Day 1 Assignments

[Tenill Ransom]

Understanding the transformation expanded the
story line, adding an additional dynamic to my outline.

Transformation: Neo values the success of family over the success of career.

Internal journey: arrogantly self-centered and self-occupied to humbly family and faith-focused

External journey: from chasing dreams and barely making it to building a successful family unit and alternative career.

Old Ways:

Self-centered

Money driven

Puts himself first

Arrogant

Feels people owe him something

New Ways:

Focused on family

Puts God first

Focused on building his family unit

Humble

He owes his family

[Ron Berti]

Ron Berti

2. My hero is Domenico Cuccinelli, 23, in 1943, recently graduated from college and new to the PT base at Rendova as commander of PT129. He is going to go from an impetuous, angry and dangerous-to-his-own-crew young PT boat captain to a respected, disciplined warrior. He will start the story taking excessive risks, come close to death repeatedly, manage through luck and increasing insight and skill, and eventually learn the value of patience and restraint in life-risking endeavors like war.

3. Old Ways:

Juvenile

Angry

Impetuous

Dangerous to his own crew

Often doesn’t follow orders, feeling he knows better

New Ways:

Measured

Patient

Still dangerous, but now to his enemy

Still doesn’t “entirely” follow orders, but now applies judgment and experienced wisdom

Humble/grateful

4. What I learned from this assignment: When we go to the movies, what we want to see are human stories that are relatable, where we learn to appreciate (whatever that means: love, respect, admire, hate) the details of an individual hero and his or her journey to the end of the movie. The “journey” is what happens internally and externally to our hero. How the hero manages those challenges is the heart of what we want to see, and the journey is an emotional one as we find ourselves rooting for the changes that we already know are coming – because this is a story, and we know to expect this hero’s journey, but also because the Old Ways will not permit the hero to succeed.

[Danielle Dillard]

What I learned from this assignment is to look deeper into my protagonist and her arc.

My hero is Tina, a bitter single mother who desires a loving romantic relationship yet chooses the wrong men and doesn’t recognize her own weaknesses. When a new love interest becomes abusive, it causes her to look within and change her life for the better.

Internal journey: chooses the wrong men to date, has no regard for bringing the wrong men around her children, has no healthy boundaries & allows men to play her for a fool

External journey: learns to love and value herself, seeks spiritual growth, spends quality time with her children, no longer puts her worth into the wrong men, overcomes a painful past

Old ways: Seeks love, acceptance and attention from the wrong men, financially supports mooching men who take advantage, puts men priority over her children, has unresolved anger and resentment from her troubled past

New ways: Develops inner strength, heals from the past, values herself and her children, no longer desires false love or fears being alone, stops settling for the wrong men

[George Petersen]

Subject line: (George Petersen) Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment is that the character’s journey really is at the heart of why we watch movies.

Lead Character: Corky

Beginning Arc: Afraid. Negative. Fearful of the unknown.

Ending Arc: Confident. Positive.

Internal Journey: From pervasive negative attitude to positive attitude and disposition

External Journey: From fear of the water and not surfing to getting back into it and mastering the waves again

Old Ways: Avoids the truth. Don’t rock the boat. I’m not good enough. Nothing really matters. Whatever. Bows to the Reverend.

New Ways: Defends his heritage. Stands up for his friends. Takes his place as an active grandfather. Confronts the Reverend.

[Robin Atwood]

What I learned doing this assignment is that knowing the hero’s internal and external journeys places you on a quicker path to completing what comes in the middle of the journey.

Subject Line: Ivy’s (Robin’s) Transformational Journey

Ivy, 15, crosses paths with Henry Tudor, 16, in 1507 as she is collecting plants and herbs in the forest. Henry is so captivated by her beauty that he starts endlessly pursing Ivy. Ivy does not welcome Henry’s pursuit of her because she knows that nothing can come from a relationship with the future king. Ivy starts a journey of transformation from lower class maiden to a woman of wealth.

Internal Journey: From a shy, innocent, unworldly young maiden who knows her place to an unshakeable woman who knows her own mind.

External Journey: From a low class maiden healer to the king’s closest confidant and mother of his sons.

Ivy’s Old Ways

Shy, innocent, unassuming, daddy’s little girl, she has a lot of fear of the unknown, is skittish, a conformist. Sh rationalizes her behaviors, impractical in affairs of the heart<div>

Ivy’s New Ways

Confident, astute, nurturing of others, loving, listens. She is trustworthy, brave, consoling and the wisdom she has gained from experience has resulted in an easy going nature making her insightful, logical, wary, self-regulating

[Carol Dougherty]

Carol Dougherty’s Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment: I struggled with the empowerment exercise. Every moment that I thought of when I felt empowered by some kind of success or situation came with either fear or the feeling of being a fraud. The only moment of real empowerment without negative feelings was a moment of standing in shallow water in the ocean and feeling deeply connected with my body, the water, and everything around me.

______________________

Hero: Pen (aka Penelope, Penny)

Internal Journey: from fearful and isolated to courageous and engaged

External Journey: from limited (though successful) actress with one close friend to daring star with a loving community

Old Ways:

• Works with her best friend and acting partner, Terry, in every play.

• Chooses roles she understands and is comfortable playing.

• Her intimate relationships are sexual and superficial, not romantic in nature or emotional.

• Leads the acting company by her example, not by engaging with them (as Terry does).

• Is afraid to tell Terry the truth about her relationship with Danni, his late half-sister.

• Trusts Sebastian as the director, but not in any other way.

• Uses yoga as both discipline and punishment.

• Lives on her lover’s farm but does not engage with the people or the animals.

New Ways:

• After Terry’s death, she agrees to work with another actor who will play a role Terry played.

• Challenges herself to play more difficult and risky roles.

• Falls in love.

• Connects with old friends she’s pushed away and allows herself to make new ones, both in and out of the theatre.

• Learns to trust Sebastian as a friend.

• Learns to use yoga as both discipline and compassion.

• Learns to survive without Terry at her side.

• Forges a bond with one of the racehorses on the farm.

[Ra]

Subject Line: Bella’s (M.M.)’s Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment is by bringing empowerment it also brings more enthusiasm to my writing, a surprising benefit.

My Hero is a Heroine: Bella Cortez is a 21-year old Puerto Rican college senior who is relief pitcher on the #2 nationally-ranked U.S. college team. In her senior year she marries a teammate from San Juan who gets her pregnant and pressures her to have an abortion due being drafted by MLB.

Transformation: From resigning herself to an abusive marriage without playing baseball after college, to raising her child alone and being drafted to an MLB farm team.

Character Arc Beginning: Being submissive to her abusive husband pressuring her for an abortion and to give up baseball to support him.

Character Arc Ending: Raising her child post-divorce and playing in the Minor Leagues.

Internal Journey: From being too afraid to stand up to her abusive husband to believing in herself and standing up to him in a divorce.

External Journey: From accepting her abusive husband pressuring her for an abortion to divorcing him and raising their child while being drafted into the Minors.

Old Ways:

Submissiveness

Resignation to her traditional marriage

Acceptance of abuse

Feeling “less than”

Putting him first in life, love and baseball

New Ways:

Self-confidence

Independence

Self-worth

Valuing herself

Taking control of her life

[Tammila Wright]

Tammila Wright

Transform Journey:

4. What I learned from this assignment is how far I should take my character’s arc. Basically, a polar opposite from where they started.

2. Meet Jack, a 1st-century blacksmith that is “married” to the local pub in Ireland. His foul mouth and joy of playing pranks on his fellow villagers ends him in many brawls. Why do they put up with Jack? Because he is the only blacksmith in town and the owner of a legendary apple orchard. His nickname was “Stingy Jack”. (Stay with me, this leads to the legend surrounding the reason we use pumpkins for Halloween. Or at least, MY take on it.)

Internal: From unempathetic, and selfish to gracious and sympathetic.

External: Drunkard, trickster, and hoarding food changing to providing a vast harvest and protecting the villagers on the most evil night of the year, Samhain.

[Danielle Legrand]

Danielle’s Transformational Journey

What I have learned doing this assignement is having a clear idea of my story development

Who is my hero and what is his character Arc that represents a transformation ?

My hero is a young catholic Priest, ADRIAN, who has been taught he must remain a bachelor all his life long

But who discovers he is missing his true mission by refusing a woman’s Human Love.

Internal Journey : He discovers that Love is not limited to Religion but is a part of Life itself.

External Journey : By confronting Society, he will discover what Tolerance can teach him about himself and about his real Mission.

What are the Old Ways ?

. He accepts the Roman Catholic Church dogmas

. He thinks only friendship is allowed between a woman and himself

. He feels very distressed when he is attracted to AUDREY

. Feeling guilty, he prefers to sacrifice himself.

What are the New Ways ?

. He accepts being in love with AUDREY

. He wants to get out of this ackward situation

. He decides to stop being a Priest and marry AUDREY

[Angelina Fluehler]

Angelina Fluehler Transformational journey

2. Who is your Hero and what is their Character Arc that represents a transformation?

ARC BEGINNING: Man in his late 30s, wealthy businessman married with two kids. He is not a normal human; he is living one of his many reincarnated lives on planet earth. After sequences of his reincarnation journey he wants to return to his own body on his home planet. His soul does not know what the rules are to get back home. It is his task to find & guess the right strategy to win in the game.

When souls reincarnate, and assume very dense and primitive physical forms, they suffer from strong amnesia. In difference to normal humans he doesn’t forget completely his reincarnations. During one of sudden visions he meets the curator Gabriel, who is the soul’s manager of our galaxy, who gives him a hint how get released of the game (the strategy of success):

· Once he has paid for his sins, he will have earn his “ticket” to go back home.

ARC ENDING:

He dies by helping another person. After his soul meets Gabriel who accesses his goals and scores enough to being released.

Internal Journey: From not knowing the rules of the game to knowing them and knowing how to be released from it, becoming independent thinker and spiritually strong.

External Journey: Living a normal life without remembering previous reincarnations. Living consciously with the awareness and being in control what is right and what is wrong. Getting higher scores and being on the “right” way.

3. What are the Old Ways and New Ways?

Old Ways:

He lived with the system, followed the rules of the system on earth, he was part of the system and lived in a trend.

New Ways:

He thinks in terms of revolution, critical thinking, and becoming creative.

4. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

I learned the trick of the ARC and better separated the “BEGINNG” and the “END” of the character and the story. I learned that there are “new” and “old” WAYS, which must be explained clearly.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Angelina Fluehler.

[Gerry Cousins]

Gerry Cousins – Transformational Journey

NOTE: Mine is not a screenplay but a Play-Within-A-Play written for the stage. I took the class on those terms.

· I have three leads: male SID (antagonist), and female, JENNA (antagonist), in main play, and female, MOLLY, in sub play. In the process of taking this course and in my pre-class homework, I have come to realize that it’s JENNA that makes things happen, and it is she is the one, I should be talking about for the purpose of this exercise. I understand that each of other two characters will also need their separate journeys.

· What I learned: Prior to this assignment, I had left the character’s choice nebulous and the audience wondering …

· JENNA is stuck in place. She can either willingly embrace her old comfortable way of life—not upsetting the apple cart–or move forward and reinvent herself—by far the most difficult journey. OR she can choose to do nothing and remain forever stuck and bored with everything.

· The old JENNA would have opted to “embrace” her old comfortable life.

· The new JENNA chooses to take responsibility for herself, to be her best personal self, while recognizing all the difficulties it entails, and break with the old way—by far the more challenging and interesting.choice for the audience

[Patricia Brown]

Patricia Brown The Transformational Journey

What I learned from this assignment was it was easier to design the beginning mission of old ways, than the the final mission arc.

4 ideas:

CONCORDE Thriller

High Concept: Pregnant attorney Calista wins a trip around the world on the Concorde and soon figures out that the famous people on board are planning on hijacking to boost their fame even more!

Internal=Calista all about herself.

External=Do anything to protect her unborn child, her mom–and later, her husband.

CHRISTMAS ON THE CONCORDE or LOVE AT MACH TWO ROM/COM

High Concept: After breaking up with her partner, Calista finds herself at Christmas navigating her pregnancy alone when she wins a trip around the world on the Concorde and decides to go!

Old ways= Calista has had it with men. Will go it alone with this baby.

New ways=Trusts again, loves again.

MY MOTHER’S MUSTACHE Cozy Mystery

High Concept: California student Alyson Gideon at a deconsecrated English convent solves the mystery when a student is found dead in the basement on-campus pub called “My Mother’s Mustache.”

Old ways=Squirms and wants to flee.

New Ways=Confidently solves the mystery single-handedly.

MY MOTHER’S MUSTACHE Comedy/COM/ROM

High Concept: Poor California student Alyson Gideon is thrown into an elite Sussex college with rich international students housed in an ex-convent.

Old ways= Eager to trade sex for free

New Ways=Out of her compassion, chooses love.

[Ourdia Hodge]

DAY 1: CREATE THE JOURNEY

Doing this homework helped me clarify Nick’s emotional journey and establish his flaw and characters traits.

NICK:

Internal Journey: From cad, and afraid to be love to kind and allowing himself to fall in love

External Journey: From Prince Charming-hater to saving Prince Charming

NICK’S OLD WAYS:

– Dismisses the notion of romantic love

– Arrogant/mean

– Does not care about hurting people’s feelings

– Despises the concept of Prince Charming

NICK’S NEW WAYS:

– Believes in romantic love

– Kind

– Cares about people’s feelings

– Believes the concept of Prince Charming is a positive thing

[Ourdia Hodge]

DAY 2: WHO ARE WE TRAVELING WITH? CHARACTER PROFILE PART 1

Rom-Com: “Effin’ Prince Charming”

NICK

Role in the story: Fighter/victim. Abrasive cad who designs offensive merchandise for a living. Perceives himself as a victim of women’s obsession with meeting a Prince Charming-like man. Travels to Fairyland to change Prince Charming so he does not have to.

Age range and Description: Male, late 20’s/early 30’s. Attractive. Obsessed with exercising.

Internal Journey: From a cad who hates the concept of Prince Charming to becoming the fabled character’s biggest fan and saving him so Prince Charming can” live” on.

External Journey: From wanting to have Prince Charming be rewritten to have him be like the cad he is.

Motivation: He can keep being who he is and still get the girls.

Wound: No one likes him, not even his cat though he spoils him.

Mission/Agenda: To change Prince Charming and when he fails, have the fabled character be rewritten by Hans Christian Anderson to be a cad like him.

Secret: His mother ran off with a man when he was young and left him with his bitter father.

What makes them special? His drive to face the worst hurdles to get what he wants. He is self-deprecating. He does not like himself much.

LENA

Role in the story: Agent of change. Barmaid and bookstore employee. Loves reading fairy tales to kids. Hard to please in regard to men. Seeks her Prince Charming, almost literally, so when she is thrown into Fairyland with Nick, she will do everything to try and bring Prince Charming back with her to the real world.

Age range and Description: Female. Late 20’s/early 30’s. Attractive. In a state of emotional arrested development as in she wants a Prince Charming and will not compromise.

Internal Journey: From seeking the perfect man (Prince Charming) to embracing an imperfect one.

External Journey: From living in Fairyland to happily returning to the real world.

Motivation: Be with Prince Charming.

Wound: She has not found the perfect guy after years of looking.

Mission/Agenda: Bring Prince Charming back with her to the present.

Secret: She lost her very first date with a boy to the waiter who served them their burgers.

What makes them special? She feels awful and guilty every time she rejects a guy.

Supporting characters:

– Prince
Charming

– Hero’s best friend

– Charmed Princess

– Wizard

– Charmed Princess

– Prince Charming’s Nemesis

[L]

SUBJECT: Jack’s (Laura’s) Transformational Journey

WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THIS ASSIGNMENT? I thought this would be easy since these ideas have been floating around in my head for weeks, but HOLY CRAP! Trying to find just the right essence of clarity was quite the struggle. Truly not perfect (and a day late), but the struggle was worth it.

MY HERO: Jacqueline aka “Jack” is a NYC venture capitalist

INTERNAL JOURNEY: From uncompromising and unforgiving to understanding and forgiving.

EXTERNAL JOURNEY: From a hard-assed NYC businesswoman to a full-on Wyoming rule-breaker with a cause.

OLD WAYS:

– Father is a fool she will NEVER forgive

– Uncompromising hard-ass businesswoman who “eats dreamers for breakfast”

– Rule enforcer

– NYC has everything she ever wanted

– Rejects her past

– Builds walls to hide her loneliness

NEW WAYS:

– Father is hero worthy of forgiveness

– Promotes and supports others to realize their dreams

– Rule breaker

– Wyoming has a depth of soul NYC never could

– Rediscovers a proudful heritage

– No longer an outsider, she finally understands what it means to be home

[Ourdia Hodge]

DAY 3: Character Profile Components

Interestingly, this exercise that seemingly focused solely on characters has given ideas for plot points and scenes.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>NICK

What draws us to this character: Total a-hole – His over-the-top awfulness makes it hard for us not to watch him, in a voyeuristic way. We want to follow him like the trainwreck we know he is heading for and see him get his comeuppance.

Some of his arguments for why he does not need to be nice to women is not completely unfounded – if you feel offended by what I just wrote, please, give me credit for not being an a-hole myself, and trust that there is more to what I wrote than appears to be😊

We feel for him because his cat wants nothing to do with him, unless it attacks Nick.

Traits: offensively honest, up for any challenge, animal
lover, can laugh at himself, stubborn<div>

Subtext: Likes Lena though he is not sure why. Uses his rudeness to avoid being rejected. Doubles down when his attitude or arguments are challenged.

Flaw:
fear of being unlovable. <div>

Values:
Honesty. Being true to oneself.
Animal life. Abhors injustice.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Irony: He
is thrown into a world he hates, the one of a fairytale. His interaction
with his nemesis, Prince Charming, causes him to become his biggest fan. He
has the chance to kill Prince Charming, but he chooses to save him at a
high cost for him.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>What makes Nick the right character for this role? He is the biggest cad and the most unromantic person on
the planet, and he ends up in Fairlyland. He goes from being Prince
Charming-hater to making the best case for why Prince Charming should live
on.

LENA

What draws us to Lena? Her pickiness makes her unhappy. She feels awful when she rejects men. When she does that, she gives them a pep talk so they do not feel bad and does not understand that it does not work. Dumps on Nick for being awful to women. She craves romantic love. She can quote lines from the best rom-coms, American and foreign ones in their original language.

Traits: Romantic, playful, self-indulgent, social-justice
believer </div>

Subtext: She convinces herself that guys take rejection
better that women do. She is attracted to Nick and hates it. She wants to
find a way to bring Prince Charming back to real life with her.

Flaw: She does not live in the real world, wants to live in a
fairytale.

Values: Social-justice, kindness, sincerity,

Irony: She is attracted to Nick even though she dislikes
him. She thinks her failure to have met the right man is men’s fault for
not being up to her standards/liking, yet she criticizes Nick for not
being nice to women. She thinks she is a good woman but will try to take
Prince Charming away from his kingdom and Charmed Princess. She a
social-justice believer but loves the idea of being waited on by ladies
in waiting.

</div>

[Michael Goldburg]

DAY 1: Benny’s Transformational Journey

Benny goes from a self-centered con man to a collective/team-driven movie producer

Internal Journey: Self-centered and selfish to group/collective-driven

External Journey: From small time con man to big time movie producer

Old Ways: Only thinking of self, conning, lying, taking

New Ways: Being real, honest, selfless, sacrificing

What I learned doing this assignment is not to overthink it, just do it.

[Ourdia Hodge]

DAY 4 – CHARACTER INTERVIEWS

What I learned doing this assignment is that when given a chance, characters truly speak openly to you and unveil their most inner thoughts. I had a lot of fun discovering unsuspected facets of my character.

It’s an invaluable exercise in that the specific questions asked are making me wonder if I have the right antagonist. In a way, it’s frustrating considering all the work I’ve already done, but it’s better I discover now that I have the wrong antagonist instead of when I have the whole first draft written.

I am still posting this assignement with the original antagonist, ans see where I go from there.

The issue for me is “do I want to write a rom-com” or a comedy with a strong romance element”?

INTERVIEW YOUR PROTAGONIST; Nick

Tell
me about yourself.

I’m an all right guy. I have a great sense of humor which I use to come up with hilarious messages for my T-shirts. Of course, some people are offended, but it’s their problem. I own a cat. I didn’t pick him. He picked me. He followed me home one day, and wouldn’t leave. What choice did I have but to keep him? Yet, the little rascal never gave me the time of day. The ungratefulness. I should turn him loose.

I am a great illustrator. I found solace in drawing and creating my own friends and worlds when my mom left us.

I think life is better not to get attached to people. They disappoint you in the long run anyway, so what’s the point.

No, I’m not a monk. I have needs, so I have one-night stands. Wham, Bam, you’re welcome.

Why
do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

I’m not stupid. I know that my lifestyle/behavior is not getting me any friends or favors. I’ll even go as far as to say that I am on a soulless journey leading to an inner death if I keep up my crap. Yes, I have the gift of self-awareness. Pin a rose on your nose for noticing. It gets hard not to be liked. I am human after all. So, I guess I needed a kick in the butt to get on the right track of life. Yeah, boo hoo to me.

You
are up against Lena. What is it about her that makes this journey
even more difficult for you?

What makes this journey difficult for me is that the more time she makes things hard for me, the more I like her. Yeah, call me crazy.

Shit, I just realize. I want her to like me. For this to happen, I can’t openly do what I set out to do which is change Prince Charming for the worse. She would hate me for that. So, I have to be devious and do it behind her back.

4. In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box.

Clearly. That means acting like a decent human being, and a good man in particular. Can I even do it? What if I am doomed to be me, APC, aka Anti Prince Charming.

What
changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most
difficult?

I must accept that the way I have been thinking and behaving was totally wrong all those years. I have to admit that I have been a total a-hole, and that I have needlessly hurt a lot of people, in particular women. I must completely re-invent myself.

What
habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let
go of?

My default behavior, which is to antagonize people. That is a habit that is going to be hard to shed. And looking at women like they are just not there for my convenience, that they have feelings and deserve to be treated well.

What
fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

Fear of not being worthy of being loved. Fear that I cannot change and/or that change won’t bring me happiness. Difficulty of letting getting over being abandoned by my mother.

What
skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this
conflict or antagonist?

I am a fantastic illustrator. I’m convinced it’s going to come in handy in Fairyland.

What
are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to
know?

That I do not enjoy being an a-hole, but it seems a lot easier, and I have practiced it ever since I remember. I don’t want them to know that I would rather believe in love, but if your own mother did not love you enough to stay with you or take you with her, how can you expect others to love you.

What
do you think of Lena?

She is so over the top with her Prince Charming crap that she’s endearing. She’s smart, and can dish out as much as she gets. I admire that. She doesn’t play victim, and goes after what she wants, even if I don’t approve of her choices. I like that she can be a little devious, that makes her imperfect.

11. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

About this whole Prince Charming business, I don’t think I’m completely wrong. Look how many people are made unhappy because of this Prince Charming concept. Women want him, not getting that he’s the product of a writer’s imagination. He’s fictional. He is unrealistically perfect. Who’s perfect? Women sure aren’t, so why should they demand perfection from men? They go through life looking for Prince Charming, and refuse to settle for a guy who could very well make them happy because of sometimes ludicrous reasons and don’t give them a chance. Or they delude themselves that they found him, and when they realize that he is no Prince Charming, they are miserable and feel cheated.

And for guys, what an impossible standard to live up to. Truth is, they often can fake it enough to get to make it to the altar, but after that, hello reality.

However, I’ve come to understand through my journey that Prince Charming is not to be taken so literally, but as a metaphor for being a better person, and a better man in particular.

What
does it do for your life if you succeed here?

I have no choice but to succeed if I want to live happily ever after, well, may be nor ever after but for however long it will last, which is in and of itself a victory.

INTERVIEW YOUR ANTAGONIST: Lena

1. Tell me about yourself.

I work as a bartender to make ends meet because the job I love, working in a bookstore does not pay enough to cover my expenses.

I am very close to my dad who calls me his princess, to this day. Don’t tell anyone, but I programmed Siri to call me Princess too. It’s actually my middle name. No, I’ve never thought of changing it. Why would I?

I have lots of friends, mostly girls like me. We get together and share our dating horror stories. Boy, is it hard to find a good guy these days, and God knows I give a lot of guys a chance. I mean, I meet a lot of them. No, I don’t sleep around, but I’m not a nun, so every once in a while, I indulge in a no-strings attached romp. They are fun, until the guy leaves, my choice, and I am alone. It’s not a good feeling.

My roommate thinks I’m too picky, but have you seen the offerings out there? So, yes, I want my Prince Charming. Shoot me.

I love reading and watching romance movies, okay rom-coms. C’mon, you know there’s nothing more satisfying than watching a two people in love kiss after a challenging journey at the end of a movie. When that happens, I don’t cry with joy, I scream with joy.

Having to do with this journey,
what are your strengths and weaknesses?

My strength is my conviction that I deserve to find my Prince Charming. Why not? I am truly a romantic. I’m a really nice person. Proof is, I give a small gift to the men I break up with or decide there won’t be a second date so they do not feel too bad. I bring a break up gift to all my dates. How does that work for me? Uh… do I have to answer that?

I am a go-getter, I don’t get discouraged, I just get sad, then I get back on the horse immediately after a letdown, so to speak.

My weaknesses: Mind you, people think they are weaknesses, but I don’t necessarily agree. However, for the sake of I don’t know what, I’ll share them with you. I supposedly am stubborn and unwilling to compromise.

I can also be a little bit disingenuous though I like to call it being playful. I like to fudge things so I come up on top.

Why are you committed to making
the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed
to making them change?

Nick is on a downhill spiral with his hate of Prince Charming. If he keeps it up, he is going to end up alone and miserable. I can’t watch this trainwreck and do nothing about it.

Fine, I’ll admit that even though he drives me crazy, I am attracted to him. If he changes for the best, who knows, we may have a chance.

What do you get out of winning
this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

Winning this fight also means me facing my own doo doo. My dad calling me a, and naming me, Princess does not make me one. I need to get back to Planet Earth and stop asking for perfection when I am no way near perfect. Just like Nick needs to change, I need to change which means for me to stopping chasing Prince Charming.

Out of this victory, I get to grow up and be happy.

What drives you toward your
mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

I need to get out of my state of arrested development. I need to act like an adult, and not like a little girl anymore. Life is not perfect; accept it, or better, embrace it.

What secrets must you keep to
succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I must hide the fact that I am fall. Of course, Nick can’t know or he’ll sabotage the whole thing.

Deep down, I am insecure. I am so ashamed that I got dumped on my first date by my male boyfriend for another boy. A perfect guy, Prince Charming, would never do something as hurtful.

Compared to other people like
you, what makes you special?

My heart is in the right place even though I am sometimes misguided. I don’t dig my heels in the ground when I realize that I was wrong about something my whole life.

What do you think of Nick?

Nick is an infuriating being but I can’t hep thinking that he tries so hard to be nasty and as a result keep people from liking him, that he must be afraid to be liked for some reason. There’s definitely more to him than meets the eye. And, darn, I am attracted to him so I have no choice than to give him the benefit of the doubt because, let’s be clear, I couldn’t be attracted to a man who is unredeemable.

Tell me your side of this whole
conflict / story.

I want it to meet my Prince Charming, so of course when I meet the real deal, I’ll want to have him and bring him back with me even if that sounds insane. However, I will learn that by using Prince Charming from fairy tales as my gold standard for a guy prevents me from opening myself to the possibility of meeting the right guy for me, because in the end, we don’t seek Prince Charming but “the One” who is right for us.

[Connie Whitmer]

Subject line: (Connie Whitmer) Transformational Journey

My project is a Series of 6 Books, using Screenwriting techniques – then perhaps a TV Series Braveheart of Ireland meets The Last Kingdom. Submissions for this class are for Book 1, and first two Episodes – the beginning of the Arc.

What I learned:

To elicit maximum emotion, inspiration, and satisfaction for a story well told –

I must look at my character’s arc at the beginning of his life and end of the story/ Book/ Episode/ Series; and make them as opposite and unlikely as possible, internally, externally and socially. Then establish Book and Series goals – first worthy, then; impossible, in desperation, mistaken, horrendous, the right goal, and finally hope and a plan for the future. And to show growth, with increasing: conflict, crucible, disaster, dilemma, crisis, decision, action, moment of realization and understanding, that forge the transformation – each to the physical, mental, emotional, psychological, limits.

My Hero starts as a boy, like any other of 10, the 12^th and youngest son of one of the 150 Tribal Chieftains of Ireland. Then a Dane attack, his family and Clan are slaughtered, Rath burned. Only he and his oldest brother survive.

Internal Journey – From innocence, simplistic, hopeful goals, of catching the biggest fish, having a story to tell around the fire, and being a big shot to his 12 older brothers, pride of his mother and father – to loss of innocence, seen pure evil, with no hope or understanding for future, coming of age in a savage world, alone – then last page, he finds what he could not before – hope, his first whisker, and a plan.

External Journey – From youngest of 12 sons, of one of the 150 tribal Kings of Ireland, who should have remained forgotten – after an attack by Norse, his family slaughtered, all but oldest brother – becomes, insignificant orphan, 2^nd in line to his Chieftain Father’s Throne, then after killing the three Danes that killed his family, he is thenceforth known as Drakkar- Slayer, the boy who killed the Butcher of Killaloe. And then Chief of Clan, Rebel, Outlaw, Warrior, King of Munster, King of the South, King of North and South, and finally High King. (true story)

Old ways:

Just focused on catching the biggest fish, no girls, dreams of fighting alongside his ancient heroes, Spartacus, Alaric, Vercingetorix, needs and wants only his dogs, and a couple of nightcrawlers, and a story to tell around the campfires of his family. As the youngest of 12, he will never be king or responsible for anything, and plans on, fishing, racing horses, playing hurley, and surviving his brothers, the rest of his life, living out his life in the Rath with his Clan. He is full of joy, excitement, and hope for the future.

New ways:

After the attack, he has witnessed unspeakable things and slaughter, he vows to never be powerless again to save the ones he loves, avenge his family, and drive the Danes back into the sea, and drown them in their own blood; find the little girl, he tried to save from brutal rape, and burns, and could not, heal her wounds and heart, and watch over her, and fight the Danes till he dies. Full of sadness, guilt and regret – If only he could go back to the day, before the Danes came – he would give the rest of his life for it. He must leave, alone, everything he ever loved in is ashes, or in the ground.

And so it begins . . . The true story of an orphaned boy – who would, one day, be the only High King, over a united Ireland in peace, for 12 years.

[Ourdia Hodge]

DAY 5 4 act transformational structure

What I learned ding this exercise: It’s really easy to get bogged down with details. It’s really best to leave them for later and focus on the core of the story.

1. List Concept, Main Conflict, Old Ways, and New Ways

Concept

Frustrated with women’s obsession with Prince Charming, a cad travels to Fairyland to destroy the famed character but must hide his agenda from the Prince Charming-crazy woman he loves.

Main
Conflict

Nick is branded the Anti Prince Charming by Lena, a woman he tried to pick up at the bar. Lena leads the charge to have Nick kicked off every dating apps.

Nick wishes Prince Charming was a cad like him.

He gets his chance to change Prince Charming when he wakes up in Fairyland. However, Lena is right with him, and will do everything to thwart his plan.

Nick’s OLD Ways:

1. Old identity: creates T-shirts with offensive/mean messages

2. arrogant womanizer who treats women like shit

3. Hates the concept of Prince Charming

Nick’s NEW Ways:

New
Identity: creates T-shirts with positive messages
Embraces
what Prince Charming represents
Falls
for Lena and acts Prince Charmingly/romantic

2. Act 1: Set up and see the old ways

Opening: Lena is out with girlfriends. They, including Lena, marvel at Lena’s minuscule engagement ring and describe Lena’s fiancé, Nick, as a real Prince Charming. Lena agrees.

Nick shows up and acts like a complete a-hole. Everyone, including Lena, swoon.

Inciting Incident: Under a deadline of death, Tony is required to create a weapon for the terrorists, but instead, he creates a suit that can withstand bullets.

At a bar, Nick tries to pick up Lena using a very offensive approach. Several women at a bar recognize Nick as the worst date they ever had, describe his awful behavior. Lena leads the charge to have him be thrown off every dating app. Nick is furious at Lena.

Turning Point: At the bookstore where she works, Lena is about to read a fairy tale to little girls, Nick tries to pry the fairy tale book out of Lena’s hands. Next, Nick and Lena find themselves in Fairyland.

3. Act 2: Challenge the Old Ways.

Reaction: At first, Nick is mad and thinks that he was pranked. He soon realizes that he is indeed in Fairyland. He sees this as his opportunity to do away with the concept of Prince Charming once and for all whereas Lena sees this as a chance to meet Prince Charming.

New plan: Nick tricks Prince Charming into acting like a cad and have Lena be a witness to it. When that fails, Nick decides to find Hans Christian Anderson and have him rewrite Prince Charming so he is a cad.

Lena gets in the way of Nick trying to subvert Prince Charming. Nick is annoyed at the way Lena acts with Prince Charming who is very charming with Lena.

Turning Point/Midpoint: Nick finds out that Prince Charming knew all the time that Nick and Lena came from the future. He let Nick have his fun with trying to change him and have him be rewritten. It was all in good fun, and he gives a big banquet in Nick’s honor to apologize for playing him. Nick starts look at Prince Charming differently and with respect. But it bothers him even more that Lena’s infatuation with Prince Charming only gets worse in his opinion.

4.
Act 3: With Midpoint change, Profound moments that give us new ways.

New plan: Nick still intends to disrepute Prince Charming. He seduces Charmed Princess, and gets her to testify that behind closed doors, Prince Charming is a monster. This saddens Lena, and shatters her belief in Prince Charming. Her sadness affects Nick. Prince Charming’s loyalist urge him to have Nick and Charmed Princess arrested and killed. Prince Charming refuses. He must have failed Charmed Princess somehow for her to say such things.

Lena gets suspicious of Charmed Princess as the latter starts acting like a like a cadette (female cad per Urban dictionary). Charmed Princess picks up men in the awful way Nick used with women. Pretty soon, Fairyland turns into an awful place where people are rude to each other. Romance is dead. Love is despised. It’s the antithesis of what it once was.

Nick gets a chance to see the future: it’s the opening scene where Lena swoons over caddy Nick.

New insights: Women throw themselves at Nick. He is no longer interested. The meaner he is, the more they like it. He decides he must bring Prince Charming back so things revert to what they were.

He convinces Lena, and a wizard they had encountered earlier, to help him find Prince Charming.

Turning Point 3: Prince Charming has been captured by Prince Charming’s nemesis, Baddermunch, who is Charmed Princess’s father and always wanted to take over Fairyland. We learn that during his capture, Prince Charming was injured.

[Ourdia Hodge]

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DAY 6 – TRANSFORMATIONAL EVENTS

OLD WAYS

Nick started the movie living in his Old Ways.

Womanizer
who treats women badly and thinks it’s okay.
Makes
offensive-message T-shirts.
Unwilling
to make himself susceptible to rejection
Afraid
of being unlovable
Confrontational
in defending his behavior
Prince-Charming
hater

NEW WAYS

In the end, Nick defends and saves Prince Charming.

Embraces
the concept of Prince Charming.
Fights
to have Prince Charming live on.
Believes
he is a good man and okay if he is rejected.
Makes
positive-message T-shirts. Reads fairy tales to girls.
Kind.
Treats
women well.</div><div>

What needs to happen to Nick for him to change?

He
is kicked off dating apps.
He
fails to change Prince Charming who goodheartedly holds him no grudge.
He
seeks HCA to rewrite. HCA plays him and turns him in to Prince Charming
who feels sad for Nick. Nick has had people be mad at him but never feel sad
for him. This bothers him. PC to Nick: What is it going to take for you to
stop hurting yourself?
He
seduces Charmed Princess and feels awful about it. He also disappoints
Lena. This hurst him more than anything ever has. Prince Charming is very
happy about it: Nick is starting to get out of his own way.
Finds
out Charmed Princess is Baddermunch’s daughter. If he marries her, he’ll
control Fairyland and can have any woman he wants. For that, he must agree
to help take down Prince Charming.
Gets
a glimpse of what that life would be like. Sees himself in the future with
Lena. He is an a-hole and she not only takes it but thinks he’s the cat’s
meow.
Dilemma:
does he sacrifice Prince Charming and get the life he previously wanted or
save Prince Charming and have him keep being the gold standard for women?
Fights
Baddermunch, saves Prince Charming and wins.
He
confesses his love to Lena and his desire to be a good man (because it
feels good).</div><div>

FIRST DRAFT OF SEQUENCE OF EVENTS:

1- Lena is out with girlfriends. They, including Lena, marvel at Lena’s minuscule engagement ring and describe Lena’s fiancé, Nick, as a real Prince Charming. Lena agrees.

2- Nick shows up and acts like a complete a-hole. Everyone, including Lena, swoon.

3- A week ago: At a bar, Nick acts like an a-hole as he tries to pick up Lena. Several women at a bar recognize Nick as the worst date they ever had. Lena leads the charge to have him be thrown off every dating app. Nick is furious with Lena.

4- At the bookstore where she works, Lena is about to read a fairy tale to little girls. Nick, there to try and get Lena to undo his being thrown off dating apps, tries to pry the fairy tale book out of Lena’s hands.

5- Nick and Lena find themselves in Fairyland.

6- At first, Nick is mad and thinks that he was pranked. He soon realizes that he is indeed in Fairyland. He sees this as his opportunity to do away with the concept of Prince Charming once and for all whereas Lena sees this as her chance to meet the real Prince Charming.

7- They run into a druid who is looking for people who come from a different place. Druids are allowed to capture and boiled down to their essence to help with creating a time-travel potion. Nick and Lena are shown vials with the dates of what period they came from.

8- The druid takes Nick and Lena to Prince Charming where Nick will make a portrait of him, his official painter turned out to be an impostor.

9- Nick tricks Prince Charming into acting like a cad using an absurd reason. Lena offers herself to Prince Charming as the girl he can be nasty with. Nick calls Lena on her double standard.

10- It’s a Prince Charming doppelganger who acts nasty. Prince Charming used him to act as him. When Lena finds out, very disappointed, Prince Charming explains that he cannot act anything but. Lena is even more smitten with prince Charming.

11- Thanks to one of the druid’s contraptions that allows him to see in different dimensions and times, Nick realizes that Prince Charming tricked him. Nick takes the contraption with him. Prince Charming good-naturedly forgives Nick, and tells him he can’t change because he was written that way.

12- Nick tells PC he wants to meet HCA under a false pretext. Lena shares her suspicions with PC and bad mouths Nick and laments how she can’t find a man that works for her.

13- PC sends Nick on a harrowing journey and suggests that Lena accompany him to get a good knowledge of the land inferring that a princess of the land should know her kingdom and meet her people. Nick is annoyed at the way Lena acts with Prince Charming who is very charming with Lena. Lena thinks that PC intends to make her his Princess.

14- Nick and Lena embark on a journey to find Hans Christian Anderson. Nick intends to have him rewrite Prince Charming so he is a cad like him. Lena acts like she is the future Princess. Nick makes fun of her.

15- HCA rewrites PC to look like himself. Nick is furious at him.

16- Nick finds out that Prince Charming knew all the time that Nick and Lena came from the future. They get people like him on a regular basis who want to change this and that. It was all in good fun, and he gives a big banquet in Nick’s honor to apologize for playing him. Nick starts looking at Prince Charming differently and with respect. But it bothers him even more that Lena’s infatuation with Prince Charming is getting worse. (Introduce a ticking time bomb).

17- Charmed Princess returns from a visit to her parents. Lena is heartbroken; PC never intended for her to be the Princess but the Princess in waiting. Lena read into his words what she wanted to. Her sadness affects Nick.

18- Nick seduces Charmed Princess, and he makes sure they are found out.

19- Prince Charming’s loyalists urge him to have Nick and Charmed Princess arrested and killed. Prince Charming refuses. He must have failed Charmed Princess somehow for her to be with another man. Some people call Prince Charming an impostor or Charmed Princess would not have strayed. Prince Charming leaves the kingdom. There is no more Prince Charming. Nick wonders how he could have so easily seduced Charmed Princess. He gets suspicious of her.

20- Women address him as Prince Charming and throw themselves at him. Nick is no longer interested and tries to discourage them. The meaner he is, the more they like it. Nick gets a chance to see the future: it’s the opening scene where Lena swoons over caddy Nick. He decides he must bring Prince Charming back so things revert to what they were.

21- Pretty soon, Fairyland turns into an awful place where people are rude to each other. Romance is dead. Love is despised. It’s the antithesis of what it once was.

22- He convinces Lena, and a wizard they had encountered earlier, to help him find Prince Charming.

23- Nick arrives upon Baddermunch, Prince Charming’s nemesis and Charmed Princess’s father, having just captured Prince Charming, and had his arms cut off so he can’t fight. Baddermunch has always wanted to take over Fairyland because he hates the good feeling and happiness of the place. He thanks Nick for having made that possible. Nick is horrified and feels awful. He apologizes to Prince Charming who forgives him. That Nick feels bad is good enough for Prince Charming. Nick can’t believe how nice Prince Charming is. He confesses to Lena that he was wrong all along.

24- Baddermunch announces that he’s going to be crowned King Charming.

25- Nick tries to get HCA to set things right, write Baddermunch out of the fairy tale. HCA tries as he may, but Baddermunch always ends up on top. How can that be? The only explanation is that Nick’s determination to do away with Prince Charming prevailed. Nick is furious. How can bad prevails when good is so much better?

</div>