Apologies if I've mentioned this before, but are any of you struggling to end a script? I'm doing okay with it at the moment, but I've been looking at OFAH recently and they end quite a few of their scripts with chases or exclaiming. What would you do? Would you have the last piece in your plot as the end and go for a reaction shot? Or would you have a chase, characters exclaiming or just simply end it on another joke.
There's so many ways you can end a script. It just depends what has preceded it.
For example:
If there's been a reveal that suddenly flips the story on it's head and makes all the characters efforts futile, then a 'reaction' shot is a good idea. OFAH often used to use this trick quite a lot.
The reaction shot would work in this situation, but not many others.
Try and find a sitcom episode which follows a similar series of events to yours and look at how they end it. That's the best way to learn in my opinion.
As has been mentioned before, the end point may be where the writing started.
Certainly, OFAH and One Foot In The Grave seem to have gone this way previously. Start with something funny and work your way back.
But that's probably no help at all!
Dan
The ending to my first sitcom script came about from a joke used near the start. I saw the opportunity of how I could link two scenes and so my writing partner and I ensured that we ended up at the scene we wanted but without compromising the story. This ending wasn't intentional but it simply presented itself during the rewrites. It happens like that sometimes. Our end scene was not the last piece of the plot though. We finished the plot then moved the characters to another location where we could end.
Def.
Look for something within your script that can be used to generate further interest. If you're lucky enough to get someone to read your whole script,you'll want them to think 'yeh, I want to know what happens next'. Could be love interest, a character in peril, an unresolved mix-up anything that leads the reader on further. This is only if your serialising your story of course.
That's sound advice from some one who has never even got close to having a sit-com performed or anything longer than a four minute sketch. so you can file it under b for bullsh*t if you want.
I've got this half baked idea for a six part sitcom and a running situation through all six episodes. I am using a 'cliff hanger' type thing to end episode 1 at the mo but will look for a different mechanism for each episode I think, if we get that far! There are three of us 'writing' it now but there is more thinking/non-writing going at the mo than actual writing!
It's exciting to actually have something longer on the go instead of just the sketches! I say 'just' the sketches but hopefully you know what I mean!
If you've planned out the structure of the plot, then surely the ending will already be made. In the sitcom I'm working on at the moment, I think of the main story arc: Set-up, opening, continuation, twist, resolution (Often a further twist.) I.e.: a little unrelated sketch for the opening, possibly before the opening credits, to set the scene. Then, the characters get introduced to the main plot-line, like being forced to go on a trip. Continuation: the trip is a disaster, for various reasons. This is the main bit. Then there's some sort of 'twist' or further disaster, like the person that invited them on the trip realises they're not who they thought they were, and are freeloading. Then, a final resolution. Like the person who invited them on the trip gets arrested for one of the main characters' crimes.
This is a shit example as I'm thinking off the top of my head. Then of course, there's the sub-plot. I don't personally have much of a structure for the subplot. I like to tie the plot with the sub-plot at either the twist or resolution stage, as it works quite neatly. Anyway, all this is very formulaic and a no-brainer for anyone who wants to write, as such methods are very much a part of the establishment (5-act structure, I suppose, and we know how long that's been around!), but what I mean to say is that if you've planned the basic plot and sub-plot, mulled over it for a while then fleshed it out nicely with a few gags, writing it is just another continuation of this process. By which I mean you already know what the ending is, and how it will work.
So, it could just be inadequate planning (and I for one find it really does help, rather then just finding some characters, putting them in a situation, and writing without any aforethought). But if you mean you don't know how to end the story at the planning stage, I suppose it depends what sort of comedy you're writing. I find, for a 'farce-action' type comedy, that a simple "What's the worst thing that could happen" ending gives you something to work with. Then just close on the reaction/chase/whatever that ensues.