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Day 13 Assignments
Post your Day 13 assignment here.
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Frank Jordan’s Day 13 Assignment (Delivers insights Through Conflict)
What I learned doing this assignment is that Conflict forces people into situations they aren’t always prepared to deal with, often forcing a reaction from a deeper place.
Using Conflict to express an Insight:
1. (Emotional issue) Early in the story, Freddie is up late one night gazing out the window at the cotton fields. Pearl is sleeping. Freddie has a flashback to age 8. He is playing tag in the nearby woods when he discovers the lynched body of his 65 year old friend, neighbor, and mentor Elijah. Over black, he screams. Back to present, Pearl puts her hand on Freddie’s back, startling him. Pearl, “We gonna be all right. Understand? Our plans just delayed some.” Freddie, “I worry ’bout your safety.” Pearl, “I’m fine. I’m not goin’ nowhere.” Pearl hugs Freddie, still gazing out the window, from behind. Freddie, “Maybe Suga Foot’s right. Maybe this war’ll someday give us a chance at a better life. Far from here.” Pearl, “Nobody’s gonna take our dreams away.”
2. (Emotional issue) Deep into training camp, Freddie confronts Cpl. Thomas after he kicks dirt in Jonah’s face. Jonah is a simple-minded recruit Freddie has befriended. “What the hell you doin’?” Cpl. Thomas, “Get outta my way.” Freddie, “Y’all trainin’ us to be soldiers or slaves?” Cpl. Thomas, “I said get outta my way!” Freddie grabs Cpl. Thomas. Sgt. Heller quickly jumps in and tries to separate the two. “That’s enough. Let go. Let go!” Ready to burst, Freddie eventually lets go. Sgt. Heller (to all), “Get back to work! Go on!” Freddie, “This is bullshit! Why we here?” Sgt. Heller, “It’s your duty!” Freddie, “We owe nothin’! To nobody!”
3. (True nature) Near the end of training camp, Freddie’s platoon plays a baseball game. Moses is playing catcher. Sugar Foot hits the ball. As Moses watches the ball sail into right field, Cpl. Thomas runs home and bowls over/blindsides Moses. Later that night, Freddie and Moses (with a bandage wrapped around his head) are sitting outside the barracks discussing their plight. Moses wipes a tear. “This ever gonna end?” Freddie, “We can’t control what other folk do, or say. Every man gotta search his own soul, colored or white, and be accountable for his own self. Moses nods. Freddie, “Remember what Pastor Reed say?” Freddie/Moses “Everybody meet their own come judgement day.” Moses cracks a half smile.
4. (Telling truth) After Freddie’s regiment is loaned to the French army, the men get their first wine ration. It’s late night and Freddie’s platoon are in their billets (a barn) for the night. Freddie and Sugar Foot are arguing about betrayal and dignity. It eventually gets loud and they have the entire platoon’s attention. Sugar Foot, “It don’t matter. American Army, French Army. We all fightin’ the same enemy.” Freddie (loud), “Are we?” The men ponder that thought. Freddie hurls his empty cup against the wall.
5. (Secret) Late in the story, Freddie’s unit has moved up to within five miles of the front. Most of the men are sleeping on a hillside, awaiting orders. Freddie is lying back, gazing at the stars. Lt. Heller sits next to Freddie, drinking coffee. Freddie, “Lieutenant, you scared?” Lt. Heller, “Honestly, I don’t feel good about this one.” Freddie reflects a moment. “Most folk will never see what we see. Know what we know. The guilt. Sense of purpose. Brotherhood.” Lt. Heller listens intently. Freddie continues, “My whole life, I been lookin’ over my shoulder. Livin’ in fear. No more. People fight for what they want in this life. Make sacrifices.” Lt. Heller, “It’s all right to be scared.” Freddie, “I never been more at peace.”
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DAY 13 ASSIGNMENT – PROFOUND MOMENTS – CONFLICT DELIVERS INSIGHT
Joshua Doerksen’s Delivers Insights Through Conflict
WHAT I LEARNED DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT:
I was able to find telling scenes in my screenplay that were lacking in excitement or intrigue and enhance the power of those insightful moments through the development of conflict.
CONFLICTS:
1.) POWER STRUGGLE
In the opening, a Board of Directors meeting is held to discuss an impending crisis predicted by the members and a mitigating plan to weather the storm in a critical business plan shift. The plan involves the reopening of a promising Technology Program that Bill seemingly killed without explanation.
We do not understand what the Program truly entails but the Board’s proposal to pursue its development includes details of interested parties including government and military. The conflict is set with Bill at odds against all interested parties for reasons we know only are very personal in nature.
The Power Struggle develops an intrigue into the true nature of Bill and the program itself.
2.) SELF-PRESERVATION
Dr. Pratt is a woman in a field of study predominantly comprised of men. The misogyny present in the workplace is evident even more so where Cynthia is a “trailblazer” of sorts, one of very few women forging their way into a position once largely considered impossible for women to hold, an “old-boys club” even.
Within the hierarchy of the hospital (established practice of medicine in general) Dr. Pratt is ostracized in every circle, from male colleagues to female counterparts in nursing, and from an administration who are all men.
Self-Preservation develops the true nature of Dr. Pratt and endears her character to the audience by way of perseverance.
3.) DILEMMA
Edward sets himself at odds with the Board of Bishop Enterprises with his staunch defense of Bill in a private meeting held without the Director. Edward’s loyalty to Bill, although an internal conflict, provides insight into his true nature and character and offers the audience a reason to like Bill through intrigue of this friendship. The conflict sets the stage for dilemma between pride and principle.
4.) LOSS
We learn through Bill’s journey in observation that despite his many successes lie great pain. This pain is not fully recognized, rather suppressed, by Bill and is expressed in his grief and guilt in the loss of his family relationships to his most recent friendship with Alan Turing (whom he could not save).
We are thus able to establish empathy for Bill with the audience in the conflict he has in confronting the pain of his life, a conflict he fights internally with emotions and resolve, and through confrontation with Dr. Pratt who recognizes the sad truth inside him.
5.) DEFEAT
Bill must experience defeat and accept it fully in a course to realize victory of self. The choice to give up a legal action (fight) for control of his company, leads to a settlement which solidifies the foundation for his legacy which he wanted most of all.
The conflict, again internal, is expressed through an all or nothing tenet that is challenged through conflict to bring about the profound truth that “A true legacy is one person making a difference in the world.”.
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Chris Cornelius Delivers Insights Through Conflict
What I learned doing this assignment is “ more about which scenes to keep to make the greatest impact on the viewing audience.” I’ve got to also concern myself with the flow of the comedic contrasting with painful scenes; and the grander contrasting with the more intimate scenes.
1)–With your list of the New Ways / Insights you want audiences to experience, go through these steps:
2)– Come up with at least five (5) different ways you can use conflict to express an insight:
Step 1. What is the New Way / Insight you want to deliver?
You’ve got to take the good and leave the bad behind.
Step 2. What kind of conflict could that insight show up in?
Trish is very upset by the hellish, smoky scene of the guys all sitting around the dining room table bagging up marijuana.
Step 3. Brainstorm ways you might deliver the insight through the conflict.
Trish lifts her glass of water to Tom and says ‘Cheers.’ She escapes to the bedroom through the side door, bypassing the unrelatable southern women.
Tom talks with Trish in the bedroom and says, ‘It’s just something I’ve got to do.’ Trish tells him there’s something she’s got to do… ‘See what Natchez looks like from Cambridge.’
Step 1. What is the New Way / Insight you want to deliver?
Live, learn, and renew.
Step 2. What kind of conflict could that insight show up in?
Trish is devastated leaving Tom and his children, traveling north on the Natchez Trace-crying and saying, ‘Why do I have to be so strong all the time.’ To make things even worse she runs out of gas in ‘Easy Rider’ country. ‘At least there aren’t any vultures flying overhead.’
Step 3. Brainstorm ways you might deliver the insight through the conflict.
But the Hawk rolls and rolls and rolls, right up to a road crew of prisoners cutting down the kudzu. And the Warden has a prisoner fill up her tank with ‘the only gas you’re going to find on the Natchez Trace.’
Elated by her stroke of good luck-divine intervention, Trish gets on the Interstate to motorcycle home.
Step 1. What is the New Way / Insight you want to deliver?
Life is an odyssey, not a guided tour.
Step 2. What kind of conflict could that insight show up in?
At the Intervention Trish’s theatrical gay friend Simon reminds her of her illness (bipolar disorder) and wonders what she’ll do if it raises its ugly head. She says she’ll convalesce as she always does.
Step 3. Brainstorm ways you might deliver the insight through the conflict.
Simon gives Trish a stage gun for her trip and commits quite a comical disturbance at the intervention. ‘It may scare off bad guys and can’t be used against you.’ Trish loves it; but later suffers a great deal of unexpected anxiety when her bags are searched at the Capitol in Washington. They don’t see it and she collects another story to tell.
Step 1. What is the New Way / Insight you want to deliver?
When one door closes another opens..
Step 2. What kind of conflict could that insight show up in?
Trish has mixed feelings about meeting Matt at the San Francisco PO so that they can travel together. She loves Tom but couldn’t bring herself to reject Matt’s idea of joining her. It will get him away from his cocaine dealing and ex-girlfriend who has started seeing his best friend. Matt knows about Trish’s conflict over Tom. And Tom actually said in a phone call that she should be traveling with someone. Matt is interesting and she feels she may learn something from him.
Step 3. Brainstorm ways you might deliver the insight through the conflict.
Trish waits for Matt three times at designated locations but only visits the last, the PO, to see if he’s there and leaves a note for him at general delivery. We see that she’s motorcycling off from one side of the PO just as Matt is arriving at the other.
Later in a phone call to Matt’s friend back in Aspen, Trish finds out that Matt had arrived. But he says he’ll never catch up with her and sincerely wishes her the best in her relationship with Tom.
Trish feels guilty about not waiting longer for Matt at the PO, but soon after decides to make a major detour to see Tom and meet his children before getting back to her job in Cambridge.
Step 1. What is the New Way / Insight you want to deliver?
1) Great spirits often encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Step 2. What kind of conflict could that insight show up in?
Trish, herself, is conflicted many times. The idea of traveling cross country originated with her boyfriend of a few months the prior fall. She met him at the dealership where she purchased her first bike and they rode together for a while. After she had latched onto the idea, he let her know that he had an ailment that prevented him from making such a trip.
She knew all the risks and was somewhat scared herself. She may have been at the higher end of her bipolar cycle when she decided to go solo. And once she made a decision her drive to not fail kept her going.
Step 3. Brainstorm ways you might deliver the insight through the conflict.
She had an inspired mind and everyone but her Grandmother opposed the idea. She had traveled to this country at age 14, not knowing the language to work in the factories. And Trish’s adventure would not have been possible without her trials.
Along her travels at times she had her own doubts, and there were skeptics, but the longer she ventured, the more expert she became; and she survived all the head, heart, body, soul and spirit challenges she faced to fulfill the hometown homeless hippy’s exclamation, ‘This is going to change your life.’
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Scott Richards Delivers Insights Through Conflict
What I learned doing this assignment is through conflict our characters are forced to face the faults in themselves and move towards new ways of thinking and doing things.
1 – new way: Knows she has worth (Falsely accused) – unknown to my protag, she has been falsely accused of more than one death due to her drinking and poor life choices. She discovers the truth that she was not responsible for the deaths after all.
2 – new way: Thinks for herself (Power Struggle) – my protag is trapped in an apartment where she must find unconventional ways to escape. She make multiple attempts that fail, until she finally understands that she must think outside the box.
3 – new way: Independent, understands that her life is her own (Physical Confrontation) – my protag is forced to attack the people that she has supplicated to all her life.
4 – new way: Knows her worth & Independent (Dilemma) – the protag is forced into a dilemma which challenges many of her old ways. She must make decisions she has never faced before, knowing that unless she steps up and changes, she will fail to free herself of the torment of her past.
5 – new way: Knows her worth & Independent – (Stakes Raise) – In a fight for her life, my protag’s sense of self worth and inner strength comes out in a positive light.
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Subject line: Birgit Myaard Delivers Insights Through Conflict
What I learned doing this assignment is: In addition to using dialogue or action to deliver insight, one can use conflict. This conflict can be anything from an argument between characters to a dilemma, a plan gone awry, a misunderstanding, being falsely accused, etc.
Again, because my project is a limited series and not a feature and is in its beginning stages, I have way too much information to wrangle to do this assignment yet. But I do foresee some interesting conflicts between characters, especially Walter Camp and the Harvard captain.
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Brenda Lynn Delivers Insights Through Conflict
What I learned doing this assignment is having the New Ways / Insights list is such a tremendous help to building an interesting story that continues to build as it moves towards its profound conclusion. Answering these questions in advance will help so much with the writing (and rewriting process). It has also helped to strengthen the insights. Really love this technique of starting with the insight to be achieved and working backwards to create the steps to get there.
Part 1: New Ways / Insights
Step 1: #1. Opening up and moving out of your comfort zone.
Step 2 Type of Conflict:
Competition, Power struggle, Dilemma, Physical confrontation, Public humiliation, Stakes raised, Plan goes wrong, Misunderstanding
Step 3 Delivering Insight through Conflict
Plan goes wrong: David plans to go to Lascaux and ends up in Tikal instead.
Competition: David competes with his brother to be the best student of Anthropology. His standard is “time.” Who can do it the fastest?
Power Struggle: David thinks because he is the best student that he should get the choice of where he wants to study. Father Sean thinks differently.
Dilemma: David has to choose between being the youngest PhD student ever or study with the Maya and become a priest.
Physical Confrontation: David tries to beat up Frank for taking his spot.
Public humiliation: He’s defeat goes viral on Social Media.
Stakes raised: David finds out that Appo is not long for this world. If he doesn’t stay many secrets will die with Appo.
Misunderstanding: Through his lack of understanding, David’s actions are misinterpreted by the Maya.
Part 2: 5 ways to use conflict to express insight
(D) Making plans and then find out that you have to do something completely different.
(C) Relying on technology and then having it taken away from you.
(C) Living in the lap of luxury, then moving to the jungle with only the bare essentials to sustain you.
(A) Trying to compete in life as opposed to realizing life is a result of your actions.
(B) Having a goal in life, but then finding out what your destiny is.
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