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Day 3 Assignment
Post your assignment by replying here.
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8 Replies
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Emmanuel Sullivan’s Pilot Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is it was tough! This process will get tougher, but this is tough love. After going through this process, I learned a key point. Not sure how to explain, but there are so many layers in a story, even a scene you create. Originally, I thought I needed to reveal more for the pilot and once you do this exercise, you realize, you don’t. Just little kernels of plot and character are revealed to advance the story.
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Daniel Melin’s Pilot Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is the value in brainstorming turning points from several different angles, and the value of turning the tension up and down throughout the course of the episode to create a thrilling experience. Creating the third and fourth acts was particularly useful, because it helped me show how it is that the character reacts to the midpoint before the lock-in takes effect at the close of the episode.
Teaser:
Essence: Levi asks Titania why he can’t practice magic outside of Everlasting Summer while they wait for the wolves to catch the scent of the deer.
Turning Point: Levi wakes up in the ordinary world of Minneapolis.
Act 1:
Essence: Levi starts his new job with his friend Miguel’s contracting company
Turning Point: Miguel’s foreman unexpectedly quits, and Miguel asks Levi to work longer hours and take on more responsibility at work.
Act 2:
Essence: Levi wants to prove that he can do magic and shows a little bit of it to his friend and boss.
Turning Point/Midpoint: Titania confronts Levi and shows him that the moon is no longer full in Everlasting Summer. She tells him that he has to close the portal he opened, or Everlasting Summer’s enchantment will fade.
Act 3:
Essence: Levi has to figure out a way to close the portal that he opened up to preserve Everlasting Summer’s enchantment.
Turning Point: Levi learns that the painting was taken by another magician that has just arrived in Athens, named Mark.
Act 4:
Essence: Levi’s act of magic has now endangered the career of the police officer who shot the werewolf.
Turning Point: Levi learns from Titania how to erase Miguel’s memory so that no one will know it was him who brought the werewolf to Athens.
Act 5:
Essence: Levi has to hunt down the deer that escaped Everlasting Summer.
Lock-In: Levi agrees to learn magic from Mark in order to lift Titania’s curse.
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David Stam’s Pilot Structure
What I learned. Trying to find the most intriguing parts of the pilot storyline. Putting them in the best order for maximum effect.
Teaser: This sets all the tones and mysteries. Not just for the pilot but for the whole show.
Essence – Rebecca in a 1670 dream being chased as a Witch, wakes up disoriented. She has lost all sense of time.
Turning Point – Finds out it is the next day. She lost 12 hours.
Act 1:
Essence: Sets up her background life. Her husband doesn’t believe her disappearing act stories anymore. Is taken to the hospital where an MRI reveals an object impossibly embedded in her nasal cavity.
Turning Point – Looks at rental car dashcam footage of the night before which reveals her last moments. A license plate of a car on the side of the road and then she turns it off.
Act:2
Essence – Meets Jacob in the small town who takes her on his paranormal investigation nearby.
Turning Point – Tells Rebecca she was probably abducted by aliens
Act 3 – Rebecca is trying to discredit any idea of aliens or the Paranormal. Call an old friend Lukas at the USAF to find answers.
Turning Point – They are out at the Farm at night and they have a spectacular UFO encounter.
Act 4: Lukas shows up and discredits the UFO encounter. Other undercover military personnel shows up in town.
Turning point – Jacob meets with an agent who is providing him with false info.
Act 5: Rebecca meets Julianne for a hypnotic regression to figure out what happened.
Turning Point – Memories of stopping on the side of the road and seeing a woman being abducted into a spaceship. Then a beam of light hits her knocking her unconscious.
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Sherri D. Coffee Module 3 Lesson 3 Pilot Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is to organize my plot and characters in the teaser and Acts to generate interest.
Teaser:
Essence: High level VO with Grace review bad dates and how long it took her to find Sam.
Turning Point: Sam asks her to be the executor of his will.
Act I
Essence: Sam executes documents and plans to put his affairs in order for Grace.
Turning Point: Sam falls into a coma.
Act II
Essence: Sam’s estranged son Carlton arrives to take over Sam’s affairs.
Turning Point: Grace hire attorney and an investigator to remove Carlton from Sam’s life.
Act III
Essence: The attorney exhausts all options for her to remain executor.
Turning point: Grace loses the battle to remain executor and Carlton forces her to move out of their shared home.
Act IV
Essence: The investigator hired by Grace uncovers a disturbing pattern in Carlton’s hedge fund activities and a political party.
Turning point: Accidentally, the box meant for Grace is delivered next door.
Act V
Essence: The psychic next door receives the box and senses danger but is reluctant to get involved.
Turning point: An attempt on Grace’s life propels the psychic to save her and transport her to her past life for answers.
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What I learned from doing this assignment is a. How to improve my structure. b. I learned about the Teaser, but I’m stuck on what the turning point of the teaser is.
Teaser:
Essence: We see three friends in their truck pull into a rest stop area. Luke Smith goes to the washroom. He exits to find his two friends, a married couple dead, the killer flits behind him.
Turning
Point: ?Act 1:
Essence: Senior Detective Jess Pearson is in court to give evidence on a
high-profile money laundering case when she becomes unstuck by one of the
judge’s questions.Turning
Point: Jess is reassigned to another jurisdiction because
her illegal hacking skills cost the department a high-profile case.Act 2:
Essence: Jess arrives at her new office and within a day is sent to Green
Lake to investigate a double murder and the disappearance of Luke Smith.Turning
Point/Midpoint: Jess reads file after file hidden away in
the basement, she begins to realize that Green Lake is not the sleepy town
she thought it was. Crime rates are high, yet the reported statistics are
low.Act 3:
Essence: Jess reconnects with her ex-lover, love of her life, and best
friend, Sarah Watson for support.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Turning
Point: Sarah’s boyfriend, Steve Beresford, who found the victims bodies, is now the department’s prime suspects.Act 4:
Essence: Jess doesn’t believe that Steve Beresford is the killer.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Turning
Point: Jess uses her hacking skills to delve into the
lives of those involved in the unreported crimes in Sheriff Moore’s little
black book.Act 5:
Essence: Jess uncovers a Trafficking Network that may be connected to the
recent murders and other unsolved cases, including that of her brother, Adam.Lock In: She goes along on a planned meet up
to find out who is involved: Sheriff Moore, Captain Anderson, Dave Smith (Luke’s father), and Sarah
Watson.-
This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Barbara Gilmore.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by
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Renee Brown’s Pilot structure
I learned in this assignment how wonderful it is to have the BW framework to fall back on when elevating the turning points.
Aliens’ Earth
Teaser:
Essence: Anauk is blamed for uncloaking Planet X. Now all of earth can see it. Before Anauk can recloak it, Dauntus beats the crap out of Anauk – breaks his wing.
Turning point: Dauntus stops, considers…Says it’s time. Right now. Leaves Anauk bleeding on the floor.
Act 1: Tallas’ underground world. Ceremony, reverence, cathedral caves. Tallas teaching initiates. He becomes board with the tedious questions. Retreats to his chambers, dresses for the gazing ceremony. Into water chamber. Not to be disturbed.
Turning point: Tallas’ ritual is interrupted by visions of the ancient ancestors.
Act 2: Anauk flies his ship deep underwater to Saltar’s palace. Tells her of Dauntus’ plan. No one can get to Tallas to tell him…he is in seclusion.
Turning point: Saltar knows a secret path to his water chamber cave. She sets out.
Act 3: Saltar intrudes on Tallas’ ceremony. Tallas attacks: big alien kung foo fight ensues.
Turning point: it turns hot. Obvious attraction between two sworn enemies. Saltar breaks the tension by telling Tallas about Dauntus’ coup.
Act 4: Tallas, Anauk and Saltar ride the forever elevator up to Steelman’s HQ. Screens show humanity in chaos – Planet X obvious in the sky.
Turning point: All screens go black – all over the world. Phones, TVs, Time square — everything. Then Dauntus’ booming voice and scowling face on all screens. Tells the world he is taking over. The planet disappears from the sky. –Dauntus recloaked it.
Act 5: Steelman initiates the POTUS brief – sending his man to the Whitehouse to confirm that it was all an elaborate hoax by a genius hacker. Meanwhile Steelman, Anauk, Saltar and Tallas head to Dauntus’ palace to shut down his coup.
Lock in: Just as the confrontation gets out of hand, they are all summoned to the base on the dark side of the moon by the Extraterrestrial United Species. They will all have to answer for this debacle.
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Donna Stockwell’s Pilot Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is how much easier the pilot structure is to do. I was very nervous about the pilot since I have been honing in my skills with every lesson, and as such added and changed so many elements. And lesson 2 was a really nice and easy transition to do this structure.
A hardworking family man loses his wife to the attention of his daughter’s boyfriend, and becomes a serial killer.
Teaser:
Essence: Burying the body of a prostitute in an occupied grave-vault.
Turning Point: ??
Act 1:
Essence: Family man and home-security salesman sees his life as a servant as he is berated by his overbearing wife and unrolling children and power-monger female boss.
Turning Point: He feels the need to control a woman to feel like a man, and
Act 2:
Essence: He searches for solace with a prostitute, who is a friend of his boss and who make him feel comfortable with S&M.
Turning Point: She ends up dead.
Act 3:
Essence: He buries the woman secretly beside his dead mother’s in her vault at the cemetery.
Turning Point/Midpoint: Was he spotted by his brother who is caressing by his mother.
Act 4:
Essence: He goes home to his wife feeling like he can now conquer her,
Turning Point: He doesn’t confront his wife when finds evidence of her affair.
Act 5:
Essence: His heart is once again crushed
Lock In: He decides to use his list of past clients to find and conquer another woman to get the courage to confront his life. -
Cooper James – Pilot Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is every step makes building your pilot into a strong series… and if at any time you discover otherwise, you can always change it. This is the foundation and if something isn’t working you know where to go to fix it.
TEASER
Essence: Simone runs through the mountains. A spiritual voice speaks to her as she arrives in a mystical forest to sit and pray.
Turning Point: A pack of hungry wolves surrounds her. Suddenly, Simone jumps up and runs. The wolves chase her until she turns and gives them morsels of food. They’re old friends.
ACT 1:
Essence: Simone is the mother of twin boys dealing with the demands of an aging father.
Turning Point: Her aging father demands that they sell Edgemont and move to Region 26 leaving behind the homeless kids to fend for themselves.
ACT 2:
Essence: Simone is invited by her father to a dinner meeting with developers who want to buy Edgemont.
Turning Point/Midpoint: Simone realizes the developers are assassins sent by Senator Green to kill her. She kills several and takes one prisoner.
ACT 3:
Essence: Simone tells King they need to prepare for battle against Senator Green. King tells her he won’t and he frees the prisoner.
Turning Point: Simone and Remy track down the prisoner before he can escape Region 9. Right before Remy kills him, Simone recognizes him as Senator Green’s younger brother.
ACT 4:
Essence: Simone talks to her father about not selling Edgemont. He tells her he wants real power, not old real estate.
Turning Point: Her father tells her that he’s backing her son Roman for a run at becoming Senator in Region 26.
ACT 5:
Essence: Simone tries to negotiate a deal with Senator Green for his brother. He tells her to kill him. He hates his brother, then he tells her he’s sending Region 26’s military to destroy her and Edgemont.
LOCK-IN: Simone’s pawn (Senator’s brother) won’t stop him from sending his military. Simone’s father and son have other plans and are against her. The homeless kids aren’t prepared for battle.
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