Epilogues?
Jeff, a writer in on the Screenwriting Master Class courses I’m teaching, posted this question about epilogues on the forums:
Any thoughts on when to use (or not), and best practices, etc?
My response:
Good question. Interesting that both The Social Network and The King’s Speech had epilogues. There are no rules that I know of. I don’t think there’s any negative attached to them like with flashbacks and narrator V.O., so really then it all boils down to the story: Does it need that information beyond the denouement?
I thought I’d post something here because in my recollection, we’ve never discussed this topic.
First what are some examples of notable movie epilogues?
Second do you like epilogues? Dislike? Why?
Has any of you ever gotten negative feedback from including an epilogue in a script?
Finally what do you think the guidelines should be about using epilogues in a spec script?