Day 3 Assignments

[Cathryn Atkinson]

Cathryn Atkinson’s Engaging Main Characters – RUN ANGELITA

What I learned doing this assignment – It’s really good for me to slow down and get details on “paper”. Some of my characters needed more thought and I made progress with them. My protagonist and antagonist I have over thought at the expense of others.

Slowing down made me also think about the stories and I have made some changes that will improves the series.

ASSIGNMENT 1: MR ROBOT

Elliot Alderson –

A. Role in the show:

Is a genius hacker being drawn away from cybersecurity into the world of cyberterrorism

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Elliot is anxiety riddled, social phobic introvert who is a brilliant cybersecurity operative and is open to being pulled into this mysterious cyberespionage world by Mr. Robot.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Elliot is a liar and manipulator who spies on his friends and his enemies. His perspective means this is always for a “good reason.” He hid a hack that he stopped in order to revisit it because it intrigued him, he is a morphine addict, and he is attracted to cyberterrorism because he hates the system he is a part of.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Elliott spies on everyone and will manipulate people and situations based on what he has learned. He seems not to abuse this power as yet because his needs are relatively minor, he wants to be left alone. He would say he does bad to do good. He lies, hacks to destroy.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Elliot is a “will he, won’t he guy” trying to decide if he is going to take down the corporations with the hackers. He finally decides to at the end of episode 3.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

He’s funny, thoughtful, fucked up. His father caught leukemia in a Ecorp accident and his mother was unstable and cruel. He wants to do better, wants to reach out. He secretly helps those he cares about.

Mr Robot –

A. Role in the show:

Is the head of a shadowy leader of a group of underground cyberterrorist who is tempting and manipulating Elliot into working with them.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Mr Robot is the confident, anarchic head of a shadowy group of cyberspies, a group that is exactly what Elliot desires to be a part of.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Mr Robot seems to be behind his group’s cyberattacks, but no details are released. He draws Elliot out, then abuses him. Keeps Elliot off kilter.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

He’s off the grid, respects no boundaries and wants to cause harm, almost for the sake of it.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Dangerously unpredictable in harming Elliot, also socially unpredictable – in your face.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

There is interest in whether he will take down one of the world’s most powerful and nasty corporations.

Tyreill Wellick –

A. Role in the show:

He is a high executive at the corrupt company E Corp, acting chief technical officer, with skills as a hacker, who has secrets, and is a violent quasi-fascist.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Tyreill craves power within Ecorp and will do anything to achieve it. He uses his skills to advance himself and is Elliot’s equal in cunning.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Tyreill is not as in control as he appears on the outside, and his pregnant wife dominates him. He is relentlessly ambitious and this drives him to use people.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

He is unethical, violent, manipulative, callous, the worst kind of self-interested capitalist who doesn’t care what he destroys.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Something doesn’t go his way at E Corp, it looks like he might not be appointed chief tech officer, and he beats up a homeless man that he has paid for. He will have gay sex with a lower ranking employee in order to steal data from him.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

He doesn’t create much empathy. He wants the job and is desperate. His wife mocks him. He seems lost in his own way.

ASSIGNMENT 2: RUN ANGELITA

The journey of the show.

RUN ANGELITA tells the story of a Mexican migrant – a spoiled 16-year-old girl who has been trained in shooting and martial arts, and who goes on the run after her accountant brother and grandmother are killed by the cartel he secretly works for. She doesn’t realize she carries the digital key to almost a billion dollars in cartel money, but when she discovers it, she decides it could do some good in the world.

Answer these questions for each of those characters.

Angelita Alves

A. Role in the show:
Angelita is a refugee trying to escape violence against her family.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Her brother gave her the digital key to almost a billion dollars before he was murdered/He had been training her in weapons and martial arts so that she could protect herself.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

She didn’t know her brother Luis was an accountant for a cartel, her family has cartel history. She knows martial arts and how to use knives and guns, she knows the medallion Luis gave her was important, but not why. She doesn’t tell Chance and Veronica why she is on the run.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

She does not want to hurt anyone, but ends up fighting and then killing a man who is hurting her/others. She decides to keep the money instead of hand it over to authorities.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

As becomes more aware of her powers, and more aware of the dangers she faces in every direction, she had to make choices about how to fight back.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

At 16, Angelita lost her brother and grandmother, who raised her, and was thrust into the world of refugees, heading to the US, where she isn’t wanted. She is confused, lost, traumatized.<div>

Chance Tremblay

A. Role in the show:
Chance is an American high school student who is pissed off with his detention guard father and the system that employs him and helps Angelita escape when she breaks out of migrant detention following a riot.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

He is American and knows his way around the US southwest, he is a competitive rifleman and horseman. He becomes emotionally connected to Angelita and wants her to survive, so he goes on the run with her.</div><div>

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

His father works for the migrant detention system, and he used to help his father search for migrants in the desert to turn them in. Finding a dead family changed him. NEEDS SOMETHING ELSE.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

He is going against his father and against his country’s laws in helping a fugitive. He thinks he can never go back to his old life.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

He will be violent because he thinks there is no other choice.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

He’s got a good heart but feels that gets him nowhere. He’s honest.

Dario

A. Role in the show:

Dario is the cartel’s hitman, and Angelita thinks he killed her brother and grandmother.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

He is the best killer his boss Moneda has, and an expert tracker. He’s a veteran assassin.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

He wants to get out of the cartel, and he has a proposal for Angelita and the money.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

He is a killer, an ex-junkie, he will use every tool at his disposal to track Angelita down.<div>

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

He is like a coiled spring, and prone to sudden violence. He wants to get out of the cartel, but he knows there is not simple way to do that. He dreads what he may have to do. He knows he has done things that are unforgivable, but doesn’t want to pay the price for them.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

He is trying to find his humanity again after having the cartel crush it for decades. He doesn’t know if he can be saved. He’s cool and funny. </div> </div>

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Cathryn Atkinson.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Cathryn Atkinson.

[Paula Zimmerman]

Paula’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learned from this assignment – Serena is a complex, many-layered character, not the ideal moral protagonist but a human being prone to mistakes and failures, who does unexpected things in the face of her challenges.

A. Role in the show – Serena is the teen who returns home after a mysterious disappearance and has complications with all of her former friends, especially Blaire, her former best friend.

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise – Serena was the “it’ girl formerly, and is now looking to understand the machinations of her former friends, the reasons why they now antagonize her.

Unique skill – Being as honest as she can with people.

C. Secret beneath the surface – She is still in love with Nate and wants to get him from Blaire.

D. Moral Issue – Serena physically attacks Blaire on the soccer field after Blair trips her several times. She also hones in on Blair’s interview with the rep from Yale.

Bigger Moral Dilemma – She wasn’t prepared for how Blair fights back, in effect trying to destroy her chances of getting into an Ivy League school.

E. Unpredictable – Blair puts Serena in an untenable position by calling her out (falsely) as a drug addict at the Event. Serena confronts her but Blair refuses to take the blame for trying to destroy Serena’s future.

F. Empathetic – We see that Serena allows herself to be humiliated by Blair because she is protecting her brother, and we also see how callous and clueless her mother is in trying to deal with the brother; in fact, all the women in Serena’s environment seem antagonistic toward her.

Part II. – My Main Character

A. Role in the Show – Jessie is a 20-something college dropout who writes papers for high school and college students for money, and gets involved in the thug world after falling in love with one of the students, Tony. He manipulates her to open a tutoring business where he can launder drug money.

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise

Jessie is an expert writer and helps the thugs get their GEDs. That’s her purpose there. Her other expertise is she keeps their money accountable so they don’t get caught by the IRS.

C. Secret Beneath the Surface. – Jessie deeply desires Tony and wants him for herself, although he has many girlfriends.

D. Moral Issue – Jessie engages in illicit activities sharting with the papers and then laundering money. Bigger moral Dilemma – She knows nothing about the world of drug dealers and how dangerous it is, how vicious they can be.

E. Unpredictable – The last tie she goest o visit Tony in prison, she decides not to.

Unexpected external situation – ex-con Benny, Tony’s friend, tells her Tony plans to marry his girlfriend Bianca, who wants to cut her out of the business altogether.

[Paula Zimmerman]

Paula’s Main Characters

Sorry, I forgot letter F for my character Jessie.

So here it is:

F. Empathy – We see how she’s put herself in danger, cut off from her former friends just so she can fulfill her fantasy of being with Tony, and then has to confront the reality that he was just using her.

[George Petersen]

George Petersen ENGAGING MAIN CHARACTERS

What I learned from this assignment is that even the bad guys need to have different sides to them

The Americans:

Phillip

Role in the show:

Protagonist

Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Spycraft

Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? He’s a domestic suburban Dad who is also a Russian spy

Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Murder for a good cause.

Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Will he stay a spy or cash in and defect to America?

Empathetic: Why do we care?

Because he lives on the edge: one mistake will blow his cover and end in disaster

Stan:

Role in the show:

Antagonist

Unique Purpose / Expertise:

FBI Investigator

Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surfac?

Like the protagonist, Stan is a domestic suburban Dad who works undercover as an FBI agent

Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Stan extends friendship with the intention of betraying it

Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Stan works with the department and together their resources are formidable and unpredictable

Empathetic: Why do we care?

The stress and lack of a normal life

*

The Red Ballot

Journey: from the owner/operator of a small Chicago detective agency to the man in charge of making sure the President gets to deliver his inaguaral address.

Alan Pinkerton:

Role in the show: Protagonist

Unique Purpose / Expertise: Founder and operator of a small detective agency

Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

His passion is a full commitment to the necessity of absolute secrecy in any operation

Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

The employment of deception as a necessary tool in his work

Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Any operation is seen as totally unique with its own novel approach

Empathetic: Why do we care?

His fugitive status escaping arrest for his pro-democracy activities in Scotland and for his work in Chicago training escaped slaves in the skills of being a blacksmith while on their journey on the Underground Railroad bound for Canada

Cipriano Ferrandini:

Role in the show: Antagonist

Unique Purpose / Expertise: A natural intelligence expert based upon his information gathering as a barber

Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Barber on the surface; spy underneath

Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Assassination as a good thing for the country

Unpredictable: What will they do next?

His belief that his cause justifies assassination and slavery makes him dangerous and unpredictable

Empathetic: Why do we care?

His vulnerability to be captured makes him a little sympathetic

[David Quinn]

Subject line: David Quinn’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is the value of this step – I had levels, but not truly multiple levels – I need to let a quiet development mind do more work here as I continue…

Jessica Jones engages on multiple levels

A. Role in the show: Traumatized, failed superhero Jessica finds the courage and focus to neutralize the supervillain who controlled and manipulated her, becoming hero

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Expert investigator and practically invulnerable – if she can manage to resist the mind-control Kilgrave abuses

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? Jessica claims she is no hero and she just wants to get drunk and be alone, but she has a secret: she cares deeply about the people around her and believes only she can protect them

D. Moral Issue: Moral boundaries are something she crosses all the time, but will she kill? And would she be justified removing Kilgrave from his sick play?

E. Unpredictable: Jessica is not in control of herself and with Kilgrave stalking her, it could get much worse; she could become his greatest weapon

F. Empathetic: Undeserved trauma – empathy. Also, when we see how committed JJ is to saving people, despite what she says she wants, we see the hero in her

Blythe: Nightvision

<Note: I would like to find a new title for this that distills the high concept as succinctly and poetically as “Breaking Bad”>

Journey: Blythe surrenders to the ruthless killer inside her – and in doing so, collides with her own humanity, something she insisted she let die a hundred years ago

Main characters: Blythe, Ian

Blythe:

A. Role in the show: Ruthless creature killer – first of the sisterhood of creatures, herself

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: The deadliest hunter amongst an underworld culture of hidden hunters

C. Intrigue: As an emotionally wounded survivor of Ian’s assault, she’s not the inhuman cold killer she pretends; her vital lie? she feels empathy for her survivor sisters and an obsessive attraction to their creator

D. Moral Issue: In any other story, she would be the monster, not the protagonist

E. Unpredictable: How far will she go to kill her sisters? What collateral damage is she willing to allow? And what will she do when she finally faces Ian?

F. Empathetic: As ruthless as she is, Blythe will never be as bad as Ian, who transformed all the sister creatures against their will and continues to manipulate them

Ian:

A. Role in the show: Created the creatures of the virus to improve the human predator; manipulating the sisters of the hidden subculture of creatures passing as humans a century later

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Brilliant psychopath

C. Intrigue: Does Ian understand that Blythe may not be able to kill her lover?

D. Moral Issue: unmistakably the villain, the instigator; but does he have empathy for Blythe, if not her sisters? How does this play out?

E. Unpredictable: His manipulations constantly put Blythe in jeopardy; would he let her be destroyed?

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Brooklyn the Barbarian

Journey: Gus AKA Brooklyn

Main characters: Gus, Jane

Gus:

A. Role in the show: a smart, pre-law student – who prides himself on not getting involved – matures to become a King in a violent alternate reality

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: despite his 18 years of hiding in plain sight in his earthly life, Gus seems uniquely qualified to be a survivor, and even a leader, in the Realm Forsaken

C. Intrigue: what is his secret desire or need? What lies does he tell others? What lies does he tell himself? And how did he disappear from Brooklyn one night and wake up in the Realm? (And what do we learn about him from the world of his classmates and professors – and even a girlfriend – he left behind?)

D. Moral Issue: In a kill or be killed world, what’s good? Is he with Jane now? what would his girlfriend back in Brooklyn call that?

E. Unpredictable: How far will he go?

F. Empathetic: Gus never asked for this destiny, but he’s wrestling it with intelligence, bravery and cunning; Gus also lets Jane into his life as a true partner in his adventure, something we see he could not allow in his Brooklyn past; becoming a decent man is a more admirable goal than getting into law school

Jane:

A. Role in the show: Jane becomes a true partner on the Hero’s Journey – she is his lover, champion, muse, coach and critic; in the moment, this makes her both a solution and a problem

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: smart, strategic, with boundless energy

C. Intrigue: Jane hates being thought of as the girlfriend, like she is his property; how did she get this way? What made her? She has an awakening coming when she sees she was raised to “fix” her man instead of take care of herself.

D. Moral Issue: ???

E. Unpredictable: Mercurial, dynamic, chaotic – given to flying into violent rage

F. Empathetic: generosity — she helps Gus survive and solve his problems, we care about her happiness, too

[Jack Young]

Jack Young’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learned from this assignment is that we must engage the audience not only in the story we are telling, but with the edginess and complexity of unique characters.

ASSIGNMENT 1:

American Horror Story, Season 10, Episode III:

A. Role in the show: Harry Gardener is a father and husband but unfortunately he is also a mediocre writer. He wants to be a great (or successful) writer so bad that he will risk everything.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Harry is a hack writer for network TV shows but has yet to write anything meaningful. He knows the mechanics of writing but doesn’t have any real ideas or inspiration.

Purpose: To complete his TV pilot before the deadline and therefore take care of his family.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? Harry has taken a magic pill that will make him a great writer. The problem is that it comes at a high cost.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? There is no magic pill. We were taught that results comes from hard work. Is our greatness worth someone else’s life? What if the price is our own soul. This is the same moral dilemma as Robert Johnson faced at the crossroads when the devil offered him greatness in exchange for his soul.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? Harry is driven to write the greatest pilot and following episodes while the iron is hot. But what waits around the corner in this town of vampire writers and will he do or not do?

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? We can put ourselves in Harry’s shoes, wanting to succeed at what we do and to provide for our family. Those of us that are writers in the audience, can empathize with Harry as writers who struggle with writer’s block or finding that gem of an idea that will produce that amazing screenplay.

ASSIGNMENT 2:

1. The journey of my show: From a man living in a doomed society (no-birth) who lost his job (insider trading), has a broken marriage (affair), and discovers he has terminal cancer to a man who can give his life to enter an energy that could possibly save mankind.

2. The main characters in the show: Michael Walker and Cronus.

A. Role in the show:

Michael: A 35 year old man who is tortured by the death of his brother and is dying from terminal cancer.

Cronus: A human/alien hybrid that is the ruler of the City of Seals on a planet in the middle of the universe.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Michael: Expertise: Doesn’t feel that he has any, but he will discover it’s actually his love for his family and his ability to lead others and put everything on the line to protect them.

Purpose: To enter an energy stream that is stealing all of the souls from Earth (“No Birth” epidemic) and stop it to save mankind.

Irony: On the surface, Michael is not a religious man, and definitely not the person to risk his life, but his actions say otherwise.

Cronus: Expertise: Cronus is evil. He has power not seen until now and has learned to create technologies to enslave and torture mankind.

Purpose: To open six gigantic seals beneath the City of Seals that will bring on the end of mankind.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Michael: He is having an affair with a prostitute that started just after his brother’s death and has a warrant out for his arrest for insider trading, for which he has jeopardized his job and all of his savings. He is also hiding the fact from his wife that he has constant headaches.

Cronus: Because Cronus has human DNA in his makeup, he has human complexities (Weaknesses) and likes/dislikes. He is a flawed (and sometimes unpredictable) adversary bent on Michael and mankind’s destruction.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Michael: Michael has wanted to end the affair (a crutch for his brother’s death) and knew that the stock deal he got involved with was illegal.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Michael: With each step, Michael comes to discover that someone larger than him is at work and that everything that has happened has done so for a reason – to force him to enter the stream and stop Cronus.

Cronus: Cronus can be reckless and emotional due to his human DNA.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Michael: He is a good father and deeply committed to taking care of his family. He has inoperable brain cancer.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Jack Young.

[Madeleine Vessel]

Madeleine Vessel’s Engaging Main Characters

Doing this assignment, I learned what makes my two main characters engaging. I was able to flesh out my main character’s journey, two of my characters’ roles, their unique purposes, what makes each intriguing, what moral issues they need to confront, what makes them unpredictable, and why we should care about them.

Assignment 1:

SUPERNATURAL’S ENGAGING PROFILE ANSWERS for Dean after seeing episode 3.

Character Name: Dean

A. Role in the show: Dean is the older of two male siblings. He is dedicated to finding his father, who went missing while on a hunting trip for demons.

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: He’s a trained demon hunter. His purpose is to find his father.

C. Intrigue: He is a natural man, who hunts supernatural beings operating in the natural world.

D. Moral Issue: Is it right to kill even if it is a wicked supernatural being? Is it right to lie about who he is? Is it right for him to coerce his brother into joining the hunt with him

E. Unpredictable: There next supernatural encounter can happen anywhere or anytime with any manner of person.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? We care about Dean because he lost his mother when a child to a wicked supernatural being, and we know he doesn’t want to lose his father, too. He’s also a good big brother.

Assignment 2

My Show:

1. The journey of my show. My show’s journey is Sophie’s journey. She’s an art history professor trying to find an art thief and murderer who is willing to kill her to avoid detection.

2. My two main characters are Sophie and Bill.

Sophie’s Engaging Character Profile:

A. Role in the show: Sophie is the heroine.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Her purpose is to find the art thief who stole a valuable painting, killing her father’s fiancée in the process.

C. Intrigue: The secret beneath the surface is that she is a Russian defector who is part of the U.S. witness protection program.

D. Moral Issue: Is it right for her to lie about who she is?

E. Unpredictable: With each step she takes, she increasingly jeopardizes her witness protection cover.

F. Empathetic: We care about Sophie because she is a good person who puts herself in jeopardy to stop a thief and a murderer.

Bill’s Engaging Character Profile:

A. Bill: He is an FBI Agent, who is Sophie’s father’s handler. He’s also tasked with protecting Sophie.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: His task is to learn what is happening in the Russian community in San Francisco and to keep Sophie and her father safe.

C. Intrigue: His mission to protect Zhora and Sophie is secret.

D. Moral Issue: Is it right to use Zhora and Sophie as informants? Is it right to allow Sophie to put herself in danger?

E. Unpredictable: With every step he takes following after Sophie, the more he is likely to be exposed and cause an international incident with Russia.

F. Empathetic: We care about Bill because he’s a good guy. He’s a single dad trying to raise a precocious daughter while serving in the FBI.

[Eric Humble]

Eric Humble’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is: that the big picture decisions regarding character have a huge impact in the audience’s obsession to watch the show. This model really broke down the elements that make a character fascinating enough to follow on a season-long journey, which is something I’ve often struggled to write – especially in the case of creating antiheroes. The empathy/distress section of this lesson gave me some huge breakthroughs into how write the kinds of characters I’ve been fascinated with over the years but didn’t know how to forge the audience’s empathy with.

ASSIGNMENT ONE:

Mr. Robot Analysis

Elliot

A. Role in the show: Cybersecurity expert by day and hacker “protector” by night

B. Unique Purpose: To help Mr. Robot’s hacker group take down E Corp, the largest, most evil

conglomerate in the world, in order to redistribute wealth on an unimaginable scale

Expertise: Brilliant hacker with a unique position to get inside E Corp’s servers via his day job

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? He works for the cybersecurity firm that

protects E Corp while simultaneously using his position and skills to aid Mr. Robot’s

schemes to destroy them “limb by limb.”

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? He sees himself as a protector of the

people he cares about, but his hacking increasingly crosses the line into stalking and

spying on them and those around them. Mr. Robot’s plans are dangerous to innocents

and his motives are untrustworthy and unclear.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? Elliot has had problems with anger in his past, he

bursts into tears when the loneliness gets too overwhelming, he takes drugs and

withdrawals from them when he runs out, and he has such poor social skills that his

interactions are often awkward at best.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? He hacks without desire for money, to call out the secrets of bad people who cause pain to others.

Mr. Robot

A. Role in the show: Secretive leader of a hacker group out to take down E Corp and redistribute wealth on a grand scale.

B. Unique Purpose: To take down E Corp in order to cancel their massive ownership of debt

Expertise: A hacker even more skilled than Elliot

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? He runs a hacker group that’s totally off-the-grid

and only parcels out information on a need-to-know basis… and often lies when roping

or manipulating Elliot into things

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? To take down E Corp, he’s framing

otherwise innocent execs and innocent people will get caught in the cross-hairs as

collateral damage

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? He doesn’t explain his plan, just pieces of it couched

in lies. He tells Elliot one thing, then enacts something contradictory in a public way. He

acts paternally toward Elliot, but is manipulative and cruel toward him without warning.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? Mr. Robot’s stated goal of revolution by redistributing wealth ‘

away from the ultra-rich and corrupt is something ultimately admirable.

ASSIGNMENT TWO:

MY CONCEPTS:

CONCEPT ONE: An oncologist discovers there’s a strain of DNA in a small group of people which is the key to curing cancer, and Big Pharma has known about it for decades… and has been systematically hunting down and exterminating these people, because cancer is big business.

Journey: Oncologist goes from a comfortable life profiting off the system to on the run from a shadowy cabal to save the last people with the genetic code in order to cure his wife’s cancer.

Main Characters:

Jude

A. Role in the show: Oncologist/research scientist whose wife is dying of inoperable cancer

B. Unique Purpose: To protect Dres until he can figure out how to extract the element of her DNA that will allow him to synthesize a medicine that can cure cancer

Expertise: He’s a brilliant oncology expert at the forefront of his field – one of the only people in the world who can figure out how to use the DNA strain to create a usable cure

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? He’s lying about his latest breakthrough and counting on no one understanding the advanced science… so that he can infiltrate the cabal hunting Dres from within the Big Pharma company. He’s also lying to his wife about the dire circumstances of her cancer.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? To infiltrate the cabal, he must rise in the ranks of the Big Pharma company hurting patients to maximize their bottom line, and has to go along with the cabal in order to undermine them.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? He’s increasingly desperate to find and protect Dres as his wife’s cancer escalates. He’s forced to lie to his employers and to try to manipulate Dres, and also to gaslight his wife so she won’t give up and let herself die or try to persuade him away from his current course of action.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? Undeserved misfortune: He has spent his career treating and saving cancer patients only for his wife to contract inoperable cancer. Tries for goal and fails: He’s up against a shadowy conspiracy that is seemingly everywhere and all-powerful to protect a woman who doesn’t want his help.

Dres

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>A. Role in the show: a homeless petty thief, targeted by the cabal because she carries the strain of DNA that can directly cure cancer.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>B. Unique Purpose:To find who killed her mother and exact revenge.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>Expertise: Thief adept at surviving off-the-grid, breaking into places, and sizing up marks

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? She’s using Jude to get access to the cabal so she can kill every one of them for ordering the hit on her mother. Unbeknownst to Jude or the cabal, she seduces the Big Pharma CEO and becomes his mistress.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? She’s a thief and con artist, and she seduces the Big Pharma CEO, becoming his mistress… which threatens to tear apart his family, especially his relationship with his dying daughter. Once aware that the cabal killed her mother, she vows to kill them all.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? She’s conniving and dishonest at her baseline, but now that she’s being hunted, she uses her skills to turn the tables on her assassins with her survival on the line… and even does the same to Jude. She trusts no one and is only out for herself.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? Undeserved misfortune: she’s being hunted for something she isn’t even aware of and has no control over – her genetic makeup. Her mother was killed by the same cabal, as have everyone in her family line carrying the gene across the generations.

CONCEPT TWO: Just as an FBI agent is about to arrest a mob boss, an anonymous website sets up a full-out Presidential campaign for the mob boss and raises billions of dollars, making him the heavy favorite to win… and shielding him from prosecution until the election is over.

Journey: An idealistic FBI agent has to catch a mob boss who is on the cusp of becoming his boss and corrupting the Justice Department into a powerful extension of his own mob… so he has to start breaking the law and playing dirty to ensure that doesn’t happen. Meanwhile, the mob boss, who has to win at the campaign trail in order to avoid immediate arrest, has to become a genuinely empathetic and civic-minded leader in order to win the presidency… or face immediate arrest as a private citizen.

Darren

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>A. Role in the show: Ambitious and brilliant Special Agent assigned to Organized Crime

B. Unique Purpose: To expose Scoleri to the world as a ruthless gangster and put him behind bars forever.Expertise: Expert in the workings of the underworld; knows how to play the game to move up the ladder–on an academic level.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? Darren inserts himself into the orbit of Scoleri’s mob to move up the line and get the evidence he needs to nail him… but is secretly enjoying the ruthlessness and relaxed “rules” of this lifestyle, a marked contrast to the stifling bureaucracy at the FBI. He starts having ambitions within the crime lifestyle above and beyond just getting close to Scoleri.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? In order to move up in the chain of command and not get exposed, Darren has to perform increasingly criminal activities, from white-collar crime kickback deals to ultimately violence and eventually having to assassinate his best friend on the FBI to prove he’s not an agent himself.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? Darren is coldly calculating in his plan, but has to deviate as the gangsters he’s surrounding himself with give him unexpected missions and errands. He’s being pulled between the strong moral ethics he lived by before this and his newfound freedom within the dangerous world of gangsters – and sometimes gives in to his baser instincts and his blind ambition as he realizes he can get away with behavior whose consequences would have ruined his life as an FBI agent.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? Undeserved misfortune: We see him follow all the rules and have Scoleri dead-to-rights when the surprising campaign run shields Scoleri from prosecution under federal law and sidelines Darren’s career.

Scoleri

A. Role in the show: Ruthless mob boss who is forced into the public spotlight to run for President.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>B. Unique Purpose: Must win the party’s nomination as the first step toward a Presidential run… in order to avoid immediate arrest.

Expertise: He’s a ruthless leader, used to unchecked power, and knows how to use threats, intimidation, and raw strength to make deals.

<b style=”font-weight: bold;”>C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? He acts like an ordinary politician, but is concealing from the public and other politicians that he’s a lifelong mobster… and conceals from everyone that he’s looking to use this platform to secretly expand his criminal empire on a global scale.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? He is only paternal to people like himself – fighters who started with nothing and are ruthless in their rise… but he has to betray the person like himself whom he takes under his wing in a small town he’s stumping in. He has to compromise his ruthless but bluntly honest values to play the lying game of politics.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? He has to outwardly act like an ordinary politician, but he switches back to his dangerous gangster tactics when forced to or when he has to react emotionally. His secret plan to expand his criminal empire overseas makes him react with brutal ruthlessness at unexpected times when he sees an opening to get what he wants.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? Undeserved misfortune: he didn’t choose this path. He was willing to be arrested or killed if the FBI got smart enough to catch him. To Scoleri, living the politician’s life of lying and backstabbing is worse than what he does. Distress: He’s facing a lifetime prison sentence if he stumbles even once during this Presidential run.

[Jack Young]

Posted in error

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Jack Young.

[Christine Dadourian]

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Engaging Main Characters

• What I learned doing this assignment: Developing a character’s inner and external world will connect a writer to story vignettes. Audiences respond to complex experiences of the main characters. Thus, BW shows will deliver these experiences to the viewer.

ASSIGNMENT 1:

SCANDAL: Season 1, Episode 3

A. Role: Olivia Pope: Politically powerful ‘fixer’ who navigates crises that threaten the public image of our nation. She is a lawyer, former communications director at the White House, and now heads her own consulting company.

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: She strategizes based on her intuitive sense of truth and redemption

C. Intrigue: She is the former lover of the President. Deep feelings towards him continue.

D. Moral Issue: She invades others’ privacy if it meets her agenda. She has difficulty saying “no” if she perceives love or need (e.g. Theme with Jane; Fitz) though she could be enabling or colluding in “buy-out” with dark future consequences. Is she willing to destroy adversary who has redemptive intent (e.g. Helen’s agenda)?

E. Unpredictable: Olivia is willing to represent someone that threatens her purpose of protecting the nation and threatens damage to Fitz and his family.

F. Empathetic: Challenged to discern and respond to yet another case (now in episode 3) with a sexual theme evoking her inner conflict regarding her own loving and sexual behaviors. Also, faced with ‘in the moment’ intense feelings of desire/love/protection that call on her to decide actions that can have high stakes. (e.g. Meet secretly with Fitz? Dispel guilt in friends without transformation/redemption?)

ASSIGNMENT 2:

FORESHADOW

Journey: Innocent on a mission in a strange world.

A recently tenured Art Historian is called to decipher various aspects of a painting with strange marking recently appropriated by the university (Baroque to Enlightenment era). She is exposed to material unknown to science. Her investigation threatens her life and others involved. Resolving the mysteries involved offers gains to enlightenment. She must ‘find her way back and forward’ at the same time.

Main Characters in Pilot

Maggie, Sam, Jack

Maggie:

A. Role: Recently tenured art professor in a university setting. Reluctant hero. She’s a solver. Called to discern and interpret an unusual finding in the art world.

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: Art History: Skills in applying historical data, symbology, and dream interpretation. Purpose: Solve the riddle. Challenge fears. Anchors her actions in intuition. She must make sense out of findings.

C. Intrigue: With each step she discerns more secrets making herself a target for awakening forces wishing to be unknown.

D. Moral Issue: Should she lie about the painting? Is she killing people by keeping secrets? Withholding truth.

E. Unpredictable: Getting involved now threatens her own life and others. She is now desperate to make high stake decisions

F. Empathetic: Wish to ‘do no harm’ but living does not permit this. Social anxiety. PTSD. It is challenging to find one’s inner compass. Love and loyalty to family.

Sam:

A. Role: Director, Laboratory of Elementary Particle Physics. He began medical training for 2 years and transferred. Maggie’s colleague.

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: Researcher in the world of particle physics who reveals the application of that research to different patrons. Purpose: Team member working to solve the secrets evolving from the “poison”.

C. Intrigue: Desires Maggie.

D. Moral Issue: Doesn’t consider the future implications of the research.

E. Unpredictable: Unexpected results of research create pressure forcing him to react.

F. Empathetic: He’s a “puppy dog” who is awkward with his feelings.

Jack:

A. Role: Museum Exhibitions Officer at the Met, NYC. He’s a former colleague of Maggie.

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: Jack is charismatic and skillful with acquisitions, marketing, and networking. Purpose: survive

C. Intrigue: Disguised romantic interest along with competitive feelings. Deep feelings toward Maggie continue. Connected with criminal private collectors. He may sabotage or protect the team.

D. Moral Issue: Highly ambitious. Can dark past be redeemed?

E. Unpredictable: He survives by discounting rules or creating his own.

F. Empathetic: Wish to support his parents in his youth entangled him in dangerous world.

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[Rafał Wieczyński]

Rafal’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is… that asking precise questions from different angles about the characters accelerates creating ideas.

ASSIGNEMNT 1:

A. Role in the show:

Madeline – a woman in crisis, yet a brave leader of one of the groups of mothers at school.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

As a natural leader she easily makes friends and enemies, and when she believes in the rightness of her cause, she is capable of justifying any means to fight for it.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Not admitting openly she feels broken in her heart and permanently searches for acceptance and support.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

She is very nosy and she is even capable to treat her younger daughter Chloe as an object in her fight against Renate

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

She blows the conflicts and invents new ways for doing so.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

She is supportive to a poor, sexually abused Jane and her son Ziggy, against powerful, reach and strict Renate who does not have time for her daughter.

ASSIGNMENT 2:

Journey.

Arcadia – Heavy ill, ready to die but cheated grandma challenges the head of the hospital (her cheating daughter) and becomes the local guru in alternative cancer treatment and spreads her life power to her depressed teenage grandson

Chris- sensitive teenager with low self-esteem caused by his parents, who does not commit suicide only for the sake of his grandmother and builds a relationship with her until he regains confidence in existence of love and falls in love himself.

Eve, Matthew – eagerly waiting for the death of a sick mother to reorganise their life in a new way – breaking up the family and splitting family businesses. However, when it takes too long, they eventually understand that they need to find alternative solutions

A. Role in the show:

Arcadia – an ill grandma who discovers that if she dies her teenage will probably die as well due to suicidal thoughts.

Chris- skeptic and pessimistic grandson who is going to commit suicide if the family fails to refill him with will of live

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Arcadia – gains enormous energy to live that is inadequate to her age and health state, becomes expert in searching for best treatments method and has the ability to successfully enter world of the teenage grandson.

Chris- he is an excellent discoverer of everything that can go wrong as well as of every lie or false. His purpose – get rid of this horrible world.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Arcadia is hiding from her daughter Eve the real reason of her desperation in prolonging her live as well as her innovative methods of doing so.

Eve and Matthew are going to formally own the clinic only after the death of Arcadia.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Arcadia – lies to her daughter, doctors. She has followers and undermine professional activity of her daughter, a medic. She becomes a reason for rising doubts in medicine among other patients what causes live danger to them.

She interferes with the upbringing of her grandson

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Permanent question how will Arcadia overcome ever new remission of cancer, other diseases and misfortune? How she will save Chris from his innovative ideas for committing suicide, bad luck, bullying by his teenmates and parents.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Arcadia – she has cancer yet wants to live for a good reason, to help her grandson.

Chris – because he is harmed , underestimated and unnoticed by his parents, forced to cheat his beloved grandma, which is unbearable for him. He is not capable of lying to her.

[Leybe Diaz]

Leybe Diaz – Engaging Main Characters Model.

What I learned doing this assignment is: How to make my characters more engaging by making them more interesting and complex and not to hold off, to explore different possibilities and angles about them and how to focus on the big picture – decisions first before trying to flesh out the characters too much. This model made it easier for me to generate more ideas. Love it!

ASSIGNMENT 1:

Scandal

Role in the show:

Olivia Pope: A fixer in D.C. founder of Olivia Pope & Associates. Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: The President of the US, married to Mellie Grant and in a extramarital relationship with Olivia Pope.

Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Olivia: Purpose: Power in Washington.

Expertise: She’s the best and most sought after D.C. fixer.

Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: Purpose: As the President, all the power drama and dynamics in the White House revolve around him.

Expertise: Governing and Holding power as the 44th President of the United States.

Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Olivia: She leads her team at cleaning the highest scandals of the top players in Washington while she’s at the very center of it all having an extra marital affair with Fitz the President of the United States. She ultimately seeks power.

Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He’s married, has extramarital relationships. He is in love with Olivia.

Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Olivia: She lies, manipulates and uses all possible trickery to get what she needs. She’s having an affair with the President.

Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He lies, sleeps around.

Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Olivia: She lives by her own rules. She was part of the master mind team behind the rigged elections that made Fitz President.

Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He ends up divorcing his wife.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Olivia: She has a troubled, lonely personal life and complicated relationships. She’s in love with a married man who happens to be the President.

Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He seems to care about being a good President and he seems to truly love Olivia.

ASSIGNMENT 2:

The characters engaging model:

The Home Aide

Journey:

Is she a genius or mentally ill?

How a discouraged home health aide became a powerful, influential, super star politician in the nation.

Characters that sell this show: Emma and Flora.

Role in the show:

Emma: Hispanic. 30 year old discouraged waitress, finds out she’s getting evicted from her apartment and also that her dad has been kidnapped while visiting in Ecuador, accepts job offer to work as a Home Aide.

Flora: Wealthy, 50 years old woman who is our guide deep into the obscure world of mental illness and brain dysfunction and the hidden criminal enterprises of some rich and powerful players in her circle.

Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Emma:

Expertise: Visibly none, untrained in health care (which makes her the perfect candidate for the job as a home health aide for Flora.)

But she has hard to see super human cognitive mental abilities which she uses to decode hidden secrets at Flora’s home while working as a home aide.

Purpose: to get the funds to avoid eviction and ransom her dad.

Flora:

Expertise: As she was loosing her memory she wrote down the clues of schemes and criminal enterprises of top politicians

on post-it notes which are scatted in her home.

Purpose: She takes us into the world of her brain dysfunction and mental illness showing us a new perspective.

Intrigue: What is secret

beneath the surface?

Emma: She works as a home aide

For Flora but with each post- it she discovers and decodes in Flora’s house, she learns more and more secrets about some criminal enterprises involving powerful influential people in town, including Flora herself and and her brother.

What will she do with these secrets?

Flora: She’s the most youthful, playful, joyful, highly emotional free, 50 year old woman, but she suffers from a rare incurable version of Alzheimer’s which has caused her to loose most of her memory and cognition.

What type of person was she before her illness?

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Emma: She keeps doing her job as a home aide and lying to her boss Flora’s brother wile secretly deciding and planing how to use the secrets she’s decoding to gain power and advance her life.

Flora:

She reveals clues of her partaking in criminal enterprises on the post-it notes.

Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Emma: The more she’s able to put the puzzle together the more risks she takes.

Flora: The clues on the post-it notes expose a lot of unexpected people and surprises.

Empathetic: Why do we care?

Emma: She’s in real financial troubles and needs to help her family.

Flora: She suffers from an incurable brain illness.

[Eloise Healey]

ASSIGNMENT 1

THE HANDMAID’S TALE – June

<div>
</div>

A. Role in the show:

Oppressed sex-slave who will lead an uprising against a horrific near-future world. <div>

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Purpose – to save her daughter from the same hell she’s endured
Expertise – phenomenal inner strength</div><div>

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

June pretends to be a good handmaid while keeping her old identity and joining the ‘resistance’; she tries to please Waterford while spying on him; she hides her relationship with Nick from the Waterfords; she hides her extra interactions with Waterford from Serena.</div><div>

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Is it okay to put other women in danger in order to escape and save her daughter? There’s a question of greater-good. </div><div>

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

This is an unfamiliar world for us and June. As she tests what she can get away with and survive, she’ll grow bolder and take more risks. She’ll become audacious in what she attempts to do. Because she has so little agency, all she has left to lose is her life, which makes her willing/capable to take huge risks. </div><div>

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

June is undergoing unimaginable oppression but is motivated to escape it to save her daughter. An aspirational character.
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[Eloise Healey]

Eloise Healey’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learnt from this assignment is to keep digging away at characters until they reveal their inherent intrigue (or in other words, until I figure out what kind of secrets they may be keeping or lies they may be capable of!).

ASSIGNMENT 2

NO MAN’S LAND

1. The journey: In order to free herself from the abusive power of men, ex-convict Emma Richardson will come to embody all the male traits she reviles in order to create and protect her dream of a female-only settlement.

2. The main characters who will sell this show are: Emma, James and Mary.

3. Engaging character models:

EMMA RICHARDSON

A. Role in the show:
The leader – a scarred ex-convict who craves personal freedom.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:
Purpose – to create a female-only utopia away from the dominance of men
Expertise – persuasive leadership qualities and fierce determination.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?
Leading an illegal settlement that mustn’t be discovered by British authorities.

Emma tells herself that the end justifies the means – that it’s better to behave dubiously than lose the “utopia” she’s created.

– She keeps just how physically hard this will be from the women she convinces to join her?

– Has escaped from prison?

– Hasn’t told the other women that no men are allowed?

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?
Thematically the show is about the price of dreams and whether the end justifies the means:
Emma will resort to increasingly dubious means – bribery, bullying, fear and murder – to keep her settlement under control. Others will think she’s crossed moral lines before she herself realises how far she’s strayed from her original remit.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Whatever it takes to keep “her” settlement safe.

The more moral lines Emma crosses, the easier it becomes to cross others.
Once it’s likely she will return to prison, the only fate worse than that is death – she has increasingly little left to lose, making any gains worth the risk.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Her goal is worthy (a society where women don’t need domineering men), even if her methods become compromised. Her backstory is also one of being a victim of men’s various abuses – and she refuses to be a victim anymore.

MARY WINTHORPE

A. Role in the show:
The innocent – a naive ex-convict who trusts Emma to be her protector.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:
Purpose – to turn the curse of transportation to the other side of the world into the blessing of a new life
Expertise – optimism and idealism in the face of great adversity

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?
Part of an illegal settlement that must hide from the British authorities. Mary hates confrontation so would rather lie and hide things than deal with differences directly. She will try to avoid getting “into trouble” with her mentor Emma. She may blame others rather than take responsibility.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?
By ignoring Emma’s rules and guidance, Mary will put the whole settlement at risk. Does being “nice” justify shirking responsibility?

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Mary follows her heart, not her head. She will risk everything to appease her own emotions.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Mary believes the best in everybody and so is easily taken advantage of.

JAMES SHELDON

A. Role in the show:
The unwanted arrival – an escaped male convict in need of help to survive and evade capture.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:
Purpose – To throw Emma’s dream into disarray
Expertise – Knows how to survive

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?
He’s on the run from the law. Not as honourable/wronged as he makes out. How far will he go to survive? When will he bite the hand that feeds?

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?
James puts every woman in the settlement in danger of being captured, imprisoned and hanged by asking them for help and refusing to leave. Does the need of the individual ever outrank the majority?

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

All James has left to lose is his life, which he values above everyone else’s – which makes him capable of making decisions that place every other character’s lives at risk.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

James has achieved what the women wished they’d been able to do – to escape. We see glimmers of a person who under other circumstances would be a kind and honourable man; he’s representative of the brutality of the convict prison system.