Day 1 Assignments

[Mary Andrews]

Mary J. Andrews’ Mod 4 lesson 1
what I learned doing this assignment that it is getting easier to write action instead of telling.

TEASER IS FINISHED: followed outline but parts were mostly prewritten. (Have been using an incomplete script as a resource and Teaser had been rewritten during the pro rewriting class. I have made several changes throughout this class though. In most of the other acts I will be able to speed write more. Did use all instructions though.

Complete your outline.

1. With each scene, determine the MAIN INTRIGUE that you will emphasize in that scene

1. SPACE MONTAGE BEGINS:/ V.O. by Rael p. 1
–Intriguing World—history/Setup

2. INT. PLEASURE PLANET TANIVOL NEMESIS BRIDGE – DAY p.2
– Intrigue/Setup: Rael’s compu-link is demonstrated

3. INT NEMESIS IRA’S QUARTERS – DAY p. 4
— Wound: lack of respect for Ira by teammates because he is young

4. INT. NEMESIS FREIGHT ELEVATOR –DAY p. 4
—Wound: Ira complains to Rael for making him the butt of a joke

5. INT. NEMESIS CARGO BAY – CONTINUOUS p. 4
—Setup: Deception Imminent Threat :Team is attacked.by inept forces.

6. INT. NEMESIS FREIGHT ELEVATOR –DAY p.7
— Mystery: Ambassador does not respond to Ira’s command

7. INT. NEMESIS SICKBAY – CONTINUOUS p.7
— Mystery: Open Loop: Ira collapses after attempting to mind meld with the Ambassador

[Kimberly Gore]

Kim’s Teaser/High Speed Writing

First of all, I agree with Mary J. It’s easier to write action than it is to “tell” what is happening. But also, I’m used to this technique of speed writing, and I am going to “cheat” a little and play catch-up on things…therefore I will be speed writing as much of the script as I can.

I’m excited to see the process of rewriting/editing our drafts.

My “teaser” ran five pages.

[Marcus Wolf]

Marcus’ Teaser/High Speed Writing

What I learned doing this assignment was the value of the work put into the outline. Without that, I don’t think the high speed method works too well. I was able to write my teaser in one day. As expected, it needs quite a bit of work, but the basics are mostly all there and I’m ready to start writing act one.

In the past, I’ve always written some type of treatment to guide my writing of the script. But I always did a perfunctory job of it, so I had to make up a lot of stuff as I wrote the script. As expected, when you do that, you start leaving the confines of your original story and your writing slows way down and the story sometimes suffers. High speed writing is relatively easy and fun when you have a detailed outline or treatment or beat sheet – whatever you want to call it – to work from. It’s all in the prep work!

[Brigitte Timmerman]

OFFICER JACOB

We have a deceased female appearing to be in her mid 20s with a suspected drug overdose. She has a toddler with her appearing to be between 18-24 months old. He is filthy, malnourished, dehydrated. We have DCFS on the way.

A social picks up the toddler and comforts him.

SUPERIMPOSE:

EXT. DESOLATE ROAD – DAY

SUPERIMPOSE: Future in Former U.S.A.

An old school bus turned RV/home, kicks up dust as it drives along.

[David Thome]

Teaser is 7 ppg. I thought it would be shorter, but good stuff kept emerging from the outline, which isn’t to say that I diverged from the outline, but that the outline had everything in it that the teaser needed!

[Phyllis Strong]

Phyllis’ High Speed Writing

From this assignment I learned (like Marcus) that all the weeks that went into the development and pitch, culminating in the outline, made me go faster than I ever have before. My teaser sets up a mystery (open loop) that my protagonists will have to solve. It’s only 2 pages. But my Teaser + Act One is 16 pages so I guess you could consider T+A1 the overall Teaser that sets everything up.

[Diana Ceres]

Diana’s High-Speed Writing

What I learned: When I poured my outline into Final Draft, it was super fun fleshing out the teaser. It’s fifteen pages long (maybe that’s OK, since I’m writing an hour-and-change drama). Regardless, I feel like all the work we did in the previous modules positioned me well to do the writing. I feel inspired having the outline in Final Draft, because it feels more tangible to me, like a real script in the making. I went deeper into the story as I wrote the teaser and learned things about the characters and story as I went. It’s way better than I could ever have imagined. And this is just the first round! I’m trying to get out of my way when writing. It’s more fun when I can set my inner editor aside. Some days I do it better than others. But, hey, I am posting this and am super proud of me for moving forward!