Broken Frontier

Sequence F. AKA, the end of the second act, the second turning point, the second culmination, the answer to the dramatic question. Yes, we are finally here, fellow scribes. This is the big moment you’ve all been waiting for.

Hold it. Shouldn’t the ending be the big moment we’ve all been waiting for?

True enough. But until then, this is the big moment and it’s important that you don’t underestimate its importance in a hurry to get to the ending. This is the moment where everything changes. This is when the Protagonist achieves their objective (or not). This is where that dramatic question you posed four sequences ago is now answered.

In this way, the second culmination is strongly related to the first culmination. That is, we are getting yet another glimpse at a possible ending to the story. As I said with the first culmination, this one is often the mirror opposite of the actual ending. Some screenwriters have suggested that this second culmination must be a low point (as it is in my examples below, for instance). But that is not always the case. It will be a low point if the ending is upbeat and positive. But it will likely be a high point if the ending is going to be downbeat and negative (as is the case with Sunset Boulevard).

Let’s take a quick look at a couple of examples so you can see what I mean.

Going back to Toy Story, the second act ends with Woody and Buzz imprisoned in Sid’s bedroom with no chance of escape and their demise just hours away. If you think about it, the story could end right there. Woody and Buzz get blown up. The rest of the toys move away. The end. I doubt it would have been very successful, though, right? What happens instead is that Woody changes his mind. Remember that the dramatic question posed back at the end of the first act was “Will Woody be able to win back his position as Andy’s favorite toy?” Being trapped in Sid’s has made Woody realize that his original goal is no longer very important. The answer to the question is “No” because Woody chooses to abandon his objective. He doesn’t want to be Andy’s favorite toy, he wants to get himself and Buzz out of Sid’s. In this way, the story comments on the dramatic question by showing that friendship is more important than position. This is, in essence, the message of the film. Remember the theme song: “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”

Next, let’s take a look at Chicken Run. You’ll remember that the dramatic question is: “Will Ginger be able to get Rocky to teach them all to fly so they can escape Tweedy’s Chicken Farm?” The answer to that question is “No” because at the second culmination, Ginger finds that Rocky has abandoned her. Their collective demise (being turned into chicken pies) is imminent. It’s at this point that Ginger realizes she doesn’t actually need Rocky to succeed in her goal of flying them all out. Working together as a team, the chickens build a giant flying machine and manage to escape at last. Rocky returns to provide some last minute help and they all live happily ever after.

You’ll notice, especially from these two examples, how the stories shift into a new mode for the third act. Because the dramatic question has been answered and the main tension has therefore been resolved, the story must examine the consequences of that answer, whatever it happens to be. This is the time for the writer to tell us what they have to say. This is really where we find out, at last, what the story is actually all about.

Take a look at some of your favorite films and see if you can find how they answer the dramatic question. How often is the answer “No” and how often is it “Yes”? What do these stories then have to say about their respective resolutions? When you’ve come up with a few, post them in the forum.

Until next time, keep writing.

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For those of you both inclined and in the financial position to do so, I highly recommend the purchase of the two best books about the sequence approach to screenwriting: Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, by Paul Gulino, and The Tools of Screenwriting, A Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay, by David Howard.