I'm new to this message board (about 6 weeks old) --  make that new to message boards in general.  Now I'm thinking it would be courteous to introduce myself, but first I'll pose a question that I've been thinking about for awhile.

What do most of you think about the film ending where we see the "real" antagonist do the crime in a montage of flashbacks?  Films utilizing this climactic technique include "High Tension" and John Cusack's "Identity."

Is there a more effective way of achieving the same story conclusion?

As for me, I'm a journeyman writer/journalist.  I've probably taken 20-25 screenwriting classes over the years, mostly using them as workshops.  Unfortunately, I've managed to write only 2 feature scripts and 1 short.  Other writers would have 30 features completed in the same amount of time.
Hmmm...
Have a BA in English from CSU Long Beach (Spielberg's alma mater) and had plans to pursue newspaper photojournalism.  Ended up on the writing end and eventually the editing side.  
I've spent too many years in which I'd write for six months and then take six months off to watch my beloved NFL football.  And NBA basketball.  Two years ago I quit both sports (viewing) cold turkey to devote to screenwriting.

I've resigned myself to one major flaw in my game: I'm NOT a good storyteller.
I'm an above-average technician, but a below-average storyteller.
And this after spending countless hours in short fiction and novel-writing courses at CSULB.
Maybe collaboration is in my future.  

I'm seriously considering hooking up with a novelist, who isn't interested in screenwriting, and maybe we can turn one of his or her novels into a good script.

I've started a ton of scripts.  Many first acts, few beyond page 50.
Now I must start finishing the scripts I've started.  I'm hoping this message board will be my saving grace.  Until I have something to post, I'll do my due diligence and read/critique scripts.

Oh yeah, very few people have seen my work.  I don't like to show crap, even though I know that showing our crap is how we improve.  Another reason for joining this board.

I'm amazed at the quality of the scripts I've read.  So much better than my classmates in those countless screenwriting classes I've taken at El Camino College in Torrance, CA.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this community board is what I've needed all these years.
Thanks for reading and I hope many of you will read what I have to offer.

The mantage ending that's utilized moreso nowadays I feel is very effctive, depnding on the story of course.  It gives more relevance to the ending so you don't have to watch the whole movie over again to understand. Itallows you to go "oh, okay, I get it", instead of thinking that something doesn't fit right.

And just some advice you may want to try if you're having trouble finishing your screenplays, is you could try combining ideas that can fit together. Most of the time, if you can't finish a screenplay, or you're stuck, it's because you don't have enough ideas to fill it up, or something's not developed enough. But, if you find ways to combine them, it can fill in the blanks and give the story spice if it goes in many different directions. i.e. Pulp Fiction. You should try to fit as many of your best ideas into a single screenplay whenever you can. Just because you have a good premise, that doesn't automatically gaurantee that your execution of it is going to be great. There's movies that have had a great idea that were dissappointing, just like there have been movies with really simple premises that they've really made something great out of through story and dialogue, so it's all in the execution. Good luck.

Quoted from Abe from LA I've started a ton of scripts.  Many first acts, few beyond page 50.

Don't think you are the only one with this problem.  And I, too, have no concept as to how some of these people can just pound out script after script.  It seems impossible to me.

Nice intro, btw, and even though we've already "talked" a bit, welcome to the boards.  Sounds like we have a lot in common.

If you can't bring yourself to post one of those scripts, it sounds like you should at least take one of those ideas floating around and start a "work in progress" thread.  Couldn't hurt -- and folks around here have a comment for darn near anything.  You might get some good ideas.

Thanks, sryknows.  I do like the flashback-wrap-up ending.  I don't know when that came into vogue, but it is highly effective.  Especially if you didn't suspect the "suspect."  Then it works quite well.  Any examples of this kind of ending NOT working??

I'll have to catch up with some of your scripts.


Bert,
I appreciate your words.  Not only do I have this stigma about finishing scripts, but I also have an aversion to outlines.  But I will give much consideration to your suggestion of filling the script with my best ideas.
I do have ideas.  How to round them up is the key.  And to get them to connect.
Despite all the trials, I won't let go of the dream.
Can't let go.
One of these days, I believe everything will fall into place.
Everything will Click.
while others dream of representation, or even getting the right people to read their scripts, I'm still learning how to walk.  
And your tip on posting a Work in Progress makes sense.

I'm not a bad writer.  That's what gives me hope.  I know format fairly well.  It's the story that's killing me.
And I'm not good at pacing.  But that's not as much a worry at this point.

My love for horror films drives me. I will watch a good independent horror film from time to time.
I roll my eyes at zombies and slasher movies, because most are sooooo bad.
But I would like to try my hand at one, just to see...
Some of the Hammer films inspire me.  I've had this notion for some time of writing a modern-day Gorgon script.  Let me rephrase that, I'm trying to get past 25 pages on my Gorgon script.l
Maybe I'll pitch my idea and you can tell me what you think.  Cool??

Thanks, Bert, for the encouragement.
I love Salvage.  You know that.  All-Mart was good, too.  Still need a chunck of time to read the Farm.  Will give you my thoughts in the near future.

Best of luck on your stuff, too.

Welcome Abe. I'll echo Bert here...

Throw your current idea (work in progress) into the WIP thread and I'm sure you'll get lots of feedback, some sarcastic comments and hopefully, thrown in there, a few useful comments to boot.

I'll help you out a little and I'm sure Bert will give you his 2 cents.

Good luck.

MacDuff,

thanks a bunch.  I'll get my half-scripts, part scripts, dead-and-buried scripts and everything else together and see what is worth salvaging.

I'm sure I can get a lot of help here.  I don't feel I'm that far off, just that I need direction and motivation.

Thanks for the encouragement.  I can't believe how much more motivated I am already.

No problems.

This place is a great little community filled with so many different faces and quirks. It's a great little place to talk 'shop' and there has been many a day that I've come away feeling refreshed and eager to continue writing.

Quoted from Abe from LA I've had this notion for some time of writing a modern-day Gorgon script...maybe I'll pitch my idea and you can tell me what you think.

I don't even know what a Gorgon is -- so it sounds like a good idea right off -- something a little different, you know?

The only Gorgon I know is this guy --



-- but I'm pretty sure you ain't talking about him.

Bert,

Right you are, it ain't that guy.

The Gorgon is actually the Medussa, you know, the creature from whose head sprang snakes and turned men into stone.  A few decades ago, Hammer made a film called the Gorgon, which starred staples like Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.  The creature, however, was abominable.  I'm referring to the special effects.  Really cheesy.

I've been in love with the idea ever since catching an episode of some '60s TV episodic thriller iin which a convict ducks into a curio shop to evade the police and is befriended by the shop owner.  In the end, the shop owner flips open a door containing the Medussa's head.  The convict, as you can imagine, turns into another curio piece for the shop.

Of course, we've seen the Medussa used in Greek mythology films like "Clash of the Titans."

My take on it would be much more contemporary.
something that could be filmed on a low, low budget.
And the emphasis would be less on the horror of the creature's power and more on the psychological aspects.
I think in the Hammer version, the Gorgon did not know she embodied the spirit of the creature.
Another story of someone cursed.

Well, Abe, officially welcome. To your initial thought, I think the montage ending is simply a way to show the explanation to the puzzle, rather than tell it. The alternative to this montage is to have someone spout out the answer (a la Psycho) and explain what just happened. Consider if the end of The Sixth Sense had Bruce Willis at the bright white light and someone stands there and explains what happened. Kind of would have lost some impact.

Second, post your half ideas. It helped my script without a middle. I also have a bunch of questions from the Screenwriter's Bible in the Screenwriting Class board called Screenwriting Palette that might help to stir someinspiration as to where to go next. Everyone call tell a story; sometimes you just need a little help to tell one dramatically.

Hey George,

Thanks for the welcome.
I'm learning a lot just by reading posts and scripts.
Even reading the abundance of critiques.

I do see what you're saying about the montage ending.
It works well.  Do you think that it works as well even if you know who the suspect is?
To be honest, sometimes I'll watch a film with what might be described as having an obvious
conclusion.  But I won't even see the ending coming and then WHAM, it comes together and I'll
slap my forehead and say, 'what was I thinking?  Of course, this makes sense.'

I don't know if that's a curse or a gift.

Yeah, having somebody explain the riddle is pretty blah, I gotta admit.
It's like those killers who have to talk and talk before doing the deed.

Good idea about posting half ideas.
I used to get fairly good feedback on story ideas from fellow classmates.
But the local college dropped screenwriting -- nobody to teach the subject.
And so, I find myself without a sounding board.

Under what category is it best to post ideas?

I can't believe how blind I can be.
Just when I think I've got the story figured, it seems I stumble and then get lost.
And somebody, anybody, comes along and asks me a question, or points out a path
in the road.  Then i see the fog lift just like that.

I really want to feel comfortable with the outlining process.  I've resisted going this
route because my tendency is to just start the script.
But now that I'm here, I think the feedback I'll receive will allow me to feel more
comfortable with outlining first.

I see the light.  Thanks for the welcome and pointing a way.

Best thing to do is pick ONE script that you think has potential and you want to finish. Talk about it under the Work In Progress board up to the point where you're stuck. Tell us what you want to happen and where you think you're having trouble, and then wait for feedback. You've been active enough to get something back on it.

George,

Thanks.  Will get it together soon.

Quoted from Steve-Dave The mantage ending that's utilized moreso nowadays I feel is very effctive, depnding on the story of course.  It gives more relevance to the ending so you don't have to watch the whole movie over again to understand. Itallows you to go "oh, okay, I get it", instead of thinking that something doesn't fit right.

I agree. I really like the flashbacks, that reveal something that we didn't know or something else in a movie. Like for example, High Tension.

Quoted from bert Don't think you are the only one with this problem.  And I, too, have no concept as to how some of these people can just pound out script after script.  It seems impossible to me.

Me too. That's why I've written three short scripts, the most pages at 36. So I know how you feel.

Sometimes I watch movies with a notebook, and write down ideas I get when watching them. You'd be surprised. It works with scripts too.

I don't know how well this would work, but writing the short script with the intension (in some cases) of expanding to a feature seems less daunting.  I'm thinking that the short would be my equivalent of an outline or a treatment.    The short gives me my beginning, middle and end.  Then its a matter of filling in... I think.

Ghost  --  is it your game plan to turn your shorts into features?