Storytelling has gone from oral tradition to a natural part of the cinematic landscape. And in-between it all, we have learned how to end a story. There are ultimately four ways to end one. We will be going over each of these four ending types and explaining their characteristics for knowing when to end your screenplay.
Four endings and “want” vs “need”
Want: an external desire that the hero is fully aware of
- Need: an internal desire that drives the hero through their character arc
- Sweet: what they want and need
- Bittersweet: only what they need or want
- Endings where the protagonist gets: sweet, neither, bittersweet
The Sweet Ending
The hero gets what they want along with what they need
- Marty McFly wants to be a rock star, but he lacks the proper confidence to make it work
- He accidentally takes his dad’s place when he meets his mom and now he’s at risk of being erased from existence
- Luckily, Marty succeeds in upping his dad’s confidence and getting his parents to fall in love
- By the time he returns to 1985, Marty’s initially humdrum home life has radically improved, thanks to Marty pushing George to be more confident in 1955
Character Arc + 4 Endings Worksheet
Help guide both your character’s arc and the type of ending you’re aiming for
- Lay out the Wants and Needs of your character in advance so you can construct a character arc and ending that are perfectly matched and ultimately satisfying
The Bitter Ending
When the hero gets neither what they want nor what they need
- In that case, you get a bitter ending
- A bitter ending is also a tragic one, in which the hero makes it to their bitter end all on their own
- If the bitter end happens out of nowhere, or because of outside influences, it can feel cheap
Up Next: Character archetypes
These include the types of characters who populate these stories, their roles, and how they fit into the story.
The Semi-Sweet Ending
When the hero gets what they need, but not what they want, often through a positive change character arc
- Rain Man: Charlie Babbitt, a man whose only concern when his dad dies is to get his inheritance
- Over the course of the movie, Charlie’s want makes way for his emerging need: to reconnect with his family
- Charlie sacrificing his want of inheritance for the need to keep Raymond as his brother is a strong example of positive character development
The Bittersweet Ending
When the hero gets what they want, but not what they need
- Even when it looks like the hero has won, the hero themselves has to wonder if it was worth it
- The Social Network is a classic example of how to end a script bittersweetly
- Mark Zuckerberg in the film wants to do something exceptional, but needs to stop being an asshole
- He chose to reject the opportunities to become a better person so he could pursue the mammoth goal of making Facebook the biggest social network on the planet
