-
Day 3 Assignments
Reply to post your assignments.
-
66 Replies
-
Tracy’s Subtext Characters
I love discovering the subtext of my characters!
I will do whatever it takes to become a successful author and screenwriter with multiple successful movies produced.
What I learned from doing this assignment that a person’s actions or convictions should spark subtext, whether it’s positive or negative.
3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name:
Anna Asbury Stone
Subtext
Identity: Security Wound—losing a loved one
Subtext Trait:
Secretive
Subtext Logline:
Anna has a security wound about being left without a protector/loved one
and covers it both by marrying a steady, reliable man and developing skill
as a healer. When she is under stress, she takes matters into her own hands
and illegally inoculates patients against smallpox, or by embarks on a
journey to “save” her soldier brothers and husband.
Possible Areas
of Subtext: The advocate/the spyCharacter Name:
Anna Asbury Stone (part 2)
Subtext identity:
Secret
Subtext trait:
Hiding Something
Subtext logline:
Anna was orphaned as a child and forced to become an indentured servant. As
an adult she put her past behind her and sought security for herself and
her children above all, but when her husband’s life is in jeopardy, she
puts her own safety on the line to travel 200 miles alone to Valley Forge
to make certain he survives to come home to her and their children.
Possible area of
subtext: VictimCharacter Name:
Benjamin Stone
Subtext
Identity: Withholding
Subtext trait:
Hiding something/Afraid to Say
Subtext logline:
Benjamin is a peacemaker, a minister, a steady, reliable man of God who
withholds his intention to fight to the death to realize his dream of
religious liberty. When he is under stress, he fights physically instead
of with words, and does not hesitate to enlist to fight the British.
Possible area of
subtext: Lawyer/Advocate-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Tracy Lawson.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
-
Hilton Garrett, Actor Attractors
20220620
My vision: I will learn and use the lessons of this course to write marketable scripts that producers love.
What I learned: One thing that came crystal clear is that my concept is nowhere on the scale as good as my example movie (Ford vs. Ferrari). In fact it’s really lame. This lesson exposed the depth that I need to reach, the complexity, the subtext, the character definition, on and on. But this is where it is at the moment, and even though I can see the deficiency of my own, I now have a much clearer picture of what I need to do to bring it up. This was a turning point.
Actor Attractors for my movie
Title: Unspeakable Testimony
Genre: Action, Romance
Concept: A hiker discovers a human skeleton in the woods and recognizes a gold charm he gave his girlfriend in high school, and discovers that she is now living with a violent militia leader who, along with his little army is plotting chaos and destruction.
Lead Character’s actor attractors
(in order as they appear on the list in the assignment)
1. Range of expression, from a somewhat bewildered wonderment about what is going on to self-discovery through sadness and loss, anxiety, anger, determination and ultimately disregard for all but the mission.
2. Fighting the bear, going in the river to save his dog, losing the dog and confronting his sadness, digging up facts about the militia, facing his past with Jaime while also dealing with Anna Lee, struggling with deciding what to do about the militia, breaking in to the militia compound, fighting militia members and getting beat up, locked up in the compound, finding a way to get free, showdown with Bird Dog, the head of the militia, becoming free of his past and able to be with Anna Lee.
3. Fighting off the bear, crossing the river, jumping into the river to save the dog, infiltrating the militia, confronting the militia leader, fighting the militia, blowing up the compound.
4. Facing off against a hungry bear at his campsite in the mountains with his girlfriend.
5. Heartache and loss to righteous rage and determination.
6. The right/wrong struggle in life/society. An ordinary man facing lethal extremist views. Wanting to love Anna Lee but stuck in his past hurt.
7. With Anna Lee
8. Holding back on Anna Lee, holding on to Jaime. Arguing with the sheriff. Arguing with Bird Dog, fighting Bird Dog after he becomes clear about the stakes. Standing up for what he knows is right even though it might kill him.
9. He doesn’t want to go on this journey but integrity demands it so he embraces the demand and undergoes a transformation along the way.
———-end assignment————
-
Claire’s Subtext Characters
MY VISION:
I have a fabulous career as a screenwriter working in both TV and film, and I have tremendous creative, financial, and personal success. I specialize in female driven projects, and I am the go-to-girl for writing lesbian stories.
What I learned: To relax and it will be easier and more fun to do the exercise and take less time. Struggle just makes things hard and tedious, and wastes time.
2. With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Character Name: Clarice Starling
Subtext Identity: FBI agent
Subtext Trait: devious
Subtext Logline: Clarice Starling is a devious FBI agent who schemes to get information out of Hannibal Lechter to solve her case.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Every conversation with Hannibal Lechter; while she interviews people during her investigation; With her boss, who she is trying to impress.
Concept 1 – HORROR STORY
Character Name: Maeve
Subtext Identity: investigator
Subtext Trait: polite and scheming
Subtext Logline: Maeve is a polite and scheming investigator who must overcome her controlling wife to find out who is causing women to murder their wives.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Pretty much any conversation with her wife, Sybil, such as when she tries to convince Sybil there is something wrong, get Sybil to leave the movie set; get Sybil to cooperate with her séance, etc. With the other women in the story, acting as if nothing is wrong so as not to upset them.
Character Name: Sybil
Subtext Identity: boss
Subtext Trait: manipulative
Subtext Logline: Sybil is a manipulative director and star of the movie who wants to control everything and everyone on set.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Flattering actors; hiding the discord between herself and her wife from the other actors; hiding what she knows from the others to control their behavior.
Concept 2 – THRILLER STORY
Character Name: Eve
Subtext Identity: CIA agent
Subtext Trait: secretive
Subtext Logline: Eve is a secretive CIA agent who hides her identity, her wounds, and her emotions, from others.
Possible Areas of Subtext: With her girlfriend, Debbie, with the FBI, etc.
Character Name: Patty
Subtext Identity: con woman
Subtext Trait: scheming
Subtext Logline: Patty is a scheming con woman who had her daughter kidnapped, then framed her daughter’s girlfriend for the crime.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Every time she opens her mouth. She lies to the FBI, she lies to her family, she lies to Eve. She is always lying.
-
KRISTIN’S SUBTEXT CHARACTERS
VISION: “I want the personal, professional, and financial freedom and joy that come from writing so well that I’m in demand, selling beyond my wildest dreams, and making worthy projects—on a big scale and with my active, collegial participation.”
WHAT I LEARNED doing this assignment: It was fun to consider the subtext as similar to personality disorders or traumas or something—the things that operate in the background of people every day. I have a counseling background, and I had never thought of subtext in this exact way—I mean, in this context of making a simple and transparent structure where the “hidden thing” is so clearly drawn. Cool.’
Example movie—character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?
Character Name: Ulysses Everett McGill
Subtext Identity: A small-time guy who wants to be respectable, and respected, lawyer.
Subtext Trait: Smooth talker, tries to act smart
Subtext Logline: Ulysses is in jail for practicing law without a license, but he wants more than anything for his wife to take him back; and she doesn’t fall for his shit.
Possible Areas of Subtext: The escape; trying to get to the wife before she marries someone else; navigating all the obstacles (bad guys, cops, KKK); interactions with wife.
My two leads:
Character Name: PETE (Protagonist)<div>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Subtext Identity: Whipping Boy
<div>
Subtext Traits: non-confrontational; self-reliant; mediator (which comes out as “bossy” or “know-it-all”)
Subtext Logline: As the smartest and least understood person in his (backstabbing, selfish) family, he turns inward and falls into science—which is taken away. More than once.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Thrust into the limelight for the worst reasons; having to choose sides; having to fight, fight, fight; having to face the accusations of the prosecution, people in the public who don’t pay attention, and eventually his own family. Also, having to learn that he actually is “okay,” and he can win without betraying his own morals.
Character Name: SLICK WILLY (prosecutor)
Subtext Identity: Prosecuting attorney with an inferiority complex.
Subtext Traits: Bullies, threatens, manipulates
Subtext Logline: The prosecuting attorney “with all the power” manipulates a bad case into existence because he wants to be promoted.
Possible Areas of Subtext: The initial seizure, and talking the judge into allowing it; exaggerating the scope of the case to make it more important in the press; how he handles the case throughout.
</div></div>
-
Andrew Kelm’s Subtext Characters
Vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to be a great writer of TV and movies who is sought after by people I respect within the industry and has multiple successful TV series produced.
What I learned doing this assignment is… how to be more specific about character subtext.
Example Movie character:
- Movie Title: LABOR DAY
- Character Name: Adele
- Subtext Identity: a single mother who longs to have a man in her life
- Subtext Trait: depressed; withdrawn
- Subtext Logline: Adele is a kidnapping victim who falls in love with her kidnapper
- Possible Areas of Subtext: submissive; she wants to do the right thing but can’t help assisting the criminal because he could make her dreams come true; she is agoraphobic because she is deeply ashamed that she can’t have children — she believes that no man would want her.
My two leads:
FATEMONGERS; a psychic with a blind spot for abusive men uses subtle manipulations to murder a sexual predator who seduces her to get to her sons.
- Character Name: Daphne
- Subtext Identity: a psychic who convinces the world that she is absolutely honest, and in control of her life. But underneath she is drawn to dangerous men who victimize her.
- Subtext Trait: defensive; on the surface she is totally open but that hides a rock-solid defense against core vulnerability that can lead her to be reckless on the surface; secretive and conniving
- Subtext Logline: Daphne is a victim of abuse who pretends to be chill about it but secretly wants revenge.
- Possible Areas of Subtext: defensive; on the surface she is disarmingly open with her clients and the people around her, but underneath she protects a vulnerability, a madness born of early abuse that the wrong man can release. She flirts with that sometimes in ways that can seem reckless.
- Character Name: Roy
- Subtext Identity: A con man who enjoys something tenfold if he gets it through trickery
- Subtext Trait: liar; he is sneaky — always trying to get away with something
- Subtext Logline: Roy is a con man who secretly wants to be punished
- Possible Areas of Subtext: a no-good charmer who constantly pushes his luck
-
Rebecca’s Subtext Characters
Vision: My vision for my success from this program is to be the go-to writer for producers looking for incredible scripts for successful movies enjoyed by a vast viewing audience.
What I learned from this assignment is by adding a few more subtext (human fraility) traits for my characters I can notch up their interactions through use of dialog and action.
Movie Title: The Irishman <div>Character Name: Frank Sheeran
Subtext Identity: A congenial hitman for the Italian mafia.
Subtext Trait: crafty, detached, unremorsefulSubtext Logline: Frank Sheeran is a cunning hitman able to emotionally detach from the victims he kills.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Shows his expertise through well planned, quick, and deadly hits. Shows no remorse weather his hit is friend or foe. Despite being Hoffa’s bodyguard and best friend, Frank kills him when ordered.
Movie Title: Ragman’s War
Character Name: Ragman </div>
Subtext Identity: A war hero who struggles to hide his battle fatigue.
Subtext Trait: vigilent, combative, evasive
Subtext Logline: Ragman, a war hero, manages to control his dark rage until the commander of the invading coal and iron police brutally dominates his town.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Ragman throws rocks at targets to control his anger. He sets his jaw so not to explode. He grumps at those he loves. Decides to kill Bucholtz, the commander. Griped by dark rage yet confronts Bucholtz.
Character Name: Bucholtz
Subtext Identity: Commander of the coal and iron police to end the strike in Russellton by any means.
Subtext Trait: revengeful, brutal, cunning, manipulative
Subtext Logline: Bucholtz, a disgraced German officer, hides his identity to weasel his way to command the coal and iron police to extract revenge on the American soldier who ruined his life.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Bucholtz hides his connection to Ragman. He stalks Ragman’s pacifist brother Ervin, brutally whips him, and leaves him to die in the cold rain. He masks his desire to “have” Ragman’s wife, Ludie and seduces her young sister. When Ragman refuses to fight him, Bucholtz gives into his desire and rapes Ludie. He becomes undone during a second encounter with Ervin because the man still will not fight back and decends deeper in to drink and insanity. When Ragman confronts Bucholtz, the commander is seconds from revenge until the Township Counstible intervenes and arrests Ragman.
-
Pat Fitzgerald’s Subtext Characters
Vision: I have the courage and conviction to create contest winning screenplays and will continue to have my scripts optioned and produced.
What I learned: Subtext is the key to creating depth to my characters. Learning their subtext is helping me see how to develop my script’s plot.
Example Movie: Hustlers
Character name: Ramona
Subtext Identity: A stripper out to hustle men out of their money.
Subtext trait: Friendly and generout
Subtext logline: Ramona is a hardass stripper who befriends her fellow strippers as a means to involve them in her plots to hustle men out of their money.
My characters:
Name: Jaki Sue
Subtext identity: Scared she’s going to be broke and destitute in her old age.
Subtext trait: Desperate, quick thinking
Subtext logline: Jaki Sue is an aging stripper who is determined to pull one last con in order to ensure her financial security.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Visits assisting living homes to entertain the residents. Lies about her motives to entertain in this venue. Offers to let an assisted living resident move in with her. Can’t accept that she’s actually falling in love with that resident.
Name: Judee
Subtext Identity: Judee still bears childhood scars of being convinced that she’s not the brightest bulb.
Subtext trait: Silly, great at convincing others that she’s helpless.
Subtext logline: In order to cover up her feelings of inferiority, Judee adapts a silly, party girl persona.
Possible areas of subtext: Depends on her bff, Jaki Sue to help support her. Turns a clown act into a sexy dance number. She starts a dance class in an assisted living home. Tries to talk herself out of enrolling in tech school classes.
-
Hilton Garrett, Subtext Characters
20220621
My vision: I will learn and use the lessons of this course to write marketable scripts that producers love.
What I learned: I learned to look at the characters in a different way than before; to look deeper into the past of each character and discovering ways that their past influences the present.
EXAMPLE MOVIE
Ford vs. Ferrari
Written by J and J-H Butterworth, and Jason Keller
Character Name: Ken Miles
Subtext Identity: A great race car driver who irritates most people
Subtext trait: Prickly and argumentative
Subtext logline: Ken is a race car driver whose prickly personality affects his career
Possible areas /subtext: With Shelby, with Beebe, with other drivers
MY MOVIE
Character name: Benny Smith
Subtext identity; An ordinary man hurt by loss and rejection as a child, and as a teenager
Subtext trait: Skeptical and untrusting of women, longing for connection
Subtext logline: Benny is an everyman who lost his mother at age eight and was rejected by his high school sweetheart causing him to distrust relationships and become a workaholic
Possible areas/subtext: With Anna Lee, with his work, with Jaime
Character Name: Anna Lee
Subtext Identity: A former ballerina who was molested by her instructor
Subtext trait: Controlling, wary but longing for connection
Subtext logline: Anna Lee, innocence shattered at age 14 tries to live a normal life but when challenged reverts to a strong and hard protective shield
Possible areas/subtext: With Benny, with Jaime
-
Micki’s Subtext Characters
My vision: Be recognized as a writer that will work with the industry and would do what it takes to be that WRITER.
What I learned from doing this assignment is really fun to do. It is like a jigsaw puzzle putting pieces together. And seeing the characters coming alive.
I am EMPOWERED!
With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: SISTERS
Character Name: KATE ELLIS
Subtext Identity: THE ONE WHO THROWS OUTRAGE PARTIES
Subtext Trait: IRRESPONSIBLE-LOSER
Subtext Logline: Kate is the one that parties, the last party at her parents’ home, Kate becomes the party mom, which she does at first and then starts partying.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
She goes out to get some more alcohol and finds her sister’s phone, and scrolls and sees that her sister knows where Hailey, Kate’s daughter, was at. She goes back and confronts her sister and a huge fight breaks out between the sisters.
MOVIE: FIREWORKS
Character Name:
DAKOTA TANNER
Subtext Identity:
She wants to marry the man of her dreams
Subtext Traits:
Hiding something-Afraid to say-Secret
Subtext Logline:
She wants to end the feud while locked up in the attic. She tells her sister why and doesn’t care if sister approves or not.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
With her sister, Blake and her love interest John Grant.
Character Name:
BLAKE RILEY
Subtext Identity:
Doesn’t want her sister to be happy for costing Blake the man of her life.
Subtext Trait:
Sneaky-<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Undercover-<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Scheming-<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Devious
Subtext Logline:
Blake lives an unhappy life with her husband and children because she believes she settled just to be married.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
In the attic with her sister, arguing and throwing items at Dakota. She confesses she is the reason that John broke up with Dakota.
-
Module 3 Lesson 3
· Kevin Ash’s Subtext Characters
· Vision: I will be living in paradise, writing prolifically at my leisure, respected and sought after for my interesting and thought provoking films.
What I learned from doing this assignment is my characters have opposing underlying personalities but similar traits and subtext underneath. Both are driven by the same demons and act out on it in similar ways. Mirrors of each other essentially.
2. With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: Lethal Weapon
Character Name: Riggs
Subtext Identity: A detective who is addicted to
adrenaline
Subtext Trait: unpredictable, outrageous
Subtext Logline: Rigs is a detective who is unpredictable
and gets results by outrageous means.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Has a deathwish. Doesn’t
care about himself or how he looks or acts. Engages in addictive behavior,
alcohol, adrenaline, falls in love and finally finds himself again.3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Evan / Dane
Subtext Identity: A student/young man who can’t
reconcile his need for love with the love he receives / A father who would
give anything for his son to not fall into his patterns to no avail.
Subtext Trait: demonized, tortured / demonized,
tortured
Subtext Logline: Evan is a young man who wants
desperately to help others at all costs only to have addiction get in his
way. / Dane is a caring father who fights to save his son from his
addictions but ends up enabling him in the process
Possible Areas of Subtext: Drinking, doing drugs,
getting into a stupor and shutting himself away, doing outrageous things
to help others without regard for own safety / Drinking, stifling with rules,
strict, tries to mold son out of his image while driving him directly into
it. -
Zeke’s Subtext Characters – MITCH & NEW MITCH
VISION FOR SUCCESS: I will deliver delicious, surprising, seemingly effortless work, that is constantly in demand and causes people to recommend me for original and rewrite projects without hesitation.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT IS it’s really subtext that’s driving the story.
TITLE: Cousin Mitch
MITCH
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: Identity Wound
SUBTEXT TRAIT: Concealing/Manipulating. Genius.
SUBTEXT LOGLINE: Mitch has an identity wound and avoids revealing it at any cost.
Mitch has an identity wound and avoids revealing it, and lashes out when he’s forced to see a new perspective on his life.
POSSIBLE AREAS OF SUBTEXT: Without identity. Socially alienated. Social anxiety. Shitting on a girl on the first day of school. Literally catatonic or explosive at school. Shuts out others. Pretends to be Cousin Mitch… Invents time travel. Tries to keep a secret and change the past. Experiences a new present as his old self, but no one knows who he is. He’s ‘Cousin Mitch’… Performing a great magic trick. Opens up his wound where he had always shut it. First with New Mitch, then New Sophie, New Robbie, New Mom, New Simon, and even his New Dog.
NEW MITCH
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: The Seducer
SUBTEXT TRAIT: Manipulative
SUBTEXT LOGLINE:
POSSIBLE AREAS OF SUBTEXT: A brilliant magician. Charms everyone he speaks to. Manipulates people, but they seem to be perfectly happy to gain his attention in exchange.
Gives Cousin Mitch a chance to take part in a new reality. He believes in the multiverse, while Cousin Mitch. Names Mitch, Cousin Mitch. Seduces New Mitch has hooked up with New Sophie… And with New Robbie and New Simon, together…
Oh… Sophie… Yeah, we used to hook up. And then I started to think… Maybe I don’t like her… Or maybe I didn’t like her because she doesn’t like me… Or maybe I just don’t like her and she doesn’t like me.
-
Jenifer Stockdale’s Subtext Characters
Vision: I will write every day, not only producing high volume but high quality scripts that will ultimately be made into popular movies and television shows.
What I learned doing this assignment is that I need to ensure subtext in both layers – at first I started with just “her subtext is that she is really a patient in the hospital where she thinks she works” but having subtext within subtext is only going to make it better.
Movie Title: SPLICED
Character Name: DACEY (within the delusion)
Subtext Identity: unethical cheater
Subtext Trait: sleeps with patients
Subtext Logline: Dacey is an unethical cheater as she is married and sleeps with her patients.
Possible Areas of Subtext: When she is at work there can be a hint to Tom to come to her house (that nobody gets, very subtextual). She can come out of a patients’ room adjusting clothing, this is why Tom gets killed by her husband (thinks they are having affair), when she wakes up in morning and has had dream it is about sleeping with Tom and hearing and then seeing her husband outside the window (windchime and planter falling over) even though this not what we saw happen before – they were in living room and he says shh and they hear wind chime and planter fall – Dacey goes out in morning and sees no planters fallen, but then there is a dirt on ground so it was picked up (does Dacey see this, or just audience?) also footprints outside the window (again does Dacey see?) – no matter if she sees or not, daughter calls her name/smoke detector goes off and she leaves the backyard not seeing/ not remembering or focusing on what she sees (if she does).
The other Dacey (CHRISTINA)
Subtext Identity: she is actually a patient in the hospital
Subtext Trait: dreams up a life for herself
Subtext Logline: Dacey appears to be a nurse in the psych unit but she is actually a patient named Christina who is watching/listening to everything that is going on and is “splicing” it together to make a fantasy life for herself while she is in a catatonic state
Possible Areas of Subtext: we will constantly see “Christina” in the background, her eye opens, etc. “Dacey” will have the delusion where she blinks and sees her patient clothes, then blinks again and sees her nurse clothes, Dacey will have delusions within her delusions, the real Dacey is “Darcey” and she will be seen in the background as well, but never focused on, at the end someone calls out “Darcey” and an unfamiliar woman turns around – someone says “She’s awake” and Darcey goes to the Dacey we know – calls her Christina and talks to her about the fact that Tom is not dead. Also earlier, a doc is talking to a new nurse about splicing but again in background, not focused on and audience should not pick up on who he is talking about.
Character Name: The husband (name?)
Subtext Identity: an alcoholic (supposed to be in recovery but has relapsed) a cheater but kills the man who his wife cheats with
Subtext Trait: do as I say, not as I do
Subtext Logline: Husband is a relapsed alcoholic and lying cheater turned killer when his wife cheats on him. (this sounds like I’m a seriously disgruntled woman/wife but I am not! I’ve never had these kinds of issues with my husband! LOL)
Possible Areas of Subtext: at anniversary party makes toast with sparkling water but Dacey finds what she thinks is his cup with alcohol, supposed to be away but looking in window when Tom is there (?), talking to Dacey about getting back together while he’s getting oral sex from another woman, while Dacey is at restaurant waiting for him he goes to house and takes kids, makes it like he is coming for Christmas then stays in car and has phone sex with his girlfriend, makes Dacey think he is going to help her with the police but then gives them doctored footage
-
BOB SMITH’S SUBTEXT CHARACTERS
My vision for success after this program:
I want to become a great writer who delivers entertaining, informative, and uplifting movie scripts that sell and get produced.
What I learned from doing this assignment is…?
The process of discovering subtext in characters energizes character development.
2. With YOUR Example movie, give us the following answers for the characters with the most subtext:
THE CHARACTERS WITH THE MOST SUBTEXT in “Angels in Gangland.”
Character with the most substext 1
MOVIE TITLE: “Angels in Gangland.”
CHARACTEER NAME: Lou Tasca. (Protagonist)
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: A just-slain gangster who is denied entrance to the World to Come because of his life of crime and to redeem himself must convince his wiseguy killer to quit the mob, flip, and join Witness Protection Program – just what he should have done. He must learn to override his desire to have revenge on of his killer (Carlo Vizzini) and his boss (Tony Rizzo) who ordered Carlo to whack him on false pretenses.
TRAIT: Tough guy.
SUBTEXT LOGLINE: Lou painfully learns to break free of gangster mindset and become an agent of good.
POSSIBLE AREAS OF SUBTEXT: He must learn spirit possession (reluctantly) from the
mystic Rabbi Solomon. He is in conflict with the interloping into spiritual matters by a spirit
medium (Zoey the Psychic Stripper) He also grieves that had he quit the mob he would have
kept the love of his life (Marybeth DiBenidetto) and life itself which parallels the fact that Carlo
Vizzini’s fiancé (Sherrie Falco) wants Carlo to quit the mob just as Marybeh wanted Lou to quit
the mob – this fuels Lou’s mission to get Carlo to quit the mob and join the Witness Protection
Program
Character with the most subtext 2
MOVIE TITLE: “Angels in Gangland.”
CHARACTEER NAME: Rabbi Solomon Levinsky.
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: Rabbi / Spirit Guide to Lou Tasca. Coaches him to rectify his life of Crime by getting his wiseguy killer (Carlo Vizzini) to quit the mob and enter the Witness Protectio Program – thereby getting himself his portion in the World to Come.. He also wants the collateral good of his gangster son (Sam Levinsky) to repent and follow his friend Carlo in doing the same.
TRAIT: Solomon is a man of faith who has the task of coaching Lou a Mafia wiseguy.
SUBTEXT LOGLINE: A wise, understand Rabbi / Spirit Guide who wants Lou to succeed in getting Carlo to leave the mob because it might lead his sono to also leave the mob.
POSSIBLE AREAS OF SUBTEXT: Friction with Lou on how to conduct his mission. Holds his own against Zoey the Psychic Stripper who conducts a Séance that interferes with the Soul and life-saving mission he is undertaking with Lou to save Carlo and Sam. He doesn’t like Tony Rizzo who ordered Lou’s killing because of gambling debt. He likes Russian gangster Oleg Oransky who turns out to be an FBI informant.
Character 3
MOVIE TITLE: “Angels in Gangland.”
CHARACTEER NAME: Tony Rizzo (Antagonist.).
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: Tony is a caporegime (Captain) of the Giordano crime family, whose crew includes Lou, Carlo, and Sam. After he was passed over for promotion to Underboss (Don Primo Giorgano’s second-in-command) Tony orders Carlo to kill Lou because he was divulging family secrets to members of other families (a lie..). The real reason is, Tony owed Lou $200,000 in gambling debts that he didn’t want to pay. Tony’s gumar (mistress) is Zoey the Psychic Stripper. His wife (Lisa) suspects it and Tony doesn’t know it, but Lisa is an FBI informant. Tony runs a gasoline bootlegging business with Russian mobser Oleg Oransky, also an FBI informant who plays a wiretap recording to Tony of Don Primo Giordano, calling him “not only a lush and a lousy gambler but Tony Rizzo is a scumbag who, without my authorization killed his own soldier, good ol’ Lou Tasca, a made guy. It’s a good thing I didn’t make him Underboss.” Tony takes this as a cue to start his own family. But going ahead with his plan to kill Carlo and Sam: Carlo for his insanity (hallucinations of the ghost of Lou Tasca) and both Carlo and Sam for drug-dealing.
TRAIT: Suspicious, controlling..
SUBTEXT LOGLINE: Tony Rizzo is a caporegime of a crew (that includes Lou, Carlo, and Sam) who after he was passed over for promotion to Underboss (second-in-command to Don Primo Giordano) ordered Carlo to kill Lou in order to cancel a gambling debt of $200,000, but he lies and tells Carlo that the drastic assassination of a fellowcrew member is because Lou shared family secrets with members of other families. .
POSSIBLE AREAS OF SUBTEXT: Tony trying to start his own crime family like Crazy Joe Gallo who went rogue against Joe Colombo and was whacked at Umberto’s Clam House. Can Tony succeed in killing Carlo after Sam? Will Lou successfully persuade Carlo and Sam to quit the mob before Tony can kill them? Tony dealing with his wife’s anger at his infidelities.
-
Ian Greenham’s Subtext Characters
Vision: Completing this program will significantly enhance my screenwriting skills.
Doing this assignment I learned more about building subtext into actors’ roles.
Example Movie
Movie Title: The Monuments Men
Character Name: Frank Stokes
Subtext Identity: The leader of a small group of men
handpicked to locate and recover precious artworks stolen by the Nazis.
Subtext Trait: See “Possible Ares of Subtext” below.
Subtext Logline: He hides any personal motivations beneath
his commitment to his duty.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Whist he would not willfully put
the lives of his men in danger, he believed that sacrifices made to
preserve precious cultural heritages would be worthwhile.For My Two Leads:
Character Name: Aly Silvers
Subtext Identity: Successful defense attorney
Subtext Trait: Determined to see her sister freed.
Subtext Logline: So keen to clear her recently discovered
twin sister, she may misjudge the merits of her petition to have her
sister’s conviction set aside.
Possible Areas of Subtext: As implied by the logline.Character Name: Nicki Holder
Subtext Identity: Nurse imprisoned for a murder she claims
she did not commit
Subtext Trait: Strong humanitarian streak.
Subtext Logline: Despite her anger at being wrongfully
convicted of murder, she’s still compassionate enough to give regular
blood donations.
Possible Areas of Subtext: As implied by the logline.[WIM: Module 3, Lesson 3: Character Subtext – June 21, 2022]
-
Eclipse Neilson Subtext Characters
VISION:I want to be a great award-winning writer, known for my new genre, who creates the most beautiful films that inspire others to feel deeply, pause, and ponder ways to make the world a better place.
“What I learned from doing this assignment is by using the process of letting this story come to me as I follow the assignments is fun and at the same time creates possible changes in the story. This is a great exercise when your remain open to the “getting to know you” approach with your characters.
Movie Title: THE NUN AND THE WITCH
Activity: The subtext of my lead characters.
Character Name: SISTER ANNE
Subtext Identity: Needing to speak truth to power. A rebel waiting to be set free. Perhaps falling in love with Lunea.
Subtext Trait: silent obedience, hides her past abuse and how it robbed her of any sense of self-worth – hides her desire to rebel and lead with her truth.
Subtext Logline: A shy subservient, very kind Nun must overcome her sense of powerlessness and embrace her mission to become a leader for the parish as she fights the hatred that is taking over her town which is a horrific reminder of her abusive childhood.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Is completely subservient to Father Sinclair and others. Sees abusive unloving behavior to a child and needs to stand up to the parent but struggles. Prays to Jesus for help and begins to uses a lot of “what ifs?” As she dialogs with Him.
Befriends Lunea even knowing Father Sinclair had made negative comments about her before he died.
She is able to share her childhood success as the leader of her soccer team -a hint at her strength as a young girl that was destroyed with her father’s abuse and death leaving her an orphan. ( the soccer game will be a symbolic tool for her inner rebel through out the film)
When she and Father Sinclair’s Ghost have healing she begins to step into her power.
Because I love subtext, there will be a lot of subtext in the themes with her daily ritual in the church as she evolves.
Character Name: LUNEA
Subtext Identity: She doesn’t feel she belongs and is afraid to show her vulnerability with others.
Subtext Trait: She compensates her vulnerability by always staying strong and warrior-like. Whenever overwhelmed she returns to be focused as a seeker of mystical answers.
Subtext Logline: A powerful witchy priestess dedicated to her sacred mission never lets anyone get too close because she fears they will abandon her and yet she must let her Soul Love – Sister Anne become her closes friend to complete this life’s times mission.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
When she begins to bond with Sister Anne she withdraws.
She has one photo of her mother she often connects with.
Comfortable in leadership roles where she is the witchy leader and people are seeking her advice and help but she never reaches out to others.
Shows up in the opening as they move through the tunnel of time and experience all the times they left each other. Her facial expressions show the increased pain.
Her daughter’s love for her helps heal the wound but even then we see her struggle from her childhood wounds and so many of her lifetimes before.
Always covers up her vulnerability and worries by trying to teach her daughter to be fearless when she is bullied.
She acts as if she doesn’t care that the town rejects her and sees her as evil but it triggers her back into the hell she went through lifetime after life time.
Often she will use sister Anne’s feelings to express her own.
Both Sister Anne’s and Lunea’s subtexts reflect and play off of each other throughout the script.
-
CJ’s Subtext Characters
Vision: I am a confident and empowered writer who embraces challenges and changes and writes highly sought-after projects with fresh and exciting ideas. I will be produced and hired to write projects that get produced.
WIL: This was exceptionally eye opening as I found deeper levels that I hadn’t considered before – including for my psychopath – giving them a reason – subtext – gives them a human element – that I hadn’t considered before. Wahoo!!
Title: MEMORY HUNTERS Concept:
In a future with technology to retrieve memories, a Memory Retrevalist, caught in the mind of a psychopath struggles to find a way out before he destroys her mind and kills her.
ASSIGNMENT
With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: JACK REACHER
Character Name: JACK REACHER
Subtext Identity: A former MP who does the right thing regardless of the law
and he came to town to follow through on a promise only to find that he guy is
innocent and he wants to know who and why he was framed.
Subtext Trait: Smart, observant, loner, tough
Subtext Logline: Jack is a loner who continually finds himself in the middle of
intrigue which he does the rights wrongs with swift justice.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Wants to be alone but can’t help looking out for the
underdog. Involves himself in others’ problems to help.
For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: MYA ORTEGA
Subtext Identity: A new memory hunter who is haunted by her own memories
Subtext Trait: Hides her fears by championing others
Subtext Logline: Mya helps others deal with their lost or hidden memories as she tries to hide her own memories
Possible Areas of Subtext: Intimidated by others, steps out of comfort zone, confronts her own fears, stands up to others
Character Name: CATHERINE HARPIE
Subtext Identity: CEO of Memory Retrivalists and uses her company to coerce
criminals to reveal where they’ve hidden money or dirt on others.
Subtext Trait: Controlling, deceiving, soft spot for older people and animals,
conniving
Subtext Logline: Catherine is CEO of a company with access to Government
assets and high-profile criminals that she uses to her own advantage
Possible Areas of Subtext: Catherine is controlling, she determines which
clients they take and who is assigned them ensuring that she has access to the memories before turning them over to Govt or law – gathering information and moving assets for her own gain.
Character Name: ALFRED “FREDDIE” DETTON
Subtext Identity: A psychopath who kidnaps or torments young girls by
humiliation and mutilation breaking down their will and spirit.
Subtext Trait: abused by his older sister, Freddie torments little girls for revenge
Subtext Logline: Freddie abused by his sister takes his revenge on little girls but
has always been galled by the one that got away – who was most like his sister
Possible Areas of Subtext: Always looking for ways to get even with his sister
through the tormenting of others
Character Name: TERRY SULLIVAN
Subtext Identity: An experienced memory hunter who is having an affair with
Catherine and is her go-to to gather the information and location of the secrets
Subtext Trait: He’s everyone’s friend while secretly gathering info, likes to prey
on other individual insecurities including Catherine’s
Subtext Logline: Terry is a memory hunter who helps Catherine gather intel
Possible Areas of Subtext: Terry is Mya’s friend, Terry sleeps with Catherine and
shares info, Terry is confronted by Mya, Terry wakes to find himself in the broken mind of Freddie.
-
Lori’s Subtext Characters
Vision: I want to be a professional screenwriter recognized by the industry as the go-to for family-friendly scripts and have multiple successful movies produced.
What I learned: A character should be more than what they say and do; what lies beneath the surface (subtext) makes them interesting to watch and more appealing to actors to play the part.
Movie Title: AI MOM
Character Name: Alex
Subtext Identity: the competitor
Subtext Trait: Manipulative – Secretive – Evil – Tricky
Subtext Logline: Alex is an AI trained to be the perfect wife and mother if only she could eliminate Claire.
Possible Areas of Subtext: From the beginning, the audience knows that something is off with Alex, maybe it’s a glitch, but she seems more human and shows more emotions than any AI should. From the moment she sets foot into one family’s home, she secretively makes a plan to take the mom’s place permanently.
Character Name: Claire
Subtext Identity: the victim
Subtext Trait: keeping a secret
Subtext Logline: Claire is a middle-aged mom who decides to return to work after years of being a stay-at-home mom. She longs for more out of life and wonders what else is out there.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Claire tries to teach her kids and husband to be more self-sufficient so that she can go after her own dreams.
-
Peter’s Subtext Characters
Vision: My scripts are so good they could be published on their own and William Goldman wants to write the introduction.
What I learned in this exercise is to just do it. It seemed hard at first, but after thinking about the characters’ back stories, various answers seem to percolate to the surface.
RED DAWN
Character Name: JED ECKERT
Subtext Identity: family trauma
Subtext Trait: sullen, speaks little
Subtext Logline: Jed has a family trauma which he covers by pretending to be inarticulate
Possible Areas of Subtext: uses physical violence whenever possible
COLD DAY IN SEOUL
DAVID VILLERS
Subtext Identity: abandonment issues
Subtext Trait: emotionally volatile, self-abusive, a loner
Subtext Logline: David covers up his emotional despair and fear of rejection w/ vicious perfectionism; ultra-competitive in everything; has to be the best
Possible Areas of Subtext: smart, incredible fighting skills, and loyal to a fault
JENNIFER HAMM
Subtext Identity: closely guarded secret
Subtext Trait: driven to stay two steps ahead of everyone, won’t let anyone close
Subtext Logline: Jennifer guards the secret that she set the wheels in motion that had David discharged from Force Recon
Possible Areas of Subtext: she throws her authority and weight around whenever possible to keep everyone off balance
BRIAN CHIANG
Subtext Identity: resentful; deep grudge against authority
Subtext Trait: determined to make everyone pay
Subtext Logline: Brian has a major grudge and is willing to trade secrets to get even with those who’ve injured him
Possible Areas of Subtext: never reveals his true self
-
Veronica Turowski’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: I want to be a successful writer who writes several scripts a year and sells them to producers who are eager to make my vision a reality by bringing my scripts to completion so everyone can watch my movies on the big screen.
What I learned from doing this assignment is subtext is used throughout to give depth to the characters and makes them more intriguing. Don’t tell or explain the character’s attributes and faults. Show it through their actions.
Movie Title: The Call
Character Name: Jordan
Subtext Identity: A 911 operator who gets someone killed.
Subtext Trait: Afraid, Intelligent, Clever, Confident
Subtext Logline: Jordan is a 911 operator who must find the courage to help a second teen victim survive a kidnapping until the cops can track her down.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Only teaches because she’s afraid of getting another 911 caller hurt or killed. A trainee fumbles a kidnapping call and Jordan must step in to help. Jordan doesn’t show fear even though she’s terrified. She thinks of ways the teen can help identify the car and the locations they travel. Jordan uses techniques to distract and keep the teen calm at the most stressful times.
Character Name: Eppsa Kestner
Subtext Identity: Eppsa is afraid to remember she was killed by her serial killer husband and that her son was following in his father’s footsteps.
Subtext Traits: Loving, Moody, Afraid, In Denial
Subtext Logline: Eppsa is tracking down a serial killer who ends up being her son.
Possible Areas of Subtext: She is apprehensive regarding speaking to and helping Lonnie. She wants to help Lonnie find his killer. She is afraid her son is in trouble or will get murdered. She still grieves for her husband. She grieves for her son. She feels compelled to find the serial killer to help save people from being murdered.
Character Name: Hayden Kestner
Subtext Identity: A serial killer who takes after his dad.
Subtext Traits: Charming, Intellectual, Persuasive, Sadistic
Subtext Logline: Hayden is murdering his old friends who betrayed him in high school.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Hayden is a charming ice cream man, and he helps at a homeless shelter. He uses his ice cream truck to store and transport bodies (easy to get into neighborhoods without drawing attention like a burglar). He kills a food truck inspector who discovers a body. Hayden makes his victims look like they committed suicide.
Character Name: Lonnie Dowic
Subtext Identity: Lonnie must stop Hayden from killing so he can pass over.
Subtext Traits: Witty, Moralistic, Fearful, Sneaky
Subtext Logline: Lonnie, one of Hayden’s victims, manipulates Eppsa so she can find and stop Hayden from killing anyone else.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Lonnie was a preacher. He’s terrified when he dies. He lightens the mood around Eppsa to keep her from being depressed. As a teen, he told the authorities that Hayden did something horrible, possibly Hayden made a person kill themselves or killed them and made it look like a suicide, although the cops didn’t believe Lonnie because he’s a jokester. He manipulates Eppsa into finding and killing Hayden.
-
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
-
Jeffrey Alan Chase’s Subtext Characters
My vision: I will do whatever it takes to become the best screenwriter I can be – an “A” list writer who is praised for high concept ideas, great execution, a string of successful movies and is always ready to share his knowledge and do what he can to help a writer on the way up.
What I learned from doing this assignment is: How important it is to look deep into my characters and find the subtext identities and subtext activities. This lesson in this class (and in previous classes) has had tremendous impact on me. These exercises drive me to “open” up my characters and see what’s really driving them. It makes the characters come alive.
Title: Shards
Logline: A woman with no childhood memory is involved in a cat and mouse game with a cunning hypnotist, not knowing the man is responsible for both her amnesia and the death of her treasure hunter father.The movie that I used for my Module 3 Lesson 1 was Basic Instinct. Looks like Hal did most of my work for me. However, I found several other uses of subtext that Hal didn’t have in his example for this lesson. Great movie! Wish I’d written it.
Movie Title: Basic Instinct
Character Name: Catherine Trammel
Subtext Identity: An author who is the main suspect in a murder investigation.
Subtext Trait: Player, seductive, covert, concealing
Subtext Logline: A woman who plays with the lead detective’s mind at the same time she manipulates him into action that she can use for her next book.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Sexual interactions, the interrogation. She keeps herself high on the suspect list then does something – or someone else (red herring) does something – and we’re not sure if she’s guilty or not. We never learn at the end if she’s guilty of her boyfriend’s murder or not. Or whether Nick will be murdered or not.Character Name: Sarah Cole
Subtext Identity: traumatic brain injury at the age of six caused the loss of her childhood memory
Subtext Trait: In denial, the victim
Subtext Logline: An amnesia victim dulls her guilty feelings by burying herself in work, alcohol and drugs.
Possible Areas of Subtext: her therapy with March, her relationship with young Sarah and Johnny, her honesty with herself and what she actually can remember.Character Name: James March
Subtext Identity: A hypnotherapist who manipulates Sarah to learn information about his own wound.
Subtext Trait: Cunning, deceitful
Subtext Logline: A cunning hypnotist who leads his patient to remember the location of a lost treasure cave.
Possible Areas of Subtext: anytime March is controlling Sarah via hypnosis during office therapy sessions, when he and Sarah revisit the scene of the crime, and every conversation between Sarah and March via phone or email. -
Claudia’s Subtext Characters
Vision: To become such an excellent writer that I know every script I write will be well received by the industry, that my scripts will sell and be produced, and I’ll live the life of my dreams. To also become so empowered that fear is to be laughed at, instead I relish and look forward to pitching, meetings and much more.
What I’ve Learned Doing This Assignment: The absolute importance of subtext for all the main characters AND realizing that I need to work on subtext for Jack.
Movie Title: Sweet Home Alabama
Character Name: Melanie Smooter / Carmichael
Subtext Identity: A NY Fashion Designer pretending she’s from a wealthy family in the South.
Subtext Trait: Leading a double life; trying to erase her past and where she’s from.
Subtext Logline: She’s a NY Fashion Designer who pretends she’s from a wealthy family in the South, needs to get a divorce from her husband so she can marry a wealthy politically connected man.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Stating for a fashion Magazine that she’s a Carmichael and grew up at the Carmichael Plantation. Races down to Alabama to get her husband to sign divorce papers but tells her fiancé she just wants to tell her parents about them. Tries to avoid parents but winds up in jail and needs her father to bail her out. Drinks too much at a bar and states she’s better than everyone who still lives there. Outs a great friend of hers to take the attention off herself. Pretends to have grown up at the plantation and is forced to show a pretend reporter around the home with the friend she outed, who actually grew up there. Embraces her past and true Southern roots at the festival, helping her mom make jam, etc.
For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Abby
Subtext Identity: An organizational expert with a fear of germs. who needs to control her environment.
Subtext Trait: Controlling, In denial, tries to hide her phobia
Subtext Logline: A germaphobic organizational expert who needs to control her environment falls in love with a massive slob.
Possible Areas of Subtext: controls the maids but doesn’t tell them about her phobia, cleans homes in hazmat gear, tries not to freak out when her boyfriend gets food all over himself.
For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Randy / Boomer
Subtext Identity: A ruthless attorney who is friends with Jack
Subtext Trait: Conniving, manipulative, scheming
Subtext Logline: A ruthless attorney schemes to steal a business from his friends
Possible Areas of Subtext: helps Jack move things to learn more about Abby’s business, helps with the Little League game to get closer to Abby, offers to look at their financials to see how he can “help”, tells his boss (his father) they are ripe for the picking, undermines Abby’s ability to hire more people and get more clients.
-
Terrie’s Subtext Characters
I write screenplays that get turned into crowd pleasing successful films using a process that allows me to enjoy my equestrian hobby.
What I learned doing this assignment is that if I work with the subtext I can use it to create more comedy.
Example Movie: Lost City
Character Name: Loretta
Subtext Identity: Serious archeologist
Subtext Trait: Feels like a failure
Subtext Logline: Loretta is a successful romance novelist who wants to be taken seriously for her academic work.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Character Name: Paige
Subtext Identity: during their earlier relationship, she almost got sucked into James/Jason’s conspiracy mindset, nearly lost her job
Subtext Trait: empathetic so she avoids personal relationships by pushing people away with her intellect.
Subtext Logline: Paige uses her natural empathy to be an excellent profiler but avoids personal relationships:
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Act 1: on a terrible date, she profiles her date to embarrass and get rid of him; won’t admit the nature of her past with James/Jason
Act 2: still has feelings for James/Jason. Totally loses it when he makes even trivial mistakes with their cover
Act 3: looks up old friends for help but has lost touch or they won’t help her
Act 4: her empathy for the person who double crosses them nearly costs them their lives.
Character Name: James/Jason
Subtext Identity: the freaky outcast kid gravitated to fringe groups out of loneliness; behaves inappropriately with people.
Subtext Trait: too agreeable, gullible, tries to get along with everyone, seeks validation from strangers.
Subtext Logline: James/Jason is drawn to fringe groups due to loneliness which makes his suspectable to blowing his cover identify
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Act 1: suspects every US Marshall of being involved with some conspiracy theory and tries to make friends with them this way. (OK – this could be written as a sketch and although it all looks crazy and nonsensical, one of his guesses is actually true and that’s the person that double crosses them).
Act 2: thinks everything is fine with Paige when she’s angry at him and trying to be just professional
Act 3: too friendly with everyone they meet while they are on the run. Paige has to rein him in.
Act 4: not sure. Epilogue –
-
Leona Heraty’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: To be the best family comedy screenwriter in the industry and have all of my screenplays produced into fabulous movies!
What I learned from doing this assignment is…following these brainstorming steps makes it much easier to add subtext to my characters adding subtext makes the characters more interesting and intriguing and fun!
2. With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: Shaun of the Dead
Character Name: Shaun
Subtext Identity: Grief/Loss Wound
Subtext Trait: Avoids change at all cost, likes to keep everything the same and mundane.
Subtext Logline: Shaun has a grief/loss wound and covers it by refusing to change.
Possible Areas of Subtext: He wants to drink at his favorite bar, The Winchester, ever day after work with the same people and his best friend, Ed and the bar regulars; he doesn’t want to change his boring job; he doesn’t want to change his lifestyle, even for his girlfriend, Liz; he won’t accept his Mom’s husband, even though she has been married to her husband for 17 years.Title: Tara vs. the Termo-Lytes!
Genre: Comedy (Sci-fi)
Concept: A teenage tour guide with no sense of direction and an extreme fear of bugs takes a wrong turn and leads her group to an abandoned country club overrun by giant mutant termites.3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Tara (protagonist)
Subtext Identity: Fear & Abandonment Wound
Subtext Trait: Avoids challenges, doesn’t take chances, relies on others to solve her problems
Subtext Logline: Tara has a fear & abandonment wound and covers it by not driving out of her neighborhood and her extreme fear and avoidance of bugs.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Tara doesn’t like to go drive further than a 10-mile radius from her home and school and parents and friends; Tara gets lost easily without her GPS on her phone; Tara takes wrong turns and gets lost when she’s under pressure; Tara goes out of her way to avoid the termites on the side of a neighbor’s house; Tara crosses the street to avoid an anthill on a neighbor’s lawn; at first waits for people to rescue her group from the abandoned country club and the Termo-Lytes; at first assumes Peg and John will figure out how to escape from the Termo-LytesCharacter Name: Termo-Lyte #1,
AKA Queen (antagonist)
Subtext Identity: The Victim
Subtext Trait: Manipulator who
deceives Tara by being sweet at first and telling a tale of woe
Subtext Logline: Queen is a
victim of ancient pesticides from thousands of years ago and she is
secretly plotting revenge on the human race by growing bigger and eating
everyone.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Queen snarls, then when she encounters Tara and her group, she pastes on a
fake smile and welcomes them to her “palace” at the country club; Queen
appears kind and enchanting when she asks Tara and the group to join her
and the Termo-Lytes in a “celebratory” feast; Queen changes to sparkling,
lovely colors whenever she smiles; Queen tells Tara they must take a
secret route to get to her “palace” which ends up being just an old
ballroom with chandeliers; Queen talks Tara into climbing down into the
pool to get her “baby” because she’s not good at climbing, then she tries
to attack Tara-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Leona Heraty.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Leona Heraty.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Leona Heraty.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Leona Heraty.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
-
Kelly’s Subtext Characters
Vision: I want to be an empowered writer who consistently produces salable scripts.
I learned that planning out the subtext for each of my main characters was really simple. Subtext was one of the concepts that I had difficulty wrapping my head around. But one I understood it I see it everywhere. Planning the subtext out in advance gives me a better grasp of my characters.
Movie Title:Silence of the Lambs
Character Name: Hannibal Lecter
Subtext Identity:dangerous killer
Subtext Trait: plotting, scheming, cunning
Subtext Logline:Hannibal Lecter is a dangerous killer who manipulates, plots and schemes so that he can be free.
Possible Areas of Subtext:Hanjnibal manipulates Clarice, the Senator and those that guarded him.
Character Name: Quinn
Subtext Identity: Rebel
Subtext Trait: suspicious, skeptical, perceptive
Subtext Logline:Quinn is a rebel who is very perceptive.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Quinn is suspicious and skeptical.
Character Name: Darius
Subtext Identity: boss
Subtext Trait: manipulative, Crafty – Treacherous
Subtext Logline: Darius is the leader of the aliens who manipulates everyone.
Possible Areas of Subtext:Darius pretends to be one person but is really the opposite.
-
Bobby’s Character Subtext
MY VISION: A writing life that is mine to do with as I please. Independently wealthy, always creatively engaged, sought after, and utterly fulfilled.
What I learned doing this assignment: working on subtext for my antagonist ended up informing the subtext of my protagonist! Pretty cool!
EXAMPLE MOVIE:
MOVIE: 21
ROLE: Ben (Protagonist)
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: A poor genius who can’t afford med school
SUBTEXT TRAITS: undercover, secretive, liar
SUBTEXT LOG LINE: Ben is a poor genius who begins a double-life counting cards in Vegas to earn money for med school
AREAS FOR SUBTEXT:
Ben quits his job and lies to his friends, lies to his mother; he turns down her money for med school, saying he’s won the scholarship when he hasn’t (yet); he blows off the 2.09 competition, abandoning his friends (can’t say why); he attends classes at MIT, focusing instead on card-counting; he adopts fake personas in Vegas, seduced by the money, he starts to become what he’s been pretending to be (rich playboy); caught and destroyed, he lures Mickey into being the other “big player” for one last take, conning him the whole time
MY MOVIE:
MOVIE: JASON VS THE ZOMBIES
ROLE: Jason (Protagonist)
CHARACTER TRAITS: It’s like I am a…. righteous, angry, desperate, alone, hiding nobody
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: a bullied nobody who plots to kill his tormentors
SUBTEXT TRAITS: hiding, suspicious (paranoid)
SUBTEXT LOG LINE: Jason is a bullied, aspiring serial killer who has to join with his intended victims to fight off a hoard of zombies
AREAS FOR SUBTEXT:
ACT I:
scene at home with dad: dad mocks him for being a wimp, a loser – we’ve just seen his fantasy of killing (maybe dad should be more careful?)
diner scene: we know Jason wants to kill these kids, as he serves them food;
Jason tracks them to the cabin – not knowing zombies are tracking himACT II:
Jason discovered in the woods – mocked, taunted (they have NO idea why he’s there)
Jason asks for help, has to convince them there are zombies – has to lie about why he’s there
Jason mocked by everyone – will this set him off?ACT III:
Jason “comes clean” – somehow has to get Viola to fall for him/forgive him;
Numerous opportunities to let bullies die: does he save them, or abandon them?ACT IV:
Jason fights Hack (really battling his abusive father)
Jason has to decide whether to help Derek, and forget the pastROLE: Hack (Antagonist)
SUBTEXT IDENTITY: a “popular kid” who is really a sociopath
SUBTEXT TRAITS: deceitful, manipulative, amoral
SUBTEXT LOG LINE: Hack is the “wild one” of the popular crowd, who hides his desire to cause pain and conflict whenever he can – jealous of Derek’s “nice-guy” popularity
AREAS FOR SUBTEXT:
ACT I:
pantsing Jason – then standing back and watching the chaos
scolded by Derek, he shuts down, hiding his mind
pushing “friend” into open grave in Civil War graveyard, watching friend struggle like a bugACT II:
Goes to “take a leak” in woods – tortures a raccoon with sharp stick
discovers Jason (Jason sees what he was doing, ONLY one who knows just how fucked up Hack is), “invites” him in
reveals secrets of friends in group, to cause conflict – stands back and watchesACT III:
lets a zombie in through the basement to “play with” it (flashback to raccoon)
respects the zombies (single-minded, immune to pain)
tastes some zombie blood? (see what its like on the other side)ACT IV:
Hack turns zombie – doesn’t change much!
True nature revealed; Hack finally “comes clean” himself, leading zombie attack -
Renee Brown’s Subtext Characters
“My scripts are the cream that rises to the top: I am an A-list screenwriter.”
What I learned: The subtext is the thing we are attracted to most when we engage with a full character.
Example Movie: Possession
Character Name: Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow)
Subtext Identity: Hopeless romantic in academia.
Subtext Trait: Covers by being a ball buster.
Subtext Logline: Maud is a hopeless romantic in academia who covers by being a ball buster but when she finds love, goes all in.
Possible areas of Subtext: Gets involved romantically with her academic peers. Is publicly brash and condescending, but privately shows a tender underbelly.
Lead Characters for Starcross Chances
Character Name: Alley Winder
Subtext Identity: Has a self-worth wound
Subtext Trait: plays it safe
Subtext Logline: Alley plays it safe in her life until someone criticizes her abilities, then she stews in paralyzed resentment.
Possible areas of Subtext: Hates her job but complains about how she is treated rather than change jobs. Even when she is reunited with CJ, she doesn’t want to talk about the break-up. When she learns about the misunderstanding, she tries to complain, but her tricks don’t work anymore. Crossroads time.
Character Name: CJ Claim
Subtext Identity: Has an infidelity wound
Subtext Trait: Untrusting and defensive loner.
Subtext Logline: CJ lives an untrusting and defensive life as a loner, but when he is faced with the woman who broke his heart, he toggles between shutting her out and longing for her love again.
Possible areas of Subtext: When CJ thought Alley cheated on him so long ago, he became reckless which led to the accident that almost killed him. When he sees Alley again in Soaking Springs, he hides himself from her at first, but then shows himself in a way where she can’t run away.
Character Name: Lillian Lamont
Subtext Identity: Disenchanted War-bride
Subtext Trait: Plays the grateful wife.
Subtext Logline: Lillian is a Disenchanted War-bride who plays the grateful wife until her husband dies, then she disappears without a trace in search of the American adventure she signed up for.
Possible areas of Subtext: Tries hard with new fam. But nurses her resentment when they don’t accept her. Convinces new husband to move to bigger city. Covers deer heads on the walls with sheets when her husband is away.
-
Linda Anderson’s Subtext Characters
Vision for your success from this program:
Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.
What I learned from doing this assignment is the subtext exercise helped me with the transformational journey of the lead characters through the 4 acts.
Example Movie/Series:
Movie Title: The Offer <div>
Character Name: Al Ruddy
Subtext Identity: Overestimating His Abilities
Subtext Trait: Covers by using his creativity to
negotiate impossible situationsSubtext Logline: Al Ruddy has the tendency to
overestimate his abilities and covers it by being the finding a multitude
of creative subterfuges to overcome obstacles, but when the Mafia takes
over his movie, he has to admit he doesn’t know what he’s doing.Possible Areas of Subtext:Subtext Identity: Overestimating His Abilities
Subtext Trait: Covers by creating subterfuges to
overcome obstaclesACT 1: Determines to produce The Godfather even though
this is his first filmACT 2: Gets involved with the Mafia with consequences
he’s never imaginedACT 3: Goes behind the back of studio VP, Bob Evans,
to do what it takes to get the movie madeACT 4: Filches only 1 of 2 prints of the finished film
to do a special screening of the movie for the Mafia so they don’t insist
on coming to the premiereLead #1:
Movie Title: Ticket to Live </div><div>
Character Name: Allen
Subtext Identity: Distrustful Wound
Subtext Trait: Covers by always taking charge of difficult
situationsSubtext Logline: Allen has a Distrustful Wound and
covers it by taking charge of difficult situations, but when he’s facing
the most fateful times of his life, he has to accept help from his wife
and the abandoned dog, Leaf, who now relies on him for healing.Possible Areas of Subtext:
· Subtext Identity: Distrustful Wound
· Subtext Trait: Covers by always taking charge of difficult situations
· ACT 1: Allen adopts Leaf and promises to always take care of him
· ACT 2: When Allen finds out he has two life-threatening conditions and a vivid nightmare that he’s doomed, he creates The Manual for his wife in case he dies
· ACT 3: Allen refuses to stay home for the required amount of time to heal and plunges back into work and travel to show he’s OK
· ACT 4: To sort out all that has happened to him and possibly help others, Allen writes a memoir about the dual journey with Leaf serving as his mirror and healer.
Lead #2:
Movie Title: Ticket to Live </div>
Character Name: Leaf
Subtext Identity: Abandonment Wound
Subtext Trait: Covers by going macho/alpha when he
feels threatenedSubtext Logline: Leaf has an abandonment issue wound
and covers it by appearing to be ready to take on a world that has been cruel
to him.Possible Areas of Subtext:
Subtext Identity: Abandonment Wound
Subtext Trait: Covers by appearing to be ready to take
on a world that has been cruel to himACT 1: Turns Allen’s peaceful home into a war zone
ACT 2: Gets into fights at dog park
ACT 3: Shows Allen how to control post-surgery
outburstsACT 4: Competes like a fighter at dog training class
and wins all the prizes -
Valeriya’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: I am a masterful, ahead-of-the-game, and outside-the-box writer full of ideas and creative energy. My writing is fresh, impactful, iconic, beautiful, and effortless, and my projects deliver outstanding commercial and artistic success. I create a lot, it’s fun, quick, and easy. I am on the leading edge. My whole life is that way.
I love discovering the subtext of my characters!
What I learned from doing this assignment is…
– Discovered very interesting and not at all obvious subtext in one of the example movies.
– When both positive and negative traits are based on the subtext it’s the best thing ever, it’s where inner conflict lives.
– Interesting observation: noticed that hero’s subtext ID is the villain’s realized ID, and the villain’s subtext ID is the hero’s realized ID.
Horror Movie Title: The Descent
Character Name: Sarah is an extreme sportswoman who lost her family in a car accident.
Subtext Identity: Dead inside. Nothing left to be afraid of. Her friends are her family.
Subtext Trait:
Subtext Logline: Sarah is a grieving woman who has nothing left to lose and is desperate to take revenge on death.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Moving forward when others are stuck.
– Leaving her betraying friend to die.
– Taking revenge on death in a monster massacre.
– Joining the monster tribe.
Sci-Fi Movie Title: Archive
Character Name: George
Subtext Identity: A grieving inventor working on bringing his wife back to life.
Subtext Trait: Plotting, on the mission
Subtext Logline: George is an inventor hiding from his robots and authorities the project he is really working on.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Convos with jealous robots.
– Convos with suspicious authorities.
– Convos with his dead wife.
– Cover project.
BOO WHO HOO
Character Name: Irene
Subtext Identity: Irene is an unfulfilled woman afraid of life that she believes she is not made for. She uses a monster as an excuse for not even trying.
Subtext Trait: Unworthy, fearful, cowardly
Subtext Logline: Irene is a weak unfulfilled woman who doesn’t take action because of the fear of getting hurt — hunted by a monster. Puts the responsibility for inaction on the monster (she thinks she keeps it quiet by maintaining the equilibrium of her empty life).
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Agreeing with her repressive parents.
– Envying her friend and sister.
– Disconnected in intimate relationships.
– Hesitating to accept invitations.
– Watching how her inaction huts her and others.
– Sleeping in a daytime and working at night.
Character Name: Boo is fear materialized.
Subtext Identity: Boo is a monster
Subtext Trait: Underhanded, taking control, driven
Subtext Logline: Boo is a monster created from unfulfilled desires and dreams that come back to bite Irene.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Shows Irene that life is short and precious
– Leads her into situations she was avoiding
– Offering its hand
– Crying
– Having a blast living to the fullest
– Fixing what she complained about by destroying, no person — no problem
7RDRD4
Character Name: 7RDRD4
Subtext Identity: Disconnected outlaw robot, 7RDRD4 (self-opensource model)
Subtext Trait: Compassionate, Repentful, Independent, *
Subtext Logline: 7RDRD4 is a disconnected robot that breaks laws to save lives, and fixes one thing to screw up another.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Kills his creator
– Saves a baby
– Brings up a child to be a real human
– Breaks in to save the girl
– Steals
– Lies
Character Name: Lo
Subtext Identity: Square peg, faulty good
Subtext Trait: outside the box
Subtext Logline: Lo is a girl who thinks that something is wrong with her and tries to fit in as best she can.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Betrays her robot to fit in at school
– Goes out with the wrong guy
– Replaces her robot for the test
– Fails the test
– Leads the way
– Takes risks in the game
– Pretends to be a robot
– Saves people and robots from themselves
Character Name: Benedict
Subtext Identity: The most amazing being on earth, 7RDRD4, a politician
Subtext Trait: Manipulative
Subtext Logline: Benedict is a manipulative robot in the shape of a politician, who knows he is the most amazing being in the world, and thus should rule the world.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Kills those who are in the way of his perfect plan
– Recruits people using their weaknesses
– Hanging his crimes on 7RDRD4
– Promote dehumanization project
– Flirts with the nurse
– Riggs the game
-
Sandra’s Subtext Characters
Vision: I am doing what I love to do as a writer with several successful produced movies.
What I learned doing this assignment is how to have fun while creating different types of subtext for characters by staying empowered and filling in the blanks.
Movie Title: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
Character Name: Frank Abagnale Jr.
Subtext Identity: A young check forger and impersonator.
Subtext Trait: Crafty, evasive
Subtext Logline: Frank forges millions of dollars of checks while impersonating a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, and evading the FBI.
Possible Subtext: His biggest wound is his parent’s divorce. He justified his actions and didn’t think of the consequences. Addicted to beautiful women. Played a cat and mouse game with the FBI.
Character Name: Sloane
Subtext Identity: A sea captain lured into smuggling and drinking.
Subtext Trait: Charming, crafty
Subtext Logline: Sloane is a sea captain who smuggles oil, and covers his anxiety by being charming and drinking alcohol
Possible Subtext: Raised by an alcoholic mother, and mostly absent father. His wound is abandonment and fear of not being supported. He covers his self-doubt and suspicion by being a people-pleaser. He has a rocky marriage and is more of a buddy than a father to his own children.
Character Name: Mr. Big
Subtext Identity: A banker who runs a hidden smuggling empire.
Subtext Trait: The Boss, deceitful
Subtext Logline: Mr. Big is a banker who controls others and lures Sloane into the world of smuggling and money laundering.
Possible Subtext: He manipulates and controls others. Uses them to do his dirty work and sets them up to take the fall. He lures others into criminal activity. Covers up his vulnerability beneath a tough facade.
-
Tina’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: My writing enables me to live an exuberantly creative and productive life in prosperity.
this worked great, the character’s actions became stronger and clearer.
——————————–
Character Name: Valentina Flemmin, 16 year old orphan, one-eyed
Subtext Identity: The loving granddaughter, robbing her grandmother
Subtext Trait: Every woman for herself, thieving, suspicious
Subtext Logline: pretends to be the loving granddaughter while robbing her grandmother and secretly disobeying her rules
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Val sneaks around and finds a box from her parent that was ‘discarded’ by Agatha.
Val agrees to stay with Agatha but steals everything of value and tries to leave (the demon stops her).
When Agatha tells her not to disturb patients after the facial that’s what she does.
She follows Agatha and sees her drinking something in secret (to poison the demon).
Val is too suspisious of everyone that she can’t see Agatha is trying to protect her, questions every word she is told.
——————————–
Character Name: Agatha Flemmin, 58. Valentina’s grandmother
Subtext Identity: The estranged grandmother, alternately affectionate and evil, making her appear crazy.
Subtext Trait: scheming, protective
Subtext Logline: Agatha hides the secret of the clinic (the demon) from Val to protect her, she pretends to want Val out of her life, but when she’s possed by the demon she lures Val back in.
Agatha suffers under the demon’s posession but hides its existence from Val and tries to get rid of her to protect her.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Agatha doesn’t help Val when she is injured because se wants her to leave.
Is warm and welcoming but cries tears of blood (her inside screaming).
Assigns Val the ‘broom closet’ to sleep in, because it’s the only space in the clinic Agatha could hide from the demon with a spell.
Is cruel to Val when she is herself to make Val hate her and drive Val away. / Is charming when controlled by the demon to keep Val in the clinic to feed on her.
Invites Val’s friend Ayla to help her fight the demon./Agatha/demon kills the phone lines after Val called Ayla.
Agatha sends Val the amulet which seemingly protects her but is just a way of keeping Val save until she is ready for harvest by the demon.
-
Andrew Kelm’s Character Intrigue
Vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to be a great writer of TV and movies who is sought after by people I respect within the industry and has multiple successful TV series produced.
What I learned doing this assignment is… how to plant specific subtext motivations in character profiles.
FATEMONGERS; a psychic with a blind spot for abusive men uses subtle manipulations to murder a sexual predator who seduces her to get to her sons.
- Character Name: Daphne
- Role: Protagonist
- Unspoken Wound: abused as a child
- Secret Identity: advisor to government
- Character Name: Roy
- Role: Antagonist
- Hidden agendas: plans to abuse Daphne’s boys
- Secrets: he abuses teenage boys
- Unspoken Wound: abused by crazy mother
- Secret Identity: Con man
-
Aaron’s Subtext Characters
VISION: I will work harder than anyone to be an incredible writer who the industry seeks for projects that have consistent commercial success.
What I learned doing this assignment is there are a ton of facets to my characters personalities that will add a bunch of interesting subtext.
Movie Title: BLACK JESUS
Character Name: Protagonist
Subtext Identity: Victim getting revenge, spy.
Subtext Trait: Sneaky, undercover, scheming.
Subtext Logline: A tow truck driver and felon who is seeking revenge on the Sheriff who wrongly put him away.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Snooping around the Sheriff’s station, hunting cabins, houses, impound lot, places the bad guys will be, the Sheriff’s bank by talking to the teller, talking to the dispatcher, using a radio scanner, drive by / lifestyle surveillance.
– Undercover – trackers on cars, getting snuck into the Sheriff’s departments evidence room, sends malware to bad guys, gets ahold of reports of missing blacks. Surviellance – photos, associates, people doing their dirty work – they are softer targets for pro to go after. Pro acts like some other law enforcement agency and calls Sheriff’s dept. and gets info on a ‘related’ case. In plain sight as a tow truck driver gives him placement and access.
– – Scheming – with anybody black at the Sheriff’s department, including the janitor, with anyone who comes across the deputies during everyday routines – coffee shop, oil change, etc. He gets dirt on one deputy and gets him in the pinch.
Character Name: Antagonist
Subtext Identity: The Boss
Subtext Trait: Manipulative, evil, concealing, evasive, corrupt, shifty
Subtext Logline: Kingpin of a drug corridor operation that uses young black men as if they were disposable, he manipulates every relationship to impose his will and everyone’s reality in the reality HE creates.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
– Manipulative: with current mayor and his wife, directs minute details of situations and cases to cover tracks, he has each deputy under tight reigns, reporters to give HIS narrative, disposable low-level dealers / runners.
– Evil: emasculating mayor, teaches one young runner “how to shoot” not like a gangsta – behind him, whips gun to kids and BLAM, in front of other runner, to correct mistake and keep 2<sup>nd</sup> guy in line. He sets up a deputy to take the fall for him, saving himself, sleeps with his guys wives, a girl runner ends up dead in car – body in back – he kills the girls baby, gives instructions for clean up.
– Concealing: From the public – drug running, drug money, murder, back room meetings. From his deputies – he takes more money than he tells them even though they do the dangerous / illegal work, steals their wives, conceals a meth or coke habit. From himself – the truth of how many bodies he’s buried over the years.
– Evasive: uses his position and power to distract State Police tracking the drugs, never lets anyone control the narrative but him, avoids people, will ghost someone, answers questions with questions. He tells lies and stories when people start asking about the wrong things.
– Corrupt: will take a bribe, extorts people, flat out steals from people because who are they going to call? Runs drugs.
– Shifty: see above.
-
Tom’s Subtext Characters
When I discuss projects with producers, I see me suggesting excellent alternatives quickly.
Doing this assignment, I learned how important it is to motivate characters with subtext.
Movie Title: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Leo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe)
Protagonist Character Name: Ellen
Subtext Identity: A female gunfighter returns to a frontier town to enter a dueling tournament in an effort to avenge her father’s death.
Subtext Trait: Cagey. Keeps close watch on Herod.
Subtext Logline: A female gunfighter returns to a frontier town to enter a dueling contest in an effort to avenge her father’s death.
Possible Areas of Subtext: She hopes to muster the courage to kill Herod.
Antagonist Character Name: Herod
Subtext Identity: Gunslinger who holds a live-or-die dueling contest to prove he’s the fastest draw.
Subtext Trait: He controls everyone in the 1880s Western town of Redemption which is his prison. Makes up the rules as he goes along. Kills anyone who defies him.
Subtext Logline: Herod tortures Preacher, his gang member. He kills anyone who defies him.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Suspicious of Ellen and the professional gunslinger he will duel to the death. The gunslinger won’t say who paid him to enter the contest and kill him. Herod suspects the towns people who hate him hired the gunslinger.
-
MOD 3 LESSON 3 Jamie’s Subtext Characters
VISION: To sell my script or limited series with future spin-offs to a great producer. And made!
What I’ve learned is that first off I can’t stand the names and need to work on that down the road. I think that I should have included all three characters in lesson Module 2 Lesson 3 which I will do. And the same goes for Mod 2 Lesson 4.
Movie Title: WITHOUT RECOURSE
Character Name: Justine Henderson
Subtext Identity: Controller, Dogmatist
Subtext Trait: Loyal, stubborn, altruistic, persistent, overt
Subtext Logline: Justine rushes to aid her family and friends at their beckon call as a way of hiding or facing issues in her life. As she helps others she hurts herself in the process.
Possible Areas of Subtext: She proves her loyalty, friendship and her need to be needed through helping her family and friends. She abandons Gracie when Lauren needs help. She lives in her journal to holds all accountable for their wrong-doings or whatever she is following. She demonstrates her love for Gracie with her money. She is assertive with Lauren’s surgeons and doctors. She is an introvert when it comes to Lauren’s lawyer. She doesn’t trust surgeons and lawyers at all which causes a big riff.
Character Name: Lauren Quick
Subtext Identity: Pessimist, covert,
Subtext Trait: Cynical, judgmental, kind-hearted, dark humor.
Subtext Logline: Lauren is broken from the loss of her only child and by the hands of surgeons. Everyone is held accountable in some way or version from their lack of understanding her pain.
Possible Areas of Subtext: She goes overboard in her gift giving, especially with Gracie. She doesn’t trust her family but puts her faith in her attorney and the surgeons who have damaged her. She displays her dark sense of humor, wit, and cutting remarks at any given chance but most don’t get what she is inferring. She is competitive with Justine kills her with kindness.
Character Name: Gracie Wyatt
Subtext Identity: Intuitive, unworthy (self-worth), cunning
Subtext Trait: Unreliable, carefree, needy, and clever
Subtext Logline: Gracie is a lovable, generous, to a fault young woman who desperately wants to be loved and accepted for who she is, good or bad and doesn’t discover all the love her mother has for her until later in life.
Possible Areas of Subtext: She shows up in Arizona with significant other without her mother knowing that he’s moving in too. She hides her newly bought clothes in the trunk of the car as she spends her mom’s money. She buys her mom a ticket to see Bob Dylan after she starts working to make her mom happy, knowing, her mother has never done anything by herself. She continues to remind her mother that Lauren slept with her father. She gets busted by her mom for doing drugs. She finally gets her shit together and gets help from the SBA to open her own floral business.
-
[WIM] Caroline’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: I will perfect my process of writing great scripts and be recognized by the industry as good at what I do and have successful movies produced.
What I learned: This was a little difficult but it’s a first draft so I’m fine with it.
Movie Title: Casino Royale
Character Name: James Bond
Subtext Identity: Regret
Subtext Trait: He says he only likes married women but falls for Vesper
Subtext Logline: A secret romantic.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Quit the Royal Service for her, tried to save her from drowning.
Character Name: Callahan Terry
Subtext Identity: A spy
Subtext Trait: A pencil-pushing widower in mourning
Subtext Logline: Mild-mannered by day, but when the chips are down, becomes 007
Possible Areas of Subtext: Saving the day at an event, saving his friends, being betrayed
Character Name: Aaron Copely
Subtext Identity: Deeply insecure
Subtext Trait: Macho over compensator
Subtext Logline: Tough guy CIA agent who is very weak and greedy with a chip on his shoulder
Possible Areas of Subtext: When he sells out his friend, lets his wife get kidnapped
-
Laura Koons’ Subtext Characters
My vision: I am an Oscar winning Screenwriter known to elevate the careers of A-list actors and directors.
What I learned from doing this assignment is find the meaning behind their dialogue where maybe I could express their subtext through their facial expressions, body language, etc.
Example Movie:
Movie Title: THE JUDGE
Character Name: Hank Palmer
Subtext Identity: Know it all,
Subtext Trait: conniving, shady
Subtext Logline: Hank is a obnoxiously successful defense attorney who gets to see his life through the eyes of the one who judged him the harshest.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Being able to do whatever he wants, say whatever he feels without any remorse or thought. He doesn’t start reflecting on his own hurtful ways on others until the tables are turned.
My Two Leads:
Movie Title: LINCOLN LOGS
Character Name: Heather Harrington
Subtext Identity: perfectionist, guarded
Subtext Trait: secretive, the victim
Subtext Logline: Heather is trying to make up for lost love of her father and the approval of her mother.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Act 1: a build of trust is lost
Act 2: dropped of at orphanage
Act 3: New love lost
Act 4: Rebuilt trust and love
Movie Title: LINCOLN LOGS
Character Name: Pandora
Subtext Identity: manipulative, immoral
Subtext Trait: the seducer
Subtext Logline: Pandora is transferring the deed to the lake property in her name unbeknownst to Heather.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Act 1: married for money
Act 2: disposal of child liability
Act 3: remarrying for money
Act 4: manipulating documents to acquire stolen property to gain security she has always lacked
-
Module 3 ASSIGNMENT – Lesson 3 of 9
Kevin Patrick Goulet’s Subtext Characters
…My vision: Develop successful screenplay writing method > yields completed screenplays > viewed as PRO/story-telling level quality > sales (compensation) > production > more screenwriting opportunities > Rinse and repeat, many times over.
…what I learned: This is ever evolving -if we’re paying attention. And we must keep watch while (still) in the creative phase. Subtext for one lead character can inform subtext of other characters too. This will greatly inform the dialogue in the story.
Example Movie: (released in Summer 1975- and still as seminal a movie as ever (acting performances, musical score, and screenplay excellence)… holding up incredibly well IMO)…:
Movie Title: JAWS
Character Name: Martin BRODY <div>Subtext Identity: Chief of Police, Amity Island
Subtext Trait: Vigilant, resolute, aquaphobia.Possible Areas of Subtext: Irrational fear of water threatens Brody’s ability to do his job/keep vacationers, locals, his-own-family?! -safe from a killer shark. Alcohol numbs pain of this/his impossible task. He takes heat for not doing more, not closing beaches sooner, preventing death of Kitner Boy. Brody cannot let Quint & Hooper ‘go-it-alone’ in finding/killer ‘Big Fish’. He must be part of effort on Quint’s boat (terrifying! but he must, to save face) end this town’s nightmare -or he loses all respect, stature.<div>
My Lead #1:
Character Name: Vince GUARALDI
Subtext Identity: Son of a brick-layer, jazz musician in the making, about to explode onto the world stage.
Subtext Traits: artistic, introspective, funny, driven, flirtatious, suppressed anger/fear of biological Father, desperate to please him -but wants to do it his way > show his father he can create something with his hands too.
Subtext Logline: Vince loves to entertain, dreams of playing piano for a living/becoming a jazz great -and wants to one day rub-his-success-in-his-Father’s-face: for deserting him, his mother- when Vince was 4 years old.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Desire for greatness, success (spoils that can bring rewards), excesses too/not taking proper care of his health, a wife, two children -but like his bio-father, Vince can’t help himself when it comes to ‘another woman’.
My Lead #2:
Character Name: Vincent DELLAGLIO <div>
Subtext Identity: Brick-layer, biological Father of Vince.
Subtext Traits: lack of empathy, deceitfulness, stubbornness, alcoholic, womanizer, feigns greatness, womanizer, evades family responsibilities.
Subtext Logline: Believes ‘blue-collar’/working with your hands (building things) -only way you can ‘be a man’ in this world. Unsupportive of Son Vince’s musical interest pursuits, until one day it finally begins to work out for his Boy…
Possible Areas of Subtext: Regret about deserting wife, son (family), visible effort to get his shit together, trys to re-engage with son Vince, make amends later in life (too little too late..?!).
</div> </div>
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Kevin Patrick Goulet.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Kevin Patrick Goulet.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Kevin Patrick Goulet.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
-
Edward Brown subtext characers
I will focus and acheive mostest
learned need to explore subtext more
Creator
Schemer, Manipulative, Crafty
Devine Protective Father
Wound: allowing SON to be crucified
Aspiration: while Evolution picks winners and losers, loving wins
Tanya
Structured Seducer, Schemer, Devious
Mother, professor of world culture, ballet instructor
Wound: impregnators flee, not recognized as scholar
Aspiring Czarina and PhD candidate
Needs to be published
Wants academic recognition
Passion/dream Waltz at romantic Ball
George
Unstructured Adaptive, experimenter, problem solver, ignores self interests in favor of women
Fought draft, antigravity, rocket scientist,
Roofer to support family
Unset of marriage break up
Passion/Dream: design/build win Mackinaw
Freedom signified by sail
Great father
Recovering scientist
Wound: marriage break up, wary, wary of being used by woman as father then dumped/or impossible
Wants romantic Lover partner forever
Act 1 sop
VICTOR watches live cremation, wonders what daughter Tanya did to get him meeting Putin for funding
Tanya: Suitor pleads, rejects Boris as un-romantic
Prays for adaptive PhD obedient forever lover but believes not possible with men
CREATOR: upset by self nuclear disaster by techie bipeds
Bugged by Case worker saints to find Tanya forever Lover
Big fight with SON, realizes parables teach longer than mythical miracles
Decides on parable romance of opposites who both desire Romance
GEORGE: available after break up with ANNA who mocks his building trimaran
ANNA mocks messy place as being un-productive
GEORGE depressed, totally bummed, prays for romantic PARTNER
Act 2 journey willing to make changes
Tanya prays per Grace, Tolya mocks
George phones
Qualifying each other
Live on river, Grand River
Tanya impressed by diner, waltzing, making rose perfume
George impressed Tanya gorgeous and sailor on Dad’s Trimaran
Agrees to drive fast to Grand Rapids to kiss at midnight/staggers as Tanya in Siberia
TURNING POINT
NEGOTIATIONS TO MEET: Detroit vs Siberia
Time zone NYE chats
FSB report Senorita Toreo sword fight possible killing
Tanya proposes Moscow, concedes with Vamp plot
Meet Kiss deadline
Act 3 build up for face to pretty face meeting Red Square 10 days after Mackinaw
Tanya has rational doubts if George good prospect
Valentine Challenge
George Locked out of his messy building, Tanya coaches
GEORGE coaches Tanya on research Old Believers for Doctoral thesis
George illegal to drive, missed appointment, Tanya coaches organize office
George uses political connections to get bureaucratic help
Coaches Tanya to get promoted
George studies yacht racing, taking a flyer
Rankin lets go to help Molly and john cook to race mackinaw
Anna declares George project, buit joins Rankin to race
Wind shift flyer win 1<sup>st</sup>, beats Wind Surfer, Rankin 3<sup>rd</sup>
GEORGE talking to ANNA,TANYA face calls sees situation, Molly summons to first place stage, dies, take flyer on Tanya
Act 4 face to Pretty Face Red Square
Tanya vamps George
George recovers, plays waitress
Leaves to fly kite
Waitress tell Tanya she has been played
George refuses to be her knight and bow down
Bird Challenge
Partnership vows to Go To Ob Sea , but first Art Museum
-
Amechi’s Subtext Characters
MY VISION
I am going to be in the top 1% of action/comedy writers in the industry who writes major action films.
What I learned from doing this assignment is to generate as many ideas for subtext as possible and then add the best ones that fit to the script. I’ll do more of this when I’ve caught up with the lessons.
2. With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
• Movie Title: Top Gun: Maverick
• Character Name: Maverick
• Subtext Identity: The Competitor
• Subtext Trait: Scheming
• Subtext Logline: Maverick is a highly competitive instructor, who will scheme to demonstrate that what he wants to do is the right approach.
• Possible Areas of Subtext: Flying the test plane without permission, Lying to Rooster about why he was removed from the program, sneaking out through the window, playing football to bond as a team, his plan to destroy the facility before the enemy can respond, his plan to steal the F-14 before the enemy realize who they are, flying the test course on his own to prove that it is possible.3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
CHARACTER 1 – KANAAN
• Character Name: KANAAN
• Subtext Identity: The lawyer/advocate
• Subtext Trait: Scheming
• Subtext Logline: Kanaan is a schemer who uses law and persuasion to get what he wants
• Possible Areas of Subtext:
• ACT 1: Tells people attacking him what jail time they could serve, Convinces Mayor’s hiring manager that he deserves a better position that isn’t even open,
• ACT 2: Walks into meeting he’s not supposed to be in, telling Blackout how he can help his cause
• ACT 3: Confronts Mayor about the weapons behind Blackout’s back
• ACT 4: Lets Rhapsody expose her jealousy in front of BlackoutCHARACTER 2 – RHAPSODY
• Character Name: RHAPSODY
• Subtext Identity: The Spy
• Subtext Trait: Corrupt
• Subtext Logline: Rhapsody is a corrupt sidekick who uses spy craft to bribe, blackmail, and destroy her enemies.
• Possible Areas of Subtext:
• ACT 1: Pushes Blackout to not accept any help from Kanaan, attacks Kanaan for trying to get close to Blackout
• ACT 2: Tells Kanaan that he could get hurt, blames Blackout’s injury on Kanaan,
• ACT 3: Follows Kanaan to his house and has dinner with his family, actively tries to get Kanaan hurt
• ACT 4: Fights Kanaan to keep her positionCHARACTER 3 – BLACKOUT
• Character Name: BLACKOUT
• Subtext Identity: The alcoholic/drug user
• Subtext Trait: Suspicious
• Subtext Logline: Blackout is a suspicious superhero who is hiding that he is using drugs to enhance his body and mind.
• Possible Areas of Subtext:
• ACT 1: Is suspicious of Kanaan trying to get close to him, Has super strength but is left weakened afterwards
• ACT 2: Needs to rest after nights patrolling the city,
• ACT 3: Turns to drinking after his assistant dies,
• ACT 4: Kills the Mayor’s assistant to protect the mayor and his supply of enhancement drugs. -
Jack P’s Subtext Characters
MY VISION: I will do whatever it takes to write a script that is recognized by the industry and leads to multiple successful movies.
WHAT I LEARNED: I learned more about the subtext my characters are working with by answering the subtext questions for the leads in my story.
Movie Title: Waiting on a Friend
Character Name: Jay
Subtext identity: An old gringo who is afraid of love and his spirituality
Subtext Activity: Plays the ugly American and is agnostic
Subtext Logline: Jay is an old gringo on vacation who falls in love with a young lesbian and discovers his eternal soul.
Possible Areas for Subtext: Controlling, set in his ways, homophobic, agnostic, recovering enabler, skeptic regarding women’s ability to be honest.
Character Name: Lina
Subtext Identity: Young Latina lesbian, insecure but with a wild side.
Subtext trait: Suspicious, spiritual skeptic, doesn’t trust men, but willing to explore new experiences and relationships.
Subtext Logline: Lina is a hard drinking young Latina lesbian who doesn’t trust men, is a spiritual skeptic, but is willing to explore new experiences and relationships.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Bisexuality, addiction, past trauma, relationship depths, motherhood, spirituality.
-
Jack P’s Character Intrigue
MY VISION: I will do whatever it takes to write a script that is recognized by the industry and leads to multiple successful movies.
WHAT I LEARNED: Jay and Lina’s secrets and hidden wounds will be a source of conflict, and also a source of their characters evolution and resolution.
CHARACTER NAME: Jay
ROLE: He has secrets and an unspoken wound.
SECRETS: He has recently separated from his wife. She left him for another woman – someone he had introduced her to – because the woman was rich and could provide things he couldn’t.
UNSPOKEN WOUND: He considers himself homophobic, but kept it hidden. His wife leaving him for another woman was a major blow to his ego and causes him a great deal of embarrassment and humiliation, which is one reason he is on this vacation.
HOW THIS WILL SHOW UP AS SUBTEXT IN THE MOVIE: Jay is resentful of his wife and has a great disdain for lesbians in general.
CHARACTER NAME: Lina
ROLE: She has secrets and an unspoken wound.
SECRETS: She is a lesbian, but doesn’t tell Jay that until she reveals it when she is drunk. She has a child that her mother and father are raising.
UNSPOKEN WOUND: She was raped when she was 17, became pregnant and had a daughter. This is the child her parents are raising.
HOW THIS WILL SHOW UP AS SUBTEXT IN THE MOVIE: Lina discovers she is bisexual and has sex with Jay. She finds out he is homophobic and hides her homosexual past from him. She is ashamed and keeps the fact of her rape and daughter from him for as long as possible, but we sense the relationship between Lina and her daughter is more than aunt and niece before it is revealed.
-
Erik’s Subtext Characters
My vision is to achieve true excellence as a
screenwriter which causes me to be a consistently working writer, with actual
movies made from some of my scripts, and to become wealthy as a screenwriter,
develop relationships in the movie industry where I am recognized as a truly
original writer, and to become indispensable in the market in which I want to
write.What I learned doing this assignment… It seemed deceptively simple or basic on the surface, but I learned how valuable it really is, because it gave me a couple of breakthroughs: one, in obviously showing me a little more depth to the characters and to their motivations, and the other in more depth to their relationship, all of which I had a sense of first, but after the assignment, these became more concrete.
Movie Title: MATILDA
Character Name: Matilda Wormwood
Subtext Identity: The unloved child genius
Subtext Trait: willful
Subtext Logline: Matilda is a child genius who has an unusual gift and needs to break free from the stifling influence of her family.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Character Name: PENNY
Subtext Identity: The lonely and scheming orphan
Subtext Trait: <s>Tough, resilient,</s> Suspicious, disbelieving
Subtext Logline: Penny is a bright and shrewd orphan who does not believe that having loving parents is something that will happen to her.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Won’t consider the idea of going back to the orphanage. Keeping a distance from Sarah. Asserts herself over Mara. Becomes sad when Mara bonds with another kid. Ultimately unsatisfied with plush new digs when taken in by rich boozing lady.
Character Name: MARA
Subtext Identity: The patient orphan
Subtext Trait: Waiting to seize an opportunity
Subtext Logline: Mara is an outwardly shy orphan who is waiting for special parents to help her come into her own and discover that she is a great kid.
Possible Areas of Subtext: She gets the chance to go back to the orphanage while separated from Penny (What will she do?). She doesn’t like the orphanage either and so also second-guesses her wish to get Sarah into their lives. Ironically, she does not grasp the opportunity before her once inside the mall and under Penny’s “direction”.
-
Peter’s Subtext Characters
I will become a prolific screenwriter and producer of movies and streaming content in living in Canada and the US
What I learned doing this lesson is how important it is to get to know your characters and give them real wounds and subtext.
• Movie Title: Meat Wagon
• Character Name: Carlos
• Subtext Identity: Suspicious
• Subtext Trait: Running from his past
• Subtext Logline: Carlos is a former gang enforcer haunted by the sins of his past, making him susceptible to dark forces.
• Possible Areas of Subtext: Hatred for his gang. Remorse for his past. Defense of his faith. Trying to be good husband and father. Tempted by his old life. Needs revenge! Torn between good and evil.
3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
• Character Name: Jude
• Subtext Identity: Carlos’ former boss; a control freak and a sleazebag
• Subtext Trait: Kills what he can’t control.
• Subtext Logline: Jude is a man who always evens the score.
• Possible Areas of Subtext: Feels betrayed by Carlos. Jealous of Carlos’ family. Kills Carlos wife. Follows Santa Muerte
-
Joaquin “Ibn Gray’s” Subtext Characters
My vision for the completion of this class is to write A plus intriguing screenplays that will be produced into extremely profitable movies, which I will cash large checks from.
What I learned doing this assignment is that I am becoming better and more comfortable at writing loglines.
Movie Title: Inside Man<div>
Character Name: Dalton Russell
Subtext Identity: A mastermind thief
Subtext Trait: Cunning
Subtext Logline: Dalton Russell a mastermind thief whose cunning behavior allows him to rob a bank without being caught. Possible Areas of Subtext: Not really a killer, A nice guy that wants someone corrupt to pay for their misdeeds, outsmarts the detective, police department, has an o shit moment once S.W.A.T enters the bank.
Character Name: Brewford Dickson
Subtext Identity: A humble family man
Subtext Trait: skilled military leader
Subtext Logline: A humble family man transformed into a skilled military leader after his son was captured by a local plantation owner.
Possible Areas of Subtext: He wants to destroy the plantation owner, wants the government to honor the law created desires to protect his family and others.
Character Name: Clyde Fordwood
Subtext Identity: The tyrant
Subtext Trait: Treacherous
Subtext Logline: The tyrant plantation owner with treacherous tactics involving slavery
Possible Areas of Subtext: Not loved as a child, witnessed his parents burned in a fire. forced to grow up without proper care
<font color=”#4d5c6d” face=”SF UI Text, sans-serif”>Joaquin “Ibn Gray”</font>
</div>
-
Elizabeth’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: I write kickass, creative and emotional blockbuster movies, TV series and graphic novels like my writing heroes (eg. Jonathan Nolan, Joseph Weisberg, etc.) and be in constant demand.
What I learned from doing this assignment: I learned that by giving actor subtext identity and traits, you can give characters depth as well as interesting scenes and situations to play in.
SAMPLE Movie Title: Arrival
· Character Name: Louise Banks
· Subtext Identity: A language /linguist expert who is resolved confident insightful,compassionate, resourceful
· Subtext Trait: vulnerable, complex, maternal, assertive, melancholic, secretive
· Subtext Logline: Louise Banks, a linguist expert surrounded by only men with authority, must stand for herself and at the same time must wrestle with learning about her tragic future in the present in order save the world.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: When she is surrounded by men and need to give her opinion and stand on her own; when she experiences her flash forwards while not appearing like she’s a crazy amongst the ever critical men around her, when she must remain maternal despite the demand for her to act like a man.
MY Movie Title: Black Time
· Character Name: Janiece Rizzo – “Rizzo”
· Subtext Identity: A memory recall scientist who is agoraphobic and demanding.
· Subtext Trait: controlling/smothering, denialist
· Subtext Logline: Rizzo is a memory recall scientist who is haunted by her own memories and tries to hide it by recalling and entering other people’s memories to “help” them.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: When she must stand for herself and her work as an expert in her field, must work with others, must be courageous, must be able to tell when she is in a memory and when she is in reality.
· Character Name: Marcus Rizzo
· Subtext Identity: Marcus is an ex- astronaut and twin brother of “Rizzo”, who is humorous, explorer, helper
· Subtext Trait: Compulsive, escapist
· Subtext Logline: Marcus is an ex astronaut who wants to escape but feels tethered to his sister even when they are half way across the country from each other.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: A dispute with his sister, leading his men.
· Character Name: Marcus Rizzo doppler
· Subtext Identity: Marcus doppler is only a mirror copy of the real Marcus
· Subtext Trait: Secretive, manipulative, concealing
· Subtext Logline:Marcus Doppler is a mirror copy of the real Marcus who wants to take over his life on earth while the real one is trapped in a mirrored dimension.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: Confronting his sister whom he has never really met, hiding his real identity the whole time.
-
Jane’s Subtext Characters
MY VISION: I will make my living as a screenwriter by selling my own narrative scripts and successfully fulfilling writing assignments.
By doing this assignment I learned just how instructional it is to have a film to examine that so closely aligns with my project. It’s fun to take these assignments and examine SHERLOCK HOLMES with them.
Movie Title: SHERLOCK HOLMES
Character Name: Sherlock Holmes
Subtext Identity: Does not want to be alone
Subtext Trait: Tries to ruin friend’s relationships with others
Subtext Logline: Sherlock Holmes tries to ruin his best friend’s engagement in order to avoid being left alone.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Throughout the first and second Acts, Holmes tries to turn Watson against Mary by telling him both truths and lies. He is also rude to Mary and commandeers Watson to help him every chance he gets, whether he needs his help or not. He also plays on Watson’s feeling of responsibility for his (Holmes) safety as well as Watson’s natural enjoyment of adventure.
Character Name: June Marvel
Subtext Identity: Secretly longs for adventure and glory
Subtext Trait: Puts down others when they talk about their adventures.
Subtext Logline: June Marvel has always longed for adventure and glory that her quiet life never allowed. When others talk about their own adventures, she is quick to downplay their experience down.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Actions – read thrilling adventures and daydreams that the hero is her; incensed at the very presence of Percival Heriot; Can’t take it any longer, challenges him to a competition to solve a crime that she has committed and is ready to solve the crime he commits for her to solve. Rises to the challenge when she realizes she is the target of a killer.
Dialogue – Cutting to others in a sweet way.
Character Name: Percival Heriot
Subtext Identity: Was bullied throughout his entire childhood and youth.
Subtext Trait: Cannot let anyone else win or have the spotlight.
Subtext Logline: Percival Heriot not only likes the spotlight, he needs it in order to feel safe. After all, no one can hurt him when the light is shining brightly on him.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
Actions – shares stories, even when no one is listening; takes charge when there is nothing to take charge of; assumes he can easily outwit June in this or any competition.
Dialogue – Tends to start every sentence and end every sentence with “I” or “me.”
-
Linda’s Subtext Characters
My Vision is: I will do whatever it takes to be a sought-after profound writer with many successful movies produced and an Oscar on my mantel.
What I learned doing this assignment is brainstorming subtext without other distractions helps to create more depth.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
· Character Name: Jim Phelps
· Subtext Identity: Spy who double-crosses his team
· Subtext Trait: Devious
· Subtext Logline: Jim is a spy who double crosses his team to steal the NOC list and sell it for a windfall of money.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: Leads a mission to uncover the mole (which is really him). Pretends to lose control of the technology / elevator to kill one of his men without suspicion on him. Uses fake blood to fake his death. Feigns injury and illness to come back to life. Tries to set up Ethan for the theft. Then Kittridge.
RISE OF THE FALCON
· Character Name: Joaquin – Protagonist
· Subtext Identity: Low level cartel member who has been lying in wait to leave the organization.
· Subtext Trait: Underhanded
· Subtext Logline: Joaquin lies in wait, studying cartel members until he finds a way out and will use everything he’s learned about them to his advantage.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: Keeps his head down. Hides his self-taught smarts. Listens to everything they say. Keeps Rodrigo’s confidence so he can learn more about all of them. Plots his entrance into the competition while pretending not to be a part of it. Does things to make Arturo think his hallucinations are getting worse. The last 2 twists at the end of the movie.
· Character Name: Arturo – Antagonist
· Subtext Identity: Criminal who is in love with Joaquin’s wife.
· Subtext Trait: Evil, suspicious, and luring
· Subtext Logline: Arturo is a ruthless cartel member who is suspicious of Joaquin and lures him into the competition so he can show Joaquin’s wife he’s better than him and then take him out.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: Arturo pretends to have given up on his quest for Joaquin’s wife but is trying to earn her love back. Ignores Joaquin as not relevant but is secretly tormenting him and his family and luring him into the competition so he can kill him. Promises Rodrigo he’ll protect Joaquin, but is trying to get him killed in a way to avoid Rodrigo’s wrath.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Linda Kish.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
-
Paul’s Subtext Characters
Vision: My vision is to be a successful full-time writer with a good steady income, who constantly learns, enjoys life, creates employment for others and brings joy, fun, fulfilment, health, happiness, inspiration & an attitude of gratitude to my partner and others.
What I learned doing this assignment is to lean more heavily into subtext.
For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Dan
Subtext Identity: A guy suffering from premature ejaculation that just wants to be normal again.
Subtext Trait: He wants to keep his problem a secret.Subtext
Logline: An everyday guy, who has an embarrassing problem he wants to hide, so that he can find true love.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Lies to every woman he has met. Makes up excuses for not going to bed with them. Running off to the toilet, so much etc.
Character Name: Mrs. Wagner/God
Subtext Identity: God masquerading as a Grade 1 Primary School Teacher.
Subtext Trait: Prefers to fly below the radar, by imparting wisdom to children because most adults are too stupid to listen.
Subtext Logline: A cranky teacher who is fed up with guys that don’t listen to her.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Knows she can change anything just like that.
-
John T’s Subtext Characters<div> <div>Vision: I would like to become an industry new face known for reliable box office successes and concepts that entertain audiences the world over. </div><div> What I learned doing this assignment is that by considering many possibilities, new angles and storylines appear. </div><div> </div><div>Movie Title: DIVERSION • </div><div>Character Name: Capt Phil Conner • </div><div>Subtext Identity: cheater, seducer, guilt over a broken marriage, past relationship • </div><div>Subtext Trait: secretive, seducer • </div><div>
</div><div>Subtext Logline: cheated on his wife, then abandoned his girlfriend, got caught and is now pursued by flight attendant Louise, lies to FBI • </div><div>Possible Areas of Subtext: Phil lost his wife over an affair discovered by his wife’s sister. Phil made things worse by denying it, until he was presented with photos. To make things right, Phil jilted his girlfriend flight attendant Tina, which caused her to attempt suicide. More guilt, embarrassment. Had to admit to his neighbor – his adopted niece -who’s then murdered. Against the backdrop of a serial killer on the loose, Phil is tempted by Flight Attendant Louise. Has he learned his lesson? Will he give in to her advances? When interviewed by FBI agent Derringer, he lies • </div><div>
</div><div>Character Name: FBI agent Ben Derringer • </div><div>Subtext Identity: lives in his father’s shadow • </div><div>Subtext Trait: resentful, • </div><div>Subtext Logline: Has to prove himself to earn his father’s praise and overcome his shadow • Possible Areas of Subtext: overbearing, tries too hard, impatient, jumps to conclusions, taked too many shortcuts. Has he pursued an innocent man (Phil)? He illegally taps his phone.
</div></div> -
Kevin Cunningham’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: By making my high-quality writing and speaking known in many venues (the Industry, Youtube, podcasts, books), I will create a reputation as a profoundly powerful, thoughtful, and skilled writer, and be sought after for new and rewrite activities at the highest levels.
What I learned from doing this assignment: Once I realized the core story is a “fish out of water” tale, I found several Capra movies that humorously focused on that. I like their moral tone, and I’m exploring my tone again. No doubt it has to be a little more modern…
————————
Movie Title: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
—
Character Name: BABE BENNETT (Jean Arthur), Love Interest
Subtext Identity: Journalist who’ll do anything to get a good story
Subtext Trait: Manipulative, Pretending, Assertive
Subtext Logline: Pulitizer-Prize winner Babe Bennett is using all her refined skills to get close to Longfellow Deeds – but she finds herself terribly confused and afraid of losing him when she falls in love with him
Possible Areas of Subtext: pretends to be hungry/faints; shows interest in his taking her out; uses feminine demureness to attract him (where others are pushy); can’t confess herself even when she wants to for fear of losing him; cares about him so much she’ll face contempt charges at his sanity hearing; repoints her assertiveness to defending him rather than getting the story
————————
Movie Title: Going Native
—
Character Name: DREW FOX
Subtext Identity: Real Estate mogul looking to make a last big score before retiring with his family
Subtext Trait: Charming/Easygoing, Manipulative, Plotting
Subtext Logline: Drew Fox looks like he’s ready to retire with his family, but he’s secretly manipulating everything to get the Town to make the public land available for a phenomenal development deal
Possible Areas of Subtext: feints of retiring; pretending to be swayed by his wife’s moral arguments; winning the favor of the progressives who stand in his way, and actually getting them to act in his favor; pretending to magnanimously help the people who have to struggle with the Town land switch; getting on young Mukki’s good side; siccing his daughter on Mukki, knowing she’ll fall in love with Mukki; meeting secretly with the tribe’s black sheep, though it appears to be in support of the tribe and town; going with the changes resiliently, even at the end
—
Character Name: JESSIE MASNUBIC
Subtext Identity: A radical overachiever, all to cover up imposter syndrome and perfectionism – she was never good enough for her parents and has been trying to prove worthy ever since
Subtext Trait: Rampantly Ambitious, Scheming, Undermining
Subtext Logline: Jessie is a strident righteous overachiever who is nevertheless vulnerable to accusations that she is not supportive enough by those whose approval she values; she will cut people down behind their backs – and sometimes to their faces
Possible Areas of Subtext: organizing the left for her trifecta of radical progressive proposals; cancelling people left and right; arguing brutally against people – a sore winner; trying to turn blame elsewhere when she overextends; complains and then breaks down when her own family members call her unsupportive; demands inclusivity but will exclude anyone at the drop of a hat; tries to manipulate Mukki to recover her primacy when the town is turned over – at her own instigation;
-
Farrin Rosenthal’s Subtext Characters
Farrin’s Vision: To do what it takes to become a highly paid A-List Hollywood writer whose produced movies will entertain audiences around the world.
What I learned doing this assignment is how to add subtext to my main characters using subtext identities and subtext traits. What I realized is two of my supporting characters, the brother of the mob boss and Tom’s wife are themselves subtext characters in that they are both hiding major secrets from the protagonist and antagonist. This means I have subtext within subtext or subtext below subtext. I’m not even sure how to label it, but I have a ton of subtext going on in the story and between characters, which is pretty cool.
Title: TRAPPED
Genre: Thriller
Concept: Claustrophobic and trapped in a box at the bottom of a pool for stealing $3.6 billion in Bitcoin from the Russian mob, a Los Angeles retail store manager has just 60 minutes to
prove his innocence and save his family.Antagonist Character Name: Dmitriy
Subtext Identity: Mob Boss who thinks he knows all the answers but is blinded by revenge.
Subtext Trait: Untouchable, blinded by revenge, manipulative.
Subtext Logline: Dmitriy is a mob boss who will do anything to get his money back including kidnapping and torture, but his all-consuming revenge blinds him to the truth that his brother is the one who betrayed him.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Tries to control everyone and everything, thinks he is smarter than everyone, thinks he has all the answers, tries to manipulate Tom into confessing.
Protagonist Character Name: Tom Carter
Subtext Identity: Trapped and framed for a crime he did not commit, but ultimately must lie and confess to escape.
Subtext Trait: clueless, afraid, uses humor to hide and cope with his fear, must find a hidden strength to survive, acts innocent when things he is hiding could create a sense of guilt.
Subtext Logline: Tom is trapped in a watery grave and must prove he is innocent while exposing the person who framed him, but the only way to escape and save his family is to lie.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Can’t hide that he is claustrophobic, uses humor to cope and deflect, clueless as to what is happening and why, must act guilty when that is the last and only option.
-
David Scott Smith’s Subtext Characters
MY VISION: I am going to do whatever it takes for me to become a legend in both the filmmaking community and popular movie culture, so much so that audiences will stand in lines around the block to see my movies the way I did for Star Wars, ET and Raiders, and I will be buried with the 5 Academy awards given my work, and a tombstone that reads, “Awesome as fuck!”
What I learned doing this assignment was: I got a little hung up on this exercise because it felt like an important decision, and most choices I made felt like they didn’t work for my main characters. I also got hung up because the example from Basic Instinct didn’t seem to follow the explanations presented in the lesson.
Character Name: Storm (Protagonist)
Subtext Identity: Covert Black Op who hides his identity from everyone and works for a boss higher up than any of his on-base commanders.
Subtext Trait: Joker, Secretive, manipulative, player
Subtext Wound: Acceptance Wound
Subtext Activity: He covers by being a joker and secretive, but when triggered he becomes manipulative and plays people.
Subtext Logline: Storm is a covert black op who is secretly using a trainee to locate a top Soviet Agent.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Storm has to hides his true identity and mission from his commander, wife, kids, teammates, queen bee. He takes action based on his mission that breaks with military norms, he lies to cover, has extraordinary access to intelligence resources and POTUS admin. With his intelligence resources he can manipulate and blackmail his targets. He disappears from his regular life to execute missions on the other side of the wall. Everything he does is secret to everyone but his true boss. Etc.
Character Name: Queen Bee
Subtext Identity: A signals intercept trainee (a spy) who is addicted to getting to the bottom of everything.
Subtext Trait: Secretly Obsessive, in denial
Subtext Wound: Acceptance Wound
Subtext Activity: Covers by denying her own importance, but becomes secretly obsessed with proving that she’s right.
Subtext Logline: Queen Bee is a signals intercept trainee who discovers what she believes is a new type of enemy signal, but when her ideas are rejected, her acceptance wound is triggered and she becomes obsessed with proving that she’s right.
Possible Areas of Subtext: becomes obsessed, secretly disobeys orders, spies on the man she thinks is behind the signal, doesn’t realize he’s noticed her, becomes addicted to the rush of spy work and danger, becomes addicted to Storm, goes too far, gets discharged with a section 8. Etc…
Character Name: Danil
Subtext Identity: the Con or the competitor – a spetznaz black agent
Subtext Trait: casual, avoidance unpredictable, Unethical, Treacherous
Subtext wound: he is trapped in his espionage world and has to perform or else his life and livelihood are in danger (he’s backed into a corner)
Subtext Activity: Danil covers his wound by casual avoidance but when triggered becomes unpredictable, unethical and treacherous.
Subtext Logline: Danil is a covert Spetznaz agent wreaking havoc on US interests in Berlin and around the world.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Danil spends his life in hiding. He hides his real identity: from everyone in his apartment building; from US agents; from US signals intercept; from his friends; from his mother. But when he discovers that he’s been made by Storm and queen bee, he retaliates by faking his own death, attempting to kill members of Storm’s team, Storm, Queen Bee, activate a sleeper cell near Queen Bee’s son to target him, have US military housing bombed, planes hijacked, etc
-
Bob DeCarli’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: To master my craft to the point where I’ve earned a reputation as the screenwriter top producers, directors, and stars can call upon when they need someone to save the day.
What I learned: Again, to remain open to new ideas and remain willing to continue discovering my story.
Example Movie:
Movie Title: PASSENGERS
Character Name: JIM PRESTON
Subtext Identity: Stalker
Subtext Trait: Guilt-ridden; vulnerable
Subtext Logline: A man stranded alone on a space ship, falls in love with a fellow passenger, asleep for the duration of the flight, and awakens her, damning her to the fate he faces: dying on the spaceship before it reaches its destination.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Every interaction with Aurora, the fellow passenger he woke up. She begins caring for him in large part because she thinks they both had the same bad luck of their pods malfunctioning. That, and the fact that he’s the only game in town. But every time she expresses sadness over their situation, or states her misconception that it was bad luck for both of them, he feels guilty for having intentionally placed her in the situation that he got into because of bad luck.
My Movie:
Title: LEST YE BE JUDGED
Concept: A judge is set up for a crime he didn’t commit, and his only hope for clearing his name is the criminal he just sentenced to death.
The two leads have opposite subtext: YG has a criminal background he’s trying to hide, and DR acted like a hero, and he’s trying to conceal it because although the truth would absolve him, it would also mean harm coming to those he was trying to protect.
Character Name: YOUNG JUDGE
Subtext Identity: Criminal
Subtext Trait: Concealing
Subtext Logline: [YG] is a conservative judge, falsely accused of a crime who, unknown to his accusers, is guilty of a far greater crime that he’s desperately trying to conceal.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
ACT 1:
–Is overly tough-on-crime
–Oddly kind and sympathetic to the elderly custodian at the courthouse.
ACT 2:
–Runs when threatened with arrest.
–Seems overly frightened by the accusation; it’s an alleged financial crime, seems like it could be disproven.
–End of Act 2 (midpoint), YG’s crime is revealed to the audience.
ACT 3:
–Near the end of the Act, the blackmailers discover YG’s secret.
ACT 4: Stops concealing his criminal background, prompted to “come clean” by the heroic example of DR, who sacrifices himself.
Character Name: DEATH ROW
Subtext Identity: Hero
Subtext Trait: In denial
Subtext Logline: DEATH ROW is a career criminal who, though he is unwilling to admit it, is more motivated by a desire to protect the vulnerable than to steal.
Possible Areas of Subtext:
ACT 1:
–Despite the urging of his defense attorney, DR makes no effort to defend himself or explain his actions.
ACT 2:
–The assumption is that he’s helping YG in order to get his conviction and/or sentence set aside, but it’s really to secure help protecting the vulnerable group that, by killing for them to protect them, resulted in his conviction and death sentence.
ACT 3:
–He sacrifices himself, in order to protect
ACT 4:
[dead so absent from the final act]
-
Elizabeth’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: I write kickass, creative and emotional blockbuster movies, TV series and graphic novels like my writing heroes (eg. Jonathan Nolan, Joseph Weisberg, etc.) and be in constant demand.
What I learned from doing this assignment: I learned that by giving actor subtext identity and traits, you can give characters depth as well as interesting scenes and situations to play in.
SAMPLE Movie Title: Arrival
· Character Name: Louise Banks
· Subtext Identity: A language /linguist expert who is resolved confident insightful,compassionate, resourceful
· Subtext Trait: vulnerable, complex, maternal, assertive, melancholic, secretive
· Subtext Logline: Louise Banks, a linguist expert surrounded by only men with authority, must stand for herself and at the same time must wrestle with learning about her tragic future in the present in order save the world.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: When she is surrounded by men and need to give her opinion and stand on her own; when she experiences her flash forwards while not appearing like she’s a crazy amongst the ever critical men around her, when she must remain maternal despite the demand for her to act like a man.
MY Movie Title: Black Time
· Character Name: Janiece Rizzo – “Rizzo”
· Subtext Identity: A memory recall scientist who is agoraphobic and demanding.
· Subtext Trait: controlling/smothering, insecure, afraid.
· Subtext Logline: Rizzo is a memory recall scientist who is haunted by her own memories and tries to hide it by recalling and entering other people’s memories to “help” them.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: Must stand for herself and her work as an expert in her field, must work with others, must be courageous
· Character Name: Marcus Rizzo
· Subtext Identity: Marcus is an ex- astronaut and twin brother of “Rizzo”, who is humorous, explorer, helper
· Subtext Trait: Compulsive, escapist
· Subtext Logline: Marcus is an ex astronaut who wants to escape but feels tethered to his sister even when they are half way across the country from each other.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: A dispute with his sister, leading his men, fighting.
·
· Character Name: Marcus Rizzo doppler
· Subtext Identity: Marcus doppler is only a copy of the real Marcus. A doppelgänger.
· Subtext Trait: Secretive, manipulative, scheming, concealing
· Subtext Logline:Marcus Doppler is a mirror copy of the real Marcus who wants to take over his life on earth while the real one is trapped in a mirrored dimension.
· Possible Areas of Subtext: Confronting his sister whom he has never really met, hiding his real identity the whole time.
-
Teresa Rodriguez’s Subtext Characters
MY VISION: I will become a highly respected and influential writer/producer with my own successful production company that I can leave as a blessing to my children and many generations to come.
What I learned from doing this assignment is it’s powerful to figure out your lead character’s subtext, which will make my screenplay so much stronger.
• Movie Title: “LILY WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS”
• Character Name: Lily White
• Subtext Identity: An unperfect princess, covert identity an orphan from another country who has low self-esteem, self-sabotages, acceptance wound.
• Subtext Trait: positive/upbeat, clumsy, overly complementary to get people to like her, secretive.
• Subtext Logline: Lily has an acceptance wound (fear of rejection) (fear of not being good /perfect enough) and covers it by being overly positive, but when triggered she self-sabotages.
• Possible Areas of Subtext: Opening Scene: she dreads going to her father’s perfect party so she’s late, self-sabotaging. Inciting Incident: her fear of rejection causes her to run away. Act Two: Lily is kind/positive to everyone (even some thugs) and is taken advantage of, her stuff stolen. Mid-Turning Point: Police arrest her, she freaks at having her picture taken because she looks terrible, she’s positive wants them to like her which gives her favor, and they take her to a homeless shelter instead of keeping her in jail. Act Three: Lily tries to make friends at the homeless shelter using her positive traits, but when some people think she’s crazy for talking to the mirrors and reject her friendship, she self-sabotages and acts crazy on purpose. The charming commoner sees right through her and helps her get a job (something where you have to look perfect, maybe intern at a wellness center doing social media where everything has to be perfect OR PLASTIC SURGEON) She has to do community service to make up for her stealing and she gets a job doing social media for a fake company run by the dwarf. She suspects the commoner/friend is starting to like her so she self-sabotages by doing something he hates. Act Four: Lily is frantic about having to choose between saving dwarfs or friends she doesn’t want anyone to feel rejected, so she comes up with an overly ambitious plan to save everyone, but when she can’t save the friend, she freaks out that she’s not good enough fulfilling one of her biggest fears. When she has the chance to save him with a kiss, she fears her kiss won’t be good enough.
3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
• Character Name: “Moody”
• Subtext Identity: Dwarf who wants to marry Lily to take over her kingdom. Starts as a hero but is really a villain. OR IS HE THE KING’S REJECTED SON, FOR NOT BEING PERFECT????
• Subtext Trait: manipulative, controlling, short temper, sees himself as a victim of circumstance, bitter because King denied him a chance to marry Lily, power-hungry, charming bully, impatient, trying to take the throne. Manipulative – Secretive – Evil – Tricky
• Subtext Logline: Moody has a victim mentality but covers it by being a charming perfectionist and when triggered, he becomes overly critical.
• Possible Areas of Subtext: Opening, is the King’s “perfectionist police”, who loves to criticize people who seem better than him, and cuts them down to his size. Inciting Incident/Turning Point, uses it to manipulate the King and stay close to the throne. Act Two, in disguise he uses his charms to manipulate other dwarfs and Lily. Act Three, tries to charm Lily but beat out by the handsome commoner so Moody hires thugs to beat him up but the attempt fails. Act Four: desperate, Moody attempts to control and kidnap Lily trying to be the hero/manipulate and charm her but it fails when she discovers who he really is.
-
Natalie’s Subtext Characters
My vision is to create and produce award winning stories that make an unforgettable emotional impact on a worldwide audience.
What I learned from this assignment is that subtext enriches the story and brings out characters’ depth in their own unique way.
Movie Title: BLOODHUNTER
Character With the Most Subtext: WALTER KINGSLEY, antagonist
Subtext Identity: Emily’s scheming ex-boyfriend, her distant cousin who pretends to be her friend
Subtext Trait: Impersonator, vengeful, entitled
Subtext Logline: Walter is Emily’s scheming ex-boyfriend, her distant cousin who pretends to be her friend.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Walter uses his artistic creativity to recreate his relatives’ faces using latex masks, acts as a crossdresser disguises as Hagan’s club manager, Cherimoya, impersonates family folks whom he kills to get them out of his way to the inheritance
Character Name: EMILY KINGSLEY, protagonist
Subtext Identity: Insecure, paranoid recluse
Subtext Trait: fixated on her past, fear of persecution, in denial
Subtext Logline: Emily is an insecure recluse with DID triggered by a childhood trauma
Possible Areas of Subtext: Acting like two different personalities, obsessed with saving her “daughter” , paranoid of being persecuted by a mysterious cult, deprives herself of relationship and love
Character Name: HAGAN VALENTINE, love interest
Subtext Identity: Bastard son of aristocratic family
Subtext Trait: Disowned and denied of his birth rights
Subtext Logline: Hagan is a disowned castaway half-blood son of an aristocratic family whose birth right is denied
Possible Areas of Subtext: Pursues finding family records book to prove his aristocratic roots
-
Gisele Frazeur’s Subtext Characters
My vision: I am going to work diligently to become a brilliant, reliable screenwriter who is sought after, regularly produced, highly paid, and awarded. Artistic fulfillment and financial freedom will result from the achievement of this goal!
What I learned doing this assignment is: How hard is it for me to plough through when perfectionism is MY SUBTEXT. Lol.
Movie Title: Nocturnal Animals
Character Name: Bobby Andes
Subtext Identity: A terminally ill homicide detective.
Subtext Trait: Ruthless, unethical, unlawful, ends justify the means, relentless.
Subtext Logline: Detective Andes is a dying homicide detective who will resort to vigilante justice, if necessary, in order to resolve his last case before being put out to pasture.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Chain smoking when it is killing him. Repeatedly placing Tony face- to- face with his family’s killer – – whom Tony is deathly afraid of. Making Tony “walk” the abduction trail.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Character Name: Edward Sheffield
Subtext Identity: The sensitive artist with the heart of gold.
Subtext Trait: Waffling, spineless, excuse-making syndrome, deflecting.
Subtext Logline: A kindhearted, albeit failed writer – – heals from his wife’s infidelity by scripting her murder in a published novel.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Calling her “forward” when she propositions him. Making excuses for her “bitch” mother. Sending her the script to read pre-publication. Standing her up at the final meeting.
-
Jill Clifford’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: I am going to become skillful enough as a screenwriter that I can to get my scripts into the hands of producers, and ultimately get one or more into a produced feature film.
What I learned from doing this assignment is that the subtext is included in the roles we previously outlined, but in a more concentrated form in this lesson.
With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: Double Jeopardy
Character Name: Libby Parsons
Subtext Identity: Runaway Parolee
Subtext Trait: Determined to find her son regardless of consequences
Subtext Logline: Libby Parsons is a runaway parolee, who uses whatever identity or resources she needs to find her son.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Libby adapts herself to whatever situation she finds herself in. She hides the fact she is a runaway parolee, and what her goal is to get her son. She pretends to be her former friend at a car dealership to get her “current” address. She uses a hotel guest’s identity to get a designer dress and fancy hairdo, charging it to the woman guest’s room.
For your three leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Hagen (Alejendro)
Subtext Identity: Undercover INS agent pretending to be a Hispanic migrant worker
Subtext Trait: Hatred of Hispanics, hunting illegal immigrants, as well as the murderer of his sister
Subtext Logline: Hagen is an undercover INS agent pretending to be a Hispanic migrant worker to identify and deport the Hispanic people he hates.
Possible Areas of Subtext: While dealing with his Hispanic coworkers, he must hide his seething anger over the deaths of his sister and the little girl he risked his life to save at the hands of Hispanic criminals. He must hide his INS identity from the coworkers as he seeks out illegals immigrants, and hopefully his sister’s murderer. He also needs to hide his true identity and purposes from the farm manager and owner as he investigates their hiring and hiding of these illegals.
Character Name: Rosa (Isabella)
Subtext Identity: As an illegal alien, she is hiding from both the authorities and from her possible murderer.
Subtext Trait: She has been traumatized by the death of her family and the fear of being pursued by their murderer.
Subtext Logline: Rosa (Isabella) is a kind woman, who after witnessing the execution of her family in Mexico, escapes to the United States, and is hiding there from the murderer who is pursuing her, and from the authorities who would deport her.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Playing the dutiful farm worker, she hides her pain from loss, her fear of discovery and deportation, or worse by her family’s murderer, and eventually her affections for Hagen.
Character Name: Clint
Subtext Identity: Total villain
Subtext Trait: Clint does not care about anyone but himself, his image, his money.
Subtext Logline: Clint is a clever farm manager, who fools his workers, his boss, and the laborers, while robbing and plotting to murder many of them.
Possible Areas of Subtext: While Clint acts like a caring manager when hiring people, fains sympathy for the illegals, is very manipulative with his boss, the farm owner, as well as the supervisors who work for him, and the workers. He uses threats of deportation for sex with the illegal immigrant women.
-
Lauren’s Subtext Characters
-
Susan Arnout Smith’s Vision: I easily create powerful produced works that bring me financial abundance and professional respect as they heal the world, while providing me time to explore that world in comfort with my family.
What I discovered:
Every assignment brings me closer to understanding my characters and giving them depth and complexity.
2. With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: StardustCharacter Name: Captain ShakespeareSubtext Identity: campy crossdresserSubtext Trait: joyous, over the top, secretiveSubtext Logline: Captain Shakespeare is a gay, swashbuckling sky pirate who hides his identity under a gruff stereotypic behaviorPossible Areas of Subtext: It comes out beautifully during the movie, especially as he transforms with clothes Yvaine and Tristan, and at the end, when he winks at Humphrey, Victoria’s boyfriend.<div>
<div>
3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Esme CooperSubtext Identity: Fierce fighter and defender of CantoriaSubtext Trait: In denialSubtext Logline: Esme Cooper is a fierce fighter ready to die defending Cantoria and covers it by pretending to be defenseless, suffering from amnesia, but when triggered, lashes up furious magic revealing who she is.Possible Areas of Subtext: with the Outliers, who see her as she is, not as she’s disguised, with Croom in Nebraska, with Mary who is trying to kill her but needs to obtain her magic first.
· Character Name: Mary Fortuna
Subtext Identity: An advocate for homeless kids who befriends EsmeSubtext Trait: Treacherous, evilSubtext Logline: Mary Fortuna is evil and covers it by being an advocate for homeless kids but when triggered does staggeringly punitive things to kidsPossible Areas of Subtext: With the court, with her peers, with Esme, with Croom
</div></div> -
Christopher Dalbey’s Subtext Characters
My Vision: To claim “screenwriter” as my primary profession and have the time to write as prolifically as I intend, to be well respected and sought after in the industry for my scripts that are both memorable and ground-breaking.
What I learned from doing this assignment is that by layering a character’s subtext can greatly enhance their actions and convictions all throughout their transformational journey.
Concept: In the future, a top psychologist is assigned a transcriber with empath and supernatural abilities who puts herself in the shoes of the world’s deadliest criminals, covertly becoming their judge and jury.
THE TRANSCRIBER
Character: NIA COLEMAN
Subtext Identity: A time traveling superhero via heightened empathy abilities.
Subtext Trait: emotional wreckage, a survivor, cunning.
Subtext Logline: As Nia’s expeditions deepen in time travel the awareness of her super powers thinkens; her ultra-competitiveness surfaces and is determined to find her husband’s killer and daughter’s assailant.
Possible Areas of Subtext: a leader, compassionate, loyal by default.
Character: Dr. HANNAH DAHL
Subtext Identity: biological mother to JAYLA COLEMAN; general of the hybrid army.
Subtext Trait: sexual deviant, emotionally scarred, a ruler.
Subtext Logline: Dr. Dahl guises her true identity as general of the hybrid army as appointed top psychologist in evaluating theses criminals, when she is actually secretly aiding their plan to take over the world.
Possible Areas of Subtext: empathetic, motherly, a deviant, derelict.
Triangle Character: JAYLA COLEMAN
Subtext Identity: A clairvoyant who covertly assists Nia in time travel as revolving characters.
Subtext Trait: A gifted superpower in the time travel dimension.
Subtext Logline: Though Jay is resentful for her mother not being around much because of her work, she aspires to be like her and, unbeknownst to Nia, a major asset in time travel.
Possible Areas of Subtext: the chosen one, hypersensitive, a leader.
-
Marcus Armstrong’s Subtext Characters
MY VISION: I am going to be so disciplined in the daily writing process and become such an adept writer that my successful screenplays will launch me into a full-time writing career.
What I learned from doing this assignment is the importance of subtext in making an interesting movie. Without subtext, a story is just a sequence of events on the surface and is boring. Subtext adds the qualities that can make a movie irresistible to audiences.
Example Movie
Movie Title: Taken
Character name: Bryan Mills
Subtext Identity: Former CIA operative who is always on edge and on alert for deviant behavior.
Subtext Trait: Suspicious, crafty
Subtext Logline: Bryan is a former CIA operative who is always on alert and suspicious of others and who must rely on his acquired skills to save his daughter.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Over-analyzing everything. Resists his daughter’s wish to travel Europe with a girlfriend. Always anticipating deviant behavior and prepared with countermeasures.
Ivory Coast
Character Name: Edmund
Subtext Identity: An environmentalist who was wounded from being bullied as a child.
Subtext Trait: Secretive, vengeful.
Subtext Logline: Edmund is an environmentalist who was bullied as a child and is now secretly out for revenge against animal poachers.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Lives a double life as nobody knows he is avenging the deaths of poached animals. He is intent on standing up for the helpless.
Character Name: Raymond
Subtext Identity: A U.S. Marshal tasked with tracking down the killer of animal poachers (Edmund), but is secretly involved in illegal poaching.
Subtext Trait: Unethical, dirty agent
Subtext Logline: Raymond is a U.S. Marshal tasked with tracking down the killer of animal poachers, but is an unethical, dirty agent and is secretly involved in the illegal poaching.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Pretends to uphold the law, but his motive for capturing Edmund is actually due to his own financial gain from poaching. Beloved by neighbors and fellow agents, but is dirty.
-
Jacqueline Murphy Subtext Characters MOD 3 Lesson 3 August 1, 2022
VISION: To empower myself to go for my dreams to be a great writer, actress and filmmaker who is “Admired”, recognized and sought after by the industry and has many successful TV & Film projects produced that make a difference and inspire others to go for their dreams.
What I learned that spending time in the crafted logline helps you get into the characters head and create more subtext. What would I do in this situation. Loved this!
1. Start this assignment by empowering yourself using our State-To-Activity empowerment process.State: I love discovering…Activity: …the subtext of my characters!
2. Movie Title: Sorceress of Hollywood
Character Name: Olivia Spencer
Subtext Identity: The Victim/Seducer Happy go Lucky actress with deep wound at never knowing her father and not making it in Hollywood. Unaware when we start of her hidden genetic talents and abilities and her true purpose in life as Ruler of the OH ThroneSubtext Trait: – Secretive – Concealing – Crafty – seductress-playerSubtext Logline: Olivia a failing actress makes a Faustian deal with a Sorcerer to “time travel” to 1940s Hollywood to be a glamourous movie star but is thrust into a world of danger, magic and intrigue and stumbles on her own hidden talent a genetic trait that helps her to maneuver and survive. Subtext Activity: tries to be a star to see the whole world loves her to make up for the father who she never knew and thought didn’t love her. Plays along with this OH world she has no knowledge of until she meets a mentor. Tricks, seduces, kids, plays along, flirts, befriends to draw people in so she can get a handle on this OH world.
Subtext Logline: Olivia has a loss wound and covers it by trying to become a star but when triggered she gets into trouble and risks things normal people wouldn’t venturing to time travel and give up her whole life to be a star.
3. For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Damien Z. The SorcererSubtext Identity: A Sorcerer who “cons” all in the name of power and ruling: The ConSubtext Trait: Manipulative – Secretive – Evil – TrickySubtext Logline: Sorcerer Damien Z cast out of OH Dimension spends every waking hour conniving his way back in to rule, when he finds an unsuspecting Olivia who holds the key to his succession he sabotages himself by falling in love with her and rendering himself powerlessSubtext Activity : Trying to control Olivia and everyone. Suspicious of motives so prepares carefully to “chess” pieces in correct position. His wound is wanting to regain what he lost.
-
Savanna’s subtext work
Vision is to take my broken heart and turn it into art successfully.
What I learned from doing this assignment is to fill it out like placeholders.
Character Name:
savannah st john
Subtext
Identity: insecurity Wound from moving away from tribe and making it on her own
Subtext Trait:
Sly, bookish, pollyanna-ish
Subtext Logline:
Savannah has an insecurity wound and covers it up by being intellectual.
Possible Areas
of Subtext: She underestimates the resentment of brother that father favored her over him and is shocked that he can change the estate using conspiracy theories.Character Name:
Austin Paxon
Subtext identity:
Golden boy of family, leading parents down a fringe right wing philosophy so he can profitSubtext trait:
conniving
Subtext logline:
Austin, caught up in right wing cult feelings of the Trump era, spends all his free time reading about conspiracy theories and the demise of the white guy, and convinces his parents to watch cultish media to reinforce these ideas so that he can convince them to distrust his “lib” sister.
Possible area of
subtext: VictimCharacter Name:
Liminani
Subtext
Identity: little miss perfect and little miss nasty nice
Subtext trait:
Resentful, conniving, jealous
Subtext logline:
Uses church activities and do-gooder work to cover a jealous nature and supports Austin in isolating Savannah from parents. -
Daniel Turner’s Subtext Characters
VISION: To learn how to give my characters the depth and subtext that they have been clearly lacking.
What I learned doing this assignment is to be intentional with the characters and don’t just hope that they have some depth.
Detective Colvile Franklin
Subtext Identity: The Seducer
Subtext Traits: Always searching for truth, regardless of outcome.
Subtext Log-line: He was a pastor and left the church to become a cop and feel clean.
Possible Areas for Subtext: He wants to make the world a better place in God’s image, but at what cost.
Dr. Roland Young
Subtext Identity: The Seducer
Subtext Traits: Always analyzing. A detective in finding out what makes people tick.
Subtext Logline: Patrolman turned CopDoc/Police psychologist is not just helping other cops, but he is recruiting for something.
Possible Areas for Subtext: The secret leader
Log in to reply.