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Day 10 Assignment
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Madeleine Vessel’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is that adding a second plot layer can keep viewers interested season after season. I also learned how to think about and create plot layers and character layers.
ASSIGNMENT 1: EXAMPLE SHOW
Watch the next episode of your Example Show and notice how layers show up in this show — both in this episode and throughout the episodes you’ve already seen.
Tell us the layers you have discovered in the Example Show.
PLOT LAYERS:
· Mystery revealed: Happy family torn apart after mother mysteriously killed by something evil in the family home.
· Major scheme revealed: Father, a demon hunter, kept his remaining family members together, raising his two sons to be demon hunters.
· Younger son, Sam, opts out of the family business to go to college.
· Older son, Dean, assists his father until his father goes missing.
· Hidden plan: Father’s desire to keep his family together. Father keeps his family together by going missing, causing Dean to talk Sam into abandoning college to come with him to find his father even though Sam doesn’t think that hunting demons is something his mother would want for either him or Dean.
· Hidden Plan. The father is not really missing, but he doesn’t want to meet up with his sons for some mysterious reason. Either by texting or by information in the journal he left the sons, the father continually sends his sons on hunts for supernatural creatures harming people.
CHARACTER LAYERS:
Secret identity: They are secretly demon hunters.Character intrigue: They boys don’t see eye-to-eye. Dean blindly follows his father’s instructions. Sam questions everything his father wants them to do. <div>
Character intrigue: Sam has bad dreams and premonitions.
Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Sam harbors resentment toward Dean, who convinced him to go after their father.
Hidden Character history: Dean carried baby Sam to safety after his mother was killed and the house caught on fire.
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ASSIGNMENT 2: MY SHOW
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
• Major scheme revealed: Falisa killed and Zhora by Vitaly during art robbery.</div><div>
• Mystery revealed: Zhora and Sophie are living in witness protection. Thought the story was one thing, but it is another. On the surface the story is about solving a murder and an art theft. Below the surface, it is about keeping the Russians from finding and killing Zhora and Sophie.
• Major shift in Meaning: Hidden history: Sophie and Zhora were Russian citizens before they defected.
• Hidden plan: Vitaly wants to sell all the stolen paintings as his own at a gallery in San Francisco. They were worth millions.
• Major betrayal: Olivia betrays Sophie by having an affair with Vitaly and agreeing to help him bring stolen Russian paintings into the U. S.
• Major betrayal: Olivia betrays Vitaly by taking Sophie to the art sale.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
• Secret identity: Sophie Wolf is really Sofia Tebieva; Zhora Wolf is really ____ Tebieva.Character </div>
• intrigue: Olivia is Sophie’s best friend and also villain Vitaly’s love interest.
• Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Bill is Zhora’s secret handler for the FBI.
• Hidden Character history: On the surface, Sophie Wolf is an art history professor at the University of San Francisco. Beneath the surface, Sophie is a Russian defector in danger of being discovered and killed.
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POSSIBLE SEQUENCE OF REVEALS
Plot Surface:
• Layer 1: Major scheme revealed: Falisa killed and Zhora by Vitaly during art robbery.</div><div>
• Layer 2: Mystery revealed: Zhora and Sophie are living in witness protection.
• Layer 3: Hidden history: Sophie and Zhora were Russian citizens before they defected.
• Layer 4: Thought the story was one thing, but it is another. On the surface the story is about solving a murder and an art theft. Below the surface, it is about keeping the Russians from finding and killing Zhora and Sophie.
• Layer 5: Major betrayal: Olivia betrays Sophie by having an affair with Vitaly and agreeing to help him
• Layer 6: Hidden plan: Vitaly wants to sell all the stolen paintings as his own at a gallery in San Francisco. They were worth millions. • Layer 7: Major betrayal: Olivia betrays Vitaly by taking Sophie to the art sale.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Character Surface:
• Layer 1: Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Bill is Zhora’s secret handler for the FBI.</div>
• Layer 2: Secret identity: Sophie Wolf is really Sofia Tebieva; Zhora Wolf is really ____ Tebieva.
• Layer 3: Hidden Character history: On the surface, Sophie Wolf is an art history professor at the University of San Francisco. Beneath the surface, Sophie is a Russian defector in danger of being discovered and killed.
• Layer 4: Character intrigue: Olivia is Sophie’s best friend and also villain Vitaly’s love interest.
• Layer 5: Vitaly’s true identity and the fact that he is the villain is revealed.Layer 6: Sophie’s and Bill’s mutual affection is revealed.
</div>
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ASSIGNMENT 1:
For AMERICAN HORROR SHOW, Season 10
Plot Surface: Provincetown , MA is a resort town where writers like Harry go to focus on their writing. Harry has arrived with his family in an attempt to kickstart his writing career by writing a spec script for streaming services.
Layer 2: A group of “talented” vampires has taken over the town during the off-season and nourishes their talents with human blood.
Layer 3: “The Black Magic Pill” has revolutionized not only the vampire community but provided a magical solution for writer’s block.
Layer 4: Hidden Agenda: Harry, secretly takes the writer’s pill after realizing he doesn’t have the talent or drive to meet his deadline for the script. He keeps it secret from his wife while churning out outstanding writing and keeping his nightly feeding rendezvous with the other vampire writers.
Layer 5: Future Consequences: Harry fears that it’s only of time before his talented daughter seeks out the pill. Since babies are a delicacy, how long will it be before the vampires conspire to devour Harry’s new baby?
HARRY Character Layer:
Character Surface: Harry is a dedicated father and husband who just wants to succeed at writing.
Layer 1: Hidden Agenda: Harry will basically do anything to be successful.
Layer 2: Hidden History: Harry is developing a history with the vampire culture (the price for his fame).
Layer 3: Secret Identity: Harry is secretly a vampire and must drink blood to satisfy his vampire appetite.
Layer 4: Harry still clings to being a father and looking forward to the new baby that is due.
Layer 5: Competition: His daughter begins taking the pill while her talent blossoms. So does her vampire appetite. As her father becomes a better and better writer, she becomes better and better violinist. Her mother, though, is only hindering what they can achieve and is only unnecessary baggage in her eyes.
ASSIGNMENT 2: (My Show)
Plot Surface: Michael lives in a world that is facing a no-birth crisis.
Layer 1: The Professor has evidence that someone is stealing souls from Earth therefore creating the no-birth crisis.
Layer 2: When Michael arrives at the other end of the stream, he discovers that souls are being packaged into “Skins” that are used as workers in an effort by the leader, Cronus, to raise 6 gigantic seals buried in the ground.
Layer 3: Back on Earth, Michael’s wife, Diane, is on the run from the police and trying to keep Michael’s body preserved for his return.
Layer 4: Michael discovers that there exists an Ocean of Souls that contains 100s of millions of souls stolen by Cronus. He believes that his dead brother may be in the Ocean of Souls and can help him with his mission.
Layer 5: The government experiments with ways to recreate humans from modifying genes in monkeys to bio-mechanical designs. Their research leads them to Professor Darlington, who also is on the run with Michael’s wife.
MICHAEL:
Character Surface: A husband and family man trying to get ahead during a monumental crisis.
Layer 1: He had an affair with a girl at the office and his wife will shortly find out.
Layer 2: Made some illegal business deals. He’s lost all of his life savings and has an arrest warrant out for him. His wife will shortly find this out as well.
Layer 3: Michael discovers that he has Phase 4 brain cancer and has very little time left.
Layer 4: Michael blames himself for his brother’s death. His father (not mother) blames him as well and this has driver them apart.
CRONUS:
Character Surface: Cronus is a part alien, part human creature that was born on the planet of seals hundreds of years earlier when an alien ship carrying human specimens was stranded on the planet by unseen forces. He can appear handsome or hideous depending upon his mood.
Layer 1: His reason for existing is to remove the 6 gigantic seals. The seals were put there to imprison evil.
Layer 2: Cronus fears Michael. He doesn’t know why.
Layer 3: Cronus relies on an alchemist/sorcerer as his advisor. The Alchemist is one of the original skins created with a human soul in the 14th century and was teleported to the planet via a gateway that draws its energy from the seals.
Layer 4: His weakness is his attraction to female humans.
Layer 5: Enjoys torturing and humiliating humans and has a soft-spot for music
CONCUBINE:
Character Surface: A female human brought to the planet with her father in an alien craft when she was a child.
Layer 1: Cronus took her for one of his concubines when she was a teen.
Layer 2: She is estranged from her father for consenting to be a concubine.
Layer 3: She can manipulate Cronus.
Layer 4: She knows the inner workings of the Cronus empire and can help Michael to defeat Cronus is she desires.
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George Petersen PLOT AND CHARACTER LAYERS
What I learned from this assignment is that plot and character work together in layers
The Americans
Phillip and Elizabeth are your next door neighbors, but they are constantly doing what’s necessary to avoid being discovered and prosecuted.
Phillip and Elizabeth’s family is based on a lie and they make every effort to keep their true identities secret from their children.
Phillip has a secret son whom he will not reveal to Elizabeth.
The Red Ballot
PLOT LAYERS:
Layer 1: Major scheme revealed:
a secret plot to assassinate the President is revealed
Layer 2: Hidden plan:
The one who draws the red ballot will be the one who will assassinate President Lincoln
Layer 3: Hidden history:
Ferrandini’s military experience
Kate’s deceased husband
Pinkerton needing to escape Scotland
Layer 4: Major betrayal: Ferrandini’s fiancé, Miss Dixie (Kate), deserts him the day before the wedding.
Layer 5: Mystery revealed:
the mystery of who planted the bomb on the railroad tracks is ultimately revealed
Layer 6: Thought the story was one thing, but it is another:
the story begins centered around the assassination plot, but then moves to questions about the values needed for a democracy to work in a free society.
Layer 7: Major shift in Meaning:
From power to freedom
CHARACTER LAYERS:
Layer 1: Secret identity:
Ferrandini the Barber is actually the leader of a secret society supporting slavery
Franklin the Businessman is actually Pinkerton
Miss Dixie is actually Kate
Layer 2: Character intrigue:
Who is Ferrandini and how does he plan to kill the President?
Layer 3: Hidden relationships and conspiracies:
Ferrandini poses as the town barber, but actually leads the assassination plot, managing the bumbling Knights of the Golden Circle and the bloodthirsty gang members.
Layer 4: Hidden Character history:
Ferrandini’s military past
Kate’s former marriage
Pinkerton’s outcast status in Scotland
Layer 5: Identity beneath the identity:
The spy becomes the object of affection
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Subject: Paula’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned from doing this assignment is: It’s more interesting to have layers under the surface of the story that will be a complete surprise in each episode yet also make sense for the plot and the same for the characters. They seem to be one way but as the series progresses, we see unpredictable and massive changes in them.
ASSIGNMENT 1: LAYERS IN EPISODE 8, GOSSIP GIRL (AND THROUGHOUT)
Blair
LAYER 1:- Purportedly the ‘good ‘girl’ because she has been loyal to her best friend and boyfriend.
LAYER 2: She gets drunk, dances at the strip club, and has sex with a guy she doesn’t like.
Layer 3: She pretends to be friends with other girls but is very cruel to Jenny when Jenny doesn’t do her bidding.
NATE’S FATHER
LAYER 1: – A good, rich elite businessman.
LAYER 2: A coke fiend and embezzler
LAYER 3: He manipulates his child for his own purposes.
CHUCK
LAYER 1: Hard-nosed, older high school sexual predator, party guy.
LAYER 2: Vulnerable when he falls in love with Blair.
SERENA
LAYER 1: Acts like she’s Blair’s best friend
LAYER 2: Desires Nate, Blair’s boyfriend
LAYER 3: She’s a spotlight freak.
LAYER 4: She teases Dan, waffles over really getting into a relationship with him.
DAN
LAYER 1: Pursues Serena and is loyal to her
LAYER 2: Allows Vanessa into their relationship
LAYER 3: Blames his mother for infidelity that ruins family but he does similar things.
ASSIGNMENT 2: MY SHOW
PLOT SURFACE – Tess is a dysfunctional middle aged woman obsessed with a young tutoring student, who gets involved in his illegal activities
LAYER 1: She falls in love with Tony
Layer 2: She is rival to John, Tony’s friend, for position in the ring and Tony’s affection.
LAYER 3: She is an FBI agent who wants to bust the ring to get a promotion
LAYER 4: She is in a loveless marriage and wants out.
LAYER 5: She and Tony open a business to launder drug money
LAYER 6: She tries to get Tony away from girlfriend Bianca
LAYER 7: She sabotages drug raid by shooting an agent so she can help Tony escape.
CHARACTER LAYER
SURFACE: She is a middle aged nerdy woman who makes a living as a tutor
LAYER 1: She falls deeply in love with student Tony.
LAYER 2: She’s a skilled and veteran FBI agent
Layer 3: She wants to bust drug ring led by Tony so she can get a promotion.
LAYER 4: She’s in a loveless marriage.
LAYER 5: She changes from a hardboiled agent to a vulnerable woman.
LAYER 6: Her obsession leads her t do irrational and self-destructive things.
JOHN
SURFACE: Meek best friend of Tony, helps him in drug ring.
LAYER 1: He has delusions of being macho and running the ring.
LAYER 2: He develops hostility, rivalry toward Tess.
LAYER 3: He is gay and desires Tony for himself.
LAYER 4: He warns Tony about Tess hiding something.
TONY
SURFACE: Veteran drug dealer in his 20’s, sexy and manipulative, daring.
LAYER 1: Pretends he loves his tutor, Tess.
LAYER 2: He steals from other dealers
LAYER 3: Manipulates Tess to open business to launder drug money.
LAYER 4: Actually wants to retire to be with his family in Dominican Republic
BIANCA
SURFACE: Beautiful Latina, girlfriend of Tony, superficial
LAYER 1: In antagonistic relationship with Tess, rival for Tony’s affection.
LAYER 2: She works as a jewelry rep and steals jewelry to sell to her friends.
LAYER 3: Hears ‘rumors’ and wants to kill Tess.
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Eric Humble’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is: how much you can layer even the simplest of ideas for your story and characters. Since both of my concepts are thrillers, I’ve been devoting most of the brainstorming in previous lessons to figuring out the Big Intrigue, Big Mystery, and Big Suspense, as we learned in the Thriller Convention 30-Day Class. So I haven’t done much in terms of the cover-ups and more surface layers until now. I discovered in going over what we’ve done in the previous lessons that I have a wealth of material for both concepts and that when I take any element and layer it into cover-up/reveal, I have story for at least an entire season, probably much more for both shows. I had no idea I had this much material so far, so it was a real eye-opener to me how I could bring it all together into a series of layers that will work in conjunction with the mysteries and open loops.
ASSIGNMENT 1: Mr. Robot
Plot Surface: Elliot is recruited by Mr. Robot to join the hacker group fsociety, whose mission Elliot is sympathetic to. He has a kind, empathetic boss, Gideon and a casual relationship with Shayla, his drug dealer. He does drugs but has a handle on them.
Layer 1: Mr. Robot’s plans are crazy and extreme, so Elliot has to temper them.
Layer 2: Gideon is actually suspicious of Elliot being part of the hacks of E Corp.
Layer 3: Shayla actually in love with him and she is his closest connection to people. Discovers this just as his actions get Shayla killed.
Layer 4: Elliot is deeper into drug use and addiction than he seems and, with Shayla dead, has to undergo horrible withdrawal.
Layer 5: He actually is Mr. Robot – which makes his alter ego, whom he’s unconscious of, the unstable, dangerous one… and he can’t trust that side of himself!
Layer 6: The Mr. Robot side of him has succeeded in creating a global movement – which he now has to stop!
Character Surface: Elliot
Layer 1: He is a well-intentioned vigilante hacker. Slight drug habit that’s under control.
Layer 2: He has mental health issues including loneliness and poor social skills.
Layer 3: Deeper into addiction than he thought. Needs to go through withdrawal when his supply is cut off.
Layer 4: He has had a severe psychotic break and has been hallucinating Mr. Robot – because he himself has been the leader of the fsociety the whole time.
Layer 5: He is at odds with the movement his other self helped create.
Character Surface: Mr. Robot
Layer 1: Hacker leader who is fatherly and has a cause Elliot believes in.
Layer 2: His first assignment is to blow up a pipeline, killing innocents but acheiving the data destruction they’re after. He’s crazy and dangerous.
Layer 3: Throws Elliot off the pier, causing hospitalization – he’s not as fatherly as he seemed… at least, not all the time.
Layer 4: Fatherly sometimes, though, because he stays with Elliot throughout his withdrawal.
Layer 5: Mr. Robot is Elliot’s father, thought long-dead!
Layer 6: He’s actually a hallucination representing Elliot’s dark alter ego.
Character Surface: Darlene
Layer 1: Mean, stand-offish fellow hacker who keeps invading Elliot’s privacy, even though he just met her.
Layer 2: Helps him more than the others, is a confidante, albeit an adversarial one.
Layer 3: When they pull off the operation, announces that she loves him.
Layer 4: But freaks out when he kisses her – because she’s his sister!
Layer 5: He hasn’t just met her, they’ve been together since childhood – but he has completely blanked her out until this moment. She is the key to understanding his madness.
Layer 6: Loves him as a sister and is deeply concerned about his mental health amid the global financial crisis they’ve enacted together.
Character Surface: Tyrell Wellick, slick, ambitious, and ultra powerful at E Corp.
Layer 1: Not so powerful – he wants the CTO position, but isn’t even in the running for it.
Layer 2: Uses sex to get access to the people he wants – sex with men and women.
Layer 3: Is married to a woman who is just as power-hungry – or perhaps more so – who uses sex to control him.
Layer 4: Aggressively comes on to the new CTO’s wife in her own house as a way to bait her into being manipulated.
Layer 5: Not in control. While seducing her on the roof, he loses control and murders her instead.
Layer 6: His wife is not loving – upon giving birth to their child, she reveals that she will leave him to the wolves on the spot unless he fixes the mess he got himself into.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
Concept 1:
PLOT LAYERS
Layer: Catherine is sick. Jude examines her, tells her she’s fine.
Layer: She actually has inoperable cancer. Obsessed with solving the unsolvable, Jude is
determined to find a cure for cancer before she realizes she’s sick.
Layer: A blood sample from an affluent donor has properties that could be a cure,
Layer: The donor isn’t affluent – she’s a homeless con artist, Dres. She’s streetwise and can
handle herself.
Layer: She’s actually being targeted by professional killers.
Layer: Dres agrees to submit to testing by Jude if he can keep her safe.
Layer: But she bolts with his personal info – she’s actually just planning on conning him, has no
intention of submitting to anything.
Layer: Dres discovers that Jude, for all his research and philanthropy, is actually receiving
kickbacks to suppress certain findings. He’s ripe for the picking.
Layer: Jude investigates the assassin… he wasn’t acting alone. There’s fringe theories out
there that a global cabal is hunting down and killing people… and Jude suspects it’s
because of the properties in their blood.
Layer: Jude consults with the foremost authority on secret societies – and he thoroughly
debunks it. There is no cabal and never has been, whatever Jude has discovered with
the blood.
Layer: But the cabal exists – currently chasing down two people with the DNA lineages, one in
Europe and one in the US…
Layer: … and Marks is in the cabal, in charge of killing the US-based target. He’s in hot water
with the cabal leader for letting her slip through his fingers.
Layer: Dres sets up a meeting with Catherine… but she’s actually conning her to get access to
her bank account numbers and PINs.
Layer: Another assassin breaks in to try and kill Dres. She and Catherine overpower and
accidentally kill the assassin.
Layer: Marks, needing to increase his status in the cabal uses his position as CEO. Announces
that he’s about to enter into a deal to make his Pharma company globally dominant by courting the head of a small tech company whose IP will be huge in the next decade.
Layer: But he hasn’t made the deal.
Layer: Marks approaches the female CEO to seduce her into making the deal… but it’s Dres,
working another con to get into the cabal.
Layer: Jude discovers the cabal exists – and has existed for over a century, hunting down
people with these lineages which contain healing blood.
Layer: The cabal is a group of global medical experts – and has been for a century – dedicated
to eradicating the lines of immortals who can cure cancer… because cancer has been
huge business worldwide for the medical industry.
CHARACTER LAYERS
Jude
Surface Layer: Idealistic cancer researcher/expert, revered in his field.
Layer: The Pharma company is immoral in principle but above board from a legal standpoint.
Layer: Marks woos Jude and shows him an off-the-books system to track people via their
medications… along with an algorithm to see who needs what and thus which prices to
gouge. Jude is appalled, refuses to work there, returns to his research.
Layer: Jude is actually receiving kickbacks from the Pharma company, the very firm his wife is
working against.
Layer: Jude leaves his research job to accept a position at Marks’s Pharma company,
acting like he’s come to terms with the fact that he’s already profiting from questionable
kickbacks and is ready to make even more money.
Layer: … but really he’s scheming to get access to the firm’s off-the-books tracking data in order
to find Dres again. But only top-level execs have clearance to the system, and Marks
isn’t letting him in.
Layer: Jude conducts research with Marks’s wife. They’re friendly, cordial.
Layer: Once Jude discovers Marks’s wife is also dying, they see eye-to-eye and become
friends.
Layer: But Jude is actually conspiring with Marks’s wife to sabotage the deal he’s making. She
wants him to focus less on the business and more on their time left together. Jude is
trying to replace him at the top.
Dres
Surface Layer: Affluent person who donated blood for research.
Layer: Homeless con artist, street-smart, takes care of herself.
Layer: Ally to Jude.
Layer: Actually sizing Jude up as a mark and plotting to steal his ill-gotten gains via Catherine.
Layer: Dres discovers that the second assassin is attached to a cabal that killed her mother.
She vows revenge.
Layer: She’s actually over a hundred years old, part of a race of immortals.
Marks
Surface Layer: CEO of a Big Pharma company whom Catherine is fighting through her
foundation – because the company is profiting and sending kickbacks to doctors and
researchers to suppress development of life-saving drugs. It’s healthcare as Big
Business.
Layer: Marks appears to be a cold, calculating CEO… but, in fact, his wife is dying of a terminal,
incurable disease. He has a lot at stake in pharmaceutical research.
Layer: Marks is in the cabal, in charge of hunting and killing Dres… and he’s in hot water for
failing.
Layer: The Leader of the cabal is Marks’s mentor and a father figure to him.
Layer: Marks is scheming to get the top spot of the cabal once the Leader dies.
Layer: Marks wants the top spot in the cabal because there are secrets the cabal is hiding from
its members… involving cures, maybe for Marks’s wife.
Layer: Marks has the support of the cabal, due to the Leader’s good graces. One more chance
to prove himself.
Layer: The head of the cabal’s Europe sector is vying for top spot once the Leader dies… and
knows that Marks is getting conned.
Catherine
Surface Layer: Jude’s true-love, dedicated to taking down Big Pharma companies who are
gouging prices on medicines can save lower-income people.
Layer: Dres and Catherine become co-conspirators after killing the assassin, using Drea’s
shady contacts to destroy the body and hide what they’ve done from the police.
Layer: Catherine only had one other true love in her life, who betrayed her. Says she dated this
man in college.
Layer: She attended Oxford university seventy years ago. She’s two hundred years old.
Layer: Her old lover is the Leader of the cabal.
Layer: The assassin who attacked in her firm wasn’t going for Dres, it was targeting her.
Layer: Catherine is the other immortal the cabal is targeting – the one who was last sighted in
Europe.
Layer: Catherine knows she’s dying… which isn’t supposed to happen to an immortal.
Layer: She needs the Leader’s help – and the cabal’s secrets – to find out what is happening to
her.
Concept 2:
PLOT LAYERS:
Surface Layer: Darren is a by-the-books FBI agent who is poised to nail Scoleri’s ruthless mob
organization. He’s got him cold, and the arrest is about to go down…
Layer: When he’s ordered to stand down and a media frenzy descends on what should have
been a mob-hit-in progress.
Layer: Because Scoleri has entered the presidential election race! All the documents and fees
were paid and signed, everything is in order. He’s a contender… and his campaign
coffers are flush with more cash than his established competitors for the party’s
nomination! Scoleri takes questions with grace and is a bit mysterious, leading to
headlines and speculations.
Layer: But Scoleri has no idea what’s happening. All this was done without his knowledge.
Layer: Darren is furious with his superiors – until he learns their hands are tied. There’s a new
law, signed by the President just a few weeks prior, protecting people running for public
office from Federal investigations… until their run ends. The second Scoleri drops out of
the race or loses, they’ll nail.
Layer: Darren quits the FBI in a huff… and gets a low-level job at the campaign to reelect the
President.
Layer: But he’s really working on a plan… he knows Scoleri, knows he’s ruthless enough to
climb his way to the top when he’s cornered like this… and Darren will be waiting for him
with President’s campaign team. He’ll expose and topple him during the Primary… as long as he can get himself into the position as campaign chief by then.
Layer: Scolari shuts down the business. If this is his way out of prison, he’s a presidential
contender now.
Layer: But he actually orders Eco, his mob lawyer, to take over all operations in secret. Gives
him a directive to expand the empire by making a deal with a ruthless Middle Eastern
drug lord – using the eventual weight of the Presidency as bait.
Layer: Scolari needs to bulldoze the playing field of the established politicians he’s competing
against… but plays nice.
Layer: Except he’s still murderous and ruthless… and using gangster-style terror to force them
out of the race, including murder.
CHARACTER LAYERS:
Darren:
Surface Layer: By-the-book FBI man. Always plays by the moral ethical rules.
Layer: Plays dirty to get into the presidential game… blackmails someone with dirt the FBI has
garnered to pressure them into getting him on the campaign staff.
Layer: He likes playing dirty – it’s freeing in a way the rigid FBI rules never were.
Layer: It’s not the only time he’s played dirty. He and Bender started their investigation into
Scoleri by donning ski masks and committing an armed robbery at one of Scoleri’s mob
fronts to get a flash drive laying out the organization. No one got hurt but no one knows
it was them.
Layer: Someone actually did get hurt – Darren shot and killed Scoleri’s nephew during the
“robbery,” not knowing who it was he killed.
Scoleri:
Surface Layer: Ruthless mob boss.
Layer: Smooth-talking businessman-turned candidate.
Layer: Out of the mob business.
Layer: Ruling from the shadows.
Layer: Holds weakness in scorn.
Layer: Grew up in poverty. Was one of the “weak.”
Layer: Starting to connect with the district whose support he’s trying to get – in particular, a poor
kid who is flirting with gang involvement.
Eco:
Surface Layer: Meek mob lawyer.
Layer: FBI informant, able to deal himself out if the hammer comes down.
Layer: Knows Rebecca from his days as a divorce attorney, whom Rebecca went to early in
their marriage. Eco encouraged her to stay with the marriage but get an abortion.
Layer: Is in love with Rebecca now and having an affair with her.
Layer: Doesn’t love her at all – is using the affair to get the flash drive he also has Bender
looking to retrieve.
Layer: Stronger and smarter in business than he looks. Maybe even a rival to Scolari himself.
Bender:
Surface Layer: Affable FBI company man with no ambition.
Layer: Hugely ambitious – wants to take over the racketeering division and stay on the Scolari
case in Darren’s absence.
Layer: Has a gambling addiction.
Layer: Lost the family savings and money he borrowed from a vicious loan shark at the casino.
Layer: Is being blackmailed by Eco over his gambling debts. He’s a mole for Eco.
Layer: He has a mission… secure the flash drive he stole, which is now in his superior officer’s
possession and deliver it to Eco in order for his gambling debts to be forgiven.
Rebecca:
Surface Layer: Darren’s ever-faithful true love.
Layer: Had an abortion that he never knew about early in their marriage.
Layer: Having an affair with Eco. Has had feelings for him since their first meeting.
Layer: Rebecca is behind the website that launched Scoleri’s bid. It was all her doing.
Layer: Is actually a Russian spy.
Layer: Was about to be executed by her handler for failing to get her husband under her control
enough that she can access classified FBI data on Russia (her original mission)… when
she convinces him that she can get something better: the presidency, and eventually the
entire US government.
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Cathryn Atkinson’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is how I can break down the layers in order to write them into the pilot and the season. Create the thread. This took a long time to complete, but so worth it.
ASSIGNMENT 1: MR ROBOT
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Major scheme revealed
The attempt take down evil corp, and capitalism/corporations by extension, was successful. But Elliott was not conscious for it, and he spends the episode trying to find out what happened and deal with a mental breakdown.
Mystery revealed
The fsociety hack on evil corp happens while Elliott is passed out.
Thought the story was one thing, but it is another
More is learned about Elliott’s reality.
Major shift in Meaning
Elliott is trying to find out if Tyrell took over fsociety and took down Ecorps and the financial system.
Hidden history
Elliott is in conflict with himself and this is the biggest example so far. He has no self control. His childhood family turns up, and guide him into what happens next.
Hidden plan
Whiterose turns up at a large house where the head of evilcorp is with many wealthy people discussing what happened.<div><b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Secret identity
-Micheal Hanson’s secret identity exposed – he wants Elliott’s psychologist Krista (his ex) to spy on Elliott. Michael tries to pull Krista into his plans and she says no.
-Elliott wakes up in Tyrell’s car after several days, not sure were he is. He goes to the fsociety hideout and finds out he executed the attack on evilcorp, and they are wiping the system. Elliott goes to Tyrell, but can’t find him.
Character intrigue
-Nervous Angela goes to her new job. No answers this episode
-Gideon is trying to save AllSafe. No answers this episode
-Ecorp EVP of tech Plouffe kills himself on TV, after saying the problems could not be fixed.
-Elliot and Mr Robot fight each other but it’s Elliot fighting himself. He is trying to find out where Tyrell is. Mr Robot gets punched, so Elliott gets punched.
Hidden relationships and conspiracies
Tyrell’s wife pumps Elliot for info on Tyrell, who is missing
ASSIGNMENT 2: RUN ANGELITADiscover the layers that could exist for your show.
1. Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.
PLOT SURFACE for RUN ANGELITA – Angelita joins the migrants going north to the US after her older brother Luis is taken by the cartel he worked for and her grandmother is shot, over money that has gone missing. She doesn’t know that she carries the digital codes to $500m. She wants to be with her long estranged mother in Los Angeles, but discovers she isn’t welcome in America.
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Major scheme revealed
-As a cartel accountant, Luis had been siphoning money from the cartel, but he was forced to do it by his boss, Moneda. Luis made a simple mistake that ended up transferring so much money that the scheme was uncovered, but Moneda said only Luis was a thief. </div><div>Mystery revealed
-The hitman sent to follow Angelita, recover the digital access codes, and kill her is her estranged brother (or father) Dario, who she hadn’t seen since she was three and who she thought was dead.
-Luis and Nana had kept from Angelita the knowledge that their wealth and all the good things she had came from Luis’s work at the cartel. They spoiled her.
-Luis is killed but at the end of season one Dario learns that Nana (his mother, or the mother of his ex) is still alive and a prisoner of Moneda as they try to retrieve their money. </div><div>Thought the story was one thing, but it is another
-Chance and Veronica at first think it’s a simple case of a migrant who has escaped detention in Texas. Much of truth is revealed over the course of a pilot, at least to viewers – ending with the attack on Angelita’s family. </div>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Major shift in Meaning
<div>
– Who is Angelita? What is the story of her escape from El Salvador? It’s not what others think.
– Angelita’s understanding of who she is, her whole life, changes early in season one. </div><div>Hidden history
-Angelita was “protected” by those who love her. They didn’t want her to suffer violence. But at the same time, Luis trained her in martial arts and guns. </div><div>
Hidden plan
-Angelita has to decide what to do once she gets access to the money. Do a deal with the FBI? Run? </div><div>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Major betrayal
– Angelita’s family keeping her in the dark.
-Veronica, a frustrated reporter who would love to work on a big paper, using part of Angelita’s story (ie everything Angelita tells her) in an article and then forced to publish it immediately.
-Chance decides to dump Angelita as they are travelling because he is sick and he is falling for her.</div><div>2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity – ANGELITA.
Secret identity
– Her precarious position and family identity was kept from her “to keep her safe”, “because she was a child”.
Character intrigue
– She was trained to be a fighter by her older brother
– Is she a potential killer?
– She doesn’t know the digital codes to millions was planted on her in a pendant her brother gives her
– She plans to find her mother in America and looks for her. </div><div>Hidden relationships and conspiracies
– The man she thinks killed her brother and grandmother, and who is after her is actually her brother (or father) and wants to protect her.
– She decides to use the money to become Robinhood
Hidden Character history
See above.</div><div>3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.
Plot Surface:
-As a cartel accountant, Luis had been siphoning money from the cartel, but he was forced to do it by his boss, Moneda. Luis made a simple mistake that ended up transferring so much money that the scheme was uncovered, but Moneda said only Luis was a thief.
– Angelita’s family keeping her in the dark. Luis and Nana had kept from Angelita the knowledge that their wealth and all the good things she had came from Luis’s work at the cartel. They spoiled her.
-Angelita was “protected” by those who love her. They didn’t want her to suffer violence. But at the same time, Luis trained her in martial arts and guns.– Who is Angelita? What is the story of her escape from El Salvador? It’s not what others think. When she tries to tell the Border Services, she is not believed.
– Angelita’s understanding of who she is, her whole life, changes early in season one. She digests this in the prison.
-Chance and Veronica at first think it’s a simple case of a migrant who has escaped detention in Texas. Much of truth is revealed over the course of a pilot, at least to viewers – ending in the pilot with the attack on Angelita’s family (NOTE: the pilot ends with her talking to Veronica but the action is very different from what she is telling her).
-Veronica, a frustrated reporter who would love to work on a big paper, using part of Angelita’s story (ie everything Angelita tells her) in an article and then Veronica is forced by her editor to publish it immediately.-Chance decides to dump Angelita as they are travelling because he is sick and he is falling for her.
-The hitman sent to follow Angelita, recover the digital access codes, and kill her is her estranged brother (or father) Dario, who she hadn’t seen since she was three and who she thought was dead.Character Surface:
– She was trained to be a fighter by her older brother
– Her precarious position and family identity was kept from her “to keep her safe”, “because she was a child”.
– She plans to find her mother in America and looks for her.– She doesn’t know the digital codes to millions was planted on her in a pendant her brother gives her
– Is she a potential killer?
– The man she thinks killed her brother and grandmother, and who is after her is actually her brother (or father) and wants to protect her.
– She decides to use the money to become a kind of RobinhoodCHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity – DARIO.
Secret identity
-He is connected to Angelita, but she loathed him even before Luis was kidnapped and her grandmother was shot.
-He is Angelita’s father </div><div>Character intrigue
-Dario has been a cartel hitman for years and hates it. He is trying to find a way out. Will he be allowed? What will he do?
-Luis is killed, and Dario is agonized over the death of his brother. He thinks Nana, his mother, died after being shot.
– At the end of season one Dario learns that Nana (his mother, or the mother of his ex) is still alive and a prisoner of Moneda as they try to retrieve their money.
-Angelita’s mother escaped to America and Dario wouldn’t let her take their child. She left when his mother, Nana, was caring for Angelita for the day.
-He is the boss of the thug who killed Luis, and the thug is suspicious of subtle changes in Dario’s behaviour. At first Dario goes to America alone, but then thug is sent to follow him when he takes his suspicions to Moneda.
Hidden relationships and conspiracies
-Dario knows that Moneda was syphoning the money off the cartel, not Luis (who was the vehicle for the fraud). He has to be a “good foot soldier” in order to find Angelita to save her, not kill her.
-But he also wants the money. He wants to be rich and also have Angelita in his life. He wants them to be able to fight their enemies together. He is happy for her to become a killer.
-The Big Boss, Aguila, sees Dario as a potential head of the cartel. Mentors him (season two)
Hidden Character history
-He was a young petty criminal and just before his daughter, Angelita, was born he killed his first man, the father of his girlfriend. She left for America and he was banished from his family. The cartel trained him to become an assassin.3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.
Plot Surface:-Angelita’s mother escaped to America and Dario wouldn’t let her take their child. She left when his mother, Nana, was caring for Angelita for the day.
-Luis is killed, and Dario is agonized over the death of his brother. He thinks Nana, his mother, died after being shot.
-Dario has been a cartel hitman for years and hates it. He is trying to find a way out. Will he be allowed? What will he do?
-He is the boss of the thug who killed Luis, and the thug is suspicious of subtle changes in Dario’s behaviour. At first Dario goes to America alone, but then thug is sent to follow him when he takes his suspicions to Moneda.
-But he also wants the money. He wants to be rich and also have Angelita in his life. He wants them to be able to fight their enemies together. He is happy for her to become a killer.
– At the end of season one Dario learns that Nana (his mother, or the mother of his ex) is still alive and a prisoner of Moneda as they try to retrieve their money.-The Big Boss, Aguila, sees Dario as a potential head of the cartel. Mentors him (season two)
Character Surface:
-He is Angelita’s father
-He was a young petty criminal and just before his daughter, Angelita, was born he killed his first man, the father of his girlfriend. She left for America and he was banished from his family. The cartel trained him to become an assassin.
-Dario knows that Moneda was syphoning the money off the cartel, not Luis (who was the vehicle for the fraud). He has to be a “good foot soldier” in order to find Angelita to save her, not kill her.-The Big Boss, Aguila, sees Dario as a potential head of the cartel. Mentors him (season two)
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity – CHANCE.
Secret identity
-Wound – He is the son of a woman who died of breast cancer, and who is worried he has cancer. </div><div>Character intrigue
-Chance is a competitive rifle shooter, Olympic skeet shooting and from horseback.
-Because his father works for the migrant detention system, Chance has a good understanding of the system that holds Angelita.
-He wants to join the FBI
-Wound – Because his father is violent, he has PTSD.
-He lets Angelita take him hostage after a fight with his father where his hits back, because he hates that kids are kept in detention, but then he starts to fall for her. </div><div>Hidden relationships and conspiracies
-Wound – His father is violent, and when Veronica learned this she left him. Chance is close to Veronica and they stayed in touch.
-Secret Identity – His father’s boss, the Warden is a mentor for Chance, but is in Moneda’s pay to keep an eye on migrants coming through. This time it’s Angelita.
Hidden Character history
-Wound – When Chance’s mother died he began to abuse drink and drugs, but Veronica pulled him out of it.
-Hidden Agenda – He has been going to protests and volunteering with organizations that help migrants.</div><div>3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.
Plot Surface:-Wound – He is the son of a woman who died of breast cancer, and who is worried he has cancer.
-Wound – Because his father is violent, he has PTSD.
-He lets Angelita take him hostage after a fight with his father where his hits back, because he hates that kids are kept in detention, but then he starts to fall for her.-Because his father works for the migrant detention system, Chance has a good understanding of the system that holds Angelita.
Character Surface:
-Hidden Agenda – He has been going to protests and volunteering with organizations that help migrants.
-Chance is a competitive rifle shooter, Olympic skeet shooting and from horseback.
-He wants to join the FBI.
-Secret Identity – His father’s boss, the Warden is a mentor for Chance, but is in Moneda’s pay to keep an eye on migrants coming through. This time it’s Angelita.
-Wound – His father is violent, and when Veronica learned this she left him. Chance is close to Veronica and they stayed in touch.
-Wound – When Chance’s mother died he began to abuse drink and drugs, but Veronica pulled him out of it.CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity – VERONICA.
Secret identity
-Veronica became a journalist after struggling as a marine after the massacre of a family in Afghanistan. She was wasn’t responsible but she helped cover it up. </div><div>Character intrigue
-Veronica is a marine, weapons specialist and trained in fighting insurgents.
-She used to be a true believer but is now troubled by the system and the polarization. This came from Afghanistan and what she has experienced since.
-She is US Latina and has mixed feelings about the migrants.
-She is ambitious as a journalist, but not always ethical. This comes from frustration over the sort of stories she is forced to write.
-She uses Angelita and Chance (at first) because she wants the story. She knows it will be successful and could get her a better job on a better newspaper or magazine. She intends to hold it until they are safe, but her editor publishes it early. </div><div>Hidden relationships and conspiracies
-She loved Chance’s father until he slapped her, and she broke his nose.
-She sees Chance as the son she doesn’t think she will have. When he confides in her that he is sick and may have cancer, she insists on getting him checked, even though it may mess up Chance and Angelita escaping. </div><div>Hidden Character history
-She believed in conspiracy theories but pulled away from it. She still has “friends” from that time.</div><div>
3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.
Plot Surface:
-She loved Chance’s father until he slapped her, and she broke his nose.
-She uses Angelita and Chance (at first) because she wants the story. She knows it will be successful and could get her a better job on a better newspaper or magazine. She intends to hold it until they are safe, but her editor publishes it early.
-She sees Chance as the son she doesn’t think she will have. When he confides in her that he is sick and may have cancer, she insists on getting him checked, even though it may mess up Chance and Angelita escaping.Character Surface:
-Veronica is a marine, weapons specialist and trained in fighting insurgents.
-Veronica became a journalist after struggling as a marine after the massacre of a family in Afghanistan. She was wasn’t responsible but she helped cover it up.
-She is US Latina and has mixed feelings about the migrants.
-She used to be a true believer but is now troubled by the system and the polarization. This came from Afghanistan and what she has experienced since.
-She is ambitious as a journalist, but not always ethical. This comes from frustration over the sort of stories she is forced to write.
-She believed in conspiracy theories but pulled away from it. She still has “friends” from that time.</div>
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Leybe Díaz – Plot and Character Layers:
What I learned doing this assignment is that plot and character layers are completely necessary in creating obsession for a show, and how to use this model using questions to create more layers for my show.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
SCANDAL
PLOT LAYERS:
Major scheme revealed: Amanda and Billy were working together to black mail the President.
Mystery revealed: Billy killed Amanda and the journalist.
Thought the story was only about fixing scandals but it is a love story too.
Hidden history: Quinn was set up in the bomb explosion, and Olivia helped her get a new identity.
Major betrayal: Billy betrayed the President.
How and why did Olivia got Quinn out of prison?
CHARACTER LAYERS
Huck’s Secret identity
Quinn’s secret identity reveal
Character Intrigue: Olivia works with powerful people we don’t know, she made a phone call to save Quinn’s from dead penalty. How’s Olivia connected to the bomb explosion and why she protects Quinn?
Hidden relationships and conspiracies:
Billy and Amanda’s affair and conspiracy against the President.
Olivia and Huck’s conspiracy to save Quinn.
Hidden Character history: Quinn’s set up in the bomb explosion.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
HOME AIDE
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Plot Surface: Emma is a Waitress / social activist in financial need takes job as a home aide for Flora, a rich woman who suffers from a rare type of Alzheimer’s.
Layer 1:
Emma who has extraordinary cognitive abilities discovers big secrets about powerful people in society and how she goes after them and becomes a powerful politician at the same time.
Layer 2: Sabotage:
The relationship between Emma and Flora is sabotaging Isaac’s evil plans for Flora, as Flora starts improving after Emma arrives.
Layer 3: Conspiracy:
Isaac and Linda have secret plans to have Flora become a candidate for a nursing home where she would be killed.
Layer 4: Mystery:
Who killed Flora and Isaac’s father?
What are the crimes Emma is discovering about? And who are the criminals?
Layer 5: Hidden Agenda:
Once Emma accidentally starts discovering secrets about Flora, her family and her circle through Flora’s notes, she makes it her mission to find all the notes, messages and clues that Flora leaves around her house.
Layer 6: Major scheme revealed:
Emma is not a licensed home aide. She initially accepts the fake credentials Isaac gets for her.
Layer 7: The supervisor home visiting nurse discovers Isaac’s scheme about Emma not being a licensed home aide.
Will Emma be thrown out and get charges pressed against her?
What will happen to Isaac?
Layer 8: Meaning
In the surface this is the story of Emma’s journey in a world of survival, power and politics but the story is about how mental illness and brilliance are intertwined and manifest in different ways through the characters.
Layer 9: Hidden plan:
Isaac plans to get rid of Flora once he gets to take her to the nursing home.
Layer 10: Major betrayal: Rommate betrays Emma which gets her evicted and propels her to get the Home Aide job which would also provide a place to live.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Character Surface: Emma is a regular, ordinary woman, a waitress who has been helping her neighbors to fight the landlord on illegal evictions and rent increase, who becomes homeless after being betrayed by her own rommate. She doesn’t seem special nor successful in life.
Layer 1: Hidden Agenda:
Emma’s mission to find and decode all Flora’s fragmented written notes.
FBI special agent: To investigate Flora.
Isaac’s plans on killing Flora.
Layer 2: Hidden Character History: Emma’s trauma / failures and difficult upbringing.
Layer 3: Pre Alzheimer’s Flora was a ruthless, cold hearted, dark, Iron Lady who ran a criminal organization with her family.
After the illness she becomes a loving, joyful, caring and emotional woman.
Layer 4: Flora and Isaac shared criminal history.
Layer 5: Flora knows who murdered her father, she can’t remember but she was able to write it down on a sticky note.
Layer 6: Flora writes down memories of events from the past and her dreams for the future on sticky notes, and on random surfaces around her home as they arise from her mind, these don’t make sense to most people except for Emma, and later on for the FBI agent (who comes to notice them when it’s too late)
Layer 7:
Secret Identity:
Emma’s super fast mind had kept her from succeeding in her life, until she found a way to use it when she arrived at Flora’s home.
Layer 8: Isaac presents himself as the most charming, humble, caring family man and he’s a dangerous psychopath.
Layer 9: Wound: Her father also suffers from mental illness which caused pain to the family especially Emma who is deeply wounded.
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Rafal’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is that having the layers listed in certain order is very useful for viewing the structure of the project, although it is not so easy to extract and name them. Sometimes new ones emerge during the process. But doing so also new dimensions and possibilities appear, indeed.
ASSIGNMENT 1: Big little lies
Madeline:
Layer 1. Loving mother helping her friend, hence do the right things, activist.
Layer 2. Mother who is afraid of losing relation with her daughter to the new girlfriend of her ex-husband.
Layer 3. Wounded woman who wants to prove that she is important and worthy loving.
Celeste:
Layer 1. Mother who tries to improve her a bit too passionate relations with husband.
Layer 2. She seems to be addicted to the anger and violent form of sex with her husband
Layer 3. She loves him as fantastic father and lover and feels equally guilty for their aggression.
Layer 4. She is afraid about her live and about who their sons will become. She wishes death to her husband.
Jane:
Layer 1. Escaping from her past and looking for good future of her boy.
Layer 2. Uncertain if her little boy is not a hidden aggressor after his father who raped her.
Layer 3. Looking for her abuser to take a revenge and kill him.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show
1. PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Major scheme revealed
Arcadia moved with her grandson suicidal attempt wants to help him. She tries to learn the reason of his depression and discovers that her daughter and son in low forced Chris to lie and pretend that their family life is as a perfect one, just until Arcadia dies. They want her to die in peace, yet in addition they are afraid that if she learns about their troubles she could change her will regarding legacy of the shares of the clinic.
Mystery revealed
On the edge of death Arcadia admits her life’s sins to a friend and to a priest, as she planned it long before, just in case that God exists. Yet she doesn’t feel like she gets the redemption. When she was in charge of the clinic she put the clinic’s interests ahead of the patients’ well-being too many times. Now, as she discovers that her beloved grandson Chris tries to commit suicide, she feels like guilty for that, he reads it as a punishment on her. She needs to repay her sins.
Thought the story was one thing, but it is another
Thought it was the story about the ambition and revenge of mother over daughter who put her off her position and power but is about redemption and reconciliation.
Major shift in Meaning
Arcadia discovers scientific confirmation that what is causing Chris’s emotional imbalance and unhappiness of her family could be her wrongdoings in the past.
Hidden history
Arcadia was cheating on her husband and does not know even if Eve is really his daughter. They never checked. Her husband Tadeusz didn’t want to question this because he loved Arcadia and Eve so much. But the doubt poisoned him, he started drinking and finally killed himself drunk in accident. Arcadia feels guilty.
Hidden plan
To take over the clinic back from her daughter and, using help of Chris, to fix as many of her life’s mistakes as possible before she dies.
Major betrayal
Arcadia starts questioning if Eve is daughter of her father at all. She makes tests to prove that she is not, which deprives Eve from shares in the clinic.
Arcadia is betrayed by Chris when, she gives him her legacy and he sells his shares back to his mother. (Yet the same moment he is independent and free of his burden, he starts to live his own sins and freedom, so Arcadia is betrayed yet succeeded on this field)
2.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Secret identity
Arkadia becomes kind of charlatan.
Character intrigue
Arcadia lives in lies. She lies to herself never checking that Eve has another father, she lies to Eve about how she follows prescriptions and how she supports her work in the clinic, while she undermines it.
Hidden relationships and conspiracies
Arcadia conspires with Chris, Nelly and Matthew against Eve to take over the clinic
Hidden Character history
In 80’s Arcadia had an affair that she denied to admit to her husband and anybody in family. It caused her husband’s premature death. It was also a time of great stress for her, and her unborn child, Eve.
She herself felt abandoned when her parents were active in anti-communist movement and were imprisoned many times. She developed a coping mechanism to never admit weaknesses and mistakes.
3. Sequence of reveals.
Plot Surface:
With a tremendous effort and risk Arcadia delays her death to be along her grandson who feels unloved by his parents and falls into depression.
Layer 1:
Arcadia’s new effective approach to the treatment becomes very catching to other patients (due to her authority as the former head of the hospital) and undermines the clinic finances as well as authority of the active head, Arcadia’s daughter, Eve.
Arcadia not dying of cancer significantly complicates the divorce plans of Ewa and Mateusz. Moreover she develops her bond with Chris who becomes more and more independent from his parents.
Layer 2:
Knowing that her end is close Arcadia pragmatically sort of prepares herself for her death, confesses to friends she trusts, talks to her dead husband, tries to atone for her bad deeds.
Understanding more and more of her own life Arcadia gives good advices to Chris and he starts to make use of them, gains sympathy of Monica and becomes independent.
Layer 3:
Studying new methods of treatments Arcadia finds scientific confirmations of some of her friend Nelly and her believes and intuitions.
Conspiring with Chris and revealing that Eva’s father was someone else than her husband Arcadia takes over the leadership of the clinic and changes its attitude to the patients, which seems to be right for some of them and yet bad to others and causes disaster to the condition of the family business.
Layer 4:
Chris more and more mature betrays Arcadia and starts his own path full of his own sins and errors… as Arcadia has taught him 🙂
Character Surface:
Arcadia is a grandmother with cancer who rejects standard treatment and tests on herself all alternative methods to prolong her live.
Layer 1:
She wants to help her depressed grandson to graduate his high school, enter the university and inherit legacy after her.
Layer 2:
In facts Arcadia wants revenge over her daughter who, she believes, deprived her of power, meaning and position under the pretext of cancer.
Layer 3:
The fact is that what Arkadia fights the most in Ewa are her own, Arkadia’s traits and sins, for which she has never paid.
Layer 4:
Arcadia is looking for the way of redemption and she would like to be able to die at peace with herself.
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Lesson 10 Assignment David Quinn’s Plot/Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is a technique to consciously uncover more layers than present themselves in the plot/character idea stage; at first this assignment made my brain feel very cloudy, but the exercise became fun when I gave in to the “anything goes” nature of the discovery.
Jessica Jones Plot/Character Layers
· Plot Surface: Jessica Jones’ nemesis / rapist Kilgrave, the man with powers to make any person follow his commands is believed to be dead…
· Layer 2: But he’s alive.
· Layer 3: Kilgrave reveals how his parents forced him to become what he is
· Layer 4: Jessica drugs / imprisons /tortures him to make him confess
· Layer 5: But Jeri helps him
· Layer 6: Jessica switches, trying to cure him with his father’s science
· Layer 7: But Kilgrave escapes
· Layer 8: not under the enthrallment of Kilgrave, Jessica snaps his neck, killing him.
· Character Surface: Jessica suffers from PTSD and is tormented by a voice in her head
· Layer 2: It’s Kilgrave – he has controlled her — he will control her again if she confronts him
· Layer 3: What’s more, Kilgrave forced Jessica to kill Reva, Luke’s wife.
· Layer 4: Because he caused her to kill, she now has partial immunity to his power
· Layer 5: Kilgrave insists he controls Jessica, but she is able to tell Trish she loves her when he tries to make Jessica tell him she loves him – she’s actually free!
Blythe Plot/Character Layers
Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Mystery revealed – How far will she go to kill her sisters? What collateral damage is she willing to allow? And what will she do when she finally faces Ian?
Thought the story was one thing, but it is another –
Major shift in Meaning – Alice James revealed to be Blythe’s former lover
Hidden history – Blythe hides a secret empathy for the sisters that she hunts
Hidden plan – The sisters conspire with Alice James to capture Blythe and hold her on trial to defend her life and war Major scheme revealed – Does Blythe have a hidden plan/scheme, too?
Major betrayal– Ian not only manipulates Blythe’s sister creatures, he also manipulates her; Alice James betrays Blythe
Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Secret identity – Ian, Alice James, Blythe – all live with wounds; all are motivated by hidden needs to be loved and accepted; Ian ego driven, fear of powerlessness, need to control; nurses the wound that is his failed experiment
Blythe surrenders to the ruthless killer inside her – and in doing so, collides with her own humanity, something she insisted she let die a hundred years ago
Character intrigue – Ian’s manipulations constantly put Blythe in jeopardy; would he let her be destroyed? Ian and Blythe – Adversarial love, ie fight for dominance; willing to manipulate everyone in Blythe’s life to try to control her
Hidden relationships and conspiracies – Blythe attempts to use Alice James and it is almost her death
Hidden Character history – Ian wants to be loved; Blythe hides a secret empathy for the sisters that she hunts; Blythe also wants the love and unique relationship she thought she had with Ian, even though he has proven that was a lie; Ian denies his experiment was transgressive yet does not want to lose Blythe, despite his resistance of her campaign to kill his creatures
AND DON’T FORGET THE MYSTERIES AND OPEN LOOPS ALREADY UNCOVERED:
Shocking Event, Mystery 1: Blythe hunts the sisterhood. Monsters who can pass as human women. They hunt her, too. She’s obsessed with memories of her lover Ian Wright, whom the creatures killed.
Secret: Ian is alive.
Investigation: separately, audience, creatures and Blythe piece together:
WHO: Ian Wright, not dead but hiding
WHAT: after he had sex with Elizabeth (infection) but before her transformation, revealing that Blythe was not his only lover (victim)
WHEN: 100 years ago
WHERE: His Beacon Hill Townhouse, now a colonial museum
WHY: Ian considers the sisterhood a failure and he is still working on perfecting humanity (we don’t quite know how, yet.)
HOW: Fire witnessed by Blythe, set by other sisters
Withheld till late season one:
Escaped via network of Revolutionary war tunnels under the neighborhood, continued work in Paris, the sisters who burned his home were manipulated to do it by Ian himself
Alice James, whom Blythe mentored in hunting creatures (and her former lover, mystery 3) has known all along that Ian is still working
Cover up, Mystery 2: Who made the creatures? There are many many theories.
Secret: Blythe’s powers – as well as those of her monstrous sister creatures – have a horrific origin…, a sexually transmitted virus from pioneering virologist Ian Wright.
Investigation:
WHO: Blythe is lured / surrounded by new, more deadly creatures, who are conspiring with her former lover, Alice James, to put her on trial and terminate her
WHAT: Ian’s close to testing a second phase of the experiment that will be global. The virus is now air-borne.
WHY: Ian considers the sisterhood a failure and he is still working on perfecting humanity
Withheld:
Now that she knows he is alive, will Blythe kill Ian herself? (Assuming she can defeat and escape the Trial.)
Big Picture Open Loops
How will Blythe’s strategy change when she discovers (good plan gone wrong? Previous solutions cause new problems)
How will Blythe recover from the defeat suffered when Ian changes the game?
How will Blythe react to competition (her sisters, Alice James) in her war against the creatures and Ian?
Can Blythe stay hidden amongst night society? Will humans discover Blythe and stop her war? Imprison or even kill her?
Blythe amplifies the danger she’s exposed to when the takes a chance to destroy several creatures at once and is put on a mock trial by them
Relationship with Alice James – how does the secret come out and how does it change them?
Relationship with Franco – can blythe resist the temptation or will she break his heart and soul as she did his father’s?
(Think of New relationship?/Conflict inside relationship that comes to the surface?
Will Blythe kill all the creatures? Can she bring herself to kill Ian? Will Ian kill her?
How will Blythe deal with Internal conflicts? (addictive love, need to be loved, need to shut down her feelings with violence against herself as well as others?)
Possible sequence of reveals…
Plot Surface: Blythe hunts creatures only she can see – ironically calls them her sisters, not yet knowing how true that is. Blythe is obsessed with revenge and her memories of Ian Wright, her lover killed by the creatures
Layer 1: Ian is alive – not dead but hiding. Ian considers his “life’s work” (mystery) a failure and attempts to continue “perfecting humanity” (mystery)
Layer 2: As Blythe continues to hunt – now with intensity fired by her discovery of Ian’s fate — Ian manipulates the sisters and Blythe, behind the scenes, to threaten and torture her – Blythe enrolls Alice James, a human huntress, to aid her cause
Layer 3: Alice James revealed to be Blythe’s former lover – she is playing with and against both Blythe and Ian
Layer 4: Blythe is lured / captured by new, more deadly creatures, they put her on trial on pain of death
Layer 5: During the trial, Blythe is forced to remember what she could not remember til now – something the sisters all know and find sick glee in forcing her to accept – she and ALL monstrous sister creatures – have a horrific origin… a sexually transmitted virus seeded by Ian
Layer 6: Blythe escapes with her life, but no peace – will she kill Ian if she catches him? Will he kill her now that she knows?
Character Surface: Blythe is haunted by memory of her lover Ian and her amnesia around how she came to have her powers of vision and inhuman strength
Layer 1: When Blythe learns that Ian is alive, she steps up her war, inflamed that he has hidden from her; Blythe surrenders to the ruthless killer inside her – and in doing so, collides with her own humanity, something she insisted she let die a hundred years ago
Layer 2: Ian’s manipulations constantly put Blythe in jeopardy; would he let her be destroyed? Ian and Blythe – Adversarial love, ie fight for dominance; willing to manipulate everyone in Blythe’s life to try to control her
Layer 3: Blythe attempts to use Alice James and it is almost her death, as it leads to her being caught and put on trial by her sisters…
Layer 4: who force her to confront her primal crisis – the origin of the sisterhood.
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Eloise Healey’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned from doing this assignment is I really struggle to separate plot from character! I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing as I write character-driven drama but it meant I struggled with this exercise.
NO MAN’S LAND – Eloise Healey
Plot Surface:
The women’s plan to establish a colony with no men allowed.
Ann has asked the male sailor crew to stay – a betrayal of purpose.
· Emma committed theft to fund the expedition – and thus is a wanted felon, adding jeopardy to the already illegal venture.
· The women don’t just have to survive the wilderness, they must survive each other
· Mary has betrayed Emma and is hiding James
· James is actually working for the soldiers – he’s a spy
· Emma betrays Mary by killer her lover, James.
· Mary tells the soldiers where to find Emma and what she’s done
Character Surface:
Emma is an ex-convict who doesn’t want to deal with men anymore since they led to her imprisonment.
James arrives – can the women trust him?Emma would rather risk dying in the “wilderness” than accept a life of subordination.
· Hidden character history – Mary has a potential husband waiting for her in Van Diemen’s Land and didn’t need to come on this journey.
· Hidden conspiracy – Ann and Mary are conspiring to oust Emma as leader
· Wound – Emma’s rape and subsequent treatment led to her transportation and her dream of a female-only settlement
Hidden relationship – James and Mary are lovers
· Secret Identity – James is a spy for the British army
· James is encouraging Mary’s affection solely to gain safety until he can fulfil his mission and gain his freedom.
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