Day 1 Assignments

[Edward Gadrix]

I learned from this assignment how to make more clear my thoughts on the journey I want my protagonist to take. I’m still not there yet, but I can see the road becoming more clear.

Present your Concept.

· A. Engaging and highly proactive hero…

Cheryl Sylvan has a love of horses she developed as a child with her father who was a thoroughbred trainer at a small racetrack In Ohio. She witnessed her father’s murder by organized mafia types involved in the horse racing industry. The mafia types control betting, simulcasting, and offshore rebate shops and they have their hands in who wins and who loses. Moreover, the drug industry in the racing business is controlled by the same organized crime, and they let no one stand in their way to keep business as usual..

B. …up against a
major conflict…
Sylvan is up
against the most intimidating organization in America that has huge financial
and political ramifications.

C. …goes on a unique transformational journey…
Sylvan goes on a
journey to clean up the industry.

D. …Into an
intriguing world.
The world of thoroughbred
racing is little known to the public. What they see are a few big races,
like the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes, and the Breeders’ Cup,
and that’s about the extent. What they don’t see is the intriguing world of
the rich and famous who have major galas and balls, the sophisticated multimillion-dollar auctions where thoroughbred yearlings are sold for millions of dollars, and where private jets ferry Arabs in to visit their investments in breeding
and training facilities as well as the top races in America, to where major
political figures mix with the monied owners who run the industry, to the
world of crime underneath it all that controls off track betting around
the world through simulcasting and rebate shops, and the drug culture for
the equine athletes that rule the day.

2. Tell us the World of this show.

Unique
Sub-World:
What they don’t
see is the sub-world world of the backside of the tracks, where there is a
community rarely visited by outsiders. It’s a world from the bottom of
society -, the hotwalkers, the illegal Latin’s who clean the stalls and
horses, the trainers, and staff, up to the top of society, the owners. It includes
the closed to the public restaurants for backside folks only. The backside
folks even their own churches, movies, and places for some to live.

Previously
unexplored:

I know of no other series like “The Backside.” The world of thoroughbred racing has never been explored, and it is fascinating. I was a part of that industry for several years and hope to bring to the series firsthand experience that clears up both misconceptions and the good and wonderful parts of the business.

The unknown:

The Backside ventures into the mysteries of who wins and who loses in many races, and who lives and who dies based on how he or she relates to the business.

The unseen:

The secrets of the billions of dollars mostly unseen by the public will be illumated in the series that will by eye-opening to most.

Unheard of
Dangers:

There are dangers out there for those who venture astray from the way business is conducted.

Reason to
explore it:

There are few major industries and businesses in American that have been isolated and kept to themselves. The series will be not only intriguing but educational to the viewers of the series.

[Stuart Voytilla]

Stuart’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this assignment is the power of the questions to get deeper into my concept and world. The assignment’s deeper questions allowed me to have a stronger grasp of my show’s bingeworthy potential (especially the world). These have already offered strength and depth of these two important introductory hooks for my show’s evolving Framework and Bible. Great discoveries. Thank you, Hal (and your development team!)

1. My Show’s Concept:

The Horror of Hop-Frog

A. A meek, compassionate dwarf, enslaved as the court’s fool,

B. …for the tyrannical king who massacred his family and abuses his secret love

C. …transforms into a merciless angel of death

D. …as he deviously exacts vengeance upon the king and his ministers.

2. My Show’s World:

Unique Sub-World: the tyrannical king’s castle as funhouse of horror; infused by Poe’s nightmarish storyscape

Previously unexplored: king’s passion for horrific practical jokes; the disabled and abused as protagonist/hero; a castle as Gothic funhouse of horror

The unknown: the reality and threat of plague; reactions from neighboring countries; suspicions and mistrust within the court

The unseen: the resistance movement to restore king’s brother to throne; the plague; each uncharted chamber and corner of the castle funhouse; what lays in Raynor’s crypt?

Unheard of Dangers: rivals for throne; suspicions of many to reveal Trippetta’s/Hop-Frog’s deceptions; conspiracies that question trust and loyalty; sinful passions and rituals of the Master of Ceremonies and each minister.

Reason to explore it: to play the king as fool and get revenge within his funhouse

HORROR OF HOP-FROG WORLD: The royal castle of Brattvia is a Poe-infused funhouse of horror ruled by the tyrannical king and his ministers, where every shadowy corridor and locked chamber entices demented pleasures or diabolical torture. This throne of fear risks upheaval by threatened neighbors, the most-trusted minister within, or… perhaps…by what remains of the former king sealed in the dungeon.

[Ben Ather]

Subject line: Ben’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this assignment is not just about discovering what makes my show unique. I have discovered about my world, something I haven’t looked at before. With this important discovery I now know how characters will react or treat each other when they are in this world.

ASSIGNMENT:

Present your concept and world.

1. Present your Concept.

A. When a beggar girl discovers her birth father

B. abandoned her because she’s ugly to learn magic

C. and bring pride to the family,

D. she decides to study magic and prove her birth father wrong.

2. Tell us the World of this show.

Unique Sub-World: The cruel underworld of magic that teaches magic to pretty ones.

Previously unexplored: How magic is highly regarded in this world, the value of learning magic.

The unknown: How the underworld of magic will react.

The unseen: The underworld of magic’s plan to keep the rule from being broken.

Unheard of Dangers: The underworld of magic will execute anyone who breaks the rule without trial.

Reason to explore it: There’s no better way to make Rain’s birth father a fool of himself – the irony in this situation.

WHITE PHOENIX WORLD: The cruel underworld of magic where learning magic is highly regarded, but the rule that magic is taught to pretty ones must be followed or anyone who breaks it is executed without trial.

[Wendy Weising]

Wendy Weising’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s getting harder to make every word count, but I can do it.

1. Concept

A. A submissive housewife becomes a ruthless fighter of aliens…

B. …when she wakes up in a “hospital” where they are mining humans for brain chemicals…

C. …only to find while trying to escape from a psychopathic scientist and save her family…

D. …that she is an alien too.

2. World

A. A hospital that mines its patients for brain chemicals, eventually destroying their brains…

B. …and a planet filled with new dangers, rules, and places…

C. …experienced by a human who learns she is an alien.

[Elizabeth Dickinson]

Elizabeth Dickinson’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this assignment is that this is one of the easier assignments, since there’s a clear line to this from previous assignments.

A. A frustrated oversoul who wants to become an angel

B. Condemned to seemingly eternal human reincarnation

C. Discovers it must review past lives, help past lives purge regrets before it can ascend

D. So it relives different historical periods, genders, and occupations

Note: EACH SEASON covers an ENTIRE DIFFERENT LIFETIME (gladiator, medieval abbess, torturer, Welsh actuary, WW2 Polish journalist/freedom fighter, 21^st century writer)

Concept: First life as Celt (the first season)

A. A small 1^st century A.D. boy from Britannicus (G.B.)

B. Wants to save his village from Roman invasion/destruction

C. Bargains for their safety by serving the Celtic god of thunder

D. Becomes Roman slave gladiator

Hook #1

How does a frustrated Oversoul stop incarnating as a human and become an angel?

What regrets must be purged?

Hook #2 (for first season)

How does Celt survive Roman slavery as a gladiator without betraying his essential values?

For Oversoul:

Unique
Sub-World:

The reincarnational planning place of Life-Between-Lives (Heaven)

Previously
unexplored:

How multiple reincarnations are determined/chosen on individual basis

The
unknown:

How will past-lives react to each other?

How does a soul transcend human reincarnation?

What needs to be learned?

The
unseen:

How minor past divinities assert their power, influence action

How animal souls influence human incarnation

How past-lives influence the Oversoul

Unheard
of Dangers:

Friends in one lifetime could be agreed-upon enemies in next lifetime.

Karma is not reward or punishment, but a self-determined learning about issues from all perspectives.

Reason
to explore it:

Fulfills curiosity, supplies possible reality for what happens after physical human death.

For Celt:

Unique
Sub-World:

1^st century matriarchal Celtic culture vs. 1^st century patriarchal Roman culture

Previously
unexplored:

How gladiators were chosen, trained, and became celebrities.

The
unknown:

How emperors and Roman high officials manipulated the public with rivalries between gladiators and gladiatorial schools; how gladiators either went along, counter-acted, or resisted by forming professional associations (unions).

To Romans, how manner of facing death more important than death itself.

The
unseen:

Imperial patronage of gladiatorial schools

Influence of minor divinities on action/Celt’s choices

Unheard
of Dangers:

Reputation more important than dying to Romans.

Reason
to explore it:

Roman attitudes toward sex, death, celebrity, and gender norms provoke strong modern reactions and discussion about where and how we differ – and what we have in common.

[Avi K]

Avi Kapurala’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this lesson: My concept/hook and intriguing world still need a lot of brainstorming and refining.

LESSON 1: What Makes a Great TV Pitch Bible

1. Present your Concept.

Version 1:

A. A serial killer who must hide his past

B. when his family stumbles upon his secret

C. goes to extreme lengths

D. To prevent them from exposing his murderous secret.

Version 2:

A. A shy teenager bullied because of his looks

B. suffers repeated failures in love

C. grows into an obsessive killer

D. and must now prevent his family from discovering and exposing his secret.

Hook.

Version 1– A heartbroken teenager who grows into an obsessive killer must prevent his own family from discovering and exposing his secret.

Version 2 – A serial killer must convince his children he didn’t kill their mother, before they go to the police with evidence he did.

2. Tell us the World of this show.

Unique Sub-World: A teenager who grows into a serial-killer.

Previously unexplored: why he begins killing and how he finds new victims.

The unknown: will he be caught?

The unseen: police investigation, his wife and children’s investigation.

Unheard of Dangers: Being a public figure, he must conceal his murders very carefully.

Reason to explore it: how a family crumbles.

[Timothy Barley]

Tim Barley’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned from this assignment is that it’s getting harder and harder to keep track of everything, but this assignment makes it easier to collate everything to be ready for the next module.

1. Concept of “The Last of the Great Ones”

A. An apathetic, bored blood heir to the world’s oldest power…

B. ...has to face pure humans, “No Things,” new friends, new enemies, ancient family Houses and family…

C. …to learn what he actually is and how he fits into the…

D. …world of ancient and hidden power dynamics, politics, race, dynasties, and mankind’s very evolution.

2. The World [behind the world] of “The Last of the Great Ones”

Unique Sub-World: the world that every conspiracy alludes to, but even deeper, hidden meeting places, clubs, labs, wars

Previously Unexplored: what does it mean to be human? Why are there so many different types of “people?”

The Unknown: Who’s really running the world? What are they preparing for? Power dynamics of the Houses.

The Unseen: the “real” history of the world. What is/are the force(s) aligning up against our main character and his “friends?”

Unheard of Dangers: those posing as “people,” The “No Things.”

Reason to explore it: May actually cause us to think about the real history of this planet and what’s lurking around us and waiting for us in the dark?

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this assignment is I think I’m starting to get a grasp on this concept and how it can shine.

Concept:

A newspaper fact-checker has bestselling author dreams and a mid-life crisis when a NYC editor rejects her boring memoir. She steals her neighbor’s more interesting life story to get a fake memoir published, which forces her into becoming a professional clown and going on the run to escape a corrupt FBI agent.

World of this show.

Unique Sub-World: professional clowning, NYC publishing, and crime syndicate

Previously unexplored: through a woman who’s never gone outside her comfort zone

The unknown: professional clown school

The unseen: inside how a cutthroat editor manipulates a book onto the bestseller track

Unheard of Dangers: a corrupt FBI agent on the take from a crime syndicate

Reason to explore it: Unappreciated talents and skills are exactly what’s needed for her and others to survive. She was crushed when her memoir was snarkily rejected, but with much more self-discovery and adventures ahead, she’s not boring after all.

[Laurie Brown]

(Laurie Brown’s) Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this assignment is that writing the concept with hooks is an ongoing process.

1. Present your Concept.

A. A determined young woman, seeks the family and security that she never had, by becoming a colonel in the Army Corp of Nurses

B. …where she meets her fiancé

C. …but must weave a complicated web of deception

D. …to succeed in a world with oppressive rules that didn’t apply to the

men.

2. Tell us the World of this show.

Unique Sub-World: The secretive sub-world of the Women’s Army

Previously unexplored: where women could work but not enlist

The unknown: were not allowed to bear children

The unseen: and were forced into life threatening abortions

Unheard of Dangers: and blackmailed by the Department of Interior

Reason to explore it: in order to build the stable, honorable careers

readily available to men.

[P.G. Sundling]

P.G. Sundling’s Intriguing Concept and World

3. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.

This is one of the hardest assignments so far. My show is so radically different that expressing the big picture in a single concept was very challenging.

1. Present your Concept.

A. Engaging and highly proactive hero…

B. …up against a major conflict…

C. …goes on unique transformational journey…

D. …Into an intriguing world.

Childhood friends James Wong and Maria Cortez have their billion-dollar software company stolen with a shady contract. They find the ultimate power-up to fight back: become president. They change their names to None of the Above and More Jobs. Who won’t vote for more jobs in a bad economy?

On surveillance tapes, Maria finds a secret that puts her and anyone who helps her in danger. She must unravel the conspiracy before they find the last tapes and kill her.

Or a broader version:

From a familiar world into the future, technology changes transform humanity at an exponential rate. The fate of the planet rests on two childhood friends as they face escalating challenges from dysfunctional American politics to intergalactic war.

2. Tell us the World of this show.

Each half-season has an escalating new world:

(national) An honest man in the dishonest world of American politics and a hidden conspiracy.

(international) Geopolitical conflict between China and the U.S. with a global AI battle for supremacy

(interstellar) Global survival while facing the Triple Apocalypse and the aliens behind it.

(intergalactic) Preparation for a massive invasion of Earth and intergalactic treasure hunting.

(multiverse) Intergalactic war caused by the secret of the Big Bang that risks annihilation of the multiverse.

Following are the answers to the questions for just season 1.0:

Unique Sub-World: From crazy dysfunctional American politics to intergalactic war, Earth goes through a rapid series of technological and social changes that transform it.

Previously unexplored: The scope and stakes of the show raise exponentially with each season, from national to international to interstellar to intergalactic to multiverse.

The unknown: How will the politicians he bad-mouthed react to him? Will they keep the support of voters?

The unseen: His best friend sabotages his romantic relationships. The host of his reality TV show works to embarrass him for ratings.

Unheard of Dangers: A Russian cabal will kill to keep its secrets.

Reason to explore it: Only as president will None will be powerful enough to face the man that stole his company.