said Chow will co-star alongside Jiang, best known for arthouse pics such as “Devils on the Doorstep,” and the popular Mainland Chinese comedian Ge You.
So this is worthy of a GITS post because of the first-time joint appearance in a movie by two legendary Asian acting dudes? No, it gets a GITS post because of this:
The script had undergone nine rewrites with 10 different endings before it was finalized on Monday.
Look, you may be one of those free spirits who chooses not to work out your story in advance before you type FADE IN and that’s fine. In general, I think it’s much smarter to bust your story during the prep-writing phase, but if you really need to find your story in the first draft, I acknowledge your right to do so. After all, there is no right way to write.
However before you start writing, do yourself one big damn favor: Know the ending of your story. Because if you don’t know the ending of your story when you start writing, you’re likely to find yourself in a situation just like the poor saps chained to their laptops on the above-noted project — pounding out rewrite after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite (9 rewrites) in order to try to find the story’s ending.
Or as one old scribe told me years ago, “If you don’t know the ending of your story, you don’t got squat!”
This has been a public service announcement on behalf of the “SSSS: Society to Save Suicidal Screenwriters.” No screenwriters were harmed in the filming of this advertisement.
very true. I have one screenplay in progress. I still haven't decided how it will start or how the story will progress.. but I know how it ends.
That's, I think, the advantage of fully outlining with at least 8 sequences (I usually go more granular – two page sequences).
I usually do either story idea or character idea, then the best ending and that gives you your Act 2 midpoint. Most of the time.
The midpoint is usually the worst thing that will happen or the best. Sometimes I try to do both.
I've tried a few times to start a script without really perfectly knowing the ending and it was an absolute mess at the end. So I couldn't more agree with you.
Know your ending or you're gonna be in big trouble…
Of course you know Casablanca:
• Howard Koch: “When we began, we didn't have a finished script…Ingrid Bergman came to me and said, 'Which man should I love more…?' I said to her, 'I don't know… play them both evenly.' You see we didn't have an ending, so we didn't know what was going to happen!” –Hollywood Hotline, May 1995
• Howard Koch: “The ending of the film was in the air until the very end… I was working every day on the set… I think we never really had the ending for sure… We thought of many possibilities and finally decided on the one that was in the film. That has proven to be the ending that the audience accepts.” –Hollywood Hotline, May 1995
• Julius Epstein: “Warner had 75 writers under contract, and 75 of them tried to figure out an ending!” –Hollywood Hotline, May 1995
I'm a little late to this but wanted to join in & say this is GREAT advice.
I don't know how many projects I abandoned before this tidbit really sunk in.
90% of the time you're deluding yourself with, "I'll figure it out along the way"… or, "It'll come to me eventually"…
I got burned too many times. Now I figure out the ending IN DETAIL at the outlining stage.
it's impossible to start without one