By Tom Vaughan in Scene Work — Dec 9, 2024

The last line of a scene is the impact.

The button is the last line of a scene. It is the final moment before we transition out of one scene and into the next.

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The button of a scene.

The button is the last line of a scene. It is the final moment before we transition out of one scene and into the next.

It is there to:

Solidify the last emotion of the scene.
Push us to the next one.

But honestly, we rarely think of a button when a scene ends with a physical action because the action is so necessary to the scene we would never think to give it a name.

But the button is what wraps up a scene. It is the final beat.

The term and the concept go way back, but they were taught to me by my first mentor, Jim Wedaa. Jim was the first producer I ever worked with, and I can’t say enough about what he did for me.

When working on an early spec of mine, Jim drilled in me the importance of the action lines, and he is a big reason I continually try to find ways to make a screenplay easier to read.

“We need a button on that scene,” is the note I would get.

And I would get it often.

I knew the button would often read better and make the scene feel more complete, but I never truly understood why until years later when I started teaching.

When you actually teach, you need to explain the WHY of something besides a version of our parent's explanation of, “Because I said so.”

It’s the WHY that makes this knowledge truly powerful. When we know why, we can use the knowledge as a tool rather than as a dogma.

A tool has a time and a place, and the right tool for the right job can be exceptionally effective. On the other hand, dogma is simply repeated as a “rule” without precision.

We don’t like rules. We like tools.

The button is the impact of the scene.

When writing a scene, conventional wisdom asks, “What needs to happen?”

This is true, but I think it’s perhaps even more important to ask, “What changes?” because this gives meaning to what happens.

Something is true at the end of the scene that wasn’t true at the beginning.

Something is different.

A character will have an emotional response to this change, and this response affects this character’s story.

It pulls them toward where they’re going in their personal journey, pushes them back, or tempts them in another direction.

Yes, what happens inside a scene is what makes it fun, compelling, and emotional.

But the last moment is how you clarify its meaning and how the emotion of it pushes us to the next scene.

That last line is when we solidify the impact.

SEE HERE:

That last line? “Perfect.” That’s the button.

Because this moment is not about the yams, it’s about Toni’s decision about the yams. That’s the change.

So we require one last moment of her happiness with the yams because the yams show up one page later. How do I convey this? By calling it the “mother load” and “perfect.”

Her emotion is clear, so now the impact of the scene is clear.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

See that last line? You take that line out, and the impact changes. It becomes a moment about Toni and how she got one over on him.

Put the line in, and the moment is now about Jay realizing he screwed up and is now resigned to what happens next.

This is important because

This is Jay’s story and it’s the impact on him that matters.
The next scene is Jay in the water. We need to see him make this decision/realization.

It’s easy to forget a button when the scene doesn’t end on action.

Someone retreats, someone falls, someone decides to chase after their ex at the airport. These are all obvious buttons to end the scene on.

And we rarely forget them.

But what if the scene is ALL about emotional impact? There is no physical action at the end. No one runs out of the room, jumps through a window, or does anything physical.

This is usually when a button is needed most to solidify the impact of the emotion and the dialogue.

It’s easy to forget a button when we’re not visualizing the scene.

This goes back again to directing on the page and what we see on the screen.

The reader will often imagine cutting away on the last thing you write. They are unlikely to visualize what you did not give them.

So where in the scene we cut away matters. A cut has impact. It adds or dilutes.

Do not leave it to the reader to decide what they see just before you cut away from the scene.

That is your job.

It’s easy to write the wrong button when we lose track of what story we’re telling.

You cannot tell a story until you know what story you are telling, and you must know what part of that story this scene plays.

Whose story is this movie? If that person is in the scene, the scene is almost always about them.

So, what is the impact of this scene on your protagonist, and is it conveyed to the reader?

If it is not, the button is usually a good place to do it.

If the button is not about the story of the scene…

It is likely an additional beat because the impact of the scene is already clear.

Something dumb like this:

The scene is over, the impact is clear, and now we add this moment to increase tension and push the narrative momentum forward.

“Oh, no! Someone is watching!”

The right button.

Do not confuse what makes the scene fun and compelling with what the scene is about. Both are hugely important, but they are different.

A scene is about the impact on a character and/or the impact on the story. Without this change, the story doesn’t move forward the same way.

So, what pushes this scene into the next scene? Is it the emotion of the scene pushing us ahead, or an action that (often, a result of the emotion) is doing so?

We all know to end a scene early, right?

Well, this impact is what defines what early is.

If the impact is over, there is no more need for the scene.

Is this impact clear to the reader and the audience? If not, you need a button or a better one.

The Gladiator II screenplay.

GlADIATOR II is the first screenplay emailed out this award season. At least, it was the first I received.

Here are some examples of the scene buttons that I pulled at random.

I’ve identified which is about emotional impact and which ones are pushing the narrative into the next scene (usually right after the emotional impact is complete.)

And then they run to ready themselves for battle… (narrative)
Their eyes meet: there is a genuine bond of loyalty between them. (emotion)
A Roman WAR DRUM begins to pound. (emotion) (And “begins to”? Damn it, Scarpa!)
Arishat turns, and their eyes meet... as the boat vanishes into the mist... and she vanishes with it. (Both)
Viggo watches them take him away, is he irritated by the accolades for this prisoner of war? (emotion)
Lucius is taken out of the arena by two Pretorians (narrative)
Lucilla goes to the bust of her father, Marcus Aurelius, touching it and makes a prayer. (emotion)

I did this exercise last week, where I just grabbed a random produced screenplay and pulled examples. I’m going to keep doing it.

Can dialogue be a button?

Technically, sure. It’s just the last moment giving closure to a scene. But dialogue sometimes struggles to do it well because it doesn’t allow characters to absorb the emotional impact.

So be careful there.

I have noticed that dialogue buttons are more common in comedies, like a SMASH CUT or as a parting line after the impact has already been delivered.

LIKE HERE:

In this scene, Jay is being examined by a doctor while Jay's pants are down around his ankles. This scene has been going on for a while as the doctor mentions that Jay is middle-aged.

The scene is about Jay hearing someone else refer to him as middle-aged. The long pregnant moment is the impact of the scene.

The dialogue is just for fun.

A DRAMATIC EXAMPLE:

The first one I think of is from THE PROFESSIONAL when Gary Oldman screams, “EVERYONE!!”

That line ends the scene and motivates the cut.

Another 90s film, THE FUGITIVE, has Tommy Lee Jones say, “Dr. Richard Kimble” with such disdain that it buttons one sequence and leads to the next.

I know I need to update my examples. But come on, I’m riffing here. Plus, I gave you GlADIATOR II earlier, and that’s still in theaters! What do you want from me?