Hey, it's Naomi with your weekly screenwriting memo! Today's topic...
Today let’s talk about an often-overlooked aspect of the Climax: its effect on the story's stakes.
And if you’re thinking to yourself, “What the heck is she talking about?” I don’t blame you. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this topic written about before, which is precisely why I bring it up today. It’s important, yet no one’s talking about it? Let’s dig in.
The Climax is the culmination of the “resolution” phase (Act 3), and of the story as a whole. In order to do its job, it should bring a sense of closure and satisfaction. (Need a recap? Here's last week's quick guide to screenplay structure.)
That doesn’t mean the Climax has to tie a neat bow on everything, but you probably don’t want to leave your audience feeling cranky or disappointed.
So how do you achieve closure and satisfaction?
By the end of the movie the main conflict has to be resolved, of course. So the Climax shows us whether the protagonist finally achieves their story goal or not. By doing so it answers the Central Dramatic Question, which is, essentially, “Will the protagonist achieve the story goal?” Or another way to look at the CDQ is, “How will the main conflict end?”
The CDQ is posed in Act 1. When the question is answered in the Climax, that open loop is closed, bringing a sense of – yes – closure, and satisfaction.
But closely related to that, there's a stakes question the audience also wants answered.
Like with the main conflict and character arc, the story stakes have a life cycle across the three acts too.
So if you're wondering what else should happen after the climactic confrontation, look to your story stakes and give us some evidence of how they're resolved.
Don't panic if you're realizing you have overlooked this aspect of the story's resolution. Resolving the stakes is actually pretty instinctive -- you may already be doing it to some degree. But it's useful to be aware of it so you can be deliberate about it and get as much impact out of your efforts as you can.
What it comes down to is this: the audience has been carrying this stakes open loop since you established the stakes in Act 1. We’re hoping the protagonist won’t have those stakes come to bear (the negative outcome if he fails to achieve his goal). But – because nothing is coming too easily to him – we’re also worried that things ultimately might not go his way.
By Act 3 and the climactic confrontation, we want all the open loops closed. That means the CDQ, of course, but we want that other question answered too: “What happened with the stakes?” Or, in other words, "Is everything going to be okay?"
And if the stakes are resolved successfully (with no negative consequences), then the audience can breathe a sigh of relief – and feel even more satisfied.
This is all much more straightforward than it may sound, so let's look at some examples that I hope will clarify:
There you have it. One little thing that’s easy to overlook, but that can make a big difference in whether your audience leaves feeling completely satisfied.
There isn't one "right" way to resolves the story stakes, but if you're not treating the resolution with some care you may be shortchanging the emotional payoff. Remember, it all comes down to creating an effect on the audience. How the stakes are resolved contributes to that effect, and to the overall experience you're delivering.
If you're struggling to figure out what happens in the Climax or in the wrap-up scenes that follow, think about how the main conflict and stakes can be resolved, and what kind of experience it will create for the audience.
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