Alternate endings in scripts

[minor muppetz]

I don't know if many of you would know the answer to this, but I've just got to ask in case. When movies or TV shows or whatever have alternate endings shot, and it was always intended to include multiple endings (and not a change due to test screenings like "Little Shop of Horrors"), do the scripts list both endings, back to back (maybe labeling them "Ending A" and "Ending B" or whatever)? Or would seperate scripts exist just to include two different endings (which would probably be a waste of paper)? Or would the main script not have the ending, while a number of seperate scripts would exist to show different endings?

I made a video on YouTube which had two different endings. I don't know if I did it the normal way or not, but the script I wrote only had the ending from the main version. For the alternate version I just improvised dialogue and such in addition to saying the proper lines for the official ending.

Oh, and if you're interested, here is the video in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZm5qZXiI98

And here's the alternate version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnlhnmmEfFs

 

[dwmckim]

Back when i wasn't struggling financially, i used to collect scripts. However i've not seen any for a production that has alternate endings. My educated guess though would be that there's no set procedure - it just depends on the production and its team (and the purpose of having alternate endings)

The main examples i can think of of shows with multiple endings (that are written at the same time) or for television shows - typically end of series or season finales where they shoot a couple of different endings to throw off reporters or spoilerhounds that might spoil a major reveal (or season premieres that resolve a cliffhanger from the previous season's finale). A lot of times the only people present when these are shot are only the key production technical people and the actors involved...so in those cases the main scripts that everyone gets wouldn't be expected to have any of the endings and only those who needed to have them would be provided copies (and are typically instructed to shred them afterwards.)

Another thing to keep in mind is that with a lot of major productions (especially ongoing ones like television), technical staff may have full copies of a shooting script but actors often don't get the full thing - they get what are called "sides" which just contain the scenes they're in. So with alternate endings, the actors that are in the scenes would only get their scene regardless and the main shooting script would probably exclude the ending if the staff person didn't need to be involved with shooting it. (Example: A show shoots a murder mystery cliffhanger where a character is shot and keeps the audience hanging as to who was the gunman. They tape different scenes with different actors playing the suspect. So if in Version A, Blair shoots Todd, version B=Ross shoots Todd and version C=Dorian shoots Todd, the actor playing Todd would get a copy of all three endings while Blair, Ross, and Dorian would just get their "version" (assuming none of the other characters were present in the scene)

 

[minor muppetz]

You know DW I had wondered if you would have known. As a matter of fact there is the "Ask Jim Lewis" thread... I wonder if he would know (though I doubt Jim Lewis has written anything that was supposed to have multiple endings).

I figured that most productions that have these kinds of alternate endings were either season finale/season premier cliffhangers and soap operas. I think I've heard that the Clue movie has alternate endings as well (considering the game's format, it would make sense). I know that the first Austin Powers movie has a few different shot endings... I've seen them on the VHS (which included deleted scenes from the movie after the movie ended), and the two unused scenes were probably written and planned as alternate endings (they have the same setting), but I wouldn't be surprised if the ending that ended up in the movie was written/shot later (I don't have the DVD so I don't know if it's mentioned in the commentary).

I've also seen a number of other YouTube videos which had alternate endings. I wonder if I should try to contact the YouTubers who made them and ask about their scripts.

 

[Oscarfan]

DW's right. They're usually used to throw crew off of the cliffhanger. Like "Who Shot Mr. Burns." There were two full endings to Part 2, and several other scenes of of characters shooting him.