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What I learned doing this assignment is…. When I wrote everything out. My female villain controls everything almost to the end. My male hero has a lot of work to do. (This is so exciting.!!). RP
Clear Mission:
Motivation: — Ex-husband had twin daughters. One was kidnapped and murdered by a drug dealer. He wants to take care of his other daughter – in a safe small town.
Inciting Incident: — His living daughter is soon kidnapped.
First Action: — Ex-wife calls ex-husband to say she kidnapped their daughter. She will return her only if he intercepts a contra-band drop for her. That drop passes through the small town, but he has to figure out when and where.
Obstacle: — The ex-wife tells ex-husband that he only has 48 hours to accomplish this task. Or, she will leave town and take away their daughter.
Escalation: — Ex-wife doesn’t tell him that she will send drug dealers to stop him from intercepting the contra-band. He kills them all with his sniper rifles etc.
Overwhelming Odds: — Ex-husband intercepts contra-band, but there is no contra-band. His ex-wife had already intercepted that shipment. She uses a sniper rifle on him and thinks she killed him. She leaves town with their daughter.
New Plan: — Ex-husband finds the ex-wife’s main drug dealer. He forces that dealer to tell him where his ex-wife’s next drug deal is. But, that deal has moved back into the small town.
Full out Attack: — The ex-wife doesn’t know that her ex-husband holds that new contra-band. She and her drug dealers walk into an ambush. She won’t tell him where their daughter is though. So, he let’s her run away and she does. He picks up his sniper rifle.
Success: — His daughter was inside a hotel room. She re-unites with her father.
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Margaret’s Hero’s Mission Track
What I learned: Thinking about the mission added another layer to my original concept of the story.
Ask the Mission Track questions to discover your Hero’s mission.
A. What is it about this Hero
that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds?Marcus is committed to the cause of protecting his religion since his youth, but when he realizes he is a threat to his own cause and at risk to lose his own soul, he begins a mission he will give everything to achieve.
B. What is the mission that
would be an impossible goal?Save the Irish Christians from the Roman army, Church and State.
C. What strong internal and
external motivation could drive the hero?Internal: Preserve his own soul – save the Irish Christians he helped capture.
External: Irish Christians need to be saved before they are sold as slaves to the Picts.
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this
mission against this villain?Marcus might be captured or killed.
Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
Clear Mission: Save the Irish Christians before they are sold to the Picts.
Motivation: Part of an elite Roman
squadron commissioned by the church to kill and capture Irish “Christians”
whom Marcus has been told is a “cult” by the church.
Inciting Incident: A bishop
(St. Patrick) writes a letter to the soldiers of Coroticus stating that these Christians are true believers and that they have been ensnared by the devil to do his work. Marcus fears God’s judgment.
First Action: Confront his uncle (Coroticus), the commander of the squadron with the letter.
Coroticus feigns belief and assures Marcus the Irish Christians will be
released.
Obstacle: Marcus discovers a
group of Christians have not been released but are bound and being taken for
sale to the Picts.
Escalation: Marcus must find
and save the Christians before they reach the Picts and the exchange is
made.
Overwhelming Odds: He finds himself at war with both the Picts and his own unit.
New Plan: Get the Christians back to their own land.
Full out Attack: Coroticus is sent after his nephew and the rescued Christians.
Success: Coroticus captures the
Christians and his nephew. He gives Marcus the ability to walk away and rejoin the squadron. Marcus chooses to die, stoned with the Christians,
rather than freedom. Marcus is left for dead under a pile of stones but survives to fight again. -
<div>Mike’s Hero’s Mission Track</div>
Clear Mission: In discovering the fate of his father during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, David discovers his father’s killer, who is plotting to steal the country’s foreign exchange reserves to trigger a coup
Motivation: David wants revenge for his father’s murder
Inciting Incident: David discovers that the man who had his father killed is planning a coup
First Action: track down one of the plotters at his home
Discovery: secretary in office is betraying David and feeding info to Gabor
Obstacle: security forces arrive at the house, and kill the plotter
Escalation: mafia blows up office and destroying evidence and killing his partner
Overwhelming Odds: breaks into National Bank/ambushed must fight his way out
New Plan: find details in Gabor’s villa
Full out Attack: fights his way to the safe in the villa and finds the evidence to stop the plot
Success: Stops the plot and Gabor killed by the mafia for his failure
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Brian: What I learned is that writing is more than a fulltime job. It is a lifestyle.
1. Motivation: Sonny puts his record of 20-0 to the test with a new younger fighter that is climbing the UFC fighting chain. He wins but the boss Paul never gives Sonny a title fight and allows the other fighter a chance to prove himself with a title fight. Sonny blows up and his told no he is not the type of person that follows commands like a good soldier.
2. Inciting Incident: Sonny gets frustrated after overhearing other fighters talking about how the boss muscles other professional sports athletes into signing a contract that gets him 25% of their salary. Sonny decides to make a deal with the devil to help him sign sports players 10 of them for $100,000 and 2 title fights.
3. First Action: Sonny tells the agent that had been with him that he was done extorting the players money. The agent calls Paul and Sonny refuses to take with him over the phone. He says deal with it and hang up the phone.
4. Obstacle: When the boss finds out that Sonny got a concuss, he decides to send a thug over to Sonny’s family house, and one of the thugs kills Sonny teenager daughter to make a point.
5. Escalation: Overwhelming Odds: Sonny comes home to see the aftermath of his daughter being killed. He then gets dressed for combat to fight and kill Paul’s 30 thugs and whatever men that the mafia sends his way also.
6. Overwhelming Odds: Sonny’s wife finds out that it was her husband Sonny who decided to do the unethical things.
7. APPARENT DEFEAT: When Sonny gets cornered after hurting 20 of Paul’s men the mob boss comes into the gym with 50 of his armed men.
8. APPARENT SUCCESS: Sonny finds a friend a professional basketball player that is from Phila but is playing in Cali. He has friends in the bloods, Crips, and ties to a Phila gang that back’s Sonny against Paul and the mafia.
9. FULL OUT ATTACK: Sonny tracks down Paul with new friends to help him get his life back.
10. SUCCESS: With Paul dead and the people who was involved in killing his daughter.
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Assignment 3
I learned how to set up the action and have clear motivations for the action that the only solution is action.
Clear Mission:
Wants to help his dying sister but ends up in an ultimate fight for survival for himself. His race for survival will also result in him not getting the cure to his sick sister.Motivation:
Wants to help his sister but ends up in an ultimate fight for survival for himself and her.Inciting Incident:
Jun get’s caught after breaking-in and hacking a safe.First Action:
Jun has to face one bad ass fighter armed only with fighting sticks he uses in his eskrima class. It was a tough fight but wins because he is skilled at it.Obstacle:
He finds out he is trapped in the building and more hunters are on the way. Jun must fight is way to get out to save his relative.Escalation:
After showing that he can fight and defeat his men, Sen, the leader, doubles down after underestimating Jun’s ability.Overwhelming Odds:
After disabling the security camera server and power to certain floors, he finds himself trapped with every possible exit of the building is blocked by unbeatable hunters armed with latest tech gear. He hides in a “secret party” room. Using stealth and a unique ability to hack the environment he is in, he takes the assassins, one by one.New Plan:
Kill the boss Sen. Find the secret room called Z.Full out Attack:
The fight to get to Sen is fierce. He gets injured along the way.Success:
Final epic battle between Jun and Sen. He saves the day for himself and his dying sister. -
Cheryl’s Hero Mission Track:
MISSION TRACK:
What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of overwhelming odds?
Mercury has an amazing self-survival mechanism and will attack anyone who attacks her and has the skillset to win.
What is the mission that would be an impossible goal?
Stay alive while keeping an inept scientist alive in a jungle that wants to kill them with many bad guys on their tail as they search for a way off the island.
What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero?
Internal: She needs to redeem herself from a previous kill and saving the scientists life can help her do that.
External: She needs to keep him alive to keep herself alive.
Imagine that mission playing out across the story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain?
Trying to keep it hidden that she’s infected with nanobots, then after destroying lab when they decided to kill him, escaping with inept scientist to the dangerous jungle as bad guys are pursuing them, having to break back into the compound as bad guys getting closer to find some way off the island before one or both are killed.
MISSION STEPS:
Clear Mission: To escape this island before the scientist is killed and therefore killing her.
Motivation: She’s been ignoring the pain of assassinating a good man in front of his daughter and needs to redeem herself by saving this inept scientist and also saving herself.
Inciting Incident: She’s ordered by the villain to torture the scientist to get him to do what she wants and to save himself he injects her and himself with the nanobots that link them.
First Action: After the scientist blows up the villains lab and they realize the only surviving nanobots are inside Mercury and the scientist, the villain orders them killed to harvest the bots so Mercury escapes with him into the jungle.
Obstacle: The scientist has botanophobia – fear of plants that causes him to freak out, which because she’s linked with him, freaks her out. So she has to knock him out even as they’re being chased.
Escalation: They’re attacked by a group of killers and whenever she gets hit, he feels it and vice versa which is impeding her ability to fight. And once the killers figure that out, they attack him even more.
Overwhelming Odds: Ember has offered any of the terrorists who’ve come to big on the nanobots auction twenty percent off if they bring in Mercury and the scientist so there’s even more bad guys on their tail.
New Plan: After almost getting eaten by a saltwater crocodile, Mercury knows they’re not going to make it so they need to get off this island and the only way off is to steal the helicopter back at the compound.
Full out Attack: But after the helicopter gets blown up, they know only have one boat left to get off the island but they have to make it through five teams of hit men without being slowed down by their link.
Success: They make it to the boat and sink the rest along the way. As they’re making it away, the nanobots finally degrade in their systems and they’re no longer linked.
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Nancy’s Hero’s Mission Track
Clear Mission: Train to be an assassin to save her sister, and the family legacy, from the mob.
Motivation:
When Reina’s parents died, the only thing they left behind was they’re
legacy – a once thriving wine vineyard. Reina will do whatever she has to save
their memory and land.Inciting
Incident: Almost the entire vineyard is lost to arson, the business crashes
and Isa (Reina’s sister) is no longer able to pay her debts. She needs to
call her sister, Reina, home from NYC to help.First
Action: Reina arrives at airport, Nonno & Meme rush her into a car.
They are hunted down by a motorcycle but Nonno & Meme are able to run
him off the road.Escape:
Reina is unaware, fast asleep in the back of the car. Nonno & Meme clip
the bike, sending it into a deadly accident.Obstacle:
Family knows they are being hunted, with new obstacle of shielding Reina
from the truth. Soon, they’ll have no choice but to tell her.Escalation:
With the death of one of his men, head of the mob sends in more men to
attack the chateau that night.Overwhelming
Odds: Isa is becoming weaker, Nonno & Meme are getting older, and
Reina is a hysterical mess when thugs attack the home… but the Beauvais
family outsmarts them by sending Luc out to flank them from the rear.Twist:
Reina’s family are contract killers, and the truth has been hidden from
her for years. She’s asked to clean
up the mess.New
Plan: Accept Mob head’s offer, kill one last target (a witness that could
send the mob head to jail) and all debts will be erased and the Beauvais’s
keep the land.New
obstacle: Isa is too week to complete the mission, Reina will be sent in
before she is ready… but Isa has to keep it quiet.Twist: Reina is unable to complete the
kill, she has to fight off her own sister who tries to do it for her.Apparent defeat: The mob puts a $1 mm bounty
on Noah’s head when they fail to kill him by the deadline.Reina and Noah get ambushed on the
highway, as
Thugs break into Noah’s home, kill
guards in front, Teresa is killed
Reina and Noah – who is ex -military – fight
off the thugs and flee with Sadie.Escalating action: Reina brings Noah and
Sadie to Chateau wine caves for safety, Reina and Isa head out the hunt
the head of the mob (need action here)Full out Attack: Track the mob head (where?)
to a posh hotel, Reina sneaks in dressed as a maid. (not sure of action
yet). Mobster is about the kill Reina, Noah arrives and takes him out.Success:
Reina, Noah and Sadie are a family. Isa executes one last mission – the
one that will save Noah from the son of the head of the mob who discovered
he killed his father. Isa leaves Reina with the choice to go back to
living her normal life or stay in France and track down those who killed
her parents and seek revenge. -
ASSIGNMENT 3: ACTION CLASS
Subject line: Alfred Dunham’s Hero’s Mission Track
What I learned from this assignment is:
Further building on the earlier discovery that an Action film can be anything, as long as the “battle” between “Hero and Villain” is intense and impossible to win. And the Hero doesn’t need to be a “GOOD GUY” any more than the Villain needs to be a “BAD GUY” (even though I have to admit to not seeing how that would be powerful enough). Each only needs to believe that He or She is right and/or empowered enough to win the battle), and the other person is wrong or too weak to win… but the battle must be incredibly intense and impossible to win for the Hero. I didn’t expect the fullness of this statement, but leaving the issue open for interpretation, this is what I see. That means that the weapons can be anything: love/hate, sex, money… anything.
And this implies that Action Genre scripts are free to move into any area of magic, adventure, fantasy, sci-fi – anything at all to raise the stakes. However, I would hazard a guess, it had better make sense or it will DE-POWER the script. If the “gimmick” is seen to be too silly, it isn’t going to work.
1. Mission Track Questions
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds?
a. Science is uncompromising. If one is not willing to roll with Mother Nature’s punches, one should stand far back, away from it. But our Hero, a young man of high moral standing, was lured into the XYZ University, on the pretext of its altruistic and humanitarian values. But as the Hero nears the end of his Ph.D. research, Mother Nature throws him a hot potato. He discovers that the genetic difference between chimpanzees and humans is miniscule, at best, and that is not what a creationist wants to hear. Nobody knows what it means, and the proof of it is still twenty years away, but discredited by the university, the Hero is left to do what he can with his remaining M.A. – he becomes a high school teacher. With his carrer behind him, in shambles, the cult leader wants to make nice and gloss over past wrongs [he is terrified of the damage Mr. Hero can do to him], but the Hero feels he has little else to lose, and his wife is fully behind him. He wants his reputation – his “face” — back, and that’s more important to him, now, than life.
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal?
a. The Hero’s nemesis at the university has grown larger than life and the cultish following he commands is now bent on world domination. Every decent thing it ever appeared to stand for is proving to be a lie – a way to condition his cult base into to unwavering conformity. But its cult leader understands that a lot of mouths need to be stopped in anyway necessary. The Hero, however, balks, and thus he becomes a lone voice against the coming violence. The Hero’s mission is to take down the cult leader, the Villain, — his former and ever current nemesis.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero?
a. Internal The Hero longs to get even, not so much for his career loss as for the chance to
regain “face” and to expose evil where it sits. This is a well overdue part of the Hero’s grieving process for his lost life-opportunities.
b. External As a build-in high sense of morality and ethics, the Hero longs to destroy the
evil before in reaches maximum potential and kills him, along with millions of others like him. He doesn’t mind dying, per se, to silence evil, but he’d much rather live, along with his wife and friends.
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain?
a. Most likely, he will die as he tries to expose the Villain.
b. As above, but the Hero will escape, time after time, within the vastness of the mountain wilderness to which he is accustomed, but each time the cult catches up to him, it will become more hair-raising and narrow a miss – until they finally catch him and make an example of him.
c. As above, but the Hero’s mind will click on something from his past that makes sensehe makes his way to his private, hidden laboratory where he run some experiments to jog his possibilities. The Catch is that he must make physical contact with the Villain – seriously dangerous a move, if it fails – and disguise it as “Touch Coup.” What he has actually done is physically planted the biological seeds of his undoing.
Most of our DNA is a “bone-pile” of full of miscellaneous bits and snippets of left-over DNA from our evolutionary past. Knowing that humans and great apes are most related, and there for have more parts in common, the Hero puts his denied Ph.D.(plus more recently advanced research) to work. And as the Villain begins to express characteristics he has “preached” are sings of God’s curse, his shocked following are at first repulsed by the Villain and then fearful for their own lives. They are ready to do anything to avoid “the curse.”
Rather than admit to defeat, the Villain would rather face the cultish mob he has created, still believing he can control them, until they burn him at the stake. Thus, begins the slow process of de-programming the cult members into the rational understanding that all humans are equally human.
2. Clear Track Mission:
Motivation:
When the Villain tries to drag the Hero into his cult following , the Hero stands his ground. He would rather die that give in, and he has the past to whip him on.
Inciting Incident [or Story Driver]:
When soft offers from the Villain are rejected and he switches from invitation to coercion, the battle is set.
First Action:
When cult “police” show up to take the Hero into custody, he is ready enough defeat them and leave a message for the Villainous cult leader, before vanishing.
Obstacle:
The Hero has no real way to get to the Villain, but he, at first, is able to avoid him. Now time is running out and he needs a new plan
Escalation:
Every time the Villain’s forces nearly capture the Hero it only whets the Villains appetite for more intensity toward capturing him. And makes the Hero more determined to figure out a way to win.
Overwhelming Odds:
The Hero sneaks into the cult Headquarters, but as cult security begins to fall from his poison darts, it creates such a calamity, he barely escapes with his skin intact.
New Plan:
He must find a way to enter the compound undetected – and he does.
Full out Attack:
The Hero enters the compound hidden by an energy field, finds the cult leader, the Villain, and is able to deliver his DNA altering potion and escape. The Villain mistakes the dart for a poison dart and makes elevated speeches about how he is immune to the Hero’s poison and how the Hero will shortly be found and destroyed.
Success [or Denouement]:
Unaware of what is already happening inside him, the Villain begins to show signs of his altered DNA in his skin pigment and anatomical alternations to earlier hominid forms. But while he is so focused on finding the Hero, and doesn’t notice, his well-conditioned following notice and consider it for what they are conditioned to believe it is – a curse.
Soon, the cult following terrified, burn their leader at the stake and beg for the Hero to intervene.
Teacher that he is, the Hero begins the scientific revelation of the commonality of ALL mankind.
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Bob DeCarli’s Hero’s Mission Track
What I learned: Again, a lot of fruitful brainstorming from just setting out to fill in the blanks. And of course, I’m keeping all the questions open for future changes.
1. MISSION TRACK QUESTIONS TO DISCOVER HERO’S MISSION
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds?
He has forsworn violence and killing, so he would do anything to “undo” the killing of 100s/1000s of innocents.
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal?
Two pronged – first figuring out how a terrorist attack was committed, then thwarting it by traveling back in time to stop it before it takes place.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero?
Internal: Haunted by his accidental killing of a child.
External: The Villain wants him dead or out of the way so he can retrieve THE DEVICE.
D. Imagine that missions playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain? Discovering how the terrorist attack took place, traveling back in time to stop it.
2. OUTLINE OF THE MISSION
MOTIVATION: After being devastated by accidentally killing a child in the line of duty, the Hero has forsworn violence and killing, and is particularly driven to stop bloodshed.
INCITING INCIDENT: Hero picks up THE DEVICE. HENCHMAN #1 from whom it was confiscated pulls a gun and Hero shoots him in self-defense. This propels the Hero back in time, to the [defining moment in the Henchman’s life].
FIRST ACTION: Hero sees Henchman #1 [planting explosive device]. Hero rushes to stop him. The Hero FAILS when he is apparently killed, which propels him back to the Present, immediately after when he killed Henchman #1.
INVESTIGATES/SEARCHES: Hero, back in the Present, tries to discover who Henchman #1 was, and what exactly it was that he saw in the past, although he’s not completely convinced it wasn’t just a hallucination.
DISCOVERY/FIRST TURNING POINT: The Hero discovers the where and what Henchman #1 was doing. He rushes to stop it, but is too late. BIG EXPLOSION, thousands of people dead. Russians or Chinese blamed. The country/world now on the path to WWIII. But Hero convinced it was something/someone else.
TWIST: In Apartment of Henchman #1, finds out he worked for the RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD.
AMBUSH: HENCHMAN #2 crashes in with a gun. Big fight, with it clear that Henchman #2’s goal is to get the DEVICE. Henchman #2 gets it, laughs, holds it in his hand. Is about to shoot Hero, but Hero kicks him/slams something into him, causing him to drop THE DEVICE. HERO catches it, and shoots Henchman #2 a split second before he shoots the Hero.
SECOND ACTION: In the DECISIVE MOMENT in Henchman #2’s past [What’s H2 doing? What does Hero witness and try to stop?] Again, Hero killed in the Past and returns to the Present, where he finds that he had been shot by H2, just not fatally.
INVESTIGATES/SEARCHES: Hero discovers the where and when he needs to be to prevent the Terrorist attack, but how can he get there? He is unwilling to kill anyone.
ESCALATION: Someone is stalking the Hero. He discovers that he’s being followed, just in time.
TWIST: The Stalker is actually a PARENT of a child victim of the Terrorist Attack who [somehow] knows about THE DEVICE and how the Hero can use it [Will need setup(s)]. The Parent urges the Hero to kill her. The Hero resists, but the Parent succeeds in tricking him into killing her.
THIRD ACTION. Hero is the Parent’s past. Learns quickly she is actually an employee of the Richest Man. The Parent, now looking incredibly beautiful, passes Hero and gives him a knowing look. Hero succeeds in the action needed to thwart the Terrorist Attack before it occurs, but dies in the process, sending him ack to the present.
APPARENT SUCCESS: The Hero returns to the Present and learns that he did indeed stop the terrorist attack from ever happening.
TWIST: Shortly after learning of his “success,” the Hero is arrested for the killing of the Parent and the device confiscated from him. The Parent approaching him was all a setup to enable the Richest Man to obtain THE DEVICE.
HERO CAUGHT: Hero is locked in a jail cell. He lies down on his jail cell bed.
TWIST: Police Chief hands the Richest Man THE DEVICE and the Richest Man immediately kills the Police Chief.
TWIST: Hero’s bed, cell, city jail, everything disappears, and the Hero finds himself lying on the ground in the middle of overgrown ruins. And Hero discovers Villain’s real plan, which has now succeeded.
APPARENT DEFEAT, VILLAIN PREVAILS: Hero and Reader see the Villain’s ideal world achieved:
–cities abandoned, empty, decaying.
–small estates of people living lives of leisure and luxury, all work performed by robots. He recognizes one of the happy people: the “Parent” who he killed at her urging.
–Horrific Discovery #1: automated, robotic bulldozers moving piles of bodies into recycling/composting facilities.
–Horrific Discovery #2: Video footage showing [the Cleansing]
–Villain confronts him, but is welcoming. Hero can now be part of this better, sustainable world where mankind can survive indefinitely living in harmony with nature, conserving the Earth’s natural resources.
–Hero grabs a hold of THE DEVICE, holds up a gun, and points it at the Villain. Villain looks at him incredulously. “Where can you go? And who are you going to kill? Me? So your whole nonviolence thing is a joke?” Hero points the gun at his head, puts the gun in his mouth, and fires.
BACK IN THE PAST/ACTION
–Back to right before he killed the kid, the defining moment in his life. And this time, he does not kill the kid.
NEW PLAN: Race/fights with Villain to get to VILLAIN EARLIER VERSION to prevent the Villain from convincing/forcing his earlier self to make the fateful choice. Instead get him to make “the third choice.”
Hero succeeds in getting the Villain Earlier Version to make the better choice, but is shot by the Villain, just before the Villain fades into nonexistence as a result of the decision made by his earlier self.
Hero mortally wounded, knows he dying, but ok with that, knowing that he prevented the apocalypse.
Returns
to the Present. All is well. He still is a cop. The Villain not a bad guy. And
although the Hero no longer has the traumatic event in his past, he resigns from
the force anyway, to pursue his “dream job” [Need a setup] But is last action as
a cop is to destroy THE DEVICE. Places it in a truck loaded with guns from a
buyback program being sent to be destroyed. -
Madeleine’s Hero’s Mission Track
“What I learned doing this assignment is that filling in the blanks thickens the plot. I’m loving it.
1. Ask the Mission Track questions to discover your Hero’s mission.
What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds?
An FBI Agent, who by trade is dedicated to bringing down bad guys, is even more determined to bring down the bad guys because her son’s life is in jeopardy.
What is the mission that would be an impossible goal?
Bringing down a team of merciless mercenaries who are armed to the teeth and who have overtaken St. Peter’s Basilica.
What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero?
Internal motivation: She’s determined to protect her son’s life.
External motivation: A team of armed and dangerous mercenaries is determined to kill her.
Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain?
Seeing the Basilica seized by a team of merciless mercenaries while in the confessional, finding the object of the mercenaries’ interest (a woman praying in the Adoration Chapel) and hiding her, taking out the mercenaries one-by-one, collecting their arms and ammunition as she goes, finding the rogue Swiss Guard and finishing him, repercussions, and the possibilities of injury and death.
2. Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
CLEAR MISSION: Take down mercenaries who have seized St. Peter’s Basilica and save the hostages, including her son.
MOTIVATION: Her son is among the hostages taken by the mercenaries. She wants him back safe and sound. Inciting Incident: Mercenaries seize the Basilica and take its occupants hostage, all except the real object of their mission, praying in the Adoration Chapel, and the FBI Agent and Confessor in the confessional.FIRST ACTION: In the Adoration Chapel, a mercenary tries to seize the praying woman. The FBI Agent thwarts his attempt.OBSTACLE: The mercenary radios to the others that she is a threat. The FBI Agent takes down the mercenary, but not before the mercenary radios to the others that she is a threat.ESCALATION: The FBI Agent takes down the mercenaries and takes his arms and ammo. Other mercenaries head for the Adoration Chapel. The rogue Swiss Guard tries to negotiate with the FBI Agent for the woman, who is their target. OVERWHELMING ODDS: The FBI Agent dialogues with the woman and finds out that she is the daughter of a San Francisco billionaire who is opposed to her becoming a Roman Catholic nun and who is probably behind the mercenaries presence.
The Italian police attempt to enter the front doors of the Basilica. but the mercenaries hold them off. The mercenaries threaten to blow up the Basilica and everyone inside if the Italian police don’t back off.
NEW PLAN: While the mercenaries are busy fending off the Italian police, the FBI Agent, praying woman, and priest slip out of the Adoration Chapel and make their way to the entrance of an underground tunnel, which leads outside the Basilica.
The FBI Agent takes out the mercenary guarding the tunnel escape and sends the priest and the woman into the tunnel. She can’t go with them because her son is still among the hostages.
The FBI Agent heads into the nave of the Basilica to get the lay of the land. She finds the rogue Swiss Guard in negotiation with the Italian Police. He wants $1 billion dollars for the release of the Basilica and the hostages.
FULL OUT ATTACK: Mercenaries, led by the rogue Swiss Guard, catch sight of the FBI Agent and enter into a cat and mouse game. One by one, the FBI Agent picks them off.SUCCESS: She takes out the rogue Swiss Guard, frees the hostages, reunites with her son, and turns the Basilica over to the Italian Police.
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Margaret Valentine’s Hero’s Mission Track
Clear Mission: Complete the 12 virtual reality challenges and win at least 7 of them to save herself and her plane from death.
Motivation – betrayed, captured and sentenced to death
First Action – accepts the role of her planet’s champion and goes into the virtual reality world to complete the first challenge.
Ostacle – She loses the first two challenges when she knows she should have won them.
Escalation – She loses the third challenge and is injured. She cuts her leg and it starts bleeding.
Twist – Her leg bleeds in the real world.
Overwhelming Odds – The whole game is rigged. No matter what she does she cannot win any of the challenges
New Plan – Don’t win the game, steal it.
Full Out Attack – Kill the opposing champion and then has to take on the invading force and the traitor in her own planet’s government.
Success – Cons the traitor into revealing themselves, steals the invading force’s weapon and saves her planet.
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Renee’s Hero’s Mission Track
What I learned doing this assignment is how to think about action movies in terms of setting up the mission.
Ask the Mission Track questions to discover your Hero’s mission.
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds?
He’s a former special forces operative and a retired FBI agent.
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal?
One person up against a corrupt Thai government and mob.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero?
Internal: he wasn’t able to save his daughter from human trafficking
External: the child he is trying to save might be his grandson.
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain?
He has to go into the fray unarmed, he is shown a young boy that looks just like his dead daughter, He has to try and free the boy. He goes into hiding. He is chased by the Thai mob, police, and government, while trying to keep the boy safe and escape. His cover is blown and his colleagues go dark. He must survive with no outside help.
2. Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
Clear Mission: To try and shut down a Thai sex trafficking ring while protecting a young boy that could be his grandson.
• Motivation: he wasn’t able to save his daughter from a human trafficking ring, so he goes into Thailand to try and save as many other children from the same fate as he can.
• Inciting Incident: When he is presented with a number of children to bid on, one boy stands out as the spitting image of his deceased daughter.
• First Action: bid on the boy in an effort to get him out.
• Obstacle: the ring leader become suspicious of the hero and sends a different child to the hotel room.
• Escalation: the ring leader sends a group of thugs to kidnap the hero and bring him back for questioning.
• Overwhelming Odds: the hero is trapped and surrounded by 20 thugs with weapons.
• New Plan: find the kid and hide.
• Full out Attack: leave the kid in a safe and secure place (with new helper?) and find the leader, fight him, kill him.
• Success: With the leader dead, the ring breaks up, and the hero returns to the kid and they leave Thailand.
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