Day 2 Assignments

[Patrick Malone]

Patrick Malone: Hero and Villain

I began this course without an idea for a story. I came up with my concept during lesson 1. Lesson 2 has helped me understand the foundational elements of action films and to develop and elevate my concept.

Concept: To prevent him from being banned from racing for life, a Formula 1 driver must transport a Mob boss to various locations to collect secret information, information that will reveal and prevent the assassination of the President.

• Hero Morally Right: expose plan to assassinate US President.<div>

• Villain Morally Wrong: government wants to supress info and kill President

Hero: highly skilled Formula 1 driver, ex-military

• A. Unique Skill Set: professional driver, explosives expert, weapons expert </div><div>

• B. Motivation: complete mission to save his career, expose assassination plan

• C. Secret or Wound: suspended from his passion – Formula 1 racing

Villain: Charles Wagner– high ranking powerful government official

• A. Unbeatable: network of FBI & CIA killer sub-agents.</div><div>

• B. Plan/Goal: get and supress information and assassinate President.

.• C. What they lose if Hero survives: will be charged with treason and executed.

Impossible Mission: Hero must drive Mob boss to 3 locations across the US to collect coded information that reveals assassination plot. He is met with armed resistance at each location.

• A. Puts Hero in Action: Using his skills he alludes FBI, CIA </div>

• B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: When confronted he fights and kills the agents.

• C. Destroy the Villain: sabotages assassination plans, has Charles Wagner arrested and jailed.

[Alan Reyes]

Title: Extradition

Concept: 10 years ago, a scientist and a botanist, made a discovery that would’ve revolutionized the fuel industry. Soon after, they were targets of a corporate assassination that buried their discovery—one of them was killed, the other fled the country and went into hiding. The scientist (our hero) was framed for the murder of his research partner… Present day, the scientist has been found living in Southeast Asia. The DOJ wants him extradited to the U.S. and his old company still wants him (and his discovery) dead and buried.

Hero Morally Right: Scientist needs to clear his name of murder and expose a villainous corporation.

Villain Morally Wrong: A corporate exec sends a hitman for our hero in order to bury the existence of a renewable energy source that would kill the fossil fuel industry.

Hero: Gifted scientist

A. Unique skill set: He can “MacGyver”/science his way out of hairy situations.

B. Motivation: Survive and prove his innocence before he’s found and killed.

C. Wound: Traumatized by the loss of his research partner (and lover) in a lab fire/explosion. He has ptsd and pyrophobia.

Villain: Corporate SVP

A. Unbeatable: Tasked with killing our hero—he has the infinite resources of a global energy company.

B. Plan/goal: He hires an assassin to find and kill our hero before the DOJ brings him in.

C. If the hero survives: The oil company risks losing everything. The information that our Hero has could end the world’s dependence on oil.

Impossible Mission: Hero goes up against one of the biggest oil companies in the world while being chased by a hitman and a federal agent.

A. Puts hero in action: After a decade of hiding off the grid in Southeast Asia, our hero is unearthed when an old college classmate backpacking down the Mekong recognizes him at a humble street-side noodle cart. Our hero assures the classmate that he’s got the wrong person, but the damage is done and a picture of him is uploaded to Facebook. The picture is flagged by DOJ’s facial recognition system and the chase begins.

B. Demands they go beyond their best: With little time and little resources, our hero must use his wits to survive a manhunt and gauntlet of tasks that will lead him directly to the Villain’s door and eventually redemption.

C. Destroy the villain: Gather evidence to prove his innocence—and the company’s guilt—of murder, all while evading assassination.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by  Alan Reyes.

[Sunil Pappu]

Sunil Pappu’s Hero and Villain

“What I learned doing this assignment is to fill in the blanks and then ask the question if X then ___ to make comparisons and improve the Hero and Villain”

Concept: A female CIA sleeper agent escapes the Russian prison and is hunted down by the KGB and soviet military as she is activated to stop Russia from launching a tactical nuclear weapon to win the war on Ukraine.

• Hero Morally Right: She’s trying to stop a nuclear war

• Villain Morally Wrong: to launch a tactical nuclear weapon on innocent civilians

Hero: Svetlana Irumov

• A. Unique Skill Set: skilled in the Russian martial arts (Systema) with modern modifications in Israeli Krav Maga learnt in prison, marksmanship, escape and evasion

• B. Motivation: to get revenge on Mikhail

• C. Secret or Wound: Mikhail raped her during her training as a teen in the KGB

Villain: Mikhail Vasiliev

• A. Unbeatable: As KGB head of unit, he has hundreds of assassins and agents at his disposal; He was Svetlana’s teacher in Russian martial arts

• B. Plan/Goal: use his agents to launch a tactical nuclear weapon

• C. What they lose if Hero survives: he and the other agents die; they lose the war on Ukraine

Impossible Mission

• A. Puts Hero in Action: She escapes from prison, runs and fights

• B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: fight against Russian military and KGB agents and save a country at war

• C. Destroy the Villain: She kills Mikhail and other KGB agents

Improvements:

If Villain is also skilled in Russian martial arts, then Hero has modern modifications of Israeli Krav Maga learnt in the prison in addition to Systema.

[Jan Fantl]

Jan’s Hero and Villain

I learned to focus on re fining the characters and their basics which structures the two sentences of my idea for this course already in a storyline

Concept: A tourist on Malta gets tangled into a brawl fight and wakes up with an unwanted tattoo that will kill her if she can’t solve the riddle about within ten days while somebody unknown wants to get hold of the tattoo.

Hero Morally Right: Kitty fights for her own life and two other tattooed ones while fighting DARK to avoid to get killed

Villain Morally Wrong: DARK kills the last artist with the unique skills to ink mystic magic tattoos and hunts Kitty to peel it off her skin while alive

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set : SWAT education at UNRA in Prague with semi military weapons, blend grenades, vehicles, negotiation, IT et al, left with all honors, developed into a paid white hat that can find every weak point in software.

B. Motivation: to stay alive and save two other tattoed ones -and the balance of the world

C. Secret or Wound: Her believe in justice of authorities seems to be broken (?)

Villain DARK, Bulgarian pharmaceutical manufacturer and billionaire

A. Unbeatable:

DARK has endless security people, bodyguards and the money to hunt down Kitty and the other two tattooed ones.

B. Plan/Goal:

to catch Kitty alive and peel off her skin and the tattoo

C. What they lose if Hero survives:

DARK loses, his plan to become immortal has gone

Impossible Mission

Kitty is going to find the two other tattooed ones, safe her own life and avoids to be caught and killed by DARK

A. Puts Hero in Action: Kitty must escape, fight and search, hunt

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Finding and fighting DARK and his henchmen while searching the other two tattooed ones among hundreds of thousands of tourists on the island to solve the riddle and safe her own life;

C. Destroy the Villain Kitty finds the other two tattooed ones, unites the mystic tattoos and destroys DARKs plan to become immortal and turn it it into a business;

[Tom Freyer]

TOM’S HERO AND VILLAIN

What I learned: Building in opposing goals sets up a strong central conflict.

TITLE: THE DAMASCUS INCIDENT

Concept: (Based on a True Story). After an accident punctures a Titan II milssle, an Air Force specialist must enter the sealed TITAN II missile silo and attempt to patch the missle, or risk the launch of a 9 megaton warhead capable of wiping out the entire south-eastern United States.

Hero Morally Right: Try to save America from a nuclear disaster<div>

Villain Morally Wrong: SAC Commander incompetence and ego has caused the threat of a nuclear disaster to escalate

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: Mechanical genius: Sgt. Kennedy can fix anything and he’s fearless: afraid of nothing. Also, he is a prize-winning Golden Gloves boxerB. Motivation: Must act fast to avoid nuclear disasterC. Secret or Wound: Lost his best friend to inhaled propellant in another accident

Villain

A. Unbeatable: The Colonel is the top Commander at Strategic Air CommandB. Plan/Goal: Orders evacuation, seal off of silo, guaranteeing an explosion, then orders airmen to break into the silo and go back inC. What they lose if Hero survives: The General will lose face and air force respect if he loses command and control of the situation

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: Seals off silo forcing </div><div>

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Kennedy must find a way to break in, risk dying of propellant inhalation, REFCO suit destruction by propellant acid, or explosion

C. Destroy the Villain: Must circumvent the General’s direct orders

Elevate: If the General sends troops to the base to fight Kennedy, how can Kennedy still prevail? Answer: By using his golden gloves training

3. Tell us your improved answers: Added Golden Gloves Boxing to hero’s skillset

</div>

[Terry Hicks]

Terry’s Heroine & Villain

“What I learned doing this assignment is more about my heroine and her secret.”

1. Fill in the blanks and see what shows up.

Concept: A scientist develops volcano technology to build new land mass and save her ancestral island community from being wiped out by the next storm systems.

· Hero Morally Right: Heroine wants to save the islanders & their community

· Villain Morally Wrong: Villain values personal monetary gain over people

Hero

· Unique Skill Set: A skilled ecological volcano scientist

· Motivation: wants to ensure the next storm system doesn’t wipe out the island community

· Secret or Wound: is an orphan

Villain

· Unbeatable: has all the funds and resources to ensure their success

· Plan/Goal: steal the scientist’s technology for personal gain, even if it means killing her

· What they lose if Heroine survives: global mineral domination

Impossible Mission

· Puts Hero in Action: Upcoming storm systems threaten the islander community existence

· Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Villain’s betrayal and heroine left behind forces her to use all her ecological skills to survive and stop the Villain

· Destroy the Villain: Villain destroyed by…. I don’t how yet….

2. Once you have filled in a quick answer to each, go back and extrapolate (If _____, then how might _____?) to elevate any answers you can.

Went back to my “Destroy the Villain: …. I don’t know how yet”… above

3. Tell us your improved answers.

If/when she survives, she then has a chance to stop the villain by dismantling her technology in time…. How might she do that? She figures out a way remotely? Old school field science? One that puts the villain’s life in danger when they try to deploy the technology?

[Laura Woodworth]

Laura Woodworth’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is that I need to strengthen the unique skill set of the Hero (and find out how to convey it well), make sure I have no gaps in the hero/villain roles, and make sure I am keying in on elements that dig at my hero’s wound/secret.

Concept:

Hero morally right: Rachel is fighting to save innocent lives

Villain morally wrong: Pharoan’s plan is to take down America with terrorist tactics

Hero:

A. Unique Skill Set: Rachel knows what Pharoan is planning through prophetic visions; she uses her wits, she is unafraid to die.

B. Motivation: she missed the first warning from God and children died; she will not let it happen again.

C. Secret or wound: her wound is the lost/stillborn baby; her secret is a previous abortion that she feels caused the loss.

Villain:

A. Unbeatable; he has unlimited resources and disposable people: secret plants in the U.S. as well as the Syrian army with trained terrorists.

B. Plan/goal: long held plan to terrorize the U.S. and bring her down.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: failure of the plan, probable death for him and his family.

Impossible mission:

A. Puts hero in action: the bridge collapse/disaster makes it clear to Rachel that God is giving her inside knowledge – and she could have prayed and prevented the loss of lives. The blood is on her hands and she will not let it happen again.

B. Demands they go beyond their best: this is unlike anything Rachel has faced before and she must find a way to outwit the villain; move out of her comfort zone and literally risk her life to save others.

C. Destroy the villain: by leading the FBI to the killers, she brings down the operation.

[Danielle Legrand]

What I have learned doing this assignement is to go under the surface of a general idea and how to structure the story thanks to the right questioning.

1.

Concept :

– Hero Morally Right : Not only he is the very commited President of the U.S.A but also a very talented mentalist.

– Villain Morally wrong : A greedy businessman who wants to monopolize a rare metal from China .

Hero :

– A. Super Mentalist abilities.

– B. He is really committed to protecting Peace.

– C. He has promised his dead daughter to make the world a better place.

Villain :

– A. He has a solid grasp upon the country economy and can stop entire sectors ( food, electricity etc…)

– B. He plans to obtain a document to start a war with China.

– C. If the hero survives the villain looses everything.

Impossible Mission :

– A. Hero has to take action immediately with the delayed poison injected to him.

– B. Hero must fight physically , which he hates.

– C. Hero can’t use the government ressources to destroy the villain and has to use his owns

2. If his wife was to discover the truth, then how might he accept her help ?

3. She would not ask him to help but would just do it as an ex champion of martial arts.

[Liz Nellis]

Liz’s Hero and Villain

I learned to think broader in terms of my storyline.

Concept:

Hero
Morally Right: He is working to stop the murders in his hometown <div>

Villain
Morally Wrong: He is killing people he feels wronged him his whole life

Hero

Unique
Skill Set: Police/Detective experience, sixth sense
Motivation:
Stop the killings in town and put a murderer behind bars

Secret
or Wound: Losing his love to his best friend back in HS

Villain

Unbeatable:
Has places to go for shelter and friends that are on his side

Plan/Goal:
to kill anyone that he feels wronged him in life
What
they lose if Hero survives: Retribution in his own mind

Impossible Mission

Puts
Hero in Action: First murders discovered <div>

Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: The killer is protected by his community

Destroy
the Villain: Finding out who he is and stopping his rampage

</div></div>

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by  Liz Nellis.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by  Liz Nellis. Reason: Format wasn't right

[Barbara Gilmore]

Improvements will be ongoing but I found myself adding more detail that could make the characters more interesting, the demands more exciting, the tension higher and so on so for example:

– she’s the best shot in the CIA

– global power..they die

– Rachel is not just competing against one villain there are several people to get past

Concept:

• Hero Morally Right: Rachel Gilroy, CIA sniper, part of a small elite team, she’s the best shot in the CIA, has saved many lives.

• Villain Morally Wrong: Nick, CEO of a healthcare start up that is secretly creating bespoke untested viruses for his big business clients to unleash on their unsuspecting targets.

Hero

• A. Unique Skill Set: best shot in the CIA.

• B. Motivation: save the world; her CIA father is under investigation for treason: she’s out for revenge.

• C. Secret or Wound: her father, also a CIA agent, left her for dead in an operation gone wrong.

Villain

16. A. Unbeatable: is one step ahead of everyone in the field of virology thanks to his genius sister who is his secret weapon.

17. B. Plan/Goal: to unleash a deadly highly contagious virus on innocent targets and anyone else who is in the vicinity.

18. C. What they lose if Hero survives: millions $s…global power..they die..

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: she must shoot, fight, put herself at risk to track down Nick and his team and then stop them from unleashing the virus all the while saving his sister who has been promised protection from Russian and Chinese Intelligence agencies..

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Rachel risks infection and death to stop the team completing their mission.

C. Destroy the Villain: She kills the team, but is then kidnapped by Nick, he thinks he’s killed her, but she manages to survive, and tracks him down and kills him.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by  Barbara Gilmore.

[Nick Walsh]

Nick’s Hero and Villain

What I learned: I used the extrapolation method as I wrote. It’s a great technic for stretching your creativity.

Concept:

Concept: After he and his Latino friends are captured by cannibalistic skinheads during a campout in rural Georgia, a military war hero with PTSD and no legs manages to escape, but must stay and find a way to save his friends or they will be killed and eaten before dawn.

Nutshell: A military war hero with no legs must find a way to save his friends from being eaten by cannibalistic skinheads.

Hero Morally Right: Juan wants to save his friends.

Villain Morally Wrong: Mankill wants to kill and eat them.

Hero: Juan

Unique Skill Set

Military trained and ex-cage fighter.

B. Motivation

Revenge and eradication of evil.

C. Secret or Wound

No legs; PTSD; his protheses destroyed.

Villain: Mankill

Unbeatable

Seems to have unlimited resource to other, likeminded skinheads.

B. Plan/Goal

To capture and eat Juan and his friends.

C. What they lose if Hero survives

His kin and gang of skinheads die horribly.

Impossible Mission

Puts Hero in Action

He must protect his wife from getting raped.

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best:

He crafts scythe-like weapons for legs.

C. Destroy the Villain

He kills all skinheads that get in his way of escape with his friends.

[Bryan]

Bryan’s Hero and Villain

What I learned doing this assignment is Hero and Villain prompts help to answer the core of the action, and advance the plot.

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: Stopping Archon’s plan to oppress humanity.<div>

Villain Morally Wrong: It’s not oppression, it’s domesticated farming.

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: Hybrid Alien gifts, telepathic, telesomatic, and can use alien weapon technology.</div><div>

B. Motivation: Discovers his father, and grandfather had been killed.

C. Secret or Wound: Porn addiction, control freak.

Villain

A. Unbeatable: High level of coordination, superior technology, unlimited funds, willing dupes. B. Plan/Goal: Keep timelines in chaos, as to suppress any human victories. </div><div>

C. What they lose if Hero survives: they lose another planet to species evolution. Humans become “As Gods” and compete with them.

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: He’s on a team for the first rogue nation, realizes they are taking out Archon’s enemies. </div><div>

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Continues the mission, with a twist.

C. Destroy the Villain: Realizes the last Archon is within the United States.

Improved answers, added a bit to some of the sections above.

</div>

[Jeff Bassetti]

THE FOUNDLINGS

Hero: JW and Olivia (temp names of the retired smugglers) Din Djarin and the Foundlings

Villain: Asa Dern and the Bounty Hunters

I am learning to dig deeper into creating better characters- what I hope to get through is how not to “tell” this and come up with creative ways to “show”.

Concept:

Hero Morally Right – help the Jedi keep her pods out of the hands of the Empire and see the Foundlings delivered safely to their surrogate Mandalorian parents.

Villain Morally Wrong – the Bounty Hunters will stop at nothing to get their hands on the Empire’s prize- those three pods. They kill anyone associated with the pods to keep their existence a secret.

Hero

The JW and Olivia – shipmates who fell in love, got married. They actually achieved that final big score; they retired and had a family.

A. – UNIQUE SKILLS – They are very good at staying under the Authority’s Radar.

B. – MOTIVATION – an attempt at a good deed forces them into a flight and fight for survival.

C. – SECRET WOUND – The sins of the parent are visited upon the children. Their son and daughter were killed because a ghost from their past came looking for them and killed their kids by mistake.

Din Djarin and the Foundlings –

A. – UNIQUE SKILLS – employ the only skills these kids have at such a young age- school yard skills. Hide and Go Seek and Capture the Flag.

B. – MOTIVATION – The Foundlings are orphans, seeking to belong as they have lost everything in their life starting with their parents.

C. – SECRET WOUND – they are orphans who still bear the scars of losing their parents. They distrust anyone who is not Mandalorian. Din hates and fears Droids because they directly killed his family. He doesn’t understand that they are but instruments of the political separatist movement that was staging a false flag attack to employ the Clone Troopers.

Villain

A. – UNBEATABLE – coldblooded and ruthless. They have a tracking device on the Pods and are always right on their heels.

B. – PLAN / GOAL – Get the Jedi Pods to the cloners on Kamino.

C. – WHAT THEY LOSE – they lose Money. Respect of the Underworld denizens.

Impossible Mission

· A. Puts Hero in Action – Din and the Foundlings steal from the Smuggler’s Wife- She confronts them and offers to bring them home and feed them.

Smuggler stumbles upon a young Jedi woman who has been wounded in a shootout- she still maintains watch over the three pods.

· B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Escape and stay alive to deliver the Jedi and her pods and then find the Foundling’s Mandalorian caregivers.

· C. Destroy the Villain – The Bounty Hunters eventually kill the Smuggler and his wife. Honor bound, the Foundlings follow after the Bounty Hunters to complete their mission- going to the planet Kamino, an alien world they know nothing about. In stealing back the Pods, the Bounty Hunters are killed for letting this happen.

Extrapolate: If the Foundlings lose JW and Olivia then how can they make it against the seasoned Bounty Hunters out in interstellar space?

[Wayne Hazle]

“Untitled Janine Henderson Adventure 2″‘

Janine Henderson / General Vaska Resnik. (Hero / Villain)

What I learned by doing this assignment is that by spelling out these key points of the script, I am laying building blocks and setting up great tension.

CONCEPT

In a breakaway republic in an Eastern European nation, a plane carrying the President and other major politicians is shot down. Janine Henderson, student journalist extraordinaire sees the event. She discovers that the assassination is actually a coup d’état by a rogue general who is using it a cover to begin ethnically cleansing his country of a minority group of Muslims. Janine works to get word out to the world about the genocide and stop it.

• Hero Morally Right – Janine wants to let the world know about the genocide and stop it.

• Villain Morally Wrong – General Resnik wants to control his country and is willing to massacre people to do it

HERO – Janine Henderson

• Unique Skill Set – Technology, Journalism, martial Arts

• Motivation – A burning desire to tell the truth and to see justice

• Secret or Wound – Her parents divorcing has sent her in an emotional tailspin

VILLAIN – General Vaska Resnik

• Unbeatable – General Resnik controls the military, and all outside communications. He has a roving gang of thugs who are devoted to him

• Plan/Goal – To seize all power in his country and ethnically cleanse it

• What they lose if the hero survives – He will lose power and go to jail as a war criminal

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION

• Put hero in Action – A plane carrying the President gets shot down. A massacre begins of a local Muslim population

• Demands They Go Beyond Their Best – Janine uses her skill to evade being captured or killed and to get evidence of the genocide out to the world

• Destroy the Villain – Janine must stop General Resnik. She fights to the death with his henchman Damir Kaminsky.

[Dan Hart]

Texas Tee

What I learned doing this assignment is top let ideas marinate in your head. You must also consider the tone of the piece.

Concept: A father disappears, leaving a teenage son alone, in their West Texas junk yard. Three historical characters are left in the father’s place, apparently arriving by a time machine.

Hero Morally Right:

Nick welcomes the three time travelers even though they are nude and disoriented. At turning point in act 1, Nick figures out who these people are. While he searches for his eccentric genius father, he vows to return them safely to the correct place and time. He is trying to save the world for all time.

Villain Morally Wrong:

A star high school QB, Chad befriends Nick, a bench warmer. Turns out Chad is an alien in human form who was inadvertently snatched out of the future where he and his alien colleagues were sent to take over Earth. The aliens are going to take over Earth in the future. They just need to get back to the future time.

Hero: Nick

A. Unique Skill Set: He is a very bright kid and very independent. HIS SUPER POWER IS THAT HE READS BOOKS. His unique skill is he knows history. He reads an old set of encyclopedias saved at the junk yard. He is a geek at school, although he made the football team on sheer grit. He has grit when fewer and fewer people don’t.<div>

B. Motivation: He wishes to get his father back and return the Earth to a safe time plan while not allowing the aliens to return to the future and conquest of the Earth.C. Secret or Wound : He is an only child who lost his mother. He can’t lose his father.

Villain; Chad the QB

A. Unbeatable: Leads a group of aliens teenagers and teachers. They are extremely popular given their rule as successful athletes and cheerleaders at the local high school. Their most effective power is telepathic communication with other aliens. Otherwise, they are kind of ignorant. They don’t know how to do time travel or space travel. They’re soldiers and bureaucrats, not scientists nor experts in their technology (like most humans).</div><div>

B. Plan/Goal Since they are not educated in time travel, they need Nick and the three historical figures/geniuses to get them back to the future on earth so they can plan the conquest of planet

C. What they lose if Hero survives: They lose their ability to conquer the earth and return to their own planet

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action Nick uses his own skills and the skills of the famous time travelers/geniuses to reconstruct the time machine and provided the power to send them back. We have in mind a very specific mechanical device now present. It can provide speeds close to the speed of light which is needed for time travel together with massive amounts of energy.</div>

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: The time travelers and geniuses of history must learn to work together and understand what the world knows now.

C. Destroy the Villain: Send the aliens to a time when they can do no harm and there is no chance at time travel.

[Robert Belcastro]

ASSIGNMENT:

Robert Belcastro

Hero: Mark

Villain: Yary

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

I got a more specific idea about creating the individual characters, individually, and how they will interact. Also, that there are probably infinite variations that can be created for ANY part of any story.

Going back through the story with these questions is key to polishing up my ideas.

Ctrl-Z can be VERY handy!

Hero Morally Right: Mark has to regain his integrity by standing up to his former boss. Being more intelligent wins!

Villain Morally Wrong: Yary, Mark’s boss, forces Mark to violate his integrity by ordering him to do something illegal. Yary is very clever but has gaps in his actions that allow for him to be taken down if these gaps are discovered, and Mark knows these gaps.

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: Mark is Very observant – Intelligent – some degree of seeing the future outcomes of events and decisions both his and the villains’ plans and actions. Starts out as wimp who can’t hold his ground. Life events put him into positions where he has to take actions to save his own life in order to survive and bring Yary and his organization down.

B. Motivation: Mark is bullied into violating his integrity at first and losing his position in the company and losing his reputation and his fortune. He’s also forced to be on the lamb because his actions were illegal and now he is being hunted by both law enforcement who want to imprison him and by his Boss’s henchmen who want to silence him (kill him). His decision to give in to the bullying cost him his fortune, his position, his freedom and respect of his family and his friends. He’s friendless in a hostile environment. Has to survive to save his mother’s home and be able to get his girl.

C. Secret or Wound: grew up very poor. Girls laughed at him. Long-term fight to gain financial goals in order to be able to protect his aged mother’s security and to pursue the girl of his dreams. Just as he was about to achieve his long-fought-for dream, Yary pulls the rug from under him.

Villain

A. Unbeatable: Has no compassion for anyone. Sinister. Greedy beyond belief! Well-established organization. Lots of henchmen willing to unquestioningly do his evil bidding. Financial superiority over hero. Already entrenched. Owns public officials.

B. Plan/Goal: ensnare the whole city in his financial traps.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: Lose their wealth and their power and descend into the poor house class they are currently exploiting to get and maintain their dominating wealth.

Possibly go to prison!

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero into Action:

Keep alive and out of prison while he works to expose former Boss’s illegal operations.

Mark, at first at least, has no friends to turn to for help. He has to live solely by his wits.

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: He has to come up with finance but has none himself because villain has taken it all. He doesn’t yet understand the depth of the corruption of the villain. Naïve about the corruption and its parts that interlace into their small town society. Has to fight them mentally as well as physically.

C. Destroy the Villain: Has to gain the upper hand and bring his boss down, legally, intelligently, physically and ethically. Has to learn the evil ways and learn how to protect himself as well as how to advance his standing and abilities to cope with what the villain is throwing at him. Has to set a fool-proof trap for his street-wise boss to step into. And then spring it at just the right moment that the cops are there to witness it and capture the Boss.

Tell us your improved answers: I improved the answers by getting more specific and in the process thought of other things that are happening that need to be accounted for. Also it led me to see the story developing further along than initially. Each item had these improvements.

[Leah Gunderson]

Title: Eagles (The eagle is the strongest and bravest of all birds. For this reason, Native Americans have chosen the eagle and its feathers as <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>a symbol of what is highest, bravest, strongest and holiest. In the Native American culture, eagle feathers are given to another in honor, and the feathers are worn with dignity and pride. (Googled reference). These personal qualities are the opposite of the racist stereotypes imposed upon these teens in the movie.

Main Characters: Darryl Pikyavit (hero) and Mike Smith (villain)

What I Learned: I couldn’t resist applying the “fill in the blanks” to 15 other scripts I have drafted and I learned a lot. Then I just had to watch several movies to see if what I thought I learned can actually be seen in produced movies. I did!

When the Hero’s unique skill set, motivation, and secret or wound are something physical (filmable) it is easier to use that the subplots as extensions of the Hero’s flaws (codependent, maladaptive behaviors), unknown strengths (overcoming coping mechanisms), possibilities (new systems of living). Same for the villain. If the core component of the hero and villain are filmable and physical, then it is easier to use the subplots as symbols that explore the main characters’ maladaptive coping mechanisms. This drives the story forward because codependent, maladaptive coping mechanisms center around power struggles. So, this is how really effective movies give depth and meaning to the conflict. I never saw it this clearly.

Concept:

Hero Morally Right: Maturity brings independence.<div>

Villain Morally Wrong: Childfication requires a parent to manage them and their immaturity.

Hero

A. Unique Skill Set: Water Polo</div><div>

B. Motivation: Statue of a “Noble Native” (mythical)

C. Secret or Wound: Dad (hero is ashamed of his father)

Villain

A. Unbeatable: Legal Resources to Persecute and Control False Narrative (law, police, DCFS, school counselor, etc.)</div><div>

B. Plan/Goal: Mike wants to make Darryl dependent on him to control him.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: The principle and vice principle will be defaced and loss public trust.

Impossible Mission

A. Puts Hero in Action: Affidavit</div><div>

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Legends coming Alive & Legal System

C. Destroy the Villain: Legal accusations denied and dismissed

How to Write it Better

Tell us your improved answers: I need to make the component physical objects. And the story needs to have authentic reasons for the physical objects selected.

Marketable Components for EAGLES

Logline: A Paiute prophet, Wavoka, sees the future of four falsely accused Paiute teens fighting for control of their modern lives, while ancient legends awaken to test their manhood and value to their ancestors.

A. Unique: Need for Native American actors. Elevates contemporary teens above stereotypes of their future on a rez.

B. Great Title: Eagles. The eagle is the strongest and bravest of all birds. For this reason, Native Americans have chosen the eagle and its feathers as a symbol of what is highest, bravest, strongest and holiest. In the Native American culture, eagle feathers are given to another in honor, and the feathers are worn with dignity and pride (Google). These personal qualities are the opposite of the racist stereotypes imposed upon these teens in the movie.

C. True: Based on Paiute teens who ran away when falsely accused of vandalizing a vending machine at the local high school.

D. Timely: Young men of all ethnicities need to believe they can be good men, husbands, and fathers who are successful providers for their families.

E. It’s a First: Ghost Dance applied to prophetic fulfillment via time travel to the modern rising generation is a first.

F. Ultimate: Ancient v. Modern

G: Wide Audience Appeal: Target Audience 18-60 year olds

H. Adapted from Popular Book: n/a

I. Similar Box Office Successes: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (gross profit of $226+ million)/ Whale Rider (gross profit of $41 million)

J. A Great Role for Bankable Actor: Forrest Goodluck and D;Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai

Brainstorm:

I know this will take longer, I am learning a lot by comparing multiple drafts with each other when I attempt each lesson because it forces me to differentiate each genre with the different story beats and intended emotionality expressed through very different physical objects. So, I feel like I need to do this. I am seeing that these different drafts are about my life hidden behind the safety of fiction, but fully expressed in the emotionality. The comparison is forcing me to make each story (life experience) separate and unique as fictitious exteriors with real interiors. I guess what is happening is that I can tell when I am getting it “right” when I feel that the story holds the potential to change me. If I can accomplish this with each script, then perhaps my scripts could offer audiences the potential of change for themselves as well.

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