Day 10 Assignments

[Megan Schemenauer]

Megan’s Plot and Character Layers – Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is… it takes many episodes (I think I’m on episode 10 of Riverdale) to start noticing all the layers that have unfolded, in both the plot and the characters. I think analyzing layers in another show will be much easier than layering the events and reveals in my own show!

TITLE: Riverdale

Plot Surface: The captain of the high school football team is mysteriously murdered.

Layer 1: Major Shift in Meaning: He was actually running away.

Layer 2: Conspiracy: His twin sister Cheryl was helping him.

Layer 3: Major Scheme Revealed: He was running away with Polly Cooper because he had gotten her pregnant.

Layer 4: Moral Issue: He was potentially involved in dealing drugs.

Layer 5: Mystery: His letterman jacket and a gun were found in FP’s trailer; FP is a Serpent and Jughead’s dad.

Character Surface: Betty, the normal, all-American good girl next door

Layer 1: Hidden Agenda: She’s been in love with Archie since childhood but he doesn’t return those feelings.

Layer 2: Major Betrayal: Her sister Polly was put in a mental institution by her parents.

Layer 3: Secret Identity: Betty at times demonstrates a darkness that makes you wonder about her sanity.

Layer 4: Conspiracy: Betty works with her sister Polly to first, get out of the mental institution and second, to keep the baby.

Character Surface: Archie, the new quarterback of the football team

Layer 1: Secret Identity: He’s chasing a dream to be a musician.

Layer 2: Moral Issue: He’s been hooking up with his school music teacher.

Layer 3: Conspiracy: He was by the river with the music teacher when they heard a gunshot.

Layer 4: Major Scheme Revealed: He wants to go to the principal to come clean, even if it gets them both in trouble.

Character Surface: Jughead, the sensitive, intelligent poor boy from the wrong side of town

Layer 1: Secret Identity: He presents himself as an intentional outsider observing and writing about the world around him.

Layer 2: Wound: His family has fallen apart due to his dad‘s alcoholism.

Layer 3: Hidden Character History: We find out when the drive-in is shut down that Jughead has been living at the drive-in.

Layer 4: Hidden Agenda: He starts to show interest in dating Betty.

Character Surface: Veronica, the spoiled rich newcomer

Layer 1: Competition: She at first comes across as competition with Betty for Archie.

Layer 2: Wound: Her father is in prison for embezzling; her family lost everything in their old life and she and her mother had to start all over in Riverdale.

Layer 3: Major Betrayal: Her mother forges her signature in order to get a contract for her new beau Fred Andrews. It is also a betrayal because her mother is still married to her father but dating Fred.

Layer 4: Conspiracy: She works with Betty’s mother to investigate FP’s trailer for any sign of his involvement in Jason Blossom’s death without Betty’s approval.

[Tom Minier]

Tom’s Plot and Character Layers

I went ahead and finished the first season of the show, because it’s binge worthy… and the episodes are short. In doing so, I believe it helped me see how the intriguing layers can be utilized so that the biggest reveal is the one that ends the series. This was also the case with the example of Westworld, which allowed me to experience this phenomenon in two very different ways.

ASSIGNMENT 1: The Good Place

Big Picture Layers

Plot Surface: The Good Place is a neighborhood in the afterlife designed to reward a very select group of humans who have earned their place in the afterlife. They can have more or less anything they want, and do what they please.

Layer 1: Sabotage: The residents appear to have everything they want… almost. There are facets of the good place that just aren’t quite right. Like frozen yogurt shops everywhere. Also, every time that Eleanor does something that doesn’t vibe with the good place, some sort of chaos erupts, such as flying giant shrimp when she takes more than she needs of the shrimp cocktail.

Layer 2: Conspiracy: Eleanor and Chidi immediately, and later Jason and Tahani are all conspiring to keep Eleanor and Jason off the radar as it is clear they have not earned their spot in the good place.

Layer 3: Mystery: The mystery is how did the mistake of Eleanor and Jason happen in what is hailed as an infallible evaluation system.

Layer 4: Future Consequences: Things continuously are not adding up and ultimately Eleanor realizes that they are all in fact the in the Bad Place. Michael confesses and tells them that this entire world was created for just the four of them and all the other residents are actually demons in on the scheme. He explains that next time he’ll make it harder for them to find each other. Eleanor scrambles and leaves herself a note with Janet. With the snap of a finger, their minds are erased and they start over as if it were day one, ending the first season.

Character Layers – Michael

Character Surface: Michael is the architect of the Good Place Neighborhood. This is his first neighborhood so he is very involved and engaged and seems emotionally invested in making this a great experience for everyone.

Layer 1: Hidden Agenda: Michael has created this neighborhood for just four people with the intention that they will torture themselves, as they continue to think they belong in the good place.

Layer 2: Hidden Character History: If Michael fails he will be forced to resign which basically means he will be tortured for the remainder of existence. His idea for the good place is also very different from what is typically done by demons so they are very skeptical of his idea being successful.

Layer 3: Secret Identity: Michael is actually a demon.

Layer 4: Competition: Michael is competing with the four humans in the afterlife to keep them from realizing where they really are, and with his peers to prove himself as an architect.

ASSIGNMENT 2: My Show

Plot Surface: Group is a weekly support group that takes place in a church basement helping individuals struggling with loss from the pandemic.

Layer 1 – Sabotage: Florida Man has been abducted in the past multiple times. With each episode he is able to piece together subtle moments from those past experiences allowing him to ultimately wake up from illusion they are all living under.

Layer 2 – Conspiracy: Claire and Eddie have created a world that feels real for the human occupants so that they can study their behavior and attempt to modify their identities and beliefs.

Layer 3 – Mystery: Why is this experiment so important to the aliens?

Layer 4 – Hidden Agenda: The aliens (Claire, Eddie and the Janitor) are experimenting on the group to determine if they can help humanity see that they are all reflections of one another and ultimately prevent a tragic incident from unfolding.

Layer 5 – Future Consequences: When they are returned to earth, we see them at the protest. The event is happening as it did in the beginning of the series, all the characters are in their original positions, but there is a sense of recognition. Before things turn ugly Poe and Trish “see one another” and stand down, resulting in Jenny being able to continue living. Not sure how to make this a cliffhanger that will lead into season 2 yet…

Character Surface: The Janitor seems to simply be the janitor, minding his own business, but always present.

Layer 1 – Hidden Agenda: The Janitor employed his students Claire and Eddie to conduct an experiment to try to help change the outcome of a terrible event and break a chain in violence that will ultimately lead to mankind’s demise.

Layer 2 – Hidden Character History: The Janitor once tried to save another planet on a similar trajectory and failed because they waited to intervene until it was too late.

Layer 3 – Secret Identity: The Janitor is an extra-terrestrial professor.

Layer 4 – Wound: The Janitor is trying to reconcile his past failure.

Layer 5 – Competition: The Janitor is competing with mankind, in hopes of getting them to move past their biases and begin to see one another as not just equals, but the same.

[Megan Schemenauer]

Megan’s Plot and Character Layers – Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is…thinking in layers is mentally exhausting. I’m starting to see, though, why drama naturally lends itself to binge worthy television. I still want to write comedy but if there isn’t some mystery or intrigue, there isn’t that same need to binge watch the series.

TITLE: Dear Future Self

PLOT LAYERS –

The story: A high school freshman makes contact with her future self.

The story beneath the story: Alexis is not a successful business professional living in Chicago but an unhappy undercover government operative with absolutely no one in her life.

Major scheme revealed: While Alexis presents herself as a mentor to Lexie, she is actually trying to use this unusual situation to her own benefit to improve her own miserable life

Mystery revealed: How is this communication possible? Government scientists. Alexis has no idea that the government set her up with this experiment and is watching her every move.

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another: Thought this is a story of a “big sis character” giving life advice to a “younger sister character” until the truth comes out about Alexis’s line of work; then the two characters have to reconcile to help one another

Major shift in Meaning: Lexie realizing what Alexis and her life really is (what she herself eventually will become)

Hidden history: Lexie’s alcoholic father; the accident that kills Betsy’s younger brother Marcus; Betsy’s abandonment once she goes into modeling; Cerise stealing Alexis’s fiancé; Alexis’s beginning as an undercover operative

Hidden plan: Brett is a double agent working for a crime syndicate; he has been assigned to keep an eye on Alexis and Lexie, who have been digging around into the past and could end up incriminating the syndicate; he does so by presenting himself as Alexis’s partner and showing romantic interest inher

Major betrayal: Alexis’s partner Brett steals her laptop and begins communicating with Lexie as if he were Alexis; he gets key information from Lexie, but also endangers her?

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity

Secret identity: Alexis is actually an undercover agent. Brett is not just Alexis’s undercover partner; he also works for a crime syndicate connected to the Morettis, the family Lexie works for. Maybe Stering was suspicious about Brett, which is why she puts herself up as Alexis’s competition in order to keep an eye on Brett and keep Alexis safe; her secret identity is that she is not the office bitch but Alexis’s avior

Character intrigue: Alexis wants to keep this relationship with Lexie a secret in order to use it to her advantage; she doesn’t realize that both the government and her partner Brett are already aware of the situation.

Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Bus boy and former biology partner Tony Moretti from Lexie’s job grows up to become a leader in the crime syndicate and Brett’s real employer

Hidden Character history: Alexis hates Cerise / Lexie doesn’t understand why; Alexis knows when and how their father dies / as her father’s enabler, Lexie wants to know so she can stop his death; Betsy and Lexie drift apart / Lexie thinks it’s due to basketball or her new friendship with Cerise but Alexis know it happens when Betsy’s younger brother Marcus is killed

Plot Surface: Lexie receives an email back from her future self. At first she thinks it’s a joke. Checks in with friends and siblings to see what they know about the email. She realizes it’s legit when Alexis tells her something Lexie never told anyone.

Layer 1: Mystery: They try to figure out how this communication is possible and how they can both use it to their benefit. Lexie starts to depend on Alexis for advice; Alexis takes on a big sister / mentor role

Layer 2: Hidden Agenda: A few situations come up between Lexie and Alexis that strike Lexie as strange: Alexis’s strong reaction to Cerise’s name, her mention of their father’s death but refusing to share details; Lexie is not as certain that she can trust Alexis.

Layer 3: Major Shift in Meaning: Lexie finds out that Alexis is an undercover operative (how?); she cuts off communicating with Alexis because she feels she cannot trust her.

Layer 4: Hidden Agenda: When Alexis reaches out in danger, Lexie tries to help her by providing her some key info from the past: some document from Moretti (it’s not the father’s they need; it’s the son, Tony’s)

Layer 5: Sabotage: Lexie finds out it was Brett she was sharing this info with, not Alexis; he had stolen Alexis’s phone/laptop/login?

Layer 6: Wound: Tony Moretti rejected by Lexie; Brett rejected by Alexis

Character Surface: Alexis is Lexie’s future self.

Layer 1: Secret Identity: Alexis presents herself as a successful (but boring) retail manager in Chicago when she is actually an undercover operative.

Layer 2: Wound: She became an agent, cutting off friends and family, after being betrayed by her best friend and her fiancé. (She doesn’t tell Lexie immediately which best friend, making Lexie suspicious of both Betsy and Cerise for a while.)

Layer 3: Hidden Agenda: The night she got Lexie’s email, she had been on the verge of committing suicide; after receiving the email, she realized she might have just gotten a second chance to fix her pat mistakes.

Layer 4: Hidden Character History: the end of her friendship with Betsy, the end of her friendship with Cerise, the death of her father.

Character Surface: Lexie is a naive 15-year-old who wants to be special and have a more exciting life.

Layer 1: Wound / Competition: She feels unnoticed by her parents compared to her academically successful older sister and socially successful younger brother.

Layer 2: Hidden Agenda: To get her parents (and the world’s) attention by becoming someone or something great

Layer 3: Character Intrigue: She finds out about Betsy cheating with Cerise’s help around the same time she realizes Alexis’s true occupation; feels totally betrayed and alone; temporarily cuts everyone off; becomes the very thing she feared—just like Alexis

Layer 4: Future Consequences: When Alexis says she’s in danger, Lexie agrees to get her important info: but she doesn’t realize that it is Brett, not Alexis, she is helping.

Character Surface: Brett is Alexis’s partner, a fellow operative who is also romantically interested.

Layer 1: Moral Issue: Brett hits on Alexis in an obvious way that is almost inappropriate in the workplace. He seems to like her and wants to date her but Alexis is cold as ice due to trust issues.

Layer 2: Competition: Brett sees Hunter Ridgely, the shooting range owner, as a romantic threat.

Layer 3: Secret Identity: Brett is a double agent working for a crime syndicate.

Layer 4: Character Intrigue: The crime syndicate Brett works for is the Morettis, Alexis’s former boss and coworker, whom she rejected when she was younger

Character Surface: Betsy is Lexie’s outspoken childhood best friend but by high school they are starting to grow apart

Layer 1: Competition: Betsy versus Margo: basketball versus cheerleading prank war for dominance as the premier girls sport at school

Layer 2: Competition: Competing with newcomer Cerise to maintain her position as Lexie’s bff

Layer 3: Moral Issue / Conspiracy: Needs Cerise’s help to cheat to maintain her grades to stay on the varsity basketball team

Layer 4: Wound: Her father ran off from the family; she’s become a second mom to her younger brother Marcus

Character Surface: Cerise is the newcomer to high school but is quickly becoming Lexie’s best friend because of the similarities they share.

Layer 1: Hidden Character History: Her mother died of cancer but she doesn’t tell anyone.

Layer 2: Conspiracy: Helping Betsy cheat to maintain her grades to keep playing varsity basketball

Layer 3: Hidden Character Relationship: Her overprotective father, whom she lies to often and lies about to her friends

Layer 4: Hidden Agenda: To become an artist and move out of her father’s house as soon as possible

[Dave Arena]

Binge-Worthy TV – Lesson 10

What we learned during this assignment was that it’s a bit surprising how many of these are used during a season/series. For The Righteous Gemstones, we could have easily kept going and filled in more examples and that show has only been on air for 2 seasons.

Example Show: The Righteous Gemstones

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 – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed

Jesse being blackmailed
The party tape
The Lissons attempting to kill Eli

Mystery revealed

Who is behind the blackmail
What happened the night of the party and how Gideon filmed them
What happened to Thaniel Block

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another

Major shift in Meaning

Hidden history

Eli and Aimee Leigh’s building their congregation
Aimee-Leigh being a tyrant to her workers
Aimee-Leigh and Baby Billy being childhood country stars
Jesse ruining Judy’s birthday party

Hidden plan

Eli taking over Locust Grove
Baby Billy leaving his family
Gideon and Scotty’s plan to rob the church
Tiffany and Baby Billy kill Scotty and cover it up, steal money

Major betrayal

Gideon betraying his Father Jesse
Judy deciding to perform with Baby Billy
Judy refusing to perform on Easter at Eli’s church
Gideon backs out of the plan with Scotty
Baby Billy stealing the money

2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

Secret identity

Amber is a bad ass with a full arsenal of weapons in her closet
Jesse’s eldest son Gideon was kept secret for the first several episodes
Keefe’s past

Character intrigue

Baby Billy is bitter that Eli has success with his sister and cut him out
Kelvin’s sexuality
Chad and his wife
Judy and BJ
The Gemstone kids being so immature

Hidden relationships and conspiracies

Baby Billy has a son from a previous relationship who he also abandoned.
Kelvin and Keefe’s relationship

Hidden Character history

Kelvin and Keefe’s past
Judy’s sexual past
Eli as a former pro wrestler

Our Show: Couple Goals

ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show

Discover the layers that could exist for your show.

1. Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed

Michelle’s husband cheated on her and she’s considering swinging to save her marriage

Mystery revealed

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another

Major shift in Meaning

Hidden history

Michelle and Eric dated in high school??? OR Michelle and Liz fooled around once????

Hidden plan

Liz gives sex advice out of her hair salon

Major betrayal

Liz doesn’t tell Eric that she’s giving sex advice from her hair salon and outing them little by little

Liz is forced to out herself to Michelle without Eric knowing

Liz never told Michelle about her being a swinger even though she knows everything about her.

2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

Secret identity

Liz and Eric have been swingers for 14 years
Liz’s dad is a cross-dresser and bi-sexual

Character intrigue

Michelle and Liz – what happens after Michelle knows about Liz being a swinger
Liz and Eric – she wants to be out and live authentically, he does not.

Hidden relationships and conspiracies

Liz and her Mom are the only ones who know about her Dad being a cross-dresser and Liz helps with hair and makeup.

Liz’s Mom and Dad are still together to keep up appearances and because of her Mom’s religious beliefs.

Hidden Character history

Liz’s emotional abuse from her Mother as a child
Eric being punked which made him lost trust in girls

3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.

Plot Surface:

Layer 1: Liz’s best friend Michelle considers swinging to save her marriage

Layer 2: By warning Michelle that that’s not a good idea, she outs herself and husband Eric as swingers

Layer 3: Liz feels alive now that her secret is off her chest

Layer 4: Liz starts using her hair salon as a front to give sex & relationship advice

Layer 5: Liz’s husband Eric doesn’t know she outed them and is giving advice to people in their community

Layer 6: When Liz’s Father, who lived secretly as a cross-dresser dies, Liz wants to be all the way out and aspires to be a sexpert

Layer 7: The show is about swinging, but really is about living authentically.

Character Surface:

Layer 1: Liz and Eric have secretly been swingers for 14 years

Layer 2: Liz wants to be out and live authentically, Eric wants to stay in the swinger closet. They both have issues from childhood that cause what they want

Layer 3: Liz was emotionally abused and sex shamed by her Mother growing up and her Father is secretly a cross-dresser but stays married to her Mom because of her religious beliefs and to keep up appearances

Layer 4: Liz is the only one who knows about her Father (other than her Mother) and helps him with hair and makeup

Layer 5: Liz’s Mother is principal at a Catholic school and very religious. She will not accept Liz’s lifestyle

Layer 6: Liz’s sister, Teresa, also keeps up appearances like her Mother and wants everything to be perfect. When her husband Roger announces his candidacy for Mayor, Liz’s lifestyle is going to cause an issue

[Suzanne Frank]

Suzanne’s Plot and Character Layers:

My show ended with episode 9 … analysis will continue for MONTHS! Nothing really came together until Ep 8.

Watchmen

Big Picture Layers

Plot Surface: The story is about the Tulsa massacre in 1921 … we see a little boy left alone to watch Tulsa burn. Now in 2019, Angela, a wife and mother in a how much different world? It has overcome a lot of our challenges, but still faces racism … as evidenced by a cop being shot and then the police chief being hanged. Though the man who claims to have killed Judd couldn’t have — and Angela is revealed as a masked detective who suspects (why?) something else is happening.

Layer 1: Sabotage: FBI Laurey wants to unmask everyone, at any cost. Bring down every vigilante. Looking Glass is trying to save the bigger picture, even if it looks like betrayal. Will, who knows everything, is part of the trap. Angela is hiding Will from justice, as she learns she is his granddaughter.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Layer 2: Conspiracy: The police chief and Senator were managing their opposing racist factions, counting down. The government knew the ’85 attack was false flag, but took advantage to further their own agendas. Triillionaire Trieu has built a giant countdown clock, but no one knows why. (And why in Tulsa?) Ultimately, Dr. M has been hiding in plain sight.

Layer 3: Mystery: What happened to the boy from ’21? What really happened in ’85? How does Viet nam fit into all of this? Where is Dr. Manhattan? Who was Hooded Justice? What does this all have to do with Angela?

Layer 4: Future Consequences: Angela takes the egg, does she get the powers? And if so: will SHE behave differently with them?

(The next part is not any assignment.)

When I think of how they built this, it seems to have been on several historical platforms: the ’21 massacre, which put Will and June together. He becomes the NYC cop, who then becomes the Hooded Justice vigilante, who uncovers the “cyclops” tech and the racist plan to make all the blacks kill each other, then his rage loses him wife and child. Hooded Justice becomes part of the first band of “super heroes” which inspires media that continues through until 2019.

Then there’s Viet Nam, where the conflict is settled by the only actual “super” human, Dr. Manhattan, and the country becomes a US state, but not without suicide protests, one that takes out young half Vietnamese, half-Black American Angela’s parents. She eventually becomes a cop, until she is wooed by Dr. Manhattan and they decide he will set aside his super-ness so they can have a normal life, in the town her family is from (but she has never been to) and he warns her: it will be ten years of happiness together, then tragedy will strike. Publicly, Dr. M is thought to be on Mars.

In 1985, Russia and USA are about to come to nuclear blows when an alien squid lands on NYC, kills 3M and causes the reorganization of world governments. Before he becomes president, Robert Redford learns that it was a scheme by the world’s smartest man, frenemy of Dr. M, and another masked vigilante, Ozymandias, to instate world peace. All over the world, people suffer from PTSD and it is revisited with every –much smaller — squid-fall. One of those most traumatized grows up to be a detective in Tulsa and Angela’s friend/ally. His learning that secret is how he’s manipulated and eventually manipulates back.

2016, Christmas Eve. In Tulsa, all the cops are slaughtered in their beds after local racists get fed up with “Redford-ations” –monies that have been provided to descendants of the ’21 massacre — and left many of them behind, fiscally and socially. Angela and the policeman Judd, who becomes police chief, are the only two left. In the attack, Angela’s husband (Dr. M in hiding) teleports one of the attackers … which gives away his identity. (Should have given it away a lot more, this is a bit fuzzy.) Thus begins the racists’ plan to capture Dr. M, steal his powers for their senator, and let him become a god-on-earth and restore white supremacy.

2019, a traffic stop gone wrong leads everyone to think the racists are on the rise again, all in their lure to get Dr. M to return to his true (blue, ha!) form so they can hijack and kill him. (There is an entire parallel storyline with Trieu planning on the same thing, but with better technology, so she ends up killing the racists before she is killed by Ozymandias, Looking Glass and Laurey, before they arrest Ozymandias to stand trial for killing the 3M.) Will, unknowingly tipped off by Angela that police chief is only pretending to be accepting, kills him using the cyclops tech created by the racists. Basically, all the racists are killed by their own methods.

It seems the order of creation was: Mystery elements … then Conspiracy, then Sabotage, then the Surface, then the Future …

Character Layers –Angela

Surface: about to open a bakery; mother, wife, former cop but retired after the White Night.

Hidden Agenda: live quietly as long as she and Cal are able to

Conspiracy: hide Dr. M, serve as Sister Night detective

Secret Identity: WELL … Sister Night, but also Mrs. Dr. Manhattan

Wound: no family … her parents were killed, her grandmother came to get her and died that day, she and Cal only got children when they took in her former partner’s children, she never even heard of her grandfather … and in all this, she has taken Judd (police chief) and his wife (racist!) as her family. So she’s wounded from her childhood, then wounded when she loses Judd, then wounded again when she learns their whole relationship was just a facade, a ruse to get close to Dr. M, then she loses Cal TO Dr. M, then she loses Dr. M. to death … but she still has her kids and she gains her grandfather. And because it’s a superhero story, she also gets to relive her grandfather’s LIFE, so her interaction with him is emotionally intimate, quickly — and all the gaps between ’21 and the present are filled in for the viewer.

My Show:

Surface: misfit strangers in New Orleans, trying to (illegally) get to the HQ of “terrorists” who have taken the Gulf of Mexico hostage and claim they are waiting for five more people to join them.

Agenda: Hazel/kill them all for fame and justification; dadpilot/betray them all to save his family; Giorgio/find the girl he loved and left his family for; Maelle/go where her family can never find her (and sugar is outlawed); Zephyr/follow the commands her guides have been screaming

Sabotage: the FBI has planted dadpilot; when Maelle learns who dadpilot is, she wants to turn them all in; Hazel wants/helps Maelle to continue sickening so Hazel can “complete” (kill) her; Zephyr has otherworldy insights, but can’t see past her guilt; Giorgio knows more than he is saying about what/who is in the Gulf.

Conspiracy: the gov’t knew something was going to happen, but has arranged it for maximum blame on the “terrorists” as corps and gov’t plan on how to divide the spoils of oil/gas/transportation once pesky citizens are off the coastline.

Hidden Agenda: demonstrate HOW to save the planet, by first saving themselves.

Mystery: who each person is, how did they come to be driven to be one of the next “five”? what does the gov’t/corp know, and how long have they known?

Future: what will happen to NOLA? What will happen if these people get to the “terrorists”? What role with the authorities play? What will the next storm do?

Basically, I want it to roll through: these people are outlaws; rebels; freedom fighters; dangerously insane; reformers; terrorists; revolutionaries, no they’re liberators

Character Layers:

Zephyr Hughes, ABD ornithologist, barkeep, native NOLA, tarot card reader, “cool” girl

Secret ID: the mystic

Intrigue: she listened to her guides and walked away from her job, just in time to not be there for the 100-year-storm. She’s angry with them, because feels she should have been there, and has shut off all connection. (This is also her wound.) She’s embarrassed to be keeping bar instead of working with birds, embarrassed to be living with her brother (and boss) and feels she’s reverted to being a teenager again. All of this is beneath a veneer of snark and tattoos.

Relationships and Conspiracies: she takes care of indigent Giorgio; she defends Maelle against Hazel’s aggressive DIScouragement to get well; she recognizes dadpilot (but doesn’t know he is “that” pilot); she likes Hazel, but doesn’t trust her; and she has cut off her own intuition and knowing, so she feels blind in life. Zephyr is the one who draws in each individual until they admit they are going to the Aisland. She sets the conspiracy to get them there, in motion.

History: she used to work for one of the “terrorists”

[Sharilyn Kyle]

Sharilyn’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned from doing this assignment is…the intricacies of the plot line must be obvious to me as the writer so that I can put the pieces together for the pilot.

ASSIGNMENT #1 for Sample Show “Big Little Lies”

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another-the a twist in that Madeline is not murdered but rather Perry

Major shift in Meaning-Bonnie and Madeline share a deep connection over Perry’s death

Hidden plan-Keeping Perry’s murderer protected ends season on only 7 episodes

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

Secret identity-Perry is the date-rapist-baby-daddy to Ziggy

Character intrigue-Zen cool Bonnie delivers the literal “over-the-edge” death push to Perry

Hidden relationships and conspiracies-the series ends with the “Monte Rey 5” women-Madeline, Bonnie, Renata, Celeste,Jane-bonding/covering up over their part in Perry’s murder

[Sharilyn Kyle]

Sharilyn’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned from doing this assignment is…the intricacies of the plot line must be obvious to me as the writer so that I can put the pieces together for the pilot.

ASSIGNMENT #1 for Sample Show “Big Little Lies”

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Layer 1: Thought the story was one thing, but it is another-the a twist in that Madeline is not murdered but rather Perry

Layer 2: Major shift in Meaning-Bonnie and Madeline share a deep connection over Perry’s death

Layer 3: Hidden plan-Keeping Perry’s murderer protected ends season one as there are only 7 episodes

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

Layer 1: Secret identity-Perry is the date-rapist-baby-daddy to Ziggy

Layer 2: Character intrigue-Zen cool Bonnie delivers the literal “over-the-edge” death push to Perry

Layer 3: Hidden relationships and conspiracies-the series ends with the “Monte Rey 5” women-Madeline, Bonnie, Renata, Celeste, Jane-bonding/covering up over their part in Perry’s murder

ASSIGNMENT #2 “8Bytes” brainstorm

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

• Thought the story was one thing, but it is another-weight loss not the real loss Erin deals with

• Major shift in Meaning-Porn equals progress for Erin

• Hidden history-Erin is adopted

• Hidden plan-Patty pushes Erin to the porn so she can promote her make up artistry

• Major betrayal-Ms. Chen sets up the camera

2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

• Secret identity-Patty keeps her junk

• Character intrigue-Patty and Erin have heterosex and make a baby

• Hidden relationships and conspiracies-Gina & Patty’s lesbian attraction causes them to conspire for Erin’s success in the biz

3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.

Plot Surface: Weight loss and food addiction

• Layer 1: Sabotage-Foods she eats don’t help her lose weight so why does she eat them?

• Layer 2: Hidden Agenda-Why does Patty want Erin to go forward in porn?

• Layer 3: Future Consequences-Erin loses her teaching license if she pursues success in the sex industry

• Layer 4: Major Scheme revealed-Patty and Gina conspire with Chubby Chasers

• Layer 5: Thought the story was one thing but it’s another-this is not about weight loss, but rather about being trapped, misinterpreted, rejected

• Layer 6: Major shift in meaning—Social statement: fat can be healthy and sexy

• Layer 7: Hidden history-Erin’s adopted parents are thin—did they give her up because she was a fat kid?

• Layer 8: Hidden Plan-Profit off of Erin’s fat; Erin can’t lose the weight because then those who have invested in her lose $$

• Layer 10: Major betrayal-Why do Erin’s caretaker and friends want her to stay fat?

Character Surface: Erin’s weight keeps her from living a real life

• Layer 1: Hidden agenda-Ms. Chen, Stu&Lu, Patty all want Erin to remain fat

• Layer 2: Competition- “Naturally” thin people freak Erin out

• Layer 3: Conspiracy-Gina and Patty appeal to Chubby Chasers to give Erin a false sense of acceptance

• Layer 4: Secrets-Patty wants another baby with Erin

• Layer 5: Deception-Erin embraces the porn industry because it embraces her fat

• Layer 6: Wound-adoption by old Yuppies and her fat makes Erin not “fit” anywhere

• Layer 7: Common ground-Erin is a freak under the sheets just the porn people

• Layer 8: Conflict-Erin can’t be a teacher and a porn star—two things she adores

[Evelyn Petros]

Evelyn’s BWTV/M1/L10/A1&2

Note from Evelyn: Back from “Grandma duty,” I promptly contracted a very painful case of Shingles! Horrible! I hope to distract myself from the pain with these lessons as I heal. To my fellow writers of a certain age, please get your Shingles vaccines updated! We got ours in 2016, which was 50% effective, but there is a newer, two-dose vaccine (2 months apart) that is 90% effective. Trust me, you DON’T want to get this disease! My hubby just got his first dose early this week, but I will have to wait 2 months after I am healed to get mine. Arrrrgh!

From doing this lesson, I learned that what is going on under the surface of a story is even more important in keeping viewers hooked than what is merely on the surface, so I must be fully invested in exploring these layers, even though I find it difficult. That said, my script is going to be very complicated because there are so many characters and plots going on. I may not be up to it and/or may need to cut some layers. We’ll see. This course is really challenging me, hopefully in a good way, though I admit I’ve been fighting with the idea of giving up. Lots of negative self-talk going on, that I’m trying to ignore, some of it age related. Wish me luck!

Assignment #1: “Big Little Lies” – Plot & Character Layers

Plot Surface: A murder occurs at an Elvis/Audrey Hepburn themed school fundraiser in Monterey where the parents of the school children are all suspects.

Layer 1: The identity of the victim is not revealed until the 7th episode of Season 1.

Layer 2: Nothing is as simple or perfect as it first appears to be in the relationships between the Monterey Five and within each of their families. Change occurs in all the relationships during the 2 seasons of the series.

Layer 3: At least 4 of the women have motives for the murder. Madeline & Jane have a plan to track down Jane’s rapist, the father of Ziggy.

Layer 4: Secret identity: Perry is the rapist father of Ziggy and abuser of Celeste. Max has followed in his father’s footsteps in abusing Amabella.

Layer 5: The marriages of Celeste, Madeline, Renata & Bonnie reveal conflicts.

Layer 6: Final episode of season 2 – the Monterey Five go together to the Police Station to confess their conspiracy to cover up the identity of the person (Bonnie) responsible for Perry’s death. Perry was the bad guy who raped Jane and physically, sexually and psychologically abused Celeste and deserved to die!

Layer 7: A 3rd season is in the works, in which I imagine we will learn what happens to Bonnie and the other Monterey women after their confession, and what happens to the women’s marriages. Will Bonnie & Nathan stay together? Will Renata divorce Gordon? Will Madeline & Ed’s reunion last? Will Abigail go to college? Will Jane find love?

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Evelyn Petros.

[Evelyn Petros]

Assignment #2: Evelyn’s romantic comedy “Opera Aloha,” a satire on love & opera.

Sorry for the long hiatus. I’m now back in the land of the living, after a terribly painful case of Shingles. Not 100% yet but feeling much better. At least now, I can THINK again.

From doing this lesson, I learned that what is going on under the surface of a story is more important in keeping viewers hooked than what is merely on the surface, so I must be fully invested in exploring these layers, even though I find it difficult. That said, my script is going to be very complicated because there are so many characters and plots going on. I may not be up to it and/or may need to cut some layers. We’ll see.

Surface Story: After a dinner date that causes Mira Santiago to swear off men forever, she attends the New Year’s Eve party of her agent, Nigel Blasenfort, who threatens to drop her from his roster if she doesn’t accept a last-minute contract as a replacement for the lead soprano in Opera Aloha’s production of “La Traviata.” Mira needs the money to avoid bankruptcy and avoid temping nights at a Rockefeller Center law firm to make ends meet. She hopes the job in Honolulu’s tropical paradise will help her forget her latest romantic fiasco, though the role she will perform is the same one that nearly wrecked her career three years earlier in Omaha.

Plot Layers – Story beneath the story

There are two stories: 1) Mira’s career story; 2) Mira’s love story.

Major scheme revealed – Wynston I. Trapnell, the charismatic architect of Opera Aloha’s state-of-the-art opera house wants a casual romantic relationship with Mira. Mira resists but later jumps in despite a warning from her childhood friend Kristen Van Kampen, an artist in Maui, who wants to her to give her neighbor Jake, a successful cookbook writer, a chance at love with Mira.

Mysteries revealed – Four mysteries in NYC:

1) Who is La Nariz, the nickname Mira has given to the anonymous nosy neighbor who bangs on Mira’s apartment door whenever she practices singing her audition arias?

2) Is Mrs. Greenberg, Mira’s elderly, widowed next door neighbor as sweet and kind as she appears to be?

3) What will happen when Stanley Farber becomes Stefanie?

4) Why does the voice of the man who is temporarily staying in Mrs. Greenbaum’s apartment sound vaguely familiar to Mira, though she does not recognize him by his appearance?

Mysteries revealed – Several mysteries in Hawaii:

1) Who is the anonymous sender of tropical flowers, chocolates and poetry that follow Mira from Hawaii to Florida, to NYC?

2) Who injected a date rape drug into a bag of chocolates from the Women’s Guild of Opera Aloha that was placed on Mira’s makeup table in her backstage dressing room to sabotage her? And why does Mira not press charges when she learns who the culprit is?

3) How will Mira stop the elderly Italian conductor of the opera from sexually harassing her?

4) Who informs the elderly Maestro that his wife Angelina is having an affair with the lead tenor in the opera, causing him to have a heart attack when he confronts her?

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – For those who consider opera a harmless ultra-serious, high-concept, elitist entertainment, I want to turn this idea on its head by writing a satire on love, life and opera.

Major shift in meaning – Opera as a blood sport.

Hidden history – Wyn, a lapsed Mormon, subconsciously punishes the women he romances for the heartbreak his ex-wife caused him after their divorce by getting full custody of their children and taking them back to Utah: he loves, then leaves the women in his life before they can leave him.

Hidden plans – 1) Mira plans to outwit the stage director’s lewd staging directions that would compromise her Catholic sensibilities and embarrass her in front of the opera audience, her friends, and Mira’s twin brother Phil and his family who fly to Honolulu for Mira’s opening night performance.

2) Daphne Dee Bliss entraps Wyn into marrying her. Knowing that he loves children, she deliberately gets pregnant by him.

3) Mrs. Greenberg gets out of frigid New York City and to Maui for the winter by trading homes with Jake who wants to be near Mira in NYC.

Major betrayal – After her opera performances in Hawaii, followed by a last-minute scheduled recital tour in Florida, Mira returns to NYC, where an invitation to Wyn’s and Daphne Dee Bliss’ wedding celebration awaits her, though Wyn lied that he’d never marry again. To add injury to insult, the postmark on the invitation shows that it was mailed from Honolulu the day after the wedding celebration!

Character Layers – identity beneath the identity

Secret identity – 1) In the final scene of Act Three, Jake is revealed to be the anonymous sender of tropical flowers, chocolates and romantic poetry that follow Mira from Hawaii to Florida, to NYC. He is also the handsome stranger who has traded homes with Mrs. Greenberg in NYC and who follows Mira to Vienna, Austria, ostensibly to do research for a book on the exquisite pastry desserts of Austria.

2) In the final scene of the series, Kris reveals that Mrs. Greenberg, who traded homes with Jake, is the mentally unbalanced person who slipped an obscene note under Mira’s apartment door, and who banged on her door whenever Mira sang Puccini arias.

3) But then, who is “La Nariz,” the secretive person who lives in the apartment across from Mira’s? Are there 2 crazies living on the 39^th floor in Mira’s building in NYC? (The identity of “La Nariz,” “The Nose,” will be revealed in year 2 of my series).

Character intrigue – 1) Daphne Dee Bliss is a criminal interior designer who preys on wealthy bachelors by renovating their homes for exorbitant fees and selling them fake art and antiques. The FBI is after her. Will they catch her? Kris Van Kampen, Mira’s childhood friend, does what she can to make that happen.

Hidden relationships and conspiracies – 1) Wyn and Daphne Dee are involved in a romantic relationship which Wyn keeps from Mira, though she finds out. 2) Jake falls in love with Mira and opera when he attends the opening night performance of La Traviata with Kris and is introduced to Mira backstage. Kris tells Jake that he has no chance with Mira because Mira is involved with Wyn. Later, loitering outside the Stage Entrance door in hopes of seeing Mira as she exits, Jake sees and overhears Daphne Dee (Jake’s ex) and Wyn making out near the opera’s stage door exit. Outraged that Wyn is two-timing Mira, Jake swear that he will save her from Wyn’s clutches, but that proves to be a difficult endeavor.

Hidden Character History – 1) Mira Santiago is a veteran of more than a few relationship failures. She has a special ritual that she enacts that involves plants when each relationship begins and ends.

2) Jake blames himself for the loss of his Vietnamese fiancée during the fall of Saigon, though he managed to save her mixed-race son, whisk him back to Hawaii and adopt him.

3) Daphne Dee Bliss was disowned by her Evangelical parents when she got pregnant as a teenager and had an abortion.

4) Mira’s brother, who is housing their sick and elderly aunt Miranda in Baltimore, has convinced the old woman to give him Power of Attorney so he can control her finances to his advantage and to Mira’s detriment.

Plot Surfaces:

Layer 1 – Mira gives up on love after a disastrous date, and with an empty performance calendar for the next three months, frets about having to temp at a NYC law firm to avoid bankruptcy and make ends meet.

Layer 2 – At Mira’s agent’s New Year’s Eve party at his East side townhouse, Mira’s agent summons her to his office and bullies her into accepting a last-minute contract to sing a role that nearly derailed her career three years before, by threatening to drop her from his roster if she refuses. She accepts. Afterwards, downstairs in Nigel’s elegant salon, Mira, upset by what has transpired minutes earlier in Nigel’s office upstairs, quarrels with a rival soprano and flings a glass of champagne in the woman’s face before being bundled up in her coat and hustled out to be driven home to pack for her flight to Honolulu later that morning.

Layer 3 – Arriving home at the Lincoln Center Arms Apartments, Mira has a run in with her building’s temperamental elevator and “La Nariz,” her nosy neighbor. She phones her brother in Baltimore and her childhood friend Kris in Maui to let them know she’s traveling to Honolulu. Does laundry, packs, gets no sleep. Flies to Honolulu fighting her fear of flying. In Honolulu, she’s picked up by Wynston I. Trapnell, the architect of Honolulu’s opera house and member of the Opera Aloha’s Board of Directors who drives her to her hotel.

Layer 4 – With only five days of rehearsal before the opening, Mira has a run in with the avant garde stage director who wants her to strip off all her clothes during her “Sempre Libera” aria. She enlists the help of the costume designer to thwart his plans. A coaching with the Italian conductor almost has Mira choking on her coloratura because of the Maestro’s extremely lethargic tempi. She plots with her friend from NYC, the wunderkind repetiteur and assistant conductor Raleigh Richardson on how to speed up the conductor’s tempi and thwarts the old Maestro’s sexual overture when he comes up behind her, puts his arms around her and whispers sweet nothings in her ear minutes before the singers’ orchestral rehearsal (“sitzplatz”) is to begin.

Layer 5 – One of Mira’s opera colleagues sabotages her by injecting a date rape drug into a bag of chocolates, one of which Mira eats and passes out, missing the dress rehearsal.

Layer 6 – Raleigh Richardson triumphs when he conducts the opening night performance of Traviata after Maestro Umberto Strillo suffers a heart attack when he catches his young wife Angelina in a tryst with the lead tenor.

Layer 7 – Jake shadows Wyn and Mira on two of their dates, getting into life endangering scrapes, including being chased by a bull in a field below a mountain that Wyn and Mira are climbing.

Character Surfaces:

Layer 1: Mira swears off men forever, but really wants the whole enchilada – career, marriage, family.

Layer 2: Mira revolts against her agent, who only seems to get her jobs as a substitute for ailing sopranos, though Mira rightly believes she deserves to be first choice. Opera Aloha patroness Sheila Yee helps Mira find new representation with professional connections Yee forged as a Gilbert and Sullivan performer in England a decade earlier.

Layer 3: ????

Layer 4: ????

Sorry, can’t concentrate further. I have to go take a nap now. Energy still not up to par.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Evelyn Petros.