Insanely Great Endings: Michael Arndt

There's a rumor that a PDF file exists somewhere of Michael Arndt's "Insanely Great Endings" lecture.

It really doesn't, as of this writing.  I have spent some time lately trying to collect the bits and pieces that can be found from those who've heard him speak. Excerpts below, use the links for the full articles:

From Screenwriting from Iowa:

Here’s what Shelley Matsutani wrote six years ago after seeing Arndt give the talk in Los Angeles at the Screenwriting Expo 2006.

ARNDT’S RUBRIC FOR ENDINGS:

Bad = positive & predictable
Good = positive & surprising
Insanely Great = positive & surprising and meaningful

*Emotion is supercharged with meaning, meaning = emotion

Keep in mind that this was year’s before the 2010 release of Toy Story 3 (which Arndt received another Oscar-nomination) which has an insanely great ending.

In recent years at the Austin Film Festival Arndt has given the talk or been on panels twice giving examples of insanely great endings which include:
Star Wars 
The Graduate
Little Miss Sunshine
Rocky
Casablanca

Jessee Ferreras heard Arndt’s talk this year at the Vancouver International Film Festival and quotes Arndt saying:

“An ending has to wrap not only the narrative logic of the story —it also has to be emotionally fulfilling. It has to wrap up the emotional logic of the story…What you want to do is to make the story’s ending meaningful but in a surprising way.”

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From Deliberate Productions.com

"... Arndt analyzes three very different films, STAR WARS, THE GRADUATE, and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, and posits why their endings can be considered insanely great. (Granted, his discussion on LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE was lined with humility since he’s a genuinely sweet and humble guy.)  He touches on a lot of vernacular familiar to writers, namely the idea of external and internal stakes for your main character.  For example, in ROCKY the external goal for Rocky Balboa is to go the distance with Apollo Creed.  His internal goal in accomplishing this is to prove that he’s not a bum.  But Arndt also introduces the idea of philosophical stakes, which speak to the larger themes of a film.  Rocky versus Apollo Creed is the universal David versus Goliath story ... "

"... in Arndt’s point of view, it is when the external/internal/philosophical stakes have all failed – creating the hopeless feeling that there is no possibility of a positive outcome – that you are poised for an insanely great ending.  For out of that moment of despair comes the main character’s DECISIVE ACT: Luke forgoes the technology available to him and uses “the force” to land that final bulls-eye in the Death Star ..."

" ...  All of these films show their main characters going head-to-head with the “universe” that must be overturned.  And overturning the moral order of the main character’s universe is the key to an insanely great ending. ..."

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BUT - all this misses the Insanely Great Video Arndt made:

Arndt on BEGINNINGS