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Day 4 Assignments
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Rob Bertrand’s Kick Ass Endings
What I learned: I learned the six kick ass endings and how to apply them to the same screenplay.
1. The Ultimate Confrontation
Annie confronts Danny in the basement to save her father. Basically, my current ending.2. Return Home, Only it is Different
After Danny is taken into custody, the Andrew’s family returns home for the first time. They explore the house and find Danny’s secret passages in the walls. The house feels different. Like a member of the family that’s been abused. Annie begins cleaning, followed by Jessica and Jack. A broken family, working together to mend their hearts and home.3. End with a Future
The police give Jack a letter addressed to Annie. Danny had hidden it in the wall, to keep it from her. It’s from the college Annie applied to. Later, Jack and Annie have a much needed heart to heart. Annie reveals her secret and comes out to her father. He’s accepts her with love and reveals his own secret. When he disappeared for 6 months, he was in rehab. He’s been sober and just received his one year chip. He gives Annie the college letter. She opens it and has been accepted. Jack has another surprise. He hasn’t been going to bars. He’s been going to meetings and then over to his brothers garage to work on a project. The project is a car for Annie. Her mother’s classic car that was wrecked. The film ends with Annie driving off to college.4. Major Layer Uncovered
In the final confrontation, Danny reveals that Nora didn‘t commit suicide. Danny has been living in the walls a lot longer then they know. Danny killed Nora after she caught him in the house. He made it look like a suicide. He’s been playing mind games ever since. Annie thought her mom killed herself after she came out to her in private. Her guilt turns to rage. Danny killed her mom and now has her father held hostage.(This idea would require a change to the way Nora dies. Instead of a car accident, her death would be by suicide.)
5. Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk
Annie overcomes her fear and testifies against Danny. She comes out to her father on the stand. Since Danny is only 17, he cannot be tried as an adult. He’s sentenced to a juvenile detention facility. Later, Annie and her father talk. Jack accepts Annie with love and respect. He reveals he went to rehab after Nora’s death. He show’s Annie his one year chip. The family sells the house and sets out for a new start. Danny escapes from juvenile detention.6. Great Protagonist Strategy
After no one believes them, Annie and Jessica decide they need irrefutable proof that the house is haunted. They research ghost hunting and set up an elaborate set of traps to document their proof. They catch human footprints in flour on the floor. Jessica is attacked, getting dragged into the closet. Annie to the rescue. They discover the house isn’t haunted. It’s Danny hiding in the walls. They confront him in the basement, where Danny has taken on the persona of Nora Andrews, their mom! After a hard fought battle, it looks like Danny has the upper hand. The sisters are saved by their father Jack, who’s injured in the fight. Danny is caught in a Trap set by Annie. He’s caught. -
DAY 4 BOB SMITHS KICK ASS ENDINGS!
What I learned doing this assignment is…?
It is fun to brainstorm different endings – or anything – that could enrich the script.
1. The Ultimate Confrontation.
Emil Jannings is called into Goebbels office. He knows he will be conscripted to make
Nazi propaganda films. When Goebbels tells Jannings that the plan is to do away with the influence of that “degenerate Jewish Hollywood film making,” Jannings goes into a tirade against Goebbels, Hitler, and Nazism. Goebbels draws a pistol on him and tells him he is under arrest. Jannings wrestles Goebbels, grabs the gun and now trains it on Goebbels’ head while he keeps him under his knee, subdued in pain.. Goebbels gasps, “Where dide he learn to fight like that, in the war?” Jannings answers, “Even better, at sea, I was a sailor.’ Jannings compels Goebbels to swear that he will never report this iincident and accept his refusal to collaborate by appearing in Nazi propaganda films.
2. Return Home. Only it is Different.
Jannings had gone to Hollywood. Fifteen years later, in 1945, Jannings tells Dietrich, “Now that the war is over, Gussie (Mrs Jannings) and I are going home. To Germany. Would you join us?”
Dietrich says, “Home is a bombed out hellhole. There is no theatre or film industry.”
Jannings says, “Then come with us me and we could rebuild it.” Dietrich says, “I am now an American. Why don’t you join me?” Jannings declines, “I have to catch a train then a ship.”
Emil Jannings returns to Berlin after successfully reviving his film career, but it is no longer the Berlin he knew. It is a bombed out ruin. In front of the ruins of a movie theatre, he tells himself, “I must rebuild it, denazified.”
3. End with a Future.
From above: Jannings had gone to Hollywood with Dietrich and Sternberg. Fast forward to 1945. Jannings tells Dietrich, “Now that the war is over, Gussie (Mrs Jannings) and I are going home. To Germany. Would you join us? Dietrich says, “Home is a bombed out hellhole. There is no theatre or film industry.” Jannings says, “Then come home with us and we could rebuild it.” Dietrich says, “I am now an American. Why don’t you join me and stay here?” Jannings declines, “I have to catch a train then a ship.”
4. Major Layers Uncovered.
Early in the play. Gussie gave Jannings a Rosary. At the end, when he must be denazified, when he clutches the Oscar and has the Rosary in one hand. Maj. Kershaw, who must assign Jannings for denazification, notices it. Jannings explains that his wife gave it to him and now he plans to become a Roman Catholic. Kershaw says, “It is good to have a faith, keep it.” In the closing titles it is noted that Jannings did convert to Roman Catholicism.
5. Good Guy Wins after great pain and risk.
The elements of all the above are combined and the film ends with the movie theatre restored. On top of the marquee we see, “The Jannings Theatre.” And playing there is the film “Coming Home.”
6. Great Protagonist Strategy.
After stealing the pistol from Goebbels, the SS officers come to his apartment to arrest him. Jannings grumbles, “I should have known Goebbels wouldn’t keep his promise.”
When the SS breaks in, he shoots them with the pistol, screaming, “You will never take me into custody!” He jumps out of the window. Lands on the pavement below.” A passerby helps him get away. He climbs into the sewer and from there he eludes the SS. He goes to the American Embassy (there still was one in 1930) and asks for political asylum. It is granted. -
1. The Ultimate Confrontation
This is set up on the boat when the kids arrive to free Litonya and Jake in the crucible. One option is to have a big fist fight and see who is thrown overboard but Ibrahim is stronger in terms of his power because killing him doesn’t kill STEMGARCHS. However, I should imagine how something physical would happen.
2. Return Home, Only it is DifferentJake and Litonya can return home to the La Roche Stone Mansion in New Paltz sleeping in his dead parents’ four poster bedroom but their marriage is sexual, unlike his parents, and their progeny are multiracial and multiethnic. But Jake is the man of the house only Litonya is stronger. They can live happily ever after here until natural deaths.
Ibrahim could return home to Saudi Arabia instead of being killed. He left as a college student to study engineering but returns to be part of Global Greens instead of Oily-Garchs, visited by Kisele and Delphine.
Betty can’t return to the male sex but she could go back to her mortician’s career or hospitality or Manhattan. That is a bit silly.
3. End with a Future
The future is what the kids will do. Anahu and Aanadi copy Jean and Joan as the country doctor and a history professor, Kisele could stay with the EE company and the Hudson boats or become head of Global Greens and Delphine could find another drug, do another scientific discovery at the end as a surprise to prolong human life. But the rocks could throw a one-two punch and launch a series of earthquakes all over the Northeast as a result of years of fracking and mining. Then my characters lose their homes on Huguenot Street and must escape on ecoboats. Or Huguenot Street remains but quakes and floods destroy everything around it.
4. Major Layer Uncovered
I already have Betty’s crimes, Ibrahim’s and Litonya’s secret marriage, and STEMGARCHS but maybe Jake or one of the kids did something bad or they expose other things STEMGARCHS did for research. It is proven that unleashed viruses but maybe other scandals as well making other genocides look minor. Or Jake has had a secret passion other than fitness that leads him to a surprising discovery. Delphine could have been a spy for EE, having affairs with top STEMGARCHS scientists to uncover their research.
5. Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk
Theoretically Jake is the good guy and he has assumed pain and risk, especially with the last minutes in the crucible of the ship, he has PD, his parents have died, and he could be beaten up as he tries to get rid of Ibrahim and Betty. But if he kills them, he will probably go to jail.
6. Great Protagonist StrategyUnless more secrets are uncovered by Jake and the kids about the crimes of STEMGARCHS, and killing Ibrahim would make little old ladies clap as if Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Trujillo, Genghis Khan et al were being exterminated. The major layer uncovered might fuel a new protagonist strategy to maximize his wellness career.
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Janeen’s Kick Ass Endings!
What I learned doing this assignment is that to use these structures, things do, indeed, have to be changes to add set-ups in earlier scenes. The Beat Sheet will come in handy for that.
Before Act 3, Amber has been beaten and Morgan tried to help her by giving her a self-help book. Morgan is served with a restraining order to stay away from Amber and her husband, Daniel. Daniel has beaten Amber enough to put her in the hospital. Amber knows the statistics. It’s him or her. She uses her saved up pain meds to doctor a cake that puts him to sleep. Then she calmly places the knife directly over his heart and pushes it in. She pulls it out, waits until he’s dead, and calls the police.
Basic actions in Act 3:
1. Amber is interrogated, her fresh bruises noted.
2. A police woman is a guild member and has told her partner about the mind control work the guild is doing. He tells the prosecution and, since more woman have fought back, injuring their abusers in recent weeks, the prosecutor decides to press charges against the guild members for incitement to murder, aiding and abetting and anything else he can think of.
3. Morgan’s husband wants to protect her by testifying on her behalf saying all she did was offer Amber thoughts and prayers. Morgan feels belittled by his protective condescension.
4. The court finds Amber not guilty — her action was self-defense.
5. The lawyer in the guild presents a passionate defense of the guild members, having them all testify, even the Waterman teacher and a variety of other experts in abuse.
6. The charges are dropped/defeated.
7. Publicity bills Morgan only as “Famous writer Gavin Day’s wife” — as though she is only a trophy wife, a nobody.
8. Morgan is working with a female designer who mentions that her neighbor is suffering spousal abuse. Morgan hands her a Waterman book and tells “thoughts and prayers” are all they can do for the woman.
THE ULTIMATE CONFRONTATION
Requirements for this ending:
Antagonist is significantly more powerful than the protagonist. <div>
The antagonist must be stopped at all costs.
The antagonist has done enough bad things to cause little old ladies to yell “Kill the bastard!”
Implementation for this movie:
The antagonists are: a) the police, who didn’t help Amber when she needed it, b) the prosecutor who can prove premeditated murder, c) a policeman who heard what the guild was doing from his partner, a guild member, on a weekly basis leading up to the murder, d) a history of women from the shelter Amber once went to who have committed violence against their abusers — reported by the policeman and verified by police reports. </div><div>
Amber killed Richard because he was not only physically abusing her, but had started pushing around her 4 and 2 year olds. He could have easily killed them.
The guild members were powerless to help her in anything but Waterman work because of the restraining order and no charges levied against Richard by Amber who had feared (and rightly so) retaliation.
Richard had cut off all of her options for getting help — no phone, computer, internet, car keys, cash or credit cards, stamps — she had literally no way to reach anyone else since he locked her in the house in their fancy fenced neighborhood.
The guild members (policewoman, nurse, shelter manager) all knew she was in trouble so participated to find any way at all that she could help herself.
RETURN HOME, ONLY IT IS DIFFERENT
Requirements for this ending:
1. Doesn’t require a big bang ending
2. The protagonist has been changed by her foray into the world and that is reflected when they return home. Things have changed.
3. That change is reflected in the way things now are at home.
Implementation for this movie:
1. Logic and evidence free Amber and Amber has access to the family money so she can get on with her life, raising her children.
2. Evidence that Waterman cannot be proven to have caused Amber to act in defense of herself and her kids frees the guild.
3. As the trials progress, other guild members are identified in the media by their professions, Morgan is only listed as a famous author’s wife — they don’t even say her name. her husband is angry and let down by her because of the negative publicity. Her self-esteem and belief in her power and new self-identity crumbles. She is once again just a trophy wife.
4. When exonerated, her husband says she must give up Waterman and that now their life can go back to normal. He suggests she get a gown for another awards banquet/dance where he will be honored for his work.
5. The seamstress making her gown gives her news of someone who needs help and she suggests Waterman and we see that she planning to continue her work to save women.
6. She moves her Waterman setup from her husband’s study to her large walk-in closet. We know she plans to continue without her husband’s knowledge.
END WITH A FUTURE
Requirements for this ending:
The most important question for the protagonist is answered.
The suggested future is an answer to the main question of the movie.</div><div>Implementation for this movie:
The main question of the movie is “Can Morgan find a way to be more than just a trophy wife to her famous author husband?”
1. Logic and evidence free Amber and Amber has access to the family money so she can get on with her life, raising her children.
2. Evidence that Waterman cannot be proven to have caused Amber to act in defense of herself and her kids frees the guild.
3. The trial has highlighted Morgan as the wife of a famous novelist and people start sending fan mail and help requests to her husband’s contact info. He gives them to her, is impressed by how impassioned her fans are and recognizes her as a force beyond her “trophy wife-dom”.
4. We exit seeing her opening her fan mail at a little larger desk that she used to have in her husband’s study. He is obviously proud of her,
MAJOR LAYER UNCOVERED
Requirements for this ending:
A key component of the story is hidden throughout the story.
The component is directly connected to the main conflict of the story.
It needs to somehow be responsible for much of what has happened in the story.Implementation for this movie:
The obvious key component here is the effectiveness of the Waterman method.
The “proof of effectiveness” of the Waterman method can be hidden throughout the story.
The use of the technique empowers Amber to act against her abusive husband.
It is responsible for the women at the shelter getting jobs, fighting back when attacked, and movie got with their lives.Right now, that “effectiveness” is touted loudly and clearly by guild members throughout the story so that would need to change.
GOOD GUY WINS AFTER MUCH PAIN AND RISK
Requirements for this ending:
The good guy must suffer different levels of failure. Not just in their main goal, but in many other areas of their life.
We must pile on the pain, but set up a way out that we notice only after being shown the solution.</div><div>Implementation for this movie:
Amber, while definitely a good guy, is not the protagonist of the story so her acquittal is not the “win”. </div><div>
To make the protagonist, Morgan, go through hell, I would have to make her suffer a lot more. Perhaps:
Morgan is perp walked from her home and publicly identified as the author’s wife.
Gavin, her husband, is interviewed and minimizes anything she could possibly do with Waterman, belittling her by inference.
Gavin rakes her over the coals and tells her she must stop. She defies him, but moves her Waterman setup to her closet, hidden under a scarf so he won’t see it.
The media invades the guild meeting, asking everyone there about Waterman and identifying the other members.
Repercussions impact the policewoman’s stature and shelter funding. The lawyer is dissed in the media and the nurse is no longer allowed to tend abuse cases lest the hospital become liable.
When they win, it is very ambiguous since their reputations have been ruined.
GREAT PROTAGONIST STRATEGY
Requirements for this strategy:
A great strategy for the Protagonist to use. </div><div>
Covert setups to make the strategy viable.
Overt setups to convince the audience the Protagonist won’t succeed.
Implementation for this movie:
When asked by the media, make the Waterman Method seem like a magic wand. </div>
Publicize that Waterman cannot be used for evil, only good, so if violence was used against an abuser, it was totally self-defense and because the abused finally had enough confidence and inner strength to stand up to her abuser — a good thing. Confidence and inner strength are what Waterman is all about.
Gain a LOT of traction for a Waterman movement and empathy for its users who are trying to help the downtrodden.
Make Morgan a kind of guru for the Waterman brand.
Make Gavin proud of her.
She is definitely more than a trophy wife.
She is his equal in popularity and value to the world.
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Amy’s Kick Ass endings!
What I learned doing this assignment is…
Wow! I really had some breakthroughs about my story by doing this assignment. I feel like I could use a couple of these in the same ending.
In the Ultimate Confrontation, Andrea and Meagan would fight for Josh and the kids at Chloe’s dance recital. I don’t know exactly how this would play out. The way I outlined it, Chloe needs someone to come to rescue her from her bully. Maybe that could be the competition between Meagan and Andrea.
For Return Home, Only it is Different, I could have Andrea return completely back to the year she left (instead of having the two timelines merge) and she would have a new appreciation for Josh and the kids and would order her priorities differently and would have to win them back all over again.
For End with a Future, I could have Andrea find out in the last scene that she is being offered a position at the network.
For Major Layer Uncovered, I could reveal that Andrea had a terrible childhood and that has caused her reluctance to commit to Josh and the kids 100%, but now that she has faced the fear of confronting her painful past, she is able to love her family fully.
For Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk, I could raise the stakes in the competition between Andrea and Meagan throughout the script, have her actually lose everything because she is so hyperfocused on her career, realize how important her family truly is to her and then have to really fight to get them back.
For Great Protagonist Strategy, I would have Andrea go through a series of steps that cause Meagan to inadvertently reveal her true colors.
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Armand Kick Ass endings!
ASSIGNMENT
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Try on each of these structures for your ending. To do that:
A. One at a time, brainstorm ways to use each Kick Ass ending for your story.
1. The Ultimate Confrontation
The relentless serial killer is physically more powerful than anyone else, and he has mental power over the ghost, who’s afraid of the killer. But the killer has killed college kids, and he will continue killing unless stopped for good.
2. Return Home, Only it is Different
The lonely ghost defeats the killer but doesn’t move and remain a ghost, only now he socializes with other ghosts in the manor.
3. End with a Future
The ghost will move on from Maddie, asking her to go live a good life.
4. Major Layer Uncovered
The killer is the ghost’s half-brother, who just sold the manor and plans to buy it back after the massacre goes public
5. Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk
He can save the college kids after defeating the killer for good
6. Great Protagonist Strategy
If the killer is defeated, the ghost may be able to rest in peace
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What I learned: Super helpful. I may take a little bit from three of these endings. Not exactly a breakthrough but I can see something developing from this exercise.
1. The Ultimate Confrontation
Frank has every recourse available to him. He produces one of the most profitable shows on the web. There are booby traps and “actors” that pose as threats to the contestants. All of Irma’s friends and companions on the journey are hunted down. Against the odds, Irma wins and it leads to mini Mexican revolution. A David vs Goliath situation.
2. Return Home, Only it is Different
Irma and her sons are caught at the border. They are deported back to Chihuahua. But she’s tougher. She won’t be pushed around. Sapo tries to collect but she refuses, warning him how much it cost him to follow her. She threatens to try for the border again. With her knowledge and experience, she might actually make it a second time. Sapo backs off. Irma’s sons respect her and she is free to raise her children the way she sees fit.
3. End with a Future
The boys make it across safely. They narrowly avoid the Border Patrol and make their way to a distant relative. Irma is caught and sent back. She agrees to work for the casino to pay off her husband’s debt though she has peace of mind knowing that her boys are safe.
4. Major Layer Uncovered
Irma and her sons think it’s the same drone helping them over and over. They only later realize that it was several and that they were being televised for a sick game show. Throughout the film, Americans are casually placing bets on some game. Turns out this was the game the entire time.
5. Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk
Irma loses her job. Loses her money. Loses her husband. Her teenage sons don’t respect her. The police are after her for burglary. Gangsters are after her because her dead husband owes money. Her best friend betrays her. She takes her unruly sons across the desert in an attempt to cross the border. She is kicked out of the caravan because she is specifically being pursued by the cartel. On top of that, she is stalked by drones for a twisted game show. She distracts the drones so that her sons make it across safely.
6. Great Protagonist Strategy
Irma’s plan was to expose Sapo and Frank from the beginning. She was never planning to cross the border. She is privy to the partnership of the Mexican cartel and the US Border Patrol. Knowing that she would be televised, she secretly has connections to people in the states hacking into the game show and exposing the whole operation to the public.
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PS80 Michelle Damis – Kick Ass Endings
What I learned doing this assignment is that this exercise can give you entire new options or clarify where you have been intending. And if you have a mix it gives you a blueprint to try to shift to just one focus or make sure if you are doing a combo that it doesn’t become too convoluted.
1. The Ultimate Confrontation- Huge fight between the Family/Osgood and the Vampires. 4 against many, Either the Nuns join in to fight or Jim’s blood helps win the battle. They conquer and all is well. Osgood becomes part of the family.
2. Return Home, Only it is Different- Osgood saves the family but they go separate ways at the end, he does not become part of the family in any way, he now sees his existence as an opportunity to help humanity.
3. End with a Future – This is where I’m leaning already. He becomes a steward of the planet and humanity and recruits other immortals to join him, as well as having a future as a family member that will guard the family for decades. (instead of a familiar protecting the vampire, the vampire protects the humans)
4. Major Layer Uncovered – There will be a religious layer uncovered in the sense that the church has known about them etc… and has protected the ones that didn’t want to be “evil”, may tie in the existing storyline that Judas was the original Vampire.
5. Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk – there is some pain and risk but the twist is that Osgood being a vampire allows me to have the things that are typically good/normal things be the catalysts that change his heart. He turns “good” because he is finally shown good and experienced good.
6. Great Protagonist Strategy – I’m doing a little of this however it isn’t the Protagonist it is another character “The nun” that reveals an unknown strategy. (the use of Jim and Nina’s rare blood type etc…)
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BOB SMITH’S KICK ASS ENDINGS
What I learned doing this assignment is…?
Creative ways to create different endings and even mixing and matching them.
THE ULTIMATE CONFRONTATION
After affirming to Miss Dietrich that he will go to America, Jannings receives a call from JOSEPH GOEBBELS to come to his office and sign on to make Nazi Propaganda films.
Jannings, instead of signing rants against Nazism. Says he is taking his family to America.
RETURN HOME ONLY IT IS DIFFERENT
After doing like Dietrich and becoming a US citizen and entertaining the troops even as they make war on Germany, Jannings returns to his country and it is different. Berlin is a bomb crater and Germans regard the great actor as a traitor. He returns to America, grateful that he had decided to leave Germany and to have had nothing to do with Nazism.
END WITH A FUTURE.
All through the first part of the film there is the temptation to reverse his decision of nor returning to Hollywood because his German accent doesn’t work for the new Talkies, but after reconciling with Dietrich she persuades him to go back to Hollywood and risk it.
MAJOR LAYER UNCOVERRED
A prop man on the set of “The Blue Angel” is revealed to be part of the German Resistance to Nazism, he helps Jannings escape from the Brown Shirts who come for him to beat him up for his anti-Nazism. He takes him through the sewers of Berlin to the American Embassy, where Jannings asks for political asylum which is granted for him and his family.
GOOD GUY WINS AFTER MUCH PAIN AND RISK.
A prop man on gthe set of “The Blue Angel” is revealed to be part of the German Resistance to Nazism, he helps Jannings escape from the Brown Shirts who come for him to beat him up for his anti-Nazism. He takes him through the sewers of Berlin to the American Embassy, where Jannings asks for political asylum which is granted for him and his family.
Now, back in Hollywood, Jannings is first cast in a Laurel and Hardy short as a German Professor, then as a heavy handed director of an Opera Company in the Marx Brothers’ “A Night at the Opera.”
Aside from comic roles that make fun of his German accent, he is now usually cast as a Nazi, which he detests.
Jannings’ begins to drink heavily and falls in with Tinseltown’s biggest boozers, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Broderick Crawford. He, Chaney, and the Brod go on a joy ride with the Brod at the wheel and they are pulled over by the LAPD. Crawford is charged with DWI but Crawford, Chaney, and Jannings are thrown into the LAPD drunk tank.
Crawford and Chaney’s careers rise. Chaney as the Wolfman becomes a famous filmland Monster. Crawford appears in “All the King’s Men” and wins an Oscar. Jannings career falters, but he decides to get it back on track by his off-screen life. Like his friend Marlene Dietrich, he becomes an American citizen. Then, he joins her to entertain the troops even as they march against Germany.
He returns to Hollywood and gets parts in films crowned in hia late seventies when he is cast i the title role of “Dr. Strangelove” in which he took one of three parts away from Peter Sellers, and gets a chance to decry continuing Nazism in the role and wins another Oscar. his first since 1930.
GREAT PROTAGONIST STRATEGY
This would be the previous actions of GOOD GUY WINS AFTER MUCH PAIN AND RISK with this addition: When Jannings returns to the USA, he becomes an anti-Nazi activist raising consciousness of bigotry and racism and the continuing repackaging and rebranding of Nazi propaganda in extremist groups of America.
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Budinscak Kick Ass Endings
Day 4
What I learned doing this assignment:
o Great rules for offering endings audiences will enjoy.
o Not only do these endings stand on their own merit, but pieces of the various endings can be melded together to fit a story.
o Find the ending that best fits your story.
SETUP:
Jack must deliver a package to a destination in Burbank, CA by 2:00 Monday to save his family’s restaurant from being destroyed.
THE ULTIMATE CONFRONTATION:
Jack makes the delivery on time to save his restaurant, but Don Vito has no interest in honoring it. He separates Jack from his nephews, holding the kids hostage. Don Vito starts the clock – Jack has an hour to find – and save – them.
Realizing who he was dealing with, Jack had his friends/gang stop by the restaurant daily for extended periods of time to watch over it – let no one unknown in. To save the restaurant and the nephews, Jack must work his way through Don Vito’s bodyguards before having a shot at Don Vito himself.
RETURN HOME, ONLY IT’S DIFFERENT
Jack has an unexpected positive effect from the trip with Puck and Sal. Not only was the restaurant saved, but the relationship between Jack and his nephews is special, magical. And that magic has extended over to today
A picture taken at the end of the trip in 1988 converts to present time revealing all the same characters, doing the same thing … only older. There’s a large sign about a ‘Family RE-union’ of 30+ years. Everyone in the movie is there at the celebration – LC, Angel with Jack’s Cadillac, Chick, all the sisters, Puck, Sal, LC’s men Goober & Rico. Everyone.
END WITH A FUTURE:
The nephews bond with their uncle during the course of the trip, and Sal finds his passion – cooking – and he commits to becoming the first ‘trained chef’ in the family. Inspired by the recipe jingle Uncle Jack had him memorize, Sal has completed his training and come back ‘home’ to work with his uncle – at their new place. The new place is located across the parking lot from Carmine’s – and named Jack’s Place. Sal sends his uncle a detailed menu and a floor plan to convert the funeral home into a restaurant.
MAJOR LAYER UNCOVERED:
Jack immediately looks in the cooler and discovers human remains, and he’s guessing it’s the missing witness. Jack works with LC’s uncle, a Federal Marshalls and trades the contents of the cooler with a fake – it’s a wig from LC. Federal Marshalls follow Jack to Vegas and witness their FBI brethren strong-arm Jack – and they admit to providing the witness’ location to Don Vito’s men. The Marshalls capture the rogue FBI agents, then raid the Burbank location and make arrests. Jack’s clear and the restaurant is saved.
GOOD GUY WINS AFTER MUCH PAIN AND RISK:
Jack’s shaken down by the FBI and forced to work with the agency in taking down Don Vito. That’s what we’re led to believe. Actually, these are 2 rogue agents who want to renegotiate with Don Vito – they want more money – and they need Jack to wear a wire to do it. Jack’s nephew suffer CO poisoning and he has to make a decision – nephews or restaurant. Restaurant is going to be tough to save with the caddy being wrecked, it won’t drive and Jack’s still a few hours from Burbank. And the clock is ticking.
Jack carries his nephews to the side of the road and drags the containers from the Cadillac’s trunk’s cooler. He starts hitchhiking and is picked up, by a “Good Humor” truck heading back home – to Burbank.
GREAT PROTAGONIST STRATEGY:
Before even starting his trip, Jack contacts Witness Protection. He makes the trip to Terre Haute and meets covertly with the authorities. They swap out the contents of the cooler and Jack makes the trip as though nothing has happened.
Just outside Burbank, Jack rendezvous with the Feds and they lay out a plan to safely evacuate Jack and his nephews, save the restaurant and capture Don Vito and his minions.
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Elizabeth’s Kick-ass endings
What I learned: again, Hal’s brainstorming tools create new ideas, some of which may be helpful in wildly unexpected ways.
The Ultimate Confrontation: because of the words in the box, Ed confronts not only what he’s suppressed (his dad died of a heart attack after coming back into his life after several years, when Ed excitedly played rock music for him) but also what’s he’s repressed and DENIED because it truly is an overwhelming threat to Ed’s Ego (selfhood). This might include: that his dad was an addict and Ed was becoming one, too—that Ed shared his drugs with his dad that day. And/or there are other unsavory experiences Ed had when his father was in his life that might have included extremes such as pimping a very young Ed out in exchange for drugs. In reaction to these memories Ed could shoot up (or otherwise use hard drugs), as he hasn’t in years, as we learn why substance abuse was one of three things Ed did not treat in practice (the others being marriage difficulties and kids). To confront his own addictive tendencies, Ed is forced to a Meeting where he must choose to put himself in the hands of something bigger. An Ed’s will versus God’s will kind of epic St. Michael battle.
Return Home, only it’s different: the current story with snapshots of Ed interacting more personally with his home-mates, and able to type into his book document that has, until now, been blank
End with a Future: more ‘hint’ than what is currently envisioned. Just a look between Ed and Jewels that promises, for example.
Major Layer Uncovered: I feel like the idea of something Ed’s thoroughly denied, coming back to bite him (like being pimped out by his drug-abusing father) could work. Then in the more ironic ending, we see Ed going to a counselor himself and crying. Reveal would also include Ed’s own substance abuse history that has been suppressed (not denied or repressed).
Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk: could be the same as the major layer uncovered above. Add to it, risk of losing Jewels and the family as Ed spirals into his own substance use. Maybe he has a health problem as a result, that directly prompts drug treatment.
Great Protagonist Strategy: Ed intentionally uses Projective Identification to get Grace to feel the rage she’s been denying is in her. Which can then open her up and lead to a dizzying array of possible story directions
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Jodi’s Kick Ass endings! – Day 4
By trying to think outside the box I realized I thought of some more ideas I could incorporate into my script that were not too far off base.
The Ultimate Confrontation:
Pam has proof of the Governor’s underhandedness and proves it on air in front of all who are viewing. She also holds the thugs who were being paid to take the ballots from the drop boxes driving a ‘Karras for Governor van’. They tell firsthand how they were hired by an agent, not by the Karras campaign. They were contracted to drive the van. She also interviews the Secretary of State to see why booths were reduced to two in many locations, making many of the poorer constituents wait for hours to vote. She wins the election. He is arrested on air.
Return Home, Only it is Different:
Pam’s Dad decides that he is going to forgive his Daughter for believing differently than he and the rest of the family and congregation. She feels she doesn’t need to be forgiven. She doesn’t see her Father is the same loving light she once did before.
End with a Future:
Veronica asks if she can volunteer with Pam at the administration offices while she attends law school.
Major Layer Uncovered:
Lieutenant Salt could be the eyes and ears of the Governor throughout the story. I have him as being contracted by the Governor once he feels threatened enough but I can put him incorporate him more in the story with this structure.
Good Guy Wins after Much Pain and Risk:
Pam’s parents disown her, her friend Chloe gets attacked, she gets reprimanded for taking matters into her own hands, she makes a fool of herself on live television…. continually, the Governor has accused her of hurting the bounty hunters (even though she’d like too, she is innocent of this accusation). She has been set up as rigging the election in her favor, which she will also prove her innocence with. Her husband loses his state contract job, and her Father loses his congregation because of her. She eventually wins out.
Great Protagonist Strategy:
Pam has their shared make up artist, Ashley Lee, wire up the Governor and admit his underhandedness on audio for all to hear on air. She also has gorgeous male trans cops working with her who help with the thugs who took the ballots from the drop boxes that were driving a ‘Karras for Governor van’. They were able to get a confession right away. Pam also interviews the Secretary of State to see why booths were reduced to two in many locations, making many of the poorer constituents wait for hours to vote. But Pam challenges the Secretary of State asking why it is illegal that they cannot eat or drink while waiting in these long lines, is this not America? The Secretary of State vehemently denies voters not being able to have access to food and water. Pam challenges this and sends people to each voting precinct with the long lines with both. She wins the election. The Governor is arrested on air.
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Emmanuel’s Kick Ass Endings
Love endings that move me. The emotions I get from movie endings range from a happy resolution to sadness but satisfaction. Sometimes they make me think for days later. Some even make me laugh and wonder about the vast, variety that makes up human nature.
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