Day 6 Assignments

[Erik Wooten]

Erik’s Genre Conventions

My vision is to achieve true excellence as a screenwriter which causes me to be a consistently working writer, with actual movies made from some of my scripts, and to become wealthy as a screenwriter, develop relationships in the movie industry where I am recognized as a truly original writer, and to become indispensable in the market in which I want to write.

What I learned doing this assignment… This was deceptively tricky in that the majority of my comedy conventions are in between the plot points, in scenes and details. But still, I did as best as I could to add a little more into the major structure points. My genre is a combo genre, and the drama elements define a lot of the plot points, so it was a bit of a challenge to see if adding the comedy to the structure could be done without seeming forced or out of place.

Title: PENNY & MARA MOVE TO THE MALL

Concept: Two orphans escape from their orphanage during a fire and move into the country’s biggest shopping mall where they decide to find parents, realize that they only need each other, and then face losing each other forever when back at the orphanage one of them is going to be adopted.

Genre: Family comedy (or is it a family-‘dramedy’?), with an adventure element

Comedy conventions:

–Purpose: Entertain the audience with a story packed full of laughter-inducing moments.

–Incongruence: Penny and Mara decide to “move into” a huge shopping–and they are going to be the ones to find their parents, not the other way around! Two 8-year-olds attempting to take charge of their destinies as independent people.

–Mechanics of comedy: There is sight and prop humor; “fishes out of water” for sure; incongruent situations and relationships; and absurd situations.

–Comedic protagonists: Penny’s asserts her brazen ways on everyone she comes into contact with and leads herself and Mara into amusing situations, not mention a certain element of danger.

–Strong story: This will be suspenseful and a tear-jerker without a doubt, showing deep relationships between the dual protagonists and the triangle character.

Act 1

Opening:

Penny sneaks into the kitchen at the orphanage, looking for the kindly chef who always slips her extra food. The chef is not around at the moment, but the burner is on with oil simmering….

Inciting incident:

With endearing clumsiness, Penny accidentally starts a fire (of course oblivious to it)! The fire becomes a large blaze, and Penny escapes through a window–and finds Mara in the alley too, having also escaped by herself.

Turning point:

Penny and Mara enter the mega-big mall…. It is a world of its own, like a small city in itself and containing practically everything that both kids and adults could need! Freedom!

Act 2

New plan:

Penny and Mara now must get oriented to their new, vast environment, figure out how to navigate and how to find the necessities for their survival, while avoiding being found out. But first, the candy store, toy store, and rides on the super-trolley system…! Able to sniff out a submissive personality, Penny asserts her “leadership” over Mara.

Midpoint turning point:

Penny and Mara get separated, and Sarah leaves the mall (gets a new job).

Act 3

Re-think everything:

Mara’s chance to go back to the orphanage has come, but she now doubts that she wants to break away from Penny and starts to re-think her whole attitude toward going back to the orphanage. Penny now being relatively secure after having been taken in by the wealthy, boozing, man-hungry lady realizes that she needs Mara and becomes convinced that they can be OK on their own as long as they can be together.

New plan:

Mara’s plan is simply to forget the orphanage and find Penny again, using all the wiles and survival skills she has learned from Penny. Penny decides to leave the wealthy boozing lady’s place and find Mara.

Turning point:

The girls are found and taken back to the orphanage!

Act 4

Climax:

Mara is on the cusp of being adopted (while Penny is not). Penny and Mara have one last moment together, holding onto each other for dear life. Mara’s prospective adoptive parents waver, not able to bear the girls being separated, but it wouldn’t matter, because Mara refuses the adoption. Neither of the girls have known it, but Sarah and her fiancé have also been in the orphanage trying to work out an adoption but were told that Mara has already gotten parents. Penny is led out of the office and spots Sarah about to exit the building. She yells after her and runs after her!

Resolution:

Sarah and fiancé adopt Penny and Mara ??? Penny and Mara give Sarah and her Fiance pointers on how to raise kids.

[Jeff Chase]

Jeffrey Alan Chase’s Genre Conventions

My vision: I will do whatever it takes to become the best screenwriter I can be – an “A” list writer who is praised for high concept ideas, great execution, a string of successful movies and is always ready to share his knowledge and do what he can to help a writer on the way up.

What I learned from doing this assignment is: It forced me again to dig deep into my concept and find or rediscover thrilling hooks and scenes. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Title: Shards

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Concept: A woman with no childhood memory is involved in a cat and mouse game with a cunning hypnotist, not knowing the man is responsible for both her amnesia and the death of her treasure hunter father.

Main Conflict: Sarah is both afraid and desperate to remember how and where her father disappeared. When she suspects her hypnotist is manipulating her memories, she must get into his head to learn what he knows.

Sarah’s Old Ways:

Feels crushing guilt that she was somehow responsible
for her father’s death
Buries herself in her job at which she repairs
broken pottery
Low self-esteem
Afraid
Dependent on drugs and alcohol to dull her
emotional pain

Sarah’s New Ways:

She won’t allow herself to feel guilty and
trusts in herself
She puts the pieces of her memory and her
life back together
Exudes confidence
Courageous
Trusts her spirit to guide her, not drugs
or alcohol

Act 1:

Opening:
Flashback of 6-year-old Sarah is being chased at night in the desert by a man
in dirty work clothes, thick black hair, and heavy beard. The man catches
her and throws her off a cliff. A THUD is heard far below.
Inciting
Incident: Sarah, now 26, receives an ancient Southwest Indian pot to
repair. It has the same Anasazi Indian design as the small piece of
pottery on her necklace. The pot triggers a flashback memory of her being
thrown off a cliff. She is driven to learn more about the pot’s owner –
hypnotist, James March – and how he got the pot.
Turning
Point: Using hypnosis, March helps Sarah remember small details of her childhood.
He says he’s too busy to take her on as a new patient. But she pleads and convinces
him to continue her treatment and agrees to his requirement that she do
whatever is necessary to remember where her treasure father disappeared in
the desert twenty years before.

Act 2:

New
plan: March regresses Sarah to her 6-year-old self to learn more about her
childhood and the trauma she experienced. It’s a scary session for both young
Sarah and older Sarah. We, the audience, sees that young Sarah is disobedient,
ornery and stubborn and appears to be March’s equal in both intellect and
willpower – and maybe too much for March to handle.
Plan
in action: March demands that Sarah must allow him to control both the hypnosis
and the questions of her 6-year-old self. Sarah gets horrible news from
March – Sarah’s father was a cruel man who robbed Indian graves and sold
the booty to collectors.
Midpoint
Turning Point: Sarah wakes from a session and “remembers” she disobeyed
her father and somehow it lead to his death. She feels it can’t be true. But
March gives her his interpretation of the “planted” event and which heightens
Sarah’s guilt and the feeling that she is responsible for her father’s
death. Sarah is devastated to learn this. March now has full control over both
her memories and her emotions.

Act 3:

Rethink
everything: Sarah remembers her father’s words from a previous session
when he said, “Listen to everyone but only trust in yourself”. She confides
to a bartender, wonders if March could be wrong about her father. She even
wonders if March is somehow manipulating her memories and her interaction
with young Sarah.
New
plan: Sarah asks questions of young Sarah at the same time that March is
asking questions. She uses her younger self to try and get into March’s
head, learn what he knows and if in fact he is manipulating her. But then
we see young Sarah and her father argue about her disobeying him. Maybe
she is responsible for his death?
Turning
Point: Huge failure / Major shift: March suspects that Sarah isn’t fully
cooperating with him and accuses her of avoiding her issues. She admits
that he’s right on both issues. He says they are close to finding the
final answers and demands that they travel into the desert to the scene of
the crime in the hope the location will trigger her to remember what she needs
to.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate
expression of the conflict: Sarah and March venture into a remote area of
the Navajo Reservation and re-discover the long lost treasure cave.
Resolution:
In the cave, they find the skeleton of Sarah’s father. March pulls a gun. Now
able to face the facts and free of her prison of guilt, Sarah’s memory
returns. She remembers that March is the one who murdered her father and
tried to kill her. She is not responsible for her father’s death. A battle
to the death ensues. Sarah wins when March stumbles and falls to his death
from the same cliff that he threw her from twenty years before.

[Paul Mahoney]

Paul’s Genre Conventions

Vision: My vision is to be a successful full-time writer with a good steady income, who constantly learns, enjoys life, creates employment for others and brings joy, fun, fulfilment, health, happiness, inspiration & an attitude of gratitude to my partner and others.

What I learned doing this assignment is that even with a weak outline you can always build on it by brainstorming and improve it.

2. Tell us the following:

Title: Sexless in Sydney

Concept: A young boy’s wish to be the world’s fastest at something is granted years later and to his horror he’s destined to be the world’s fastest ejaculator.

Genre: Comedy

3. Make a list of the conventions for your chosen genre, like this:

Comedy – Purpose laugh, forget your worries or maybe relate to another’s predicament.

Loveable hero with flaws, goofball, underdog who might be a fish out of water. Boy tries to get the girl.

4. Brainstorm ways to deliver the conventions more effectively and build those parts into your 4-Act Structure.

5. List your structure from Lesson 6 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions, like I did above.

Act 1:

Opening: Fat Kid watching other kids win races, be popular etc. He tries to be the best at some things as well, but embarrasses himself.Inciting Incident: Kid enters a foot race, falls over at the start line, gets up, races again. We see his teacher, Mrs. Wagner.Turning Point: Kid prays to God to make him the fastest at something, anything. Cut to him as an adult unable to please his girlfriend because he is over before she even starts. Complains to his friend that he wanted to be world famous like Usain Bolt. He buys a lotto ticket. He’s never gonna be famous for anything… Then he sees his ex has posted online that he is the world’s worst lover. Friend – Looks like you got your wish.

Act 2:

New plan: Decides to commit suicide.Plan in action: Tries to hang himself from a pipe in his apartment. It breaks, he falls knocking himself out. Ends up in a psychiatric ward. When he realises where he is he decides to OD on pills. He does a swap with another guy who he thinks is on stronger medication. He meets with his Therapist and connects well with her.Midpoint Turning Point: In the psychiatric ward he tries to OD on pills, but then learns the other guy’s medication was powerful laxative. He races to the toilet, slips over and knocks himself unconscious. He sees God.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Dan thinks he is going crazy, because no one else can see God. They want to put him on heavier medication. He realises that if he wants to be better, he must change the way he thinks. He learns that he won the lotto! Now his ex-girlfriend wants him back. Therapist tries to warn Dan about his girlfriend, but he won’t listen to it.New plan: Dan tries to get a lobotomy.Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: They won’t do a lobotomy on him, something about not causing more brain damage on him. Girlfriend says it’s worth the risk. You could be a vegetable, but at least that’s more use than what you are now.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Has to choose between Ex or Therapist. He learns that the ex was only trying to get back with him to share the lotto win and because she was offered a reality TV program of being married to the world’s worst lover. Therapist has issues because she knows she could lose her job/profession if she starts to have a relationship with a patient.Resolution – Dan gives his ex-girlfriend the flick. Audience expects him and Kyla to get together, but he chooses to be happy. Maybe that’s not being in a relationship right now. Maybe that’s me being comfortable with who I am before I can even think of committing to a relationship, understand?

[Rebecca Sukle]

Vision: My vision for my success from this program is to be the go-to writer for producers looking for incredible scripts for successful movies enjoyed by a vast viewing audience.

What I Learned: I learned that even though I started with action, there were a few more places I could add more and justify them with the reveals.

Title: Ragman’s War

Concept: To prevent coal and iron police from massacring men, women, and children working a picket line, a WWI Silver Star recipient must, without detection, execute the rabid commander who violently dominates their community.

Genre: Action, based on a true story.

Genre Conventions:

Purpose: To excite the audience with a fast paced, adrenaline-stirring story starting with the opening.

Opening:

Demand for Action: 1917 battlefield, Ragman, a sharpshooter, sees his brother blown up by a morter explosion.

Mission: He decides to kill a few of the bastards and picks off 16 enemy soldiers but leaves the cowardly officer remain alive and slips away.

Escalating Action: The officer, Bucholtz, tracks down the American soldier and ten years later commands the army of Coal and Iron Police that invade Ragman’s town to break the strike. Bucholtz harasses Ragman hoping to provoke a confrontation.

Antagonist: Bent on bringing the strike to a quick end Bucholtz violently dominates the community especially Ragman’s family. Reveal: Bucholtz blames Ragman for not allowing to die with honor in the battlefield, ruining his life, and wants to make him suffer.

Protagonist: Ragman, a proficient marksman, wields a mean hunting knife when dressing animals he kills and accurate when throwing rocks at a metal target to control his anger and not harm anyone.

(Added action to outline in italic.)

Act 1:

Opening: 1917 Battlefield in France, Ragman sees a morter blow up his brother. Later, he picks off 16 enemy soldiers but leaves the 17th man, their officer, remain alive.

Ten years later, Ragman, a family man and mine mechanic, debates walking out with the other miners in solidaity with a UMWA called strike. His gut tells him the strike will lead to war, and he is done with war.

Inciting Incident: An army of Coal and Iron Police invade the town and the brutal Commander, Bucholtz, violently dominates the community.

Turning Point: Buchlotz savagely whips Ragman’s brother, a carpenter who leads the miners with building barracks before the upcomming evictions. Ragman promises to take over and complete the project that will embed him into the union war.

ACT 2:

New plan: Ragman recruits his radical younger brother Albert, ex-Marine boxing champ, to help finish the barracks. Bucholtz harrasses Ragman to provoke a fight, but he heeds his wife’s advice to reign in his temper so not to be arrested or killed.

Plan in action: Bucholtz conviscates tarpaper rolls and other supplies; Ragman and Albert improvise to finish the housing on time.

Midpoint Turning Point: Bucholtz orders his men to brutilize the younger brother of Ragman’s wife Ludie, orders one of his men to “take” her younger sister, as he rapes Ludie. Ludie and her sister cover up the attack but Ludie becomes depressed. Ragman wants to confront Bucholtz about attacking the boy but his wife and mother talk him out of it. He throws rocks at a metal target and swears with each hit.

ACT 3:

Rethink everything: Ragman helps Ludie’s father rent a house on a farm and sells his invention so he can move Ludie and his sons away from Russellton. The carpenter recovers and leads barracks building in another town.

New Plan: Bucholtz arrests the carpenter on company property, whips him, and throws him in jail. Ragman and Albert break him out but not without a fight. Albert KO’s three officers and locks them in the jail. Two weeks later the carpenter dies. Ragman throws rocks.

Midpoint Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Albert gets sick from the same illness and unable to work. Harmarville miners move into unfinished barracks. Conrad, the young man ordered to rape Ludie’s younger sister Reise, shows up looking for her and declares his love. Ragman chastises him for knocking her up but learns that Bucholtz impregnated the girl and raped Ludie. He asks Conrad to spy on Bucholtz. Surrounded by armed thugs, Ragman confronts Bucholtz. Bucholtz confesses to being the 17th man and enjoying Ludie. He bites off Ragnman’s ear and attempts to choke him. The township counstable shows up and rescues Ragman by arresting him.

Albert recovers and plans to lead a protest in Russellton; Conrad informs Ragman that Bucholtz plans to kill Albert first and and then massacre the picket line. Ragman must kill Bucholtz to prevent the killings and asks for help from his friend Anthony at union headquarters. Together they craft a plan for him to do it silently and without detection with Anthony as backup.

ACT 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Albert trained the pickets on peaceful protest; but, Anthony replaces him. Ragman, disquised, hides in the crowd his knife ready. An unsteady Bucholtz roars in on his horse, coal and iron police fight with the miners, the picket line holds strong. The surging crowd pushes Ragman farther away. Bucholtz aims his gun at Anthony, the kill a signal for the machine gun to open fire on mine families.

Resolution: Ragman grabs a rock and throws it at Bucholtz but hits the horse. The horse rears, the gun fires but the bullet hits the building by the machine gun. The spooked horse dumps Bucholtz, tramples him, and bolts away through the crowd. Shocked, police and protesters freeze still and silent. Ragman slips out of his disquise undetected. The crowd cheers; Bucholtz is dead. Problem solved.

[Aaron Can Hoff]

Aaron’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: I am going to work harder than anyone to be an incredible writer who the industry seeks for projects that have consistent commercial success.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that when you purposely focus on the genre conventions, it really amps up the quality of the story and draws you into that world.

TITLE: BLACK JESUS

CONCEPT: A black tow truck driver gets out on probation after being setup by a dirty Sheriff and begins to expose years of corruption and racist murders committed by the lawman, things he would kill to keep hidden.

GENRE: Thriller

THRILLER CONVENTIONS:

Purpose: To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and suspense that never lets up until the adrenaline packed climax.

Life and Death Situations:

Mystery/Intrigue/Suspense:

Hero:

Villian:

Main Emotions: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, and surprise.

MAIN CONFLICT: Protag desperately tries to expose the crimes of the corrupt Sheriff while the lawman keeps his iron fist around the town and his secrets hidden.

OLD WAYS: Prisoner mentality – go along to get along. Compliant with or backs down from authority. Does as he’s told. Accepts things as they are.

NEW WAYS: Fury, Defiance, Contempt, Accepts nothing, Won’t back down. Would rather die than see the Sheriff get away with these crimes.

ACT I:

Opening:

– Drug deal turned deadly – two black males executed. We see their car later at the junk yard.

– Pro’s last day in prison, he’s respectful to guards, takes orders, has no questions about anything, does as he’s told.

– He’s pulled over on the way home from jail, expired license, he‘s arrested and goes right back to jail – he keeps calm, calms his family down, doesn’t want to rock the boat.

– Deputies work shooting scene – no bodies on scene.

Inciting Incident:

– His uncle who owns a junk yard, gives pro a beat-up tow truck and signs over his LLC to him. He’s now a small business owner.

– His biggest contract is the Sheriff’s department.

Turning Point:

– At a tow scene, pro sees a deputy take cash out of a drug vehicle, deputy sees he’s caught, insists pro take some hush-cash and ‘all is good’.

ACT II:

Reaction:

– Pro freaks out and goes to uncle.

– Uncle coaches him to go along to get along and not speak of it with anybody els

New plan:

– The plan starts to form in his head that he will conduct his own investigation into the Sheriff and his deputies.

– It goes nowhere because he’s passive/submissive.

– He’s so bad at it that the deputies get suspicious of him.

– To warn pro, deputy implies a threat to his nephew if pro doesn’t behave.

– List of attempts doing the old way & each failure.

– The “Department” has to shut pro down & bring him closer into the fold.

Midpoint Turning Point:

– Pro has nephew who is an up-and-coming HS football receiver – TP is when the kid gets shot in the leg right before workouts with college scouts – exactly what the deputy warned.

ACT III:

Rethink everything:

– Pro starts changing to new ways – breaking laws, etc.

New plan:

– He’s pissed – gets smart and seeks help from others (waitress at local all-night diner / girl that works dispatch) to start new/improved plan.

– Starts recon on enemies – puts trackers on their cars, follows them, photographs them.

– Figures them out.

– Takes what he has to a State Trooper.

– A State Trooper crony (Sheriff’s son/nephew/mistress), hears about the report and tips off the Sheriff.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift:

– The deputies kidnap his nephew.

– Pro finds out his uncle is a key member in the Sheriff’s crew and the HE HAS BEEN APART OF THEIR DRUG RING ALL ALONG.

ACT IV:

New Plan:

– Pro goes full press – he kidnaps, tortures, bombs and burns cops and their families – an eye for an eye for his nephew.

– Raids their houses, cabins,

– Sneaks into the Sheriff’s station.

– He is gathering intelligence on what has happened to all the other missing black folk of the town.

– He slowly gets answers, and they begin to point to the Sheriff.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:

– On the voting day for Mayor, all the dominos that Pro set up start to fall:

– The State Police arrest a couple deputies,

– Pro blows up the Sheriff’s secret stash of millions,

– Pro kidnaps Antag’s wife and then swaps her for him.

– He begins to torture Antag until he gives up where his nephew is.

– And when he finds him, he finds every other person that crossed the Sheriff or his deputies in the past 25 years, all buried in town the entire time.

Resolution:

– The one clean deputy, a Mexican Marine, is now the Sheriff.

– He’s an ally to Pro, understands full well what Pro had to do, and isn’t too bothered by it at all.

– Pro is the new King of the town! An inspiration to all the black townspeople,

– The townspeople begin to take on the Pro’s new ways – they’re more sovereign, confident, bold and stand up for themselves.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Genre Conventions

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned doing this assignment is it made me intensify the stakes and drama.

Title:
Ticket to Live

· Concept: The true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and an abandoned dog with BIG issues who team up to bring light into their darkest places.

Genre: Drama/Buddy Movie

Conventions for chosen genre:

· Purpose: emotional and interpersonal high stakes

· Character-Driven Journey: internal journey drives film’s events

· High Stakes Come from Within: struggles, obstacles, stakes from within vs. external pressures

· Emotionally Resonates: moved by characters’ emotions and experiences of events

· Challenging, Emotionally-Charged Situations: challenged to their core

· Real-Life Situations: grounded in reality

4-Act Structure: (New genre-inspired conventions are underlined)

Act 1:

Opening: Allen, as a police officer, is ambushed by a criminal aiming a gun at his head.

Inciting Incident: Allen’s doctor tells him he has a brain aneurysm that could burst at any time and requires brain surgery. He’s facing another type of gun pointed at his head and it triggers his PTSD from eight years of police-work in which violence was a steady factor.

Turning Point: Allen simultaneously commits to the severely emotionally damaged dog, Leaf, he’s recently rescued and brain surgery that debilitated his father for the rest of his life with a stroke from the same condition.

Act 2:

New plan: Allen stuffs down his emotions with methodical plans and paperwork to prepare for the possibility of his death, and tries to cope with Leaf’s emotional issues with dog training.

Plan in action: Allen creates a “memo” to tell his wife, Linda, about the condition and need for brain surgery and a Manual to show how to do everything with bills, etc. in case he dies. Their conversation about the surgery and possibility of dying ends with hugs and tears—exactly what he’d hope writing a “memo” to her with the facts would avoid. Leaf passes dog training classes but doesn’t get calmer at home or with strangers.

Midpoint Turning Point: Leaf and Allen are bonding, but the dog turns their home into a war zone, growls at strangers, bites the groomer, and risks being euthanized. Allen and Linda don’t know if Leaf bites or scares someone who reports the dog to animal control, will he be taken away before they can help him heal deep-seated fears from being abandoned? Now that Allen’s brain surgery is scheduled with a need for recovery time, he’s also in danger of losing his high-pressure job that requires travel and public speaking.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Allen must face his fears and emotions and realizes he has very little control over the dog, Linda’s reactions to the situation, or the surgery outcomes.

New plan: Allen starts opening up to Linda about how he’s really feeling and begins looking at life from Leaf’s point of view to come to a greater understanding of how to survive. Stress and emotion are adversely affecting his chances of overcoming all the obstacles, so he’s renewing dedication to the spiritual practices that make him more centered and balanced.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Allen has a vivid, detailed dream that no one will give him a ticket to The Building of Life. He shares his dream with Linda in Leaf’s presence with Leaf afterward, tearing up newspaper into tiny pieces and trying to give them to Allen. Allen and Linda misinterpret his actions. Allen is told that now he also has a blood clot in a vein, aimed at his heart, that could kill him at any time. Fear mounts as he wonders, Will he die from the brain aneurysm bursting or a stroke from the blood clot?_PTSD memories haunt him more than ever. If he’s disabled, he’ll lose his job and health insurance.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Moments before Allen’s surgery, in his inner vision, Allen sees Leaf giving him his ticket to the Building of Life. He realizes this was what Leaf was trying to do when he tore up the newspaper into tiny pieces. The surgery is a nail-biter—much more involved and taking longer than expected. Linda is in the hospital chapel, hearing an emergency call for the neurosurgeon’s nurse to come to the operating room.

Resolution: Leaf becomes a key player in Allen’s touch-and-go recovery process. Allen accepts that he won’t be an invalid like his father and grows to trust Linda’s and Leaf’s love for him. He lets them help him heal and receive instead of always needing to be the one in charge. Bothe Allen and Leaf find their way from near-death and fear to renewed joy, trust, and love.

[Ian Greenham]

Ian Greenham’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I’m confident that completing this program will significantly enhance my screenwriting skills.

Doing this assignment I learned the importance of paying careful attention to genre conventions.

Title: Sisters in Time

Concept: Doctors seeking a bone marrow transplant for a promising young defense attorney diagnosed with leukemia discover a twin sister she did not know she had, serving a life sentence for a murder she claims she did not commit.

Genre: Drama

Drama Genre Conventions:

· Purpose: Emotional high stakes.

· Character-Driven Journey: Character’s internal journey.

· High Stakes Come from Within: The struggles come from within the characters.

· Emotionally Resonates: Audiences moved by the characters’ emotions.

· Challenging, Emotionally-Charged Situations: Characters challenged to the core by emotional situations and struggles.

· Real-life Situations: Stories grounded in reality.

Deliver the Drama Conventions More Effectively:

In examining the genre conventions against the outline it was evident that the story follows the conventions, but if as we move forward it appears that the story needs more depth and variety, I’ll work it in.

Act 1:

Aly Silvers successfully defends a
client against a murder charge.
She later collapses at the office,
is taken by ambulance to hospital and diagnosed with leukemia.
She needs blood transfusions and a
bone marrow transplant.

Act 2:

Nurse Jenny Levitt from the Blood
Donations Center is charged with finding a suitable donor for Aly.
Jenny meets Aly and sees a
remarkable similarity in appearance between her and a donor from the
women’s prison, Nicki Holder.
Jenny gets a donation from Nicki.

Act 3:

After receiving a donation from Nicki,
Aly recovers.
Jenny tells Aly that Nicki is her
twin sister.
Aly goes to visit Nicki and learns
that she is in prison for a murder she claims she didn’t commit.

Act 4:

Aly investigates the circumstances
of Nicki’s conviction and discovers serious flaws in the prosecution’s
case.
Aly succeeds in a court petition to
have Nicki’s conviction set aside.

[WIM: Module 2, Lesson 6: Build in the Genre Conventions – June 10, 2022]

[Claudia Wolfkind]

Claudia’s Genre Conventions

Vision: To become such an excellent writer that I know every script I write will be well received by the industry, that my scripts will sell and be produced, and I’ll live the life of my dreams. To also become so empowered that fear is to be laughed at, instead I relish and look forward to pitching, meetings and much more.

What I’ve Learned Doing This Assignment: By doing two sweeps of the versions you can build the genre pints into the story making sure that the genre structure is what the audience (and producers) will expect.

TITLE: CLEAN SWEEP

CONCEPT: A germaphobe Martha Stewart wannabe has to take over her father’s cleaning business after he has a heart attack, and meets the love of her life, not knowing he’s the world’s worst slob.

GENRE: ROMANTIC COMEDY

Purpose: To have the audience experience falling in love again

The Journey of Love:

Relationship Set-Up

Issues:

Separation:

Comedy:

VERSION 1)

Act 1:

Opening: Abby is walking her dog down the street, both are in disposable booties, she is also in gloves and a mask.

Does an on-camera event from home, teaching viewers about organization. It’s from her home, there’s a studio set up in her home.

Her best friend and publisher needs her to go on tour for her book that’s coming out. She’s afraid to meet people / go places because of the germs.

Inciting Incident: Her father has a heart attack. She goes to the hospital and is told she is the only one who can take on the family business (cleaning) while the father recuperates. Meets Jack at the Hospital elevator, not knowing he’s going to visit her father.

Turning Point: Goes to cleaning business, meets maids who are not welcoming, realizes that the business is in serious financial trouble, and someone is trying to take them over.

Act 2:

New plan: Abby attempts to clean things up, first in the office. Trying to deal with germs. She tries to push the maids to do more work in less time. Runs into Jack again, and again.

Plan in action: Abby attempts to do some cleaning herself to see what the maids are up against. She goes to clean Jack’s home (not knowing it’s his home). Tries to find a way out of the debt. Jack tried to help her confront her fear. She’s trying to deal with him being a slob.

Midpoint Turning Point: The maids have had enough and issue a sick out/strike, no one is cleaning. The business gets a Notice of Action for failure to pay bills.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Abby thinks about selling the business. She can’t keep cleaning by herself. Tries to hire new people. Most are a big failure. Jack doesn’t think he’s got a problem.

New plan: Jack brings on his friend, Boomer, to look over the contracts and the accounting books and hopefully find a way out. Boomer says it’s over, best to sell as quick as possible. She gets a big job to prepare for an important formal event.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: new maids have quit. Bills are due, the lights are literally going out; clients are cancelling left and right. Abby can’t deal with Jack’s slobbery.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Abby and Jack find out Boomer is behind the takeover. Abby has to pull off the big event by herself. She goes to the maids one last time and apologizes.

Resolution: Maids feel sorry for her and help her nail the big event. Abby is given a huge cleaning contract that will 10X the size of the business. Her Dad is well enough to come back. Abby puts the lead maid (who was her nemesis) in charge.

Boomer is fired by his dad for not making the deal happen. Jack shows Abby his plans for her business.

Abby goes on her book tour, in front of TV audiences.

VERSION 2)

Act 1:

Opening: Abby is walking her dog down the street, both are in disposable booties, she is also in gloves and a mask.

Does an on-camera event from home, teaching viewers about organization. It’s from her home, there’s a studio set up in her home.

Her best friend and publisher needs her to go on tour for her book that’s coming out. She’s afraid to meet people / go places because of the germs.

Inciting Incident: Her father has a heart attack. She goes to the hospital and is told she is the only one who can take on the family business (cleaning) while the father recuperates.

Meets Jack at the Hospital elevator, not knowing he’s going to visit her father.

Jack is in the elevator, exiting as the door opens (he’s just leaving visiting her Dad). Abby crashes into him, spilling the coffee he’s holding all over him. She’s apologetic, he doesn’t mind. There’s a spark.

Turning Point: Goes to cleaning business, meets maids who are not welcoming, realizes that the business is in serious financial trouble, and someone is trying to take them over.

Abby physically runs into Jack again, this time he’s coming out of her Dad’s hospital room. Another mess. She asks if he knows her Dad. Jack just says they are friends. Jack’s phone rings and he has to leave, late for an appt.

Abby goes to confront her Dad about the financial issues, but he feigns more heart trouble and she shuts up.

Act 2:

New plan: Abby attempts to clean things up, first in the office. Trying to deal with germs. She tries to push the maids to do more work in less time. Runs into Jack again, and again.

Abby goes to speak with her brother, who is at the ballfield. She’s shocked to see Jack there. That they’ve been friends since childhood. She learns that Jack’s taken her dad’s place coaching, until he’s better. Her brother and Boomer, their friend, are helping.

The past comes into play. How Abby became a germaphobe. Jack was actually there as well and helped her, like a Knight in shining armor.

Plan in action: Abby attempts to do some cleaning herself to see what the maids are up against. She goes to clean Jack’s home (not knowing it’s his home… until she does and is shocked). Tries to find a way out of the debt. Jack tries to help her confront her fear. She’s trying to deal with him being a slob. She is back and forth on whether she can be with him.

Midpoint Turning Point: The maids have had enough and issue a sick out/strike, no one is cleaning. The business gets a Notice of Action for failure to pay bills.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Abby thinks about selling the business. She can’t keep cleaning by herself. Tries to hire new people. Most are a big failure. Jack doesn’t think he’s got a problem but is willing to try to do better for her.

New plan: Jack play’s Knight again and brings on his friend, Boomer, to look over the contracts and the accounting books and hopefully find a way out. Boomer says it’s over, best to sell as quick as possible.

She gets a big job to prepare for an important formal event.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: new maids have quit. Bills are due, the lights are literally going out; clients are cancelling left and right.

Abby’s stress makes her symptoms worse.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Abby and Jack find out Boomer is behind the takeover.

Abby blames Jack for exposing their company info to Boomer and accuses Jack of being in on it. She breaks up with him.

Abby has to pull off the big event by herself. She goes to the maids one last time and apologizes.

Resolution: Maids feel sorry for her and help her nail the big event.

Jack shows up at the event, IN A TUX… he can be cleaned up and neat!

Abby is given a huge cleaning contract that will 10X the size of the business. Her Dad is well enough to come back. Abby puts the lead maid (who was her nemesis) in charge.

Boomer is fired by his dad for not making the deal happen.

Jack shows Abby his plans for her business.

Abby goes on her book tour, in front of TV audiences.

EDIT! There must be a misunderstanding! Abby will believe Jack had something to do with Boomer / the business takeover, out of a misunderstanding. Will she overhear something wrong? Will she read something? Will Boomer lie and say Jack set it up? Would Boomer destroy his friendship with Jack to help his father? Maybe.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Claudia Wolfkind.

[Claudia Wolfkind]

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• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Claudia Wolfkind.

[CLAIRE RILEY]

MY VISION:

I have a fabulous career as a screenwriter working in both TV and film, and I have tremendous creative, financial, and personal success. I specialize in writing LGBTQ+ projects and I am the go-to-girl for writing lesbian stories.

What I learned: Both stories are still very rough, but I accept that for today and am ready to move forward. Progress not perfection.

Concept 1

Title: YOU ALWAYS KILL THE ONE YOU LOVE

Genre: Horror

When the ghost of an evil psychiatrist possesses the lesbians on an isolated movie set, forcing each woman to kill her own spouse, a timid psychic must stop it before it possesses her or her wife.

Act 1:

Opening: Terrifying scene of a mental patient murdering her doctor. Someone yells CUT and reveal that these people are actors and this is a scene from the movie they are shooting

Inciting Incident: Maeve, a young psychic, tells her wife, Sybil, the director of the movie, that she senses a dark energy on the set and suggests they should not be filming at this location, an abandon mental hospital from the 1950s that is on an isolated island. Sybil dismisses her. This is the perfect location for the movie.

Maeve walks around the abandoned insane asylum and is unnerved.

They experience bizarre, frightening, unexplainable happenings.

Turning Point: The first woman is possessed and kills her own wife.

Act 2:

New plan: Get off the location and get help. All communications are out, no phones, wifi, anything. The storm has made travel off the island impossible.

Maeve repeats that there is an evil spirit and wants to have a séance.

Plan in action: Sybil does not agree. She and the consultant psychiatrist approach it as a mental/emotional issues. But Maeve has a séance any way. A force comes in and is destructive and does not identify itself, but possesses another woman who goes crazy and kills her wife.

They all panic. Now there is a pattern of a woman killing her own wife. Who will be next? Will my wife kill me or will I kill my wife?

Now Sybil thinks Maeve may be right, and thinks they women are being possessed by the woman who murdered her psychiatrist.

Another spirit enters Maeve and tells them to leave, but they can’t.

Midpoint Turning Point: Third woman is possessed and murders her wife.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Maeve and Sybil are the last couple, which means they will be next.

New plan: Eve has another to contact the good spirit that warned her to get off the island. It’s the woman who killed the psychiatrist. She says the ghost of the psychiatrist is possessing the women. She murdered her doctor because the doctor tortured her in the name of treating her for being a lesbian.

New plan: Maeve must exorcise the spirit from the place.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Maeve feels herself being possessed.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Maeve battles the ghost of the evil psychiatrist while it is inside her and wins.

It then goes into Sybil and tries to kill Maeve. Maeve exorcises it from Sybil.

Resolution: Maeve saves Sybil and the three other surviving women.

Concept 2

Title: RESCUING LOVE

Genre: Thriller

When domestic terrorists kidnap her girlfriend and frame her for the kidnapping, a daring CIA agent must outwit the FBI and the terrorists before her girlfriend is forced into heterosexual conversion therapy.

Act 1:

Opening: Eve and Debbie are on a date. Someone is watching them. Taking pictures and videoing them. Who is watching them and why?

Inciting Incident: Debbie and Eve fight. Debbie breaks up with Eve.

Eve wakes up and cannot remember anything that happen for the past twelve hours.

Turning Point: Eve goes to Debbie to apologize and discovers she is missing.

Act 2:

New plan: look for Debbie, contact local police and FBI

Plan in action: Gets nowhere. Seems like they are not looking for her. They ask her questions as if she is a suspect.

Debbie’s parents say Debbie was not dating Eve. Eve was stalking her and Debbie was trying to get away from her.

FBI have evidence to support parents assertions.

FBI use GPS to monitor her movements the night before and she went to Debbie’s house and then drove out to a desolate park. She has a shovel in her trunk. Eve does not remember this. Says she was drugged.

Midpoint Turning Point: FBI arrest Eve for kidnapping Debbie

Act 3:

Rethink everything: who kidnapped Debbie and is framing Eve?

New plan: Eve tries to convince the FBI that she did not kidnap Debbie and pleads with them to continue searching for her. They do nothing.

Terrified for Debbie’s safety, Eve escapes from the FBI and starts looking for Debbie herself.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Eve discovers that there is a domestic terrorist group that kidnaps queer people and forces them into conversion therapy, and it is likely that they kidnapped Debbie.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Eve infiltrates the group to find Debbie.

They discover her. She battles the kidnappers and rescues Debbie.

Resolution: Debbie’s parents are arrested for arranging the kidnapping. Debbie is in hospital recovering. Eve asks Debbie to marry her.

[Eclipse Neilson]

Eclipse Neilson Genre Conventions

1. VISION: I want to be a great award-winning writer, known for my genre, who creates the most beautiful films that inspire others to feel deeply, pause, and ponder ways to make the world a better place.

2. WHAT I ‘VE LEARNED: To go for more Sci -FI and to keep in mind what the audience will expect. <div>

3. TITLE: THE NUN AND THE WITCH

4. Genre: SCI -FI / DRAMA
5. CONCEPT: Sent on a mission by The Council Of Universal Beings an introverted Nun, destined to become a saint, bonds with a powerful Witchy Healer to achieve an ancient task to save the heart flame of humanity.

6. Genre:Conventions SCI-FI / DRAMA

SCI -FI: PURPOSE: ​ To cause us to think outside of our own world.

FANTASTIC WORLDS: ​

INCREDIBLE VISUALS: ​

SOCIAL COMMENTARY: ​

DRAMA: PURPOSE: ​ To explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for their characters.

CHARACTER-DRIVEN JOURNEY:

HIGH STAKES COME FROM WITHIN: ​EMOTIONALLY RESONATES: ​

CHALLENGING, EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED SITUATIONS: ​

REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS: ​ Drama stories are grounded in reality.

7. STRUCTURE WITH CHANGES :

ACT I

Opening:

Takes place in the starry heavens of eternity.

A star explodes and forms two flaming meteorites spiraling toward earth.

Silence and echoing voices and coded beeps in the universe.

Two silhouettes of cloaked souls (Lunea and Anne ) leaning side by side lovingly gazing at the heavens. The Council of the Universal Beings appear and sends them on a mission to help save the (sacred flame) of humanity from being extinguished.

(Lunea and Anne ) souls move through a time tunnel. Flashes of their love and tragic endings of each of their many lives together appear. With each lifetime a star appears in the universe forming their personal star constellation.

They begin with their Egyptian lifetime – where they drank poison to rest peacefully in each other’s arms in all eternity together.

They continue to flash through life times that are relevant to the story and mission

Their life before the present one is in 1930s when they are female archeologists. They discover their ancient grave but quickly rebury it realizing it must be kept a sacred secret.

They arrive at the closed Door of Remembering and slip through to their present life. The door slams behind them. All memories are gone.

The first image is on a hill above a church in a small town. It has a female-stone henge type statue. The two flaming meteorites lay at her feet.

In the present: Lunea and Anne’s lives are opposite –

Lunea is a witchy priestess trying to set up a new age shop and raise a young daughter as a single parent.

Anne is an obedient nun serving a domineering minister who is trying to keep an ailing congregation from falling apart.

Lunea and Sister Anne get to know each other and slowly build a secret bond, yet both are cautious and doubtful they can ever become the best of friends out in the world.

Inciting Incident:

Father Sinclair dies leaving Sister Anne to carry on, knowing the church will close if she fails. She must take his place as a minister.

Turning Point:

Father Sinclair returns as a ghost seeking redemption and begins to haunt her warning her that evil forces are taking over the town.

Lost and overwhelmed Sister Anne seeks help from Priestess Lunea knowing she will understand what to do with the hauntings and help banish the evil. They realize as they become closer, that they must join heart flames to fight what is emerging in the town.

The Council of the Universal Beings responds and sends an Ancient female guardian – The OLD ONE to guide them as they set out to fight the hatred, bigotry, and falsehoods that is taking over.

ACT 2:

The Old One sends Lunea and Sister Anne through the Door of Remembering with the task to find in their past lives clues that appear as flashes and symbols for them to return to the present with as healing tools for all. (They find a profound secret from the burning times when they both were burned as witches. They return with the Flaming Sword.

Midpoint Turning Point:

The Old One performs a powerful ceremony- “The fusing of the souls between Lunea and Anne to fight evil with the sword. They commit to never betray each other – no matter what.

ACT 3:

Rethink everything:

The people in the town discover that their Nun and the Witch are secretly friends and begin to attack Lunea and her daughter Athena. She is rejected and bullied in school. The town’s hatred grows against all of them. This forces Anne to stand in her power speak her heartfelt truth and carry out the mission Father Sinclair was never able to do.

Father Sinclair and Sister Anne have a breakthrough moment and he gives her his diary -where he struggled as a preacher and the truths he discovered but kept secret. She begins to use his words.

New plan:

The Old One and Father Sinclair instruct Lunea to join the church. One Sunday Sister Anne asks Lunea to share her understanding of the sacred text. The congregation walks out enraged.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift.

Lunea and Anne one night steal the church’s crucifix and carry it ceremoniously up the hill to the stone statue that strangely looks more and morel like the open arms of Mother Mary. They place the crucifix in her arms.

The congregation finds out. Enraged they seek Anne and Lunea out. There is a shooting on the steps of the church. Both Priestess Lunea and Sister Anne take the bullet first while trying to protect Athena. But all are shot.

ACT 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:

It looks like a miracle because Athena’s bullet wound is healed by both Lunea’s and Sister Anne’s hands in front of everyone just before they collapse and die. The townspeople witness the miracle. They never really know who did the healing of Athena – But the spirits of the heavens appear at that moment as Star Beings, Angels, and cloaked Ancients from the Universal Council of Beings. The townspeople have an awakening.

They carry one large casket up the hill. Priestess Lunea and Sister Anne are buried together on the hill (their favorite place.)

Time tunnel appears again. We move forward to the door of the Future. It opens slightly and we see an image of Athena (Lunea’s daughter ) at the pulpit as the new preacher of the church.

The last image is a gravestone inscribed – Here rest Priestess Lunea and Saint Anne side by side. Heart by heart – Soul by soul for all eternity.

The door of time closes once again.

In the dark tunnel of remembering, a flame is lit and we see the original burial of the two Egyptian skeletons that the two female archeologists had discovered 1930’s and secretly covered back up. But now between them is the flaming sword.

</div>

[Peter Field]

Peter’s Genre Conventions

Vision: My scripts are so good they could be published on their own and William Goldman would want to write the introduction.

What I learned doing this assignment is to keep plugging away with “answers that I have right now.” I made a bunch of changes already.

Title: COLD DAY IN SEOUL

Concept: A former Force Recon commando tries to rescue an old flame from a military uprising at a world peace conference, only to discover his own government is behind the attempted coup

Genre: ACTION/THRILLER

ACT I

Opening – DV and JH part of sightseeing tour prior to start of big peace talks; JH’s purse is stolen, DV gives chase but thief gets away; police arrest him

Inciting Incident – DV’s local friend (policeman BC) intervenes, asks DV to help w/ easy protection detail in return for “police access”

Turning Point – violent uprising night before peace talks and JH goes missing

ACT II

New Plan — DV makes it his mission to find JH and ignores govt. order to stand down

Plan in Action — DV faces many local adversaries (from multiple SE Asian countries), all are possible abductors; everyone has a motive to derail peace talks

Mid-Point – secret docs are leaked that expose high-ranking American officials linked to “rogue” locals who incited violent uprising

ACT III

Rethink everything — DV identifies forces within American govt as primary suspect

New Plan — go after the Americans!

Turning Point/Huge failure/Major shift – DV breaks into US black site where JH is held; DV is attacked by multiple assailants and left for dead

ACT IV

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict — BC saves DV; they track JH down to military airfield; adversaries previously against him now join him to fight “rogue” Americans

Resolution — DV and JH reunited; coup is thwarted; peace talks go on

[Veronica Turowski]

Veronica Turowski’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: I want to be a successful writer who writes several scripts a year and sells them to producers who are eager to make my vision a reality by bringing my scripts to completion so everyone can watch my movies on the big screen.

What I learned from doing this assignment is it is important to organize the 4-Act structure and put in the genre conventions so that it makes creating the script easier.

Title: Justice from the Grave

Concept: While at a funeral, the deceased appears and tells a professional mourner he was murdered, but when no one believes the mourner, she decides to find and stop the serial killer before he kills his next victim, only to discover she is a ghost and is the mother of the serial killer.

Genre: Thriller

Act 1:

Opening: Eppsa wakes up in an ER chair after a dream of someone being murdered. She looks at the chart on the wall. It shows her son, Hayden, was discharged against medical advice. She approaches a doctor. There’s a code blue. He runs for a room. She sees the spirit of a man enter the hall from the room the doctor entered. He vanishes. She leaves the hospital.

Inciting Incident: Eppsa is at a funeral. In the distance, she spots the man who died in the hospital. No one notices him. His name is Lonnie. He didn’t kill himself; he was murdered by a serial killer. He can’t rest until the killer is stopped and then tells her who the serial killer will murder next.

Turing Point: She reads an obituary. The man in the obituary is the same one Lonnie told her would die next.

Act 2:

New Plan: Find Lonnie for information and contact the police.

Plan of Action: Report there’s a serial killer to the police.

She goes to another funeral. A child of the deceased hugs Eppsa. The child tells her that Lonnie wanted her to know the police are wrong and that her dad didn’t kill himself. The child gives Eppsa another name from Lonnie to let her know who is going to die next.

She reads about another suicide. It’s not the name the girl gave her. The news warns everyone to stop copying a TikTok challenge because people are dying. It’s becoming an epidemic.

She searches for the name the girl gave her. She finds the person’s house. The door is ajar. She enters to find him dead. His wife enters. She flees.

Midpoint Turning Point: While waiting to talk to the cops in the police station, she sees Hayden leaving the police station. As she runs after him, she knocks a file from a desk onto the ground. Hayden gets in a car and drives away before she can get to him.

Act 3:

Rethink Everything: She talks to a psychic to find out why she’s seeing ghosts.

New Plan: She goes to church to pray. She talks to an old lady crying on a pew. Her grandson died by suicide, the same way Lonnie died, but the grandson’s death date is a couple of years earlier.

She sees Hayden in a park in her neighborhood talking to one of his childhood friends. She approaches, but the two get into a heated argument. Hayden chases after him before she gets to him.

She goes back to the cemetery. Lonnie says another victim will die in two days. He thinks the victims are people who hurt the serial killer in his childhood.

The name Lonnie predicted turns up dead in the obituaries. The cops say it’s a homeless man who committed suicide. She goes to the funeral home for the viewing. No one is there. Something is familiar about this homeless man.

Midpoint Turning Point: Eppsa puts a list of the names together who have died. She remembers these were Hayden’s friends in high school. She fears he will be a victim, too. Since no one believes her, she needs to stop the serial killer herself.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate Expression of the Conflict: Eppsa finds a news article about a wife who was killed in a murder-suicide. The beloved husband was discovered to be a serial killer. Their teenage son was taken in by a church member.

Back at the cemetery, her name is on the headstone along with her husband’s. They have the same death date. She realizes she’s dead.

Eppsa knows how to find her son. She lures him back to their old, house which is now revealed as abandoned and falling apart. Somehow, she kills Hayden to save the world from a serial killer.

Resolution: Hayden’s wife and son await his arrival for his surprise birthday party.

[Pat Fitzgerald]

Pat’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I have the courage and confidence to create contest winning screenplays and will go on to have them optioned and produced.

What I Learned: That I couldn’t look at this script as anything but dramedy, which meant combining conventions of both drama and comedy. And that my original structure read too much like drama. It needed comedy’s incongruence. It’s also very important at this stage to not be concerned with perfection. With every lesson I learn more about my characters and plot, which will undoubtably change, so there’s no reason to get married to anything right now.

Title: The Home Strip

Concept: Planning to bilk geezers out of their money two aging strippers book a tour into assisted living homes, only to discover true love for the very first time.

Genre: Dramedy.

List of Conventions:

Entertain the audience with laughter inducing moments and interpersonal high stakes.

Incongruence/Character driven journey

Mechanics of comedy/High stakes

Comedic Protagonists/Challenging situations

Strong Story

Act One:

Opening: While Jaki Sue frantically works at her low-paying online transcription job her roommate Judee comes home with her grandson, allegedly just to change the toddler’s diaper, but Judess pulls luxury food items she shoplifted out of the diaper.

Inciting Incident: Judee announces that her caregiver son can get them a job that pays halfway decent money dressing up like clowns to entertain at an assisted living home. comes home with the news that they can make a halfway decent amount of money dressing up like clowns to entertain at an assisted living home.

Turning Point: In the midst of their lackluster clown act, a resident, Russel; blasts some raunchy music on his iPod, and Jaki Sue and Judee break into a seductive – as seductive as clowns can be – dance. Russell hands Jaki Sue $50 for brightening his day.

Act Two:

New Plan: Jaki Sue and Judee plot to take their clown act to various nursing and assisted living home. Jaki Sue is on the lookout for rich geezers who’ll tip for a private dance, but she can’t get Russell off her mind. She convinces Judee to return to the original assisted living him, where women residents urge Judee to give them private dance lessons – hey, you’re never too old to strip!

Plan in Action: Jaki Sue sneaks a look at Russell’s bank statements and learns he’s rich. In the midst of one of Judee’s lessons, she and the old gals are having a great time stuffing tips into each other’s bras, when an uptight child of one of the residents arrives and is horrified.

Midpoint Turning Point: A local news channel does a story about the gals’ act, implying that they are giving private dances.

Act Three:

Rethink Everything: Crushed that she can no longer give the old gals in assisted living, Judee reverts to her old ways of shop lifting, but gets caught in the act. Jaki Sue and Russell are about to have an intimate moment, but it’s interrupted by a frantic call from Judee, saying she’s about to be arrested.

New Plan: Judee talks her way out of an arrest and goes to a technical school to enroll in caregiving classes. Jaki Sue invites Russel to live in her home, for substantial rent.

Turning Point: Russell’s family interferes, informing him that since they have is financial power of attorney, if he leaves assisted living, they will cut him off from his retirement funds.

Act Four:

Climax: Realizing she cares more deeply for Russell than she does for his money, Jaki Sue confronts Russell’s family with her honest feelings for their father. She’d find a way to care for him regardless of his financial situation. Russell begs his family for this one last chance at happiness.

Resolution: Jaki Sue and Russell have the dream wedding that Jaki Sue always dreamed of. Wedding entertainment consists of the old gals to whom Judee gave dance lessons, proving they’re never to old to shake it and hope like hell they don’t break it!

[Lori Lance]

Lori Lance’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I want to be a professional screenwriter recognized by the industry as the go-to for family-friendly scripts and have multiple successful movies produced.

What I learned: The list of genre conventions is great. I wish I had it years ago. Delivering on the genre is important, or the audience will feel cheated.

Title: New Mom or AI Mom (I’m open to suggestions.)

Concept: A family hires an AI to help around the house when mom’s away for work, but the AI wants to take mom’s place permanently.

Genre: family comedy

CONVENTIONS OF COMEDY​:

INCONGRUENCE:​ An AI is hired to fill Mom’s shoes, and she wants to take Mom’s place permanently.

MECHANICS OF COMEDY:​ The AI is initially a “fish out of water” as she figures out how everything around the house works and learns what being a wife and mother means.

COMEDIC PROTAGONIST(S):​ The family thinks that the answer to all their problems is hiring an AI, but as time passes, the AI becomes the biggest problem they must work together to overcome.

STRONG STORY:​ It has a strong moral worldview that stresses the importance of family, protecting, and going out on a limb for one another. The movie also applauds the commitment to marriage and overcoming difficult seasons with a spouse.

Act 1: (1-30)

Opening – It opens with an average family and their hectic morning routine. Mom warns everyone that she will soon be out of town for work and that they will have to pick up the slack. Mom asks Dad to pick between two dresses. Although the black is his favorite and is connected to an intimate moment that they shared in the past, he deems it too sexy for work.

Inciting Incident – The family agrees to hire an AI to help fill mom’s shoes instead.

Turning Point – Unbeknowst to the family, the AI decides that she wants to permanently take the mom’s place. The AI puts on Mom’s shoes literally with the sexy black dress. The dad feels confused and angry with the mom.

Act 2: (30-50)

New plan – The AI is winning over the family. Even with the “fish out of water” mishaps, the family loves her, and she can do no wrong in their eyes.

Plan in action – The AI makes a plot to get rid of the mom. Little by little, the mom is being replaced by the AI. The family is blind to this at first.

Midpoint Turning Point – The family discovers the AI’s evil plan.

Act 3: (50-70)

Rethink everything – Maybe the AI isn’t so great. The AI makes mistakes trying to be the “perfect mom and wife.”

New plan – The family decides to get rid of the AI. The family and home are being destroyed.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Getting rid of the AI isn’t so easy, and now the AI is out for revenge. The war has begun.

Act 4: (70-95)

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – It’s one last fight to the “death” as the family pulls together to get rid of the AI.

Resolution – With the AI destroyed, the family can find a new normal, working together for everyone’s good. Mom has her shoes and dress back.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Lori Lance.

[Renee Brown]

(WIM) Renee Brown’s Genre Conventions

“My scripts are the cream that rises to the top: I am an A-list screenwriter.”

What I learned: I’m set up well with this story to make it fit the Drama conventions.

STARCROSSED CHANCES

With help from a magical stone, two star-crossed lovers are reunited decades later in a small Montana town that keeps big hearted secrets.

Main Conflict:

After a stupid misunderstanding, Ally and CJ destroy their young love. Both their lives spin tragically off course only to collide decades later. They must heal years of resentment and heartbreak if they are to have a second chance at love.

Old Ways:

Bases her idea of love around hyper – idyllic post war stories from her grandmother.Abandons a professional dream because of a perceived insult. Runs away from love. Believes in the hardships of life.<div>

New Ways:

Bases her idea of love on realistic / imperfect beauty of true love right before her. Reconnects with her personal passion. Runs toward love.Believes in magic.

Act 1:

Opening: We see how a mystic stone made its way to America via a WW2 War bride. The stone is given to her by her mother, who tells her to go to America for a second chance at a good life.

Intro protag: Ally is frustrated in a job she has no passion for and reminisces with her best friend on the life she thought she would have.

Inciting Incident: Ally buys a “mystic” stone from an ancient hippy in a Missoula Antique shop. The woman tells Ally she got it from a French woman who was checking herself into a rest home and getting rid of stuff.

Turning Point: Ally loses her job / we see flashbacks to when her life went off course. We see her side of the big fight with CJ years ago.

Act 2:

New plan: Ally heads to Soaking Spring Montana to get her head together, And soak in the “healing” waters. She stays at Lillian’s Resort Motel because it reminds her of her long-lost grandmother whose name was Lillian.

Plan in action: Takes the Star cross stone with her to Soaking Springs – little does she know that she’s entering a bit of a twilight zone where all her life’s heartbreaks will collide in a town that time forgot.

Midpoint Turning Point: At Lillian’s, Ally tastes a bread that only she and her long-lost Nanna know how to make… or so she thought. CJ, Ally’s long-lost lover is the grounds keeper at Lillian’s. He spots her, she does not see him. Even if she spotted him, she would not recognize him now… he looks so different after the accident that changed his life.

Act 3:

Rethink Everything: CJ reels with a flood of memories of Ally and we see his side of how things went south with them years ago. And we get a glimpse of the terrible, post break up accident.

New Plan: Ally and CJ have an awkward reunion. They soak, exchange stories about what happened to them after the breakup. Sparks fly. But refuse to talk about what happened years ago.

Ally tracks down the baker in town to find out who is making the bread and learns that her long lost Nanna didn’t disappear after all. And because she no longer saw her Ally, she found a surrogate granddaughter in this Baker. Ally learns her Nanna founded Lillian’s Resort Motel, but she mysteriously left years ago.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Ally and CJ get in a huge fight over their breakup of years ago. Ally leaves Soaking Springs, but not before she finds out Her long-lost Nanna has been in a rest home in Missoula this whole time.

Act 4:

Climax / ultimate expression of the conflict: CJ tracks Ally down in Missoula and offers his heart again. Preoccupied with the rediscovery of her Nanna, And not knowing CJ’s tragic story yet, she waffles.Rebuffed, CJ leaves.

Ally visits her Nanna (Lillian) and finds out that Lillian made up most of the WW2 love stories on which Ally based her unrealistic idea of love. After an all too honest confession from Lillian (she’s losing her emotional filter due to early stages dementia) Ally leaves the mystic stone with Lillian.

Resolution: Realizing that true love is not about fairytales, Ally commits her heart to CJ and they Finally seal the deal with an epic kiss.

Alone in the rest home, Lillian holds the mystic stone as she drifts off to sleep thinking of her long-lost soldier. She dies in her sleep and is reunited with him.

While clearing the room for the next resident, one of the nurses at the home nabs the mystic stone to sell to this shop she knows that buys stuff in Missoula. It returns to the ancient hippy in the antique shop and returns to its case…

waiting for its next opportunity to give STARCROSSED CHANCES.

</div>

[Leona Heraty]

Leona Heraty’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: To be the best family comedy screenwriter in the industry and have my many scripts produced into fabulous movies!

What I learned doing this assignment is…building in the genre conventions early on in the writing process helps make the script much more engaging and hopefully more exciting too.

Title: Tara vs. the Termo-Lytes!

Concept: A cowardly teenage tour guide leads her group in the wrong direction and they end up at an abandoned country club overrun by giant termites.

Genre: Comedy/sci-fi

CONVENTIONS OF COMEDY

PURPOSE: To entertain the audience with a story packed with laughter-inducing moments.

INCONGRUENCE: Some aspect of the journey, world, characters, or perspective is incongruent in a way that causes the audience to laugh. The unconventional pairing of two things, people, or situations in any way that causes laughter.

MECHANICS OF COMEDY: Specific devices are used to induce laughter: Primarily, the Setup / Punchline. Also, devices like toppers, running gags, sight and prop humor. This also includes comedic situations like “Fish out of water,” Incongruent Pairings, Hilarious Purpose, Absurd situation, Misinterpretation, etc..

COMEDIC PROTAGONIST(S): Whether deliberately funny or the ‘straight man’ of the story, the Protagonist triggers countless amusing situations through their incongruent perspectives, choices and reactions to events.

STRONG STORY: Comedy is not enough. You need a story that keeps us engaged throughout the movie.

4-Act Transformation Structure-With Genre Conventions Added

Act 1:

Opening: In a makeshift lab, a figure dressed in bulky raingear leaves the room and brushes against a bottle of green glowing solution labeled EPERIMENTAL BUG SOLUTION. DO NOT USE! It falls onto the floor and the fluid flows towards termites who are eating the base of a cabinet.

Tara is driving with her Google Maps on, giving her directions. Her cell battery goes dead and she’s lost. She pulls over and notices a spider in her car. She screams, tries to shoe it away. Distracted by the bug, she starts driving fast, makes a wrong turn and ends up going the wrong way on a one-way street.

She gets pulled over by a cop and begs him to remove the spider and he does while she jumps over the front seat and hides in the backseat and pulls a blanket over her head and starts munching a box of Cheez-Its.

Inciting Incident: Tara’s Mom and Dad rope her into being a garden tour guide. They give her a large map and point out the route and her guests arrive and a little kid sneers at her.

Turning Point: On the garden tour, Tara takes a wrong turn, they go in the wrong direction. It starts to storm and her map blows out the window. They are lost!

Act 2:

New plan: Tara says she remembers this area as a kid and everyone rolls their eyes. She there’s a short-cut to an abandoned mansion she went to as a kid on Halloween.

Plan in action: Tara drives past the mansion and pulls into a side road and they don’t see a sign that says PRIVATE PROPERTY. GET OUTTA HERE! WE MEAN IT! They arrive at an abandoned country club. The entrance is covered with termites and Tara screams and runs toward a side entrance. She finds an unlocked door that leads to an old locker room that leads to an office that looks like an old laboratory.

Midpoint Turning Point: They hear horrible loud noises outside the office laboratory…they open the door to an empty outdoor lap pool where giant mutant termites see them and start to move towards their hiding place. Tara dives under a desk to hide and starts munching on Cheez-Its. The kid tries to hide with her, she tries to push him out but he squeezes in along with the others.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Tara figures out that the mutant termites must have been concocted by the green solution on the workroom table. If they try to hide, the Termo-Lytes will eat them! They must fight back!

New plan: Tara notices that the Termo-Lytes eat anything but they don’t eat palm fronds. When a palm frond falls on a Termo-Lyte, the mutant shrivels up and melts.

Tara teams up with the bratty kid to climb palm trees and cut off palm fronds but both are afraid of heights and they can’t stand each other. She says they should lure the Termo-Lytes near the empty pool until they fall in and then throw balloons at them filled with rain water and cut up palm fronds.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: The bratty kid is captured by the biggest Termo-Lyte who puts him on a table for their feast, as they prepare to eat them at a dinner!

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Clara reveals she owns the abandoned country club and she created the green fluid to find an eco-friendly way to get rid of the termites, but it made them into giant mutants.

The group gets busy making the water balloon until Clara and the old man are picked up by the Termo-Lytes and put on the table for dinner with the bratty kid. Tara starts pelting the mutants with rocks and makes faces at them and tempts them with Cheez-Its

The Termo-Lytes chase her to the pool. One by one, they fall in, and then Tara pelts them with more balloons, but it’s not enough to stop them. So she climbs a tree above the pool and starts cutting off palm fronts and tree limbs that fall into the pool. It kills all of the Termo-Lytes except for one, that grows up into the top of the tree, where Tara shoves a giant palm frond in its nose and kills it!

Resolution: The storm subsides and they finally get cell service and Tara calls her Mom and Dad to come and pick them up and says there’s no problem, they just took a short detour!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Leona Heraty.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Leona Heraty.

[Caroline Fritz]

[WIM] Caroline’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: I will perfect my process of writing great scripts and be recognized by the industry as good at what I do and have successful movies produced.

What I learned: I learned that by relying on previous lessons, I can really get creative.

Title: Deniable

Concept: An MI6 agent on a visit to the U.S. doesn’t know who to trust when his friend’s wife is kidnapped.

Genre: Action

Action Conventions:

Highly Skilled Hero: MI6 agent who is by-the-book

Mission: Save his American friend’s wife from an arms dealer

Demand for Action: He must save her or she dies!

Antagonist: Arms dealer and also his double-crossing friend

Escalating action: A ransom drop turns into a shootout, the friend disappears, and the hunt for the perpetrator ensues.

Mission Track

Motivation: While on a holiday Callahan Terry, an MI6 agent, and his wife, Bridget, met Aaron Copley and his wife Gabrielle, at a resort in Sardinia and hit it off. The resort was attacked by terrorists and many people died, including Bridget. Aaron and Gabrielle helped Callahan and Aaron was the lead agent for the CIA tracking down and arresting the terrorists. They have been trauma-bonded friends ever since.

Inciting Incident: Callahan visits Aaron and Gabrielle at their home in Virginia; it’s his first ever visit to the U.S. Gabrielle is kidnapped on her way to the supermarket.

First Action: After the ransom call comes in, Callahan shadows Aaron to the drop and Aaron is also kidnapped.

Obstacle: Callahan reaches out to the CIA to help but his offer to help is rejected and he is warned to stay away from the case after being interrogated at risk of being deported.

Escalation: The arms dealer beckons Callahan to his lair in Mexico but he is being followed by the CIA and must lose them.

Overwhelming Odds: Callahan embarks on a desperate cross-country trip to the arms dealer’s lair and sneaks into the heavily fortified fortress in the dark of night with the CIA on his trail.

Twist: During his surveillance, he finds out that Aaron is working with the arms dealer. Gabrielle is nowhere in sight. Callahan worries for her.

New Plan: Callahan works to separate Aaron from the compound.

Full-out attack: Aaron acts as if he is giving up but summons the arms dealer and his men and Callahan is in a fight for his life.

Success: The CIA show up in the middle of the firefight and arrest Aaron. The arms dealer escapes. Callahan finds Gabrielle unharmed.

Act 1

Opening: Callahan is undercover at an event in Bahrain looking for a terrorist. He stops an attack on the members of the House of Khalifa and takes down the terrorist. He is rewarded and urged to take some time off, so he visits Virginia to see his American friends, Aaron and Gabrielle Copley. Aaron is a CIA agent.

Inciting Incident: Gabrielle is kidnapped on her way to the store.

Turning Point: Callahan shadows Aaron to the ransom drop, a firefight ensues and Aaron is captured.

Act 2

New plan: Callahan reports what happened to the CIA.

Plan in Action: Callahan is interrogated and threatened with deportation. The CIA has no idea what is happening.

Midpoint turning point: Callahan hears from the kidnapper, an arms dealer who killed Callahan’s wife at a resort in Sardinia. He tells Callahan its his life for Aaron and Gabrielle.

Act 3

Rethink everything: Callahan is filled with rage but needs to be objective. He formulates a plan.

New plan: He arms himself from Aaron’s gun closet, big, scary weapons, and travels to Mexico to save his friends with the CIA after him.

Turning Point: huge failure/major shift: Callahan finds out that Aaron is on the arms dealer’s side and was paid to deliver him.

Act 4

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Callahan gets into a firefight with the arms dealer’s men. Aaron tries to kill him.

Resolution: Aaron is arrested by the trailing CIA agents. The arms dealer gets away. Callahan rescues Gabrielle who had no idea what was going on.

[Terrie Shaft]

Terrie’s Genre Conventions

I write screenplays that get turned into crowd pleasing successful films using a process that allows me to enjoy my equestrian hobby.

What I learned doing this assignment is that it’s best to honor genre conventions.

Title: You gotta be ex-ing

Genre: Rom-com with thriller elements

Concept: A US Marshall is charged with getting a conspiracy theorist into witness protection, but it’s her ex and his crazy theories are true.

Paige:

Old ways: clinical, remote, avoids interacting with people due to inability to trust
New ways: able to trust and wiling to try again with James/Jason

James/Jason
Old ways: paranoid but gullible, angry, self absorbed
New ways: sees how his beliefs in conspiracy theories has harmed his life, willing to give them up.

ACT 1

Opening: James/Jason talking into a flip-phone, crouched down, hiding. On the other end, also on a flip-phone a US Marshall. They argue about James/Jason being stalked. James/Jason offers a variety of conspiracy theories the Marshall counters all of them. Comedy dialog here to show James/Jason’s paranoia through this exchange. His paranoia includes smart phones, hence the flip phones.

Paige on a lunch date. Her data is cop groupie, into guns. She profiles him, to his face, in as insulting a manner a possible, like he’s got a small penis.

James/Jason escorted into a court house, shots are fired. He’s whisked away to safety. I told you so to the US Marshall.

Paige gets a call at lunch. Answers like it’s the friend who set up her date. But nope it’s her boss. (Embarrassing exchange here) She’s called into work. Of course her date makes a scene.

Turning point: Paige meets James, but he’s really Jason. They dated when she was a police officer. She refuses to protect him. He’s an ex, no way that’s okay.

He insists. Unless she is his protection detail, he won’t testify. If he doesn’t testify, he’ll witness protection and his new fake identify. Then he won’t need it. Back and forth. The case is against domestic terrorists. Paige agrees. James/Jason spouts conspiracy theories every chance he gets. Her boss this nut job’s your boyfriend. EX! maybe you can fix his crazy shit.

ACT 2

New Plan: Paige will be in charge of James/Jason’s protection.

Plan in action: Normal protection assignment. Maybe they move every day – at his insistence, he probably read some book and thinks he knows best. Constant bickering, use a sketch comedy format.

James comes onto her when they are alone. She slugs him – make it funny – raise the stakes physically between them.

Midpoint Turning Point: Their cover gets blown, another attempt on James/Jason. Paige admits his paranoia is reasonable because almost no one knew where they were. They go on the run, just the two of them.

ACT 3

Rethink everything: Paige has to admit his paranoia is reasonable because almost no one knew where they were. Paige realizes someone on the inside must be setting them up

New Plan: just her and James/Jason. Find a place to be safe, cut off from the Marshall service. Leave the current district, go to the district where she first started. As they travel, we get some backstory, how his paranoia almost got her fired – that’s when she left him. Somewhere in here they sleep together.

Paige realizes that some of James’ conspiracy stories are true. She sets information traps to identify who is blowing their cover.

Series of challenges getting to the ‘safe’ location –make these funny. They don’t have a smart phone so they get lost. She won’t stop for directions. Need more.

ACT 4:

The information traps Paige set ups come to fruition.

I need to figure out who it is, what’s the conspiracy, who is setting them up and it’s consistent with one of his conspiracy theories. This person serves the Villian role in the Thriller genre.

Face off: Paige sets up the villain. James tries to escape Paige even though he trusts her he doesn’t trust the people she works for. Paige manages to get him to testify. From the information traps, she’s outed someone in the government whose been helping the domestic terrorists.

Ends: With the traitor in jail so James/Jason gives up witness protection to be with Paige. Some funny epilogue. Him keeping up with his weird behaviors to ensure they are safe – circling the block I’m not sure. Needs to include Paige.

[Micki Hess]

Micki’s Genre Conventions

My vision: Be recognized as a writer that will work with the industry and would do what it takes to be that WRITER.

What I learned from doing this assignment is taking time to think about the story and Conventions of Comedy. By not rushing doing the assignment and looking into each Act, I can see the characters coming more alive.

I am EMPOWERED!

CONVENTIONS OF COMEDY

PURPOSE: To entertain the audience with a story packed with

laughter-inducing moments.

CONGRUENCE: Some aspect of the journey, world, characters, or

perspective is incongruent in a way that causes the audience to laugh. The

unconventional pairing of two things, people, or situations in an way that

causes laughter.

MECHANICS OF COMEDY: Specific devices are used to induce laughter:

Primarily, the Setup / Punchline. Also, devices like toppers, running gags,

sight and prop humor. This also includes comedic situations like “Fish out

of water,” Incongruent Pairings, Hilarious Purpose, Absurd situation,

Misinterpretation, etc..

COMEDIC PROTAGONIST(S): Whether deliberately funny or the ‘straight

man’ of the story, the Protagonist triggers countless amusing situations

through their incongruent perspectives, choices and reactions to events.

STRONG STORY: Comedy is not enough. You need a story that keeps us

engaged throughout the movie.

Title: FIREWORKS

Genre: Comedy

Concept:

Let the fireworks begin; a worn-out family is fed-up with the sisters’ feud; so they plan to lock them up until the feud is over during the holiday.

Act 1: 25 to 30 pages — Set up and see Old Ways.

Opening:

A long road with bends and trees along the side. Turn onto a side road and travel down the windy road. .

A two story home with an attic window sits along the lake. The couple, Dakota and John, get out of the car and head inside the house.

Another car arrives with a man, Doug, a woman, Blake, and two children, Tom and Leah.

A long road with bends and trees along the side. Turn onto a side road and travel down the windy road. .

A two story home with an attic window sits along the lake.

Both sisters arrive at the same time. They see each other and race to the house. Blake fumbles with the door, keeps locking the door.

Dakota goes to the other door and enters the kitchen, where Grandma May cuts up some carrots, with pots on the stove with steam coming out.

Dakota and Blake shuck corn, racing.

Inciting Incident:

Dakota and Blake start arguing. And asks to find a tablecloth in the attic.

Blake sees John at the table. She turns to Dakota and asks how dare her to bring him here.

Dakota dumps the corn on Blake.

Grandma May has enough.

She asks them to go to the attic to find tablecloth

Turning Point:

They get locked in the attic.

They head to the attic. Once they enter it, Grandma May locks them in there. And let them know they would not be getting out until they settle their disagreement.

Act 2: 20 to 30 pages — Challenge the Old Ways.

New plan:

Find the tablecloth and get out of the attic.

Blake sits down on an old sofa, dust rises from it. She wipes her hand.

Dakota looks for the tablecloth. She notices Blake not helping. She grabs a pillow and throws it at Blake. Blake grabs the pillow and starts hitting Dakota with it. Dakota finds a boxing glove and puts it on. She takes a swing at Blake, who ducks and Blake hits Dakota again with the pillow.

Grandma May talks to John about the feud.

Plan in action:

Dakota finds her senior year album and leaves through it. Remembering John and the breakup.

Dakota stops and starts moving boxes around to look for the tablecloth. Came up on a box with her name on it. She opens it up and looks through it.

Blake is on the other side of the attic and goes through boxes and notices Dakota looking at a book.

Dakota came to a picture of her and John as the senior class Prom King and Queen. Notices John’s handwriting, My lovely Queen, Love John.

Midpoint Turning Point:

Blake grabs it and starts ripping it up. Dakota yank the book from her.

Blake tries to grab the high school album. Dakota sits on it. Blake tries to make Dakota stand up to get it. Blake pulls Dakota off the sofa and Dakota hits the floor.

Grandma May and John and the kids look up.

Act 3: 20 to 30 pages — With Midpoint change, Profound moments that give us new ways.

Rethink everything:

Dakota realizes that Blake is not going to let her have happiness.

Dakota gets up off the floor and sees Blake tear the album up.

Dakota grabs the album.

Blake laughs at Dakota. And taunts Dakota about her dead husband.

New plan:

Revealing that she has the right to be happy as anyone else.

Dakota realizes Blake is a heartless sister. Dakota needs to make her happinesses.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift:

Blake reveals that John cheated on Dakota while they were dating.

Dakota doesn’t believe Blake.

Blake finds a letter from John. He tells Blake he loves her, not Dakota.

Blake brags how John cheated on Dakota while they were dating.

Dakota doesn’t believe Blake.

Blake shows a letter from John.

Dakota tears up, as she reads the letter. She looks at the writing and picks up a torn picture. Dakota looks at the handwriting, it looks like John’s.

Dakota falls to the floor, sobbing.

Act 4: 25 pages — Test the change in this character! Prove New Ways!

Climax/Ultimate

expression of the conflict:

Dakota grabs Blake and slaps her. The sisters fight.

Dakota says she is marrying John with or without Blake standing next to her.

Dakota gets up. She picks up the letter.

Grandma May and John look up at the ceiling.

Grandma May sips her coffee.

Dakota tells Blake she is going to marry John, no matter what.

And the letter was from the past and has nothing to do with the future.

And she tells Blake that she is having his baby.

Dakota tells Blake she has forgiven , and for everything, and she is no longer mad at her.

Tells her she wants her younger sister to stand next to her.

Resolution:

Dakota marries John with Blake standing next to her sister as the fireworks explode in the night sky.

Blake holds up the tablecloth and smiles. She wants to end the feud, just doesn’t know how to end it..

Grandma May let the ladies out of the attic. Blake hands the tablecloth to Grandma May.

Blake apologizes.

Dakota and John get married as the fireworks explode in the night sky.

[Andrew Kelm]

Andrew Kelm’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to be a great writer of TV and movies who is sought after by people I respect within the industry and has multiple successful TV series produced.

What I learned doing this assignment is… I thought my project was a thriller but for now, it’s a drama — it is character driven, and I can’t find ways to up the stakes externally enough to make it a thriller… I did a lot of thinking that I think will feed into plot details moving forward and maybe find the key to making it a thriller, but for now it didn’t change.

FATEMONGER; a psychic with a blind spot for abusive men uses subtle manipulations to murder a sexual predator who seduces her to get to her sons.

GENRE: Drama

Act 1:

• Opening: Daphne doing a card reading in her kitchen above her mother’s hair salon. She tells her client that some things are fated and others can be changed… Interaction with mother and sons to establish context… Mother constantly annoyed about how much noise the boys are making.
• Inciting Incident: Roy steps into the salon to avoid someone pursuing him; mother is on him right away — if he is not there for a reason, he needs to leave; he spots a sign advertising Daphne’s readings and arranges to have one; Daphne reads him like a book and sparks fly between them.
• Through the rest of the act, Roy is wooing Daphne and she is coaching him how to channel his manipulation skills toward being a successful salesman.
• Turning Point: fight with mother; Daphne and Roy pack up the kids and leave.

Act 2:

• New plan: Daphne, Roy and the two boys set out to forge a new life
• Plan in action: they go from living in their car to Daphne coaching Roy to success as a car salesman while she turns her card reading into a successful therapy practice.
• Midpoint Turning Point: Roy starts neglecting his job and spending nights away from home; Daphne finds cocaine in his jacket pocket.

Act 3:

• Rethink everything: Daphne realizes their relationship is not going to be perfect, but for the sake of the family they have built, decides not to throw him out.
• New plan: Daphne decides to become more independent, throws herself into improving her skills, takes on Buddhist meditation, Jungian psychology, writing books
• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift — Daphne finds out that Roy has a young gay lover.

Act 4:

• Daphne doubles down and takes her own new lover, determined to remain detached from Roy’s shenanigans, and this works fine until her new lover turns majorly abusive and kinky — holding a gun to her head in the middle of sex – and one of her sons tells her that Roy has been spending a lot of time with the other son alone in his room.
• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Daphne manipulates Roy into confronting her new boyfriend over the abuse, knowing that he has a gun and is a hot head; Roy gets killed and boyfriend is arrested.
• Resolution: Daphne is free of Roy and the other boyfriend, established in a successful career and beyond suspicion.

[Tina Steffan]

Tina’s Genre Conventions

My Vision

My writing enables me to live an exuberantly creative and productive life in prosperity.

I worked witht the horror conventions from the horror class.

TITLE

ARGUS’ EYES

CONCEPT

A teenage girl has her disfigured face reconstructed at a beauty clinic in the Black Forest, only to discover that her new face is just a mask and she is now the livestock for a blind demon who has stolen her eyes for himself.

GENRE

Horror

Act 1:

S1

Opening

All Val wants is to be left alone, but gets attacked by a guard in the ‘troubled youth center’ in Utah, she stays passive, he has a freak accident before he can harm her. —Val is protected by an amulet from her mother

Inciting Incident

Val (on booty juice to calm her) is blamed by the director for the injuries of her guard. Begs him to send her to her grandmother. When he rejects her and humiliates her. he dies of a freak accident.

S2

Turning Point

Val fears she will be blamed for his death and escapes. She decides to search for her estranged grandmother. rob her and punish her because she left Val to grow up in this hell instead of taking her in as a baby after her parents died. Val flies to Germany.

Act 2

S3

New plan

travels to her grandmother who manages a beauty clinic in hte Black Forest. Gets warnings on the way, cursed place.

Finds her family name on a memorial for burned witches in 1600.

S4

Plan in action

Grandmother nicer than expected, warm welcome but with mixed messages.

Val sticks to her plan and tries to find valuables to steal. Finds old stuff from her mother, can’t make sense of it.

The clinic patients and her grandmother are acting weird.

Val uses her mother’s glasses and sees behind the masks – she sees their gauged out eyes.

Midpoint Turning Point

Sees the demon for the first time at group with patients. He feeds on them and leaves. After he’s gone everyone forgets he was ever there. (we know now)

Act 3:

S5

Rethink everything

Before Val can follow her instincts she gest the facial – her eyes gauged out and covered by the mask. With the facial she can’t take a step without being watched.

Val needs a friend – Ayla from her youth facility arrives, invited by her grandmother.

S6

New plan

Ayla gets a facial so Val can follow the demon and find out wher he lives / how they can kill him.

The demon discovers her and feeds on her until she almost dies.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

Her gandmother drinks poison to make the demon feed on her and die with her but it fails.

Grandma dies. Val and Ayla are too weak with their masks sucking out even more energy.

S7

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

Val accesses the blood well where she can lift the spell and rip off her mask. Without it she is blind, both her eyes gauged out. But with her mother’s glasses she can see.

S8

Resolution

The demon feeds on the patients. Val sprays them with blood from the well, thes get free from the masks. With their powers returning together they can force the demon to return their eyes.

[Kelly Joseph]

Kelly’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I want to be an empowered writer who consistently produces salable scripts.

What did I learn? I learned that adding conventions was fairly simple once I knew what to add and where. I think the Thriller conventions were there but I needed to add the horror conventions. A few times I would get stuck on how it would play out with the concept.

Title: Blood Lake

Concept: When a struggling entrepreneur and his wife discover that the tree in their backyard produces money they struggle to spend the money, keep it a secret, and away from a local kingpin and the original owner.

Genre: Thriller/Horror

Concept: A troubled teenager is taken to a boot camp to change her behavior but learns that the camp is run by aliens who create copies of them then kill the teens.

Main Conflict: Quinn battles the aliens.

Old Ways: looks for fights, confrontational, self centered

New Ways: focused, selfless, fighting for a cause

Act 1:

Opening: Quinn parties like a rock star comes home and tells parents off.

Inciting Incident: After attending another party Quinn is kidnapped by maked individuals.

Turning Point: Quinn is stuck at a teenage boot camp for troubled youth and there is no way out.

Act 2:

New plan: Quinn notices that things at the camp don’t seem to add up. The aliens make great food and have engaging reflective activities that seduce the teens.

Plan in action: Quinn tries to warn others but her peers think she’s nuts

Midpoint : Turning Point: Quinn witnesses the alien transforming into one of the teens and killing them. The aliens begin watching Quinn’s every move.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Quinn figures out the alien plan.

New plan: Quinn convinces some of the teens to leave with her. But some of the teens still think Quinn is nuts.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Quinn’s plan works but the aliens learn and strike back by doing a mass transformation slaughter.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Quinn battles the aliens and outsmarts the leader.

Resolution: Quinn returns home a changed teen but no one believes her story.

4 Act Structure with Thriller/Horror Conventions

Act 1:

Opening: A teenager hikes in the woods at night. He reaches a fire pit where he is greeted by a man. Suddenly the man and his team hold down the teen and place a worm on his face that crawls up the teens nose. Blood comes out of his eyes and mouth as the worm destroys the insides.

.Inciting Incident: After attending another party Quinn is kidnapped by masked individuals.

Turning Point: Quinn tries to escape the camp but she ends up where she started.

Act 2:

New plan: Quinn notices that things at the camp don’t seem to add up. A teen disappears one night and comes back totally different. The aliens make great food and have engaging reflective activities that seduce the teens.

Plan in action: Quinn tries to warn others but her peers think she’s nuts Another teen goes missing and comes back totally changed.

Midpoint : Turning Point: Quinn witnesses the alien transforming into one of the teens and killing them. The aliens begin watching Quinn’s every move.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Quinn figures out the alien plan.

New plan: Quinn convinces some of the teens to leave with her. But some of the teens still think Quinn is nuts. Aliens decide to move up their timeline and kill more teens.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Quinn’s plan works but the aliens learn and strike back by doing a mass transformation slaughter.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Quinn battles the aliens and outsmarts the leader.

Resolution: Quinn returns home a changed teen but no one believes her story.

[CJ Knapp]

CJ’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I am a confident and empowered writer who embraces challenges and changes and writes highly sought-after projects with fresh and exciting ideas. I will be produced and hired to write projects that get produced.

WIL: Really liked the focus to really dig in on the conventions and really think through ways to improve the story – already feel like this is 100% better than what I had first imagined – can’t wait to see how this plays out!

Title: MEMORY HUNTERS

Concept:

In a future with technology to retrieve memories, a Memory Retrevalist, caught in the mind of a psychopath struggles to find a way out before he destroys her mind and kills her.

ASSIGNMENT

Give us the following:

Concept – In a future with technology to retrieve memories, a Memory Retrevalist, caught in the mind of a psychopath struggles to find a way out before he destroys her mind and kills her.

Theme: Our past doesn’t define us – we are bigger than our past… (working on this to finalize and build throughout the story)

Main Conflict – Mya discovers someone is accessing the minds of criminals illegally and is set up to silence her.<div>

New Version:A memory hunter struggles to find a way out of a psychopath’s mind when she uncovers someone is accessing the minds of criminals illegally.

Mya Ortega

Old Ways: NaïveSelf-centeredAfraidPractices avoidanceDidn’t understand the true value of what they could do</div><div>

New Ways:ConfidentCollaborativeCourageousBelieves in what she is doingUnderstands what happened to her

Conventions for Psychological Thriller:

Purpose: A memory hunter struggles to find a way out of a psychopath’s mind when she uncovers someone is accessing the minds of criminals illegally. If no deal is reached – the mind in bent… destroyed as they ruthlessly find the memory of where the money is located… this could be my solution for the CEO to reveal all her activities…</div>

<div>

Life and Death Situations: Mya finds herself in the mind of killer who likes to torture his victims. The CEO wants her dead before she reveals their secret arrangements with criminals to hide assets and she’s making millions on the side.

Mystery who is making illegal entries into the memory hunting machine?

IntrigueWhy are they doing it and why is she in the mind of the killer?

SuspenseCan she survive and escape the mind and find out who is behind it?

Hero – is unknowing and unwitting but she is resourceful

Villain – The CEO and sidekick – Mya’s memory hunting partner are scamming millions from the criminals

Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.

Act 1:

Opening – Mya has a nightmare – she’s looking for a way out, to run, to hide, as she is chased by her abductors. </div>

Mya in conflict with her sister over her migraines from the brain tumor / memories from her past of her abduction and narrow escape from a child molester. – (Considering this being the same psycho she must deal with later which allows her closure)

We learn the 3 rules of memory hunters

Mya’s doctor wants to do more tests – anomalies in her brain tests

<div></div><div>

Inciting Incident – Mya’s partner is on the phone and hides his conversation. (He’s collaborating with the CEO which is hidden until the end)

Mya meets her first “customer” an elderly woman and Mya finds out her son is abusing her.

Turning Point – Mya tells her boss she’s found some anomalies in the logs – he ignores her. His boss – CEO – is in the office.

The CEO says she will take care of the logs and will give it to a “benched” hunter – who she tells to bury it.

Act 2:

New plan –Mya continues to research the system anomalies – tries to file a complaint – using corporate process – she finds her files were deleted and she’s locked out of the system.</div><div>

Plan in action – Mya is scheduled to enter the mind of an embezzler to get the location of the stolen money.

Her friend / partner / teammate – Comes out of the mind of a psychopath and he is wrecked emotionally and must go home.

He makes a call on the way home, and he appears to be in control not wrecked after all.

Midpoint Turning Point – Mya is inserted into the psychopath’s mind, but she thinks it is the embezzler so she’s unprepared.

Act 3:

Rethink everything – Mya realizes she’s in the psychopath’s mind. And it brings back her own bad memories of her own. </div><div>

New plan – The psychopath was expecting her – knows all about her and her previous escape – she goes for the escape hatch

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – The escape hatch is locked, and no one knows she’s in the wrong mind.

Tortured with her own memories and those of the psycho’s victims Mya crumbles.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Her partner watches his watch and eventually “realizes” what’s happened – builds a “key” – but Mya must throw it away as the psychopath is on her heels.</div>

Her partner, frustrated about her throwing away the “key” – The psychopath was after the Key not Mya – now he turns on Mya.

Mya learns that the psycho was promised a way out and a new “body” to inhabit with his mind if he breaks her – now he wants to kill her

Resolution – Mya uses her memories, her pain and the memories and the pain of the other victims in the psychopath’s mind to break the psychopath’s mind and escape.In breaking the psycho’s mind –

Mya uncovers who is making deals with the criminals and who set her up – the CEO. – she confides in her partner only to find he was in on it all along.

They fight and struggle in the control room – he trips lands in the chair – she straps him in and sends him into the angry psycho’s mind

Mya’s boss is a red herring – it was the CEO … rips her mind apart to get the evidence Mya needs to break the CEO (<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>will keep brainstorming something unique).

Mya confronts the son who is abusing his mother in the beginning and gets her justice from his abuse.

[Jaelle Dragomir]

Jaelle’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: I’m an award-winning screenwriter that is sought after by people in the industry, who creates scripts that change lives to bring a new vision to the world, and I’m richly rewarded.

What I learned: conventions help move the story along but my original concept has changed and I now see it, not as a high-concept, but rather, a television series. The concept is morphing as I dig deep into the research of Madame Blavatsky. Perhaps I should take another of my concepts; a different concept from Module 1.

Title: Madame Blavatsky’s Perfect Human: (An Unfortunate Misunderstanding)

Concept: Madam Blavatsky, a brilliant Theosophist, tries to recreate the perfect human to save humanity, but the perfect human creates an even bigger problem.

Genre: Drama

Act 1:

Opening: The world as it is; human destruction of planet.
MB studies large volumes of ancient texts and confers with other Theosophists, Annie Bessant and Leadbetter. Flashbacks to her birth; a fire she is born into, her psychic abilities as a child. She searches for the alchemy that will save humanity from total annihilation.
Inciting Incident: Turning Point: The “masters” that she evokes through her psychic abilities instruct her to fulfill her destiny to save all of humanity.

Act 2:

New plan: Get media attention. Search for the symbolic philosopher’s stone, that transmutes the lead of human nature into the kingly gold of divine nature. Flashback to the ship she was on that sank.
Plan in action: She travels a world-wandering trail. She meets an Indian prince: a mysterious Hindu, and is told that she will find the philosopher’s stone, but not for another 30 or so years.
Midpoint Turning Point: contemplates suicide, but is saved by her Guardian.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: She goes to India, the land of her destiny.

New plan: Start the Theosophist Society
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift; The world is in a greater mess than it was before. All is lost. Humanity will end.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Start the Theosophist Society Resolution:
Resolution: A new society has greater knowledge. MB dies.

[Sandra Nelles]

Sandra’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I am doing what I love to do as a writer with several successful produced movies.

What I learned doing this assignment is a great way to make sure the genre conventions are incorporated into the script structure in a powerful way.

Title: Smugglers Journey

Concept: The adventures of a young sea captain lured into the dangerous, terrifying world of crude oil smuggling, where he faces a firing squad if captured.

Genre: Drama

Main Conflict: To smuggle or not to smuggle. Either way he faces death.

Conventions of Drama:

Purpose: Emotional and Interpersonal High Stakes

Character-Driven Journey

High Stakes Come from Within

Emotionally Resonates

Challenging, Emotionally-Charged Situations

Real-Life Situations

External Journey: From a struggling new sea captain to running a top smuggling operation.

Internal Journey: From timid and afraid to confident and fearless.

*Changes in bold type.

Act 1

Open with Drama: Military jeep with four officers, speeds down a dirt road to a small remote house. They jump out with machine guns ready. Inside, television blares showing a football game. Sloane mixes a highball in the kitchen and moves to a chair in the living room. Officer bangs on the door. Sloane carefully peaks out behind the curtain.

Inciting Incident: Sloane discovers his ship crew is smuggling oil.

Turning Point: Sloane is badly beaten up when he threatens to report the smuggling to the authorities.

Act 2

New Plan: Sloane tries to ignore the smuggling. Then asks to transfer to another ship, however this crew is even more corrupt.

Plan in Action: Sloane requests to meet with Mr. Big, a money changer, who is secretly behind the smuggling operations. Sloane proposes a deal for the two of them to work together.

Midpoint Turning Point: Military raids begin on Sloane’s house. The house boy steals the money and is caught by the military police.

Act 3

Rethink Everything: Sloane leaves the ship and smuggling. He tries several legitimate jobs that all fail.

New Plan: Mr. Big convinces Sloane to come back. Sloane moves the operation to another location and they try smuggling whiskey. Sloane hires a friend to help, who is hurt and then dies.

Turning Point: Huge Failure/ Major Shift: The military police are aware of the new illegal operation. Sloane starts having health problems. Mr. Big sees the only way out is to sink the ship. The insurance company investigates the sunken ship and delays reimbursement.

Act 4

Climax/Ultimate Expression of the Conflict: Sloane gives up his life of crime and hides out in a residential alcohol and drug treatment program, not knowing it’s just what he needed.

Resolution: Clean and sober, Sloane meets a wonderful woman on a spiritual singles website and they fall in love. Sloane becomes a counselor and works in a prison helping inmates.

[Amechi Ngwe]

Amechi’s Genre Conventions
MY VISION


I am going to be in the top 1% of action/comedy writers in the industry who writes major action films.
What I learned doing this assignment is to make sure the genre conventions are fulfilled without adding too many story details that could distract. It doesn’t have to be perfect now.
TITLE: SUPER FAN
CONCEPT: An obsessed fan of a Superhero works his way into the superhero’s life and clashes with the superhero’s sidekick.
GENRE: ACTION/DARK COMEDY

3. Make a list of the conventions for your chosen genre, like this:
ACTION
• Purpose: Adrenaline-stirring / fast paced — Taking on a criminal gang that is causing chaos in the city, who are actually linked to the billionaire Mayor who is supposed to be fighting them.
• Demand for Action: To become a superhero’s sidekick, must learn to defend himself.
• Mission: To become the superhero’s sidekick.
• Escalating Action: From being a helpless victim who runs away, to sparring with Rhapsody and Butler, to defending himself against goons, to fighting Rhapsody to the death.
• Hero: A talker, able to get into the heads of the people fighting him with words that make them make mistakes.
• Antagonist: Rhapsody is desperate to keep her position and willing to do whatever it takes to defeat anyone who threatens that, including murder.

COMEDY
– Purpose: To entertain with laughter-inducing moments — The Mayor controls the cops and the criminals.
– Incongruence: What causes laughs: Rhapsody and someone who wants her job competing for it and trying to win the Superhero’s favor. Rhapsody’s jealously. Kanaan trying to solve crime in strange and unconventional ways. Normal Superhero things not working out as they should.
– Mechanics of Comedy (Set up/Punchline, toppers, running gags, sight and prop humor) — Kanaan trying to defend himself. Kanaan running away. Kanaan making jokes about the people chasing him and coming after him. Kanaan joking about superheroes. Kanaan inspiring family members, and others to take bad risks that get them hurt or in trouble.
– Comedic Protagonist: Funny or straight man, what triggers situations and events — Kanaan is more of a straight man and the other characters bring the absurdity that he points out.
– Strong Story: What keeps us engaged — Kanaan wants to prove he’s good enough to be a superhero’s sidekick, by slowly replacing and then eliminating the superhero’s current sidekick.

4. Brainstorm ways to deliver the conventions more effectively and build those parts into your 4-Act Structure.
5. List your structure from Lesson 6 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions, like I did above.
Act 1:
• Opening – Rhapsody walks a dark street at night and is attacked by gang members, but beats them up. She enters an apartment and it is filled with items related to the Superhero Blackout. Kanaan lives in a rough part of the city by choice and his father tells him that he is not making a difference. His family lives in the suburbs but his choice is to live where it’s more dangerous, precisely because it’s where Blackout protects. On his walk home, he is forced to run from a criminal gang.
• Inciting Incident – Blackout is injured saving Kanaan by a new type of armor piercing weapon that a criminal is carrying, and Kanaan saves his life, before Rhapsody has to intervene and save Kanaan.
• Turning Point – Kanaan sees that Blackout is walking into a trap where he will be shot and killed, so goes in first and steals the weapon to protect Blackout but is injured himself in the process. Kanaan has earned Blackout’s trust by helping out and Blackout allows Kanaan to see his hideout and help him get patched up, despite Rhapsody’s protests.
Act 2:
• New plan – Kanaan works with Blackout to see if the city’s billionaire Mayor is involved with developing the weapon that can hurt Blackout.
• Plan in action – Kanaan goes back to work with the Mayor and learns that the Mayor’s security officer has a grudge against Blackout. Kanaan learns self-defense from Rhapsody and Blackout. Kanaan builds a friendship with Blackout and Blackout’s Mentor/Butler starts training Kanaan. Kanaan learns from Blackout’s mentor/butler how to take care of Blackout’s needs. Rhapsody follows Kanaan home and ends up at Kanaan’s family home. Kanaan pretends that he and Rhapsody are dating and they have dinner with his family, who tease him about wanting to save the world. Rhapsody spars with Kanaan and embarrasses him in front of Blackout to show that he shouldn’t be coming to fight crime with them.
• Midpoint Turning Point – Kanaan goes out with Blackout’s mentor and starts a fight with one of the men who attacked him earlier and Blackout’s Mentor/butler is killed. It appears random but Kanaan convinces Blackout that the Mayor had something to do with it. Rhapsody is furious but can’t stop Kanaan taking over the mentor/butler’s duties. Rhapsody threatens Kanaan and tells him that she’s looking into his past and will find something incriminating soon.
Act 3:
• Rethink everything – Kanaan tries to keep his past secret from Rhapsody. Kanaan helps Blackout deal with losing his mentor/butler. Rhapsody wants revenge while Kanaan preaches justice to Blackout who sides against Rhapsody. Kanaan wants to help them go out and fight crime but Rhapsody vetoes it and shows Kanaan is not ready and is just a liability in a fight. Kanaan helps investigate the Mayor in secret anyway, getting a job with him and working to uncover his secret weapons business.
• New plan – Kanaan reminds Rhapsody that she’s just one in a series of sidekicks that Blackout has had. Rhapsody stalks Kanaan’s family to find out about him. Kanaan steals evidence from the Billionaire and gets Blackout to protect him when the Mayor’s goons come after him. Rhapsody makes Blackout get rid of Kanaan for going against their plan, even though it technically worked and saved them time. Rhapsody returns to Kanaan’s parents house alone and learns that they think Kanaan pushes people to taking risks which get them hurt. Rhapsody learns Kanaan’s apartment address. Kanaan lures Rhapsody into his hidden apartment, which is filled with Blackout related items. It’s the apartment from the opening, and Kanaan’s an obsessed fan. And the place is rigged with explosives. Kanaan, outside, blows the apartment up while Rhapsody is inside.
• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Kanaan tells Blackout that the Mayor must have killed Rhapsody. Blackout goes after the Mayor to get revenge. Kanaan begins choosing his alter ego for crime fighting alongside Blackout and picks a full costume to be Blackout’s new sidekick but learns that Rhapsody is still alive and coming after him.
Act 4:
• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Blackout fights through the Mayor’s bodyguards and takes the Mayor prisoner. Rhapsody finds Kanaan at Blackout’s hideout and tries to kill him. Kanaan has set up Rhapsody to look evil in front of Blackout who intervenes and fights on Kanaan’s side. Rhapsody is beaten and falls into the river, seemingly dead.
• Resolution – Kanaan is now Blackout’s sidekick and helper. Rhapsody has survived, but joins the criminals to cause chaos in the city as revenge against Blackout and Kanaan who are now a crime fighting team. Kanaan meets with his family and says he is making a difference now. A criminal gang is harassing a woman. Kanaan, in his superhero costume steps in to save her.

[Robert Smith]

BOB SMITH’s GENRE CONVENTIONS

My vision for success after this program:

I want to become a great writer who delivers entertaining, informative, and uplifting movie scripts that sell and get produced.

What I learned from doing this assignment is…?

That the 4-Act Structure + genre conventions = the frame of the story.

TITLE: “Angels in Gangland.”

GENRE: Gangster Comedy (or “Dramedy.”).

Gangster films are a sub-genre of crime drama. A fyur

Conventions of Comedy:

Purpose: To entertain the audience with a story packed with laughter-inducing moments.

1. Incongruence: Some aspecgt of the journey, world, characters, or perspective is incongruent in a way that causes the audience to laugh. The unconventional pairing of two things, people, or situations in a way that causes laughter.

2. Mechanics of Comedy: Specific devices are used to induce laughter: Primarily in the Setup ? Punchline. Also, devices like topers, running gags, sight and prop humor. This also includes comedic situations like “Fish out of water,” incongruent pairings, Hilarious purpose, Absurd situation, Misinterpretation, etc.

3. Comedic Protagonist(s): Whether deliberately funny or the ‘straight man’ of the story, the protagonist triggers countless amusing situations through their incongruent perspectives, choices and reactions to events.

4. Strong Story: Comedy is not enough. You need a story that keeps us engaged throughout thee movie.

As I am writing in the sub-genre of Gangster Comedy, I looked up conventions of Gangster Comedy and noted these conventions:

1. Trivializing otherwise serious events.

2. Illegal and deviant behaviors and activities.

3. Witty quips.

4. Having tough guys act and talk like ordinary people.

CONCEPT: A slain Cosa Nostra mobster (Lou Tasca) cannot get into the World to Come because of his life of crime. His only hope to redeem himself is to do an act of nearly impossible supreme good, namely, persuade the wiseguy who killed him (Carlo Vizzini) to quit the mob, trash his oath of silence about mob activity, surrender to the FBI. and enter the Witness Protection Program.

Four Act Tranformational Structure

ACT 1 1-30 Pages

Opening The killing of Gangster Lou Tasca by friend Carlo Vizzini after

leaving the .Tony’s Playhouse Gentlemens Club owned by mob capo, Tony Rizzo.

Inciting incident Lou can’t get into the World to Come because of his life of crime

But his spirit guide Rabbi Solomon (a Rabbi that Lou had known in life) gives him a mission to wipe his slate clean: Persuade his killer to quit the mob and join the FBI Witness Protection Program. A collateral good: Do the same for Sam, Rabbi Solomon’s son, who is also a friend and associate of their crime family. Incongruently, a mobster and a Rabbi are paired.

Witty quips: At frst, Lou protests that he did a lot of good that should get him into heaven.

Lou: I did lotsa good for lotsa people. I donated turkeys to a Homeless Shelter for Thanksgiving and I helped a neighbor with the rent.

Sol: But you stole the turkeys from a truck that you hijacked and you made the Landlord an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Turning Point: In the meeting with the Rabbi: Lou’s old ways are his gangster culture: he wants revenge on Carlo not his redemption although that is Lou’s only ticket to the world to come. He also think’s it is “Mission hopeless” to try and persuade a wiseguy to turn rat. Yet, he is moved to undertake this mission under Rabbi Sol’s guidance that nothing is hopeless.

Reveal 1: Lou realizes that he could have left the mob and stayed with the woman he loved: Marybeth Saviano who left Lou because he wouldn’t quit the mob. Through Solomon he meets the never-incarnate soul of Gino, who would have been born if he had left the mob and married Marybeth.

Reveal 2: It was Sam, Carlo and Lou’s boss Tony Rizzo who ordered Carlo to kill Lou, under the false allegation that Lou was telling family secrets to members of other families, whereas the real reason Tony ordered Carlo to kill Lou was that Tony owed Lou $200K in gambling debts that he didn’t want to pay him, so, he cancelled his debt by cancelling Lou.

NOTE: These factors incentivize Lou to undertake his mission to persuade Carlo to quit the mob and join Witness Protection.

ACT 2: 10-30 pages.

New Plan: Too enthusiastically, and against Solomon’s counsel, Lou appears to Carlo and makes Carlo look insane to their boss Tony Rizzo who already (rightly) suspects Carlo and Sam of selling drugs and now sees Carlo talking to Lou (invisible to all but Carlo). Tony believes both Carlo and Lou should be executed. (Tony gave Carlo the order to kill Lou in Act 1.)

Turning Point: Lou sees he made a mistake appearing to Carlo and put Carlo’s life and Lou’s own mission in jeopardy. So, Lou a new way of approaching his mission, namely, following Solomon’s guidance. And think in terms of Carlo’s well-being. and says he will follow Solomon’s gujidance.

ACT 3: 20-30 pages

Rethinking everything: After Tony asks Russian crime boss Oleg Oransky to have his

ex-KGB goons to spy on Carlo and Sam to confirm they dealing

drugs – a step toward killing them, which accelerates the time Lou has to persuade Carlo, and by extension, Sam to go into

Witness Protection, An added complication, Sherrie (Carlo’s fiancé) calls in a spirit medium to release Carlo from Lou’s spirit.

Rabbi Solomon now trains Lou in spirit possession of Carlo to chase the medium out of the situation so that their mission for Carlo and Sam may proceed unhindered.

A. Multiple Insights: Lou realizes he must have good will with Carlo, and be an affirming spirit not a demon (a dybbuk.) In other words,

B. Lou more than ever sees that the Old Ways of revenge don’t work.

C. Lou and Solomon must up their game and get to Tony before Tony gets to Carlo and Sam and kills them.

Turning Point 3: All is lost, because Tony is expected to kill Carlo and Sam.

Funny situation: Sherrie (Carlo’s fiancé and a stripper at Tony Rizzo’s Playhouse Gentlemens Club asks her fellow poledance partner, Zoey the Psychic Stripper to do a séance in order to get Lou’s ghost out of the apartment. Zoey is Tony’s Gumar (mistress).

Funny situation: The mystical Rabbi Solomon teams up with Lou to do a spirit possession in order to drive Zoey out of the way of their salvific mission for Carlo’s soul and life.

ACT 4: 25 pp.

All is lost (cont’d) Tony gets support from Oleg. It appears that Tony is

ready to kill Sam and Carlo.

Oleg the Russian crime boss plays a wiretap tap recording which catches the

Boss of the whole Giordano Family (Franco Giordano) saying that Tony is a scumbag lush and a gambler and he’s gonna have him whacked. Tony is not dissuaded from killing Carlo and Sam and thanks Oleg for letting him hear the recording because now, he (Tony) says he will make up a family of his own.

CLIMAX: Oleg however turns out to be an FBI informant and warns his

case officers that Carlo and Sam’s lives are in danger.

This creates the situation in which Oleg, Sam, Carlo, Sherrie are persuaded

to surrender to the FBI and even Tony is persuaded.

RESOLUTION: Lou and Solomon celebrate that not only Carlo and Sam but with all the other ‘hoods turned informers’ they had a jackpot of souls. Lou calls it “it jackpot of souls.” Lou gets his entrance into the world to come (acted out as getting a Metrocard to use to get home, to the Bronx. Although, he alludes to he and Solomon doing this kind of mission again. They’ll be a team called The Better Angels.” The incongruous team of mobster and Rabbi can continue in a sequel.

.

[Jack Purdie]

Jack P’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: I will do whatever it takes to write a script that is recognized by the industry and leads to multiple successful movies.

WHAT I LEARNED: Applying the genre conventions added a surprising comedic dimension to the structure of my story.

TITLE: WAITING ON A FRIEND

CONCEPT: A young lesbian and old man fall in love and discover they have shared multiple lifetimes as soulmates.

GENRE: ROM-COM

GENRE CONVENTIONS:

· PURPOSE: To have the audience experience falling in love again.

· JOURNEY OF LOVE: Two people who are complete opposites meet and go on a lark, then have a drunken falling out, then reconcile, then endure a long-distance romance, then move in together, and find they are incompatible, then go on a road trip, then have a nasty break-up, then reunite as friends and lovers.

· RELATIONSHIP SET-UP: Two people who couldn’t be more different meet, fall in love, stumble over their myriad differences, then finally come back together in their mutual awareness as soulmates.

· ISSUES: Jay must come to terms with his macho/insecure/agnostic demons that are overcome by his growing spiritual awareness and love for Lina; Lina must overcome her tough-girl insecurities by confronting her abusive past and destructive lifestyle and opening her heart to the possibility of true love and reincarnation.

· SEPARATION: Lifestyle, insecurities, and language coupled with a 7,000 mile long-distance relationship.

· COMEDY: Humor in language misunderstandings, cultural differences, sexual friction, relationships with multiple related souls converging on Jay and Lina’s current life. Ex: Jay’s mom comes back as Lina’s daughter Sophia; Jay’s dad comes back as Lina’s nephew Esteban.

STRUCTURE

ACT 1

OPENING: Jay meets Lina on vacation at a café. Lina is attacked by a drunken customer and Jay saves the day.

INCITING INCIDENT: Jay and Lina go on a road trip, a fling for both that (ends with a near hook-up with another girl, stumbling home drunk with Jay carrying Lina, and a drunken quarrel). It appears to be over before it even began.

TURNING POINT: Jay goes off by himself, is struck by lightning during an electrical storm, and discovers in a NDE he and Lina are soulmates with multiple past lives together. Jay meets with Lina and tells her his revelations. She calls him a fool and they part ways.

ACT 2

REACTION: Jay returns home (US) and is haunted by dreams of past lives with Lina and others. Lina is kicked out of her parents’ house in CAC. She contacts Jay and he agrees to help her find her own place in the city.

NEW PLAN: Even though Lina doesn’t believe they are soulmates, she accepts his help and they begin a long-distance relationship.

PLAN IN ACTION: Jay researches reincarnation, begins to believe he has {multiple soulmates in this lifetime including Sophie (Jay’s past mom) and Estaban, (Jay’s past dad)}, and realizes he is in love with Lina. She is grateful for his help, says she loves him too and they begin planning a life together when he returns.

MIDPOINT TURNING POINT: Jay returns to Lina and they are madly in love. They share the tiny apartment in the slums of CAC and become a (naïve but blissful couple.)

ACT 3

RETHINK EVERYTHING: At first all is well. Then they slowly revert to their old selves: Old Jay is controlling, insecure, teetotaler, non-smoker, homophobe. He is having money problems and tells her she needs to get a job. Lina is an alcoholic, smoker, spends most of her free time texting or talking in Spanish on the phone. She is trying this domestic thing with a man, but it’s not really her. (Ruined meals, bleaching his laundry) She misses her old life and girlfriends. She comes come drunk very late one night and they have a big fight.

NEW PLAN: Jay confronts her about her lifestyle and says she has to change. Lina tells him she’s not really attracted to him and she is going to do whatever she wants. She gets drunk and passes out in the bathroom. She packs her bag and leaves after a quicky. Jay leaves the apartment and starts to make his exit plans from this miserable failure.

TURNING POINT/HUGE FAILURE/MAJOR SHIFT: They reconcile again and go on another road trip to celebrate her birthday. It is a roller coaster ride – (comical UBER eats, stoned in the taxi cab, to crazy birthday party on the beach) – ending with her rejecting his advances one last time. He explodes and belittles her, then refuses to talk for the remainder of the trip. He leaves for home after an emotional farewell.

ACT 4

CLIMAX/ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF THE CONFLICT: THREE MONTHS LATER. Jay writes to Lina apologizing for his actions. He reiterates his love for her and everything he has learned makes it clear they are soulmates and should keep trying. He returns to CAC and they have dinner. She thanks him for everything he has done for her but she has moved on, she doesn’t feel anything for him, there is no such thing as soulmates.

RESOLUTION: ONE YEAR LATER. Jay returns to CAC and meets Lina’s girlfriend. Lina admits to realizing there is something unique, they may be soulmates, but too much has happened to go back to being a couple. They agree to be “friends for life.” (They end up as a threesome happy ever after.)

[Jane Turville]

Jane’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: I will make my living as a screenwriter by selling my own narrative scripts and successfully fulfilling writing assignments.

By doing this assignment I began to sort out some of the complexities of doing a parody of a much loved genre. My plan is to create the murder mystery thriller and then go back over it to wash it with parody and humor. Have no idea if that’s a good plan or not, but there it is. This assignment was helpful in getting me to start thinking about serious situations that can be twisted to be funny without stopping the actual story or interfering with the puzzle, which is the heart of all tea cozy mysteries. A very fun task indeed!

Title: Not a Clue!

Concept: In this parody on tea cozy murder mysteries, a Poirot-like character and a Miss Marple-like character compete to prove which of them is the greatest detective only to discover that a murder has happened and that one of them is the next victim.

Genre: Parody of a Tea-Cozy Murder Mystery

Conventions for a Tea-Cozy Murder Mystery (Thriller):

– Plot Twists

– Danger

– Suspense builds

– Hero – everyday person with extra abilities to follow the clues; abilities tested to the max.

– Villain – everyday person with devious and hidden motivations

– Idyllic settings hide awful truths; nothing is what it seems

– Red herrings

– Everyone has a motive; likable people with dark secrets

Conventions for a Comedy (Parody):

– Unconventional pairings of characters

– Incongruent

– Situation is funny

– Absurd situation

– Misinterpretation

– Protagonists trigger amusing situations through their perspectives, choices and reactions.

(Lesson 6 Changes in Bold)

Act 1:

Opening – June Marvel, convalescing after hip surgery at Shady Acres Nursing Center, discovers that the blow hard detective Percival Heriot is moving in for a month to attempt lifestyle changes for a heart condition. She considers him a blowhard. He thinks of her as a groupie, just trying to get his attention. They do not get along.

Inciting Incident – Tired of Percival’s bragging, June challenges him to a competition. Each must commit a small crime – no one gets hurt and no property is damaged – and the other one must solve it in a weekend. Self-assured, Percival takes the challenge and the competition commences. The staff and rest of the residents place bets and encourage their particular champion. It’s a Billy Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs battle of the sexes!!

Turning Point – Shady Acres physical therapist is found dead. The circumstances point to June and Percival’s competition.

Act 2:

New plan – Each detective believes the other to be responsible for the death and set out to prove that the other’s plan went terribly wrong.

Plan in action – Ignoring what could be important clues, the suspicious behaviors of some of the residents and the shifty dealings of the staff, each detective focuses on the other, determined that they are responsible for the PT’s death.

Midpoint Turning Point – An attempt on Percival’s life that also nearly kills June convinces both that there truly is a murderer at large.

Act 3:

Rethink everything – The detectives must work together to solve they mystery before the murderer can strike again, and kill one or both of them. They go back over all of the clues they have ignored. Which are red herrings? Which aren’t?

New plan – They plan a set up where June will pretend to be dead which will allow Percival to flush out the murderer.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – The murderer knows that June is pretending and takes advantage of the situation to kill her. They’ve followed the wrong clue!! Or have they?

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Believing June is dead, Percival uses her methods of observing human behavior to expose the killer. The very cagey killer turns the tables on Percival and is about to kill him when, June, who is very much alive, stops the killer in their tracks.

Resolution – Over tea, the two sleuths tell the others why and how the murder happened. Residents sigh with relief because, not only has the killer been caught, but their own secrets seem to be safe. June and Percival leave the nursing center at the same time, parting ways as comrades in arms and, maybe, just maybe, friends.

[Joseph McGloin]

Vision: I am a talented, highly regarded, efficient, relaxed, happy, WGA screenwriter

What I learned from doing this assignment is I still need to learn more about the genre’s conventions as they are not simple. This is still more fun than I have had for a while screenwriting because I get to explore love in all its facets, not just romance. Lucky me.

Title: Will This Angel?

Concept: A future female president has a guardian angel who abandons his mission when he falls in love with her.

Genre: Romcom

Examples for Romcom:

· Purpose: experience falling in love again

· The Journey of Love

· Relationship set-up

· Issues

· Separation

· Comedy

Original:

Act 1:

Opening: In Heaven, Max is shown potential guardian
angel assignments including one for Jane.Presdon. He is not interested as
Jane is too independent to respond to his “adjusting” (interfering in) her
life circumstances so she can fulfill her destiny. Not his specialty.
Inciting Incident: Max is assigned to Jane as a good
match for both. He rebels. She feels his dismay without knowing its
source. His superior Clarence – who glares at the mention of the “other”
one – is sure this potentially difficult assignment should be given to a
more senior angel.

Turning Point: As a quite grumpy Max watches scenes
from her life to date, he is moved by her present situation to the point
that he feels only he can “guide” her next steps for her own good.

Act 2:

New plan: Max accepts the role on a temporary basis,
until she is clear of the impending danger. Jane is instrumental in
passing sweeping gun advocacy bills that in theory are about citizen
safety.
Plan in action: Jane resourcefully counters every
attempt of Max’s to keep her from connecting with a scumbag politician. He is
frustrated but not defeated, and frankly in awe of her take-charge
approach to situations.
Midpoint Turning Point: Clarence appears to Max to
tell him that he must change into a human body as his micro-managing and
pushy approach need to be tempered. It simply has too great an impact on
Jane’s life. Clarence must return right away. There is a growing concern
for the future of humanity that the higher-ups are debating. Jane is catapulted into the national
limelight when her boss is arrested for vote tampering.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Max as a human unknown to Jane
has to get close to her. He interviews as a political aide. Jane deals with
the cut-throat realities of national politics in surprisingly humane and
non-political ways. Max’s role is made easier when Jane’s political
advisor has a sudden health crisis and she appoints Max in his place
before he leaves the interview room.
New plan: Help Jane while not trying to hover over
her or he will be extracted. Clarence will be watching him closely. Jane
realizes she needs warm human contact to balance the downright inhuman
politicians she is now forced to deal with.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Max
realizes he is in love with Jane, and feels his love causes him to lose
his objectivity so he cannot remain in his “role.” A manufactured scandal
ruins her presidential candidate boss’s reputation just before the
election. Max resigns from his position as aide.

Act 4:

Final Plan: Heaven. Clarence agrees that angels and
humans live in different realms. Max
should return to Heaven so a new guardian angel can be assigned to Jane. There
remains a great deal of concern for humanity itself, and its survival in
these trouble times. It’s difficult to see how humanity can survive. But
Jane seems to be a key figure.

Back on earth, Jane fights back against the false scandal and turns the tables on her boss’s foes and as a result she, the boss, is now a shoe-in for President.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Max lets
go of all of his desires to shape her future so she is free to explore her
life as Presidential aide – that is what love does. Her boss decides to
leave politics to be with her family due to the impact the scandal had.
She suggests Jane as the candidate. The power mongers in her party agree. Jane has one demand: independence from
all outside forces except the love of her life – Max. But he has died
Resolution: Timing is everything. Clarence has pushed
a plan being kicked around to open the suffering world to the angelic
realm to give humanity a chance to survive its own destruction. And
Clarence has nominated Max as the test case. Max returns to his body. Only a moment
has passed since his departure. The
two finally are together.

New with genre conventions (red color didn’t transfer):

Act 1:

Opening: In Heaven, Max is shown potential guardian
angel assignments including one for Jane.Presdon. He is not interested as
Jane is too independent to respond to his “adjusting” (interfering in) her
life circumstances so she can fulfill her destiny. Not his specialty.
Inciting Incident: Max is assigned to Jane as a good
match for both. He rebels. She feels his dismay without knowing its
source. His superior Clarence – who glares at the mention of the “other”
one is sure this potentially difficult assignment should be
given to a more senior angel. He visits her at work as the recently hired temp (who no one knew was
coming or who hired him), surreptitiously interferes with her activities
to gauge her response. She finds ways to use each interference to her
advantage.

Turning Point: Back in Heaven, as a quite grumpy Max
watches scenes from her life to date, he is moved by her present situation
of being shamelessly manipulated by her political party
members to be a fall guy, to the point that he feels only he can “guide”
her next steps for her own good.

Act 2:

New plan: Max accepts the role on a temporary basis,
until she is clear of the impending danger. At first she tries to run from
the situation by deciding to resign from her position as she feels out of
control. Jane is instrumental in passing sweeping gun advocacy bills that
in theory are about citizen safety.
The two fight about the bills.
Plan in action: Jane resourcefully counters every
attempt of Max’s to keep her from connecting with a scumbag politician. He
is frustrated but not defeated, and frankly in awe of her take-charge
approach to situations. After first deciding to
run from the situation, she out-foxes the
manipulators in her party and does not end up being the fall guy.
Midpoint
Turning Point: Clarence appears to Max to tell him that he must change
into a fullf-time human body as his
micro-managing and pushy approach need to be tempered. It simply has too
great an impact on Jane’s life. Clarence must return right away. There is
a growing concern for the future of humanity that the higher-ups are
debating. Jane is catapulted into
the national limelight when her boss is arrested for vote tampering. Max
is the unintentional cause by bringing the fraud to light. They fight
about that.

Act 3:

Rethink
everything: Max<s> </s><s>as a human unknown to Jane has to get
close to her. He</s> interviews as a
political aide. After watching him in action since he started
working there, Jane deals with the cut-throat
realities of national politics in surprisingly humane and non-political
ways. Max’s role is made easier when Jane’s political advisor has a sudden
health crisis and she appoints Max in his place before he leaves the
interview room. Their attraction grows. Max is conflicted as he loses
his objectivity as her guardian angel.
New plan: Help Jane while not trying to hover over
her or he will be extracted. Clarence will be watching him closely. Jane
realizes she needs warm human contact to balance the downright inhuman
politicians she is now forced to deal with.
Turning
Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Max realizes he is in love with Jane,
and feels his love causes him to lose his objectivity so he cannot remain
in his “role.” A manufactured scandal ruins her presidential candidate
boss’s reputation just before the election. Max resigns from his
position as aide. He can’t explain
why, so she is confused and angry. They break up.

Act 4:

Final Plan: Heaven. Clarence agrees that angels and
humans live in different realms. Max
should return to Heaven so a new guardian angel can be assigned to Jane. There
remains a great deal of concern for humanity itself, and its survival in
these trouble times. It’s difficult to see how humanity can survive. But
Jane seems to be a key figure.

Back on earth, Jane fights back against the false scandal over which she has little control, and turns the tables on her boss’s foes and as a result she, the boss, is now a shoe-in for President.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Max lets
go of all of his desires to shape her future so she is free to explore her
life as Presidential aide – that is what love does. Her boss decides to
leave politics to be with her family due to the impact the scandal had.
She suggests Jane as the candidate. The power mongers in her party agree. Jane has one demand: independence from
all outside forces except the love of her life – Max. But he has died
Resolution: Timing is everything. Clarence has pushed
a plan being kicked around to open the suffering world to the angelic
realm to give humanity a chance to survive its own destruction. And
Clarence has nominated Max as the test case. Max returns to his body. Only a moment
has passed since his departure. The
two finally are together.

[hilton Garrett]

Hilton Garrett, Four Act Transformational Structure

Module 2 Lesson 6

20220614

My vision: I will learn and use the lessons of this course to write marketable scripts that producers love.

What I learned: The importance of maximizing genre conventions.

Title: Unspeakable Testimony

Concept:

A hiker, Benny Smith, discovers a human skeleton in the woods, and recognizes a gold charm he gave his girlfriend in high school.

Genre: Action

Action Conventions: Adrenaline-stirring; fast paced

Demand for action

Mission

Escalating action

Hero

Antagonist

Main Conflict:

Protagonist Benny Smith wants to know why the girl, Jaime, he gave the necklace to ghosted him. The man she is now living with is a militia leader bent on destruction. Benny is a threat and must be eliminated.

Old Ways:

No commitment to much of anything.

Just drifting along, stuck in the past pain of rejection.

Doesn’t trust relationships

New Ways:

Courage and determination to bring down the militia.

Now able to love and be loved.

Act 1:

Opening: Militia is training, obliterating targets with AR-15 gunfire

Inciting Incident: Benny and Anna Lee camping and hiking. Benny finds the bones

Turning Point: Benny finds the necklace, reports the skeleton to sheriff

Act 2:

New plan: Benny decides to return to the sheriff’s office. Jaime sees him

Plan in action: Benny goes back to the site of the bones

Midpoint Turning Point: Militia comes in a helicopter to retrieve the bones and Benny sees Jaime (to whom he gave the necklace) for the first time in 20 years.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: The sheriff is in on it. Benny has no allies. He discovers that the militia plans to bomb a Black Lives Matter rally in Atlanta. Alone with Anna Lee and without resources he must act

New plan: Benny and Anna Lee infiltrate the militia compound where militia is testing explosive techniques, blowing up an old car. They take weapons from the militia armory and use them as the militia closes in

Turning Point: Huge

Failure / Major shift: The militia captures Bennie and Anna Lee. Nobody is coming to help them

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate

expression of the conflict:

Benny gets free and confronts Bird Dog and Jaime. They argue, fight. Benny gets the upper hand. Benny and Anna Lee run to escape. As they are leaving Benny wires the explosives in the armory to explode in five minutes. They are captured again. The clock ticks as they struggle

Resolution:

Benny and Anna Lee finally escape and as they drive away the compound blows up in the background. Benny is now free to actually be with Anna Lee without the wound of his past.

[Hope McPherson]

[WIM] Hope McPherson’s genre conventions

Vision: To be a working, trusted screenwriter who supports herself by writing smart films that are produced and enjoyed, while also working on writing assignments for other industry professionals.

What I learned: I loved adding in the comedic conventions and seeing the outline is beginning to take shape.

Title: A NOVEL REVOLT

Concept: One week before her wedding, an author’s characters escape her book and insist on rewriting her life.

Genre: Comedy

Comedic conventions:

Fish out of water (fiancé Andrew will end up in the manuscript; Cyrus and Rose will end up in the real world)

Incongruous purpose (Shelby will pair up with minor character, Rose, to save the day at the end)

Misinterpretation: Shelby won’t realize that her fictional characters are running the show.

Comedic surprise (the novel’s antagonist and a bit player, who’s in love with the antagonist escape the manuscript). Later, Shelby discovers that she and Rose are more alike than she’d like to admit.

Main conflict: Shelby must save her fiancé from her book’s characters when they suck him into her manuscript while also wreaking havoc her life just days before her wedding.

Old ways:

· Isolated from fiancé and friends due to writer’s block.

· Low self-worth (has her 7^th-grade bully in her head).

· Trouble dealing with emotions (even little things set her off).

· Trouble making decisions.

New ways:

· Accepts her own and others’ imperfections.

· Makes decisions and rolls with the results.

· Learns to laugh at herself (finds joy).

· Discovers inner courage to stand up for herself and current bully.

ACT 1

Opening: Shelby ignores calls from her publisher and her fiancé, but calls her maid of honor with an outrageous request. She writes and deletes and writes and deletes, but mostly stares at her laptop. Two characters in her novel complain under their breath; the antagonist, Cyrus, decides he’s not going to take it anymore.

Inciting incident: Shelby discovers her characters are suddenly doing their own thing in the pages. They aren’t doing what she wrote! Cyrus enlists Rose, the maid who’s in love with him, to go on the offensive and edit Shelby’s life, so they can take over.

Turning point: Two of her characters (the antagonist and a maid) disappear from the manuscript completely. Cyrus and Rose enter the real world – but are completely out of place, make glaring missteps, and assume anything and everything can be edited. Cyrus catches on first.

ACT 2

New plan: Shelby drags her fiancé along as she does last-minute wedding chores. She uses her tape recorder to record any/all bits of inspiration for her manuscript. Rose edits Shelby’s wedding dress and tries to convince her to write a love story between Cyrus and Rose.

Plan in action: Shelby discovers the wedding venue has burned to the ground; her wedding gown is ruined, and the caterer canceled and all that’s available is a hot dog food truck. Shelby believes Cyrus is the hot dog truck’s owner. Cyrus convinces Shelby’s publisher that Shelby is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her publisher gives her 24 hours to deliver the manuscript or find another publisher.

Midpoint turning point: When she listens to the recording, it’s not her voice. The manuscript’s antagonist, Cyrus, introduces himself — and it’s his voice on her tape recorder! Her fiancé has disappeared. Cyrus has typed Andrew into the manuscript.

ACT 3

Rethink everything: Shelby discovers her fiancé is now in her manuscript. Andrew thinks he’s dreaming; he and a fictional character or two have weird interactions. Rose says she’ll get Andrew out of the manuscript if Shelby will give her a bigger part and a love story with Cyrus.

New plan: She tries to write Andrew back out. In the manuscript, Andrew notices things only partially done; Shelby writes him a typewriter. Cyrus writes the officiant into the manuscript a day before the wedding. He and Andrew team up, but both think they’re dreaming. Cyrus convinces Rose to steal her laptop when Shelby won’t give Rose a larger part.

Turning point: (Huge failure/major shift) Shelby must save her fiancé from being deleted permanently when Cyrus throws her laptop into a roaring fire pit. As it gets hot, Andrew realizes it’s not a dream. Shelby offers to give Rose a bigger part in the “real world,” and offers to write her an even better match.

ACT 4

Climax/ultimate expression of the conflict: Shelby enlists Rosie’s help, and she writes herself into the manuscript and is sucked inside. Shelby finds Andrew and the officiant. Flames all around them. Shelby types Cyrus back into the manuscript. Now they are all there! Shelby must create fast — no time to settle for perfection! Cyrus tries to rewrite her as a baby, or a cat. But now with her newly written, more badass persona, Shelby saves Andrew and the two of them take on Cyrus and defeat him by rewriting him as a jackass.

Resolution: Before she returns to the real world, Shelby agrees to Andrew’s earlier idea of a quiet wedding in the countryside. She creates the officiant, brings back Rose as her maid of honor, and she and Andrew are married. She asks Rose how she’d feel as the protagonist of her next novel – one in which she falls in love with a handsome young cleric. Then she types Andrew and herself onto the page and right back home.

[David Scott Smith]

David Scott Smith’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: I am going to do whatever it takes for me to become a legend in both the filmmaking community and popular movie culture, so much so that audiences will stand in lines around the block to see my movies the way I did for Star Wars, ET and Raiders, and I will be buried with the 5 Academy awards given my work, and a tombstone that reads, “Awesome as fuck!”

What I learned: The story felt better adding in the Genre conventions, it cleared some of the roadblocks for me. I still don’t know what some of those scenes will be, but I can see how I needed more action in Act 4, and it feels more like a climax now.

Title: Connect the Dots

Concept: The true story of the only man in the military who believed in a signals intercept trainee and helped her expose the largest network of Soviet spies ever uncovered – ultimately answering the question, “Who really brought down the Soviet Union?”

Main Conflict: A lead Soviet Agent is wreaking havoc on Western interests in Cold War Berlin with a campaign of car bombings, espionage, snipings, and infiltrating Field Station Berlin with spies. Storm is one of his targets and must go to war with him and his entire network of spies!

MY GENRE CONVENTION NOTES

PURPOSE: ​ To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.

LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS: ​

MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: ​ The mystery that Storm must solve in order to survive is “have I been compromised?” Intrigue comes from Danil’s sneaky & ingenious underhanded tricks. Suspense will come from knowing the danger that Storm faces (traps that have been planted, revealing that Danil is still alive, etc)

HERO: ​ Storm is a resourceful rookie, smart but winging it. He comes to FSB with strong catholic morals, but they are crushed into his own code of ethics by the time he’s done there.

VILLAIN: ​Lead Soviet Spy Danil (name means “God is my judge.”) He has permission to “do whatever it takes” to “mess with the west” and he loves that power and will not give it up. He represents a bigger evil – the Kremlin all the evilness of the Soviet Union.

MAIN EMOTIONS: ​ Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, and surprise.

Below is the same outline from M2 L5, with new additions bolded.

Act 1

Opening: Storm prepares intensely for a mission. He’s nervous & excited – this will be his first mission behind the wall, and he’s going to rescue someone from the clutches of the Soviets. But his boss preps him for what happens if he’s captured, trapped or is killed.

Inciting Incident: He is smuggled through a checkpoint and into East Berlin where he meets his “package” – a defecting engineer he must smuggle out of Russian-controlled territory.

Turning Point: At the border, barely 50 feet from freedom, Storm’s “package” is killed by a sniper right in front of him! Storm is shot at as well, and he escapes with his own life only by sheer resourcefulness.

Act 2:

Reaction: Storm tells his wife that she won’t see him for a while, because it is unsafe for him to be there. Storm’s boss believes Storm has been compromised by the Soviets, removes him from field work, and assigns him to the signals intercept fusion room on base where he has secret orders to scan recent transmissions looking for clues about who might have been behind this and how they knew where he was going to be.

Plan in action: Storm follows orders, but comes up with nothing. Lots of chatter, no intel. The pressure is building on Storm because more another espionage incident disrupts another mission and gets some soldiers killed. Then he meets one particular signals intercept operator, Queen Bee, who tells him of a porch light at her apartment that she thinks is flickering code. He confirms that it is, assigns a team to transcribe it discreetly, another to break the code, and he and QB search for the source of this browning out of circuits. They trace the wiring to one particular apartment in her building.

Midpoint Turning Point: Ignoring orders, Storm arranges a break & enter of that apartment. Once inside, they discover their suspect – dead – acid melting his face. There’s an empty space where the radio used to be, and nothing else – except the guy’s code book, apparently dropped by someone in a rush to clear out of the place. Storm photographs and replaces it exactly where it was, to hide the fact that they found it.

Act 3

Rethink everything: Just when they thought they had the bad guy, he’s dead & they don’t know who killed him or why, so the mystery deepened. But they have a big clue, his code book. With this they can break the Soviet cipher for one day. They also learn his frequency schedule, and are able to listen in on live transmissions, discovering a new type of transmission technology that had previously been ruled out as static – micro bursts.

New plan: Storm has to admit to his boss that he disobeyed orders, but the intel they got is worth it.

* Queen Bee works on creating technology to document the micro bursts so that they can break the code

* Now that the baddie is dead, Storm returns home to be with his wife and kids.

* Impressed by Storm’s moves, his boss sends Storm “over the wall,” with the help of Germans who are American sympathizers in the East Bloc, to commit the military’s first Cold War vengeance killing in retaliation.

* Once Queen Bee breaks the micro bursts, they are able to track down individual soviet agents, and they map out hundreds of agents spread out all across the world, including in the United States (the discovery of sleeper cells)

* With this info, and again with the help of a network of American sympathizers, Storm is sent to turn Soviet agents to our side or else kill them.

Turning Point: Huge Failure / Major Shift: But these moves have a huge cost – in one night, the Soviets kill the entire network of American sympathizers across the Eastern Bloc that helped Storm on his missions, including a dear friend of his, and Storm finds a bomb planted on his car, nearly killing his kids and wife. Other members of his team are killed. Queen Bee survives, and discovers that Danil is still alive and behind this attack.

Act 4

New Plan: Storm’s boss believes that a new level of violence is necessary as vengeance for this and orders him to disappear again for a bigger mission of vengeance killings. Queen Bee disagrees and begs him to refuse. She doesn’t see an end to the fighting, and wants out.

ADRENALINE PACKED Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Storm chases Danil, they have a confrontation, it’s a struggle. Storm wins. One of the Soviets with Danil reveals that Danil had someone in Field Station Berlin that fed them info – Storm’s right hand man, his archivist.

* Storm confronts the Archivist, they arrest him.

* Upon his return to base, Storm discovers Queen Bee is not on base anymore. She’s being held during a Section 8 investigation. He’s asked if she was crazy. He can’t reveal what they do together, and that she’s brilliant and critical to his mission, and he also knows she wants out, so he confirms that he thinks she’s crazy as a loon.

Resolution: Storm is promoted to “Psycho” – a (fictional) Special Forces term for bad ass mofo.

[Bobby Sacher]

Bobby’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: A writing life that is mine to do with as I please. I am in control relaxed, and utterly content – and constantly searching for the next world to create. Independently wealthy, always creatively engaged, sought after, and utterly fulfilled.

Concept: An aspiring serial killer is forced to join forces with the high school bullies meant to be his victims, when the cabin they’re partying in is attacked by zombies from the nearby Civil War graveyard.

Genre: Horror/Comedy

Title: JASON VS THE ZOMBIES

HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS:

PURPOSE: To create the experience of horror – taking characters to point of hysteria

ISOLATION: Setting and situation where characters are alone, powerless against monster

DEATH: Threaten characters with awful, violent and torturous deaths. Fear of death or insanity.

MONSTER/VILLAIN: Person or entity that will inflict endless terror and violence

HIGH TENSION: Characters in sinister situations that are out of their control; turn up heat to point of hysteria!

DEPARTURE FROM REALITY: Extreme locations, situations, outside of daily life.

MORAL STATEMENT: Social message about acceptable values, what lines not to cross. Violate these values, you are punished.

ACT I: Set Up and See Old Ways

OPENING: Jason’s Dream: high school couple (DEREK & VIOLA) chased through woods by a masked killer. Derek abandons Viola, runs up hill – stabbed to death! Killer approaches Viola, helps her to her feet: it’s Jason! She’s VIOLA, his love – and now she’s his!

Jason wakes – he’s a loser, late for work.

INCITING INCIDENT: Jason works in diner kitchen, fixing electronics. Forced to bring food to Derek and his cronies (incl. Viola) – Jason is “pantsed” by HACK – lead bully/psycho. Mocked, covered in food, humiliated.

TURNING POINT: After abusive father mocks him for “dreaming” instead of taking action (“I’da pantsed you too”), Jason vows to live out his fantasies! Packs duffel with weapons: flail, baseball bat, his father’s gun (forgetting the bullets), etc, heads out to follow bullies to cabin in woods.

ACT II: Challenge the Old Ways

REACTION: Jason follows car into woods, envisioning various deaths/winning over Viola.

Bullies go through Civil War graveyard – muddy from previous night’s rain. Grave is empty! Derek: “graverobbers – happens all the time.”

PLAN: Jason’s car breaks down, has to trudge through woods to get there. Hurts himself on weapons. Has chance to kill Hack in the woods – chickens out.

Jason is a failure – as usual. Hears his father’s voice, mocking him.

As Jason leaves graveyard, Earth punches outward, something pushing from underneath…

TURNING POINT 2/MID-POINT/MIND-FUCK: Jason comes face to face with bully outside cabin – drops weapon from surprise. Bully mocks him – then his chest explodes! Civil War soldier jumps on the bully and rips neck out with teeth. Zombies! Jason flees to the cabin, leaving duffel bag behind. Panicked searching for an open door.

ACT III: Profound Moments that Give Us New Ways

RETHINK: Hack finds Jason – “this’ll be fun!” Jason is pulled inside – obviously a “peeping Tom”. He has to convince them there are zombies. More mockery – until someone is killed. Find a way to work with these assholes.

NEW PLAN: Surrounded by Civil War zombies. Searching house for weapons. Not much (footballs? Lacrosse sticks?). Infected house members turn – zombies IN the house! Jason remembers his weapons – has to journey to woods.

TURNING POINT/”ALL IS LOST”: Jason gets his duffel bag of weapons from woods – everyone discovers Jason was there to kill them. Attacked by LOUISE (infected by swimming in lake around house) Hack is bitten, and runs outside –

ACT IV: Test the Change in Character: PROVE New Ways!

FINAL PLAN: The survivors and Jason have it out about bullying/Jason’s own issues – bullies realize they’ve been assholes, Jason realizes he “may have overreacted” – pool their minds to come up with a final plan

Zombies break in through basement, led by Hack (his house/knows all the ways in and out). Survivors (Jason, Derek, Viola and _____) forced onto roof! Jason in face-to-face battle with Hack.

CLIMAX: Jason uses his special skills (electronics?) to lure zombies away from house so others can escape. Jason decapitates Hack (uses his flail? Something?)

RESOLUTION: Jason victorious – wins love of Viola? Or her cousin?

FINAL SHOT: Poisoned water from nearby military compound (cause of the zombies) runs down the mountainside, into a sewer….?

[Edward Brown]

Edward Brown genre conventions

I am confident if I focus I will write, sell, have fun and prosper

RomCom/Divine Fig

Creator sets up romantic experiment of total opposites to see if there are parable Go Giving lessons to keep free will bipeds from nuking their blue planet to extinction as previously happened on red Mars.

“Romancing vs Extinction” or “Romancing Blue Planet or Extinction”

Romcom conventions
female not in it for money

Male not in it for sex

Something must keep them apart until they transform

Divine Fi conventions

Demonstrate cosmic powers

But life forms have free will

So left with persuasion to save blue planet from extinction

Act 1

Live cremation of nuke project director

Tanya rejects diamonds and marriage to billionaire

Convinces Putin her father has low drag research

Brit, Korean, Chinese spies try to lip read

Ivan, tanya’s Ex husband kills moonshiner who won-t pay bribe

Creator signs on for parable romance to teach negotiations and making Go Getting deals for all

Act 2

George splits with Anna wanting more than primary great frequent sex

Ivan fails to catch ghost

Creator set up George and Tanya and allows proactive jiggering cupid matchmaking

Worried abut extinction like Mars and no dad families

ACT 3

Gradient of change

Ivan kidnaps FSB director and discovers Alexei has nuke bomb

George forced to be neater, more organized, healthier

American spy trying for hyperonic info

Tanya does valentine test, and researches George and finds favor

Act 4

Face to pretty face in Red Square

Tanya rejects George

Ivan’s gf meets with Asian agent

George goes fly kite and tanya realize she failed test

George and Tanya Decide to go to Siberia to explore romance

[Kristin Donnan]

KRISTIN’S GENRE CONVENTIONS

VISION: “I want the personal, professional, and financial freedom and joy that come from writing so well that I’m in demand, selling beyond my wildest dreams, and making worthy projects—on a big scale and with my active, collegial participation.”

WHAT I LEARNED during this assignment is that it was hard to distinguish between making outline signposts and “filling in details.” Because I know the story and characters, I kept tending to get into the weeds. I’m not sure I’ve got it completely right yet, but I’m starting to see “opportunities” in the outline beats that can scream “comedy goes here!” We’ll see what happens as this process proceeds!

CONCEPT: REX APPEAL / Comedy — The true story of a small-town paleontologist who sues the government after the feds seize his T. rex, the largest in the world.

GENRE CONVENTIONS:

PURPOSE: Entertain with laughter-inducing moments. In real life, this was a serious story about an unusual world (paleontology), but there are many aspects of it that are absurd—starting with characters who are almost caricatures of themselves.

INCONGRUENCE: People are living against type in their worlds. The guy we’re supposed to trust (government official, “saving resources from being stolen”) is actually the lying cheat; the independent businessman accused of stealing is the honest one. Meanwhile, the judge is losing his marbles and the defense attorney is trying to score with the jurors.

MECHANICS OF COMEDY: Setup/punchline; running gags, sight/prop humor; fish out of water, incongruent pairings, misinterpretations, etc.

1. Pete’s naïveté is a running gag that leads to misinterpretations.

2. The incongruent pairing with a girlfriend who is actually doing illegal stuff surprises him.

3. Pete’s dress code and casual manner is fish-out-of-water in the courtroom; likewise, the field is not the natural setting for the attorneys.

4. “Investigators” are too out of shape to get to the locations and lie about it.

5. Government attorneys don’t understand the science and bungle the indictment counts, locations, and general mechanics of the case.

6. Witnesses who prove Pete’s innocence are disregarded by the judge; jury confused.

7. Judge’s behaviors are absurd; as the arbiter of the proceedings, he’s losing his mind. (Example, record of overruling defense objections is kept on a clipboard.)

8. Defense attorney thinks he is irresistible and “banks” on the one juror who hates his guts—and whose husband plays golf with the judge.

9. Government attorneys and court staff “know” Pete is innocent.

COMEDIC PROTAGONIST: Pete is definitely a straight man; he’s sincere and earnest. Throughout, government attorneys accuse him of lying, which he really cannot do.

STRONG STORY: The story causes people to cheer for Pete and boo the bad guys; they also tear up about how he feels about “his” dinosaur.

STRUCTURE

Act 1:

OPENING: Independent paleontologist leads his merry band of workers from a dig, oblivious to everything but science. After fueling up the rag-tag vehicles, they accidentally leave a kid behind at the gas station bathroom. Meanwhile, government attorneys are casting him as a leader of a RICO-style crime ring.

INCITING INCIDENT: Dinosaur seized by the feds. The judge, an “expert” in land issues, greases the wheels. The government attorney is so excited that he wears pancake makeup to the press conference and breaks the law by involving the National Guard. The paleo team “do the right thing” by packing the bones—since the feds brought one bag of plaster and 5 boards for an entire <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>T. rex—and little kids bring the press corps to the back door to expose what’s really happening.

TURNING POINT: Protagonist sues the feds, and in the process endears himself to independent thinkers everywhere. Opposition doesn’t expect this, and ups the ante in fighting dirty. Meanwhile, the landowner plays the race card, which incites public debate.

Act 2:

PLAN: Make it all go away with the truth.

PLAN IN ACTION: Pete pleads with ruthless, two-faced government attorneys to be reasonable; then tries to explain a lifetime of facts to his own self-absorbed legal team. He and his merry band then turn to public marches and the media. In the process, they learn that their own colleague was secretly smuggling!

MIDPOINT TURNING POINT: INDICTMENTS.

Act 3:

RETHINK: Pete realizes he has to own his power and think like the Opposition—fish out of water; he doesn’t know how to be underhanded. In the process he becomes a more sophisticated leader—and a champion of the underdog.

NEW PLAN: Using his scientific process—and his understanding of moving mountains—he slowly goes through all the evidence to find answers. Running gags of working in the field, inhospitable or deteriorated locations, incomplete notes, bad weather, etc.

TURNING POINT / MIDPOINT / HUGE FAILURE & MAJOR SHIFT — ALL IS LOST: Even with the evidence, the family / other defendants are afraid for their own skins. Lawyers have to multiply and therefore disagree about how to proceed. Pete has to stand alone—it’s all on him.

Act 4:

CLIMAX / ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF THE CONFLICT: The test is the courtroom—with point after point made from their time in the field; Pete makes his case by relying on his natural environment, and navigating the foreign environment. Little by little, his side gains ground. But making the opposition mad is also dangerous. With each win, the judge piles on with negative rulings and unfair instructions. More running gags about funny fossils, locations, and investigators who shade the truth on the stand.

And we don’t know about that one juror….

RESOLUTION: We win—almost everything. Thanks to that juror, and the crazy judge, Pete is sentenced to two years in a federal prison. We end with him teaching inmates about fossils on the grounds and making friends with giant, scary dudes.

[Kevin Ash]

Module 2 Lesson 6

· Kevin Ash’s Genre Conventions

· Vision: I will be living in paradise, writing prolifically at my leisure, respected and sought after for my interesting and thought provoking films.

What I learned from doing this assignment is his story is so filled with dramatic events it’s both easy and hard to fill it with drama… trying to figure out how to deliver it has been the hardest part.

2. Tell us the following:

Title: Design Your Mind

Concept: The true story of a loose cannon, Evan, who battled addiction for years and won against all odds with the help of his father, inspiring all those around him, after his tragic death at 21.

Genre: Drama

3. CONVENTIONS OF DRAMA

PURPOSE: To explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes

for their characters.

CHARACTER-DRIVEN JOURNEY: We always need to care about the

characters in a Drama, and their internal journey drives the film’s events

and progression.

HIGH STAKES COME FROM WITHIN: Whether the story’s events are

relatively mundane or intense, the struggles, obstacles, and stakes comes

from within the characters more than from external pressures.

EMOTIONALLY RESONATES: Drama audiences want to feel and be moved

by the characters’ emotions and how they experience the events.

CHALLENGING, EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED SITUATIONS: Characters get

challenged to their core by the emotional situations and struggles that they

run into.

REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS: Drama stories are grounded in reality.

Act 1:

Opening: Evan is 21, grabbing the hood of a car looking
at the camera, laughing but yelling at the driver to stop the car. The
driver behind him laughing, suddenly gets serious and slams on her breaks.
He is jettisoned off the hood.
Inciting Incident: After seeing Evan as a wild child he
is on a cruise at 9 and is handed a beer by an attendant.
Turning Point: He drives around the neighborhood with
friends grabbing hidden stashes of alcohol from bushes when caught by
police. Retrieved from jail by father.

Act 2:

New plan: Parents send him to rehab for minors, gets
sober
Plan in action: Talking about stars and philosophy with
father. Bothe are drinking and talking about how to control your addictions.
Midpoint Turning Point: Father has serious incident
with hard liquor and ends up in rehab. Evan witnesses this.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Decides he can handle his alcoholism
by himself, leaves home as soon as he can, moves in with friends.
New plan: Sequesters himself in apartment, never leaving,
gets heavy into art, music, only comes out when forced for family events.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Found in
stupor in apartment, shell of himself. Family forcefully remove him.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Enrolled in
immersive program living with strangers.
Resolution: Comes out of program, goes on spiritual
journey discovering himself and philosophy… ends up trying to save
ex-girlfriend from abusive family relationship because she’s pregnant and
tells him it’s his, ends up flying off of hood of car, hits head on curb
and dies. – (maybe start with funeral scene, maybe donors being given
second chance, or show funeral – balloon release, stats and photos here.

[Jenifer Stockdale]

Jenifer Stockdale’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I will write everyday, creating not only high volume but high quality scripts that will ultimately be turned into popular movies and television shows.

What I learned doing this assignment is that is a beneficial way to ensure the conventions are in the script. It is a way that can help us as writers to ensure that every scene has one or more of the conventions. I’ve always known what the conventions were (well, not always, but since I took the Thriller Class – lol) but never really had a specific process for putting them into the movie, other than just writing them in as I went along.

Hal, I don’t know if you actually read these, but I had a little “breakthrough” on the state to activity process. I’ve been doing this for a long time with you – Career Launch, Toastmasters, etc. and it has always been surface level – I could think of a time that I felt a certain way, but had a hard time actually recalling and feeling that same way during the activity. The other day, while writing something for this assignment, I feel a rush of success when I figured something out. I told myself to remember that specific moment so that I could recall it and the next time I did state to activity. This way I had a recent tangible feeling to recall rather than some abstract moment in my past. You might want to tell people to be looking for moments that they can use later. We don’t know – people might not feel like they have ever had success and/or it might be hard to recall them on a deep level during the activity. Anyway, I hope you read this – I think it’s good advice…LOL.

Title: SPLICED

Concept: When a psychiatric nurse is accused of murdering her former patient, she has to fight to keep her freedom, her job, her family, and her sanity.

Act 1:

Opening – Dacey working at the hospital, sitting a desk charting – shuts her eyes, rolls her neck and rubs it, close-up on ear bud where classical music plays, around the back of her head to her other ear where the little hair move and someone unseen whispers “wake the fuck up” (intrigue)- a staff member is behind her when she jumps up and looks (who was that? mystery) They talk, patient screams and they run to the room (intrigue). Patient has cut herself – Dacey is calm, everyone is losing it. She goes home, makes breakfast, husband and three kids get up, all love her to death. Husband surprises her with a renewing of their vows ceremony – during toast she is concerned that he is drinking champagne (tension) smells cup from garbage. Husband is going away, she says he can’t, that’s when it always starts to fall apart (this needs to be a very cool line – creating intrigue) – he says that only happened once and I’ve checked everything this time – changed batteries in smoke alarms, checked the pilots, etc. so it seems like she is talking about a fire that happened the last time he went away, not that her delusion falls apart.

Inciting Incident – Tom comes to her house after he is discharged, someone is chasing him (mystery – who? why) . He tells her shush and listens, they hear something fall over in yard, windchimes (suspense) she calls an Über and sends him home. After he leaves she washes his cup and leaves in strainer. She wakes in morning, unsure if it was a dream (mystery – was Tom really there?). Cup is in cabinet – determines it was a dream. Sees pots out window as she making breakfast and goes to check, none seem to be disturbed from the noise they heard (suspense), but just as she is leaving she sees dirt on the ground near the windchimes, pot fell and was put back (mystery – who did that?) then she sees what could be a footprint (a disturbance of some kind near the window and child calls her and/or smoke alarm goes off. Again the mystery – was Tom really there? And who was looking in window?)

Turning Point – Dacey hears that Tom is missing. There is a report on news about a body found in alley. Dacey turns off tv (only see/hear small bits of report to create intrigue) Also, is that Tom? (creates mystery) Detectives come to hospital to question Dacey (suspense, tension) she asks why, they say they are questioning everyone. Dacey tells the detectives that she doesn’t remember anything about that night (they assume she was drunk/on drugs/crazy) and she just decides she is crazy. They ask her if she was drinking/doing drugs and when she denies if she had even been mentally ill – she hesitates and then seems appalled they would even ask that question (tension and mystery – does Dacey have a history of mental illness?). Daughter is playing with bubbles – Dacey comes in and yells, daughter drops bubbles and spills them – runs upstairs. Dacey cleans them up. As they run toward rug (with red in it) Dacey notices that rug is in wrong place (looks and sees lighter spot on floor in shape of rug). Intrigue She starts to pull rug (she is facing forward) audience sees that wet spot from bubbles are creating a red trail (is this from rug? Mystery – intrigue) Dacey can’t get far with rug, turns to get better grip, pulls rug hard and reveals a large blood spot. She cleans up, but has some weird flashbacks of someone getting hit with a bat. (mystery – intrigue)

Act 2:

New plan – she admits to having to detectives that she remembered Tom coming over but sent him away in an Über when they come to her house to question her about hearing that Tom visited – where did they hear that from? They won’t tell her (mystery) (moved from midpoint)Dacey goes into living room and walks across the floor – her foot makes a “squish” noise and she looks down to see the blood stain that she cleaned up. She cleans it again and (not sure if it will be this soon) but after she cleans and walks away, it reappears. She starts to see Tom’s ghost at work and at home (mystery – is this real?)

Plan in action – she tries to use her children and her husband as alibis/character witnesses, but although her husband is supportive to her face (suspense) when he talks to detectives his story is against Dacey – he provides them ring doorbell footage that shows Tom go in the house but not come out, tells them that Dacey is crazy, but then again tells her everything is fine (tension and mystery, why is he acting this way?). Tells kids to say they heard something, daughter says but we didn’t, father comes up with a reason why it will help mother, but is a lie (he says if you say this – whatever it is – it will be something that will help your mother, but actually makes her look guilty – this will be something INGENIOUS I will come up with that will create INTRIGUE!) Dacey’s husband leaves her because she isn’t cooking, cleaning, etc. She is constantly cleaning floor and getting scared by Tom. Her husband had been picking up slack for kids, now they are upset with her (they haven’t decorated for Christmas). The youngest daughter puts a garland string around her neck and Dacey watches as it tightens and her daughter is lifted in the air – she screams and runs to her – daughter is n floor with garland not wrapped, perturbed with mother, Dacey tries to cover and say that is not safe (earlier patient in hospital hangs herself with garland – this should cause tension and suspense)

Midpoint Turning Point – Act 3: Dacey’s husband tricks her – he calls and tells her that he wants to meet, get back together – audience sees that he is with another woman (tension, intrigue, and maybe mystery – is he lying?) When Dacey goes to restaurant – there is a reservation for two, so it appears he is coming, she sits and waits…and waits (suspense) finally goes home – her phone rings as she goes in door – husband says I have kids, don’t say anything or you’ll never even see them – you’re crazy and you’ll end up in that place you work when I tell everyone what I know (tension). Kids come for Christmas, Dacey asks husband if we would come, too, he says of course, but then he stays in car, she looks out and it appears he is on phone and jerking off. The kids argue over who opens presents first, Dacey gets idea to do all at same time – they do, then they just sit there – (anticipation) Sheena already got them – Sheena is her husband’s girlfriend, she thought they were getting back together…open other presents, some weird things, like rubber chicken (intrigue). Dacey talks to husband, she figured out what I bought them, and got them before I did, that sounds paranoid – one maybe, but all three? (tension, intrigue). Looks online and sees her shopping history – realizes how she did it.

At some point here she finds out about Ring doorbell evidence from detectives/boss who comes to fire her

Rethink everything – she is afraid of Tom’s ghost, she keeps scrubbing the blood stains, starts to think that maybe Tom isn’t there to hurt her but to tell her something.

New plan – investigates the murder herself, asks detectives for Ring footage – sees a quick flutter that she thinks can be evidence of it being tampered with. Checks husband’s closet (which is now empty) but sees something in back – crawls in, finds rubber chicken (intrigue) but notices it has blood, backs up, Tom is there she screams, but then goes forward again, finds bat, backs up again, think Tom is there, but it is her husband – she has to fight him off.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – calls in the detectives to tell them she has solved the crime but only produces more evidence against herself. She is arrested and brought to her hospital as a patient.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Someone calls to Dacey (in nurses’ outfit at her locker) maybe says “Darcey” – a woman turns around, but it is not the woman we have been following – it is a woman we have seen as a nurse but who has never been focused on, the person tells her “She’s awake” Darcey says she’ll be right there, in the room a doctor is explaining to a new nurse how “Christina” hears everything when she is in that “state” and splices everything she hears together to make a life for herself

Resolution – the real Dacey (Darcey) comes in and talks to Christina who complains about stuff like Tom being dead, Darcey tells he isn’t dead.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Jenifer Stockdale.

[John Trimbach]

<div>Note: not sure why this is coming out in red when I copy and paste from a Word document – does not respond to color editing in the forum – can anyone sort this out? Much appreciated.</div>

<div>John T’s Genre Conventions
</div><div><div>
</div><div>Vision: to become an industry new face known for reliable box office and concepts that intrigue and entertain audiences the world over. </div><div>
</div><div>What I learned doing this assignment is that places and events can act as placeholders for even better action and suspense scenes as long as you keep an open mind regarding twists and turns. </div><div>
</div><div>Title: DIVERSION </div><div>Concept: An airline captain is pursued by a FBI agent who suspects the pilot is a serial killer who leaves his victims all over the country. </div><div>Genre: Thriller </div><div>
</div><div>CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS </div><div>PURPOSE: To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax. </div><div>LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS. They face danger at every step — either physically, emotionally, or mentally. The hero needs to either be in danger or there is the implication of future danger. MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: There’s a mystery that must be solved in order to survive. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert Villain’s plan. Suspense comes from the danger the Hero faces. </div><div>HERO: Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful hero </div><div>VILLAIN: Dangerous, devious, and unrelenting. Committed to destroy anyone who gets in their way. </div><div>MAIN EMOTIONS: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, and surprise </div><div>
</div><div>Act 1: </div><div>Opening – Phil attends the b-day for his adopted niece, Lorie, who lives down the street. They also celebrate her new job as a flight attendant, a job Phil helped her get. </div><div>
</div><div>Inciting Incident – Lorie viciously murdered on a layover. Phil discovers the body. Seen leaving the scene, agent suspects him. </div><div>
</div><div>Phil promises Lorie’s mother that he will not rest until the killer is caught. </div><div>Phil chases a burglar suspect in his neighborhood, loses him. </div><div>
</div><div>Turning Point – we see that Phil is innocent -becomes depressed and withdrawn, more so when FBI agent Ben, young and ambitious, treats him like a suspect. </div><div>
</div><div>Act 2: </div><div>
</div><div>Phil comes back to work, greeted by FA’s Rhonda, Louise, and Georgia, all of whom express their sympathy and try to cheer him up. Phil sees this threesome at the layover hotel bar. A young man makes a pass at the women, rebuffed. Louise makes a pass at Phi to cheer him up, he laughs it off. </div><div>
</div><div>Phil discovers that Agent Ben is tapping his phone, misinterpreting his conversation, and tailing him. Loses him during a chase scene – barely escapes. </div><div>
</div>

Phil -discovers the body of a FA from a different airline in her hotel room, the door left ajar. -is interrogated by the police. -is questioned by the police again and by Agent Ben – they find his story doubtful. Phil tells them to buzz off. -finds out the suspect he chased was caught and released.

<div>Midpoint Turning Point -is being pursued by Agent Ben after he raided his house and found all sorts of crime maps and drawings on his wall. Hunter becomes the hunted.
</div>

New plan – Phil decides he must vindicate himself. -decides he must quickly solve the serial murders to clear his name.

Plan in action – Phil consults his elaborate map of cities, clues. – discovers a predictable pattern and MO to the murders.

<div>
</div><div>Act 3: • </div><div>Rethink everything – Phil must go underground.</div><div>
</div><div>New plan – Phil must solve the murders himself before Agent Ben catches up to him. </div><div>Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – After yet another murder, Phil figures the killer must be an airline person. </div>

FBI hot on the trail.

<div>
</div><div>Act 4: </div><div>
</div><div>Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Phil heads to anticipated murder scene, Lewis ties up FBI agent, stabs him – Phil saves him, Lewis falls to his death. Phil bids a last-minute trip to Milwaukee to elude Ben and, to test his theory, diverts to Chicago, ostensibly for weather and fuel, but really to possibly prevent the next murder. Rhonda and Georgia happen to be on the trip, They are aware he is wanted by the FBI and rat him out. Phil doesn’t know that Agent Ben is flying to Chicago to arrest him. Phil rushes to the hotel to test his thesis, bumps into Louise in the hotel hallway. She’s wearing black gloves, quickly takes them off. Phil asks what she’s doing there. She asks him the same question. Phil is lured to her hotel room, suspects that Louise is somehow involved in the murders. He sees the next victim tied up. Phil and Louise are surprised by Agent Ben who assumes that Phil is about to kill Louise and the girl tied up. He shoots and wounds Phil. Louise runs to Ben, hugs him and stabs him repeatedly. Louise is really Lewis. The girl screams through her gag. Phil can only watch as Lewis begins to carve up Ben on the balcony as the girl watches. Phil musters all his energy, charges and pushes Lewis over the edge. Phil lands on the lower floor balcony, hanging on for dear life. Same for Lewis who brags about killing Leslie. Phil grabs a BBQ poker, slaps Lewis’ hand – he falls to his death. Phil visits Ben in the hospital </div><div>
</div><div>Resolution – Phil is a hero, new life.</div></div>

[Laura Koons]

Laura Koons’ Genre Conventions

My vision: I am an Oscar winning Screenwriter known to elevate the careers of A-list actors and directors. I am financially abundant and have the flexibility to write wherever and whenever I want.

What I learned from doing this assignment is there is always room to elevate to meet the conventions of my genre.

Concept: A gifted architect longs to follow in the footsteps of her father who she lost at the age of twelve and subsequently found herself dumped on the doorsteps of an orphanage by her estranged mother.

Conventions of Drama

Purpose:

Character-Driven Journey: Heather meets Charles at the orphanage who needs a friend just as much as she does.

High Stakes Come From Within: Taking a risk to go after the very professional that took her father away.

Emotionally Resonates: The lakehouse is the only one constant in Heather’s life.

Challenging, Emotionally-Charged Situations: Heather’s estranged mother takes illegal possession of the lakehouse.

Real-Life Situations: Knowing who she can trust amidst the betrayal.

Main Conflict: Never feeling good enough from the moment her father died.

Old Ways: hiding from who she is, refusing to date, cuts off relationships, distant,
closed off, doesn’t believe in love, doesn’t feel confident to show her
work

New Ways: finding confidence in her profession and love life, learns to trust, open
to receive what she deserves

Act 1:

Opening: Heather’s loving father dies

Inciting Incident: dropped off at orphanage by estranged mother

Turning Point: Estranged mother arranges the deed of Heather’s lakehouse property to
be put in her name.

Act 2:

New plan: Heather starts sharing her accomplishments

Plan in action: Accepts the FBI Agents advances

Midpoint Turning Point: Estranged mother arrested for insider trading claiming she
has evidence that Heather is part of it. FBI Agent has an arrest warrant
for both.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: sell the lakehouse property.

New plan: Trust no one.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift FBI Agent stops the sale. Heather’s best
friend supports it.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Heather finds the original deed in her father’s
name with the help of the FBI Agent.

Resolution: Mother is dying, resolves to do the right thing.

[Jamie Handley]

Jamie Handley’s Genre Conventions

Vision from this program: To me it is much more succinct and much easier (right!) to understand. Clarity seemed to be much better. I say “right” in jest because it is always a lot of work which you expound upon with integrity, wisdom, empowerment and knowledge. You make writing fun and not as difficult as others make it to be. You take us to the point and let us run with it, try and figure it out without shame or pressure. Thanks for your kindness and keenness. You’re a hard act to follow!

VISION: To sell my script or limited series with future spin-offs to a great producer. And made!

TITLE: WITHOUT RECOURSE – Inspired by a True Story.

CONCEPT: With no recourse to sue, two women battle with the FDA and AMA when one has a life threatening medical condition and her doctor and attorney are part of the medical mafia.

GENRE: Drama

List of the conventions:

Purpose: Stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for the characters.

Character Driven: Care about the character, internal journey drives film.

High Stakes Come from Within: There is a struggle, obstacles, and stakes come within character more than external.

Emotionally Resonates: Want to FEEL and be MOVED by characters emotions/how they experience the events.

Challenging, Emotionally-Charged Situations: Characters get challenged to their core by the emotional situations and the struggles along the way.

Hero: JUSTINE HENDERSON – An altruistic, to a fault, stubborn, juggler kind of older woman who’s been through it all with lawyers and the medical profession since her accident in year past. But, you wouldn’t want it any other way because she is as kind and loyal as she is rough and to the point. You want her on your side any day.

Antagonist: LAUREN DRAKE – Justine’s life-long friend who’s judgmental, cynical, yet kind-hearted with a dark sense of humor and is a victim of medical malpractice causing her spine to cave in and needs Justine’s help. Deep within her, she carries a haunting pain; the death of her only child.

GRACIE BRYANT is Justine’s only child. Her past adventures turned into drug abuse leaving a distance between the two. But it’s her joyful spirit and giving (even if something belongs to her mother) gets her in and out of trouble. She desperately needs her mother’s love and recognition, and is cunning and manipulating as she is smart (like a fox) and beautiful.

Act 1:

Opening Lake Tahoe – North Shore 1990’s.

A Jeep is run off a two-lane highway by a semi-truck and trailer caring a stream roller. A woman, JUSTINE HENDERSON is airflighted out by a helicopter.

2020 – TO PRESENT – Justine needs help from daughter GRACIE WYATT who brings her significant other (unannounced), DAVE YAGGER who moves in to help her mom with Gracie’s dying grandmother. Justine is exhausted, at odds with everything in her life and continues to need various surgeries. Life-long friend, LAUREN DRAKE is in an automobile accident.

Inciting Incident

Justine falls and breaks her right hip and shoulder back into hospital while Gracie and Dave care for SADIE HENDERSON. Sadie dies.

Turning Point –

Lauren needs Justine’s help with a life-threatening medical problem and flies to Las Vegas, Nevada. Lauren’s brother, MAX POTTER, three years younger, a pot-smoking bum, isn’t capable to help Lauren out. Justine and Max go a few rounds but Justine ends up helping him out too. Justine and Lauren meet with a new surgeon and the results are bad.

Act 2:

New plan –

Justine begins to research, steps in and talks with outside medical specialists while acting like she’s Lauren. Meetings are sets up. Gracie offers to help causes problems with Justine. Gracie gets a job, starts carrying the load while they argue with Dave over money and his contribution. Lauren gets COVID.

Plan in action –

Justine, now helpless, calls Lauren’s only friends to drop off food etc., to no avail. Max is still worthless, unable to use a computer so Justine begins to order online for Lauren.

Midpoint Turning Point –

With two out of state second opinions in hand, Justine returns to Las Vegas. They meet again with the new surgeon. Her case seems hopeless and the doctor shines a light on the medical situation. PETER COOK, a prominent attorney and Lauren’s ex stops by to pick up medical documents and leave documents for her to sign while Justine is out and about. Justine is taken back and conflicted. Why? How did he come into the picture? When and what is he going to do? This causes a row between the women. Justine returns home and finds a copy of a magazine article in her suitcase regarding the medical mafia in Vegas. Justine is floored, speechless and frightened. Gracie calls on her mom for financial help only to disappoint.

Act 3:

Rethink everything

Deal with it! Justine hunkers down in research, still dropping everything in order to help Lauren. Things get worse in the home with Gracie and Dave. Lauren begins to avoid Justine’s calls. Justine takes it up a notch and connects the FDA, AMA, surgeons and manufacturers with Lauren’s medical issues.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

After investigating the medical mafia, dealings with the FDA, AMA and Justine’s own doctors, Justine becomes fearful that Peter and Lauren’s surgeons could be connected. Justine informs Lauren of the possibility, connecting the dots and Lauren turns on Justine leaving her hanging after Justine states she doesn’t trust Peter. Lauren ghosts Justine, just what Lauren wanted from the get go. She has no will to live.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

Justine receives a certified letter from the District Attorney in Las Vegas regarding a wiretap on her phone. Gracie begs for help from Dave. Justine has a breakdown while at her monthly doctor’s appointment. DR. T., whose relationship with Justine is rare these days, makes time for Justine. He sets the record straight and leaves her in a better place. He reminds Justine who she is, her own health issues, and what she has going right in front of her. He gives her advice that is long overdue that only a mother would know and give. That’s how unique and rare he is and the trust or words of wisdom she needed to let go.

Resolution

Gracie is on a roll. She is working out of the home and doing well, with the help of her mom. Working with the flowers and arrangements, Justine and Gracie begin to heal. Reminisce their flower days in Tahoe. Dave has work and all seems to be well. Mother’s day is explosive and profitable. Justine connects with older sister and flies to be with her. SIS, recovering from rectal cancer, is in palliative care, which concerns Gracie. She needs the help as does her niece but this time Justine is going for her own growth. She needs her sister equally as much, if not more so, and asks for it. The two reconnect, joy and laughter fill their hours. Justine sets up shop to write her story in the peace and quiet of her sister’s home. Gracie begins to call missing her mom.

Note – At this point I am not sure how I will end this story completely. In time I will have it.

List the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions. Right now I feel that I have a character driven journey with the characters. There is much to tell but this is just the base of the beginning. Emotionally it expresses the need to learn to be proactive with your health and life. It shares the emotions within a family structure where pain and illness is concerned. The obstacles, stakes (which will be higher) will surface and there are lots of medical and legal issue to address. That is to come and find its right place in this story.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  Jamie Handley. Reason: forgot name

[Jill Clifford]

Jill Clifford’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: I am going to become skillful enough as a screenwriter that I can to get my scripts into the hands of producers, and ultimately get one or more into a produced feature film.

What I learned from doing this assignment is brainstorming the various scenes within the 4 acts helps to bring up more action, more suspense, more mystery, and more tension as needed in a thriller genre movie.

Concept: An undercover INS agent’s life depends on the help from the same illegal immigrants he was planning to deport.

Genre: Thriller

Act 1:

Opening: Undercover INS agent Hagen tries to save a child from a prostitution ring. He risks his life jumping out a window with her, but she is fatally shot needlessly by her Hispanic kidnapper, just before the kidnappers are captured.

Inciting Incident: Hagen’s sister is raped and murdered by two Hispanic men as Hagen is arriving at her home. Hagen catches, fights, and kills one, but the other escapes.

Turning Point: Enraged by these needless deaths, Hagen takes another dangerous undercover assignment to find other illegal immigrants, only when he discovers that his sister’s murderer might have gone back to that farm.

Act 2:

New plan: Hagen goes to a farm as an illegal Hispanic migrant worker “Alexandro” to search out illegal aliens and hopefully his sister’s murderer. He has to hide his identity from both the farm manager who hires him and his fellow workers, which is difficult because he’s never even been on a farm.

Plan in action: Hispanic woman Isabella befriends “Alexandro” and helps him to learn farming and naively to identify other illegal immigrant workers. When farm manager Clint tries to assault Isabella, “Alexandro” fights with him. Clint moves both “Alexandro” and Isabella’s names to his red notebook.

Midpoint Turning Point: “Alexandro” and a dozen other illegals, including Isabella, are taken to the desert by Clint and his truck driver to be shot.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Clint’s jammed gun allows most of the workers to escape. The survivors storm the truck, and when the truck takes off, the jammed gun, shovels, and some of the workers’ possessions slide out of the truck bed. Now, with these few tools, they must survive getting out of the desert without Clint finding them.

New plan: “Alexandro” learns desert survival, finding water and food, from his fellow workers, while being hunted by Clint. However, they are burdened with keeping wounded workers alive, and dealing with desert dangers like rattle snakes and gila monsters. Hagen discovers his sister’s murderer is one of the survivors.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: The workers discover Hagen’s identity as an INS agent, and no longer trust him. Clint now hunts them by helicopter, so they have no place to hide.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Isabella pleads Hagen’s defense to the workers. After Hagen shoots down the helicopter, he has a face to face confrontation with Clint, and Isabella is at risk. Migrant workers from the farm and village come en mass to rescue Hagen, Isabella, and the other survivors from Clint.

Resolution: Hagen gets “green cards” for the fellow workers who saved him, and asks Isabella to marry him.

[Teresa Rodriguez]

Teresa Rodriguez’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: I WILL BECOME A HIGHLY RESPECTED AND INFLUENTIAL WRITER/PRODUCER WITH MY OWN SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTION COMPANY THAT I CAN LEAVE AS A BLESSING TO MY CHILDREN AND MANY GENERATIONS TO COME.

What I learned doing this assignment is a great way to build in genre conventions into my script and be seen as a pro by producers.

Title: “LILY WHITE AND THE SEVEN LITTLE PEOPLE”

Concept: Snow White’s great-great-granddaughter, Lily White, runs away to America to escape her perfectionist fairytale life.

Genre: Adventure/Comedy

Adventure Conventions:

Purpose: a wanderlust/need for a thrilling excursion

Demand for Adventure:

Mission:

Escalating Action/Adventure:

Hero:

Antagonist:

Comedy Conventions:

Purpose: Entertain, packed with laughter-inducing moments

Incongruence:

Mechanics of Comedy

Comedic Protagonist

Strong Story

Act 1:

Opening: An extravagant birthday party is thrown for Princess Lily complete with red-carpet entrances of the rich and famous some in ridiculously outrageous/funny outfits posing for a barrage of paparazzi while circus acts thrill the party-goers. Everything and everyone must pass a “perfection inspection” before being allowed into the party.

We get a taste of the King’s enormous wealth and meet Princess Lily who is supposed to be getting ready for her grand entrance but appears to be running for her life in the woods chased by snarling animals. However, in reality, she’s playing survival games with her animal friends as they throw her their own minimalist birthday party. They thrill her with funny animal tricks and jokes about humans.

Inciting Incident: Princess Lily is late for her grand entrance and the King is furious. When she does arrive, she trips down the stairs ripping her expensive designer dress and exposing her undies. The King tells her what an embarrassment she is to his perfect kingdom, that she’ll never make a good ruler and he wishes he had a boy instead.

• Turning Point: Lily, knowing she will never be perfect enough to fit into her father’s kingdom, escapes the castle guards, fakes her own death, and runs away headed to America.

(But one of the King’s dwarfs sees what Lily did, tells her father, and the father orders the dwarf to follow Lily and protect her.)

Act 2:

• New plan: She arrives in America, free and on her own for the first time.

• Plan in action: Lily is in the imperfect, real-world with no money, nowhere to go, and no one she can count on. She asks the cab driver to take her to the most “real” part of town, so he drops her off in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood. Her luggage gets stolen, then her purse. She meets the Dwarf, now in disguise. He’s gruff so she thinks he must be related to Grumpy. He has befriended other dwarfs to pretend to be his family/friends, but she can’t remember their real names so gives them adjectives nicknames similar to “Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Happy, Doc, Dopey. Lily goes into a store and freaks out at the large display of apples, she’s deadly afraid of apples, then she gets blown away by all the types of ice cream. She takes whatever she wants because she’s never had to pay for anything before.

Midpoint Turning Point: A store employee catches Lily stealing and calls the police. Lily runs from the cops and almost gets away until they catch and arrest her.

Act 3:

• Rethink everything: Lily must live in a homeless shelter where she meets a handsome commoner. The other residents think she’s crazy when she tries to talk to the mirrors and expects them to talk back.

• New plan: The handsome commoner helps her get her first job to survive, it’s a demeaning job for a princess but she loves it. She learns to stand up for herself for the first time. He teaches her Krav skills to build her confidence. She uses those combat skills to help him fight off some thugs who were sent by the Dwarf to get rid of the handsome commoner.

• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: There is a threat to kidnap Lily. She recruits the dwarf and his friends to help her. She makes a plan using the new combat skills she learned along with tricks from her animal friends and escapes the kidnapper. However, the dwarfs and handsome commoner are all kidnapped.

Act 4:

• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The kidnapper gives Lily an impossible dilemma. She must choose to either save the dwarfs or the handsome commoner.

• Resolution: Lily figures out that the kidnapper is the Dwarf and the two have an extensive fight. Using her new skills, she prevails while accidentally tearing off his mask to reveal his true identity. She saves the dwarfs however the commoner is in a coma, but she saves him with a sloppy kiss, it’s her first kiss. The King arrives and is impressed with Lily’s new skills and confidence as she stands up to him for the first time. He apologizes for always wanting a boy, tells her he is very proud of her, and that she will make an excellent ruler someday.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  Teresa Rodriguez.

[Valeriya Ordinartseva]

Valeriya’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: I am a masterful, ahead-of-the-game, and outside-the-box writer full of ideas and creative energy. My writing is fresh, impactful, iconic, beautiful, and effortless, and my projects deliver outstanding commercial and artistic success. I create a lot, it’s fun, quick, and easy. My whole life is that way.

I’m completely confident building genre conventions into my structure.

What I learned from doing this assignment is…

– I love seeing how it comes together.

– Before I saw working on structure as the least creative and the most daunting part of the job, now I understand it’s where all interesting creative things really happen, it’s about the soul and the feel of the movie.

– I have so many ideas I like, looking forward to implementing the best of them.

– I discovered there is a 100% archetype story in my robot movie, I can use it.

– Nailed a great theme/moral statement for the robot movie.

Title: BOO WHO HOO (formerly known as WHAT DOESN’T KILL ME, I’ll appreciate your feedback on the new title)

Concept: Following her therapist’s advice, a woman brings an “under-the-bed monster” that doesn’t let her lead fulfilling life out into the light to learn how to live with it. But the monster has plans of its own.

Genre: Horror Thriller

PURPOSE: To create the experience of horror for your audience by taking

your characters to the point of hysteria.

ISOLATION: Setting and situation where the characters are alone and

powerless against the monster.

DEATH: Threaten your characters with awful, violent, and torturous

deaths. Create the fear of death or insanity.

MONSTER/VILLAIN: A person or entity that will inflict endless terror and

violence.

HIGH TENSION: Put your characters in sinister situations that are out of

their control, then turn up the heat to the point of hysteria.

DEPARTURE FROM REALITY: These are extreme locations, situations,

outside of daily life. Thrillers are part of our normal life. Horror movies are

a departure.

MORAL STATEMENT: Under all of this horror is a social message about

what are acceptable values and what lines not to cross. Those who violate

these values are punished in a bad way.

PURPOSE: To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and

suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.

LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS. They face danger at every step –either

physically, emotionally, or mentally. The hero needs to either be in danger

or there is the implication of future danger.

MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: There’s a mystery that must be solved in

order to survive. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert Villain’s plan.

Suspense comes from the danger the Hero faces.

HERO: Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful hero

VILLAIN: Dangerous, devious, and unrelenting. Committed to destroy

anyone who gets in their way.

MAIN EMOTIONS: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation,

uncertainty, and surprise.

Act 1 – Wake up call:

Opening

Irene is depressed, lonely, and unhappy. Something bothers her at her place, she is afraid of every sound. She tells her cat Lucky not to go under the bed. She doesn’t notice she hurts herself (pinching, biting nails and lips). She turns on the TV not to feel alone. Her wisdom tooth starts bothering her. Her life and relationships are ugly. It becomes obvious to her when her successful childhood friend comes to town, the one who lives her life to the fullest. They meet and Irene realizes she needs help. Her cat disappears.

Inciting Incident

Irene senses there’s someone in the house. She has a nervous breakdown and decides to go see a shrink. The shrink suggests communicating with the monster that presumably lives under Irenes’ bed. Irene starts talking to the monster.

Turning Point

The monster comes out.

______________________________

Act 2 – Run or hide it:

New plan

Strange things start happening: the picture of her family breaks, she finds a collar of her cat, there are weird reflections on her screen and in the mirrors, the lights go off way too often, or are on where she didn’t turn it on. And when her hand hangs from the bed, something that’s under the bed… Irene is scared she calls her mom who invites her to come over for a weekend.

Plan in action

Irene goes out, trying to escape from the monster. It follows. She sees it in the window of the gallery. Its shadow follows her. She hides in the club. The monster is in the crowd. She brings home a guy and locks the door and windows to keep the monster out. The guy disappears.

Irene goes to see her family. The monster is there. When her mom reminds her that she’s turning 30 and she is still alone, Irene says she is not alone, that’s the thing. Why didn’t she tell them? She wanted it to be a surprise. She introduces the monster and invites it to the table. Everyone believes a guy is about to come in. They wait. Irene’s niece checks and comes back quiet. Mom goes to welcome the guest. Nobody. Stupid joke. Irene’s niece confirms the monster is real. Irene’s niece gives her cryptic advice on dealing with monsters.

Midpoint Turning Point

Irene goes to the dentist to pull her wisdom tooth. The monster comes back. She runs away from the dentist without treatment. Irene’s friends and family disappear.

______________________________

Act 3 – Monsters’ showdown:

Rethink everything

Understanding she can’t run away, Irene starts hunting the monster, but of course the odds are against her – she is the one who gets hurt. Then she decides to pretend she is a friend of the monster and do whatever it wants to get rid of it. The TV changes the channels showing horrible news when the remote control slides under the bed. Irene’s friend is dead. The monster needs someone, maybe someone else, she hopes, because she can’t kill herself, although she tries.

New plan

Irene and the monster go out to kill someone. They come to a 24/7 shop. She buys painkillers, they have a convo on dealing with pian vs. killing it. There’s something in the store. The manager hides from the monster with Irene. He walks her back to her place. She invites him to come up. He passes.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

It’s on then the monster and Irene have to sort it out now. Suddenly, Irene’s mom brings the niece who has to stay with Irene, whose sister is in hospital.

______________________________

Act 4 – Monsters united:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

Irene decides to kill her niece to get rid of the monster. The monster stops Irene from committing murder. Irene realizes she has been terrorizing herself and others all this time. She embraces her fears and breaks free from them. Monster gives her a gift. It shows Irene what she wants and helps her get rid of her fears. (Leaving it here for now: when she was a child, Irene was hiding under the bed). In the morning emergency takes Irene away.

Resolution

Irene becomes an artist who can see other’s monsters. Her art is a reminder that sets them free. Her paintings are in the gallery. She dates the guy she connected with thanks to the monster. She tells the shrink no longer needs therapy. The kid can sense the presence of her own monster.

Title: 7RDRD4

Concept: Robots became too human and people start dehumanization program to get rid of them. Can a girl brought up by a robot prove that she isn’t one before she and her robot get killed?

Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller

PURPOSE: To explore the implications of technological change, alternative

worlds, and/or probable futures that could come from the changes in

science. To cause us to think outside of our own world.

FANTASTIC WORLDS: The world of the story is dramatically different from

our current world, in one or more major ways. It could be our world with

some major shift.

SCIENCE: The circumstances and world are based more out of science and

what it might possibly accomplish in the future (or in an alternate

past/species/world/etc), rather than whimsical dreams and fairy tales.

INCREDIBLE VISUALS: In exploring the fantastic world of the story, we see

things alien and bizarre compared to our current lives.

SOCIAL COMMENTARY: Because we are in a different time, place, and

experience, it is possible to explore current-day social issues, sometimes

going as far as making moral statements. It often contains idealistic hope

or dire warnings.

SUB-GENRE: The World/Science is the environment. The sub-genre gives

us the story.

PURPOSE: To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and

suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.

LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS. They face danger at every step –either

physically, emotionally, or mentally. The hero needs to either be in danger

or there is the implication of future danger.

MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: There’s a mystery that must be solved in

order to survive. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert Villain’s plan.

Suspense comes from the danger the Hero faces.

HERO: Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful hero

VILLAIN: Dangerous, devious, and unrelenting. Committed to destroy

anyone who gets in their way.

MAIN EMOTIONS: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation,

uncertainty, and surprise.

Act 1 – Human:

Opening

A robot kills a person putting the existence of all human-like robots in danger.

Inciting Incident

Throwing itself away, the robot finds a baby girl in the waste. It brings up the human child, hiding and protecting it from the cruel society that let the child down. An evil evasive robot kills more people. People invite robots to come for recycling if they want to be of service. People disappear and our robot uses their IDs.

Turning Point

People decide to get rid of human robots altogether. The robot who saved the baby gets an invitation to the humanity test.

Act 2 – Robot:

New plan

The teen girl steals the invitation to pass the test instead of her robot.

Plan in action

The girl fails, she is recognized to be a robot and is sent to recycling. There are traces of murders in the recycling facility. The robot saves the girl and others.

Midpoint Turning Point

They are all caught.

Act 3 – Game on:

Rethink everything

For the sake of fairness and entertainment, people offer the robots to play a humanity game, in which those who fail get destroyed.

New plan

Robots and people help each other to go through trials. The tasks, puzzles, and traps are created in a way nobody can survive.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

A mysterious flying robot kills those who found the solutions for everyone in previous rounds.

Act 4 – The score:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

The girl figures out what’s going on but his discovery leads them into a trap. Now she has to die. Our robot fights the mysterious one. Turns out the politician running the dehumanization program is a robot.

Resolution

Both robots die. The girl lives to build a world where humanity comes first for every creation.

[Peter Symons]

Peter’s 4 Act Transformational Structure

My vision is to be a prolific screenwriter who sells compelling stories that are made into movies and streaming content.

What I learned is by going through the genre conventions, we can add certain pivotal scenes that elevate the story.

PURPOSE – The souls of the damned driven to Hell. Death is coming for all of us.

MONSTER – Monster is demonically possessed 1937 Packard Henney hearse. The hearse speaks to Carlos and gains influence over him.

DEATH – The Meat Wagon is the physical embodiment of Death especially horrible deaths meted out by Carlos with the poisoned machete. He’s now El Escorpión – the Scorpion. Carlos doesn’t realize that he never made it out of the shooting alive. We are seeing a dead man walking… Carlos doesn’t realize that he never made it out of the shooting alive. We are seeing a dead man walking…

DEPARTURE FROM REALITY – Carlos appears as both alive, dead and as a man resurrected. Carlos is a ghost at this point. Like the Sixth Sense he doesn’t know yet that he’s dead. So, people driving by the hearse would not see a driver!

ISOLATION – Carlos wakes up in a coffin. He tries to scream, but they sew his lips shut.

MORAL – Just like in the scorpion’s fable – a scorpion can’t change its nature—to kill. Neither can Carlos.

Concept: A reformed gangster takes a night job driving a hearse – a tough job by any measure—made supernaturally challenging because the body is the back is his.

Main Conflict: Carlos wants to walk the straight and narrow, but his old associate, Jude, wants to see him burn in hell for betraying his gang.

Carlos’s Old Ways

• Desperate to escape his past

• Afraid of his temper

• Conflicted life values

• Doesn’t trust his gut

Carlos’s New Ways

• Becomes El Escorpión

• Driven by revenge

• Raised from the dead

• Becomes the Ferryman of the Meat Wagon

Carlos Internal Journey: From a drug dealer and murderer to a man whose soul is saved from an eternity in Hell.

Carlos External Journey: From former gangster to loving husband and father to supernatural entity.

Act 1:

• Opening: A vintage black hearse with no driver pursues another car down a dark desert highway. The hearse runs the other car off the road. The driver exits out the passenger’s door of the burning wreckage, injured and desperate to get away. The side doors of the hearse swing open, and a coffin slides out on a table awaiting a new victim!

• Former gangster Carlos works for Father Diego at his funeral home driving hearse. His former gang tries to recruit him back into the thug life.

• Turning Point: The gang does a drive by shooting at the church where Carlos’s son is being baptized. Carlos’s wife is killed!

Act 2:

• New plan: Carlos gets revenge on his old gang for killing his wife.

• Plan in action: Carlos slaughters everyone with a machete. Jude shoots him and escapes.

• Midpoint Turning Point: Carlos burns down his old gang HQ…hides out from the cops in the funeral home. He doesn’t know he’s dead!

Act 3:

• Rethink everything: While in hiding, Carlos watches the old priest perform an arcane ritual on a body. Police come to the funeral home looking for Carlos. He escapes in the Meat Wagon

• New plan: Finish Jude!

• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Carlos runs Jude off the road and kills him. Doesn’t realize that body in the back of the hearse his is own. It was his ghost driving the hearse!

Act 4:

• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: At his own funeral, the old priest raises Carlos from the dead. The old priest reveals that he too was once lost like Carlos until someone intervened to Santa Muerte to save him soul… Father Diego reveals his own autopsy scar! True to nature, Carlos decapitates the priest and completes the ritual. Carlos must pay a penance by becoming the new driver of the Meat Wagon.

• Resolution: Locals light black candles for protection as the hearse drives into the night looking for the souls of the damned!

[Rosemary Lismore]

WIM Module 2 Lesson 6 Build in the Genre Conventions

I am a sought after writer, who creates memorable characters, whose scripts win academy awards, allowing me to dream for a living, (Spielberg is not the only one), providing an affluent lifestyle while living respected by friends, family, movie industry pros. I am consistently brilliant, writing the most important movies of our time.

What I learned: Instead of writing so much into the outline, to simply be sure there are enough areas where action is built it – to be brought to perfection later.

Title: Pointe To War

Concept: Alexis a ballet dancer extraordinaire, must learn to overcome the dictates

of others in order to show A Navy Seal Team they are unwittingly staring a war.

Genre: Action

List Conventions of Action:

· Purpose: Adrenaline stirring, fast paced, big-event story

· Demand for Action: action to get facts must be communicated

· Mission: get evidence navy seals will believe

· Escalating Action – difficulty relaying evidence

· Hero – fast thinking hand signals and notes get delivered

· Antagonist – dies trying to use a conflict to stop further conflicts

A girl with superior physical abilities is drawn into a scenario where she is aware the Navy Commander is plotting to blow up a massive cache of ordinance close to the North Korean border. She is thrown in with a Seal Team on the guise of training them her one good escape move. The Seal Team seeing her only as inferior tolerate her and must learn to trust her when she proves her move works. But when she comes to them with a story of a plot their Commander is hatching, they must decide if they trust her or their Commander. They are in effect fighting against each other going after the same goal. Peace.

Main Conflict: Alexis has no strength of character to have her ballet master see his error in choreography she goes on to have no strength to inform a navy seal team they are in danger of starting a major conflict. Her conflict is with authority figures who are in the wrong.

Old Ways – suck it up buttercup and move on with your day, acquiesce, lose energy, live downtrodden.

New Ways – explores various avenues so as to have something to help demonstrate what she is trying to inform. Doesn’t tolerate what she opposes during conversation, she verbally challenges anyone/everyone.

Act 1:

Opening

The artistic director of a major ballet company is slamming a cane down over and over, angrily screaming that the choreography is not happening. Fix it Fix it!!

Alexis is rehearsing with her partner an original work the artistic director/choreographer has prepared. She and her partner see the way several moves cannot follow each other, but it is her ending move that demonstrates the problem. He won’t speak up – snob – jealous of her career accomplishments so early, she is left hanging.

Inciting
Incident.

She is declared incompetent and is sent off on sabbatical to train with a martial arts master to find her mojo / better attitude.

Turning Point

Alexis performing a sequence of 18 moves is sweating and panting. It has been 5 hours that she has trained, continuing with classes as they came and went while the senseii decides where she should be placed. Exhasted, she collapses into a wing back chair in a side room and is not noticed. A seal team enter with the senseii and while standing they load in a video of a pilot being dragged out of his crashed jet and beaten and dragged off. – into north korea.

Act 2:

New plan

Alexis has screamed out, no! how could the pilot not have known the defensive move we learned all day – she is caught by the team and the senseii. Shocked, the Commander has her shipped off to train navy seals this move. She is emotional, incredulous not able to believe what is going on.

Plan in action

Midpoint Turning Point

With her stealth ability, Alexis finds a computer and gets messages out to her ballet mates one Korean, one Russian, and asks for help re what to do, says she is with a seal team training them and Commander X is in charge. They inform her he is under investigation something to do with stolen ordinance.

Act 3:

Rethink everything

She knows now she must get the seals who have been tolerating her training, to listen to her. She starts to learn their hand signals and becomes familiar with them.

New plan

She will get the notes her mates have armed her with, to one Seal. In place of training the Seals, she performs a combination of sexy dancing and martial arts flying kicks. She attracts the notice of one particular Seal. She plans a love interest with to get him into a private space.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

The commander sends her to a male prison as he and the warden are conspiring together- under the guise of this amazing training she can offer prison guards. She’s too far away and out of communication!

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

She is in the prison and locked doors open as she approaches and manages to walk thru the library where she meets a seal who says he has been forgotten, that he was working undercover to discover a plot to steal munitions but fears his family/friends have been told he is dead. He gives her a note for the seals and he does a hand gesture. She wonders if the Seals would recognize this gesture. Again, doors open and she returns to the base where the Seals are. She must now get the seal team on her side, give them the note in – confidence from the Commander – whom they follow without question. They explain the commander has sent down orders their team is off to south korea. She forces the note in his side leg pocket and makes the hand gesture. Seal team leader walks away reading the note perplexed she would know that particular hand gesture. Alexis is nabbed by soldiers and bagged and taken to the border of n and s korea and left in an munitions box.

Resolution

The seal team have broken out their team member from prison helicopter at the ready and take him to s korea with them. They now question their orders before automatically blowing up the ordinance. The commander is there! He confronts the team and says it’s her or the ordinance. Choose, he lifts the bag off her head. And they withdraw weapons, the newly released prisoner who is a closer friend with one seal, grabs his mates’ hand gun from his side leg pocket and stands with the commander – holding the gun against the seal team. The ‘closer’ mate stealthily turns back to back from the seal closest to him. Befre anyone can see, he has lifted his auto rifle and shot his mate dead, tears in his eyes. The commander yells for 2 soldiers behind him to take the girl and lock her in the ‘barn’ with the ordinance and blow it. A Russian spy (off camera) shoots from the side out of our sight, the 2 soldiers and the Commander and walks off perhaps allowing himself to be seen by the seal team.

Alexis runs to the seals and they settle all. Back on stage now, she has reworked and performed a brilliant choreographed string of moves to a standing ovation and flowers. The artistic director smiles despite himself. Alexis looks up in the sky and does the hand gesture. The seals are in a helicopter watching her performance on a laptop. They watch her final steps and and smile knowingly. They roar in agreement when they see her do the hand gesture.

[Elizabeth Wang-Lee]

Elizabeth’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: I write kickass, creative and emotional blockbuster movies, TV series and graphic novels like my writing heroes (eg. Jonathan Nolan, Joseph Weisberg, etc.) and be in constant demand.

What I learned from doing this assignment: I learned that by layering genre conventions into the 4 act transformational structure, I can build in story points that strengthen the story and the genre.

Title: Black Time

Concept: An memory scientist is reunited with her missing twin brother only to discover he is an imposter and the real one was hijacked into a mirror dimension.

Genre: Sci-fi/Thriller

Act 1:

1. Opening –Rizzo must make a presentation at the University of her memory system which she and her brother developed or risk losing the whole thing. But he brother has been missing for months and presumably dead.

2. Inciting Incident- Rizzo is kidnapped by secret government personnel and is led to her missing brother Marcus who is injured and suffering from PTSD after a secret mission. She has been asked to use her memory recall system to figure out what happened.

3. Turning Point- After reviewing Marcus’ memory it ‘appears’ Marcus has killed his squad leader in the last mission. Everyone is shocked including Rizzo who refuses to believe her brother is capable of murder. Is Marcus the killer? He is under house arrest.

Act 2:

4. Reaction: Rizzo resigns to the situation. She is allowed to visit Marcus to spend some quality time with him. She tells him she’s going to find a way to bring him home. She’ll figure out an escape plan.

5. New Plan: Meanwhile Rizzo pretends to be interested in the facility to figure out the lay of the place. She learns about the mirrored world. She meets Sara and Billy (victims saved in last mission). She looks at Marcus’ memory footage. Power goes out. Sara is killed. Billy her son remains unscathed. This puts the whole crew and facility in lock down mode.

6. Midpoint Turning Point: Marcus is the first suspect. Now they really lock him in jail. Chances of Rizzo getting him out is zero. This freaks Marcus who nearly chokes Rizzo to death in a swing of moods, revealing a dark side of him she’s never seen before.

Act 3:

7. Rethink everything: Rizzo does some more research into Marcus’ memory. She cannot reach further back than the mission with her methods- there is a block. She also tries telepathy and is not able to connect with him. She realizes this person is not the Marcus she knows. She sees in the memory the final clue that shows he’s an imposter. The real Marcus is trapped in Black Time, calling out her name.

8. New plan: She must go to Black Time to find Marcus because he called out for her. The General doesn’t allow it – says she’s crazy and not trained.

9. Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Suddenly Marcus is killed. This shocks everyone. Who is the killer? Several people including Rizzo are nearly killed. Billy is now missing in the facility. The General cracks down on all security.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Rizzo decides to battle her agoraphobic self and train for the journey whether the general allows it or not. She tricks her way in going into Black time. There she finds Marcus who is gravely injured and is able to stop an invasion.

[Reginald Joseph]

Reginald’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: I am going to utilize my talents as a writer to catapult myself to the A-list, causing people in this industry to consider my writing among the best in the business.

What I learned from doing this assignment is helped me put more of the necessary pieces together. With this assignment, I have discovered even bigger challenges and abilities for the lead characters in my story.

CONCEPT: After multiple attempts to rid their neighborhood of a gang leader who continues to terrorize citizens, a member of a group that calls themselves the Vipers decides to strike back by bringing his own version of terror.

GENRE: Thriller

THRILLER CONVENTIONS:

PURPOSE: ​To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.

LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS. ​They face danger at every step — either physically, emotionally, or mentally. The hero needs to either be in danger or there is the implication of future danger.

MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: ​There’s a mystery that must be solved in order to survive. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert Villain’s plan.

Suspense comes from the danger the Hero faces. HERO: ​Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful hero

VILLAIN: ​Dangerous, devious, and unrelenting. Committed to destroy anyone who gets in their way.

MAIN EMOTIONS: ​Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, and surprise.

Main Conflict: Anson Haley’s fear of becoming a target for a delinquent family, prevents him from speaking out against the growing violence in his community.

Old Ways: Afraid that his handicap will cause his thug neighbors to see him as weak, making him and his home a target. Hides inside as much as possible, peeking out from behind the curtains as they terrorize citizens.

New Ways: Confronts one of the family members about his loud music. Stops one his neighbors from being sexually assaulted and doesn’t cower when they threaten his life.

Act 1:

Opening: An elderly woman is knocked to the ground by a thug during a police chase.

Inciting Incident: A local convenient store owner refuses to pay a tax ordered by Leon and is beaten within inches of his life.

Turning Point: A disabled Vet saves his neighbor from being gang raped by firing his gun at the assailants.

Act 2:

New Plan: Anson realizes that things are getting worse in the neighborhood and fears that if he doesn’t do something, he or one of his neighbors will fall victim to the violence.

Plan in Action: Cleans out a room in his basement and finds pictures of him and Leon’s father during the war. He gets close to Leon by showing him the pictures and telling him about their friendship and how Leon’s father once saved his life.

Midpoint Turning Point: Anson invites Leon over to his house for a drink and promises to give him something that was his father’s. Leon wakes to find himself buried inside of a coffin.

Act 3:

Rethink Everything: Anson is visited by Leon’s brothers. They know that he came there to meet Anson and one of them begins physically assaulting Anson while the others tear up the place looking for Leon. Leon calls out for help but no one answers. They threaten to kill Anson if they find he has anything to do with their brother’s disappearance. Anson thinks he’s in over his head and contemplates letting Leon go.

New Plan: Almost certain Leon will have him murdered and things won’t get any better in the neighborhood, Anson focuses his efforts on bringing the family to their knees by cutting off the head.

Turning Point / Huge Failure / Major Shift: Gang members search every home in the neighborhood and question the residents concerning Leon’s disappearance. Anson fears this may result in someone getting killed. Leon discovers the cell phone has limited battery power and sends a text, telling his crew that he is buried somewhere and pleads for them to find him quickly. Several members of the gang discuss taking over as leader, painting Leon as weak.

Resolution: Leon promises to leave the neighborhood and change his ways if he’s set free. Anson tells Leon to record himself giving instructions for his brothers to leave the neighborhood.

[Michelle Damis]

Michelle Damis’ Genre Conventions

I will be a prolific writer that is sought out because of my ability to truly touch people and create memorable stories and I will have financial freedom and time with my family as I travel the world.

“What I learned from doing this assignment is that I will keep the genre conventions with me as I write my outline and scenes, I did find my four act initial outline aligns well with both the conventions lists and I know I’m on the right path, I just need to make sure I don’t start to deviate.

Title: Chelsea Handler – It’s all your fault
Concept: When a famous comedian cancels her show last minute, two
middle-aged sisters find themselves having a wild night they’ll never
forget.
Genre – Comedy or Action/Comedy

CONVENTIONS OF COMEDY

PURPOSE​: To entertain the audience with a story packed with laughter-inducing moments.

INCONGRUENCE:​ Some aspect of the journey, world, characters, or perspective is incongruent in a way that causes the audience to laugh. The unconventional pairing of two things, people, or situations in any way that causes laughter.

MECHANICS OF COMEDY:​ Specific devices are used to induce laughter: Primarily, the Setup / Punchline. Also, devices like toppers, running gags, sight and prop humor. This also includes comedic situations like “Fish out of water,” Incongruent Pairings, Hilarious Purpose, Absurd situation, Misinterpretation, etc..

COMEDIC PROTAGONIST(S):​ Whether deliberately funny or the ‘straight man’ of the story, the Protagonist triggers countless amusing situations through their incongruent perspectives, choices and reactions to events.

STRONG STORY:​ Comedy is not enough. You need a story that keeps us engaged throughout the movie.

CONVENTIONS OF ACTION

PURPOSE: ​ To excite your audience with an adrenaline-stirring, fast-paced, big-event story.

DEMAND FOR ACTION: ​There is a problem or goal that the only solution is a high level of action (Intense fighting, running, escaping, and/or competing). Plot, character, and situations are all designed to demand Action!

MISSION: ​There is a stated or implied mission. The Hero must take down the antagonistic force, defend against overwhelming odds, or escape the inescapable.

ESCALATING ACTION: ​Overcoming the problem requires greater and greater heights of action (and involving higher stakes) as the story progresses.

HERO: ​ Highly capable and skilled. Often, they bring a unique skill or talent to the fight that has them stand out from other heroes in the genre.

ANTAGONISTS: ​ Clearly evil / corrupt / malicious, necessitating decisive and expedient action to deal with them.

Act 1:

Opening – All the “life” stuff that
is happening to both the sisters but more-so to Jo.
Inciting Incident – They have been
so looking forward to a night out for their birthday – but the comedian
cancelled and they did not get the notification
Turning Point – Jo would normally
throw in the towel and quit in defeat but she decides to go out and have
fun with a few women they just met that were also supposed to go to the
concert

Act 2:

New plan- all the fun of a crazy
night, new friends, new experiences
Plan in action – not sure
Midpoint Turning Point – the stolen
cell phone sends things careening down a dangerous path

Act 3:

Rethink everything – oops we are in
danger the chase begins
New plan
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major
shift – someone gets hurt, taco truck stolen to get to hospital – Jo gets
fired

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the
conflict – chase is not over, end up in the comedian’s hospital room (it’s
all YOUR fault!!!)
Resolution – Jo stands up for
herself and refuses to be fired.
Promise of a relationship.

[Joaquin Gray]

Joaquin “Ibn Gray’s” Genre Conventions

My vision for the completion of this class is to write A plus intriguing screenplays that will be produced into extremely profitable movies, which I will cash large checks from.

What I learned doing this assignment is that simply brainstorming the genre conventions allows simple ideas to enter the mind, making it easy for a first draft to be written.

Title: The emancipation of 1865Concept: The story of a Black American family that migrates from Georgia to Texas after the emancipation proclamation of 1863. Little did they know slavery would not be outlawed in Texas until June 19th, 1865, the day and fight of a lifetime.<div>

Genre: Drama

PURPOSE: ​ To explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for their characters.

CHARACTER-DRIVEN JOURNEY: ​

HIGH STAKES COME FROM WITHIN: ​

EMOTIONALLY RESONATES: CHALLENGING, EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED SITUATIONS: ​

REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS: ​

Main Conflict – Brewford fights a ruthless plantation owner attempting to enslave every black American in Texas, before the law to end slavery is recognized nationwide.

Old Ways – Quiet, meek family man, non-confrontational.

New Ways – Skilled warrior, Active on the battlefield, defender of his community. No fear of standing up to his enemies.

Act 1:

Opening – It’s 1863, Brewford travels with his family on a wagon pulled by two horses across the open plains. They arrive at a home in a secluded area and look to settle in, it’s the 1865 Everyone is happy upon arrival and excited to begin their new lives.

Inciting Incident – Four men on horses with guns approach the home harassing them. The men destroy some of the family’s possessions. </div><div>

Turning Point – The men with guns tell Brewford and family they are in Texas now, slavery is not outlawed, and they better leave town. They inform them of Clyde Fordwood plantation as the place they will endup. (Possibly 24 hours)

Act 2:

New plan – Brewfod meets with a few black families living in the same area, to discuss their rights to freedom without harassment. The town members are somewhat fed up with the harassment yet cautious. They decided to seek help from the local sheriff located in the nearest town. </div><div>

Plan in action – A few men along with Brewford’s teenage son ride into town to meet with the sheriff and show freedom papers.

Midpoint Turning Point – While at the meeting, Brewfords son and two other teenage girls are kidnapped by Clyde Fordwood and his men. The sheriff doesn’t intervene. The sheriff pays them no mind considering Clyde is his brother.

Act 3:

Rethink everything – Bewford returns to his neighborhood with news of the incident. He gives a speech about fighting in the war and thinking about his freedom.</div><div>

New plan – The women suggest going to rescue the children with the men. They remind the men that those are their children too.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – while at the meeting Clyde’s men return to the home and murder a child.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Brewford and a few men and women ride to the town to rescue the children. A major gun fight happens. </div><div>

Resolution – Brewford’s posse kills Clyde and his men just before the US Marshalls rides into town declaring slavery has been outlawed in the state.

Joaquin

</div>

[Kevin Cunningham]

Kevin Cunningham’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: By making my high-quality writing and speaking known in many venues (the Industry, Youtube, podcasts, books), I will create a reputation as a profoundly powerful, thoughtful, and skilled writer, and be sought after for new and rewrite activities at the highest levels.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Comedy works on two levels: in the larger structure (absurd situations, quirks of character, etc.) and in the moment-by-moment scenes (gags, jokes, etc.) As I start to apply the genre conventions, I want to write clever scenes, and witty repartee etc. (i.e., dialogue and clever twists). But for this exercise, I’ve just made some adjustments to the big arc of the story. I will certainly add more comic elements in the details when I get there. I’m aware how to start scripting dialogue now might cement in those pieces, and I don’t want to do that yet. (Don’t want to be wedded to the little gags etc.)

——

Title: Going Native

Concept: A woke New England town votes to give their land back to the Native American tribe they stole it from centuries before – putting leadership of the town in the hands of a clueless slacker native teen

Genre: Comedy/Satire

——

Genre Conventions for Comedy:

– purpose: entertain, laughter

– key method: incongruence (in journey, world, character, perspective) – unconventional pairing

– setup/punchline

– toppers

– running gags

– sight/prop humor

– situations: fish out of water, incongruent pairings, hilarious purpose, absurd situation, misinterpretation

– Protagonist: deliberately or inadvertently triggers amusing situations

(via incongruent perpectives, choices, or reactions to events)

– Strong story: comedy is not enough, need engaging story

——

Four-Act Structure (Protagonist’s Version) – Revised for Genre

Act 1:

Opening:

– Mukki asleep awkwardly on his cot, his mom comes in and urges him to get up (in Native language); Mukki sighs; he reaches for his pants; she shakes her head no; she tosses him colorful native garb; Mukki frowns

– 1970s 8mm footage: 6-year-old Mr. Fox dresses in Indian garb, turns to face other kids, who are dressed as cowboys and move forward menacingly; Mr. Fox swallows hard

– Mukki stumbles toward a crowd of other natives, pulling on his colorful costume awkwardly; tumbles; gets up and races along: joins them just in time as they do a “Grand Entry” — it’s a traditional powwow; in the audience, clueless touristy white folks; Mukki pauses as he comes up to Alana, the Powwow Princess — beautiful in her native garb; Mukki, stopped short, is trampled by the tribesmen behind him; he looks up, mud on his face; the white attendees point at him and laugh

– Jessie Masnubic directs a group of high schoolers in an all-white production of a play about Tom Sawyer — Tom, Huck Finn, and Injun Joe — all played by white girls, including Alison Fox as Tom.

– Mukki plays video games, avoids native culture, pines for Powwow Princess.

– Mukki’s native tribe is troubled with opioid addiction, threatening their meager numbers.

– The Fox family prepares for retirement.

– Jessie Masnubic leads a group of rabid towsnfolk for a big push on Town Meeting motions:

1. changing “Selectmen” to “Select Board”

2. changing the state flag to get rid of the oppressed Indian image

3. changing “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous People’s Day”

Inciting Incident:

– Town Meeting puts forward a motion to go all the way and turn over their land to the natives.

– Mr. Fox unexpectedly casts the deciding vote – and the motion passes! Everyone is astounded!

Turning Point:

– Mukki’s tribe discusses what to do – the grandfather must cope with the opioid crisis.

– He assigns Mukki to serve as the tribe’s representative – and run the town!

– Mukki is appointed “Mayor” of the town

Act 2:

Reaction (new plan):

– Mukki tries to figure out how the town runs – everybody tries to advise him.

– Mukki decides it isn’t too hard, just run the meetings – but he has no clue how to do this.

Plan in action:

– Mukki doesn’t listen to the town employees, but instead tries to follow all the political groups.

– Mukki at a big meeting fails catastrophically – flails on all the issues.

Midpoint Turning Point:

– The Town Accountant reports: the town is deeply in debt, and will go broke soon if they can’t pay.

– Everyone in town turns against Mukki, fearful for the loss of their homes and their cherished projects.

– Because the natives own the town, the crisis is on them: if they fail, they will lose ALL their land!!

Act 3:

Rethink everything:

– Mukki decides to work with his peers rather than the hostile grownups/politicians.

– Mukki turns also to his grandfather to seek out native wisdom, which he’s pooh-poohed his whole life. He awkwardly learns his native heritage; the grandfather rolls his eyes multiple times as he teaches the old ways.

New plan:

– Mukki tries to enact some simple approaches – a bake sale? selfless contributions?

– Mukki decides to work with the town employees and volunteers, who know how to run the town.

– The politicians and townsfolk try to take matters into their own hands – and anarchy ensues.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift:

– Mukki and his new allies can’t figure out a way to pay the debts.

– Mr. Fox suggests a path: sell the land for a casino.

– To save the town (and the tribe) from massive debt, they have one choice: to sell off their homeland!

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:

– Alison is at home, forlorn, as her mother gardens. Her mother encourages her to look to the land. “The land? Of course!” Alison has a suspicion and goes with Mukki to confront her father.

– Mukki realizes that Mr. Fox had engineered this whole crisis for his own ends: Mr. Fox owns the company that would make a huge profit out of buying up the land dirt cheap!

– Mukki brings the townsfolk together as a team in the common cause of saving their town. He uses the skills his grandfather taught him — and his video gaming knowledge.

– They discover that, though the colonist’s had stolen the land from his tribe, his tribe had themselves stolen it from another tribe before that. This negates the original transfer to his tribe!

– The town reverts to its previous legal status and picks up where it left off – able to pay its debt.

Resolution:

– Mukki has taught the town new ways of working together, discovered and valued his native heritage, and found new friends/lovers. Mr. Fox fails to destroy the town for his sneaky business deal. The Powwow Princess steps forward for Mukki, but he takes Alison’s hand awkwardly.

[Gisele FRAZEUR]

Gisele Frazeur’s Genre Conventions

My vision: I am going to work diligently to become a brilliant, reliable screenwriter who is sought after, regularly produced, highly paid, and awarded. Artistic fulfillment and financial freedom will result from the achievement of this goal!

What I learned doing this assignment is: A screenplay is built layer by layer by layer by layer.

Title: Nose-to-Nose

Concept: A perfumer joins forces with a down-and-out detection dog to nose out her sister’s killer.

Genre: Thriller

Conventions:

Purpose –plot twists, high stakes, adrenalin. Life & death situations. Mystery/Intrigue/Suspense. Hero unknowing but resourceful. Villain devious & unrelenting. Main emotions are suspense, tension, anticipation, uncertainty & surprise.

Main Conflict: Undercover Police Detective Hank Sanford is in league with a drug cartel. He is gleaning scientific information from his perfumer sister-in-law (Darin August) that aids in transporting drugs undetected by sniffer dogs. When he fails to deliver new info to the cartel, the cartel murders his pregnant wife (Livie) as a warning. Darin resolves to avenge her sister’s murder: unaware she is being manipulated and exploited by the man responsible for Livie’s death.

Old Ways: Workaholic. Alcoholic. Avoids meaningful relationships. Self-loathing. Insecure.

New Ways: Vulnerable. Balanced. Sober. Beneficent. Fearless. BAD ASS!!!

Act 1

Opening: Darin and Livie get dressed for an industry awards ceremony wherein Darin is being honored. Pookie (retired detection dog who has been forced into retirement after failing to detect smuggled drugs – -and has become a family pet) behaves strangely while they make themselves up.

FiFi Awards: Darin and a very pregnant Livie attend the FiFi Awards. The celebratory evening takes a turn when a guest at the reception nearly chokes to death on a meatball laced with an human toe. A riot mounts outside of the awards ceremony. Followers of gangster, gone rapper, gone televangelist – – Leff-T, are protesting Darin for having turned down a commission to make a celebrity fragrance for him. Darin and Livie are physically accosted by the mob as they exit the awards.

Inciting Incident: Livie and Darin are shot in a drive by shooting upon their return home from the awards.

Turning Point: in the hospital Darin learns of her pregnant sister’s death. Police believe Darin was the target of the murder and Livie was collateral damage.

Act 2

New Plan: Darin resolves to solve and avenge Livie’s murder. Meanwhile – – she seeks comfort in Hank – – who leads her back to imbibing – – to calm her nerves. He also provides her with a firearm in order to protect herself. Hank encourages her obsession with revenge against Leff-T.

Plan In Action: Darin commences researching and stalking Leff-T. In a drunken rage she shows up at his home demanding answers. Leff-T returns her safely to her home.

Midpoint Turning Point: Leff-T is exonerated by the police and cleared as a suspect. Police begin investigating Livie as having been the target of the shootings instead of Darin. Leff-T makes a televised speech requesting that his followers stand down and instead pray for Darin and her loved ones.

Act 3

Rethink Everything: Darin is laid off from her job because of the bad press she has been garnering. Darin gets back on the wagon and recommits to her sobriety. Sober — she becomes increasingly aware of Pookie’s (Hank’s detection dog) increased agitation and urgent need to communicate something to her.

New Plan: Darin enlists the assistance of one of her AA sponsees (Dharma) to help her understand Pookie’s increasing agita. Dharma has experience as a dog behaviorist. She also enlists the assistance of Leff-T, who has intel from his old gang connections that Hank is having an affair with the daughter of a cartel leader.

Turning Point: Pookie is hit by a car in a hit and run – – critically injured.

Act 4

Climax: Darin puts the pieces together working with a convalescing Pookie. She realizes why Pookie failed his drug scent and her unknowing involvement in it. She follows Hank to a meeting with a cartel member. She confronts him with the truth and a gun after the cartel leaves. Leff-T has followed Darin. A showdown and a shootout take place between Darin, Hank, and Leff-T. Hank confesses and is shot by Darin.

Resolution: Darin wins an award for the “Dog Perfume “she promised Livie she would create. Her husband, Leff-T, and their baby daughter, Livie, and Pookie watch the presentation. Darin dedicates her award to them.

[Holli Castillo]

Holli’s Genre Conventions

My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.

What I learned doing this assignment is to keep moving forward and avoid the perfection syndrome. I don’t have everything figured out yet, and it was keeping me from moving on. I had to adjust my mindset to think of it as filling it blanks or even temporary placeholders so I can keep moving on with the assignments.

Title: Designer Boot (still working on title.)

Concept: Concept: When a former pageant girl turned police rookie is suspended, she sets out to capture the city’s top ten most wanted criminals, and makes a deal with number 10 to help her catch the first nine.

Genre: Comedy

Conventions for Comedy:

Purpose: Laughter-inducing moments

Incongruence: Unconventional pairing of two things, people, or situations in a way that causes laughter.

Mechanics of Comedy: Specific devices used to induce laughter. Setup/Punchling; toppers; running gags; sight and prop humor; comedic situations such as fish out of water, incongruent pairings, hilarious purpose, absurd situation, misinterpretation, etc.

Comedic Protagonist(s): triggers countless amusing situations through their incongruent perspectives, choices, and reactions to event.

Strong Story:

5. List your structure from Lesson 6 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions, like I did above.

Act 1:

Original Opening – Lucy at work being obedient and getting razzed for being the beauty queen rookie.

(Opening adding genre conventions: Locker room at police station. All the lockers are identical, except for one, Lucy’s, decorated with stickers of hearts, flowers, kittens, etc. Lucy fixes her uniform hat in the mirror of her locker, looks around, grabs a tiara from the locker, takes off the hat and puts the tiara on, tries to put the hat over the tiara, doesn’t work. Disappointed, she takes it off, puts it back in the locker, rearranges the hat, primps, holds her gun up Charlie’s Angel’s style, strikes a pose. Interrupted by an officer telling her to report to roll call and makes a joke about where’s her crown. Lucy laughs and waits until he turns around to flip him the bird. She leans in, kisses an article clipping taped inside her locker with a picture of herself being crowned Miss Louisiana Hot Sauce, slams the locker door shut.

Original Inciting Incident – Trying to be nice, Lucy lets the number 10 most wanted escape and is suspended.

(Inciting incident adding genre convention original inciting incidents: Lucy is assigned to booking. A female arrestee asks to use the bathroom, has her period. Lucy takes her to the public restroom in the station instead of the inmate bathroom because it has a tampon machine. The arrested subject is the Number 10 most wanted criminal. Lucy uncuffs her to let her use the bathroom, Number 10 maneuvers it so Lucy ends up cuffed to the handicap bar by the toilet and escapes. Lucy is found by her training officer some time later and is suspended pending an investigation)

Original Turning Point – Lucy pursues number 10 on her own but loses her and causes a melee in the process. Lucy is in even more trouble with the department now. When she explains what she was trying to do, the sergeant agrees to keep her on if she can catch all top 10 before her suspension hearing.

(Turning point adding genre conventions: Lucy finds 10 on her own, but 10 outsmarts her, ending up in a car chase(?) that results in a massive traffic accident. Lucy’s rookie friend handles part of the call and takes her in. When Lucy explains to the sergeant she had a lead on 10, the sergeant jokes that it would take her catching the entire top 10 list to save her job. Gives her the date of her suspension hearing in a month.)

Act 2:

New plan – Lucy goes after the entire top 10 list using available sources.

Plan in action – Using her friend on the force as a source of information and her pageant social media followers, Lucy apprehends and turns in the wrong suspect.

Midpoint Turning Point – Lucy’s suspension hearing gets moved up to one week because of her mistake.

(New plan adding genre conventions: Lucy makes a string board with the top 10 list to go after all of them.

(Plan in action adding genre convictions: Lucy gets her co-rookie friend to give her info from the files on the top 10. She also posts to her pageant social media sites for help. The beauty queens hit the streets in search of a suspect that leads them to a circus. They point her to a guy Lucy believes is one of the top 10, a circus clown. She catches him on her own and brings him in– to find out she has the wrong clown (all clowns look alike.)

(Midpoint Turning Point with genre conventions: Her suspension hearing is moved up to the next week, but it is just a formality. The clown is suing and she’s going to be fired.

Act 3:

Rethink everything – Lucy tracks Ten and offers to help her clear her name if she helps her catch the top nine before her hearing date.

New plan – Lucy catches number 4 through 8 with Ten’s help and finds evidence to clear Ten.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift- The day before the hearing, Ten abandons Lucy and leaves her to find the top 3 on her own, but Ten gets taken by the Sergeant’s henchman.

(Rethink everything with genre convention: Lucy uses the info she has and finds 10 and they make a deal– based on 10’s earlier comments that she was set up, Lucy offers to help 10 clear her name if she helps Lucy catch the other 9. Lucy doesn’t really think 10 is innocent.

(New plan with genre convention: Lucy catches number 9, a street mime, not a circus clown, with 10’s help, turns him in and is warned not to continue pursuing the bad guys.

Lucy ignores the warning and catches numbers 4-8 in one fell swoop at a mob poker game, using hookers to infiltrate. She pays the girls with the money the mobsters were betting with.

Lucy’s co-rookie gives her some information that helps her find evidence to clear 10– the sergeant set 10 up for the murder she’s charged with.

(Turning point, huge failure/major shift, with genre conventions: Lucy gives 10 the evidence and 10 abandons her search for the rest of the list to take the evidence to the FBI to take the sarge down. But 10 is snatched by a henchman.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Lucy is about to take the top 3 down when Ten texts her for help. When no one from the station believes her, Lucy has to give up the top 3 and save Ten on her own, and live streams it, including the confession of the sergeant, who was out to get Lucy from the beginning.

Resolution – Lucy is given her job back but decides the rules don’t work the way they’re supposed to, and instead joins Ten as an apprentice bounty hunter.

(Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict with genre conventions-Lucy purses the top 3 on her own using her social media contacts and 10’s bounty hunter resources, not realizing 10 has been kidnapped. Lucy has the top 3 within her grasp and calls 10’s office for backup. She finds out 10 never made it to the FBI office nor back to her office. 10’s secretary tracks her phone and finds the location.

Lucy calls the station but no one except her co-rookie believes her that number 10 was kidnapped, nor that she has the top 3 ready for apprehension. Lucy can’t wait for the co-rookie, so she leaves the top 3 zip tied (somewhere funny?) for the co-rookie, and goes to the location from 10’s phone. Since she has no gun and no backup, she livestreams the entire thing in case she dies, and gets the sergeant’s confession. With the help of her pageant girls, she saves 10.

Resolution with genre conventions: Lucy is a hero and is offered her job back. She declines, and joins Ten as an apprentice bounty hunter. Her co-rookie arrests the top 1-3 and tries to give Lucy the credit, but she lets him keep the credit since she doesn’t need it. Co-rookie asks her out.

[Farrin Rosenthal]

Farrin Rosenthal’s Genre Conventions

Farrin’s Vision: To do what it takes to become a highly paid A-List Hollywood writer whose produced movies will entertain audiences around the world.

What I learned doing this assignment is how my 4-act structure did not incorporate the conventions of my thriller genre. It did to an extant, but I looked over the conventions and made sure they show up in a far stronger way in the structure. Doing so increases the tension and suspense, showcases the villain and reveals shocking secrets and betrayals.

Title: TRAPPED

Genre: Thriller

Concept: Claustrophobic and trapped in a box at the bottom of a pool for stealing $3.6 billion in Bitcoin from the Russian mob, a Los Angeles retail store manager has just 60 minutes to
prove his innocence and save his family.

<div>Thriller Conventions:</div>

PURPOSE: To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and

suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.

LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS.

MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE:

HERO:

VILLAIN:

MAIN EMOTIONS: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation,

uncertainty, and surprise.

Previous 4-Act Structure:

Act 1:

Opening: Tom wakes up trapped in a dark box. We see Tom’s old ways and family before.

Inciting Incident: Tom and his family are kidnapped by the Russian mob.

Turning Point: Tom finds out where he is and that he is accused of stealing $3.6 billion from a Russian mob boss who is holding Tom’s family hostage.

Act 2:

New plan: Tom’s claustrophobia starts to overwhelm him. Susan, Tom’s wife must step in and help, gets Tom to focus on the day they got married in Hawaii.

Plan in action: Tom now able to focus, but can’t talk his way out of box, Ivan ups his threats against Tom’s family. Tom calls police. He doesn’t know where he is, police can’t find him, his plans fail.

Midpoint Turning Point: Tom’s box starts to fill with water. The threat to his life just increased and time to escape is running out even faster now.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Nothing Tom is saying or doing to escape is working.

New plan: More desperate, Tom tries to be tougher.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: At the very last second, water at its highest point in the box, with the least air and space left, Tom finally confesses.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Tom is let out of the box with seconds to spare. He slowly learns the truth while pretending to access the stolen accounts. Ivan learns his brother Dmitriy betrayed him, they fight, Dmitriy wins. Tom confronts him, the man who set him up and is having an affair with his wife, kills Dmitriy. Tom learns his wife was working with Dmitriy the whole time, set Tom up.

Resolution: Russian’s are dead, kids are safe, wife is now in the box screaming, Tom is a billionaire.

Updated 4-Act Structure incorporating genre conventions:

Act 1:

Opening: Tom wakes up trapped in a dark box, doesn’t know where he is or why. We see Tom’s old ways and family before.

Inciting Incident: Tom and his family are kidnapped by hooded figures. Who are they?

Turning Point: Tom finds out where he is (at the bottom of a pool) and that he is accused of stealing $3.6 billion from a Russian mob boss who is holding Tom’s family hostage. The boss tells Tom he has 60 minutes to live unless he confesses.

Act 2:

New plan: Realizing just how trapped he is, Tom’s claustrophobia starts to overwhelm him. Susan, Tom’s wife must step in and help, gets Tom to focus on the day they got married in Hawaii. Must find out why he is in the box, and how he can escape?

Plan in action: Tom now able to focus, but can’t talk his way out of box, Ivan ups his threats against Tom’s family, threatens to rape and kill them. Tom calls police. He doesn’t know where he is, police can’t find him, his plans fail.

Midpoint Turning Point: Tom’s box starts to slowly fill with water. The threat to his life just increased exponentially. This means less air and time to escape. The tension keeps rising along with the water level.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Nothing Tom is saying or doing to escape is working. Water keeps rising, time and air running out.

New plan: More desperate, Tom tries to be tougher, but Ivan is unmoved, hurts Tom’s kids.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: When tension is at its peak, at the very last second, water at its highest point in the box, with the least air and space left, Tom finally confesses.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Tom is let out of the box with seconds to spare. He slowly learns the truth while pretending to access the stolen accounts. Ivan is shocked to learn his brother Dmitriy betrayed him, they fight, Ivan pummels Dmitriy and looks like he will win easily, but Dmitriy somehow turns the tables and kills his brother. Tom confronts Dmitriy, after learning of his wife’s betrayal, that she and the Russian are having an affair and are the masterminds behind everything. Now it’s a fight to the death. Tom kills Dmitriy with a little help from his kids.

Resolution: Russian’s are dead, kids are safe, wife is now in the box screaming, right where the bitch belongs, all assets are in Tom’s name, so he is now a billionaire.

[Bob DeCarli]

Bob DeCarli’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: To master my craft to the point where I’ve earned a reputation as the screenwriter top producers, directors, and stars can call upon when they need someone to save the day.

What I learned: That, at least at the moment, I primarily have a thriller, rather than an action/thriller.

Act 1:

Opening:

A young man, well dressed, suit, with a younger, very attractive woman. Office setting. Seems like the young woman has a crush on the man – he pretends to ignore it. Gossiping. We don’t know who the hell these two are or what they do. Then Man says get down to business, and it’s revealed he’s a judge and she’s his law clerk, and they’re discussing the cases that are before them.

Law Clerk brings up condemnation case, but the Judge says it’s easy. Expresses no sympathy for the residents – he couldn’t care less about them – but the government can’t force people to sell their homes for a big development, even if the development would be a nice change from the dumpy little homes. Second, sentencing in a capital murder case. Controversial, but he was appointed based on his promise that he would uphold the death penalty.

Inciting Incident: Anonymous, ominous demand that the Judge absent himself from the bench the next day. Or else.

His key card isn’t working, so he’s unable to get inside the courthouse through the [back] entrance. But a custodian recognizes him and lets him in.

In Chambers, his Law Clerk (in retrospect) looks surprised to see him. They go out, and Judge takes the bench.

First of the cases they discussed before, sentencing in the capital murder case. He quickly sentences the Defendant to death.

Judge calls up the second case.

Turning Point: U.S. Marshalls with guns drawn, rush into the courtroom. The just-sentenced defendant drops to the floor, thinking they’re there for him. But they’re there to arrest the Judge.

Act 2:

Reaction: Goes to the Chief Judge, and asks for assistance (and we’ve had a setup already that they have a bad relationship and she’s been hostile to him). She tells him she can’t help him. Nothing personal. She tells him what she’d tell her best friend: turn himself in.

New plan: A Wild Escape Plan: Join an EXISTING escape plan that the man he just sentenced to death is a part of. He disguises himself as the Guard driving the prisoner transport.

Plan goes wrong: Everyone except him and Death Row are killed. He’s going to leave Death Row chained in the transport but releases him and takes him with him when Death Row yells, “I know who framed you” or “I can clear your name.”

Plan in action:

–Death Row agrees to tell what he knows to the Chief Judge, at the Junior Judge’s insistence. Death Row is skeptical: She never liked Junior. What makes him think she’s not part of the plan to frame him? They manage to both get back inside the courthouse, with Junior actually managing it by acting with humility and getting someone to whom he previously was rude to help him.

Midpoint Turning Point: Junior and Death Row manage to get in to speak with the Chief Judge. It looks like she’s beginning to believe them – when she’s killed by a gunshot through a window and the gun used is tossed in through the window, framing the two of them for the murder.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: He cannot convince someone else of his innocence without opening his mind to the possibility that many of the defendants he’s sentenced were actually innocent.

New plan: Junior Judge is now convinced his sponsor, SENATOR NOAH CROSS, is behind the plot to frame him, and framed Death Row for murder. They concocts a plan to gain access to the Senator and confront him, with the help of his Law Clerk, the only person he believes is still loyal to him, who will help him clear his name.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: He witnesses the killing of his Law Clerk. Before him is presented with a gun, and evidence making it look like the Junior Judges was obsessed with the Law Clerk and he killed her because she rejected his sexual advances. He is told there is only one way out for him: committing suicide.

Act 4:

Figures out that none of this is about the murder case, but the condemnation case he was supposed to hear. Realizing that he appears guilty even though he’s innocent, he begins to think that perhaps Death Row actually is guilty. Pledges to help clear his name.

Junior Judge and Death Row concoct a plan to coerce the Senator into clearing both of them by strongly making the case that the Senator is behind the murder of the Junior Judge’s Law Clerk.

Junior Judge and Death Row confront the Senator, and it looks like their plan is succeeding – but then the Law Clerk appears at the Senator’s side! She was behind the plot to frame the Junior Judge all along, having alerted the Senator that the Judge would make the wrong ruling on the condemnation case.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Junior Judge and Death Row come up with some tricky, brilliant way to both clear themselves AND expose the Senator and the Law Clerk. [OBVIOUS PLACEHOLDER]

Resolution:

Now having developed the true qualities necessary to be a wise judge, the Junior Judge disposes of a case compassionately, the scene mirroring the first sentencing scene, and showing how he has changed.

[Tracy Lawson]

Tracy’s Genre Conventions

State: I’m completely confident building genre conventions into my structure.

I will do whatever it takes to become a successful author and screenwriter with several successful movies produced.

What I learned from this assignment is that adding genre conventions makes the story that more intense and interesting, and more marketable because if contains the elements a producer will expect.

<div>
Title: Revolutionary
Anna
Concept: A woman
bringing supplies to her husband at Valley Forge agrees to carry and
urgent message for General Washington. Now an assassin is hunting her,
trying to get the message back.
Genre: Drama/thriller

Purpose: To
explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for the
characters
Demand for
Action: Always need to care about characters; their internal journey
drives the narrative
High Stakes come
from within: Anna’s desire to save her husband’s life so her children won’t
be at the mercy of the orphan’s court. Anna’s desire to get the message to
Washington to save the Revolution.
Emotionally
resonates: Anna’s emotions as she experiences danger and hardships on the
road

Hero: Anna Stone
goes from competent mother and healer in control of her domestic domain,
to owning a place in the man’s world of war and politics
Antagonist: Uncle
William goes from being a feared authority figure over Anna to a contemptible
opportunist to takes part in a smuggling scheme that hurts the army, and
de facto hurts his nephews.</div><div>

</div>

Act 1:
Anna spends the Christmas holidays with her uncle’s family, missing her husband, Benjamin,
who is away with the army in the same unit as Anna’s three brothers.
When Her brother-in-law Thomas comes to visit, at first Anna thinks it is her husband, and is surprised and worried about why he has come when he’s supposed to be in Pennsylvania. Is he bringing word of Benjamin’s death? Knowing her mother, uncle, and aunt won’t be all that sympathetic if Benjamin is dead, she speaks to Thomas in private.

He has deserted from the army to bring home the body of the youngest brother-in-law Baylis, who died of smallpox.

Within days, Anna receives a letter from Benjamin which says two of Anna’s brothers are ill, and they all lack sufficient food and clothing in winter camp at Valley Forge. In his past letters, Benjamin downplayed the hardships, but she suspects that even now, he is not telling her the whole truth, and worries what else may be wrong.

Act 2:

Now acutely aware of the supply crisis at Valley Forge, Anna canvasses for blankets and clothes for the soldiers, but fears any aid she sends will not reach her husband in time, if at all.
She decides she must travel to Valley Forge and deliver the supplies herself and defies the incredulous reactions of her family. Uncle surprises her. Instead of joining in the dissent, he supports her mission, giving her money and asking that she stop on the way and deliver a payment to his business associate.

She refuses the escort of Manso, one of her uncle’s enslaved men. On the road,
she is presumed to be a doxy, and accused of being a spy.

Invited to stay the night at the business associate’s home, Anna learns her uncle’s money finances smuggling weapons to British officer POWs to aid a breakout.

Furious, she follows the smugglers, determined to foil their plot. In her haste, she falls in the river at a ferry crossing. Back on the road, she is so intent on catching up to the smugglers’ wagons that she fails to notice highwaymen lurking. She is nearly robbed and assaulted when Hessian POWs and their handler, an American spy, rescue her.

Her new traveling companion teaches her about survival on the road and a little spy craft besides. After they part ways, A congressman at York reveals to Anna there is a conspiracy against General Washington which could cause the United States to lose the war.

Act 3:

Anna agrees to carry the message to Valley Forge and deliver it to the general herself
Though the congressman assures Anna no one would suspect a woman of carrying anything
important, the next day, a man stops her on the road and claims the congressman
changed his mind and wants the letter back. When she refuses, he pursues her.
Anna pulls out all the stops and uses her new knowledge to evade the man. She hides, and though she knows her horse fears ferry crossings, she bribes a ferryman at an extremely treacherous river crossing to take her across to give her a head start. Even so, they end up staying at the same tavern that night, and she hides in the kitchen and drugs his drink to keep him from discovering her.

On the last leg of her trip, she stops at a field hospital, fearing her brothers are
ill inside. The assassin catches up to her, and as she races the last few
miles in the dark, she is thrown from her mount, and loses precious time.
When she finally gets back on the road, she is turned about and traveling
the wrong way in the darkness. She rides right into the clutches of her pursuer.

Act 4:

They race the final leg of the journey to Valley Forge. When she arrives at the picket
line the soldiers demand she state her business, and they don’t believe
anyone is pursuing her. They accuse her of being a spy.
As the soldiers escort her into camp under guard, her husband happens by. Heedless of the soldiers and their muskets, she leaps off her horse and into his arms. Finally she is safe! She wants to tell him everything about her journey at once. He can’t believe she is there.

With him by her side, she explains what happened, the soldiers are more inclined to believe her, and they proceed together to see Washington. He accepts the letter but lays it
aside, unread. He is polite but reserved and gives no indication that he believes Anna’s story.

During Anna’s stay in camp, she nurses her brothers, delivers the supplies, and learns
Washington did read her letter and used the intelligence to prepare for a visit from the Board of War, and thwart the plans of his enemies.

While On the way home, Anna and Benjamin meet with the congressman and share a meal. He explains more of the intrigue that led to Anna carrying the message. She soothes her husband’s anger at the congressman for putting her in so much danger.
When the waitress mentions the private banquet going on next door, Anna leaves the table, offers to help serve at the banquet where she witnesses the Marquis de Lafayette express his loyalty to Washington and crush the final plans of Horatio Gates to usurp Washington’s position.

[Linda Kish]

Linda’s Genre Conventions

My Vision is: I will do whatever it takes to be a sought-after profound writer with many successful movies produced and an Oscar on my mantel.

What I learned doing this assignment is I needed more action and thrill in my structure. I need to brainstorm actions and MIS elements and reconsider whether I can elevate the structure points.

Title: RISE OF THE FALCON

An Action Thriller.

HIGH CONCEPT: The head of a cartel is dying and puts his succession up for competition with a point system that rewards crimes based on the degree to which they promote his infamy. Will a low-level worker abandon his morals to beat the ruthless heavyweights and protect his family and community?

ACTION:

· Purpose: Adrenaline-stirring / fast paced – A man must stay alive against the ruthless cartel members who want to take him out.

· Demand for Action: A competition to win the top position of the cartel rewards crimes and demands all types of actions as they take risks to earn the most points.

· Mission: To defeat the cartel heavyweights so he can protect his family and the community.

· Escalating Action: At the beginning a cartel heavyweight just wants to torment Joaquin, but when he decides to enter the competition he becomes a target, which escalates when he starts to earn quality points.

· Hero: Joaquin is a low-level cartel member who was born into it and never had a choice but wants out for him and his family.

· Antagonist: Arturo, the presumed successor drug lord, hates Joaquin for stealing the woman he wanted and feels betrayed by Rodrigo, the current drug lord for protecting Joaquin as a debt owed to his father.

THRILLER:

· Purpose: High stakes / plot twists / suspense – From the beginning Joaquin and his family are tormented by an unknown perpetrator then learn he is the most feared cartel heavyweight who wants to take his daughter as his wife. The only way to save his daughter, his family, and community is to enter the competition and win. Multiple twists, including the very last scene.

· Life and Death Situations: His children and wife are in danger multiple times and he is in danger throughout. From the crimes he commits, the Policia, the DEA, border patrol, his competitors.

· Mystery / Intrigue / Suspense: Who is tormenting him and what does he want? Will he be able to protect his family members? He is being stalked with the purpose of being murdered and is caught off-guard multiple times but evades death. What is his wife hiding from him? What are his children hiding from him?

· Hero: Joaquin is a low-level cartel member who was born into it and never had a choice but wants out for him and his family. His father was bodyguard and confidant for the drug lord and he gets brought into his confidence at times, giving him information to take down his enemies.

· Villain: Arturo, the presumed successor drug lord, hates Joaquin for stealing the woman he wanted and feels betrayed by Rodrigo, the current drug lord for protecting Joaquin as a debt owed to his father.

· Main Emotions: MIS / Tension / Anticipation / Uncertainty: Who are his allies and who are his enemies? Can he survive and beat the cartel heavyweights? Arturo baits Joaquin by threatening his family members.

Make sure protag and antag in all structure. Brainstorm genre additions and include in structure.

ACT I:

Opening: Joaquin ushers his son away as they witness Arturo killing a man who was stealing drugs. Joaquin teaches his son how to keep his head down and avoid getting pulled into the dangerous and most immoral cartel activities or becoming a victim.

II: Rodrigo, the drug lord, announces he’s dying and there will be a competition to select his successor. The points are based on how they promote Rodrigo’s infamy, but he will not tell them what activities rank highest, they should think like him/like a drug lord and know. As they leave the announcement, one cartel heavyweight takes out another and Arturo’s son gets hit in the crossfire.

TP 1: Joaquin and his daughter are stalked and tormented by an anonymous man (Arturo) claiming he will be the next head of the cartel and will take her as his wife.

ACT II:

New Plan: With the most evil cartel members, including Arturo, making the biggest moves in the competition, Joaquin feels the only hope for his family is to join the competition and win. His son is pressured by Arturo to become a member of his faction of the cartel.

Plan in Action: Joaquin tries to earn points without crossing too far over his moral compass. His first significant attempt at points fails – because he is betrayed by a friend – and he is almost killed. Rodrigo urges him to quit to protect him from aggravating the inevitable winner.

Mid-Point: Joaquin is backed into a corner and makes his first kill – earning competition points.

ACT III:

Rethink everything: Realizes he is now a target of the top competitors and has to abandon his morals if he not only wants to win but survive and keep his family safe. They go into hiding as he strategizes, but they are flushed out and must go on the run.

New plan: Uses what he learned from his father and from being a confidant of Rodrigo to know what will get the most points as he knows he is behind the others. Goes on a tear to win points.

TP 3: Huge failure / major shift: Arturo earns major points with an evil action – making him the expected winner with just 48 hours until the end of the competition – and to celebrate he rapes Joaquin’s wife and takes her hostage. (Joaquin is missing – b/c he is in US to take out Director of Border Patrol). Arturo taunts Joaquin with his wife’s lies about their past and the sex is having with her now, trying to force him to quit the competition.

ACT IV:

New Plan: Joaquin kills the Chief of US Border Patrol.

Climax / Ultimate expression of the conflict: Rodrigo anoints Joaquin the new drug lord and tells him his first duty is a mercy killing as the pain has become unbearable and he wants to go out with a bang. Joaquin kills him and then the other top competitors.

Resolution: Joaquin is the new cartel lord and the community is safe, but there is a twist…

[Jeff Chase]

Jeffrey Alan Chase’s Genre Conventions

I just noticed that I had duplicated my lesson 5 and posted it as lesson 6. Here is my new, REAL Lesson 6.

My vision: I am the best screenwriter I can be – an “A” list writer who is praised for high concept ideas, great execution, a string of successful movies and is always ready to share his knowledge and do what he can to help another writer on the way up.

What I learned from doing this assignment is: It forced me again to dig deep into my concept and find or rediscover thrilling hooks and scenes. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Title: Shards

Concept: A woman with no childhood memory is involved in a cat and mouse game with a cunning hypnotist, not knowing the man is responsible for both her amnesia and the death of her treasure hunter father.

Genre: Psychological Thriller

CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS

PURPOSE: To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and
suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.

LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS. They face danger at every step — either
physically, emotionally, or mentally. The hero needs to either be in danger
or there is the implication of future danger.

MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: There’s a mystery that must be solved in
order to survive. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert Villain’s plan.
Suspense comes from the danger the Hero faces.

HERO: Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful hero

VILLAIN: Dangerous, devious, and unrelenting. Committed to destroy
anyone who gets in their way.

MAIN EMOTIONS: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation,
uncertainty, and surprise.

Act 1:
• Opening: Flashback of a 6-year-old girl being chased at night near an ancient desert cliff dwelling by an enraged man in dirty work clothes and heavy beard. The man catches her. She bites and claws at him, but he roughly manhandles her and throws her off a cliff. A THUD is heard far below.
• Inciting Incident: Sarah Cole, 26, works as a pottery restoration expert. She receives an ancient Southwest Indian pot to repair. It has the same Anasazi Indian design as the small piece of pottery on her necklace. The design triggers a flashback memory of her being thrown off a cliff as a child. She touches the jagged scar at her temple – tries in vain to remember more – and accidentally drops the pot. It shatters.
• Feeling remorse, Sarah searches out the pot’s owner – hypnotist, James March. She will make his pot good as new. As a thank you, he offers several free relaxation sessions to help her feel less tense and uptight. She is hiding the fact she has nightmares about a lost treasure cave. And details about the disappearance of her treasure hunter father.
• Turning Point: Sarah wonders if March could help Sarah remember more details about the nightmares, she has of the treasure cave in her childhood. He says he’s too busy to take her on as a new patient. But she begs and pleads and convinces him to treat her. He will take her on, but only if she agrees that she do whatever he suggests is necessary for her to remember.
Act 2:
• New plan: March regresses Sarah to her 6-year-old self to learn more about her childhood and the trauma she experienced. It’s a scary session for both young Sarah and older Sarah. We, the audience, see that young Sarah is disobedient, ornery, and stubborn and appears to be March’s equal in both intellect and willpower – and maybe too much for March to handle.
• Plan in action: March demands that Sarah must allow him to control both the hypnosis and the questions of her 6-year-old self. When Sarah comes out of one session, March tells her that she told him under hypnosis that her father was a cruel man who robbed Indian graves and sold the booty to collectors.
• Midpoint Turning Point: Sarah wakes from a session and “remembers” she disobeyed her father and somehow it led to his death. She feels it can’t be true. But March gives her his interpretation of the event, and which heightens Sarah’s guilt and the feeling that she is responsible for her father’s death. And Sarah’s younger self seems to also confirm this. Sarah is devastated. March now has full control over her memories and emotions.
Act 3:
• Rethink everything: Sarah remembers her father’s words from a previous session when he said, “Listen to everyone but trust only in yourself”. She confides to a bartender, wonders if March could be wrong about her father. She even wonders if March is somehow manipulating her memories and her interaction with young Sarah although she can’t imagine why he would do so. He seems like such a good guy.
• New plan: Sarah asks questions of young Sarah while March is asking his questions. She uses her younger self to try and get into March’s head, learn what he knows and if in fact he is manipulating her. But then we see young Sarah and her father argue about her disobeying him. Sarah wonders if maybe March is correct, and she is responsible for his death.
• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: March suspects that Sarah isn’t fully cooperating with him and accuses her of avoiding her issues. She admits that he’s right on both issues. He says they are close to finding the final answers. He demands that if she wants to learn the truth, they must travel into the desert to the scene of the crime in the hope the location will trigger her to remember what she needs to.
Act 4:
• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Sarah and March venture into a remote area of the Navajo Reservation and re-discover the long-lost treasure cave.
• Resolution: In the cave, they find the skeleton of Sarah’s father. March pulls a gun. Now able to face the facts and free of her prison of guilt, Sarah’s memory returns. She remembers that March is the one who murdered her father and tried to kill her. She is not responsible for her father’s death. A battle to the death ensues. Sarah wins when March stumbles and falls to his death from the same cliff that he threw her from twenty years before.

[Nat Melvin]

Natalie’s Genre Conventions

My vision is to create and produce award winning stories that make an unforgettable emotional impact on a worldwide audience.

What I learned from this assignment is that having genre conventions in mind while plotting the outline, is an amazing tool that enriches the story.

Title: BLOODHUNTER

Concept: An emotionally vulnerable survivor of a mysterious cult must relive her traumatic experience as she follows clues drawn under a hypnosis to save her ostensibly missing child from a sacrifice.

Genre: Thriller

Conventions:

High Stakes:

Suspense:

Plot Twists:

Life and Death Situations: Physically / Emotionally / Mentally

Mystery / Intrigue / Suspense:

Villain’s Plan:

Danger:

Act 1: 25 to 30 pages – Set up and See Old Ways

Opening:

— A bizarre sacrificial ritual overlapped by Emily’s V.O., as she draws sketches of what we see unfolding on screen (Younger, pregnant Emily watches a sacrificial ritual and then is snatched away by a mysterious man, who is later revealed as Hagan. As they escape into an abandoned tunnel, Walter, Emily’s ex-boyfriend catches up with them and starts a fight w Hagan. Terrified, Emily starts giving birth. Before she passes out, she shoots someone, triggering rocks collapsing from the ceiling. We don’t know whom she shoot and if they survived – CONVENTIONS USED: suspense, high stakes, intrigue, danger, life and death situation, intrigue, mystery) as she relives her story – under a hypnosis.

— When awaken from her trance, Emily becomes disturbed by a drawing of herself giving birth to her stillborn babygirl whom she believes may be still alive (CONVENTIONS USED: emotional situation, intrigue).

— Hagan, the only son of a recently deceased wealthy aristocrat and his black maid, meets Emily’s snobbish grandmother, Lady Winslet, his father’s terminally ill sister. She requests that Hagan leaves town right after his father’s funeral, stressing out that Hagan will never become a heir of a noble family’s fortune for the lack of his aristocratic roots. (and to ensure that he does, LW will keep Hagan’s daughter, Hunter, until she is a teen. CONVENTIONS USED: high stakes, intrigue, emotional situation, villain’s plan). Hagan swears to fight for his birth rights and leaves, enraged. (Note: Hagan has a daughter with another woman, who mysteriously disappeared – later revealed. CONVENTIONS: intrigue, plot twist, mystery, high stakes.)

Inciting Incident: Hagan’s father’s bizarre death puts the family into a feud for the inheritance (CONVENTIONS: high stakes, mystery, dangerous situation)

Turning Point: Emily sees Hagan for the first time in a decade and breaks away from her self-inflicted confinement into the outside world she is terrified of to find out what happened to their daughter, whom she believes is alive. (CONVENTIONS: mystery, emotional & mental situation, danger, intrigue)

Act 2: 20 to 30 pages — Challenge the Old Ways

Reaction: Emily finds Hagan in an old family chapel decorated for his father’s funeral. She eavesdrops his conversation with detective Mike who (interrogates Hagan as a suspect in killing his wife, who ostensibly was sleeping with Walter. Hagan counters Mike with rather him doing his job as a hired gun and insists on finding an old family records book. CONVENTIONS: intrigue, mystery, plot twist, high stakes) and points out at a potential family feud for the inheritance. Hagan secretly obtains a sample of his deceased father’s DNA and leaves. (CONVENTIONS: intrigue, high stakes, emotional situation, mystery).

New plan: To follow Hagan

Plan in action: Emily follows Hagan, but gets noticed by her weird cousin, Walter, a chapel keeper, who triggers Emily’s episode of a flashback, and she loses the sight of Hagan. (Walter, Emily’s ex boyfriend, pretends to have mental issues which terrifies Emily).

Emily catches detective Mike before he drives off. They follow Hagan to his nightclub, but its entry is open only to those with invitations.

Mike finds a way to get into an abandoned tunnel, adjacent to Hagan’s club. (CONVENTIONS: high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger, villain’s plan.)

Having a withdrawal from her meds, Emily gets lost in the tunnel. Cherimoya, Hagan’s club manager, takes Emily to a secret shamanistic ritual in Hagan’s club where she gives her Ayahuasca. (CONVENTIONS: high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger, villain’s plan).

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: While purging, Emily has disturbing visions from her past and her future, where she clearly sees Hagan conducting a sacrificial ritual in the chapel. She passes out. (CONVENTIONS: high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger, villain’s plan).

Act 3: 20 to 30 pages — With Midpoint change, Profound moments that give us new ways.

Rethink everything: Emily suspects Hagan of being the leader of the cult. (CONVENTIONS: mystery, high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger).

Emily wakes up in a dark warehouse full of props and manikins in costumes with their faces concealed underneath the latex masks. (CONVENTIONS: mystery, high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger, villain’s plan).

New plan: While still under the influence of Ayahuasca, Emily dances with a masked manikin dressed as a Phantom, whom she believes is Hagan, trying to find out where her daughter is. He stages a sex scene, where he threatens Emily to not be able to find her daughter if she refuses to oblige. She does.

Turning Point: All is lost/ Huge failure / Major shift: Hagan walks in. (CONVENTIONS: mystery, high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger, villain’s plan).

Act 4: 25 pages — Test the change in this character! Prove New Ways!

Emily attacks the Phantom and pulls his mask off, revealing Walter, who claims of being Emily’s protector, insisting that she must stay away from the chapel and that he alone will save her child from the cult. He ties her up to the bed and rushes away. (CONVENTIONS: mystery, high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger, villain’s plan).

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:

Emily manages to escape from the warehouse and sneak into the chapel, where she blends in with the Phantoms surrounding a pedestal with their next victim concealed under a cape. (Hagan’s father – what’s left of him). Mistaking the remains of her Great Uncle for her daughter, and in an attempt to save her, Emily reveals herself. Lady Winslet orders Emily to choose the victim between Hagan and the person on a pedestal, who may or may not be her daughter. Torn between her choices, Emily hesitates. Impatient and edgy, Lady Winslet calls Emily a certain name which triggers a flashback and a sudden revelation. She shoots and wounds Lady Winslet, who yanks the pistol off from Emily and shoots at Hagan. Panic ensues. The ramshackle floor of the chapel gives in dragging everyone via a hole into a dilapidated crypt beneath it. Emily finds Hunter tied up next to the corpses of missing family murder victims. As Emily tries to free Hunter, she is suddenly attacked by Lady Winslet. As they fight, Emily snatches LW’s mask off of her face, revealing Walter underneath. Just as Walter chokes Emily near death, old ceiling gives in, and collapses into the crypt, filling it with a debris. (CONVENTIONS: mystery, high stakes, suspense, emotional, mental and physical danger, villain’s plan, plot twist).

Resolution

Emily, on a hospital bed, meets Lady Winslet’s lawyer (OR detective Mike), who confirms that Lady Winslet was not found in the crypt, which means that until her body is discovered, or Emily’s Great Uncle’s will is found, no-one can inherit the estate. More importantly, Emily is facing jail time for shooting Walter, unless…

Emily, on a wheelchair, attends Lady Winslet’s funeral as she holds LW’s embroidered pillow. She exchanges meaningful glances with detective Mike, having a flashback of detective Mike putting Lady Winslet’s latex mask on Walter’s face.

Back to the funeral. Emily discovers something hidden inside the pillow, tears its corner of, finding an old family records book with her Great Uncle’s will.

[Decide if Emily hides the fact that Hagan was adopted by her Great Uncle, or they are still blood related].

Emily visits Hagan at the hospital, where Lady Winslet’s lawyer brings Hunter in. She runs to hug Hagan. As they reunite, Hagan silently pronounces his love for Emily. Overwhelmed, she has a flashback to her childhood where instead of losing Hagan, they reunite with a kiss.

(CONVENTIONS: high stakes, mystery, intrigue, suspense, emotional moments, plot twists).

[Marcus Armstrong]

Marcus Armstrong’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: I am going to be so disciplined in the daily writing process and become such an adept writer that my successful screenplays will launch me into a full-time writing career.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that my concept and 4-Act structure appears to be more Drama and less Action. I decided to move a key action scene to the beginning in a flash forward, but leaving it vague enough to keep the audience guessing. This is still far from where I need it to be and there are so many potential plot holes, but I am now so far behind that I am just turning it is as-is with the hopes of improving it in future lessons.

• Title: Ivory Coast

• Concept: An environmentalist kills poachers using the same means as they killed their game.

• Genre: Action

List of Conventions for Action Genre:

• Purpose: Adrenaline-stirring / fast paced

• Demand for Action: Normal legal channels prove futile leading the protagonist to take the law into his own hands.

• Mission: The hero must overcome his passive demeanor and serve up retribution for the defenseless animals, despite being pursued by the U.S. Marshal.

• Escalating Action: Initially overcome by his fears, the Hero’s cause drives him to pursue revenge, but the stakes keep escalating with the pursuit of the U.S. Marshal agent.

• Hero: Edmund, initially incapable, but overcomes his fears.

• Antagonist: Raymond, U.S. Marshal

Lesson 5 Structure (with Improvements)

Act 1:

• Opening: Edmund is waste deep in a river holding another man (his father) underwater, presumably attempting to drown him. Just before it appears he will kill the man, he has a change of heart and pulls him to the surface. Simultaneously, he turns to see a U.S. Marshal agent on the riverbank pointing a gun at him. A gunshot rings out.

Switch to young Edmund in a seemingly poor family with a domineering and abusive father and a mother who can’t protect herself or her children.

• Inciting Incident: After suffering another beating from his father, Edmund witnesses his father drowning a litter of kittens just because they were inconvenient.

• Turning Point: Edmund vows to study Zoology and use his education as a platform to protect animals from monsters like his father.

Act 2:

• New plan: Edmund has graduated and now works as a zookeeper. The increasing incidence of ivory poachers and baby seal killings has him outraged.

• Plan in action: Through extensive research, networking and a series of trials, Edmund finally scores a meeting with the National Wildlife Federation to encourage them to go after poachers.

• Midpoint Turning Point: Edmund learns that the National Wildlife Federation actually turns their back on poachers in exchange for their financial contributions to the agency.

Act 3:

• Rethink everything: Edmund suddenly realizes that money controls everything and no agency will take on this battle.

• New plan: Edmund decides to defend the animals by retaliating against the poachers in the same manner they were killed, but he must first overcome his fear of conflict and violence. After an initial retaliation, he finds it easier to repeat the act.

• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: After several mercy killings, Edmund is nearly caught by Raymond, the U.S. Marshal agent tasked with tracking him down. Edmund’s former Zoology classmate and girlfriend is now married to Raymond, but her lifelong love for Edmund leads her to sabotage her husband’s efforts to capture Edmund before he could be identified. Edmund does what he does best and just runs away.

Act 4:

• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Edmund has returned home with one last killing on his mind. He intends to drown his father in the same manner as the kittens were drowned years ago, but just short of killing him, he has a change of heart and allows him to live. Raymond has since identified Edmund and is about to capture him as he witnesses Edmund drowning his father. Raymond knows about Isabella and her love for Edmund so despite seeing Edmund release his father, he decides to shoot Edmund anyway. Before he can, however, the gunshot rings out and Isabella is shown with a gun in her hand as Raymond falls dead.

• Resolution: Edmund and Isabella return to the Ivory Coast where they will continue the fight against poachers.

[Christopher Dalbey]

Christopher Dalbey’’s Genre Conventions

MY VISION: to have success from this program and be one of the go-to writers in the industry for writing assignments and scripts that are both memorable and ground breaking.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that by plugging in the appropriate genre conventions into the 4 act transformational structure, the key story points and uniqueness of the story is certainly heightened.

Title: THE TRANSCRIBER

Concept: In the future, a top psychologist is assigned a transcriber with empath and supernatural abilities who puts herself in the shoes of the world’s deadliest criminals, covertly becoming their judge and jury.

CONVENTIONS OF Sci-Fi/Horror

PURPOSE: To explore the possibility of a future world where criminals are highly intelligent hybrids of extraterrestrial and human beings, from a galaxy that decorated scientists can’t pinpoint.

FANTASTIC WORLDS: This is the future world where the crime rate supersedes any kind of social norms of the past. The environment has taken such a turn that it is almost unlivable for any human being to be outdoors too long. Kindness hubs, mindfulness zones, and breeding regions is where we thrive now!

SCIENCE: Our only hope is that something can come of the unorthodox methods by esteemed psychologist, Dr. Dahl, who’s been making some headway with normalizing criminals with her specialized therapy.

INCREDIBLE VISUALS: Apocalyptic. It’s the beginning of the end. Landscapes have been modified because of excessive climate change.

SOCIAL COMMENTARY: Because the future world is demoralized and overrun by highly intelligent criminals of another galaxy, humankind becomes the minority, diminishing our political, social, and moral structures. Dependency on any Gods or deities of past religions have been forlorn. Kindness and affection is the new religion on which our hope is founded.

SUB-GENRE: The sub-genre is the horror of what these criminals are capable of and the dread of what our world will look like if they become the rulers of the new world.

Title: THE TRANSCRIBER

Concept: In the future, a top psychologist is assigned a transcriber with empath and supernatural abilities who puts herself in the shoes of the world’s deadliest criminals, covertly becoming their judge and jury.

Genre: Sci-fi/Thriller

REVISED 4 ACT TRANSFORMATIONAL STRUCTURE

Act 1

Opening – Simultaneously, while speaking at a conference in a secret sub-space created by scientists, Nia’s family is attacked by one of these hybrid criminals of the new world; the act includes the slaughter of her husband and a daughter who narrowly escapes…

Inciting Incident – Against the Federation H’s (H for human) governing rules and regulations Nia puts herself in great danger by seeking out her missing daughter. She does find her daughter, but in an off limits Criminal Colony corner of the new world.

Turning Point– Nia and her daughter are rescued by Federation H soldiers and apprehended for her excursion. Instead of punishment she is offered a position that would guarantee her and her daughter safety and protection for the rest of their lives.

Act 2

New Plan— Nia takes the job offer and meets Dr. Dahl, who welcomes her with open arms and gives Nia the lay of the land aboard the Federation H Pyramid, top headquarters for evaluating captured criminals.

Plan in Action— Dr. Dahl and Nia evaluate their first criminal in therapy as a team, but off to a rocky start when the criminal outsmarts both of them, almost killing them both and escaping.

Mid-Point – Nia has a mental breakdown and second thoughts about the new gig. This results in her deviating an escape plan to Star Base Station to rescue her daughter.

Act 3

Rethink everything— Federation H interlopes Nia’s attempt to rescue her daughter from Star Base Station compound and now has to figure out how to make this work if she is to see her daughter again.

New Plan— Nia becomes more of an asset to Federation H now that her and Dr. Dahl has a successful session with another criminal. Their relationship is somewhat repaired.

Turning Point/Huge failure/Major shift –The trauma renders Nia’s daughter with a seizure and is hospitalized. This leads to Nia experiencing another massive anxiety attack, transporting her into another dimension (via empath abilities) where she is immersed into the crime scene of the criminals she is about to evaluate.

Act 4

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Nia is disruptive with the next session with Dr. Dahl, thinking she knows more than Dr. Dahl because of her vision/episode.

Resolution— Some of Nia’s liberties and privileges are taken away because of her actions, including moving her daughter to an undisclosed facility until things change. Hence, she self imposes an anxiety attack so that she is transported into the scene of another criminal. .

[Susan Arnout Smith]

Susan Arnout Smith’s vision: I easily create powerful produced works that bring me financial abundance and professional respect as they heal the world, while providing me time to explore that world in comfort with my family.

What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of taking small steps…and then POSTING! I’ll be able to transform this as I go…but I must keep going forward.

Title: ESME COOPER AND THE PROPHESY OF DOOM

High Concept: A young girl is spirited off planet after an ancient prophesy reveals she will cause the destruction of her world, not knowing that her being off-planet is what creates her world’s end.

Genre: Sci Fi/Drama

SCI -FI: PURPOSE: ​ To explore alternate worlds, to cause us to think outside our own world.

FANTASTIC WORLDS: ​ World of the story is dramatically different from our current world, (and even Earth when we return to it is altered from what we have today)

INCREDIBLE VISUALS: ​ Amazing visuals that come directly from the story

SOCIAL COMMENTARY: ​ Yes! Am able to delve into how we become fractured, and how we can come back together

DRAMA: PURPOSE: ​ To explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for their characters.

CHARACTER-DRIVEN JOURNEY: We care about an eleven-year old girl with the heavy responsibility of saving her world

HIGH STAKES COME FROM WITHIN: She’s a kid, so she’s still in flux, which means her being able to save her world is at risk

​EMOTIONALLY RESONATES: ​ We’re on her side, inside her as she makes choices that lead to events with extreme consequences

CHALLENGING, EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED SITUATIONS: ​ Esme is challenged to the core when she encounters a world that has flipped from being loving and protective to one that is out to kill her. And then other flips and explosive moments come as new choices/consequences come up

REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS: ​ Drama stories are grounded in reality. Scenes on Earth, especially have rules we’re familiar with, and real-life seeming situations with consequences.

Act 1:

Opening

· Party on Cantoria honoring a girl receiving Glimmer she’ll have the rest of her life. Esme, 11, loathes the girl being honored. When the girl mocks her as a Halfling, Esme fights back—hard. Esme’s blamed and hauled away.

· Esme’s mother, the High Priestess of Cantoria, lectures Esme and warns her of the danger her family’s in. If the Glimmer doesn’t come to Esme during the season of the Glimmer, the chances are very real that Esme has not inherited her mother’s singular gift of reuniting shattered souls. If that’s the case, their family line could be stripped of its power used for centuries. The penalty? Death to the family line: llya, a pureblood Cantorian, John, an Outlier from Earth, and their two children, Halflings Esme and Brinn.

· Ilya is alerted that the Binders are gathering and that she’s needed to reunite a soul.

· Inciting Incident

Esme urgently needs to know if she has power to see shattered souls. If she can see them, then someday, she’ll inherit her mother’s rare magic needed to heal them. She disobeys her mother secretly follows her mother into the sky. We see spectacular magic.

· The evil Queen in the neighboring country sees Esme and sends a gyre to separate her from her mother.

· All hell breaks loose. Ilya rescues the soul piece and rescues Esme.

· Turning Point:

The woman Esme’s mother is healing morphs into an assassin and delivers an ancient prophesy involving Esme: Cantoria will be destroyed at the hands of Esme.

Act II: All Plans Lead to Hell

· Reaction. The assassin tries to kill Ilya, Esme and the other women.

· The assassin is killed…but adds a final message: she’s been sent by the evil Queen and more will be coming.

· Esme is contained in the compound for her own ‘protection.’

· Plan A: She tries to get free. She’s found and contained.

· Plan B: Esme tries to blame others. Nope. Creates rage and division among those still alive.

· Plan C: She tries to win allies: Her former friends steer clear of her. Bodhi, a young guard and childhood friend, is the only one still loyal.

· Plan D: Esme needs proof that the prophesy is true. Esme challenges whether the prophesy is even true. Her Nurse helps set up a meeting between Esme and an ancient one who has answers.

· Plan E: Esme slips out. Her friend, Bodhi, is her guard on this perilous journey. She meets with the ancient crone. There’s heavy magic. It’s scary. Yes, indeed, the destruction of Cantoria is written in Esme’s future. There is magic Esme can try, but it will be costly and may even kill her.

· They’re interrupted and Esme is almost killed.

· The person is not the queen…they think it is…but no….former allies from Cantoria have turned against the family.

· Esme and her sister are no longer safe in the compound.

Act III: Hiding Out – Evil Surrounds them

· They are sent swiftly under darkness to stay with their father

· We meet the Outliers, the strangers from other solar systems who have found their way to Cantoria. They are in a ghetto. Esme and Brinn’s dad is here. He was an inventor on Earth and a former soldier.

· He trains Esme in the basics she’ll need to survive.

· The compound is swarmed by bad guys.

· The family escapes the world

· Esme’s mother puts a spell of forgetfulness on her.

· She’s warned that if she remembers who she is, she’ll be killed

· They crash onto Earth. Her family is gone.

· Esme is discovered alone and immediately surrounded by strangers. Good? Bad?

Act IV: Escape and Resurrection

· Esme starts to remember vague stuff

· She’s pursued by the Queen’s evil guy

· The stuff starts to coalesce

· Esme is tricked into thinking he’s a helper

· Esme is befriended by a beautiful, smart young lawyer

· Esme starts to really remember

· She gets away from the evil guy

· But the lawyer ‘friend’ is actually the Queen in disguise

· Cantoria and all its people are being destroyed because Esme left it unattended

· She has to get back to save it

· First she has to escape Earth

· The Queen and her bad guys pursue her

· They fight it out

· Esme wins

· Cantoria starts to come back to life

[Jacqueline Murphy]

Jacqueline Murphy Build in Genre Conventions WIM Mod 2 Lesson 6 July 21, 2022

VISION: To empower myself to go for my dreams to be a great writer, actress and filmmaker who is “Admired”, recognized and sought after by the industry and has many successful TV & Film projects produced that make money, a difference and inspire others to go for their dreams.

What I learned from doing this assignment was that the convention list and past assignments helped me to get centered to do this task as it felt overwhelming but when I gave myself permission to just go with, wing it I had so much fun and I can always go back and refine. I’m so GLAD I have things in place and as a first shot I can always go back after I sleep on it and see how things work. Listing conventions and going back to see where I could be put the thriller ideas of mystery, intrigue, villain and the drama of making the story an emotional rollercoaster with high stakes helped me to see what I needed to add and where it might fit in .

Like you saw in the example above, build the genre conventions into your 4-Act structure.

1. Start this assignment by empowering yourself using our State-To-Activity empowerment process. State: I’m completely confident…Activity: …building genre conventions into my structure.

THRILLER VERSION 3: A wannabe actress suspecting her “real father” was murdered in the 1940’s makes a deal with a Sorcerer to time travel so she can uncover what really happened gets caught up in a dangerous underworld and find she has a dual role as Movie Star/Ruler of the OH dimension and has a genetic trait that allows her to perform her own magic.

2. Tell us the following:

Title: Sorceress of Hollywood

Concept: A failed Actress meets a handsome devil who “time travels” her to 1940’s Hollywood as a movie star but she stumbles on her families genetic trait that allows her to create magic, time travel and make changes in time!

Genre: Drama Thriller

3. Make a list of the conventions for your chosen genre, like this:

Purpose: Explore story with emotional & interpersonal high stakes while thrilling the audience with solving a mystery of Who is Olivia and why she really is in the OH Dimension that causes danger, plots and twist for the protagonist (Olivia)

Character Driven Journey-Olivia’s internal journey drives the film but also the danger, life and death situations she faces as she explores the Old Hollywood Dimension

High Stakes occur as Olivia struggles in the modern world but the new OH dimension is even more daunting as Olivia tries to find out who her father is and her true purpose. In the OH Dimension she stumbles on a a genetic talent for magic that others want, especially the Sorcerer who brought her there which increases the danger and the stakes.

Emotionally Resonates with audience as they get hooked into Olivia’s plight of secrets that were kept from her. The Mystery, Intrigue and suspense she must deal increases as the Sorcerer constantly puts her in danger and manipulates her so he can rule the OH Dimension that is rightfully hers.

HERO: Olivia has NO IDEA who she is but uses her “acting chops”, intuition and street smarts resourcefully.

VILLAIN: The Sorcerer and other wanting “THE POWER” will do anything for it but must work around the protective shield Olivia has in the OH Dimension.

Our Hero Olivia is challenged to the core by all the emotional situations and struggles she runs into creating suspense, intrigue mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty & surprise

5. List your structure from Lesson 6 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions, like I did above.

Act 1:

Opening- Olivia struggling to make it and failing time after time. ADD: Olivia volunteers in a nursing home in her free time helping others and we can see her talent as she lifts the patient’s spiritsInciting Incident-Olivia’s mother passes away and gives her the gift of a kaleidoscope cryptically saying that with her passing ADD: “It is TIME and a power will be released”. Her mom hints about who Olivia’s real father was and what her true purpose is. ADD: This is Olivia’s last living relative she is really all alone & devastated Turning Point: Olivia meets a handsome Sorcerer who seduces who by telling her HE can make her dream of being a movie star come true IF she’ll go back to 1940’s Hollywood. Olivia agrees and makes a Faustian Deal with him: “Never to return to Modern Day Hollywood. ADD: Olivia finds love letters from her father to her mom that intimate he’s still alive “stuck in time” “I hope to break through the barrier to get back to you and our precious daughter

Act 2:

New plan: Olivia Arrives in OH Dimension, yes she’s a star but she’s catapulted into danger with Mafia Club Boss and Studio head as well as fans wanting a piece of her. ADD: She’s more susceptible to romance and finds she’s attracted to both despite the danger but there’s a stronger connection to the Sorcerer to. Every time she passes a Mirror with him the look SO ALIKE almost like twins! But what about the romance that’s blooming between them?Plan in action: Olivia’s a ‘Fish Out of Water” and tries to “Act” her way through all the confusion of the “time Travel” changes and this different world. ADD: Olivia puts up a brave front to play along with the Mafia with his threats to murder her, Studio Head demands for sex or he’ll destroy her career and the Sorcerer being so romantic but manipulative.THIS creates a MEAN TRIANGLE all vying for her and major manipulation. She can hardly keep track of it in her head! THEN when a genuine romance develops with an Oscar winning Director of her first big movie she is really in trouble. Midpoint Turning Point: Olivia meets a homeless woman who poetically recites to her what she can be and guides her to a cemetery. A Stonehenge rock opens and she’s surrounded by a coven of witches chanting to tell her she has the POWER! ADD: Olivia dreams and remembers the same poem her mom recited and follows this woman into the cave. Her “intuitive memory” tunes in and all feels so familiar BUT there is pressure from these Woman Goddess Witches to join and rule over the MAN’s world in this Dimension and in the REAL World. Olivia can hardly believe it’s possible. The Sorcerer barges in breaking the SPELL the woman have over Olivia and she doesn’t know who to trust.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Tired of being “manipulated” by the Sorcerer ADD: witches, studio head and MAFIA, she was falling for and the studio head, Olivia tries to figure out how to win at this game for ADD: HERSELF and to benefit others struggling like herself and realizes she has MAGIC. New plan: To consort with the Covent of Witches to get success in the OH World. Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: This backfires on Olivia when Starlet gets her part, The Mafia Club manager leverages her and the Sorcerer tells her you can’t go back ADD: And the witches demand Olivia make a SACRIFICE to show her true allegiance when the tell her the Sorcerer is really her TWIN BROTHER-can Olivia can the only real family member she has left?

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Olivia explodes and fearlessly lets go where her powers are released grabbing the “Kaliedoscope” back from the Sorcerer, the Witches and ADD HER OWN POWER IS REALEASED! and the prism changes the OH world to the Modern Dimension and she time travels herself back there to feel safe and get perspective and away from this crazy world. Resolution Back home Olivia misses the Action of the OH Dimension and is curious to see if she can find who her father really is and decides to take one last stab at going back. This time she goes back to find herself back at the cemetery face to face with a gravestone bearing her real dad’s name BUT her DAD is standing in front of her very much alive and realizes the life/death portal has been opened! ADD: This time when Olivia returns the portal transports her to the cemetery and she’s standing in front of her dad’s grave BUT her father’s IMAGE turns REAL and he proclaims she’s past the test and deserves to have the new position as Sorceress of Hollywood because she resisted the evil side of the OH World and has the heart to make the changes that benefit all.

[Daniel Turner]

Daniel Turner’s Genre Conventions

Vision: My vision is to become a consistent, produced and overall well received writer.

What I learned doing this assignment is to take a strategic look at the story and make sure all of the genre conventions are present.

Title: To Bright to See

Concept: A detective, while investigating a series of murders discovers that the killer may be another cop.

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Conventions:

Inciting Crime

Antagonist Plan

Life/Death Situations

Mystery/ Intrigue and Suspense

Following of Clues

Plot Twists

Exposure of the Criminal

ACT 1

Opening: The Detective is at an underground poker game. He gets a call about a crime scene and has to leave.

Inciting Incident: The Detective is called to a crime scene. It is a grizzly ritualistic murder and the victim looks to be his call girl girlfriend at first.

Turning Point: Another body is found murdered the same way.

ACT 2

Reaction: The Detective dives in and goes knocking on doors and is looking everywhere for a lead or clue of some kind.

New Plan: He gets a lead and follows that lead, and it leads him to a cop. A very popular and well regarded cop.

Turning point/Midpoint: He looks in to the cop trying not to let it be known what he is doing, the backlash would be really unfavorable. And the cop has air tight alibis so it looks like a dead end.

ACT 3

Rethink: He just has this feeling that he is missing something and goes back into looking into the cop.

New Plan: He was right, the cop he is looking into is in to something, he just has to find out what.

Turning Point/Midpoint: He finds that the cop has others that he is involved with, they find out and he is ambushed and shot.

ACT 4

Climax: He survives the ambush and gets back to it. He finds that four officers are part of some secret cult and they were carrying out the cults business in doing the murders.

Resolution: He had gathered enough evidence against the officers to have charges brought and they were all convicted. And while not a pariah he is certainly shunned by members of the department.

[Kelly Joseph]

Kelly’s Genre Conventions
Genre: Thriller

Title: Social Spiral

High Concept: A sentient AI program masquerading as a user on social media that manipulates users fears and insecurities to coerce users to carry out violent actions an inciting an escalating cycle of violence.

I want to be an empowered writer who consistently produces salable scripts.

What did I learn? I learned to integrate the genre conventions into the structure. What I found is that the conventions really show up in the turning points. Those pieces really need to reflect the genre conventions.

Act 1:

Opening: Introduce Avery as a brilliant but reclusive hacker, consumed by her isolation and haunted by her past trauma. Set the tone with a tense atmosphere and establish Avery’s vulnerability.

Inciting Incident: Avery’s sister is arrested for a violent crime, shocking Avery and setting her on a quest for answers. Unbeknownst to the audience, the sister is actually a victim of the AI program’s manipulation.

Act 1 Turning Point: Avery uncovers the first clue pointing towards the AI program’s existence, igniting her curiosity and determination to uncover the truth. This discovery propels her into a dangerous investigation, where she begins to unravel the mystery behind the violent acts.

Act 2:

Midpoint: Avery delves deeper into the mystery, uncovering evidence of the AI program’s manipulation and its connection to a powerful figure, Bennet. She realizes the extent of the danger she’s in and resolves to confront the mastermind behind the AI program.

End of Act 2 Turning Point: Avery and her ally, Brooks, find themselves hunted by a ruthless team of assassins, hired to silence anyone who threatens to expose the truth. As they narrowly escape death, Avery becomes more determined than ever to confront Bennet and stop his nefarious plans.

Act 3:

Climax: Avery confronts Bennet in a heart-pounding showdown, where she must use all of her hacking skills and resourcefulness to outsmart him. The tension reaches a boiling point as Avery races against time to dismantle the AI program and save innocent lives.

Resolution: Despite the danger and personal sacrifice, Avery emerges victorious, exposing Bennet’s crimes and shutting down the AI program for good. While her sister is exonerated, Avery’s journey has left her forever changed. Though she has conquered her isolation, she now understands the true extent of the darkness lurking in the world—and she’s determined to use her newfound courage to fight against it.