Day 2 Assignment

[Janeen Johnson]

Janeen’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is that the backstory makes up a big part of the hero’s MO and will need to be sprinkled in here and there to explain his actions and reactions.

Holiday Action/Comedy

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: Saves the President’s parents (his mall buddies) from being kidnapped — perhaps he’s a mall Santa instead of a mall cop. 🙂
Villain Morally Wrong: Wants to blackmail the President into signing a treaty that is bad for the US, but good for the villain’s country.<div>

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set — Former Army Ranger, has PTSD dog that can tell if someone is dangerous to him or not — the pup is good at reading people <div>

B. Motivation — To be brave, to be somebody, to fight for his country again

C. Secret or Wound — Misjudged a woman during battle and she betrayed his team. He was the only survivor and no longer trusts his instincts about people – especially women.

Villain

A. Unbeatable — Secret Service agent gone rogue, but a double agent so still able to use all of the government’s tracking/surveillance info to find the parents. </div><div>

B. Plan/Goal — Hold the parents hostage until after the President has signed the deal and made it public

C. What they lose if Hero survives — Villain loses his life (he’ll fight to the death), his country loses the “deal” the President will sign — not sure what that is yet.

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action — The parents’ asst. is shot (presumably dead/injured) and the hero must rescue them and get the parents to safety </div>

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Hero’s been “living undercover” in foreign countries before, but never with 70+ year olds and not in the US. He’s always had technology on his side, but now all of it is working against him.

C. Destroy the Villain — Figure out who the rogue agent is (everyone is looking for them so figuring out who the real bad guy is can be very tricky), what they want, how to lure them to somewhere they can be subdued/killed without endangering the President’s parents.

</div>

[Emmanuel Sullivan]

Emmanuel’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is exploring the hero and villain at a high level allows you to see who they are and what their goals might be in the concept.

[Paul Glynn]

Hero

Richard McBride

A Unique skill set

Ex M16 Territorial SAS

Motivation

Avenge the death of his pregnant wife. Stop the assassination of the US President who is going to speak at the Oxford Union.

Wound

Thrown out of M16 and branded a traitor

Villain

Alexi Ivanovitch Russian Oligarch

Is immensely wealthy, a pillar of the local community. He can hire any amount of goons to throw at McBride. He has a henchman called Dimitri who is a six foot seven muscle bound killing machine.

Plan

To assassinate US president so VP becomes President and is prepared to endorse Ivanovitch’s arms deal worth billions.

What villain loses if McBride wins

An arms deal worth two hundred billion dollars.

Impossible mission

A McBride uses his special skills against Alexi’s goons.

B McBride must kill Dimitri

C McBride must stop the assassination of the US President and kill Ivanovitch.

[Katharine Panzella]

Action script assignment 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that I need to study more about terrorists and their religion.

Concept:

• Hero Morally Right: Danny wants to stop the men who are stealing antiques from museums. He doesn’t know why they are doing it.

• Villain Morally Wrong: The thieves are stealing antique art to make money. They want to buy weapons to blow up the UN building.

Hero

• A. Unique Skill Set: Danny is a NYPD Detective, has Police procedure, weapons, strategy. Danny is a forensic specialist because his dad ran a forensic lab in their house and trained him as a teenager.

• B. Motivation: He wants his wife and young children to be proud of him. And he wants a permanent position as a NYC detective.

• C. Secret or Wound: His eye was splashed by acid in the basement lab when he was a teenager. Danny always feels he is not as good as his father who was a NYC Medical Examiner until he died from a heart attack when Danny was 22.

Villain

• A. Unbeatable: The thieves have a secret operation stealing antiques and selling them at Christie’s auctions. They don’t tell the director of Christie’s that they are using the money to buy weapons. She takes money as a finders fee/commission from them so that she can pay her mother’s medical bills.

• B. Plan/Goal: Ruthless art thieves from Pakistan need the money from the Christies sale to buy weapons for an attack on the UN building. It is just one of many art thefts. Another heist is in motion: Cargo workers at LGA steal a painting from a secure cargo area and take it to a warehouse.

• C. What they lose if Hero survives: They lose their faith to an Islamic code which calls for a worldwide Islamic state. They will die for this. And they will lose millions of dollars.

Impossible Mission

• A. Puts Hero in Action: Danny overhears a conversation in a rug shop. The carpets are from Pakistan. A piece of sixth century Indian art is to be sold at a Christie’s auction. It has been stolen but was reported as sold by an art dealer in London in 1989.

• B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Danny’s boss tells him the case is low level. He can only handle it on his time off. He must find proof of the thefts from the robbers and, since the director of Christies is taking bribes, she must also be caught.

• C. Destroy the Villain: Danny must find and stop the thieves before a hurricane hits the city.

[Paul Glynn]

Hello

I would like to comment on the other members work. Is that possible. I like Janeen’s description but I think she should lose the dog. This hero needs to get back his ability to judge character on his lonesome. Also I think it would be good if it’s the President’s daughter gets kidnapped and there is a romantic link between her and the hero or one appears through the adventure.

[David Mailman]

What I learned in this assignment. Same as the first lesson. It takes a special talent to come up with unique traits and actions. And, then elevate them. And, keep in mind that any change in the story must elicit action, not simply a dramatic response. However, one can keep hacking at the problems.

CONCEPT: A former FBI agent must destroy the cult that crippled him and slaughtered his daughter before they kill billions of people.

Hero Morally Right: He was crippled and his daughter killed by villains. Fights to save the world from destruction. Hero Morally Wrong: Siding with Aliens against people. Villains Morally Wrong: Fanatic killers. Attacked hero’s family. Will betray their country for power. Seek to rule the world.Villains Morally Right: Trying to restore the self-rule of humanity.

Hero: Former FBI agent

A. Unique Skill Set Despite handicap, has learned to use special weapons and previous martial-arts skills.B. Motivation Revenge for daughter’s death. To save the world.C. Secret or Wound Daughter’s death. Uncertainty about his origins.

Villains: Head of cult, ruthless scientist, traitor.

A. Unbeatable Can summon hundreds of fanatics to their bidding. Powerful and rich.B. Plan/Goal To create enough chaos that Aliens will destroy mankind. To control Aliens to their bidding.C. What they lose Extermination.

if Hero survives

Impossible Mission: To protect Aliens when most of the world believes they are evil.

A. Puts Hero in Action. Discovering the danger against the Aliens requires the hero to pursue and kill villains.

· B. Demands They Go Has to change from routine FBI duties to finding psychotic mass

Beyond Their Best: murderers while crippled.

· C. Destroy the Villain. Find the leaders of the anti-alien gang, destroy them and find the secret WMD.

Elevations.

Hero to villains:

What if the hero’s weapons were super good, like James Bond’s? The villains would attack his friends or family. Or, more mass attacks, bombs, robots, drones, EMPs.

What if the Agency were destroyed and the hero had to go it alone? Does he have “special” friends he could go to? Depend on himself? How would the villains find him?

What if the hero found the WMD and had to decide whether to use it or not? Would the villains stop him or let him do it?

Hero to mission:

Show the world that Aliens are good and/or Psychos are bad?

Would Aliens intervene in some way?

Is there some event that would turn one of the villains to support the Hero?

[David Mailman]

Hi Paul and everyone.

It looks like one can comment on the lessons. You just did. I had emailed Johana to see if that was OK, but have not had a reply. So, let’s go ahead. Feedback, seems to me, to be an important aspect of any class. Just keep it positive or questions.

I liked Janeen’s dog. One can give it more of a comedic role, besides making it sensitive to people. Who can resist a dog? The daughter (Would have to be older from the plot description. A sister?) could supply the romance. A middle-aged person’s romance would be a different twist in an action film. Maybe, have her join the Hero to protect her grandparents. Even, have her kidnapped by the Hero as in “The 39-Steps”.

Has anyone noticed in most of these submissions, as well as in 99% of all action films, the Hero is former FBI, CIA, Special Forces, Ranger, martial-arts, policeman etc. My next Hero is going to be a retired Classics professor.

Excuse my assignment formatting above. It didn’t carry over from my text into the forum .

[David Mailman]

Paul, is there a personal connection between Alexi and Richard?

[Holly Heston]

Holly’s hero and villain

What I learned: Continuing to think helps clarify the relationships between characters. I’m still working on that.

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: Preventing
deaths of innocent members of cycling team

Villain Morally Wrong: Taking
revenge against team director for old doping scandal by killing off
staff/team

Hero: Jake Miles, bike store owner, freelance bike mechanic

A. Unique Skill Set: former
professional cyclist in top condition, understands inner workings of race,
expert bike mechanic

B. Motivation: Save lives of
innocent

C. Secret or Wound: Was also
involved in doping and bears a grudge against the same team director

Villain: Dayton Vance: CEO of biking tech company

A. Unbeatable: Former cyclist,
has money and operatives within race. Knows the world

B. Plan/Goal: Discredit team by
causing deaths ostensibly due to safety violations. If the sponsor drops
the team, his company can step in as sponsor.

C. What they lose if Hero
survives: Discrediting team director, elevating own company

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: He sees
a pattern in the deaths, no one believes him, he must identify
perpetrator, stop more death and expose Vance.

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their
Best: Must anticipate what will happen, infiltrate team. Although he is in
good shape, he is much older than the other racers and has taint of doping
against him.

C. Destroy the Villain: Exposes
Vance and his plan, as well as the old misdeeds of the team director

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by  Holly Heston.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by  Holly Heston.

[Bradford Hicks]

What I learned doing this assignment is the hero needs a special skill set (which is a struggle for my concept and has me questioning if it’s truly action genre; but I’ll keep on truckin’ and we’ll see if I can flush it out.)

CONCEPT:

Hero Morally Right: Stop the pickpocket/dipper gang targeting tourists in Amsterdam

Villain Morally Wrong: Theft, and uses the money for sex trafficking Romanian girls

HERO:

A. Unique skill set: The ability to be cold blooded, ruthless serial killers who torture their prey

B. Motivation: Revenge!

C. Secret or wound: Their honeymoon was ruined.

VILLAIN:

Unbeatable: Has an entire underworld gang of thieves and sex traffickers that control a section of Amsterdam.

B. Plan/Goal: To hunt down the people killing his gang of thieves.

C. What they lose of hero survives: His criminal empire (and his life)

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION:

Puts hero in action: They kill as many dipper thieves as possible in a week, and chop off their hands to send a message.

B. Demands they go beyond their best: Once their identity is discovered by the Villain, these ordinary school teachers must outwit and out-maneuver an entire gang of assassins, on the assassin’s turf.

C. Destroy the Villain: Their attack on the Romanian gang triggers retaliation by the Romanians who think the heroes are a competing Moroccan pickpocket gang. This depletes the Romanian gang, and then ultimately, on a river cruise ship, our heroes are locked in an inescapable fight to the death with the gang leader.

[Ira Drower]

Ira Drower’s Hero and Villain

What I learned from this lesson is that there is a distinct separation between Hero and Villain and their goals while different force them into a battle to the end. Initial ideas can be analyzed and improved upon using the if/then construct.

Assignment 2 – Action : Heroes and Villains that sell Roles

Concept:

– Hero morally Right: Protect secret government mission, the town, his family, his girl

– Villain Morally Wrong: Steal government gold shipment

Hero:

– A. Unique Skill Set: Ex-military Tank Commander, expert with munitions, weapons, logistics, tactics

– B. Motivation: Stay out of prison, keep mission secret, protect the town

– C. Secret: Possesses animal-like senses such as geo-positional location, hearing, smell, sensory touch

– D. Wound: Fiancé killed in Iraq, convicted of war crimes

Villain:

– A. Unbeatable: High ranking officer, has military police, mercenaries, and government agents at his disposal

– B. Plan/Goal: Locate lost gold shipment under guise of an investigation, kill Frank and anyone who gets in the way

– C. What they lose if Hero survives: Lose gold, prison for life or death

Impossible Mission:

– A. Puts Hero into Action: He must continue to perform his secret mission while fending off assaults from various agents, hired thugs, and even military police.

– B. Demands that go beyond their Best: Using his extra senses to neutralize multiple attacks from outsiders.

– C. Destroy the Villain: Frank will sabotage the investigation and eliminate threats to the mission by any means possible including military investigator.

My if/then extrapolation creates a complex method of neutralizing the threats. His main goal is to stay out of jail by keeping his mission secret.

If Frank kills military personnel he will go to jail, he must use his skill set to trick them.

If Frank kills mercenaries, he can bury them or dispose of them. Only Military investigator will know.

If Frank draws attention to the mission by killing attackers, he risks exposure. He must use scare tactics as well. He uses his ‘family’ a pack of wolves.

If Frank possesses these extra senses, Military investigator can try to overload them with unofficial weapons such as microwave, low-level waves, high pitched sounds, etc.

[Gayle Robinson]

<div>What I learned from the assignment? I need to research the unique skills to make them believable within this fictional action comedy realm.</div>

Concept: Four supermodels–fraternal twins with a one in a million trait, a medical prodigy and computer genius who sees coding—are forced to use their phenomenon-born skills to save the American society.

Hero Morally Right:
Protecting women from abduction and helping them survive.

Villain Morally Wrong: Abducting women and implanting them with robotic devices.

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: Zenobia, Austen and Naia have super human
skills from coma and births. Twin
Zolie MacGuyvers her way out of situations, using industry tools.

B. Motivation: Stop powerful men from manipulating and
attacking women.

C. Secret or Wound: Zenobia was the first failed robotic
implant at age five.

Villain

A. Unbeatable: The
puppet master modeling agent behind the ousted group of officials who are the faces of this sabotage–hired the number
one robotics scientist who developed a robotic device that can’t be hacked
and if intervened, the model is programmed to kill her rescuer, and then herself.

B. Plan/Goal: Use
the mind-controlled soldiers of fortunes to kill the four sheroes before they can get
close to the mind-controlled supermodels.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: The ousted officials don’t get paid by
the secret modeling agent, and she doesn’t control the U.S. government/society,
fulfilling her vendetta to destroy the country that destroyed her father, an
ex-CIA operative.

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action:
A best friend, sister and cousin are abducted.

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Even though the abducted supermodels are
mind- controlled via the devices, they’re still human beings. Sheroes appeal to their human senses
(smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing) to distract and block their evil instructions.

C. Destroy the Villain:
They uncover the modeling agent (evil puppet master) and fight her
and her mind-controlled bookers to the death.

[Mary Spiers]

Mary’s Hero and Villain

What I learned from this assignment is …to keep asking myself how I can elevate the stakes?

Concept: A free black boy is kidnapped by a gang of slave traders and is determined to do whatever it takes to escape before he’s sold south.

Hero Morally Right: Sam is fighting for his freedom, standing up for his rights.Villain Morally Wrong: Kidnapper and Slave trafficker

Hero: Sam Scomp

A. Unique Skill Set: Sam is a skilled horseman, nearly a horse whisperer, at a time when horses are the main form of transportationB. Motivation: He escapes to a life of freedom from slaveryC. Secret or Wound: His family was taken from him

Villain: Eb Johnson (& Lucy Cannon)

A. Unbeatable: the kidnapping gang has a strong network of slave trafficking. No one has gotten away before.<div>

B. Plan/Goal: to sell Sam and the others into slavery in the south.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: Their livelihood and their lives if caught.

Impossible Mission:

A. Puts Hero in Action: Sam is kidnapped from Philadelphia.</div>

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: A young Sam has to go beyond his rashness and come up with a way to escape

C. Destroy the Villain: Sam constantly undermines Eb and looks for ways to escape or kill Eb

[Mark Doddy]

Mark Dotz

What I learned from this assignment is that having a strong villain challenges your hero to have to be stronger.

Concept: A plot to steal the king’s throne is to be carried out within the week from his favorite knight. The only one that can stop him is his illegitimate son, a knight in training who has to battle a hoard of soldiers to reach his father and stop the mutiny.

Concept:

Hero Morally right: Damian, the kings illegitimate, mixed race and abandoned son, is trying to save the kings life and his own against the marauders working for his traitor and best knight Archibald.

Villian Morally Wrong: Archibald in an attempt to seize more power is building an army to kill the king and still the throne.

Hero:

A. Unique skill set- Damian is a natural fighter, the son of a great king, he hasn’t finished his training to be come a knight but his skills are unmatched by anyone in the kingdom.

B. Motivation – To save his father, the King, from an army of traitors.

C. Secret or Wound – Damian is the illegitimate son of the king and the king wants nothing to do with him.

Villain:

A. Puts Hero in Action – Damian is not quite a knight but has to fight hundreds marauders and reach a king who wants nothing to do with him.

B. Demands – Damian must go beyond his basic training and has never been in real combat. He must fight knights and an army of marauders and eventually the kings men without hurting the kings men (if possible).

[Erin Danly]

Erin’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is: My initial concept didn’t work well with the hero/villain model so I tweaked it to make it more straightforward and fit better with the action conventions. I also realized it’s hard to come up with a unique skill set for an action hero since it seems like we’ve seen every variation already.

Concept: An ex-SEAL on death row escapes prison and must evade capture by his FBI agent sister, who wants him dead to cover her own illegal activities

Hero Morally Right: Our protag has been convicted and sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit

Villain Morally Wrong: A corrupt FBI agent who has committed treason by dealing with domestic terrorists

HERO: Ex-SEAL who’s escaped prison after being wrongly imprisoned

A. Unique Skill Set: Ex-SEAL with exceptional reflexes, strength, and ability to improvise

B. Motivation: To prove his innocence and the innocence of the other men convicted along with him and save them from execution

C. Secret or Wound: He has always loved his sister but when he finds out that she had set him up to take the fall to cover her own tracks, he feels betrayed and his mission to prove his innocence now means he has to prove her guilt

VILLAIN: Corrupt FBI agent pursuing the Hero and trying to cover her illegal activities

A. Unbeatable: She’s an FBI agent and as far as her colleagues know, a good and upstanding one; she’s a capable agent with all the resources she needs at her disposal to pursue and capture the hero

B. Plan/Goal: In her official capacity as FBI agent, she is pursuing the hero to get him back in prison to face justice, but her real goal is to “accidentally” kill him in order to cover up her own illegal activities

C. What they lose if the Hero survives: If he survives, the truth about her will come out and she will lose her job and her freedom

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION: Hero needs to escape capture while proving his innocence

A. Puts the Hero in Action: Lots of near misses with the authorities pursuing him and almost capturing him, but he escapes; also being pursued by the domestic terrorists his sister has collaborated with, getting into violent fights with them that leave many dead

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: He’s always worked in a team and this is the first time he has to do everything on his own

C. Destroys the Villain: evading capture, proving his innocence, and proving her guilt that ultimately sees her arrested

[anna harper]

Anna’s Hero and Villain

What I learned from this assignment; the extrapolation allowed me to see into the future of further installment possibilities.

Romance/Adventure

Hero Morally right; seeks to provide for her son. Encounters a drug dealing doctor who she is compelled to take down. Wound. Maggie and her son were abandoned by husband,/ son’s father.

Villain Morally wrong. creating drug addiction in the community, responsible for the death of a teenager. Has a network of drug distribution in the community and beyond. His goal is to have enough money to set himself up in private practice in a more sophisticated environment.

Impossible Mission. Hero’s skill set is urban, no bush skills or knowledge of First Nations culture, she is fearful of her new life in the bush. Financially in trouble/unemployed must take job to provide. New environment both a learning curve and an opportunity. She uses her recreational archery skills in a takedown of the drug dealing doc. Extrapolation: After finishing of the villain, a many headed monster, the Hells Angels make their presence known. New challenge.

[George Krubski]

George’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is that by asking yourself a series of themed but relatively straightforward questions, you can really flesh things out. With a few focal points, I was able to build out a network of interconnected answers that help flesh out some themes.

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: Marshall Steel is an icon of justice, driven by a nuanced decisions about what is right. Here, he wants to clear his name and return to his role serving his country.

Villain Morally Wrong: Ursula Pierce is driven by victory. For her, the ends justify the means, even if innocents must pay. Success at all costs – justice is only for those strong enough to claim it for themselves. (Escalation: Ursula is the opposite of Steel: She doesn’t care anything about right and wrong, just victory.)

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: Steel mixes the physical skills of a special forces operative with the intellectual drive of a Supreme Court justice.

B. Motivation: Justice… for himself, and the country. (Escalation: In my original take, Steel was on the run after an assassination attempt, but by being framed for a crime, it removes various venues he could turn to, and also ties in better with the theme of justice.)

C. Secret or Wound: Steel wasn’t always the man he is today. His wound is that in his younger days, he believed that the ends justified the means, and the led to – among other things – the destruction of a small village of innocents in the Central American country of Val Verde. His career seeking justice since then is an effort to balance the scales and beat back the guilt. (Escalation: Again, this is an opportunity to hit the theme of justice and balance. Originally his “wound” was just being hunted, but giving him a dark past deepens things, and also deepens his connection with the villain.)

Villain

A. Unbeatable: Ursula has the same training that Steel has, but she isn’t hampered with morals. Further, she has a full organization at her disposal. (Escalation: My original intention was that Ursula was going to be either Steel’s protégé or the student of his mentor. However, she’s now a survivor of the massacre at Val Verde, adopted and raised by Steel’s mentor. So, basically, Steel “created” her, and she has a personal state in bringing him down.)

B. Plan/Goal: Initially to kill Steel in an “accident,” then to frame him and put him on the run, which gives her and her team cover to kill him.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: Failure is not an option. Ursula’s masters demand success, and she’s staked her life on it. If she can’t beat Steel, they’ll be exposed… and she’ll be lucky to live long enough to be a scapegoat. (Escalation: Rather than just a mercenary, Ursula is now cast as a zealot willing to put her life on the line to get the job done.)

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: A staged car accident puts Steel on the run, framed as a drunk driver who killed a family. (Escalation: Originally, this was an assassination attempt, but making it a frame job changes things.)

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: In the aftermath of the accident (which Steel was not supposed to survive), a pair of “police officers” try to kill him. He fights them off, and recognizes them by their tattoos… which he has one of, too! As he tries to survive and clear his name, he faces an increasing number of skilled enemies.

C. Destroy the Villain: Not only does Steel have
to face Pierce, he also has to deal with the conspiracy she represents… as well
as the sins of his own past in Val Verde. (By adding Steel’s “wound” the final
confrontation with Ursula will become much deeper, almost a superhero/supervillain
duality, since he “created” her and she has now become the worst version of
what he could have been. I also want to escalate the conspiracy… it may be that
both “sides” have a stake in Steel being taken out. Still thinking it through.)

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by  George Krubski.

[Sung-Ju Lee]

Sung-Ju Suya Lee Hero and Villain

Lesson 2: Heroes and Villains That Sell The Roles!

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

Dive deeper. Peel back the layers of the onion. Really unpack the various components of your story idea, even before you start writing. Really understand what is going into your story, and why. So, this isn’t a panster type of writing. If I want to write heroes and villains that have depth (and that sells), this must be done now, before you write. Equal measure for the heroes and villains. You are helping us to elevate our stories so they have the best chance of selling and getting it made.

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: save their families on the
cruise ship <div>

Villain Morally Wrong: attacking people on the
cruise ship for ransom, later the pirates find out the people are rich
(won the mega lotter), so try to get more money

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: old time veterans, from
the navy, air force and army, use what skills they learned while in
service <div>

B. Motivation: save their loved families from
being kidnapped or killed

<div>

C. Secret or Wound: old time veterans saw D-day,
Vietnam fall, the battle of North Korea, Iraq/Iran, Kuwait, etc., some
were not in a winning war, still have the chops to fight back, America
military ideology of never leaving anybody behind sears their heart

Villain

A. Unbeatable: three small speed boats of
pirates with guns, radios, nerve, nothing to lose, a bomb to blow up the
ship if they don’t get their money, or a rocket launcher to sink the ship </div>

B. Plan/Goal: to attack the cruise ship to
hold for ransom, but find out that these veterans have won the mega
lottery, so ask for more money

<div>

C. What they lose if Hero survives: they die
and their families have to pay for the speed, guns and gas, they cannot go
back to their bosses without the money, they will be killed if they fail.
This is a career in poor countries.

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: old time veterans don’t
have enough guns, technology know-how, and their cruise ship is
old/second-hand, and things keep breaking down (i.e., their radio dies,
and they can’t call for help) </div><div>

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: veterans
are old, some have the onset of dementia, some have dementia, some have
limbs missing, one in a wheelchair, one is blind, some don’t know the new
technology on the cruise ship, but they must band together to fight off
the pirates

C. Destroy the Villain: kill each one, drive
them off the cruise ship, turn the tables by the third act (since they know the cruise ship and the pirates don’t)

</div></div></div>

[Harry Rankin]

Harry’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is… Getting a good overview of the Protag. and Antag. is essential but here I learned that these can grow and change to fit the plot demands.

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: An innocent tangled up with forces beyond his comprehension <div>

Villain Morally Wrong: Destroyer of people and worlds

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: Maybe: Junior olympic Taekwando contender </div><div>

NEW: Learns Krav Maga from girl

B. Motivation: Love of girl;

NEW: concern for environment

C. Secret or Wound: Missing out on Olympics

NEW: Professor un-belief

Villain

A. Unbeatable: Many vicious thugs and escalating international help
NEW: Add local mafia-style gang at port? <div>

B. Plan/Goal: To badly wound the US

NEW: Property deal? Local drug trade? people trafficking?

C. What they lose if Hero survives: Mission fail / capture

NEW: Death

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: Abduction of girlfriend </div>

NEW: Discovery of pollution

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Escalating Obstacles

C. Destroy the Villain: Expose to US forces?

NEW: Personally take down villain.

</div>

[David Gutosky]

Dave’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment: I’ve read that the most memorable villains think they are in the right. My villain is very aware he is not. Building a backstory is very important and is one of my favorite things to do.

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

A dishonorably discharged Army Ranger attempting to move on accidentally kills a connected man bringing down the full wrath of the Ranallo crime family.

Hero morally right: The Ranger is fighting off the mob to rescue his friends and family.

Villain morally wrong: Dino Ranallo will stop at nothing to kill the Ranger and everyone he cares about.

Hero:

Unique skillset: Platoon Sergeant of the 75^th Ranger Regiment. Excelling at hand-to-hand combat, demolitions, extraction, as well as being an expert marksman.

Motivation: To stay alive and protect his new friends while trying to find and rescue his family.

Secret or Wound: Wrongly dishonorably discharged resulting in the loss of his family, friends, and the respect of his fellow soldiers.

Villain:

Unbeatable: He has a vast collection of expendable thugs and goons, access to the most creative hitmen, and corrupt individuals at every level of law enforcement.

Plan/Goal: To kill The Ranger and everyone he cares about by any means necessary.

What they lose if the hero survives: Dino would lose all credibility and respect within the family. “Worst of all, he promised his brother he would take care of his nephew” He could also die if his plan goes too far.

Impossible Mission:

Puts hero in action: The Ranger needs to survive so he can protect his friends and rescue his family.

Demands they go beyond their best: Fight the Ranallo crime family, evade crooked cops, and rescue his family.

Destroy the villain: The Ranger takes down everyone Dino sends after him. He rescues his family while destroying Dino’s.

[Renee Miller]

Renee’s Heroes and Villains

What I learned doing this assignment is how important it is to think about how the villain can challenge the hero to make things more interesting.

Title: Saving Isaiah

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: Destroy a child sex trafficking ring in Thailand.

Villain Morally Wrong: kidnapping and forcing children in to sex trafficking.

Hero: retired FBI agent

A. Unique skill set: Former green beret and retired FBI agent

B. Motivation: he doesn’t want anyone else to suffer the pain and loss that he has.

C. Secret or Wound: He was unable to save his daughter from a sex trafficking operation, and his wife left him.

Villain: head of the Thai sex trafficking ring

A. Unbeatable: the ring leader has the Thai police and government in his back pocket.

B. Plan/Goal: The only way he will let the hero leave Thailand is in a body bag.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: They will lose their multi-billion dollar empire.

Impossible Mission: to save a young boy and escape Thailand

A. Puts Hero in Action: He is called to go undercover in Thailand as a potential buyer.

B. Demands they go beyond their best: Not only does he have to take on the gang their leader, but has to evade the police and other government officials to escape.

C. Destroy the Villain: Destroy the sex trafficking ring and kill the leader.

[Linda Kish]

Linda Kish’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is this process helped to flush out the conflict and pit the hero against the villain to new levels.

1. First Pass

· Concept:

o Hero Morally Right: Save his son’s and the children’s lives who are being used by the terrorists.

o Villain Morally Wrong: Terrorist, kidnapper, child abuser.

· Hero:

o Unique Skill Set: Ex-military ops operator. Border Patrol Commissioner.

o Motivation: Terror plot targeting US. Son is kidnapped.

o Wound: He blames himself for not being able to protect his translator and his parents who were killed during one of his military black ops missions.

o Secret: He bent the law to get his translator’s brother to the US and have him placed with a family.

· Villain:

o Unbeatable: Was recruited by ruthless terrorists and taught to blames the Commissioner for his family’s death. Seeks revenge on the Commissioner and the US.

o Plan/Goal: Set off bombs in 50 cities across the US on the same day.

o What the Villain loses if the Hero survives: Can’t avenge his brother’s death. He dies.

· Impossible Mission:

o Puts Hero in Action: Leaves his desk job and goes on the hunt, fight in the US, then middle east.

o Demands the Hero go Beyond His Best: Was an operator who was given the mission, now is rogue and hasn’t been in the field for years so must summon both strategy and operator.

o Destroy the Villain: Kills handfuls of terrorists along the way to final showdown where he takes down the mastermind.

2. Improved Answers

· Hero:

o Secret: When he was in military ops he got a woman in the middle east pregnant. He shipped out and never knew. An airstrike by the US killed her so when he went back to get her she was dead and the child taken by a terrorist group.

– Wound: He couldn’t / didn’t save his girlfriend.

· Villain:

o Unbeatable: Told his mother was killed by US strike and rationalized by most ruthless terrorist group.

· Impossible Mission:

o Destroy the Villain: He learns the villain is his son.

[Deanne]

SU: Action class, Lesson Two – Deanne’s Heros and Villians

Concept = After trucks from Ollie’s asphalt-paving business ignite a wildfire, Ollie must get home to rush his family out of harm’s way before the fire gets there.

Hero morally right = must save family

Villain morally wrong = wants Ollie’s business to burn down for karma
(he thinks the family already evacuated)

Hero:
A. unique skill set = familiar with local roads, good at math, can drive big machines
B. motivation = loves family
motive = to get family to safety
C. secret or wound = knows his business started the fire

Villain:
Unbeatable = knows not only the local roads, but also has intimate acquaintance with the rest of the terrain and is skilled at rock-climbing, tree-climbing
Plan/goal = prevent firefighters from saving Ollie’s business
Stakes = if Ollie’s business survive, more Paradise will be paved

Impossible Mission = get family out
Action = rough terrain, blocked roads, clunky vehicle

Makes Hero Go Beyond Normal = roads don’t work so build bridg, cear blocks, use RR tracks, ford river, etc.

Destroy Villain = Ollie cuts off his escape

If ______________, then how might __________________.