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Day 1 Assignments
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27 Replies
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Lynn Vincentnathan’s Character Structure
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 I need to bring in all sorts of layers and wounds revolving around these 2 protags and the antag, and how they overcome these, and how these all intersect, come together at the end, and get resolved — a difficult dance to pull off.
HIGH CONCEPT: WEATHERING IT (Rom-Com) is about two college students who try to overcome family fights about global warming and get married during the worst ever Texas freeze.
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PROTAGONIST’S (ELLIE’S) STRUCTURE
BEGINNING: Not interested in romance due to her concern about climate change & its effects on sea turtles and other life on earth; and later we learn due to her father abandonment wound.
INCITING INCIDENT: Ellie begins to feel something special when Jim kisses her, and more so when he asks her to pray with him for the turtles and climate change mitigation.
TURNING POINT 1: Ellie, after being irritable with others, finally gives in to her feelings for Jim, despite Uncle Ely’s warnings; she’s now willing to hang with Jim in a situationship. Uncle Rudy gets her to consider marriage in the abstract, though she still considers marriage as doomed (father abandonment wound, mother dying).
ACT 2: Ellie fears turning Jim’s marriage proposal down, doesn’t want to hurt him. Begins considering marriage with Jim. Jim with Uncle Rudy’s help convinces her to take a chance on marriage.
TURNING POINT 2 / MIDPOINT: Ellie and Jim make arrangements for the wedding at Uncle Rudy’s Marriage Barn, then argue over inviting Ely to the wedding (Rudy says he’ll spoil it and Jim agrees) and they call the marriage off.
ACT 3: Ellie, heart-broken about losing Jim, is willing to go back to Jim, but she overhears Mack mentioning that it was all a bet with Jim re Ellie as a sex conquest. Once that’s dispelled, Ellie is finally willing to go along with Jim’s obligation to work for his Uncle Fred and marry Jim. They want to take it slow this time to make sure; they plan the wedding months later, end of January before mid-Feb when Marriage Barn has an opening.
TURNING POINT 3: Ellie loses her zest for life and call to climate activism due to Jim’s obligation and she hates big cities like Houston. However, she is learning to cope with denialist Fred (she’s maturing) and to understand that marriage is based on commitment, adjustment, and sacrifice, not feelings (as Rudy taught her). [[add some Russian drudgery music here??]]
ACT 4 CLIMAX: When the freeze and power-cut threaten to spoil their wedding, Ellie bucks up, comes back to life, and dares to get Uncle Ely to have the wedding at his off-the-grid farm, knowing there will be conflict and problems with Uncle Rudy and especially with Uncle Fred, and the whole thing may blow up, but she knows it will work now.
RESOLUTION: Ellie is able to help all three uncles change and get along, and she and Jim finally get married.
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PROTAGONIST’S (JIM’S) STRUCTURE
BEGINNING: Jim jokingly tells friend Mack he wants to “save that turtle” Ellie; he’s sexually attracted to her — unspoken understanding (on Mack’s part) that it’s about a sexual conquest. Jim has been a carefree playboy up to this point, but knows he’s obligated to work for his Uncle Fred’s oil engineering consultancy after his MBA (revealed to the audience before TP1).
INCITING INCIDENT: Jim kisses Ellie, gets her to feel something for him. He’s more into her now. Jokingly asks her to be his shell.
TURNING POINT 1: Jim finds out Ellie is Rev. Rudy’s niece, decides he needs to marry her to help him “weather” his obligation to his Uncle Fred (he feels he needs her protection/help/saving); he assures his mom it’s not one of his “flings.” He even takes Ellie’s stupid compatibility test to assure Ellie he’s right for her.
ACT 2: Jim proposes, Ellie considers.
TURNING POINT 2 / MIDPOINT: Ellie and Jim argue over inviting Ely to the wedding and call the marriage off.
ACT 3: Jim truly loves Ellie, but decides it would be too much of a sacrifice for her to go along with his obligation to his Uncle Fred.
TURNING POINT 3: Jim accepts Ellie back, but wants to take it slowly this time, give her an out, introduce her to his horrible Uncle Fred (his compatibility test).
ACT 4 CLIMAX: Jim goes along with Ellie’s effort to change the wedding venue to Ely’s farm, knowing the whole thing will finally blow up and split them forever. He has lost all hope, just as Ellie has gained it for the 1<sup>st</sup> time in her life.
RESOLUTION: He with Ellie’s prompting and her new strength of character are finally able to convince the three uncles to go along with their marriage and plans.
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ANTAGONIST’S (ELY’S) STRUCTURE
BEGINNING: Decades earlier Ely (Ellie’s great-uncle) had a big fight with Fred (Jim’s uncle) over climate change and environmental issues — Ely being concerned, Fred being a denialist. And Fred stole Ely’s love away from him. It’s what made Ely a bitter, grouchy recluse into alt energy and even against having students come to see his off-the-grid farm. ((Not sure if this is just backstory that is revealed later or the start of Ely’s journey in this movie like Noah Cross’s beginning 10 years earlier in CHINATOWN.))
Or, the beginning could be a year before Ellie’s journey when she came with a large group of Environmental Club students to his off-the-grid farm and they messed up the place. In Ellie’s Act 1 Ely refuses to have students visit this year. However, he wants Ellie to help with his project of spreading the news about his alt energy inventions and off-the-grid farm, but without revealing his location.
INCITING INCIDENT: Ely finally agrees to host a student trip to his farm in exchange for Ellie agreeing to help him with his alt energy projects and take over once he passes.
TURNING POINT 1: When the students, including Jim, come he gets very angry hearing Jim’s last name is Higson, until Jim cools him off by saying he’s not Fred Higson’s son… only a distant relative (Jim’s true connection and obligation remains hidden from Ely, but audience knows of this foreboding problem between Ely and Fred).
ACT 2: Ely tries to convince Ellie not to think about marriage, a doomed enterprise, and to come work for him.
TURNING POINT 2 / MIDPOINT: Ely is ecstatic that Ellie has cancelled the wedding and stood up for him against Jim and Rudy; he consoles her, becoming a bit more compassionate.
ACT 3: Ely is crestfallen that Ellie is getting back with Jim, but starts to think it might work out well, since Jim could also take part in his project, knowing something about alt energy engineering (Ely doesn’t yet know about Jim’s commitment to Fred).
TURNING POINT 3: Ely very reluctantly accepts having Ellie’s wedding in his barn. He’s opening up to the world, the world of hurt and problems.
ACT 4 CLIMAX: During the wedding preparations at his farm he and Fred blow up at each other, but then get into alt energy discussions and business opportunities… nearly derailing (losing focus of) the wedding. He finds out his great love also left Fred high and dry once she found out Fred had tricked her about Ely.
RESOLUTION: Ely overcomes his bitterness and forgives Fred and they both bless the wedding.
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Andrew Boyd’s Character Structure
My Vision:
For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.
What I learned from this assignment:
This assignment has helped me to see a little more clearly how I need to streamline the events in the novel I am adapting to suit a screenplay. It also reveals the integral nature of Sam Fuller as an almost co-protagonist to Henry Gerecke. He is young, cool and more attractive to movie-goers. I need to elevate this character.
Protagonist Henry Gerecke, Character Structure
Beginning:
Alternatives:
Playing the trombone hot while Fuller hits the keys in an impromptu jam session to patients on a hospital ward. Establishes both protagonists as likeable and liking each other in their Ordinary World Part 2.
Or, confrontation with Fuller at Dachau, when Fuller, distraught that his brother has been murdered by Nazis, tries to take his revenge on a POW and Henry has to stop him.
Inciting Incident:
Outer Journey: Sent by his commander to Nuremberg to be chaplain to the leading Nazis, with the brief: ‘Keep ‘em alive until we can kill ‘em’ and break the Nazi legend by getting them to denounce Hitler and take responsibility for their crimes.
Inner Journey: Humiliated on the Army recruitment line by his own father as he tries to sign up to fight the Kaiser.
Turning Point 1:
Both Henry’s boys are wounded in the war. And the horror of Dachau concentration camp almost breaks him. Forced to take drastic measures to stop Fuller killing a Nazi. Stretches their relationship to breaking point.
Act 2:
Trying to get through to the Nazi defendants at Nuremberg to make them admit their guilt. Given the run around by Hermann Goering.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:
Henry learns that the only way to break through to these Nazi defendants is to get tough with them: ‘You have to stand up to bullies.’
Act 3:
Confronting the Nazis with hard evidence of their guilt, shattering their denial and justifications, until some break free of Goering’s influence and denounce Hitler in court.
Turning Point 3:
Huge failure as Henry launches into a go-for-broke confrontation with Hermann Goering, who commits suicide rather than hang.
Act 4 Climax:
Many of the Nazis respond to the Chaplain’s tough love and sheer determination. They go the gallows having taken responsibility and made their peace with God.
Resolution:
Henry reunited with wife and family, restored to Sam Fuller before his death. Celebration memorial, with Sam Fuller playing the organ – hot.
Supporting Protagonist Sam Fuller, Character Structure
Beginning:
Alternatives:
Hitting the keys of a piano and playing it hot, while Henry Gerecke sizzles on the trombone in an impromptu jam session to patients on a hospital ward. Establishes both protagonists as likeable and liking one another in their Ordinary World Part 2.
Flash forward to confrontation with Henry Gerecke at Dachau, when Fuller, distraught that his brother has been murdered by Nazis, tries to take his revenge on a captured SS soldier.
Inciting Incident:
Outer Journey: Sent with his boss Henry Gerecke to Nuremberg to be assistant to the chaplain to the leading Nazis.
Inner Journey: Brother Joel becomes a substitute for his alcoholic and abusive father, setting up his hatred of father figures and fury at Joel’s murder.
Turning Point 1:
Fuller is told his brother was murdered by the SS when he tried to surrender in Germany. Tries to take his revenge on an SS POW. Stretches his relationship with Henry Gerecke to breaking point.
Act 2:
Racially insulted by the Nazis and walks out on the chaplain. Offered a stark choice: guard the leading Nazis or go to jail.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:
Returns to his ordinary world of hustling, singing and cracking jokes in a GI nightclub, which provokes growing antagonism from his racist sergeant.
Act 3:
Teasing and tormenting the Nazis, challenging his former boss Henry Gerecke that it’s time to get tough. [Fuller’s position as Sidekick/Mentor is filled by Laura Knight, who shows Henry he must break through their denial to make the Nazis see what they have done.]
Turning Point 3:
Loses a lot of money running a book on how many Nazis will hang.
Act 4 Climax:
Confronts his racist sergeant who claims Fuller owes him money in an alley in Nuremberg and almost kills him. Goes on the run.
Resolution:
Now a prisoner, reunited with Henry when the chaplain searches him out to be his assistant at Menard. Finds reconciliation and peace. Plays organ – hot – at Henry Gerecke’s memorial.
Antagonist Hermann Goering, Character Structure
Beginning:
Alternatives:
A defiant not guilty plea at the Nuremberg war crimes trial.
Inciting Incident:
Outer journey: World War One fighter ace and hero, disillusioned by Germany’s collapse. Throws in his lot with Hitler.
Inner journey: Abandoned by father and mother, in his eyes, humiliated at school for admiring his Jewish ‘godfather’ who cuckolded his father.
Turning Point 1:
The war is lost. But Goering tries to revive it by getting the Allies to throw in their lot with Germany against Russia. Even behind bars, he vows to fight on.
Act 2:
Goering persists with his self-justifications despite every attempt by the court, the chaplain and the psychologist to get him to take responsibility for his crimes against humanity. Instead, he doubles down on keeping the Nazi legend alive.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:
Goering is losing his grip. The chaplains are finally persuading the other Nazis to denounce Hitler.
Act 3:
Goering fights back. Gets through to the Nazi resistance to try to stage a breakout.
Turning Point 3:
Goering plans his exit strategy. Determined to go down in history as a hero, he refuses to hang like a common criminal.
Act 4 Climax:
Final confrontation with chaplain, who faces Goering up to his failure as an art thief and tries to make him acknowledge his flawed sense of judgment. But Goering resists this head-on assault to his vanity and refuses to surrender.
Resolution:
Commits suicide rather than hang as a criminal. His effigy is burnt in Nuremberg – Germany disowns him. The end of the Nazi legend.
Many thanks!
Andrew
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Lesson 1: Character Journey Structure ASSIGNMENT
Subject: Monica’s Character Structure
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 make sure the main characters are always in crisis of some sort.
2. Start with the Protagonist and your source material. Create a beginning, middle, and end of the character’s story.
3. Add the rest of the structure to the characters to the script. Try to get to the point as we’ve done in the Iron Man example above.
PROTAGONIST: CONALL COFFEY
Beginning: A secret meeting between
the 5 powerful men who run the world and Conall to steal an ancient
artefact from a museum. The artefact can alter the timeline and the elite
want it so they always come out on top.<div>Inciting Incident: Takes on a mission from the five most
powerful men in the world, to steal an ancient artefact with a mysterious
third party.Turning Point 1: Conall and the third party dismantle
the artefact and steal it themselves.Act 2: Being chased by
the elite and military our hero hides out in an abandoned military
bunker. He sets up the artefact to
try to figure out why it keeps giving the same answer. Civilization ends
in 2030.Turning Point
2/Midpoint: Our hero is found out and
the artefact is stolen back during an intense battle.Act 3: Our hero sneaks
into the house of his former partner. He convinces her to join their
fight. She recruits a few others and they plan a major assault.Turning Point 3: But they’re captured and taken to the
artefact because it’s now giving information that the elite think the hero
programmed it to do. They have 2 days to re-program it and give them the
answer they want or they’ll be executed.Act 4 Climax: Our
mysterious third party programs the artefact to bring the extinction
timeline in three days’ time disguising it as the elite’s plan for world
domination. When the elite come to see what the artefact says now they are
happy but our hero kills them all.
Resolution: We find our mysterious third party is
an alien from the future trying to warn us about our total disregard for
the planet. He takes the artefact and we have a “beam me up Scotty” moment
when he returns to his ship. Our hero decides to set out with his partner
and their team and eliminate every elite he can find.ANTAGONIST: HARRY BERNHAM (responsible for the fire) he’s the puppet master
Beginning: Harry chairs the secret
meeting and introduces Conall to the group. He used to be Special Forces
and knows they are trustworthy and loyal.</div><div>Inciting Incident: The other Elites know that Harry
grieves his wife and tell him that if this mission fails – he’s out. He
reminds him he is the only one with the capability to program the artefact
the way they need it to be programmed.Turning Point 1: Harry goes after Conall after it is
determined that Conall stole the artefact.
Act 2: Harry finds Conall but lets
him build the artefact.Turning Point 2 /
Midpoint: The Elites find out that
Harry knows where Conall and the artefact is. The Elites storm the bunker
and steal the artefact for themselves.Act 3: Harry sets up the artefact. But it keeps
giving the same answer – life on Earth all ends in 2030.Turning Point 3: The Elite capture Conall and demand
he re-program it. Harry and Conall work on re-programming the artefact.Act 4 Climax: The artefact
appears to give the impression they have changed the timeline until Harry
notices weird things happening.
Resolution: Harry and the Elites are dead.TRIANGLE CHARACTER: JAY the ALIEN
Beginning: He arrived on Earth
through a portal intentionally crashing his spaceship.</div><div>Inciting Incident: Allowed himself to be captured.
Turning Point 1: Agrees to consult on the recovery of
the ancient artefact.Act 2: Helps set up the artefact.
Turning Point 2 /
Midpoint: He programs it to
do the opposite of what the Elites told him to do.Act 3: Jay inserts commands into the artefact (still have to think about this).
Turning Point 3: The countdown on the artefact clock
shows doomsday in 3 days. Only Jay can stop the countdown.Act 4 Climax: Refusing to stop
the countdown, Jay helps Conall bring an end to the madness.Resolution: Tells Conall, that he, Jay, is Conall in the future. Steps through the portal with the artefact and goes home.
</div>
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Cheryl – I cannot get my post to copy into the forum.
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Oh fudge, Cheryl – nothing will work. Cannot paste into the forum. 😬. What should I do?
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George Petersen CHARACTER STRUCTURE
My Vision is to direct one of my screenplays as a low-budget indie feature
What I learned from this assignment is… well, first there was the story structure, then there was scene structure, and now, character structure. I never saw it coming.
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Longfellow – the attorney / Protagonist
Beginning: the attorney attends a housewarming party for the scientist’s lavishly restored Victorian mansion. He isby the book. Deferring. Passive. Unable to challenge. But charming.
Inciting Incident: acquiescing to his friend, the attorney agrees, against his better judgement, to draw up a new will leaving the scientist’s entire fortune to a no-good hippie no one has ever heard of. Furthermore, the attorney makes a solemn promise not to investigate the hippie in any way.
1st Turning Point: after some soul-searching, the attorney secretly breaks his solemn promise to the scientist and surreptitiously follows the hippie into the Haight-Ashbury
Act 2:
The attorney confronts the scientist with his concerns about the strange behavior of the hippie.
2nd Inciting Incident – when the scientist mysteriously disappears, the attorney makes a risky move to stop the hippie from inheriting the estate. When the attorney challenges the will he is told that his status as the scientist’s best friend makes the will irrevocable. After all, why would the scientist lie to his best friend? Bitter irony. The effort fails.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: the hippie inherits the estate lock stock and barrel. The attorney burns, watches the transition, helpless to stop it.
Act 3:
3rd Inciting Incident – another flower girl is murdered
Getting a bit more aggressive, the attorney puts together a plan to catch the hippie red-handed and expose him as the unknown serial killer. Going out on a limb, the attorney engages a debauched photographer as his dubious partner.
Turning Point 3: The attorney now has to face the failure of the plan, which ends with the death of the photographer. But he does retrieve a piece of evidence that proves that the hippie is the serial killer. Now he thinks he has solved the mystery.
Act 4 Climax:
The newly assertive attorney coordinates the entire police force in their undercover attempt to catch the hippie red-handed at the Be-In.
The attorney successfully catches the hippie in the act of killing an innocent bystander, but the hippie escapes and the attorney leads the chase across the city.
Resolution: The attorney experiences the metamorphosis firsthand and is forced to face the truth
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Youngblood – the hippie / Antagonist
Beginning: the hippie enjoys himself at the Fillmore. He’s loud, extreme, the life of the party
Inciting Incident: the hippie confronts the attorney at the cellar door. The hippie is aloof, cryptic and measured.
Turning Point 1: Outsmarting the attorney, the hippie kills a flower girl and gets away with it
Act 2:
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: the hippie triumphantly inherits the vast estate
Act 3:
The hippie throws a wild party trashing the mansion while the attorney watches helplessly across the street
Turning Point 3: the hippie kills the photographer
Act 4 Climax:
The hippie is chased by the attorney and the police force across the city
Resolution: shot by the attorney, the hippie briefly undergoes a metamorphosis, then returns to his hippie state
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Module
4 Lesson 1: Joel Stern Character Structure<div>My Vision: To write eight screenplays
that become Hollywood blockbusters (and to perhaps get a speaking
line in one).What I learned from this assignment: How
to create clear story arcs for the protagonist and antagonist.Protagonist: Jim “Ace” McCarthy
Opening: Steps off train, a WW II Medal of Honor winner at
war’s end. Joins loving wife (high school sweetheart) and young
child.Inciting Incident: Gets job as TV Crime Reporter in Las
Vegas. He wants to be the next Edward R. Murrow.Turning Point 1: Wife dies suddenly from cancer.
Act 2: Jim takes a disciplined rational approach to her
death, suppressing deep sorrow in the process.Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Wife’s death, her medical bills,
his shady wartime past and pressure of covering murder stories
turns him to a heavy drinking gambler. Big gambling debt
results in threatening phone calls from a powerful local crime
boss. Jim is told he has ten days to pay or the murder victim’s in
his news reports will be family and friends.Act 3: Befriends Carol Newhouse, an undercover FBI agent
posing as a Las Vegas newspaper reporter. He wants her to help
him find and expose the mobster (she’s really investigating his
possible war crimes in Germany).Turning Point 3: Jim fails to pay his debt by the deadline.
He covers a murder story. The victim is his brother.Act 4 Climax: Jim gets endless phone calls from mobster (we
never see him) at all hours driving him insane! Carol discovers
Jim really committed war crimes and was not a war hero. Jim is
sent to another crime scene and the victim is a second family
member. He’s arrested for
murdering them.Resolution: The mobster calling Jim really died twenty five
years ago. The calls were imagined. A deep investigation into
Jim’s possible war crimes prove to be unintentional. Jim –
hospitalized – is allowed to keep his medal but is sent to a
psychiatric hospital for the insane.Antagonist: “Sal”
Opening: Sal’s first phone call to
collect Jim’s gambling debt is overly friendly. Sal can relate to
Jim. Claims he too is a war vet and has a wife and young child.Inciting Incident: Another huge betting
loss by Jim sets off Sal.Turning Point 1: No payment made. Sal
Gives Jim ten days to pay or the victims in Jim’s crime stories will
be family members.Act 2: Sal calls more frequently. He
tries a softer approach even using corny knock- knock jokes (that
have underlying threats).Turning Point 2/Midpoint: Jim makes a
small payment. Sal loses it! Jim hangs up scared to death. Sal calls
three, four consecutive times; makes threats about revealing Jim’s
war crimes.Act 3: Sal proposes a face-to-face
meeting with Jim. Maybe there are “other ways” for Jim to pay
off his debt like working for him.Turning Point 3: Sal sounds completely
irrational. He changes course telling Jim he contracted a hit man to
kill him.Act 4: Carol and other FBI agents await
Sal to show up for his meeting with Jim. Sal fails to show up.
Carol learns Sal was a mobster who died years before.</div> </div>
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WIM2 – Dana’s Character Structure
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:
I hadn’t considered the outline from the antagonist’s perspective. This was a great way to envision and tell his/her story. It’s perfect – yet.
RUTH GRIFFIN
Opening: Ruth recovers from being drugged and wakes up in the bottom of a smelting pot in an abandoned steel mill/iron works.
Inciting Incident: The Custodian, her kidnapper, reveals himself and takes a photo of her holding a newspaper as proof of life. Ruth realizes she’s behind held for ransom.
Turning Point 1: Ruth listens to a drug gang torture and kill an informant in the steel mill, and when she’s discovered by a young gang member, she begs the girl not to be revealed. The girl agrees, and leaves her, saving her life. Ruth learns she needs to be silent.
Act 2: Realizing the indirect danger surrounding her, she agrees to remain silent until the ransom is paid.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: A derelict discovers Ruth and climbs into the pot to assault her. While she fights him off, the Custodian intervenes and kills the derelict.
Act 3: Ruth learns her husband is involved and realizes she’s going to be left to die.
Turning Point 3: The young gang member returns, curious about Ruth’s predicament, and is killed by the Custodian before she can help.
Act 4 Climax: Ruth uses the girl’s body like a step stool to climb out of the smelting pot and escape. She does battle with the Custodian in a game of cat and mouse through the steel mill until the Custodian is knocked into the smelting pot, presumed dead.
Resolution: Ruth is taken to the hospital by ambulance. The Custodian has vanished from the smelting pot – gone.
CUSTODIAN
Opening: He kidnaps prominent women, in league with their husbands, and holds them hostage in abandoned buildings, leaving them for dead after the ransom is paid.
Inciting Incident: He contracts to kidnap Ruth for her husband and kill her on payment of the ransom.
Turning Point 1: He kidnaps Ruth and holds her hostage in the smelting pot of the steel mill.
Act 2: After revealing himself, he vanishes into the mill allowing a drug gang to kill one of their own to threaten Ruth to obey his instructions and remain quiet.
Act 2: He saves Ruth from being raped by a derelict drug addict to keep her alive.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: He contacts Ruth’s husband who want to renegotiate their deal.
Act 3: He murders the young gang member before she can help Ruth escape.
Turning Point 3: He discovers Ruth has escaped the smelting pot.
Act 4 Climax: He hunts Ruth through the mill and falls into the smelting pot, presumed dead.
Resolution: He’s vanished.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Dana Abbott.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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I POSTED THIS ONCE ALREADY!
Ron’s Character Structure
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 from doing this assignment is that I have an exciting new way of structuring my screenplays.
Lucia, Protagonist
Beginning:
We see her in her home environment, unhappy eager to escape
Inciting
Incident: She hits it off with Carlo, Mafia godfather, via the Internet
Turning
Point 1: accidently kill her abusive boyfriend and leaves for U.S. with
Carlo, the godfather
Act
2:
Turning
Point 2 / Midpoint: After falllng for Stefano, she agrees to his plan kill
the godfather, her husband so he can take over the crime family
Act
3:
Turning
Point 3: Botches plan to kill husband after second thoughts and goes on
the run after she is blamed for trying to kill him
Act
4 Climax: Showdown with Stefano
Resolution:
Lucia becomes acting godmother of Mafia after she nurses Carlo to
recoveryStefano, antagonist
Beginning:
Stefano having sex with girl and ignores his security detail
responsibility for godfather
Inciting
Incident: Wife of godfather is killed and Stefano blamed
Turning
Point 1: Makes Lucia his paramour and recruits her for plan to kill
godfather
Act
2:
Turning
Point 2 / Midpoint: Lucia reneges on murder plot and he seeks to kill her
Act
3:
Turning
Point 3 Stefano goes hunting for her but she is in hiding:.Act 4 Climax: confrontation with Lucia
Resolution: He is dead
Carlo, bridge character
Beginning:
Wife is killed. He is despondent
Inciting
Incident: He goes to meet Lucia in Italy
Turning
Point 1: He covers up Lucia’s killing of abusive boyfriend and takes her
to America with him
Act
2:
Turning
Point 2 / Midpoint: Attempted botched murder attempt of him by Lucia
Act
3:
Turning
Point 3: put into hiding by Lucia
Act
4 Climax: Survives another assassination attempt by Stefano
Resolution:
Nursing back to health and more in love than ever with Lucia, whom he makes
acting godmother -
Amy’s Character Structure
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…
Stephanie
Beginning:
Inciting Incident: Historian informs the family that they are not royals
Turning Point 1: The news gets out that Stephanie’s family is not really royal. The country is in chaos. Stephanie must accept help from Prince Jack who she hates from the country next door.
Act 2: Stephanie tries to learn how to be a commoner by doing common things like going shopping.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: After Stephanie is properly exposed to the public, news reporters peg her as a horrible person
Act 3: Stephanie’s eyes are opened to all the suffering in her kingdom and she decides to use her fame to help people. She sets out to help an orphanage.
Turning Point 3: Stephanie gets caught up in all the attention. It becomes painfully obvious to everyone that she was not doing “good” for the right reasons. She’s rejected by everyone, including Jack.
Act 4 Climax: Stephanie swallows her pride and helps the homeless woman who is the real princess.
Resolution: Stephanie gets Jack back. She gets a cushy job.
Jack
Beginning:
Inciting Incident: He finds out about Stephanie’s predicament and approaches her about helping her, even though he knows she hates him.
Turning Point 1: Stephanie agrees to let him help her. His father, the king of their country, doesn’t want him to get involved. He decides to try to make Stephanie fall in love with him just to see if he can.
Act 2: Jack who is really comfortable with commoners sets out to help Stephanie become a commoner while letting him stay at his castle.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Jack realizes he actually has feelings for Stephanie and accidently lets it slip out. Jack’s father forbids him from helping Stephanie anymore. He helps Stephanie in secret.
Act 3: Jack sets out to win Stephanie over for real.
Turning Point 3: Jack rejects Stephanie after he realizes she was only helping the orphanage to make a good name for herself.
Act 4 Climax: Jack stands up to his father and decides to go after Stephanie.
Resolution: Jack is reunited with Stephanie.
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MODULE 4 – Lesson 1 – Character Journey Structure
Lisa Long’s Character Structure
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 to map out the story led by your character’s journeys.
PROTAGONIST – MOLLY, 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.
Beginning: A speeding car
pulls up outside Edgar’s Seafood restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay and a
woman April gets out. She pulls her daughter Molly out of the car against
her will. Molly is left with Ed, her father that she’s never known. Molly
chases after the car as it speeds away.
Inciting
Incident: Edgar makes Molly wipe tables and serve crabs in the
restaurant, but she doesn’t want to work. They fight for the first time.
Turning
Point 1: Molly meets
Mars a choreographer on the beach. Mars is staying at the beach to mourn
the recent passing of his partner.
Act
2: Mars decides
to help Molly reach her dream of dancing in the Nutcracker in NYC.
They plot how to get there. Every day while Ed takes his pre-dinner
service nap, Molly sneaks out to Mars’ cottage down the beach to dance.
Mars calls a contact in NYC and gets Molly an audition in 2 weeks. Right
before the audition, the chef finds out what Molly is doing and tells Ed.
Turning
Point 2 / Midpoint: A
hurricane blows into the area. Ed and Molly argue about Mars, and he
forbids her to see him. His prejudice shows. Molly runs out and gets in a
small boat. She gets swept up in the surf. Mars sees this and saves Molly
from the bay. Mars carries her home in the storm. Ed can’t bring himself
to even thank Mars.
Act
3: It’s time for
the audition. Molly lies to Mars by telling him that Ed said it was okay
for her to go with him to NYC. Mars drives Molly to NYC for the audition. Ed
angrily meets Molly when she returns… with good news, she got a part in
the Nutcracker! Ed says absolutely not!
Turning
Point 3: Ed and Molly
have a huge fight and when Molly storms up to her room, she sneaks out to
Mars’ cottage. Mars wants to talk to Ed before they go, but Molly makes
excuses, and they take off for NYC.
Act
4 Climax: Ed goes to NYC
to bring Molly back. He goes to the theater as the curtain goes up on The
Nutcracker. Ed cries as he sees Molly dance and she’s exquisite,
even for 10. April, Molly’s mom shows up too alone to see Molly dance. Ed
and April discuss their situation with Molly. Ed decides to go home. Molly
returns to Chesapeake after the run.
Resolution:
Molly recognizes
the toll she has taken on Ed. She and Ed decide to try again. Ed comes
clean about the past that he’s holding onto and finally expresses his love
for her. Molly wants to help him. Mars returns to NYC to start again. Six
months later, Ed is ill. April has returned and is playing nurse. We see
the reconciliation and tenderness between all three of them as Ed passes
away. Molly and April dance on the beach as an expression of mourning and
love.ANTAGONIST – EDGAR (ED), Molly’s estranged 69-year-old father and owner/operator of Edgar’s Seafood Restaurant where they live and work.
Beginning:
Ed is strong and quiet with Molly
at first, trying to figure her out. He doesn’t know how to communicate
with children since he’s never been a father. Ed is still pining over
April, the only woman he’s ever loved, even though she left him and didn’t
tell him she was pregnant at the time. This has made him not trust people.
Inciting
Incident: Ed fights with Molly as he
makes her work in the restaurant because that’s all he knows. And in the
back of his head, he’s thinking she’ll have to take over some day.
Turning
Point 1: Ed forbids her to dance due to his
heartbreak from the breakup with her dancer mother. When Molly befriends
Mars, a black, gay choreographer, she hides from her father that he is
teaching her dance. Ed eventually finds out and objects not only to
Molly’s dancing, but to Mars.
Act
2: The chef at the restaurant
finds out that Molly has been sneaking out to dance with Mars and she
tells Ed.
Turning
Point 2 / Midpoint: A hurricane
blows into the Bay as Molly runs away in a small boat. Ed is terrified
that he’ll lose her and tries to reach her. When Mars saves Molly and carries
her back home, Ed can’t bring himself to even thank Mars. He gets furious
at Molly instead of showing her safety.
Act
3: Ed finds out that Molly
has run off with Mars after he told her that she could not go to NYC. When
she returns after the audition and says she got the part, he forbids her
to leave again…specially to dance!
Turning
Point 3: After Ed figures out that Molly
did it again and ran off to NYC with Mars to dance, he decides he’s going
after them.
Act
4 Climax: Ed storms into the theater with
a policeman! But when he sees Molly dancing in the Nutcracker, he backs
down and dismisses the policeman. April shows up to see Molly dance too.
They talk and April says she wants to come home. Ed says he’ll think about
it. He returns to the Bay alone.
Resolution:
Ed comes clean
about the past that he’s holding onto and finally expresses his love for
her. Molly wants to help him. Mars returns to NYC to start again. Six
months later, Ed is ill. April has returned and is playing nurse. We see
the reconciliation and tenderness between all three of them as Ed passes
away. Molly and April dance on the beach as an expression of mourning and
love. -
<div>Joyce’s CHARACTER STRUCTURE</div>
Mod. 4:Lesson 1
Vision: to create memorable scripts which actors want to perform.
WIL: Patience. I must not be worried about how the conflict will intensify until the outline is complete.
Title: “Cardenio”
High concept: After his professor is badly beaten, a Shakespearean scholar searches for the attacker and for the professor’s lost manuscript before his new evidence is destroyed.
PROTAGONIST:COLIN
Act 1
Beginning: COLIN argues with the professor to prevent him from publishing his manuscript until the class has won their PHD’s.
Inciting Incident: When the professor who wrote about who wrote Shakespeare’s plays is attacked, left for dead, and is unable to speak or walk, his class decides one of them must investigate; they draw straws, and Colin loses.
Turning Point 1: Delaney fakes her loss and joins Colin in the search for the attacker from clues the professor is able to tap out for them.
Act 2:
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: After they argue all the way to Italy, they realize they are being followed and blame each other.
Act 3:
Turning Point 3: Bragg kidnaps Delaney and Colin realizes he must save her.
Act 4 Climax: They find a seventh generation family who have written information about “Cardenio” with clues to the lost manuscript just before Bragg burns their family papers.
Resolution: They work as a team to solve the mystery of Cardenio and find the manuscript, as Colin realizes Delaney is more important than the century-old argument about who wrote Shakespeare’s plays.
ANTAGONIST: Delaney
Beginning: Her family has had proof for centuries that an ancestor was a prolific writer, but never given credit, so she resents Colin for his opposing beliefs and his short-sighted surrender to Laurel’s obvious intentions to use him.
Inciting Incident: She promises Bragg that she will find and hand over the manuscript.
Turning Point 1: Colin tries to lose her, but she makes the flight to Italy.
Act 2:
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:
Act 3:
Turning Point 3: When Bragg kidnaps her, she realizes to late that he represents people who want to stop them.
Act 4 Climax: Colin saves her and they discover a family who have heard about Cardenio. Their information leads them to the manuscript.
Resolution: When she sees what a good man Colin is, she throws the manuscript off a bridge, and Bragg dives to save it.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Joyce Davidson.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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David’s Character Structure
My vision is to increase my skills to become an A list writer
What I learned from this assignment is the importance of creating meaningful arcs in your main characters.
Protagonist: Chas Chandler
Beginning: Unemployed, living on messy boat, deep in debt.
Inciting Incident: Meets Christie after donating sperm.
Turning Point 1: Embarrassed, he pretends to be a doctor
Act 2: Borrows his friend’s apartment and car, goes with ruse
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Christie’s falling in love with him- he’s in too deep
Act 3: Visits children’s hospital; He’s wracked with guilt. Starts studying medical books.
Turning Point 3: Breaks up with Christie- too afraid to tell her the truth
Act 4 Climax: Reconnects with Christie, but Keith ties him up and makes him confess the truth
Resolution: He goes back home to work for his dad and pay off his debt. He plans to go to med school in SF and be with Christie.
Antagonist: Keith Holmes
Beginning: Leaves threatening messages for Chas
Inciting Incident: Fired from his collector’s job
Turning Point 1: Needs 10k to save his childhood home, heads out to SF to make Chas pay his debt.
Act 2: Goes to SF, fish out of water, trying to hunt down Chas
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Knows where Chas lives- sees him at the sperm bank, but Chas is in a disguise.
Act 3: Realizes Chas has no money- it’s a fool’s errand.
Turning Point 3: Gets intel where Chas will be- on the yacht for Christie’s parents anniversay
Act 4 Climax: Forces Chas to call his dad and get 10k.
Resolution: Decides to let the house go and stay in SF
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Module 4, Lesson 1 – Character Journey Structure
Subject: Rob Ingalls’ Character Structure
MY VISION:
To be a Talented writer that delivers quality fast, with the film industry seeking me out.
WIL: That if the characters don’t support the HIGH CONCEPT, then it’s time to get new characters. I went back to the beginning of this course and created new main characters that delivered on the High Concept. Doing this changed entirely the structure, title, and path, and now matches closer to the High Concept. I may still use previous characters BUT in a different High Concept story.
======================================
Title: Grand Heist Academy
Original High Concept: A golden Buddha statue made of gold is stolen by thieves who tunnel underneath and hollow out the gold.
Modified High Concept:
A former student and long-time top thief at Grand Heist Academy is challenged for one last heist: steal the gold from a giant golden statue and not get caught and the owner not knowing it’s missing even after the heist.
Main Character (Simon La’Rouche) – Protagonist
Journey:
As top graduate and former student of academy, and now retired, Simon arrives to give the current graduating students a graduation pep talk. The students then challenge Simon to one last heist: Steal the gold of a large sitting statue without getting caught and without the owner (museum) knowing, even after it has been stolen.
Antagonist: Harris Blackwood
As Instructor at Academy, always felt slighted that when he was graduating from Academy, that he didn’t win top honors. When Simon returns, Harris’ wounds resurface. He determines to get even and to block Simon from achieving the goal of the challenge by students. In the end, Harris gets the recognition he deserved and always wanted. Better: He gets his name
on trophy and in glass case.
========================================
PROTAGONIST (Simon La’Rouche)
Beginning (Opening, set-up, and As-is old ways):
Thieves steal various items: Jewelry, cars, gold bars, cryptocurrency, airplanes, etc.
We learn they are doing Senior Project in various fields for GRAND HEIST ACADEMY prior to graduation.
Inciting Incident:
Simon, a former graduate and TOP THIEF (only person to win their version of the Kobayashi maru (aka Star Trek) challenge, arrives to give commencement speach at graduation. He tells them it’s also time to retire. The class president, with student backing, challenges Simon to one last heist: Steal the gold of a large sitting statue without getting caught and without the owner (museum) knowing, even after it has been stolen.
Turning Point – 1: After some back and forth (and accusations of ‘chicken’), Simon finally agrees to the challenge.
Act-2:
Simon appears to be a fish-out-of-water with heist challenge. He makes feable attempts and flails/fails. Old ways don’t work. He tries to have a crane remove statue but too large, even with David Blain magic help (hide an elephant).
Turning Point -2 / Midpoint
The entire 1st half of movie is a Con. And Antagonist (Harris) has turned up the heat to cause problems.
Act-3:
Simon rethinks and creats new plan. He has insights into why old ways don’t work and that HE must change. New plan: Tunnel underneath and hollow out statue, keeping the frame intact and no one suspects inner gold stolen.
Turning Point 3: Huge failure
Simon is arrested for tunneling (human traffic or drugs BUT NOT Gold heist). He’s a suspected mule.
Act-4 Climax:
Simon completes the assignment challenge with flying colors.
Resolution:
Simon is STILL Top Thief but acknowledges that Harris should be considered top thief of previous graduating class. <font face=”inherit”>Harris gets his </font>trophy<font face=”inherit”> in the glass case.</font>
==========================================
ANTAGONIST (Harris Blackwood)
Beginning (Opening):
Instructor at Grand Heist Academy. Daily walks past glass case of Top Thief trophy with Simon’s name on it. There’s pain because he feels he should have won.
Inciting Incident:
Simon rubs it in that he won and Harris came in second.
Turning Point – 1:
Harris double dog dares Simon to accept the student’s challenge. Harris is determined to block Simon from achieving challenge and to prove to school that he’s better at this than Simon, and that he (Harris) should have won trophy.
Act-2:
Simon tries textbook approaches to steal the gold but fails. For every approach, Harris uses a counter-approach to deter Simon.
Turning Point -2 / Midpoint
Harris turns up the heat to defeat Simon. And we realize that Simon is a fraud. He sucks at heist jobs.
Act-3:
Simon begins tunnel. Harris sweats, thinking that Simon may have solved.
Turning Point 3:
Harris makes contact with local police and FBI. Gets Simon arrested for tunneling and human trafficking/drug mule. Harris hears for first time Simon stating that he shouldn’t have been top thief, that he cheated on final project like the Star Trek Kobayashi Maru. But still Harris does not get recognition from school like he wants.
Act-4 Climax:
Simon solves the challenge despite the basic problems and the traps that Harris put forth.
Resolution:
Harris is given the Top Thief trophy (and Simon ‘s name removed) that he displays in academy’s main hallway. Harris has recognition that he’s always wanted.
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Dave Holloway’s Character Structures
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.
What I learned doing this assignment is that organizing the character structure in this way allows me to delve deeper into the characters and enables me to flesh out the story around these incidents in the protagonist’s and antagonist’s lives. I also learned that simply coming up with an idea for a plot twist, even if a bad one, can get my mind working and lead to creating a good idea for that twist.
Protagonist: Nigel Williamson
Beginning: Nigel is a 25-year-old lawyer in London whose wife, Livia, is on a trip to what was formerly the United States to report on social conditions on the independent states there.
Inciting Incident: During a SKYPE call with his wife, she tells him she has grown afraid of the authorities in the military state she’s reporting on, and as she talks to him, security forces break into her room and arrest her.
Turning Point 1: After trying various means of freeing her in England, Nigel determines to fly to the military state to try to obtain her release. His best friend, Roger, volunteers to come along.
Act 2: Nigel and Roger get on a plane to fly to Los Angeles, which is near the capital of the military state.
Turning Point 2: As they near North America, the pilot tells the passengers the states along the East Coast have declared their air space inviolate, and so the plane will have to land in New York. They’ll have to cross the continent some other way.
Midpoint: They’re caught up in a gun battle in the Native-American state, and Nigel is shot by a bullet that goes through his forearm. By being shot, and surviving, he gains more confidence in his ability to take part in and survive physical action in general.
Act 3: When they reach the military state, Nigel sees it is so dominated and controlled by military force that he can no longer abstain from violence as a mean to free Livia. Every action is now on the table.
Turning Point 3: Nigel learns that Livia’s execution will take place in three days.
Act 4: Nigel and Roger form a plan to free her and carry it out, killing the prison’s sadistic warden in the process.
Resolution: As they fly home, Nigel has changed irrevocably, becoming more comfortable with action and adventure.
Antagonist: Luther Trask, warden of military state prison
Beginning: Trask begins his career as a guard in the military prison
Inciting incident: Trask rapes a female prison guard and faces firing from his job and expulsion from the military state
Turning Point 1: Trask murders the rape victim to prevent her from testifying, hiring another man to shoot her and then killing him to remove him as a possible witness.
Act 2: Trask rises through the ranks, his devotion to his job enabling him finally to be appointed warden of the prison.
Turning Point 2: A young English reporter, Livia Williamson, writes articles and sends them back to England reporting that the military state imprisons and executes people suspected of conspiring to overthrow it, often with little or no evidence. Millions in Europe read her articles.
Act 3: Realizing the international publicity is harmful, Trask orders Livia arrested and imprisoned.
Turning Point 3: Trask becomes aware that Nigel and a friend are coming to the military state to try to rescue Livia. He orders her execution date to be set in several days, and uses every means at his disposal to find and imprison Nigel and Roger.
4th Act Climax: Nigel and Roger elude capture, make their way to the military state’s capital, launch a bold attempt to free Livia and kill Trask in the process.
Resolution: Trask is dead.
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My Vision: I will work hard to become a well-respected writer who gets my movies produced and has enough work to keep me busy and keep the lights on.
What I learned from doing this assignment is how to think about both the protagonist’s and antagonist’s journeys and how they need to fit the concept. It helps to think about how the characters change from the start of the movie to the end and how you can use it to create a solid structure.
Claire’s Structure
Beginning: Claire is a selfish party girl trying to hide from a past trauma.
Inciting Incident: Her niece is taken while camping with her family.
Turning Point 1: The first team member goes missing, while searching for her niece.
Act 2: Claire thinks they need to turn back and reevaluate their plan. She doesn’t want to die.
Turning Point 2: It’s revealed that they are to take the creature alive, even if it means letting her niece die.
Act 3: Claire pulls the team together. She is not going to let her niece die, no matter the cost.
Turning Point 3: She finds her niece alive, but badly hurt and scared in a cave being guarded by the beast. Mark has shown up and is willing to kill Claire and her niece to capture the beast alive.
Climax: Claire must defeat Marc and the beast and escape with her niece.
Resolution: The niece is reunited with her parents, Claire makes up with her sister. Mark’s body is brought down from the mountain.
Mark’s Structure
Beginning: He’s a man bent on revenge.
Inciting Incident: His brother was killed by the creature when they were younger and he wasn’t able to stop it.
Turning Point 1: a girl is taken from her campsite while sleeping.
Act 2: He makes a plan to capture the creature alive.
Turning Point 2: One of his men is taken and killed by the creature.
Turning Point 3: His second in command has a change of heart and goes against his orders.
Climax: He goes up the mountain himself and confronts Claire, willing to kill both to get to the creature.
Resolution: He ends up coming down the mountain in a body bag.
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MODULE FOUR LESSON ONE
FRAN’S CHARACTER STRUCTURE
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: This is only a draft. Placeholders as the story and the work develops. It will get better as my inner self works on the story a lot more to insure that is does get better as time goes on and I work on the outer stuff.
HIGH CONCEPT: The discovery of an old diary written by a friend of Czar Nicholas II’s daughter turns the doomed princess’s little known, tragic love story into a blockbuster Hollywood movie and an Oscar for its discoverer and screenwriter.
PROTAGONIST: MEREDITH
BEGINNING: Appears to be a “normal” married couple shopping for a Christmas/birthday gift for their daughter. They are in Russia filming. They are taking time out of their schedule. Jerome is his outgoing, gregarious self. Playing the lavish, big spender. Meredith is demure, letting her husband steal the show. Take the lead in their buying the gift.
INCITING INCIDENT: Meredith, looking quite unhappy, allows her husband to pick out the gift while she shops around the store. Meredith spots an old diary on one of the bookshelves that’s for sale. She takes it down, reads some of it. She wants to buy it, thinking it could be a great source for another story, another screenplay to write. But her husband blasts her for wanting to buy something so frivolous, too expensive for what it is. He ridicules her and proceeds to buy the gift for their daughter: a pearl necklace that allegedly was owned by the Grand Duchess Olga when she was alive. Very expensive.
TURNING POINT ONE: Meredith is humiliated by her husband on set. She is told she’s not a very good writer, there are problems in her script she needs to fix—the way Jerome wants it done. She tries to tell him about the scene and why she wrote it the way she did. He’s not having any of her input and tells her he’s thinking about hiring a new writer—if she’s not going to do it his way. Meredith decides that she can’t take it anymore. Something needs to change before it changes her, makes her quit writing. AND she tells him she KNOWS about his LATEST affair. She’s known all along and of all the others.
ACT TWO
TURNING POINT TWO/MIDPOINT: Meredith goes to call her agent to let her know what’s happening with Jerome and their marriage. She asks if she can find another assignment for her to work on before Jerome actually does fire her. And if she can find her a good divorce attorney. She talks about the diary she found in the store and she’s going to start working on her own story—free from Jerome.
The agent calls her right away, excited. She tells Meredith she’s found a director/producer who’s willing to work with her on the diary story. It’s an old flame from Meredith’s past.
In the midst of one of Jerome’s on set tantrums, Meredith quits and tells him that she leaving to sort things out about her life, their marriage, everything. She wants a divorce.
ACT THREE
TURNING POINT THREE: When Jerome finds out what Meredith’s doing and who she’s working with, he tries to get her back: in their marriage, on the set of his movie. The old competitor that made his life miserable when he was just starting out and trying to court Meredith, too. He wants payback.
Meredith’s daughter in the meantime has a hear to heart talk with her mother. Tells her, she’s known about her father’s affairs for a long time. And she supports her mother in whatever she decides. She knows she hasn’t been happy and if it means divorcing her father, she’s okay with that.
ACT FOUR
CRISIS/CLIMAX: Jerome tries to sabotage Meredith’s new life with her new assignment and old flame. He starts rumors that they’re having a seedy love affair and purposely breaking apart their working relationship. Meredith has to go on the offensive to try to salvage her reputation.
She finally has to go pubic with her story and then finish up her work with her old flame. The movie is made despite Jerome’s efforts to sabotage it. The movie is a big hit. Critically acclaimed. Meredith learns she’s been nominated for an Academy Award as best screenplay writer.
RESOLUTION:
She wins. She tells Jerome he’s not in charge of her life anymore. She is a good writer. She wishes him no ill will but she is free now. She is going her separate way. To finalize their divorce.
She also has a new partner to work with. The old flame has another project he would like her to work on with him. She accepts the challenge.
She gets a surprise visit from the actor who played Nicholas II in the movie. He asks her out to dinner and talks about a role he would like her to write for him—if she’s willing. It appears he’s quite an admirer and Meredith is quite willing to step out again to find new love.
ANTAGONIST: Jerome
BEGINNING: Jerome is under the gun. Under a tight schedule. Going over budget going over the time to shoot the film. He’s owing a lot of money, too, personally—and needing money to finish filming on location. He’s taking his frustration out on his wife and business partner Meredith. And stepping up his affair with his star of his film.
INCITING INCIDENT: The studio is breathing hard down his neck to get him to wrap up the shooting, get it done. The money is suddenly cut off. He’s given so many days to finish it or it’s scrapped. He takes his frustration out on Meredith, telling her if he doesn’t do the script his way, he’s hiring a new writer who will.
TURNING POINT ONE: His temper gets the better of him, when Meredith quits, finding out a new writer has already been hired to replace her. She walks out on their partnership and their marriage.
ACT TWO
TURNING POINT TWO/MIDPOINT: Jerome can’t handle it and tries to get her back when he learns who she’s going to work for: and old nemesis from his early days of learning film and theater.
ACT THREE
TURNING POINT THREE: He tries to distract Meredith and win her back while his own work suffers. He tries to solicit his daughter for help. But she won’t help him. She tells her father in so many words, she knows about his affairs and his treatment of her mother. She’s siding with her. And she walks away.
ACT FOUR CRISIS/CLIMAX: And then Jerome learns Meredith has been nominated for an Oscar, while his work has been pretty much ignored by the critics. He tries to sabotage her getting the Oscar, but that backfires on him as well. The old flame learns what he’s up to and stops him.
RESOLUTION: He has been completely humiliated by Meredith’s win and Meredith’s new business partner. But she bears him no ill will. They part ways amicably. Jerome must now accept Meredith’s new life and try to salvage his own.
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Paul Dees’ Character Structure
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 create a character journey for the protagonist and antagonist using a series of steps that to take them through the entire story.
Rick O’Brien’s Character Journey Structure
Beginning: Rick’s partner and the
hostage they’re trying to save are killed in the attempt. <div>Inciting Incident: 6 months later, a
woman emerges from a skyscraper and a massive explosion goes off at the 20<sup>th</sup>
floor. Her face shimmers, and a mask falls on the ground, revealing a
different face. The woman looks around in bewilderment and runs off.<div>
Turning Point 1: Two more buildings
are bombed in different cities, by people that were wearing masks that
controlled their minds, and Rick is assigned to find out who’s behind the
attacks with his new partner, Sean Gray.Act 2: Rick and Sean travel to where
the bombings occurred, in the hope of finding the mastermind that’s
carrying them out.Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Rick and
Sean find and arrest the perpetrator and the bombings stop.Act 3: Rick and Sean get an
anonymous message that says they captured a copycat, and that the attacks
are far from over.Turning Point 3: A new wave of
bombings, more than before, occur, and Rick and Sean desperately search
for who’s behind them all.Act 4 Climax: Rick discovers that
Sean is behind the bombings. Rick pursues and tracks him down, and they
have an epic fight on the roof of a mall.
Resolution: Sean tries to kill Rick,
but Rick prevails, and Sean is killed in the process. The country is safe
once more.<div>
Sean Gray’s Character Journey Structure
Beginning: Sean holds a woman
hostage. Rick and his current partner try to rescue her. Sean kills the
woman and Rick’s partner, his identity is not known, as he escapes without
being captured. </div>Inciting Incident: Sean sends a
package to a random address that contains a mask that will control the
mind of the person once they take a look at it, as well as a bomb for them
to plant in a building. Soon after, the first bombing occurs, Sean
prepares a video message that he sends to the FBI, outlining why the
bombings are happening, and that there will be more to come.Turning Point 1: Emboldened by his
success, Sean sends out two more packages, this time to different cities,
and his plans again prove to be successful. He sends a second video
message, gloating over the bombings, and once again stating that there
will be even more coming, and in greater numbers. Sean is assigned to be
Rick O’Brien’s new partner after the second series of bombings.Act 2: Rick and Sean investigate the
second series of bombings, and Sean is invaluable in helping figure out
how the masks found at each scene connect to the bombings. He also plants
evidence at each scene unbeknownst to Rick, and then finds it, to help
build a case against an innocent man.Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Rick and
Sean capture a man that Sean’s fake evidence seems to point to him being
the bomber. For a time the bombings stop.Act 3: Sean sends another video
message, telling the FBI that they caught the wrong man, and that there
will be a whole slew of bombings comings up, and that there’s nothing they
can do to stop them.Turning Point 3: As Sean predicts,
numerous bombings are successfully carried out throughout the country, and
he and Rick are on a manhunt to try and bring the bomber to justice.Act 4 Climax: Rick discovers that
Sean is behind the bombings. Rick pursues and tracks him down, and they
have an epic fight on the roof of a mall.Resolution: Sean tries to kill Rick,
but Rick prevails, and Sean is killed in the process. The country is safe
once more.</div></div>
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Marcus’ Character Structure
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 assignment teaches an interesting way of looking at character development and gives a way to make sure that the main characters are excellent.
Movie Title: “Beyond the Faded Trail”
Protagonist: Jake Barnet
Beginning: In a burgeoning new town trying to get business as a building contractor.
Inciting Incident: Barnet’s building supplies (lumber) are destroyed in a mysterious fire which also damages the building under construction. The customer is angry with Barnet who has no further source of wood and threatens to go to Barnet’s competitor and demands his money back.
Turning Point 1: Barnet decides to skip town. Castle convinces him that they can correct the whole situation and even come out ahead if they go to his secret source of lumber – a ghost town. Castle reveals that he knows of some abandoned treasure in the ghost town.
Act 2: Barnet, Castle and their men embark on the journey to the ghost town, Justice, to salvage lumber. Along the way, Barnet gains the respect of his men by showing his hidden skills at shooting and horseback riding and knife fighting.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: First night in Justice, Barnet finds out that it was Castle who burned the lumber. He is angry but avoids direct confrontation with Castle. Instead, they talk about why Castle, didn’t run for mayor of their town. Castle admits who he is. They spot Rickey’s gang on its way into town, unexpectedly.
Act 3: Rickey’s gang comes into town. Barnet has all his men hide.
Turning Point 3: Castle admits to the men who he is (Whitaker) and tells them where the gang hides its considerable loot. He goes out to confront Rickey. Now, Barnet has to decide whether to lead his men or to hide.
Act 4 Climax: Seeing Castle/Whitaker gunned down in the street and his men starting an erratic gunfight causes Barnet to take action. He chases Rickey up an alley and they have a fight which Barnet wins using all his skills. He captures Rickey and hangs him.
Resolution: Returns to town with lumber and the body of a wanted criminal. Settles into his business as a contractor with loyal hard-working men.
Triangle: Isaac Castle aka Holland Whitaker
Beginning: Mayor of a town called Justice. He and the Sheriff, Lucien Rickey, make a deal with the railroad to come through Justice.
Inciting Incident: The railroad reneges on the deal and changes its route.
Turning Point 1: The town dies and there is an exodus.
Act 2: Rickey wants to get revenge on the railroad and puts together a gang to rob its payroll shipments. Whitaker is unsure this is a good way to go, but his girlfriend, Adelaide, convinces him to give it a try.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Rickey, the gang leader, and Whitaker, have a falling out. Whitaker tries to convince the men that what they are doing it wrong. They’re making too much money and won’t listen to reason. Even Adelaide sides with Rickey. Whitaker leaves the now empty town plotting revenge on Rickey and Adelaide.
Act 3: Whitaker shaves, puts on glasses and a new hat and assumes a new identity, Isaac Castle. He takes up residence in a new town where his skills as a carpenter get him a foreman job. His plan comes together and he hires all experienced gunmen to work for him as carpenters.
Turning Point 3: He secretly burns his boss’ (Jake Barnet’s) lumber, as well as the structure under construction, then tells Jake about Justice where they can go to get more. There they confront Rickey’s gang.
Act 4 Climax: Whitaker confronts Rickey and accidently kills Adelaide, starting a gunfight with Rickey’s gang.
Resolution: Whitaker is gunned down by Rickey.
Antagonist: Lucien Rickey
Beginning: Law and order Sheriff of a town called Justice. He and the Mayor, Holland Whitaker, make a deal with the railroad to come through Justice.
Inciting Incident: The railroad reneges on the deal and changes its route.
Turning Point 1: The town dies and there is an exodus.
Act 2: Rickey decides to get revenge on the railroad. He puts together a gang to rob its payroll shipments and convinces the mayor to go along. Rickey is smart about how he leads his gang and they are very successful.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: During his falling out with Whitaker, he seduces Adelaide, who has come to see him as a real man and Whitaker as an indecisive coward.
Act 3: Rickey guns down Whitaker. Adelaide runs to Whitaker, rejecting Rickey and seeing him for what he is, a selfish, power-hungry crook.
Turning Point 3: A gunfight breaks out between Rickey’s gang and Barnet’s men.
Act 4 Climax: Barnet and a few others sneak around the back of the saloon and flank Rickey. Rickey makes a run for it and Barnet chases him down. They fight and rickey loses. Barnet takes him prisoner then hangs him.
Resolution: Rickey hangs from the gallows he built and for which the town had been named.
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Bice-Stephen’s Character Structure
2022 is my year to break through!
Protagonist-Alex
Beginning-Alex runs into an old classmate, Brandy, he barely remembers. She gives him her number, wants him to call her.
Inciting Incident-Alex breaks up with his girlfriend, gets drunk and has a one night stand with Brandy.
Turning Point 1-Alex gets back with his girlfriend when they find out she’s pregnant. Blocks all contact with Brandy.
Act 2-Alex starts building a great life with his girlfriend. They plan their wedding.
Turning Point 2/Midpoint-Alex learns Brandy just had a baby boy and says he’s the only possible father. When his girlfriend hears this, she leaves with their new baby girl.
Act 3-Alex goes to Brandy’s to visit his son like a dutiful father, but keeps passing out there. She keeps trying to entice him. He rejects her over and over.
Turning Point 3-Alex goes with Brandy to take Jack to the ER when he gets very sick. She dumps them there, leaving Alex with the kidnapped baby.
Act 4/Climax-Alex is arrested for kidnapping and breaking into Brandy’s apartment. She lies her way out of everything.
Resolution-Alex sits helplessly in jail. An unknown lady lawyer comes to help him. It’s his biological mother.
Antagonist Brandy
Beginning-Brandy is angry to the point of madness. She wants a husband and baby.
Inciting Incident-Brandy runs into Alex, who she used to idolize. Comes onto him.
Turning Point 1-Brandy offers to take Alex home when he gets drunk. They spend the night together.
Act 2-Brandy is furious when Alex blocks contact with him. She starts plotting revenge.
Turning Point 2/Midpoint-Brandy fakes a pregnancy and kidnaps a baby to fulfill her motherhood.
Act 3-Brandy tries desperately to manipulate Alex into being with her and son Jack. He fiends her away and wants only his real girlfriend, which infuriates Brandy.
Turning Point 3-Brandy drugs Alex, plots his death. If she can’t have him, no one else can either.
Act 4 /Climax-Brandy gets Alex to go the hospital with her and the sick baby. She dumps them there, so he will take the fall for kidnapping the infant.
Resolution-Alex is arrested and Brandy lies her way out. She gets on a plane and starts flirting with the guy seated next to her. She has met her next victim.
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Joe’s Character structure
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.
What I learned: Because of all the work I did before, this wasn’t that difficult. And the act of stepping away and coming back later, did allow me to come up with two more significant things that I feel made the plot points stronger for the all-so-crucial “wedge” near the end that prevents the two star-crossed lovers from getting together. I was also able to flesh out another point of drama, which not only added realism, but gave more empathy and motivation the main male lead to help fuel his inner struggle.
Emily:
Beginning: She has a run on broadway as a dancer for the first time, then she doesn’t make the cut on a 2nd show, and has to move out of manhattan into the suburbs.
Inciting incident: She was all set to open her own dance studio with a partner, but her partner bailed on her last minute (don’t know her reason yet: maybe she met a guy). So she decides to sign the lease for a space above a pizza shop and do it herself.
Turning Point 1: The elevator breaks down with one of her students in it, and the landlord leads her to believe it’s the fault of Lorenzo, the pizza shop owner. She believes him.
Act 2: They are at odds with each other and Emily wants to vindicate her opinion of the landlord and teach Lorenzo a lesson (or prove him wrong, or frame him, or something like that)
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: She falls when the railing gives out. Lorenzo helps her recover in his shop, and after tasting his soup, she realizes that the pizza guy is right about the landlord and starts to soften up to him (but she tries to hide it). They start to plan and plot on how to defend themselves and help each other out with their business needs.
Act 3: Its been 2 years and landlord is pressuring her to sign a 5 year lease, but she’ll have to pay for elevator expenses. he says he’s evicting the pizza guy. She doesn’t want him to go.
Turning Point 3: Lorenzo tells her he’s leaving the shop to be with his dying uncle in Italy.
4th Act Climax: She buys the building from the landlord and then goes to Italy to track down Lorenzo and tell him.
Resolution: They get married, remodel, and refurbish and turn the downstairs into an Italian eatery. She works with him, and rents out the upstairs to other teachers.
Beginning: After running his pizza shop for years, Lorenzo knows that the landlord is shifty, and that he has to always fight with him for what’s fair.
Inciting incident: New tenant upstairs; Emily, a stuck-up self-centered dance teacher.
Turning Point 1: Emily accuses him of not keeping up with his lease obligations, but Lorenzo’s not having any of that! He tries to warn her about the Landlord: tells her what a liar he is, but she doesn’t believe him.
Act 2: Emily’s studio is good for business cause her students eat at his place. He just has to be careful he never tells them what he really thinks of their beloved teacher. But she’s not making it any easier for him since she wounded his pride.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: When she falls from the bad railing, Lorenzo is vindicated, and he feeds her some of his special italian soup that he’s been up late cooking. They are civil to each other for the first time and he finally feels respected by her.
Act 3: He realizes he’s got feelings for her, and is ready to confess his feelings for her, but gets stuck in the elevator. While he’s stuck in there, the punk teenagers who are always loitering in the parking lot rob the store. Turns out they’re the ones who made the elevator get stuck. This makes him finally start to re-think his life and his devotion to this pizza place.
Turning Point 3:
4th Act Climax: His rich beloved uncle in Italy is dying. He decides to take time off and go to visit the motherland and be with him for a few days. He may not come back. But Emily shows up in Italy and tells him that the building is for sale. She tells him that if he comes back to America, she’ll buy the building and he can turn the pizza place into an upscale trattoria. He’s torn, but chooses her.
Resolution: When the uncle dies, he finds out that he put a clause in his will, that since Lorenzo chose to go back the girl instead of staying in Italy, he has inherited enough money to buy the building himself. But it was only if he chose the girl. Good thing he did.
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Testing Mary’s account.
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MODULE #4 Lesson #1
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.
Title: Survivor’s Guilt
The High Concept: A relationship challenged investigative reporter discovers she’s stuck on an island with the fugitive who killed her in a past life.
What I learned doing this assignment is I need to figure out my Act 3 and TP 3 to determine if they need to be moved up earlier in the script.
Beginning: Freya has just miscarried. Throws herself into work, and an affair to cope.
Inciting Incident: She’s given a deadline to commit to her marriage or husband will leave her. She travels to an uninhabited island to figure out her marriage, and research a mystery.
Turning Point 1: Freya learns about the legend of the island, a mother (Lisbeth) and child (Hanna) allegedly murdered by the husband/father (Lars) 30 years earlier – she has an unexplainable drive to solve their mystery to absolve her own guilt. And launch her career.
Act 2: Freya commits to solving the mystery, becomes obsessed by hidden drive while driving a wedge deeper between her and husband. She feels she is being watched, followed but afraid she’s losing her mind.
Turning Point 2/Midpoint: Freya discovers she’s not alone, she’s been stalked by Noah. He lies about who he is.
Act 3: Noah reveals his belief about who she is – Lisbeth. As Freya gains his trust, he shares the details of Lisbeth’s death. These details match what Freya has been dreaming.
Turning Point 3: Freya tries to flee to the mainland but she wakes up tied to her bed in her own cottage as the water rises. She plots to convince Noah that she is LISBETH and in love with him so he agrees to free her/work together to escape the island/storm.
4th Act Climax: Freya and Noah set off in an unreliable boat to the mainland as hurricane hits. Noah is not who he pretends to be. Freya remembers the events of Lisbeth’s death. Noah killed her. Fight ensues, boat capsizes, both are thrown in the rough seas for dead.
Resolution: Freya wakes washed up on the beach of mainland, no sign if Noah or if he ever really existed. In the hospital, a nurse shows her an obituary picture of the island’s caretaker (from 30 year’s ago). It is the face of the man she knows from her dreams, he killed Lisbeth. It is Noah. Noah never really existed. Freya commits to her relationship with her current husband. He’s not her soulmate but now knows her soulmate will wait for her.
Antagonist: Noah’s Journey
Beginning: Noah has been living alone on the island for 30 years, hiding from mainlanders and possible conviction for murder. He’s been a fugitive.
Inciting incident: (Noah sees Freya on a news program, recognizes the amulet she wears, tracks her down and sends a postcard enticing her to visit the island)
Turning Point 1: Noah watches Freya disembark on the island and knows it is Lisbeth. His goal > scare her off the island before she learns/reveals the truth.
Act 2: Noah spies/stalks Freya. Tries to scare her off the island before he learns the truth. His actions cause her to question her own reality.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Noah confronts Freya, threatens what she knows, mentally manipulates her by lying about who he is.
Act 3: Noah reveals who Freya is. They have a connection, he becomes violent.
Turning Point 3: Freya tries to escape the island w/o him. He captures him, ties to her bed as an outside storm is building, waters are rising.
4th Act Climax: They set out for the mainland together. He realizes Freya doesn’t love him and knows the truth about the murders. He tries to kill her but they both go overboard.
Resolution: Noah sees that Freya has found her will to live. This was his purpose in this life, and now that it is complete, he is able to pass over to the other side. Noah never existed in human form.
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Alan’s Character Structure
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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What I learned: Never thought or heard of doing this and it’s brilliant.
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Title: Ninja Burgers
Genre: Action/Comedy
Concept: A down on his luck, nineteen-year-old fast food employee finds a high tech bracelet that turns him into the world’s deadliest super soldier.
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Protagonist: Tiberius Truman
Beginning: Clumsy, down on his luck, struggling, fast food worker who’s stealing from the restaurant to feed his sick father.
Inciting Incident: Finds a high tech bracelet that fuses itself to his wrist and turns him into a super soldier.
Turning Point 1: Given a choice to join the training group or lose his arm. He chooses to train. Given the code name Custer.
Act 2:
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: On his own after his training group is wiped out by the bad guy. Four prototypes missing. Vows revenge.
Act 3:
Turning Point 3: Finds the evil hidden lair. Goes in to get his revenge.
Act 4
Climax: Brings down the bad guys. Gets his revenge. Recovers the prototypes.
Resolution: Declines offer to be a super soldier. Opens the restaurant of his dreams.
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Antagonist:
Beginning: Crypto is a brilliant engineer who designs weapons systems for various governments.
Inciting Incident: He is approached by Name Corp (the secretly evil organization recruiting great minds in their bid to eventually take over the world) and quickly rises through the ranks to become senior management and in charge of the tech acquisitions branch.
Turning Point 1: He finds out what his real job is and realizes he is trapped and must project strength and ruthlessness or face death.
Act 2:
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: With his job/life on the line, his henchman loses the high tech super soldier bracelet his promised to the Name Corp executive board.
Act 3:
Turning Point 3: After finding the bracelet he agrees to bring “Good Guy Leader” into the group, to disappear him to Japan so he can retire comfortably if he will wipe out the group of test subjects and bring him the prototype bracelets.
Act 4
Climax: Tiberius takes down his henchman. He is spared by Tiberius. Tiberius helps him fake his own death to set him free.
Resolution: Crypto and his wife open a bar on a tropical island.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Alan Wood.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by
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I am still behind due to my surgery. However, I am enjoying the process so much. I will keep on going. Assignment:
(Patty Ruland’s) Character Structure
My vision: To get better and better so I can gain representation and earn a good living in this profession.
What I learned from doing this assignment is: To thwart fear that I cannot do this with empowerment. To have faith in the process, for this surely happens: “And have fun with this! It is exciting to see your movie start to materialize right in front of you, isn’t it?” Yes, it is! Quite amazing!
Beginning:
Jesse [new name for protagonist, rather than Alexandra] helps her naturalist parents prepare for their mission to locate the pink dolphin in the Amazon jungle, only to have her older brother make a surprise visit and eclipse her efforts.
Inciting Incident:
A powerful thunderstorm hits the encampment and separates Jessie from her family. Their vessels are washed downriver.
Turning Point 1:
A friend from a native encampment finds Jessie half-alive, her family nurses her back to health, and the friend offers to accompany Jessie to find her family and lead them all to find and document the pink dolphin.
Act 2:
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:
Jessie and Iara [Iara– this Tupi-Guarani name (Brazilian Indigenous) means lady of the waters or mother of waters. It can also be translated as the water lady, water mother, or water beauty.] stop for supplies at a waystation. They meet a man who says he knows where the parents are. But he is really the evil Jag, infamous poacher and trader. Iara makes a deal—if he can lead them to Jesse’s parents, she’ll lead him to the pink dolphin.
Jag has a better idea: He takes them hostage, until they take him to where the pink dolphin is. He puts them through rainforest hell, a series of dangerous predicaments. In the process, Iara teaches Jesse esoteric indigenous survival skills, thwarting each of Jag’s attempts to see they are lost in the jungle forever.
Act 3:
Turning Point 3:
Jag interrogates them gives them a final ultimatum. She tells him a true story [a setup], and he sends them to their deaths anyway, he thinks.
Act 4 Climax:
Jag has corralled a family of pink dolphins, intending his real plan all along, to kill them to sell their body parts as relics. Jag’s poaching ring, traders, come to view the spoils. When Jag raises his machete to the neck of one dolphin, a dart from a blow-gun whizzes past him. The dolphin escapes. The traders raise and fire their weapons. A hail of hundreds of blow darts engulf them. They fall, all except for Jag and a handful of traders. Jesse raises her blow gun to finish him off.
Resolution:
Her parents emerge, much to her extreme joy, and handcuff Jag. Iara’s family help the parents subdue the traders who are left. The parents receive accolades for finding the pink dolphin, and Jesse and Ira receive medals for bringing in Jag and his traders, stopping the poaching ring.
Repeat the process with your Antagonist.
Beginning: Jag assembles his crew to begin their journey down the Amazon to find the pink dolphin—ostensibly to win a national prize.
Inciting Incident:
Jag is arrested and imprisoned. He learns the cruel ways of the traders, who rake in untold sums of money to harvest body parts of endangered species. Jag escapes, and now a fugitive, continues on his first mission.
Turning Point 1:
On his way, Jag is taken captive by the head of the poaching gang, who urges him to “change professions.” Or else. His mission gets even more evil—he becomes a human poacher, someone who puts down authorities who protect endangered species.
Act 2:
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:
Jag takes Jesse and Iara hostage on the speculation that the parents made it first to the pink dolphin territory, and there, he can kill two birds with one stone.
Act 3:
Turning Point 3:
Jag walks into the trap set by the parents and does battle to save his life.
Act 4 Climax:
Jag is arrested and taken away.
Resolution:
The ring is smashed for good.
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Erin Ziccarelli’s Character Structure
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 breakdown of acts in a character journey – the difference between the three turning points helps breakdown the three stages of the protagonist’s journey.
Alex Donovan (protagonist)
Beginning: Alex
has been in prison for two decades. He is a cocaine user and has given up on
life. Lost hope. <div>Inciting Incident:
Alex is visited by Roger. Learns that he has inherited millions. Even more
confusing is the inheritance comes from the head of a rival family.Turning Point 1: Alex
is sent to rehab and begins the treatment process. If successful, he has a
chance of being released early.Act 2: Alex starts
up the car resale business and brings Scarlett in. He wants to get to know
her better.Turning Point 2 /
Midpoint: Alex’s uncle has died, with the last wish that Alex take his
place as head of the Donovan family and leader of their operations.Act 3: Alex
resists the offer, continues building the business. It’s burned down, everyone
leaves him, and his time is running out.Turning Point 3:
Alex returns to his family, saying he will fulfill his duty as head of the
family. Fallen back into the old ways.Act 4 Climax: the
rival families are brought together. Alex must face the truth – this support
system that he’s relied on is self-destructive. He walks away from it all,
ready to leave Boston for good.Resolution: Alex
and Scarlett make their peace. She will come with him.Scarlett Brennan (antagonist)
Beginning:
Scarlett is desperately trying to “move up” in the family. Struggling with
an eating disorder. </div>Inciting Incident:
Springs at the opportunity to work on the upcoming counterfeiting operation.
This will improve her status and make her some money.Turning Point 1: Scarlett’s
growing mistrust of Richard. She and Joe work together.Act 2: Alex hires
Scarlett – she takes the job gets to know him. Doesn’t quite know what to
make of him.Turning Point 2 /
Midpoint: Scarlett, Richard, and Joe go in on the operation together,
despite the simmering mistrust between them. It’s a risk they must take.Act 3: Scarlett
and Alex grow closer, she’s supportive of him and his missionTurning Point 3:
Scarlett finds out his true identity and goes back to the old ways – she doesn’t want to forgive himAct 4 Climax: Richard
and Joe betray Scarlett. She realizes Alex was right, and he is the
only one she can trust.Resolution: Scarlett
accepts Alex as family. -
Chris Blanchett’s Character Structures
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 that characters are structure.
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?
Tim Walters – Protagonist
Beginning: Tim Walters works as (?) at (company name), which has just been sold to larger conglomerate.
Inciting Incident: Corporate Sensitivity Trainer Rachel Donahue posts a video of Tim apparently engaging in a politically incorrect rant. The clip immediately goes viral and Tim becomes a public villain and is fired from his job.
Turning Point 1: Tim is contacted by an organization dedicated to defending victims of cancel culture who urge him to fight back. Tim posts a defense of his views on social media and receives immediate “likes”
Act 2: Tim becomes a sought after guest on a conservative-leaning cable news channel. Begins to develop a mass following.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Rachel Donahue posts on social media accusing Tim of transphobia then S/he begins regular appearances on liberal-leaning cable news network in direct opposition to Tim.
Act 3: In response to Rachel’s attacks, and egged on by the cable network and his political advisors Tim become much more militant and confrontational in his rhetoric. He is taken aback when street confrontations between his followers and Rachel’s take place.
Turning Point 3: Tim discovers that the conservative and liberal cable-networks are both owned by the same conglomerate, and it’s the same conglomerate that bought the company Tim worked at.
Act 4 Climax: With the help of the one political operative he can (now) trust, Tim confronts the owner of the conglomerate.
Resolution: Tim uses an eagerly anticipated and heavily covered rally to reveal the manipulation at play by the corporate-conglomerate. Both Tim’s and Rachel’s followers listen intently to Tim’s revelations and it appears he will sway both sides to the truth of the massive manipulation they have all been victim of…until news breaks of a controversial book being banned from a local school library, the opposing crowds resurrect their antagonism, and rush off to support or protest the book banning.
Tim is alone at the podium He catches sight of… the owner of the conglomerate who smiles, gives a friendly wave, and walks away.
Rachel Donahue – Antagonist
Beginning: After coming out as a Trans-Woman in his early forties, Rachel Donahue becomes a corporate sensitivity trainer certified by (ACRONYM), a training organization that has a very specific agenda.
Inciting Incident: Rachel is brought on as Director of Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity at Tim’s company posts a video of Tim apparently engaging in a politically incorrect rant. As planned, the clip immediately goes viral and Tim becomes a public villain and is fired from his job, all part of an organized campaign to highlight anti-trans sentiment in the corporate world.
Turning Point 1: Rachel’s apparent success is marred when Tim becomes a celebrity and ant-trans-fascism leader.
Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: under orders from (Acronym), Rachel goes on a liberal network and accuses Tim of transphobia.
Act 3: Rachel conspires to have “agent provocateurs” embedded in Tim’s followers at a rally which turns into a riot.
Act 4: When Tim announces a rally to make an important announcement, Rachel plots a major riot to quash his message.
Climax/Resolution: At the rally, Rachel’s is nearly persuaded listening to Tim’s revelations…until news breaks of a controversial book being banned from a local school library, she leads her followers off to protest the book banning.
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