REVIEW: END OF THE ROAD

END OF THE ROAD: Now streaming on #Netflix. Starring Queen Latifah and Ludacris. The dialogue is on the nose. The fight scenes are unrealistic. However, it's good family viewing. Let's talk journey films in screenwriting terms. #SpoilerAlert

Journey films have a clear goal - get to a destination. A good journey film sets up a reason to need to travel. Something internal to connect to the external. In the case of END OF THE ROAD, this family has lost their patriarch and the matriarch can no longer support their lifestyle. So, they're packing up and moving to their hometown, Houston (🤘🏽), with Grandma. We get a tug at the heartstrings because the family is grieving and we understand why the road trip commences. This is the set up. The easy part.

The rest of a journey film is about complicating getting to the destination. What prolongs the journey? What goal do they have to reach or problem do they need to solve in order to continue their journey? What becomes at stake? Sometimes the stakes are in needing to reach where they're going or else. Most times, the stakes become life or death even in lighter toned comedies. In END OF THE ROAD, the family witnesses a murder and is dragged into the dealings of the local crime boss. Solve the problem of getting the boss what he wants and the rest of the journey home should be smooth sailing. THE END.

Check out our Development Notes service to get personalized feedback from one of our Story Experts and take your screenplay to the next level!

---

author

Shannan E. Johnson is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO + Head Consultant of The Professional Pen, a script consultancy that develops screenwriters from idea to pitch to become more confident storytellers ready for a professional screenwriting career, and consults with scripted development teams at entertainment companies to streamline their notes process to get to pre-production more efficiently.