For those of you who use the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet (which I highly recommend, and use in my script consulting), and struggle with the “Finale” section (that huge chunk of Act 3 that decides the ultimate outcome of the story) works, please note that in follow-up blogs (and his book Save the Cat Strikes Back), he broke the “Finale” down into five steps, using a “rescue the princess from the castle” metaphor.

This  is not to be taken literally – whatever the main problem of the script is that we’re waiting to see resolved, here is where the main character has to summon everything they have and face their biggest challenge yet, putting the “new idea” of Act 3 into practice – and it’s usually where their ultimate change (or decision to remain “steadfast,” if you understand Dramatica lingo) finally happens, which is a key part in deciding the ultimate outcome.

The key thing is that in the middle of this process, the plan goes horribly wrong and they have to summon everything they’ve got to finally win the day (if they even do win). It’s climactic and the biggest moment of the movie usually, regardless of genre. And the reason this section can take 25 pages (although sometimes they’re more brief) is that each of the steps of planning and executing the plan, having it go wrong, regrouping and finally taking one last stand can each take time…