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Day 4 Assignments
Reply to post your assignment.
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33 Replies
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Subject: Rob Ingalls’ Subtext Plot
MY VISION:
To be a Talented writer that delivers quality fast, with the film industry seeking me out.
WIL: Still not sure if this is heading the way I thought or expect, but may be ok.
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Title: NIRVANA GOLD
Concept:
A giant Buddha statue made of pure gold is stolen by thieves who tunnel underneath and hollow it out.
Character Structure: Dramatic Triangle
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Superior Position:
A thief [TRIANGLE CHARACTER], in the process of melting and hollowing out a huge golden statue, learns of a tourist [protagonist]
heading towards the giant gold Buddha, and does everything he can to stop him and discovering the gold.
The thief creates havoc between the protagonist and antagonist [girlfriend of protagonist??; girlfriend of triangle??; or third party guide??].
Competitive Agendas:
Pro/Antagonist in a relationship but the stress of the trek causes them to soon dislike each other. Antagonist learns that pro is all fake online.
Triangle character encourages the other two to increase their battle.
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David’s Subtext Plot
My vision for this program to learn the skills to propel me to A list status.
What I learned from this assignment is the necessity of creating meaningful subtext in your story.
Concept: A carefree college grad just made the Guinness Book of World Records…. for owing the most money in student loan history. A ruthless collector is gonna make him pay.
Subtext Plots:
Someone Hides Who They Are: Chas pretends to be a successful doctor to court his dream girl. In reality, he’s a sperm donor who lives on a dinky boat and is deeply in debt.
The Fish Out of Water: Chas pretends to be a doctor and is forced to keep doubling down on the lie. Along the way, he encounters situations that challenge his lie.
Superior Position: We know that Chas is full of shit, creating tension during the story. We also know that a ruthless student loan collector is tracking him down, threatening to expose Chas as a fraud.
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Subject Line: Monica Subtext Plot
Vision: I will continue to learn everything I can through all different media to apply what I learn to become the best screenwriter I can be. To be successful in getting my movies made and to win awards in the process.
What I learned from
doing this assignment is to decide the sub-text plots before the first draft, I’ve
always tried to insert them into subsequent drafts resulting in my confusion.<div>2. Tell us your concept and your choice of one or two of these Subtext Plots.
Title: Time Guardians
Concept: A rogue Special Forces intelligence team steals an ancient artefact at the start of the first Iraq war to keep it safe from the hands of the New World Order who wants to use it to manipulate the timeline only to discover all timelines end in 2030.
Scheme and Investigation</div><div>
Layering
3. Give us a few sentences on how your Subtext Plot will play out inside this story.
Scheme and Investigation
– Our Protagonist fulfills his job to steal the artefact but during the
journey to the museum in Iraq he is saddled with our mysterious Triangle
Character (yes I decided to have one!) who seems to know exactly what the
artefact is and how to use it.</div>Layering – Our Protagonist
thinks the artefact is for scientific purposes but when the mysterious
Triangle Character reveals its real purpose – manipulating timelines – the
artefact must be stolen once again to keep it from those running the
world. -
My vision is to become a stronger writer.
What I learned: That for every story, there is a basic structure. Something that supports subtext and carries messages below the threshold. A writer can take advantage of or limit the writer and audience, if he doesn’t incorporate subtext, thus limiting story.
Concept: A traumatized hyena, deposed from his clan, must win acceptance in another, or survive the dangerous forest/ jungle edges alone.
Logline: After being deposed from his clan, a depressed hyena, living from grub to grub, loses his laughter, but must win the Olympic Hyena Laughing Contest to gain survival in another clan.
My subtext plot is number seven. Competitive agendas.
Another way to look at it is: the individual vs. society. Shadow, the hyena, competes every day of his life for food, safety and survival.
Number three fits somewhat with a twist: Someone hides who they are;
my character has been traumatized as a cub by a ravenous wolf that kills his brother. As a result, everyone believes he’s a loser, a coward, and he suffers constant abuse. Worse, he believes he is a coward, a loser, and incapable of survival. and stupid to boot. (Hyena’s have a higher intelligence than apes)
He is not hiding who he is, yet he is, because the power of love forces him to defend his mother from a hyena of a higher hierarchy. He doesn’t think about his own safety. He attacks the off-spring of the matriarch who leads the clan. He is humiliated, dejected and laughed at, as the matriarch slings him out of the clan. He loses everything–his family, home, what little food they supplied and perhaps even his survival.
This is part of his transformational journey. But at the time, it just feels like hardship.
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Lynn Vincentnathan’s Subtext Plot
VISION: I am determined to become a great screenwriter capable of getting my screenplays in various genres produced into movies that inspire vast audiences to mitigate climate change.
I LEARNED that figuring out these subtext plots (at least main ones) are really important before jumping into a plot outline or beat sheet, since they sort of color a lot of things along the way – and figuring them out will probably reduce the need for a lot of unnecessary rewriting. Also there could be other minor subtext plots cropping up, which may add to rewriting.
I’d better post now or I’ll be flooding this with more ideas.
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CONCEPT: WEATHERING IT (RomCom) is about two college students who try to overcome family fights about global warming and get married during the worst ever Texas freeze.
SUBTEXT PLOTS & HOW THEY WILL PLAY OUT:
Someone Hides Who They Are & Superior Position: Jim fears Ellie’s reaction so he doesn’t let on that his uncle runs an oil engineering consultancy, that he’s funding Jim’s education, & that Jim is obligated to work for him in Houston after college; Jim hides that he is related to Fred Higson the major donor to the Higson College of Engineering. Ellie doesn’t let Jim know that she plans to join her Great-uncle Ely in his efforts at climate activism. Ellie and Jim have only agreed they don’t need to settle in McBride (fictitious name) in South Texas, both indicating (or assuming) that their post-college careers are flexible regarding where they can settle.
Though we the audience find these things out in Act 1, Ellie and Jim don’t find out until mid-Act 2 when they get into a big argument and call off their wedding plans.
Layering the Uncles’ feud: Ellie’s Great-uncle Ely and Jim’s Uncle Fred are bitter opponents in the climate change debate. Ellie & Jim fight over their wedding invitation list – Jim not wanting to invite Ely, to whom Ellie is devoted (much more than Jim realized), since he’s a trouble-maker. Jim knows his own Uncle Fred is a trouble-maker and that Ely bitterly hates Fred, which would cause a big disruption to the wedding if Ely were there, but since Fred funds Jim’s education (and will help with the wedding) he has to be invited. This fight is the main reason they call off the wedding midpoint Act 2. Toward the end of Act 3 we learn the uncles’ feud goes much deeper than ideological differences: Fred tricked Ely’s love-of-his-life Sarah away from him during their college days, which turned Ely into a grumpy old hermit and against marriage, which also contributed to Ellie being romance-shy in Act 1, along with her and her mother having been abandoned by her father.
Layering the weather: The opening scene is set during sweltering hot spring weather portending an even hotter summer, which implies global warming and underlying climate anxiety for Ellie & friends (which colors their lives), while denialists in later scenes argue that weather fluctuations do not imply global warming. Then the biggy – the worst ever Texas freeze in the Act 3 winter, which denialist Uncle Fred jumps on as proof global warming is not happening. Until Ellie’s Uncle Ely informs them that the weird freeze is actually caused by global warming, as it makes negative arctic oscillations and Rossby waves much worse causing more ferocious polar temps to jet stream down south. The state-wide power outage following on the heels of the freeze leads to change of wedding venue to Uncle Ely’s off-the-grid farm – he’s now not only invited, but the host. Uh-oh!
As a weather subplot around the trip to the TURTLE RESCUE CENTER (big in Act 1) we learn that, aside from the other problems turtles face, the warming temperatures are leading to a severe dearth of male turtles. Someone then starts the rumor that global warming will lead to less (human) males; we know it’s Ellie’s environmental club sidekick Luz, but Ellie gets blamed. Also in the 1st scene as Ellie and Luz put up posters for the Turtle Rescue Center trip, Luz tells Ellie not to withdraw into her turtle shell re romance; Jim and friend following the “babes” overhear them and Jim tell his friend he wants to rescue that turtle (Ellie). And then at the end of Act 3 during the severe freeze, right after they say “I do” at the wedding but before the grand kiss, text messages go abuzz — the Turtle Rescue Center needs everyone to come rescue 1000s of cold-stunned turtles. They all rush out, with Ely and Fred also joining in. -
Alan’s Subtext Plot
My Vision:
I do whatever it takes for me to be a true wordsmith that spins wildly original and entertaining screenplays that are passionately sought out by top industry professionals who turn them into critically and publicly acclaimed major motion pictures distributed by the top studios in Hollywood, all while writing from wherever I may be leisurely traveling the world at the moment.
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Concept: Action/Comedy – After taking out the garbage, a down on his luck, thirty-something fast food employee finds a high tech bracelet that turns him into the world’s deadliest assassin.
Title – Ninja Burgers
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SUBTEXT PLOTS
Someone Hides Who They Are: Tiberius will eventually hide who he is when he ends up on a mission and tries to accomplish the mission while being supremely underqualified to do so.
The Fish Out of Water: Tiberius will go through the fish out of water subtext after first putting on the bracelet and being brought in by the organization testing the bracelet on living subjects.
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Lisa Long’s Subtext Plot
My Vision: I will do whatever it takes to be comfortable saying that I am a writer by creating impactful stories with amazing characters in order to sell my scripts.
What I learned from this assignment is by creating the subtext plot at the beginning it will help to keep the story on track as it unfolds during the writing of the script.
Concept for “Chesapeake Girl”: A 10-year-old aspiring dancer is abandoned by her mother with a father she’s never known to live with him above his restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay.
The Fish Out of Water; Competitive Agendas; Someone Hides Who They Are<div>
How your Subtext Plot will play out inside this story:
When Molly is left with her father, she is for a time a Fish Out of Water having lived the gypsy dance life with her mother for her first ten years. Her father forbids Molly to dance because Molly’s mother was a dancer who broke his heart. They have Competitive Agendas; Molly is determined to dance; her father is determined that she will not dance. And Molly’s father is the Someone Hides Who They Are character by not revealing his sordid past.
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Subtext – What Lies Beneath – Lesson 4
Vision – To become a sought after writer that creates high concept ideas and scripts
What I Learned From This Assignment – I can see two subtext plots fitting my story and characters. Superior Position and Fish Out Of Water
A lonely widow who is a famous chef meets a much younger man and falls in love with him only to discover that he is Santa Claus and needs her to regain his magic and save Christmas.
Helen’s long awaited family bonding time is suddenly turned into a working vacation when her manager sets up a holiday cookie contest without her knowledge. After seeing the mutual attraction between Nick and Helen, Nick’s elves convince him that Helen and her cookies are the answer to saving Christmas.
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Hi Folks!
My Vision:
For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to make their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.
What I learned from this assignment is:
I love subtext! What goes on beneath the surface, under the mask, is the real story, anything else is just noise.
My concept (updated):
Drama/True story. Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a handful of US Army officers behind the scenes win their battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?
My Subtext Plots:
Scheme and investigation: The surviving top Nazis at the world’s greatest trial are scheming to save their skins and keep the Nazi legend alive. Three US Army officers behind the scenes must win their battle of wills to persuade Hitler’s henchmen to denounce the Führer.
Competitive agendas: The leading Nazis at Nuremberg are at each other’s throats; Hermann Goering wants to whip them into line so the Nazi legend can live on. Meanwhile, tensions are tearing apart the US Army team in their battle of wills to get these top Nazis to denounce Hitler. Some want justice – while others demand vengeance.
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Marcus’ Subtext Plot
My Vision: I have well-founded confidence that what I write is excellent and will be acknowledged as excellent by everyone who reads it.
This lesson taught me how to get the plot started with built in complexity from the start, rather than not having it or having to add it in later with difficult rewrites.
Title: “Beyond the Faded Trail”
Concept: A builder and his team go to a ghost town to dismantle it for or wood and find thieves’ treasure stored there. His men mutiny over the treasure, then the thieves themselves show up.
Subtext plots:
Someone hides who they are – the builder’s foreman is a dedicated and skilled worker who hides his identity as a former member of the gang of thieves. He knows the treasure will be in the ghost town but tells no one.
The builder himself hides his identity as a former soldier with PTSD issues that partially explain his poor behavior early on.
Major cover up – the
foreman has an axe to grind with the leader of the gang of thieves. In addition
to stealing their loot, he wants to be in a position to kill the gang leader.
He has made sure that members of the building crew are former thugs so he’d
have a gang of his own to bring when the opportunity presented itself. -
Subject Line: Ron’s Subtext Plot
Vision: I want the success and recognition of being an in demand, A-list screenwriter who writes successful films that are financially profitable, award winning and of enduring quality
What I learned is that writing a screenplay, and there is a certain body of knowledge I must master in order to succeed
I tweaked the concept:
Concept: After the son of a powerful Mafia godfather convinces the godfather’s mail order bride to kill the godfather and take over his criminal empire, she has second thoughts and must find a way to extricate herself from this treacherous plot.
t. Subplots chosen:
1) Layering
2) Someone who hides who they are
3) Competitive agendas
Discussion:
Lucia, the mail order bride realizes her ambition of marrying someone rich from the U.S., a mafia godfather. She has an affair with the Godfather’s son who convinces her to kill the godfather and take over his criminal empire. She has second thoughts and must extricate herself from this evil plot.
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My Vision: I will work hard to become a well-respected writer that has my movies produced and has enough work to keep me busy and keep the lights on.
What I learned doing this assignment is how to create a subtext-oriented plot. As I looked at the different options, I was able to discover ways to increase the subtext below the surface to make the film more engaging and enjoyable for the audience.
Concept: A member of the local search and rescue team travels into the backcountry with her team in search of a missing girl, but when they start disappearing one by one, she must choose between saving the girl or saving herself.
Subplots Chosen:
– Scheme & Investigation
– Competing agendas
While the protagonist and a majority of the team are earnestly looking for the missing girl, a government agency has given orders to two of the members that they are to bring the creature back alive, even if it means sacrificing the girl, but one of the men has a change of heart giving him a competing agenda with his colleague.
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MY VISION:
To write eight screenplays that become Hollywood blockbusters (and to get a line or two in at least one).
WHAT I LEARNED:
How to get a clear idea of my protagonists journey from the beginning of his story to the end.
Transformational Journey
Arc Beginning: Overconfident, insensitive Korean War Vet
Arc Ending: Becomes peace advocate,
sympathetic to minoritiesInternal Journey: From cocky and
shallow to thoughtful intellectualExternal Journey: From decorated Sgt.
to struggling TV crime reporterOld Ways: Domineering, cocky, never
wrongNew Ways: Accepting, sensitive, open to
new ideas, introspective -
MY
VISION: To write eight screenplays that become Hollywood blockbusters
(and to get a line or two in at least one of them).WHAT
I LEARNED FROM THIS ASSIGNMENT: The importance of having several sub
plots.CONCEPT:
Korean War vet Ace is a struggling 1950s Las Vegas TV
reporter and gambling addict who fails to repay a large debt to a
sadistic crime boss. He has ten days to come up with the money or
he’ll be forced to cover gruesome crimes committed against those
closest to him.LAYERING:
Ace can’t go to the authorities because the District Attorney is on
the mob’s payroll.COMPETITIVE AGENDAS: Ace’s sister can pay off his debt but her husband is Ace’s
arch rival at a competing station. -
WIM Vic Valleau Module 2/4 WHATS BENEATH THE SURFACE
VISION OF SUCCESS: As a writer, I am an alchemist, turning the ordinary into gold.
WHAT I LEARNED Thank you Hal for subtext and applications list. I re-wrote this response 3 times, with long breaks in between. Each time I would experiment with different subtext plots. Each time story and characters got more reality and emotional, deeper conflicts.
7 Subtexts
1. Scheme and investigation 2. Layering 3. Someone hides who they are 4.The fish out of water 5. Superior position 6. A major coverup 7. Competitive agendas
I USE MOSTLY #7. COMPETITIVE AGENDAS, and #1 Scheme and investigation WITH SPRINKLE OF 3 and 5.
CONCEPT: Lonely Sperm donor, NOW STERILE, searches for love, wants to be a father and husband.
ON SURFACE: Testing sterile, Bob suspects Attorney Sabrina used his final deposit and is now very pregnant. He needs proof and love A mutual friend sets them up to date. She’s mystified why he flatters her with attention but wants her to discover it herself. (#3 Someone who hides who they are and #5 Superior position and unawareness and #7 competing agendas) When will Bob’s deception be uncovered and how will characters react.
At near end of story and nearing birth, she’s, angry, she discovers he’s father. She, throws him out of hospital but he saves her and baby with emergency blood donations.
UNDER SURFACE: Anti-male leanings In private make her an unsuitable spouse. She withholds this and uses it to sabotage him.
SUBPLOT: She keeps a revolver on her desk, threatens too aggressive men for entertainment.
UNDER SURFACE HOW SUBLPOT PLAYS OUT INSIDE STORY:
SUBPLOTS: Very pregnant and birthing, she gets mothers deeper emotions crying cuddling baby. She cries with joy when she sees him holding and cuddling baby.
SUBPLOT: He is begging to be father and husband duties, and also cuddle baby.
SUBPLOT: Other mothers warm to him with 3 or 4 telling and revealing events. She sees value and marries him., with daughter flower gir
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MODULE TWO LESSON FOUR
FRAN’S SUBTEXT PLOT
MY VISION: I want to write great movies. Movies that are magical, movies that move people and tell the truth. I want to write movies that stars will want to be in.
WHAT I LEARNED: You take it step by step, let your inner writer work and let it flow. So far, this project has come really easily as I take it one day at a time, one step at a time. And I find it’s also helping me to get the most crucial part of my steamboat script together by doing this. My thinking is coming along a lot more easily on my projects doing the work this way.
For my story:
I’ve chosen the Competitive Agendas subtext plot coupled with the Superior Position
Meredith starts out in a subservient position in the story. She’s married to a very successful director/producer who uses her talent to further his own career/agenda. Jerome treats his wife’s writing success like it doesn’t matter—except when it furthers his own career goals. He neglects her and he treats her badly.
He’s jealous of her ability as a writer. So, he’s continually putting her down. He feels the competition between them when his career isn’t going in the right direction. He lies about his affairs with the starlets in his movies. He competes for their daughter’s love. And he decides to “put her in her place” by hiring another writer for the movie he’s working on, leaving her out entirely in the cold on his latest project. Meredith is far from happy, but she tries to appease him because she doesn’t want to compete with him/his career or for his love. Until she discovers what he’s done behind her back. She wakes up and decides to go out on her own—as her agent has urged her to do for quite some time. And she finds another director/producer to help her get her script made into a film. This is where the real competition begins. She finds the courage and strength to become her own woman in the story of Grand Duchess Olga, who is tragically murdered along with her family during World War I and the Russian Revolution.
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Amy’s Subtext Plot
Vision: I want to become known as an expert in the family-friendly genre and make a full-time living as a screenwriter
What I learned from doing this assignment is how to add subtext to the movie as a whole.
Concept: When a princess learns that she’s not really a princess, she’s forced to accept help from a neighboring country’s prince who she hates, and the two find themselves unexpectedly drawn to each other.
Subtext Plot: The Fish Out of Water
The fish out of water subtext plot works for my concept because Princess Stephanie will have just discovered she’s not really a princess and will have to adjust to life as a famous commoner. I imagine she was will have to learn how to do things for herself that she is used to having other people do for her. She will also have to learn a new way of relating to people since she has lost the prominence that comes from being a member of the royal family.
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WIM2 – Dana’s Subtext Plot
My Vision: I intend to perfect my skills to become a successful screenwriter, scripting acclaimed and profitable films, recognized by my peers, and living an adventurous life.
What I learned during this assignment:
Title: The Smelting Pot
Genre: Thriller
Concept: Kidnapped for ransom, a wealthy woman is held hostage in the smelting pot of an abandoned steel mill frequented by drug addicts and street gangs, and to survive, she must remain soundless and stay hidden until the ransom is paid or find a way to escape her captor known as The Custodian.
Subtext Plot: Scheme and Investigation / Fish Out of Water
Ruth is dealing with…
· being kidnapped and held hostage
· being isolated and alone
· being discovered by the wrong people
· being killed / harmed
· never being found and the hopelessness of rescue
· her captor’s true intentions
· trying to escape
Scheme and Investigation: Ruth’s abductor is a serial kidnapper who schemes to extort money from her husband, while Ruth, after the hardship of isolation and hopelessness, investigates a way to escape her captor.
Fish Out of Water: Ruth is a wealthy political wife, pampered and privileged, who now finds herself the captive of a serial kidnapper who treats her like a caged animal.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Dana Abbott.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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Joe’s Subtext Plot
My vision is to persevere and stay the course of building steady daily routine, and disciplines that produce consistent writing of exceptional quality. Ultimately, the fruit of those habits and disciplines will be a track record of great marketable scripts that will make other successful talented pros seek me out.
I learned that this process is really going to help me stay focused and keep the script strong as I outline and flesh out. If there’s too many tangents, I’ll be able to narrow it down and focus right at the point of it becoming overwhelming.
<font size=”2″><font size=”2″>Concept: “Elevated” Rom Com, Despite thinking they are world’s
apart, a pizza shop owner who can’t dance and a dance
studio owner who doesn’t eat pizza for health reasons, but rents the
space above his shop, work together to fight their slimy landlord over
lease violations (particularly with the elevator), and fall in love in
the process.</font></font>I see elements of most of these subplots in my script:
Scheme and Investigation: the Landlord is scheming, and the Pizza guy is investigating, and ultimately brings the Dance teacher into it.
Layering: the Pizza guy has really great soup, and other culinary skills, which is the first thing that makes the dance teacher change her opinion of his “value”
She is also very much a Fish Out of Water as a privelaged, successful broadway-worthy talent, “reduced” to blue-collar suburbia.
The Landlord is in a Superior Position over her, and her business naiivitee. Not sure yet how much of that the audience knows, but the pizza guy suspects it, and will eventually be vindicated when he is proven right.
I may employ A Major Cover Up in the 2nd half of movie as they team up against the landlord.
But for now, Competitive Agendas will be the driving force, as they both fear that the other business is hindering their growth, thus making both the dance teacher and the pizza guy believe that they have to work hard to make sure the other business doesn’t “bring them down”, and the Landlord only helps to fuel the flames of their pre-existing prejudices. All, the while, they are getting closer and closer, prepped to fall for each other.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Joe Donato.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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Hari’s subtext plot
My Vision: I want to write screenplays that enable me to work with like minded creative people in the industry to produce profound movies that will have a long lasting positive effect on the world.
What I learned… Try not to go off the deep end with too much subtext.
Concept: A suspended cop discovers that a multinational corporation’s attempted takeover of a small town’s water supply is really a front for an alien invasion of the Earth
Scheme and Investigation – Colt McBride investigates why the water company will go to such extremes to take over Jefferson’s water supply. Could aliens really be involved? The aliens are scheming to take over the Earth.
Someone Hides Who They Are – An alien species interbreeds with humans in order to conceal their presence as they attempt to conquer the Earth.
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(Nancy’s) Subtext Plot
My Vision: To create a polished portfolio and do whatever it takes to get a manager, and then sell multiple TV and or feature scripts.
What I learned doing this assignment is that there are more opportunities to create an interesting story by adding subtext.
Concept:: A grieving war correspondent discovers she’s the reincarnated wife of the legendary fugitive killer that she’s investigating.
Subtext Plots: Layering and Superior Position
Layering: We will ultimately learn at the end of the story that Lars, the caretaker and antagonist, is actually the spirit of the alleged fugitive Freya is investigating (no one is aware he too died with his family). As Freya investigates the fugitive, layers begin to reveal it is the same person – Lars (the caretaker). We will discover at the end that Freya is the reincarnated wife of the fugitive and through a series of clues (her memories/dreams) not only will she absolve her fugitive husband as her killer this will give spirit Lars the peace to cross over.
Superior: as clues are revealed, the audience will know that Lars is the spirit of the alleged deceased fugitive, then he will discover it and help Freya to find those memories and clues that absolve him of the murder of his wife/children without Freya knowing who he is. Ultimately she will discover who she is, and then the connection she has to Lars in a previous life.
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My Vision: I am a writer/director/producer that writes and makes films of all kinds, and I am recognized by the industry as both a highly successful filmmaker and as a person that’s easy to work with.
What I learned from doing this assignment is how to add depth to a screenplay by applying certain sub-text plots, depending on what the story calls for.
Concept:
· Genre: Sci-Fi
· High Concept: A nameless villain uses masks to control the minds of the people he sends them to, in order to carry out terrorist acts through the U.S.
· Major Story Hook: Will the villain ever be revealed, and will he be stopped?
Subtext Plot: Layering
How this subtext plot will play out inside this story
There is a main character who ends up being the villain that we don’t suspect throughout the story. When his true identity is revealed, one will be able to look back at the events leading up to it and see that there were clues along the way indicating who the villain is.
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Scott Billings
What I learned: This really helps you see how many layers you can put in a story.
Tell us your concept and your choice of one or two of these Subtext Plots.
DOOMSDAY–A suicidal cop is given one day to convince an alien planning to destroy Earth that humanity is worth saving.
Scheme and Investigation
Mike tries to find out who Damien really is.
Layering
Damien is really on Earth to decide if humanity is worth saving
Someone Hides Who They Are
Damien is really an alien living in the body of a homeless veteran.
The Fish Out of Water
Mike is dealing with things well beyond his normal life and comprehension.
Superior Position
We and Mike know who Damien really is, but nobody believes him
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(Bice-Stephen’s) Subtext Plot
2022 is my year to break through!
What I learned—my Antagonistic is stealing the show!
Concept: A criminally insane young mother secretly kidnaps a baby to manipulate the ex who rejected her.
Subtext Plots:
1. Layering
2. Someone hides who they are
1. Layering: The lead characters, Alex and Brandy, seem like old high-school friends, but they barely knew each other. Brandy’s life is a total lie and naive Alex just falls for it. He suffers greatly step by step as she tries to reel him in, can’t catch him so might as well kill him, can’t kill him so just get him locked up so nobody else can have him either. But he just wanted to have a good time!
2. Someone hides who they are: Alex is so naively upfront and such a nice guy —it’s almost painful. He’s not hiding anything. Brandy is his absolute opposite. She can’t tell the truth and has no conscious. She pathologically lies about being in college when she dropped out of high school; says she hasn’t dated before when she’s had two miscarriages; assures Alex she can’t get pregnant (we’ll see about that); says she has a brother and sister when she’s an only child; kidnaps a baby girl and dresses her as a boy; says no need for child support while sending DSHS to collect—and on and on.
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Joyce’s Subtext Plot
Vision is to write memorable movies that actors want to perform.
WIL: Main Levels will guide the outline, but there could be hints of the others, too, as the outline develops
Scheme and Investigation : the professor’s students have to draw straws to have one of them investigate the professor’s attack.
Someone Hides Who They Are: He has an assistant for backup, but she has a secret of her own.
A Major Cover Up : Scholars for almost 400 years have fought about the identity of Shakespeare, and the recent pre-publication of the professor’s manuscript brings out his enemies because they believe he has new information about the final plays which were not published or the copies are lost.
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Dave Holloway’s Subtext Plot
My vision: I would like to be a successful writer in Hollywood, with a number of successful movies to my credit that put forward a core belief about environmental, political, or personal development issues.
What I learned from doing this assignment is the importance of using subtext to deepen the experience of the movie and the need to know precisely what the subtext is.
Concept: Forty years in the future, two young Englishmen must cross an America that has divided into independent states based on primary vocation or social identity, and try to rescue one’s wife, who faces execution in a military state.
My subtext plot will be “Superior Position.”
Nigel, the protagonist, is traveling through a number of independent states that were created after the United States broke apart. He knows his wife has been imprisoned on a false charge of espionage in a military state on the Pacific Coast, in the area that had been Southern California. We see his wife’s experience of the prison, and how terrible conditions in the prison are, as the military has imprisoned everyone suspected of opposing its fascist rule, and nearly all of them will be executed. Aware of this, several women prisoners held in the area of the prison Nigel’s wife is in have hung themselves in recent weeks. Nigel also doesn’t know that the military state is aware of his mission to rescue his wife, and plans to kill him before he ever reaches its border. Further, he doesn’t know how tightly controlled the military state is, and how advanced their technology is for spying on the activities of anyone within the state. Finally, he is unaware the prison’s warden is intensely devoted to maintaining control of the prisoners and preventing escape.
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[WIM2] Antonio Flores’ Journey Beneath the Journey
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To write profound stories that make the audience feel inspired,
empowered to achieve ongoing growth today and in the future.
— Antonio Flores
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What I learned from doing this assignment:
Outlining subtext at this stage helps to envision the deeper levels that character subtext will provide in a later step of the process and produce a profound story. I like our New Ways.
2. Tell us your concept and your choice of one or two of these Subtext Plots.
Logline:
When the stars turn into black holes and people forget the future, a young warrior fights to save a star – it’s the end of the universe… and it was all planned!
Subtext Plots:
“Layering” and “Scheme and Investigation”
3. Give us a few sentences on how your Subtext Plot will play out inside this story.
- On the surface: Legend has it that two sisters fell in love with a couple of star brothers and went to marry them in the skies.
- Under the surface: (Layering) One of the sisters conspired against the other and her husband sent her back to Earth where she gave birth to their son — a half-human, half-star boy.
- On the surface: Things get complicated when humans suddenly loose their sense of the future.
- Under the surface: There is a secret plan to make the growing darkness prevail in the universe.
- Under the surface: Unknown to the people, a star also lives among them. Now the star girl is the only one who has foresight.
- On the surface: During a dangerous expedition, no one listens to her, so, she is unable to save her adopted human father. She survives and finds her way back thanks to her dog, Cyrus.
- Under the surface: Cyrus the dog is also a star!
- On the surface: Things get even more complicated. The star is sent… away, somewhere so distant that makes the young warrior suspect this is no coincidence.
- Under the surface: (Layering) Someone is manipulating destiny.
- On the surface: Everything points at cunning boy Cold-Fire as being the culprit.
- Under the surface: (Layering) A more powerful evil is behind all this.
- On the surface: The young warrior crosses the space-time portal. If he finds his beloved star girl, they will be able to prevent the end of the universe.
- Under the surface: Cold-Fire works from backstage creating obstacles to discredit the warrior and create conflict among the two lovers. He finally forces the star to forget her memories of the future and she makes the warrior forget about his mission, too.
- On the surface: Cyrus the dog crosses the portal, too. Following his nose and instinct, helps the young warrior investigate
- Under the surface: (Layering) What Cyrus and the warrior find underneath.
- On the surface: The heroes fail. The universe is destroyed, but in the last moment, they discover and use the secret power of the warrior’s father.
- Under the surface: (Layering) An evil force had imprisoned the warrior’s father, because he is the missing piece for the warrior and the star to create a new universe.
- On the surface: Cold-Fire is defeated.
- Under the surface: (Layering) From the outset, a more powerful evil has been behind all this.
More beneath-the-surface stuff:
- There are trues about the universe that only the stars know
- The Era of Treachery signals the end of the universe
- Music can transcend space and time… if you are in the right place at the right time.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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Greg’s Subtext Plot
My vision for the the end of this course is that I have elevated my writing to a professional level and have sold my first script. My vision for the next ten years is that I am a multimillionaire, have won an Oscar and have a whole wall of movie posters that represent my success.
What I learned from doing this assignment is that I now have plot developments I hadn’t thought of before now!
Scheme & Investigating
Maybe a parole officer investigates the thief while the thief schemes his next score with the old lady.Maybe a journalist investigates the female Navy Seal, her superior officer(s) and the shady government program she’s a part of
Layering
Maybe a major reveal is that Superman actually killed innocent people in the pastMaybe a reveal is grandma is actually trying to get back at her dead husband as well as her grandson
Someone hides who they are
Maybe a major reveal is that the old lady is actually keeping herself at a distance from her family, or maybe they all hate her. They neglect her for a good reason
Fish out of water
Maybe the Superhero is under the impression he’s never seen battle or even been in a fightOld lady talks a big game but has never actually robbed anyone
Superior position
We find out the truth about the female Navy Seal before the superhero doesMaybe we find out the thief cheated his past partners out of their share and he plans on doing the same to the old lady
Major cover-up
The Navy Seal’s superior officer schemed to have the superhero taken out so that he wouldn’t oppose the unjust war, and when the hero didn’t die steps were taken to ensure the hero stayed ignorant of what really happened
Competing agendas
Maybe at one point the old lady wants to taunt her spoiled grandson but it’s counterintuitive to the thief’s intention of NOT getting caught
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Dawn C Crouch’s Subtext Plot
Vision – In WIM, I will listen and learn to write my best screenplay, which will be optioned and produced.
What I learned from doing this assignment is to consider and craft the subtext before actually writing the script. In the past, I’ve often had to go back and layer in scenes/information but this is a better roadmap on how to proceed.
Title – Nursing a Grudge. Genre – Suspense Thriller or possibly Horror
Concept – The Art of Medicine becomes the Tort of Medicine when a hospital, infamous for abandoning patients during a natural disaster, reopens as a state of the art facility with revenge in the renovation.
Subtext Plots –
1. Someone Hides Who They Are – Each of the characters in the Dramatic Triangle have something that they keep hidden.
Carling hides that he is the son of the previous administrator who took the fall for mishandling the hospital’s response to the natural disaster.
Tallis generally deflects and evades any and all people and questioning he encounters.
Kingsley hides that fact that her husband was a patient at the hospital during the natural disaster and died because of the actions of the administrators.
2. A Major Cover Up – The renovated hospital seems to be exceeding standards of care unless the patient is or is a relative of a former admin/board of trustees. Strange incidents start to point to intentional instead of accidents.
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Chris Blanchett’s Subtext Plots
I am a brilliant, massively successful, professional screenwriter who writes incredible movies in a wide variety of genres which become instant-classics. I am respected by my professional peers and bring genuine, thought-provoking entertainment and uplifting emotions to hundreds of millions of movie-goers.
What I learned from this assignment is some useful handles for conceiving subplots and developing character and plot depth.
Unwoke
After his politically incorrect rant accidentally goes viral, a timid office-worker becomes a modern day thought criminal to one half of the country and an unintentional hero to the other. Can he elude the clutches of the “woke” mob and successfully avoid sparking a second American civil war?
Subtext Plot 1 – Fish Out Of Water
Tim is shy, retiring, and attention adverse. His inadvertent notoriety/infamy thrusts him into the public eye and makes him a sought after media figure.
Subtext Plot 2 – Competitive Agendas
Tim is a hero to one half of the country a villain to the other half. Political leaders and media-figures on both sides are using him to forward their own agendas.
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Drew Foerster’s Subtext Plot
MY VISION IS (living as if it is already fact): I am an award-winning produced Hollywood screenwriter with an excellent reputation that is represented by an outstanding manager and whose life is filled with creativity!
What I learned from doing this assignment is…
LOGLINE:<s> </s>When a FATHER becomes a suspect in his daughter TYME’S (10) disappearance, he goes on the run through the dark underbelly of online alien abduction chat rooms, conspiracy theory groups, and secret abduction survivor clubs, convinced that she was abducted by aliens… But is this a fantasy created by his mental illness or is there truly something darker and otherworldly going on?<s></s>
Short pitch: THE FUGITIVE meets UFOs
Scheme and Investigation – Marc is trying to find his daughter and solve the mystery of her disappearance. The government is trying to frame him and cover up her kidnapping.
Layering
Someone Hides Who They Are
The Fish Out of Water Marc doesn’t believe in aliens but needs to find answers in the world of alien conferences and conspiracy theorists
Superior Position – We learn early on that the person helping is the daughter of the FBI Agent who is trying to hunt him down.
A Major Cover Up
Competitive Agendas
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(George Petersen) Subtext Plot
My vision is to direct one of my screenplays as a low-budget indie film.
What I learned from doing this assignment is the importance of going step by step in building a story
The Summer of Haight
Concept: In the summer of 1967, an attorney is baffled when his best friend designates a good-for-nothing hippie as the sole benefactor of his opulent estate. After the hippie inherits the estate complete with its lush Victorian mansion, the attorney swears revenge for his “missing” friend.
Scheme and Investigation
The attorney, desperate to find out what scheme this no-good hippie is up to, decides to follow him one night through his escapades in the Haight-Ashbury. There, he discovers many alarming things about this strange hippie, but when he reports them to his friend, Jonathan, he doesn’t share the urgency for action that the attorney feels so strongly about. The attorney doubles down. He needs more evidence. A lot more for his investigation.
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Vision: I am going to create meaningful scripts that leave audiences remembering my movies and leave me excited to keep writing and moving up in the industry.
What I learned from doing this assignment is: The definition of subtext. This is something I have heard, but never explored. The breakdown of the structures, especially the superior position structure, will be especially useful for this script.
2. Tell us your concept and your choice of one or two of these Subtext Plots.
Concept: Conditionally released from prison, a former black marketeer must stay clean and leave his old way of life behind. Grudges, deception, and family ties, old and new, draw him back into the underground world of cocaine hustling and counterfeiting.
Subtext plots: superior position, fish out of the water
3. Give us a few sentences on how your Subtext Plot will play out inside this story.
Superior position: for much of the story, the audience is aware of Scarlett and Alex’s connection. Alex and the audience find out in the first 15 minutes of the story, while Scarlett doesn’t find out until past the halfway mark. This engages the audience, keeping us wondering when and how Scarlett will come by this information, and if it will be revealed before it’s too late.
Fish out of the water: Alex has spent nearly 20 years in prison for counterfeiting. He receives a conditional release, and has to learn how to become independent and productive. Additionally, he used to rely on his extended family as a support system and for a sense of belonging. He knows that if he goes back to them, he will fall back into his old criminal ways, so he must learn to make it on his own and resist the temptation to return to that comfort zone.
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