Day 1 Assignments

[Wendy Weising]

Wendy Weising’s Big Picture Components

What I learned doing this assignment is that things shift. I had to move some of the events forward.

Assignment #1

1. Give us the basic Series Info:

SERIES INFO:

World: An alien planet where
human brains are mined for needed chemicals and its people are being
oppressed.
Main mystery: Who is Jane?
Impossible Goal: Jane must
escape and make things right, not only for her family but also for the
oppressed on the planet.
Main Conflict: The Old Regime
of aliens don’t want change or lose their power. Jane must change
everything to save the people of the planet.
Second Mystery: How will Jane
accomplish her goal when her army has so few people and she doesn’t know
who she can trust.
Season 1 Arc: From patients
trapped in a hospital to fighters living on a new planet.
Season 1 Protagonist Internal
Journey: From a suburban housewife who is afraid of conflict to an alien
fighter who will do anything to rescue her kids.

2. Tell us the basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict: Jane must figure
out what the hospital is, even though the doctors are lying, and escape it.
Characters Introduced: Jane,
Polly, Ava, Dr. Zyn, Dr. Jones, Dan, and other alien doctors and nurses
who are assisting them.
Inciting Incident: Jane sneaks into a forbidden room and
discovers doctors sawing patients skulls open and extracting brain tissue.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Big Picture Components

What I learned doing this assignment is this pilot showed effective ways to introduce main characters without being overwhelming or using too much exposition.

Basic Series Info:

Series Title: Reboot

SERIES INFO:

World: production of an old/new tv series at a studio

Main mystery: Will a reboot of this old series work in current times?

Impossible Goal: reboot the old sitcom as edgy instead of dated and nice with the same actors from the original

Main Conflict: fighting for the soul of the story—will it be edgy or more of the same?

Second Mystery: Why reboot it now?

Season 1 Arc: from a dysfunctional cast with unresolved issues, forced back together, to a successful tv series that is relevant to today’s world.

Season 1 Protagonist Internal Journey: From Hannah, the showrunner’s, conflict with her father (Gordon), the show’s originator, to healing their relationship and collaborating on a successful show.

Basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict: The actors need this job but hate working with Gordon.

Characters Introduced: Introduced throughout the pilot in natural circumstance: —arriving on studio parking lot

-Reed at coffee shop with the girlfriend he’s leaving to work on the show

-posing for a recreation of the promotional poster

-when meeting the showrunner

Inciting Incident of Season 1: Hannah pitches the reboot as edgy Hulu producers and gets hired.

[Ben Ather]

Subject line: Ben’s Big Picture Components

What I learned doing this assignment is

Discovering the most important things in my story, and using them as reference, which means that I will be writing from things that come from my story than just writing things I don’t know where they come from.

ASSIGNMENT

1. Give us the basic Series Info:

SERIES INFO:

World: The cruel underworld of magic where learning magic is highly regarded, but the rule must be followed, or anyone who breaks it is executed without trial.

Main mystery: Magic is taught to pretty ones.

Impossible Goal: Learning magic without getting caught.

Main Conflict: Rain broke the rule.

Second Mystery: Rift in the sky.

Season 1 Arc: From discovering her birth father abandoned her because she’s ugly to learn magic and bring pride to the family to getting into the Affinity Academy to learn magic and getting caught to joining Terra to change the rule.

Season 1 Protagonist Internal Journey: Rain goes from being antisocial and distrustful to making friends and believing in them.

2. Tell us the basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict: Rain’s birth father, Eucher, abandoned her because she’s ugly to learn magic and bring pride to the family.

Main Characters Introduced: Rain, O’ller, Terra, Reed, Mo.

Inciting Incident of Season 1: Rain must get into the Affinity Academy to learn magic and prove her birth father wrong.

[Timothy Barley]

Subject Line: Tim Barley’s Big Picture Components

What I learned from doing this assignment is that even though I have worked in writers’ rooms, I have lost the knack for outlining, and outlining again, so that the actual writing comes much easier…

SERIES INFO:

World: The unseen world of what humanity actually is and how 100,000 years has now led to this.

Main Mystery: Alex’s family history and how it relates to old and new friends.

Impossible Goal: Learning his power and controlling it before it or someone else kills him.

Main Conflict: Learning his abilities and how to control them.

Second Mystery: Navigating the politics of ancient family houses and the duplicitous natures of each.

Season 1 Arc: From knowing nothing about his lineage and working a dead-end job to learning about the real history of Earth and the power he learns of and learns how to use.

Season 1 Protagonist Internal Journey: From a disconnected, un-eventful, unproductive life to accepting his “inheritance” as the heir to the original source of power in the world and “doing something with his life.”

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict: After his father’s death, Alex’s power begins to manifest which draws dark creatures to him, and new friends.

Main Characters Introduced: Alex, Allistar, Feenix, Edris, Billy

Inciting Incident of Season 1: Alex must accept that he has abilities and learn how to use them.

[Laurie Brown]

World: The oppressive world of the women in the Army Corp of Nurses.

Main mystery: Who killed Bonnie Martin.

Impossible Goal: Geri Martin’s goal to be the first female colonel.

Main Conflict: Geri is being underhandedly sabotaged by her scorned

fiancé, Leo, who blackmails her best friend to help.

Second Mystery: Will Geri Martin get caught? And for doing what?

Season 1 Arc: From finding her mother dead in the kitchen to becoming

first female major of the Army Corp of Nurses

Season 1 Protagonist Internal Journey: To overcome her mother’s death

and turn a challenging military school into a path to her ultimate dream.

2. Tell us the basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict: Geri’s only support, her mother, is dead and she must gain the power to solve her mother’s mystery, as an Army Colonel.

Characters Introduced: Geraldine(Geri) Martin, Bette Dayton , Marge Haley, Leo Dahnert, Headmaster Learned, Colonel Gerald Martin, Bonnie Martin, Mrs. Johnson, Barb Dahnert

Inciting Incident of Season 1: Geri Martin finding her mother dead and vowing to become a colonel in the Army like her Dad, in order to uncover the truth of her mother’s mysterious death.

[P.G. Sundling]

ASSIGNMENT

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

I’m not sure if I should answer these questions for season 1.5 as well, but the teaser covers major events of the season 1.5 finale sequence and I answered some questions for it.

One way my series is radically different from most is the changing and escalating focus of every half-season.

1. Give us the basic Series Info:

SERIES INFO:

World:

Season 1.0 (national level) The dysfunctional world of American politics.

Season 1.5 (international level) The geopolitics of a cold war accelerating towards nuclear war.

Season 2.0 (interstellar level) survival of the Triple Apocalypse.

Season 2.5 (intergalactic level) Exploring intergalactic civilizations.

Season 3.0 (multiverse level) The strategy and diplomacy of an intergalactic war.

Main mystery(teaser): Will the world survive a nuclear war and what was the creature that emerged from the mushroom clouds?

Impossible Goal (teaser): global survival

Main Conflict (teaser): nuclear escalation

Second Mystery(teaser): Who shot down Air Force One?

Main mystery (season 1.0): What’s on the surveillance tapes that’s worth killing for? Who is behind the conspiracy?

Impossible Goal (season 1.0): Can James Wong become president and get his company back with the help of his best friend?

Main Conflict (season 1.0): Renquist has the wealth and influence to turn anyone against James and Maria. They must fight Renquist at every turn, to win the presidency, get their company back, save the global economy, and survive.

Second Mystery (season 1.0): What is destroying the economy?

Season 1.0 Arc: Even as Maria and James take the White House, the stakes of getting their company back increase. Their fight with Renquist escalates into a life-and-death struggle, culminating in a heavily armed attack on the White House.

Season 1.0 Protagonist Internal Journey: Maria will try to overcome her fear of physical intimacy. James will try to maintain his integrity in the cutthroat world of American politics.

2. Tell us the basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict:

(teaser) A cryptic simulation predicts a doomsday scenario, with Air Force One shot down, nuclear war, and a gigantic monster rising from a nuclear debris cloud.

Alvin Renquist steals a billion-dollar software company from James Wong and Maria Cortez with a shady contract. Maria’s copy of surveillance videos puts her in danger.

Characters Introduced: James Wong, Maria Cortez, Alvin Renquist, Dmitri Ivashov, Zelda Remington, Shen Wong.

Inciting Incident of Season 1: James Wong decides to run for president as a power-up to fight back against Renquist, who stole control of his company.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  P.G. Sundling.

[Elizabeth Dickinson]

Elizabeth Dickinson’s Big Picture Components

What I learned doing this exercise is that it feels like I’m continually regurgitating some of the same information in slightly different formats.

SERIES INFO:

World:

Life Between Lives (Heaven)

1^st Century Britannicus, Rome, medieval Europe, contemporary America

Main
mystery:

How will Oversoul achieve wish to become angel?

Impossible
Goal:

Reconcile regrets of 5 past lives

How will Oversoul break reincarnational cycle without each new life generating new regrets that must be purged?

Main
Conflict:

Each new life answers previous life’s regrets but generates new ones.

Second
Mystery:

How can Oversoul help, when it doesn’t respect every life?

Season
1 Arc:

Gentle Celt boy becomes violent gladiator.

Season
1 Protagonist Internal Journey:

Celt boy regrets losing positive matriarchal values and having them replaced with destructive patriarchal values.

2. Tell us the basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

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Pilot
Conflict:
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In order to protect village, Celt must leave it, unknowingly enters Roman slavery.

Characters
Introduced:

Oversoul, Animal Companion, Celt, Coran, Piran, Sirius, Taranis, Clu

Inciting
Incident of Season 1:

Romans invade Britannicus.

[Avi K]

Avi’s PILOT BIG PICTURE COMPONENTS

What I learned doing this assignment is: The concept keeps refining itself as we iterate through the various modules.

1. Give us the basic Series Info.

SERIES INFO:

World: The fast-paced world of Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions

Main mystery: The rivalry between Viktor and Jacob. Will Viktor be exposed?

Impossible Goal: Viktor must recover the evidence Jacob has gathered on him and prevent Jacob from destroying him.

Main Conflict: Jacob is disrupting Viktor’s life piece-by-piece and Viktor must stop him.

Second Mystery: Did Maya really die?

Season 1 Arc: Viktor goes from being blackmailed and losing a huge business deal to crushing Jacob and capturing the evidence against him.

Season 1 Protagonist Internal Journey: From having a strained relationship with his wife to becoming 100% partners in everything.

2. Tell us the basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict: Viktor is being blackmailed. Back out of the PrimaCorp deal, or be exposed as a killer.

Characters Introduced: Viktor, Jacob, Maya, Eddie.

Inciting Incident of Season 1: Viktor is a killer and must prevent the truth from being exposed.