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Day 6 Assignments
Reply to post your assignment.
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40 Replies
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My Vision:
For Hitler’s Choirboys to be so compelling that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to make their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.
What I learned from this assignment is:
The idea of the Triangle character and the value of stating that simply in a single line.
Protagonist: US Army Captain Henry Gerecke who is torn between his duty as a chaplain and his assignment to break the wills of the men in his care.
Antagonist: Deputy Fuhrer and arch-manipulator Hermann Goering, on trial for his life and hell-bent on keeping the Nazi legend alive.
Triangle Character: Jewish psychologist and US intelligence officer Gustave Gilbert who wants to see these Nazis hang and get Henry to act as a spy.
What makes these characters unique is that this is a remarkable true story and these were all real people.
Please note: I’m not sure whether I posted my earlier assignments successfully to the Forum. If not, my apologies. Just in case, here is the concept and title for this:
Concept:
Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial; hell-bent on keeping the war raging on forever – can a US Army chaplain win his battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?
Title: Hitler’s Choirboys
Many thanks,
Andrew
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This sounds very intriguing. I just watched WW2 movie on Netflix about the woman who started the French Underground. It is nicely done.
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Hi Andrew,
FYI–You’ve posted on Day 6 instead of Day 1
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I forgot to mention what makes my character’s unique. The title is the Second Mrs. Claus
Helen: Helen believes in the power of the magic of Christmas and tries to teach her grandchildren to believe in Santa Claus.
Stuart: Stuart hates Christmas, Doesn’t believe it is worth a holiday and certainly doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.
Nick – Nick is Santa Claus and doesn’t believe he will ever regain his magic and the joy of Christmas will be lost forever.
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(Patty Ruland’s) Title, Concept, and Character Structure!
Vision: To get better and better as a writer, gain representation, and earn a good living in this field.
What I learned from doing this assignment: To refer to the mastery session on creating something from nothing, I should not be alarmed I have so little of the story sketched out, which then makes me feel free to brainstorm anything and everything and enjoy doing it.
Title and Concept:
Finding Boto follows the exploits of two intrepid, 19<sup>th</sup>-Century kid naturalists who brave the dangers of the Amazon rainforest to beat out and beat back a poacher who wants to kill “Boto,” an elusive pink river dolphin,” and win international acclaim for being the first to photograph/draw (?) him/her (?).
Character Structure:
Buddy Movie
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Thanks Mary and Lisa! Every success!
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(Patty Ruland’s) Intentional Lead Characters
Vision: To get better and better as a writer, gain representation, and earn a good living in this field.
What I learned from doing this assignment: To be as intentional as possible in planning lead characters, so that they are intentional lead characters.
2. Give us a logline (one sentence answer) for your protagonist, antagonist, and triangle character (if you have one) to the question, “What makes this character fit my concept and title powerfully?”
3. Tell us what makes each of these characters unique. These two steps will look like this:
Big sister, experienced
adventurer, [character] / gets a
burning desire to be the first to spot the fabled pink dolphin in the Amazon
Rainforest [logline], amplifying her reputation as an explorer whiz
kid. [unique]
Little brother, newbie
adventurer, [character] / finally gets his
chance to tag along with the family during their latest trek to the Amazon
rainforest [logline], / evincing early on an astonishing sixth
sense about their environs [unique].
Character: Dad’s conniving
rival in the academic world [character] / offers to “advise” the
daughter how best to sight the pink dolphin, / all the while hiding
his identity as a wildlife poacher [unique]. -
I am lost! This is Module 2, Lesson 3: Transformational Journey, WIM. I could not find the correct place to post it. I will post it here, and when I find out the correct place, I will post it again:
2. Tell us the Character Arc for your Protagonist:
Arc Beginning: Twin sister explorer
and tag-along twin brother newbie as opposite as night and day
Arc Ending: Twin sister and
brother become famed dynamic-duo explorers3. Give us their Internal/External Journey.
Internal Journey: Sister loves
the spotlight but must learn to share a little of it with her brother, while
her brother detests the spotlight but must learn to love it at least a
little.
External Journey: Sister and
brother must become a team to survive their dangerous mission of “Finding
Boto” the elusive pink river dolphin in the Amazon rainforest.4. Tell us their Old Ways at the beginning of the movie and their New Ways at the end.
Old Ways:
Sister dominates her brother, sets the tone and the agenda, treating him as fortunate that she deigns to let him tag along; sister takes too many chances, brother is too cautious; sister prone to taking most of the credit, brother prone to letting her
New Ways: Sister and brother
form a strong bond based on equality as they save each other/s lives many
times over; sister’s pride gives way to wisdom, brother’s shyness gives
way to courage -
WIM2 – Dana’s Genre Convention
My Vision: I intend to perfect my skills to become a successful screenwriter, scripting acclaimed and profitable films, recognized by my peers, and living an adventurous life.
What I learned during this assignment:
Brainstorming my original ideas based on the thriller conventions helped me create more tension and suspense for my lead character and added greater villainy to the protagonists.
Title: The Smelting Pot
Genre: Thriller
Concept: Kidnapped for ransom, a wealthy woman is held hostage in the smelting pot of an abandoned steel mill frequented by drug addicts and street gangs, and to survive, she must remain soundless and stay hidden until the ransom is paid or find a way to escape her captor known as The Custodian.
Conventions:
Purpose: thrills, high stakes, plot twists, suspense, adrenalin packed climax
Life and Death Situations: face danger, physically, emotionally, mentally
Mystery/Intrigue/Suspense: mystery to be solved, Villain’s plan, create suspense from danger
Hero: Unknowing, unwitting, resourceful
Villain: Dangerous, devious, unrelenting
Main Emotions: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, surprise
In Ruth’s desperation to get out of the pot, she injures herself.
Reveal the kidnapper’s intent with a proof of life photo
Have the kidnapper emotionally torture Ruth by calling the husband and allowing them to briefly speak.
When the drug dealers arrive, have them nearly discover Ruth, making her think she’s safe until the Pitbull sniffs her out and she’s discovered by the drug dealer’s girlfriend.
Create a reason for the drug dealer’s girlfriend not to reveal Ruth to her drug gang.
Make the torture scene gruesome to heighten the fear and tension.
The kidnapper rewards Ruth for obeying his instructions.
Make the audience believe the derelict will help Ruth escape, only to reveal his real intentions.
Have the kidnapper help and protect Ruth – but to his own purposes.
Have Ruth barely escape the pot, using whatever resources at hand.
Have the kidnapper fall into the pot in an ironic way by tripping over the money
Leave the ending open for a sequel
Version2: Genre Improvements (underlined)
Act 1:
Opening: Ruth Griffin awakens to find herself in the bottom of smelting pot in an abandoned iron works dressed in the evening gown she wore to the event from which she was abducted. She cries out for help to no avail, her voice echoes into the dark. She feels her way around and tries to climb out, but she cannot reach the lip of the smelting pot. Out of desperation, she takes off her shows and tries to climb up but falls and cuts herself. She’s trapped. Cold. Alone.
Inciting Incident: Ruth’s captor reveals himself, standing on the rusted platform above the smelting pot. Masked, he never speaks. Ruth demands to be released, screaming at her capture. He points to a sign painted on the inside of the pot. Shh! Be quiet. You’re not alone. He drops a newspaper to her and instructs her to hold it up for him to take a proof of life photo. She then realizes she’s been kidnapped for ransom.
Turning Point: When Ruth hears two cars drive into the iron works, she resists her first instinct to call out, reading the warning sign on the side of the pot to keep quiet. A drug dealer and his gang climb from the cars. The reckless gang members begin to explore, but their leader calls them back and excoriates them for being stupid, inadvertently saving Ruth from being found. Ruth, believing she’s safe, listens to them pull a man from the trunk of the car and interrogate, torture, and behead him for being an informer. During this, the drug dealer’s Pitbull hears Ruth’s echoed breathing and bolts from the dealer’s young girlfriend holding the leash. The dog sniff out Ruth in the pot and barks at her. Ordered to get the dog, the young girl spies Ruth. Ruth silently pleads for the girl to say nothing, knowing she’ll be killed as a witness to the murder. The girl, upset at watching the man tortured, is empathetic to Ruth and says nothing. She rejoins her gang, and they leave, leaving the body behind. In the shadows, Ruth’s captor has been watching, ready to kill if necessary.
Act 2:
New Plan: Ruth decides to cooperate with her captor. She will remain quiet and wait for her husband to pay the ransom. For cooperating, the kidnapper drops her a blanket and water.
Plan in Action: When a rattle snake slips and falls into the pot while pursuing its prey, Ruth is forced to kill the snake, creating noise. When she looks up, she’s being watched by a derelict standing on the platform above. The derelict questions why Ruth is in the pot. She warns him about her captor and begs the man for help. The derelict begins to shout, the echo booming. Ruth tries to quiet him, but he shouts to prove they’re alone. He steps away and returns with a rusted latter and extends it into the pot. Ruth starts to climb out until —
Midpoint Turning Point: The derelict climbs down into the smelting pot to take advantage of the situation and Ruth. She tries to fight him off but fails. Before he can assault her, the kidnapper re-emerges on the platform and slip-ropes the derelict around his neck. He snatches him away from Ruth, hanging him against the side of the pot and steps off the platform with rope in hand, snapping the man’s neck. Slowly, the man’s dead body is pulled up and out of the pot inch by inch. The ladder is then slid out from the pot, leaving Ruth screaming and crying.
Act 3:
Rethinking everything: Ruth realizes she must escape or she’s going to be left to die in the pot.
New Plan: She hears another car enter the mill and cautiously calls out to the person. The young girl appears on the platform. She’s returned out of curiosity. Ruth warns about her captor, but he’s gone. Ruth pleads with the girl to help. The girl resists, afraid of her drug dealer boyfriend. But then agrees to give Ruth her burn phone to call for help. She drops the phone to Ruth, and when Ruth looks up to thank her —
Turning Point: Huge Failure / Major Shift: The kidnapper slips up from behind and stabs the girl and pushes her body into the pot with Ruth. She dies in Ruth’s arms. The kidnapper demands the phone from Ruth, and she throws it at him. He dials a number and holds it up for Ruth to hear when her husband answers the call. His voice echoes into the pot. She cries out for him, but before she can reveal where she is, the kidnapper kills the call and throws the phone away. He turns and leave with Ruth cursing after him.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Ruth searches the girl’s body and find her car keys. When she hears the kidnapper start his car and leave, Ruth realizes this is her moment. She uses the girl’s body to stand on but still cannot reach the edge of the pot. She uses one of her high heels to hook the edge of the pot, but the heel breaks, and she falls back into the pot. She uses her other shoe and reaches the edge as the second heel breaks. She dangles, nearly falling back, but climbs out, reaching the platform. But before she can escape, her the kidnapper returns, and Ruth is forced to hide in the shadows. The kidnapper, realizing Ruth has escaped, drops a satchel filled with ransom money on the platform and draws his revolver to begin the hunt. Ruth sneaks to the girl’s car and opens the door, but the Pitbull suddenly rears up and attacks. Ruth bolts, barely escaping the dog. Ruth plays cat and mouse with the kidnapper and the dog until she’s trapped on the platform by her kidnapper. In the final moment, the dog charges from nowhere and attacks the kidnapper. He shoots the dog, but is knocked off his feet, tripping over the satchel of money and landing in the pot, presumably dead.
Resolution: Ruth is rescued by police and her husband, and she’s taken to hospital. The police conduct their investigation and remove the bodies one by one, saving the kidnapper until last. But when they go to retrieve the body, he’s gone.
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Lynn Vincentnathan’s Genre Conventions
VISION: I am determined to become a great screenwriter capable of getting my screenplays in various genres produced into movies that inspire vast audiences to mitigate climate change.
I LEARNED the importance of bringing in the Rom Com genre conventions. However, I think much of the comedy will be coming up as I write, or I’ll have to do some more detailed outlining to bring in more comedy.
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GIVE US THE FOLLOWING:
TITLE: Weathering It
CONCEPT: Two college students try to overcome family fights about global warming and get married during the worst ever Texas freeze.
GENRE: Rom-Com
CONVENTIONS OF ROM-COMS:
PURPOSE: To have the audience experience falling in love again.
THE JOURNEY OF LOVE: Two people go from their:
1. “cute-meet” to
2. denial of love to
3. overwhelming attraction to
4. breaking up over differences
to
5. finally reuniting and
experiencing the love of their life.RELATIONSHIP SET-UP: From the moment of the “cute-meet.” we see the romantic future for the couple, even if they refuse to believe it.
ISSUES: Each person has an internal personal issue that must be resolved for them to truly be together. This requires personal growth for them to become a couple.
SEPARATION: Either physically or because of a specific situation, something keeps this couple apart. It is this separation that causes the audience to yearn for them to come together.
COMEDY: Relationship and personal issues are dealt with through humor. As we laugh at the embarrassing moments on the screen, the audience feels better about their relationships. NOTE: most of these comedic moments are too specific for inclusion here… many will come up with the writing.
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ACT 1 (20-25 pp or 5-8 scenes)
OPENING: Ellie and sidekick Luz are putting up posters for the Turtle Rescue Center trip around the college campus for their Environmental Club. They despair over people not doing enough to mitigate climate change (expressing their hopeless climate anxiety). Luz also asks if Ellie has arranged for the next trip to her great uncle’s off-the-grid farm. Not yet (worried). Then Luz brings up how a club member wants to date her and is willing to take Ellie’s test (mystery), but Ellie demurs, not interested in romantic involvement; Luz warns her not to retreat into her turtle shell (ISSUES, Denial of Love beforehand).
JIM’S “CUTE-MEET” – attracted to Ellie: The whole time Jim and friend Mack have been following the “babes,” overhearing, and Jim tells Mack he is going to save that turtle (Ellie), but Mack warns that it looks complicated, a difficult conquest. The girls turn and accuse the guys following them (COMEDY). Jim steps forward and says no, he wants to go on the trip and could Ellie come and give a presentation about it to his Business and Environment class.
During the presentation students ask Ellie rough questions, fluster her. Jim comes to her rescue, negative response, then Ellie has to come to his rescue, which also fails (COMEDY).
Ellie’s goes to Uncle Ely’s farm to make plans for the club’s trip. It is an old farm with huge barn and silo but no crops or animals, just a grove of weird (COMEDIC) wind generators and solar arrays. We find out how cantankerous and bitter Ely is, but he reluctantly agrees to the club visit. Ely wants Ellie to help him his project, but she, a journalism major, figures she wouldn’t be much use — everything is doomed she figures. Ely agrees but coaches her to never give up. ELLIE’S GOAL ISSUES – she is committed to Ely and his project & “saving the earth,” which will interfere with her love for Jim.
INCITING INCIDENT: At the beach party after the Turtle Rescue Center trip Jim kisses Ellie – she’s surprised by her feelings for him. RELATIONSHIP SET-UP, ELLIE’S “CUTE-MEET: attracted to Jim
Ellie briefly visits her Uncle Rudy’s Marriage Barn business to run a story on it and get him to put an ad in the student magazine. Rudy notes that she seems to be in love and says when her time comes he’ll do her wedding venue for her at cost. Ellie insists she won’t ever need that (denial of love)
TURNING POINT: After Jim takes Ellie’s stupid compatibility test (COMEDY) Ellie is ready to date Jim. (Increased attraction)
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ACT 2 (20-30 pp or 5-9 scenes)
NEW PLAN: Ellie and Jim date and talk about marriage as a general topic (COMEDIC SUBTEXT). Jim is eager to go to Ely’s farm.
Several scenes with Jim and his Uncle Fred on the phone let us understand that (1) Fred is paying for Jim’s education, (2) Jim is obliged to work for Fred in his Houston-based Petroleum Engineering Consultancy firm, (3) Fred is upset Jim is taking the Bus and Environment course, and (4) Fred hates any mention of alternative energy. JIM’S EXTERNAL ISSUES – his obligation would thwart Ellie’s goals. Since Ellie is with Jim during one or more of these calls, he has to hide stuff from her while not upsetting Fred (COMEDY)
PLAN IN ACTION: The club and Jim visit Ely’s farm. They see in the silo Ely’s big battery he invented, but aren’t allowed in his tack room — something he’s working on. Jim enthralled by Ely and the magical (as he sees it) farm proposes to Ellie. At the end when Ely learns Jim’s last name is Higson, he flies off the handle re Fred Higson, his arch enemy. They had both majored in engineering together decades ago. Jim assures Ely he is not Fred’s son (hiding his connection to Fred). (COMEDY)
MIDPOINT TURNING POINT: By the end of the Spring semester Ellie and Jim have decided to marry in summer. They go to Uncle Rudy’s Marriage Barn to discuss plans. Rudy tells them they’ll need to making guest lists, but advises Ellie not to invite Uncle Ely since he would disrupt the whole thing and he’s against marriage anyway. Ellie disagrees because she’s committed to Ely and his project. Jim sides with Rudy, knowing his own uncle is a grumpy guy, and that Ely hates him — it would disrupt the wedding. Ellie angered tells Jim not to invite his uncle. There’s a big fight and all sorts of issues are revealed. They decide to call it off. (BREAK UP OVER DIFFERENCES)
SEPARATION: In the following scenes it is obvious that Ellie and Jim are still very much in love. (OUTWARD DENIAL OF LOVE, INWARD INCREASING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LOVE)
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ACT 3 (25 pp (20-30 pp or 5-9 scenes)
RETHINK EVERYTHING: Ellie and Jim come to realize they cannot live without each other and they finally decide to get married, but take it slowly this time and have their wedding end of January, whittling it down from 6 to 3 months. (COMEDY)
However, Ellie seems to have lost her life goals and energy, knowing she will have to move to Houston where Jim will work for Fred. She agrees not to invite Ely to the wedding. She puts on airs that everything is fine while suffering inside (COMEDY)
NEW PLAN: Jim assures Ellie he will do what he can to convince Fred to include energy conservation and efficiency more in the consultancy firm, maybe even get Fred into alt energy consultancy — which they both realize will be impossible.
TURNING POINT: HUGE FAILURE / MAJOR SHIFT: JUST BEFORE THE WEDDING THE WORST-EVER TEXAS FREEZE HITS AND THE POWER GOES OFF IN THE ENTIRE REGION, INCLUDING AT THE MARRIAGE BARN. Since the Marriage Barn is booked solid until spring, Ellie and Jim will have to wait, but everyone, including the couple know their relationship is doomed for various reasons. Ellie and Jim know they are miserable because they can’t realize their true goals under Jim’s obligation to Fred. Jim figures at least Ellie should be free to pursue her goals. They call off the wedding. (A SECOND BREAK UP over circumstances and differences, while love has increased so much it makes this painful)
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ACT 4 (25 pp or 6-8 scenes)
CLIMAX/ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF THE CONFLICT: Ellie then takes charge and says the wedding will go through, though she doesn’t know how. She assures Jim they will convince Uncle Fred to let Jim off the hook so he can pursue his goals. Love for Jim has given her a hope and belief for a good future she never had before, and strength of character she’d at least die trying.
Lightbulb moment — Ellie says they could have the wedding at Uncle Ely’s off-the-grid farm, the only place that has electricity, lights and heat. Jim, figuring the wedding and marriage is doomed anyway, says why not, knowing Ely and Fred would tear apart the whole thing. But at least they’d all keep warm at Ely’s farm.
WHEN FRED ARRIVES the explosion between him and Ely is worse than expected. It turns out Fred had tricked Ely’s love-of-his-life Sarah away from him.
Ellie scolds Ely for fighting, but Jim takes Ely’s side regarding alt energy, stands up to Fred, shows him Ely’s big battery invention in his silo, and his hydrogen electrolyser and fuel cell generator in the tack room now fully functional..
RESOLUTION: Fred relents, tells Ely that Sarah divorced him after two years, and he regrets what he did to Ely. Fred is impressed with Ely’s inventions. Talk about marketing them. Fred is now open to Jim’s requests that he get into energy efficiency and conservation and alt energy. The batteries are starting to run low, no sun or wind for the alt energy — will the couple ever get married? (COMEDY)
Finally Jim and Ellie happily make their vows. (REUNITING AND EXPERIENCING THE LOVE OF THEIR LIFE)
The cell texts buzz, disrupting the wedding before the grand kiss and the after party. The Turtle Rescue Center is calling everyone to come help save the 1000s of cold-stunned turtles. All the wedding guests rush out. (<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>COMEDY)
Closing scene, they are all bunded up in winter jackets, including Ely and Fred, saving turtles at the beach. Ellie and Jim TAKE A SHORT BREAK TO HAVE THEIR GRAND KISS, then back to saving turtles.
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Ron’s Genre Conventions
Vision: I want the success and recognition of being an in demand, A-list screenwriter who writes successful films that are financially profitable, award winning and of enduring quality
What I learned doing this assignment is that slow and steady wins the race as I systematically create the story for my script.
Title: Mail Order Godmother
Concept: After the son of a powerful Mafia godfather convinces the godfather’s mail order bride to kill the godfather and take over his criminal empire, she has second thoughts and must find a way to extricate herself from this treacherous and dangerous plot.
Genre: Drama
3. Make a list of the conventions for your chosen genre, like this:
Drama:conventions:
:—Emotional and interpersonal high stakes
–Character driven journey their internal journey drives the film’s events and progression.
–High stakes come from within
–The struggles, obstacles, and stakes comes from within more than from external pressures
–Emotionally charged.
–Drama stories are grounded in reality
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.
CHANGES ARE IN ITALICS
Act 1:
Opening: The wife of Sylvio, the Mafia godfather, is
murdered in an ambush. The godfather is devastatedWe see Lucia’s everyday life in
Italy-Bullying boyfriend, nagging mother, dreams of escaping.Sylvio blames his son, Stefano,
for lapse of security. We can see tension between father and son Father
humiliatse son in front of men and takes son’s job of protecting father
away.Sylvio kills the men who killed
his wife, but still despondent.Inciting Incident–
Discovers Lucia on an Internet mail order site, enthralled. Lucia reminds Sylvio of his late wife.
He goes to meet her in ItalyBoyfriend discovers Lucia’s is
on the Internet talking with men, beats herTurning Point: The abusive boyfriend of Lucia is thrown
off the building to his death, and
the godfather takes Lucia to the U.S. to marry herAct 2:
New plan: Lucia falls for Silvio, the Mafia don’s son, who
hates his father and seeks revenge.Son is using Lucia. He brings her into plan to kill the mafia don and
become the new donPlan in action Lucia
prepares to kill husband, but comes to like him. Sylvio is kind and
generous toward her.Midpoint Turning Point Lucia reneges on the plan to poison
her husband, the mafia godfather, but son goes ahead and kills the mafia
godfather.Act 3:
Rethink everything—The
godfather is poisoned. The dead Godfather’s crime family is suspicious
and believe Lucia has killed husband. Lucia is now vulnerable. She must
seek a way out.New plan: She goes to the chief rival of her dead
husband, the mafia godfather, to set up a plan to kill the sonTurning Point: But the son finds out, averts getting
killed and goes looking to kill Lucia. She flees the crime family and goes
into hiding.Lucia and the son, her former lover who is hunting her,
meet. Lucia figures out how to kills him..Act 4 Resolution Lucia gains the respect of her dead husband’s mafia when they learn what she has done and who was responsiible for the Godfather’s death. .
· She becomes the new interim godmother of her dead husband’s mafia while the crime family looks for a successor to the dead don.
But she is already scheming to be kept the
godmother.————————————
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<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Subject line: Monica’s Genre Conventions
Vision: I will continue to learn everything I can through all different media to apply what I learn to become the best screenwriter I can be. To be successful in getting my movies made and to win awards in the process.
What I learned doing this assignment is to take the time to think about how the conventions could show up in the outline.
Give us the following:
Title: Time Guardians
Concept: A rogue Special Forces intelligence team steals an
ancient artefact at the start of the first Iraq war to keep it safe from
the hands of the New World Order who wants to use it to manipulate the
timeline only to discover all timelines end in 2030. <div><div>
Genre: Action
<div>
3. Make a list of the conventions for your chosen genre:
Action:
Purpose:
Adrenaline-stirring / fast paced:</div>Demand for Action:
<div>
Mission:
Escalating Action:
Hero:
Antagonist:
Act 1:
Opening: Special Forces
intelligence team steal an ancient artefact amidst a hail of gunfire and
heavy resistance from the keepers of the artefact.
A secret meeting between the
five powerful men who run the world, the head of a Special Forces
intelligence team and a mysterious third party make a plan to build the
ancient artefact. This artefact can alter the timeline so the elite always
come out on top. And if the Hero fails, the elite will set
into motion events that will kill thousands of people until they get what
they want.</div><div>
Inciting Incident: The ancient artefact has been built
and it’s more powerful than anyone imagined but it keeps giving the same
answer – that the elite and powerful never get world domination. Set off event #1.Turning Point: Our protagonist and the
mysterious third party dismantle the artefact and steal it.Act 2:
New plan: Being chased by the elite
and military our hero hides out in an abandoned military bunker.
Plan in action: He sets up the artefact to try
to figure out why it keeps giving the same answer. Civilization ends in
2030. But there are traitors amongst
his team and they plot to kill him and nearly succeed. Meanwhile, event #2
is initiated.</div><div>
Midpoint Turning Point: The elite’s
private army finds our Hero
and the artefact is stolen back during an intense battle but is it really the original artefact?Act 3:
Rethink everything: Our hero sneaks into the house of his
former partner.
New plan: He convinces her to join their fight.
She recruits a few others and they plan a major assault.</div>Turning Point: Huge
failure / Major shift: But they’re ambushed and a
battle ensues but alas
they are captured and taken to the artefact because it’s now giving
information that the elite think the hero programmed it to do. They have 2
days to re-program it and give them the answer they want or they’ll be
executed.<div>
Act 4:
New plan: Our mysterious third party programs
the artefact to bring the extinction timeline in three days’ time
disguising it as the elite’s plan for world domination. Then they inform the elite that the artefact has been
reprogrammed but event #3 is set off.</div>Climax/Ultimate
expression of the conflict: When the elite come to see what the
artefact says now they are happy and order the
killing of the hero and his team.
But our hero kills them all.Resolution: We find our mysterious third party is
an alien from the future trying to warn us about our total disregard for
the planet. He takes the artefact and we have a “beam me up Scotty” moment
when he returns to his ship. Our hero decides to set out with his partner
and their team and eliminate every elite he can find.</div></div>
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Renee’s Genre Conventions
My Vision: I will work hard to become a well-respected writer that gets my movies produced and has enough work to keep me busy and keep the lights on.
What I learned doing this assignment is how to include genre conventions in my 4 act structure.
Title: Something’s in the Woods
Concept: When a volunteer for a local search and rescue team finds out the organization is willing to sacrifice a missing girl to capture a mysterious mountain creature, she must find a way to kill the creature first and rescue the girl.
Genre: Horror
Act 1:
Opening: A family with two children is camping in the remote woods. The dad checks on the kids and then goes to his tent. Something rips open the side of the kids’ tent and drags the older daughter out of the tent. Intercut with Claire is at a club partying.
Inciting Incident: Claire finds out that the missing girl is her niece.
Turning Point 1: The team splits into groups and searches the area in a grid pattern. One of the team members wanders a bit too far and is taken by the creature.
Act 2:
New Plan: Search together as a larger group.
Plan in Action: Claire struggles to keep the group together. More people die.
Turning Point 2: It’s revealed that they are to take the creature alive, even if it means letting the missing girl die.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Claire can’t let them sacrifice her niece.
New Plan: Leave while the rest of the group is sleeping to try and find her niece first.
Turning Point 3: Claire gets taken by the creature to its cave, where the missing girl is alive but badly hurt and scared.
Act 4:
Climax: Claire frees herself and works on getting the girl out but has to sacrifice herself.
Resolution: The girl reunites with her parents. Claire’s body is recovered from the scene.
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(Module 2 Lesson 5: Transformational
Structure)MY VISION:
To write eight screenplays that become
Hollywood blockbusters (and to get a line or two in at least one of
them).WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS ASSIGNMENT:
StructureTitle: “DEATH VOICE”
Version1:
Concept: Korean War sniper, “Ace”
is a struggling Las Vegas TV reporter in the 1950s and a gambling
addict who fails to repay a large debt to a sadistic crime boss.
He’s given ten days to pay or he’ll be forced to cover gruesome
crimes committed against those closest to him.Main Conflict: Must pay back large
amount to mob boss within ten days.Old Ways: Likeable, funny, local war
hero; easy going; satisfied, laid back.New Ways: TV biz makes him ruthless
and quick tempered; questions things he normally wouldn’t; becomes
an alcoholic, gambler.Act 1:
Opening: “Ace” pulls into Grand
Central Station after Korean War ends. Family, friends wave flags; a
big hero welcome home. The war’s over and it’s great to be alive.Inciting Incident: Being a handsome
war vet helps him get a TV Crime Reporter job in Vegas.Turning Point: Wants to quit after his
wife dies in a car accident leaving him with a disabled child and
huge medical bills; develops gambling addiction; PTSD sets in.Act 2:
New Plan: Gets psychiatric care. But it doesn’t help. It brings
the horrors of war to the surface. Can’t get a loan from bank.Plan in action: Double down on a bad habit: “Gambling will
eventually pay off”.Midpoint Turning Point: Gets phone calls at all hours from mob
boss wanting payback. Ace is given 10 days to come through or he’ll
be forced to report stories where murder victims are his friends and
family. Gangster sounds oddly pleasant, even humorous.Act 3:
Rethink everything: Stuck – no way out; suicide attempt fails;
he’s about to put his child up for adoption but changes his mind at
the last moment.New plan: To offer his services as a hit man to mobster in
exchange for debt cancellation.Turning Point: He’s turned down; fails to make first payment; is
sent to report on a murder and the victim turns out to be his best
friend.Huge failure / Major shift: Tries to get help from police but
they’re on mobs payroll. Who will be the next murder victim? It’s
his brother! Ace finds an ally – Sue, a newspaper reporter who’s
the daughter of a U.S. Congressman. They develop a professional and
sexual relationship.Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The mobster calls
increase with threats driving Ace to the brink of insanity. At this
point even paying back the money won’t stop him. Sue investigates
the murders. But her father, a member of the U.S. Senate’s Organized
Crime Subcommittee can’t find any trace of mob involvement. The FBI
places a wiretap on Ace’s phone. They conclude no such calls were
ever made. All eyes turn to Ace.Resolution: It was Ace, a latent schizophrenic who actually
murdered his brother and best friend and did TV reports about the
crimes. Both had previously betrayed Ace’s trust and Ace
subconsciously suppressed his anger over the years. The mob boss was
real – but died twenty years earlier. His personality traits –
personable, good sense of humor – were in fact Ace’s.MODULE 2 LESSON 6
Version 2:
MY VISION: To write eight screenplays that become
Hollywood blockbusters (and to get a line or two in at least one of
them).WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS ASSIGNMENT:
Improving my script by focusing on things expected in any given
genre.Title: “DEATH VOICE”
Concept: WW II hero “Ace” is a 1950s Las Vegas TV reporter
who develops a gambling addiction after his wife’s death but fails
to repay a large debt to a sadistic crime boss. He’s given ten days
to repay or he’ll be forced to report on gruesome crimes committed
against family and friends.Main Conflict: Must pay back large amount to mob boss within ten
days.Genre: Thriller
Act 1:
Opening: Dark living room except for “Howdy Doody” flickering
on a 50s TV. Unshaven Ace grinds a cigarette into an overflowing
ashtray next to a half empty bottle of whiskey. The rotary phone
rings….his hand trembles… “Yeah?” A friendly voice answers
with a corny knock-knock joke. Sounds harmless. Until: “You have
five days left.” (CLICK)Superimpose: “One Year Earlier”. Ace gets off a train at
Grand Central Station after VJ Day. Band music; family, friends wave
flags; big hero welcome home. The war’s over. Teary wife Betty
rushes over with their young handicapped daughter. Hugs, tears… a
Norman Rockwell painting comes to life. We can finally live our
lives! Ace’s good looks and war background land him a job as a local
TV crime reporter in Vegas.Inciting Incident: A doctor informs Ace that Betty has terminal
cancer.Turning Point: Huge medical bills drive Ace to heavy gambling. He
owes big money to the Mob.Act 2:
New Plan: Borrow money from family, friends. Work overtime.
Plan in Action: War hero or not all turn him down. No money. Plan
B: Ace offers his services and military expertise to Mob as a
hitman. Decision shortly.Midpoint Turning Point: Ace gets phone call from the big boss: No
deal. “Conflict of interest.” Ace has ten days to repay or he’ll
be reporting on the gruesome deaths of loved ones. Betty dies.Act 3:
Rethink everything: Seemingly cornered, Ace attempts suicide.
Next: put his child up for adoption. He changes his mind at the last
moment.New plan: Kill the mobster! But he can’t find him. The mobster
now calls at all hours, each time with a different knock-knock joke
and a bigger threat.Turning Point: Ace can’t find his tormentor. Payment deadline
passes. Ace is sent to report on a murder story and the victim’s
–his best friend.Huge failure / Major shift: Tries to get help from police but
they’re on mob’s payroll. Who will be the next murder victim? It’s
his brother! Ace befriends Sue, a newspaper reporter who’s the
daughter of a U.S. Congressman. They develop a professional and
sexual relationship.Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The mobster’s calls
are driving Ace to the brink of insanity. At this point even paying
back the money won’t stop him. Sue investigates the murders. Her
father, a member of the U.S. Senate’s Organized Crime Subcommittee
tries to help can’t find any trace of mob involvement. The FBI
places a wiretap on Ace’s phone. They conclude no such calls were
ever made. All eyes turn to Ace.Resolution: It was Ace, a schizophrenic who actually murdered his
brother and best friend and did TV reports about the crimes. Both
had previously betrayed his trust and Ace subconsciously suppressed
his anger over the years. The mob boss was real – but died
twenty years earlier. His personality traits – personable, sense
of humor – were in fact Ace’s. -
My entries in red did not carry over. KC.
Karen Crider’s Genre Conventions
What I learned: That figuring out genres can be tricky. Characteristics of story can be similar in different genres and sidetrack a writer. It did me. I struggled with it for over a day and a half. These are the genres that I think fit my movie: Genre: Adventure, Drama/Animation
My vision is to be a stronger writer.
#1. I am confident in my writing genre conventions into my structures.
#2. Title: Solo Act
#3. Concept: A young, traumatized hyena, deposed from his clan, must win acceptance in another, or struggle to survive the jungle predators alone.
Genre: Adventure, Drama/Animation
Conventions:
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.
#4. Brainstorming session.
#5. Protagonist vs. Antagonist structure
Act 1:
INT. JUNGLE – DAY
Inside the African jungle, inside a series of dens lives a clan of fifty spotted hyenas. The clan’s hierarchal leader, SILLA, a large, powerful, spotted hyena, leads the kill and eats first with her cubs.
The males compete for a closer range, sidestepping each other, flaring their nostrils, groveling, vying for any bone or vestige cast accidentally or otherwise. The starving males always eat last.
SUPER: “a week later”
INT. COMMUNAL DEN – DAY
Silla leads the way back to the communal den, more satisfied than others. Stragglers stay behind fighting the vultures for the last remnant of tissue and bone, until they are driven off.
Silla’s offspring, HILA, a spoiled, demanding offspring harasses others who are less likely to fight back. Her favorite victim is IVY, a lower-level hyena, who’s pregnant.
EXT. DEN – DAY
Ivy leaves the clan to continue digging a den, for her time draws near. She finishes the main tunnel when she goes into labor.
Three cubs are born, all of them male.
SUPER: “weeks pass”
SHADOW, the youngest hyena inside the den, bats at a single paw advancing toward him in his tunnel. He plays with it.
MORTIMER, a rabid wolf, hears the cubs mewling. After Ivy leaves to hunt, he digs into the den, slinging dirt air-borne. The wolf pauses, his body contracts; he vomits and coughs. He removes his paw, and thrusts his other one deeper into the tunnel, hurtling Shadow backward.
Mortimer grapples Shadow’s brother, ARGUS, who screams frantically, as the wolf yanks him out of the den. Bones crunch.
Shadow curls into a ball.
EXT. COMMUNAL DEN – DAY
Ivy, and other hyenas fight the wolf off. He puts up a good fight, but staggers away, knowing he’s out-numbered. The hyenas follow, but he merges into a wolf pack a distance away. The hyenas retreat.
Ivy moves Shadow and his other brother, BRIMSLEY, to the communal den.
INT. COMMUNAL DEN – DAY
Shadow is withdrawn, bullied and solitary. He stumbles and shocks the air with his piercing, soprano-tonal laugh; as if he’s in pain. Shadow hangs his head, and whimpers constantly until the day, Hilly, Silla’s offspring, attacks his mom again.
Shadow nudges between Hilly and his mom. Hilly snaps at him. He snaps at her in return. Ivy growls. Hilly attacks Ivy and she cowers to show submission.
<s>whines to her mom, Silla.</s>
Later, Hilly complains to her mother about Shadow attacking her.<s></s>
INCITING INCIDENT:
To punish Ivy, Silla, <s>the matriarch,</s> removes Shadow from the clan. There’s no going back. Shadow is banished.
<s>He’s</s> Shadow’s depressed as a dog- day’s afternoon. He becomes an enemy to every grub in a five-mile radius.
The present howler, the jungle caller, announces the seasonal contest that awards a winning chance to enter the largest clans if they win.
Shadow works on his laugh, practicing each night, hiding his off tune vigilance inside the cacophonic symphony of the jungle. Hyena’s from his own clan attack Shadow, knocking him onto the ground.
Predators chase Shadow harder trying to kill the racket. He’s barely a shadow and blends into the foliage. He becomes known as the “Ghost sprinter.”
Turning point:
EXT. MASSAI VILLAGE – NIGHT
Shadow follows his old clan to a primitive, Massai village
The tribesmen use hyenas as undertakers.
In the thicket. a Massai woman is in labor. Shadow hears her panting as he brushes
by her; but she is not alone. Mortimer howls and she screams. He drags her into the brush.
The warriors give chase and enter the birthplace. Mortimer hides behind the bloodied remains of the mother, He attacks and sidesteps their spears. He kills a youth and disfigures two others while infecting others with rabies. Mortimer escapes into the night, leaving a trail of carnage behind.
Hell bent on escape, Mad Mortimer bypasses the clan of hyenas. In moonlight, hyenas gorge on cadavers. Their ghostly forms battle over a thigh bone that falls off a corpse. Shadow watches Ivy grab the bone and run.
EXT. COMMUNAL DENS – NIGHT
Shadow feeds on scattered remnants. He follows the clan back to their dens, slinking around the periphery, tired of being afraid.
ACT TWO:
New plan
Plan in action
Midpoint Turning PointShadow practices for the Olympic Hyena Howling Contest. <s>awarding entrance into a huge clan.</s>
He asks for help from different creatures to no avail; even the cricket tunes him out.
SUPER: “days later”
INT. JUNGLE CLEARING – DAY
At the competition, amazing competitors yodel, giggle, and howl, as they outshine each other. Revelry abounds.
When it’s Shadow’s turn, he shows up as scrawny, unkempt panicky hyena. <s>and</s> He freezes.
A croak escapes Shadow’s mouth and the hyenas jeer, then buffet him. He runs away.<s></s>
Shadow hides in shame, but after a bit, skirts around to hear his brother, Brimsley compete.
Brimsley <s>appears</s> <s>groomed, confident</s>,lifts his head to the sky. An arc of afternoon light spills across his face as he emits several Pavarotti-like howls. The clan howls their approval, and Brimsley wins.
Happy tears run down their mom’s face, and she beams with pride.
The high society hyena’s crowd around Brimsley, toasting him with scraps of wild boar, hooting, howling, reveling in a nose- bumping, tail- wagging, tongue-licking show of delight.
Shadow goes to congratulate Brimsley. His brother brushes Shadow aside ignoring him.
Shadow leaves dejected, a hyena of sorrows, a creature without a clan.
Turning Point:
Shadow starts each day, hunting down grubs and polishing his appearance,
He practices howling, emulating Brimsley and acting confident.
But it’s only an act. He practices his hyena howls, but puts up with put downs from every corner.
He<s> takes</s> bathes in the river and grooms himself, but his fur is frizzy, and his ribs stick out.
He chases a zebra to proves himself brave; one who almost breaks his jaw.
He’s proud of his injury, but his jaw is swollen and he cannot open it to practice.
He battles vultures who leave a picked-over skeleton behind for the ants.
Shadow grinds the bones to subdue his hunger, yipping like he made the kill.
INT. JUNGLE – DAY
Vultures return and beat him with their wings and beaks. He flees.
He finally gives up <s>Shadow leaves the area</s> and goes to find himself.
ACT THREE: Rethink everything
New plan
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift
EXT, COMMUNAL DENS – DAY
Shadow returns to the perimeter of his old clan.
He’s lonely and wants to see Ivy. The den sites are empty.
He picks up the clan’s scent and follows. A pride of lions impede his path.
He sneaks into the brush and steals a zebra rib. He pulverizes it a distance away,
Until one lion notices and chases him, snarling, baring his fangs.
Shadow turns to fight. His whole body shakes. He laughs nervously.
The lion is as young and fearful as Shadow though the cub growls ferociously.
He slices Shadow’s nose. Shadow returns the favor and outruns the lion.
Shadow survives his first real battle alone with his mortal enemy,
and lives to howl about it. He feels brave, but his belly growls loud in hunger.
ACT FOUR: Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
Resolution
Shadow trots along, heavy on the hyena’s scent where ahead on the trail, Silla
drags a zebra into the brush.
A feeding frenzy results in dinner ending in minutes. Silla and her cubs exit the corpse.
A free- for-all takes place, as the remaining hyena’s battle for scraps.
Vultures move in, and by the time they leave, even the ants go hungry.
The hyenas scatter, foraging as they go battling over the remnants.
As he takes a side trail up the hill, Shadow searches for his mom.
He hears howling and recognizes she’s begging for help.
He runs full gallop in the direction of her howl, hoping he’s in time.
Mortimer, the rabid wolf, has attacked her. No other hyenas have come to help.
She’s torn and bleeding, desperate and alone. Shadow is furious.
He attacks with everything he has.
Shadow has never known such rage. He goes for the wolf’s throat and hangs on.
The mad wolf has strength beyond reserve. Shadow clamps down with his powerful jaws.
The wolf does everything to escape, but it’s futile. He foams at the mouth, his eyes roll around in his head, his feet kick the ground. Mortimer finally spasms and dies. Shadow does not let go until he does.
Shadow helps Ivy who lies spent and bleeding. Together, he helps her back to her clan
The clan jeers him and labels him a loser, even after he returns Ivy to them.
His mom is in bad shape, but if she dies, it’s just another failure on his part.
RESOLUTION:
Shadow is met outside the hyena’s communal den by a huge wolf. Shadow is fearful but hides it.
The wolf does not threaten Shadow, but bids him follow. They run together half the night.
Neither intends harm to the other. Shadow enters the wolf’s territory. He’s accepted by their members.
Shadow remains. He becomes the only hyena in their wolf pack. One worthy of honor.
Ivy lives, and Shadow sees her in passing, once with Brimsley. He still doesn’t acknowledge Shadow. He never ventures close to the clan again.
He grows huge, shaggy, confident and strong. His howls resonate with the wolves. Shadow is no longer alone, nor starving. He belongs. His howls crescendo in volume. Inside their timbre is Shadow’s identification.
One strong, and without fear; one, who shall never qualify for the name, loser, ever again.
Note: Hyenas do not get rabies or other infections as other animals do. Their immune system baffles the scientists,and makes them an enigma. Something I find remarkable along with their amazing intellect…Thanks.
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Lisa Long’s Genre Conventions
My Vision: I will do whatever it takes to be comfortable saying that I am a writer by creating impactful stories with amazing characters in order to sell my scripts.
What I learned from this assignment is that ideas for improvement come when you study as objectively as possible what you have written.
Tell us the following:
Title: Chesapeake Girl
Concept: Molly, a 10-year-old aspiring dancer is abandoned
by her mother with a father she’s never known to live with him above his
restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay.
Genre: DramaBrainstorm ways to deliver the conventions more effectively and build those parts into your 4-Act Structure.
Example for Drama with Brainstorming Notes:
· Purpose: Molly’s purpose in life is to dance and she’ll do whatever she can to continue. Al’s purpose is to run his business and try to keep Molly alive whether it hurts her or not.
· Character-Driven Journey: Molly is a ten-year-old who has traveled with her dance gypsy mom all her life, now she has to find a way to survive in a new place with a father she doesn’t know and without her mom. Al never wanted to be a dad because he didn’t have one and always thought he’s suck at it. Suddenly, he’s taken in his long gone ten-year-old girl.
· High Stakes Come from Within: Molly is in survival mode. Al is in survival mode.
· Emotionally Resonates: Molly and Al must figure out a new life together even though they are strangers.
· Challenging, Emotionally Charged Situations: Molly can never give up dance, but Al was hurt by April, Molly’s dancer mom and finds it too difficult to watch Molly dance knowing what he lost.
· Real-Life Situations: Molly lies to everyone because she thinks it’s the right thing to do. Al doesn’t tell what he’s feeling to Molly or anyone. His character is the strong silent type.
List your structure from Lesson 6 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions, like I did above.
Changes are underlined:
Act 1:
Opening – A speeding car pulls up outside Al’s Seafood restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay and a woman April gets out. She pulls her daughter Molly out of the car against her will. Molly is left with Al, her father. Molly chases after the car as it speeds away. Molly has traveled with her dance gypsy mom all her life, now she has to find a way to survive in a new place with a father she doesn’t know and without her mom.
Inciting Incident – Molly’s purpose in life is to dance and she’ll do whatever she can to continue. But Al says no to dance lessons. Instead, Al makes Molly wipe tables and serve crabs in the restaurant, but she doesn’t want to work. They fight for the first time.
Turning Point – Molly meets Mars a choreographer on the beach. Mars is staying at the beach to mourn the recent passing of his partner. He has given up choreography for the time being because it reminds him too much of his dancer partner.
Act 2:
New plan – Mars decides to help Molly reach her dream of dancing in the Nutcracker in NYC. Every day while Al takes his pre-dinner service nap, Molly sneaks out to Mars’ cottage down the beach to dance.
Plan in action –Mars calls a contact in NYC and gets Molly an audition in 2 weeks. But before the audition, the chef finds out what Molly is doing and threatens to tell Al.
Midpoint Turning Point – A hurricane blows into the area. Al and Molly argue about Mars, and he forbids her to see him. His prejudice shows. Molly runs out and gets in a small boat. She gets swept up in the surf. Mars sees this and saves Molly from the bay. Mars carries her home in the storm. Al can’t bring himself to even thank Mars.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – It’s time for the audition. Molly lies to Mars by telling him that Al said it was okay for her to go with him to NYC…that he had a change of heart after he saved her from the storm.
New plan – Mars drives Molly to NYC for the audition. Al angrily meets Molly when she returns… with good news, she got a part in the Nutcracker! Al says absolutely not!
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Al and Molly have a huge fight and when Molly storms up to her room, she sneaks out to Mars’ cottage. Mars wants to talk to Al before they go, but Molly makes excuses, and they take off for NYC.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Al goes to NYC to bring Molly back. He goes to the theater as the curtain goes up on The Nutcracker. Al cries as he sees Molly dance and she’s exquisite, even for 10. Al decides to go home. As he leaves the theater, he sees April, Molly’s mom.
Resolution – April is at the restaurant/house when Molly returns. Molly is furious with April for abandoning her. April and Molly fight over what happened, but eventually make up when April explains that she just wanted stability and a safe place for Molly, then she gives Molly an exquisite pair of ballet toe shoes for Christmas. April and Al let Molly know that Al is ill, and April has come back to be his nurse. Molly recognizes the toll she has taken on Al. Al comes clean about the past that he’s holding onto and finally expresses his love for her. Mars says goodbye to Molly and returns to NYC to start again. Six months later, April is running the restaurant and Al is nowhere to be seen. Molly and April dance on the beach together as an expression of mourning and love.
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WIM Vic Valleau Module 2 Lesson 6
VISION: As a writer, I am an alchemist, turning ordinary into gold.
WHAT I LEARNED: Filling in blanks is fun way to write, just ask the right questions and wait for my subconscious to answer.
Concept: Bob, a sperm donor to 40 babies, wants one who calls him dad!
ROMANTIC COMEDY CONVENTIONS
Bob and Suzanne take journey of love (JOL) from
1.Cute meet 2 Denial of love 3. Overwhelming attraction to 4. Breaking up over separation/ differences to 5. Reuniting
ACT ONE: 25 TO 30 PAGES
OPENING; As is his habit, Bob spies and tracks on many couples who get his frozen sperm. He is up against secrecy laws and procedures.
ADDED: He chases women who leave clinic with igloo ice chests protecting frozen sperm. Other customers have it shipped to the future mother. He begs them to let his baby call him dad, but he’s just a nuisance.
ADDED OPENING: CLINIC has gay couples seeking sperm, reading brochures of qualifications of male donors
ADDED: CUTE-MEET/COMEDY CONVENTIONS
Being sleepy, with sleepy eyes caused by male sexual activity, Bob walks out of #2 Donation room, bumps into, then smiles at a French Suzanne, a customer. She’s French and attracted by his Frenchy sex look. He’s ultra relaxed, ready for a nap to recuperate, sleepy eyes (bedroom eyes) look, so immediate chemistry. ( Overwhelming attraction)
(DENIAL OF LOVE)Thinking she’s an employee instead of a customer just coming out of the ladies room, he guides her back into donation room, hands her his cup of sperm donation. She freaks out, RUNS AWAY, as he runs, CHASING HER through waiting room, insists she take cup of sperm. (COMEDY)
(DENIAL OF LOVE) Upset, she leaves. Defeated and demoralized, he goes outside as Uber driver. Needing an Uber, mistaken but not seeing its him, she gets in watches him.
He sips his coffee from cup identical to sperm donation cup which she watches him drink Another mistake, but recognizing him, she turns around slides out the other door, runs away.
Laughing, Clinic employees watch, tease him. Employee jokes, says: that’s the effect you have on women.
RELATIONSHIP SET UP Clinic employee says, We apologize for mishap, We will set up a date for you, sorry for mishap. We saw how she smiled at you. WE saw the spark, maybe this is Bobs #40 lucky girl. Lets get her pregnant!.
Clinic freezes his sperm. She emails request for 6 foot tall French fathers sperm to be over night Fed Exed.to Paris. Clinic tells him sorry they cant disclose who got his final donation.
INCITING INCIDENT: Owner of Clinic sues him for violations, chasing donor mothers He goes to a very good yet old attorney with a beautiful young wife. Will Bob be a sperm donor for wife, as payment for legal services?
RELATIONSHIP SET-UP/COMEDY Bob dinner date with Suzanne. Clinic tells her it’s a handsome Frenchman, blind date so she’s ultra-ready and beautiful. ISSUES: She expects too much in a man. SEPARATION
ISSUES She says she needs an artist father, not Uber driver who makes donations. She says no woman wants a man sperm donor. He hides HIS 40 kids.
SEPARATION/ BREAKING UP OVER DIFFERENCES: Loser Bob is she walks out on Bob’s date. He’s very attracted to her but she’s flying back to France.
.
TURNING POINT: (COMEDY) He needs ego boost to keep looking. He needs and wants recognition, meets pregnant women, pleads. Husbands threatens to beat him up.
ACT 2 20 TO 30 PAGES. CHALLENGE THE OLD WAYS
NEW PLAN DEVELOPS: list of attempts, tries old ways and fails: Starts PROTECTING HIS DONATIONS AND charging for sperm, brags to his friends.
TURNING POINT: MIDPOINT
Disrupts his reality Maybe he’s not father? Or alternative scenario: friends set up woman as potential mother to have sex with him but he’s too nervous, expecting to be arrested
NEW: Takes Male herbs, pumps up muscles, listens to men’s sexual gurus, DOES EVERYTHING TO BOOST muscle and TESTERONE.
ADDED COMEDY: CLINIC GAVE HIS SPERM TO SUZANNE FED EXED TO PARIS. SHE GETS PREGNANT, CELEBRATES WITH GIRLFRIENDS. THEY ADMIRE A BUFF MUSCLE PHOTO OF HIM AT PARTY. SHE LIES HE’S A FRENCHMAN AND AN ARTIST, 6 FEET TALL AND SPEAKS SEVERAL LANGUAGES.
ACT 3 20-30 pages PROFOUND MOMENTS THAT GIVE USE NEW WAYS
HERO: RETHINKS AND CREATE NEW PLAN-All is lost moment. Becomes laughing stock of men friends. He advertises in sex ads, wrong advertising locations
Asks successful etc men with women strategizes about approaching potential mothers. Devious tricks to get women to use his sperm.
Competition from BEST qualified sperm from clinics, donors are tall, accomplished, educated.
REUNITING He goes to Europe, Paris, wears a beret, paints photo of little girl, mother/clinic sent him, on banks of Siene. While acclimating to French culture goes to Rodin museum, museum of modern Art. Sees French men all have wives and girlfriends! He buys berets, tight t-shirts and jeans, turtlenecks,
Mistakenly, thinks it his baby, Sees woman with baby carriage, accosts her.
New Plan: Adopt, buy a baby, or find an abandoned baby. French baby.
TURNING POINT: HUGE FAILURE/MAJOR TURNING POINT He finds baby abandoned, ultimately takes it to French police. But first, baby father comes and father chases then attacks him. He thinks chaser is a criminal, not baby father so runs away with baby.
ACT 4 25 pages- TEST THE CHANGE IN THIS CHARACTER: PROVE NEW WAYS
Climax/Ultimate Expression of the conflict. Kicked out of hospital.
Resolution- new family/ baby mother.
NEW: REUNITING AND EXPERIENCE LOVE OF THEIR LIFE
In Paris, he is artist, PAINTING A PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTO OF HIS LITTLE GIRL. Photo was sent by the mother to the clinic and clinic forwarded it to him. He is a babe magnet with women he couldn’t get before. He is painting in Paris, from photo of his little girl, sent to him by mother, he met at Clinic and dated. Interested women interrupt him constantly. His wife and cute little daughter greet him.
We hear Daddy, Daddy from the distance. As she is running to him, the girl yells to her dad. A group of his former gamer employees on vacation watch at a distance, shake their heads in disbelief. He sees them, raises his paint brush, dots the air, for emphasis, indicating THE END. .
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Hal/Cheryl Sorry, my red highlighting where I added new conventions didn’t post with my additions #6.
Vic Valleau
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Karen Crider’s Genre Conventions.
I posted this in the wrong place just now, but I am re-sending the assignment because the red ink would not print; so, I converted it back to the black font. Thanks, KC
What I learned: That figuring out genres can be tricky. Characteristics of story can be similar in different genres and sidetrack a writer. It did me. I struggled with it for over a day and a half. These are the genres that I think fit my movie: Genre: Adventure, Drama/Animation
My vision is to be a stronger writer.
#1. I am confident in my writing genre conventions into my structures.
#2. Title: Solo Act
#3. Concept: A young, traumatized hyena, deposed from his clan, must win acceptance in another, or struggle to survive the jungle predators alone.
Genre: Adventure, Drama/Animation
Conventions:
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.
#4. Brainstorming session.
#5. Protagonist vs. Antagonist structure
Act 1:
INT. JUNGLE – DAY
Inside the African jungle, inside a series of dens lives a clan of fifty spotted hyenas. The clan’s hierarchal leader, SILLA, a large, powerful, spotted hyena, leads the kill and eats first with her cubs.
The males compete for a closer range, sidestepping each other, flaring their nostrils, groveling, vying for any bone or vestige cast accidentally or otherwise. The starving males always eat last.
SUPER: “a week later”
INT. COMMUNAL DEN – DAY
Silla leads the way back to the communal den, more satisfied than others. Stragglers stay behind fighting the vultures for the last remnant of tissue and bone, until they are driven off.
Silla’s offspring, HILA, a spoiled, demanding offspring harasses others who are less likely to fight back. Her favorite victim is IVY, a lower-level hyena, who’s pregnant.
EXT. DEN – DAY
Ivy leaves the clan to continue digging a den, for her time draws near. She finishes the main tunnel when she goes into labor.
Three cubs are born, all of them male.
SUPER: “weeks pass”
SHADOW, the youngest hyena inside the den, bats at a single paw advancing toward him in his tunnel. He plays with it.
MORTIMER, a rabid wolf, hears the cubs mewling. After Ivy leaves to hunt, he digs into the den, slinging dirt air-borne. The wolf pauses, his body contracts; he vomits and coughs. He removes his paw, and thrusts his other one deeper into the tunnel, hurtling Shadow backward.
Mortimer grapples Shadow’s brother, ARGUS, who screams frantically, as the wolf yanks him out of the den. Bones crunch.
Shadow curls into a ball.
EXT. COMMUNAL DEN – DAY
Ivy, and other hyenas fight the wolf off. He puts up a good fight, but staggers away, knowing he’s out-numbered. The hyenas follow, but he merges into a wolf pack a distance away. The hyenas retreat.
Ivy moves Shadow and his other brother, BRIMSLEY, to the communal den.
INT. COMMUNAL DEN – DAY
Shadow is withdrawn, bullied and solitary. He stumbles and shocks the air with his piercing, soprano-tonal laugh; as if he’s in pain. Shadow hangs his head, and whimpers constantly until the day, Hilly, Silla’s offspring, attacks his mom again.
Shadow nudges between Hilly and his mom. Hilly snaps at him. He snaps at her in return. Ivy growls. Hilly attacks Ivy and she cowers to show submission.
<s>whines to her mom, Silla.</s>
Later, Hilly complains to her mother about Shadow attacking her.<s></s>
INCITING INCIDENT:
To punish Ivy, Silla, <s>the matriarch,</s> removes Shadow from the clan. There’s no going back. Shadow is banished.
<s>He’s</s> Shadow’s depressed as a dog- day’s afternoon. He becomes an enemy to every grub in a five-mile radius.
The present howler, the jungle caller, announces the seasonal contest that awards a winning chance to enter the largest clans if they win.
Shadow works on his laugh, practicing each night, hiding his off-tune vigilance inside the cacophonic symphony of the jungle. Hyenas from his own clan attack Shadow, knocking him onto the ground.
Predators chase Shadow harder trying to kill the racket. He’s barely a shadow and blends into the foliage. He becomes known as the “Ghost sprinter.”
Turning point:
EXT. MASSAI VILLAGE – NIGHT
Shadow follows his old clan to a primitive, Massai village
The tribesmen use hyenas as undertakers.
In the thicket. a Massai woman is in labor. Shadow hears her panting as he brushes
by her, but she is not alone. Mortimer howls and she screams. He drags her into the brush.
The warriors give chase and enter the birthplace. Mortimer hides behind the bloodied remains of the mother, He attacks and sidesteps their spears. He kills a youth and disfigures two others while infecting others with rabies. Mortimer escapes into the night, leaving a trail of carnage behind.
Hell bent on escape, Mad Mortimer bypasses the clan of hyenas. In moonlight, hyenas gorge on cadavers. Their ghostly forms battle over a thigh bone that falls off a corpse. Shadow watches Ivy grab the bone and run.
EXT. COMMUNAL DENS – NIGHT
Shadow feeds on scattered remnants. He follows the clan back to their dens, slinking around the periphery, tired of being afraid.
ACT TWO:
New plan
Plan in action
Midpoint Turning PointShadow practices for the Olympic Hyena Howling Contest. <s>awarding entrance into a huge clan.</s>
He asks for help from different creatures to no avail; even the cricket tunes him out.
SUPER: “days later”
INT. JUNGLE CLEARING – DAY
At the competition, amazing competitors yodel, giggle, and howl, as they outshine each other. Revelry abounds.
When it’s Shadow’s turn, he shows up as scrawny, unkempt, hyena. He freezes.
A croak escapes Shadow’s mouth and the hyenas jeer, then buffet him. He runs away.<s></s>
Shadow hides in shame, but after a bit, skirts around to hear his brother, Brimsley compete.
‘Brimsley <s>appears</s> <s>groomed, confident</s>,lifts his head to the sky. An arc of afternoon light spills across his face as he emits several Pavarotti-like howls. The clan howls their approval, and Brimsley wins.
Happy tears run down their mom’s face, and she beams with pride.
The high society hyena’s crowd around Brimsley, toasting him with scraps of wild boar, hooting, howling, reveling in a nose- bumping, tail- wagging, tongue-licking show of delight.
Shadow goes to congratulate Brimsley. His brother brushes Shadow aside ignoring him.
Shadow leaves dejected, a hyena of sorrows, a creature without a clan.
Turning Point:
Shadow starts each day, hunting down grubs and polishing his appearance,
He practices howling, emulating Brimsley and acting confident.
But it’s only an act. He practices his hyena howls but puts up with put downs from every corner.
He<s> takes</s> bathes in the river and grooms himself, but his fur is frizzy, and his ribs stick out.
He chases a zebra to proves himself brave; one who almost breaks his jaw.
He’s proud of his injury, but his jaw is swollen, and he cannot open it to practice.
He battles vultures who leave a picked-over skeleton behind for the ants.
Shadow grinds the bones to subdue his hunger, yipping like he made the kill.
INT. JUNGLE – DAY
Vultures beat him with their wings and beaks, He flees to go find himself<s></s>
ACT THREE: Rethink everything
New plan
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift
EXT, COMMUNAL DENS – DAY
Shadow returns to the perimeter of his old clan.
He’s lonely and wants to see Ivy. The den sites are empty.
He picks up the clan’s scent and follows. A pride of lions impede his path.
He sneaks into the brush and steals a zebra rib. He pulverizes it a distance away,
Until one lion notices and chases him, snarling, baring his fangs.
Shadow turns to fight. His whole body shakes. He laughs nervously.
The lion is as young and fearful as Shadow though the cub growls ferociously.
He slices Shadow’s nose. Shadow returns the favor and outruns the lion.
Shadow survives his first real battle alone with his mortal enemy,
and lives to howl about it. He feels brave, but his belly growls loud in hunger.
ACT FOUR: Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
Resolution
Shadow trots along, heavy on the hyena’s scent where ahead on the trail, Silla
drags a zebra into the brush.
A feeding frenzy results in dinner ending in minutes. Silla and her cubs exit the corpse.
A free- for-all takes place, as the remaining hyena’s battle for scraps.
Vultures move in, and by the time they leave, even the ants go hungry.
The hyenas scatter, foraging as they go battling over the remnants.
As he takes a side trail up the hill, Shadow searches for his mom.
He hears howling and recognizes she’s begging for help.
He runs full gallop in the direction of her howl, hoping he’s in time.
Mortimer, the rabid wolf, has attacked her. No other hyenas have come to help.
She’s torn and bleeding, desperate and alone. Shadow is furious.
He attacks with everything he has.
Shadow has never known such rage. He goes for the wolf’s throat and hangs on.
The mad wolf has strength beyond reserve. Shadow clamps down with his powerful jaws.
The wolf does everything to escape, but it’s futile. He foams at the mouth, his eyes roll around in his head, his feet kick the ground. Mortimer finally spasms and dies. Shadow does not let go when he does.
Shadow helps Ivy who lies spent and bleeding. Together, he helps her back to her clan
The clan jeers him and labels him a loser, even after he returns Ivy to them.
His mom is in bad shape, but if she dies, it’s just another failure on his part.
RESOLUTION:
Shadow is met outside the hyena’s communal den by a huge wolf. Shadow is fearful but hides it.
The wolf does not threaten Shadow but bids him follow. They run together half the night.
Neither intends harm to the other. Shadow enters the wolf’s territory. He’s accepted by their members.
Shadow remains. He becomes the only hyena in their wolf pack. One worthy of the honor.
Ivy lives, and Shadow sees her in passing, once with Brimsley. He still doesn’t acknowledge Shadow. He never ventures close to the clan again.
He grows huge, shaggy, confident and strong. His howls resonate with the wolves. Shadow is no longer alone, nor starving. He belongs. His howls crescendo in volume. Inside their timbre is Shadow’s identification.
One strong, and without fear; one, who shall never qualify for the name, loser, ever again.
Note: Hyenas do not get rabies or infections as other animals do. Their immune system baffles the scientists and makes them an enigma. Something I find remarkable along with their amazing intellect…Thanks.
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I cannot find where to post this assignment, so I’m posting it here to show I am doing it.
On my end, the forum modules to which I can post go up to only Day 6. I have contacted Customer Service and emailed this assignment.
(Patty Ruland’s) Subtext Plot
Concept: 19<sup>th</sup> Century twin sister and brother intrepid naturalists bore dangerously farther into the Amazon rainforest than human explorers should go to be the first to spot and photograph/draw “Boto” the elusive yet storied pink river dolphin. A poacher poses as their father’s colleague sent to be their guide.
Fish out of water/Major cover-up(s): The duo encounter extreme conditions that call on them to muster and invent extreme survival skills, all the while being amazed by the incredible beauty alongside all the danger. Each time they, as fish out of water, successfully acclimate to their challenging surroundings, they go on to tackle the next, greater challenges. As they progress, they come to love their harrowing environs as more home than their home back in the States. Very competitive in their old life, they must forge a strong bond to stay alive and to pursue their goal. During one especially harrowing episode, a “guide” sent by their father offers to help them out of the jam and teach them new skills. He knows the pink dolphins love to play with children, so he uses them to attract a school. He’s really planning to coopt their efforts and bask in the glory of their discovery. Little do any of them know, an indigenous child tracks the party in the shadows, the duo’s secret protector, in spirit, and the poacher’s adversary a child on a mission of her own—to lead authorities to the poacher and catch him in the act of attempting to kidnap one of the pink dolphins to be sold to an aquarium back home. [Indigenous people are in a fight for their lives this very day in Brazil, with the president wanting to remove them and force them to adopt colonizer culture ways. So, I’m thinking it’s time for a rainforest indigenous child to be featured in a film.]
My vision: To get better and better as a writer in order to gain representation and earn a good living in this profession.
What I learned from doing this assignment is: That even though I think I cannot write a “thriller” for kids, I plod right through this assignment, sketching external with more than one internal sub-text. I learned once again that embracing rather than fearing imperfection is a way to embolden any phase of this or any other project.
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Andrew Boyd’s Assignment 25.8.22 Genre Conventions
My Vision:
For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.
What I learned from this assignment is:
To draw out the emotional resonance for the audience within the Drama genre. This has been very helpful and has helped me further reshape my opener.
Title:
Hitler’s Choirboys
Concept:
Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s top henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a humble US Army chaplain and his two fellow officers win their behind-the-scenes battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?
Genre:
Drama / True Story.
List of Drama Conventions:
• PURPOSE: To explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for their characters. <div>
• 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 come 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.
List your structure and improvements. Genre conventions added and highlighted in updated Act structure in italics.
Act 1
Opening: 1945. A US Army captain is staring down the barrel of a Colt 45, pointed at him by a drunk and furious GI – his own sidekick. Location: Dachau concentration camp. Army Chaplain Henry Gerecke is trying to save two lives: that of his sidekick Private Sam Fuller and the SS POW Fuller is determined to kill. Cut to 1961. Fuller is being quizzed behind bars by prison officials on his relationship with Gerecke. ‘He was like a father to me,’ he says. ‘I hated him.’ Gerecke is reckless in his compassion. We care about a man who would take such risks, and we wonder why, and how anyone could come to hate him.
Inciting Incident: Rewind. The war is over. Fuller is boosting his army pay playing the black market and pounding boogie woogie in GI joints in Germany – between playing hymns in chapel. His boss, Army chaplain Henry Gerecke has enough points to go home. But his commanding officer wants to send him to Nuremberg where the leading Nazis are about to stand trial. His assignment: Keep ‘em alive until we can hang ‘em – and get them to denounce the Führer so they don’t die as martyrs and heroes. The reaction of Gerecke and Fuller is ‘You’re kidding.’ Gerecke refuses. He hasn’t seen his wife for two years and fears for his marriage. He needs to head home to rescue that relationship. Two of his sons have been badly wounded in the war, after he encouraged them to sign up. So, he feels guilty and is no fan of the Nazis. And he fears he would be out of his depth with the likes of arch-manipulator Hermann Goering.
Turning Point: So the commander sends Gerecke and Fuller to Dachau concentration camp to see why the stakes are so high. Unless Gerecke can turn Hitler’s henchmen and break the Nazi legend, his boys and his grandkids might well have to fight them again. Gerecke reluctantly agrees to go to Nuremberg as Lutheran chaplain to the surviving top Nazis. Fuller, whose brother has been murdered by the SS, violently objects. But having come close to shooting a prisoner at Dachau – and his boss – it’s Nuremberg or jail. Gerecke sees Fuller as a surrogate son. Both men are caught between a rock and a hard place, which stretches their relationship to breaking point.
Act 2
New Plan: Gerecke is introduced to his behind-the-scenes team in Nuremberg, a Catholic chaplain concealing a war wound, and a Jewish psychologist with an understandable axe to grind. Together they must prevent the Nazis committing suicide and make them take responsibility for their war crimes. Mission impossible. How will they keep it together personally, get it together as a team, and find a way to do that? Each has good cause to hate the Nazis. Compounded when, to a man, Hitler’s henchmen plead not guilty and treat the court with contempt.
Plan in Action: Gerecke works hard to overcome his feelings and get alongside the Nazis to understand them. As a chaplain, he treats them with respect and refuses to spy on them. In return, he gets called a Nazi lover by the prison guards, including his own sidekick. Sam Fuller. Fuller, who’s black, walks out after SS prisoners hurl racial insults at him as he plays the organ in chapel. Hermann Goering considers the chaplain a soft target. The leader of the surviving Nazis is staging a last-ditch attempt to get the Allies to join forces with the defeated Germans to fight the Russians – and so save their Nazi necks. And he’s whipping the other defendants into line. Gerecke is being played and he knows it. His reputation is shot; back in the US his love rival is making moves on his wife, and everything is falling down around his ears. How can he turn it around?
Midpoint Turning Point: The Catholic chaplain recognises his colleague Henry Gerecke is pulling his punches. Gerecke was badly humiliated by his German father during World War One. Pa hauled him out of the recruitment line in St Louis, where he was itching to sign up to fight the Kaiser. That experience has made Gerecke reluctant to humiliate others. He also has a fierce temper which he is afraid of losing. Can he overcome those scars of deep personal humiliation and the fear of his own anger which are holding him back?
Act 3
Rethink Everything: Catholic chaplain Sixtus O’Connor challenges Gerecke to get tough with the prisoners if he’s ever going to get through to them. And Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert helps the chaplain marshal hard evidence that will force the Nazis to admit their guilt. This change of tactics risks letting his anger loose and wrecking everything he’s built over months. He is losing the confidence of his commanding officer. However, the chaplain is playing the long game, and everyone underestimates his grit, wisdom and determination.
New Plan: The showing in court of the Nazi concentration camp film forces the prisoners to confront what they have done and has a major impact on some of them. Gerecke starts marshalling evidence to confront the Nazis and tear down their barriers of denial. But the stress is killing him. He goes down with pneumonia. His commander wants to send him home. Gerecke begs to see it out, at risk to his health and his marriage. As judgment day nears, psychologist Gustave Gilbert splits Goering off from the other defendants to break his grip on them. And finally, due to all their efforts, some of the leading Nazis finally start to denounce Hitler in court and to a watching world.
Turning Point: Huge Failure Although Gerecke is now getting through to some of them, the chaplain’s hard truths have backfired with the top man, Hermann Goering. The former Reichsmarschall now pins his hopes on a prison breakout by the shadowy Werwolves, the Nazi resistance. Gerecke hopes to reach him through his little daughter and arranges a prison visit. That fails. Then the chaplain uncovers new evidence that could break Goering down. But his go-for-broke confrontation goes badly wrong when he loses his temper. The Werwolves never show, and Goering commits suicide in his cell. Gerecke’s mission is a double failure and he blames himself. To make matters worse, Sam Fuller has shot a sergeant in Nuremberg.
Act 4
Climax / Ultimate Expression of the Conflict
With the hour of execution approaching, many of the Nazis respond to the gritty compassion shown by the chaplains. Gerecke’s resolve to treat even the world’s worst mass murderers as human beings rather than monsters is seen to pay off. His true impact on some of the leading Nazis becomes clear as they face the gallows. Success and relief for Gerecke and the Catholic chaplain is mingled with heart-stopping stress, as the executions are brutally botched and some still go to their deaths spitting venom and praising Hitler.
Resolution: 1961. Gerecke’s sidekick, Sam Fuller is concluding his story to the parole board at Menard, where he’s been banged up for shooting that sergeant. He explains how the chaplain he once hated for standing in his way had become a father figure to him. Gerecke took Fuller back as his assistant at Menard after resuming his prison ministry in the US. Mercifully, Gerecke’s marriage and his sons survived the war. Fifteen years later, Gerecke has now passed away and Fuller is seeking parole so he can attend his friend’s memorial in St Louis. His request is granted, and he is invited to play the organ as ever – hot and fast. Reconciliation, redemption, relief.
</div>
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David’s Genre Conventions
Vision: To elevate my skills and become an A list writer
What I learned from this assignment was the necessity of honoring your genre’s conventions.
Title: PAST DUE
Genre: Comedy
Concept: When a carefree college grad- owing the most money in student loan history- pretends to be a doctor to woo his dream girl, a ruthless collector tracks him down, threatening to expose him as a fraud.
CONVENTIONS OF COMEDY
PURPOSE: To entertain the audience with a story packed with laughter-inducing moments.
INCONGRUENCE: An unemployed guy with mounds of debt pretends to be a successful doctor. A blue collar, former Marine from Idaho goes to San Francisco. A carefree college grad vs. an uneducated military guy.
MECHANICS OF COMEDY: Gets a job in bank- but it’s a sperm bank. Wears scrubs and is mistaken for a real doctor. Pretends his friend’s fancy apartment is his, nearly getting busted several times. The collector’s fired from his job, is given a fruit basket as severance pay, goes to SF to hunt down Chas, gets stopped at the California border during a fruit check. The collector goes to a frat house, ties up a freshman to get intel on Chas.
COMEDIC PROTAGONIST(S): A carefree, unemployed college grad who constantly lies to himself and others about his situation. The collectot’s the exact opposite- blunt and purposeful.
STRONG STORY: Comedy is not enough. You need a story that keeps us engaged throughout the movie.
Act 1:
Opening: Chas lives on a dinky, messy boat listening to increasingly violent VM’s left by Keith, a notoriously ruthless student loan collector.
Inciting Incident: Chas meets Christie after donating sperm and pretends he’s a doctor.
Turning Point: Needing $10k to save his beloved house, Keith heads out to SF to track down Chas.
Act 2:
New plan: Falling in love with Christie, Chas doubles down on his lie, living it up as a young, successful doctor
Plan in action: Despite nearly getting busted several times, the plan works- though Keith is hot on his trail.
Midpoint Turning Point: Christie says ‘I love you.’ Chas knows he’s in too deep and feels guilty.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Chas can’t hurt Christie- and is too afraid to tell her the truth- so he ghosts her.
New plan: Intrigued by playing doctor, he studies medical books and has a new plan to attend medical school.
Turning Point:
Chas goes to tell Christie the truth when Keith accosts him, exposing him as a fraud. Christie’s horrified.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Chas is forced to tell his parents and Christie the truth.
Resolution: Chas goes back East to work for his dad so he can pay off his loans. The last scene: Chas flies back to SF to patch things up with Christie, leaving the possibility of a future relationship.
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Amy’s Genre Conventions
Vision: I want to become known as an expert in the family-friendly genre and make a full-time living as a screenwriter.
What I learned doing this assignment is how to build in the convention of the rom-com genre into my script.
Title: Unroyally in Love
Concept: When a princess learns that she’s not really a princess, she’s forced to accept help from a neighboring country’s prince who she hates to learn how to be a commoner. The two find themselves unexpectedly drawn to each other.
Genre: Rom-Com
Conventions of Rom-Com genre:
-Cute-meet/see a romantic future for the couple
-denial of love
-overwhelming attraction
-each person has internal personal issue that must be resolved for them to be together
-physical separation
-comedy
Act 1:
Opening: At the royal masquerade ball, a masked stranger asks Stephanie to dance. There is an immediate attraction between the two. After the dance, the stranger reveals himself as Prince Jack from the country next door who Stephanie has known forever and hates. She gets mad and demands to know who invited him.
Inciting Incident: Historian informs the family that they are not royals
Turning Point: The news gets out that Stephanie is not really the princess. The country is in chaos. Stephanie must accept help from Prince Jack who she hates from the country next door.
Act 2:
New plan: Learn how to be a commoner
Plan in action: Doing common things like shopping. She fails spectacularly at being a commoner. Stephanie and Jack act as if they can’t stand one another, but a strong attraction is bubbling underneath.
Midpoint Turning Point: After Stephanie is properly exposed to the public, news reporters peg her as a horrible person. It’s now bad PR for Jack to be seen with her. Before they part, they almost admit their feelings for one another.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Stephanie’s eyes are open to all the suffering in her kingdom. She seeks Jack out for help.
New plan: Uses her fame to help people
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Stephanie gets caught up in all the attention. It becomes painfully obvious to everyone that she was not doing “good” for the right reasons. She’s rejected by everyone, including Jack.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Stephanie swallows her pride and helps the homeless woman who is the real princess. In an impassioned goodbye speech to the country, Stephanie sends Jack a subtle message confessing her feelings.
Resolution: Stephanie gets Jack back. She gets a cushy job.
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WIM2 – Alan’s Genre Conventions
My Vision:
I do whatever it takes for me to be a true wordsmith that spins wildly original and entertaining screenplays that are passionately sought out by top industry professionals who turn them into critically and publicly acclaimed major motion pictures distributed by the top studios in Hollywood, all while writing from wherever I may be leisurely traveling the world at the moment.
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What I learned: By specifically focusing on the genre conventions I am able to elevate my story to better suit the needs of the genre. It also improves the story.
Title: Ninja Buregers
Genre: Action/Comedy
Concept: After taking out the garbage, a down on his luck, thirty-something fast food employee finds a high tech bracelet that turns him into the world’s deadliest super soldier.
Conventions:
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
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 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.
4 ACT STRUCTURE (Improved with Genre) Improvements underlined.
Main Conflict: Tiberius has a high tech bracelet fused to his wrist that makes him a super soldier, the bad guys who stole it want it back and will kill him and anyone else who gets in their way to get it.
Act 1
Opening: Tiberius late for work. Open in action as we see him riding his bike to work…poorly. He can’t do jumps, falls off the bike, is chased by dogs, hit by a bus. He’s bullied by his boss, displays a lack of confidence at every turn, and shows that he’s a weak “yes, man” to all those around him. Depressed, but has a good heart and is kind to a homeless man that lives behind the restaurant. He mentions to his best friend his life goal is to either open his own restaurant or to be a ninja. His friend reminds him that he will never be a ninja and that it would be cultural appropriation anyway. An evil henchman visits the restaurant. Tiberius offers to take his tray with the trash on it. Henchman agrees but forgets that the case containing the bracelet is on the tray.
Inciting Incident: After taking out the garbage, the bag tears on the old dumpster and all of its contents spill out to the ground. He spies amongst the refuse a small case. He finds an awesome looking metallic bracelet inside. He slips the bracelet on and it painfully fuses to his wrist. On the bike ride home mysterious abilities show up. He can make the jump he missed on the way to work. He avoids the bus with some true BMX style riding. He does a bunny hop over a car that almost hits him. And he flat out outruns a dog chasing him. When he gets home he’s both shocked and completely gassed. Although he has new skills, he’s still woefully out of shape.
Turning Point: The ‘good guys’ track him down and explain what he has on his wrist and make him an offer he can’t refuse, join their experimental team of human test subjects, or they can amputate his arm and take the bracelet.
Act II
New Plan: Tiberius decides to become a human test subject and keep his arm. The plan is to find out what is really going on with this bracelet, and survive the experiments.
Plan in Action: Tiberius is a true fish out of water amongst the perfect human specimens who have volunteered to become super soldiers. He is unable to keep up…the old ways on display again. All kinds of super soldier training set pieces here.
Midpoint Turning Point: A critical mission announced. After the class leader is selected for the mission the entire team is wiped out by Crypto’s henchmen in a massive explosion. Tiberius is able to escape thanks to some new skills but just barely.
Act III
Rethink Everything: After the shock of losing the team he had begun to bond with, Tiberius realizes the old ways won’t work anymore. The leader of the ‘good guys’ meets up with him. Tiberius vows to avenge his class of fallen super soldiers and wipe out Crypto and his organization..
New Plan: Tiberius tries to infiltrate and destroy Crypto’s evil headquarters. Build in stealth type set pieces here.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Tiberius is captured and set for execution. Crypto will have his super soldier bracelet and be able to create his army. And… the ‘good guy’ leader stands at Crypto’s side and was behind the death of the entire team! Tiberius just survived by dumb luck. It turns out that ‘good guy’ was the supplier of the tech to the henchman who then lost the bracelet at the fast food restaurant!
Act IV
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Tiberius embraces the new way. He finds a way to defeat Crypto’s henchman, kills ‘good guy’ and sends Crypto to a fiery death, destroying his evil lair in the process.
Resolution: Tiberius, new ways on display, opens his own fast food restaurant and calls it: Ninja Burgers (even though his best friend keeps reminding his that he never was a ninja.)
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Mary Lynn Mabray
WIM#2 – Module – 2 Lesson 5 – Four Act Transformational Structure
Vision: To write high concept scripts that are in demand
What I Learned: That remains to be seen. *so far so good. I am used to writing in three act structure with eight turning points. I must admit these guidelines are very helpful.
CONCEPT: A secretly lonely but famous widow meets a much younger man while on vacation and falls in love with him only to discover that he is Santa Claus and needs her and her cooking skills to regain his magic.
Main Conflict – Helen is conflicted about her relationship with Nick. Nick needs Helen’s cookies to transform him from a hunk of burning love back to jolly old Santa Claus with only seven days left until Christmas could disappear forever.
Old Ways: takes her fame in stride but is tired of the constant circus around her. Longs to put her grandchildren and daughter first, does what her manager (son-in-law) tells her is in her best interest.
New Ways: takes action, is not compliant, knows what she wants and knows her future is with Nick
Act One: Helen leaves studio with manager to go on much needed vacation with family – Stuart continues to make deals and obligate Helen to more career building obligations even though she does not need the work. Stuart can’t help himself.
Nick is the toy shop inspecting the latest toys. Ralph and Pierre argue of course. Rudolph stumbles into North Pole kitchen to steal a magic cookie from Mrs. Claus.
Inciting Incident:
Helen is mobbed by fans upon arrival at the hotel and discovers Stuart has put together a special cooking class with Helen without her permission. The grandchildren and Muffy, Helen’s daughter are angry about the working family vacation.
Rudolph runs into Mrs. Claus, accidentally and she suddenly starts to spin in circles all through the North Pole. She explodes in front of Nick. Magic dust goes everywhere. Nick is catapulted back in time and emerges a Hunk of burning love. He is deep in depression because Mrs. Claus is a robot and he had no idea…and has lost his magic. Ralph and Wilbur decide he needs something to make him happy. A vacation in the Caribbean.
Act 2: Helen unwinds at beach. Nick parasails. Parasail fails. Nick slams into the ocean. Knocks him out. Helen rescues him from drowning. Gives mouth to mouth that becomes something more.
Plan In Action : Nick is surprised. Wilbur and Ralph think Helen might be the answer to their problem. Helen is shocked at herself. What was that kiss all about? Helen tries to find Nick to apologize to no avail. Nick laments that he feels like he is cheating on Mrs. Claus. Wilbur reminds him, “she was a robot created to keep you company”. Nick agrees to go to Helen’s cookie class. Ralph and Wilbur Convinced she can make magic cookies because there is a sparkle around her..
Act 3: Nick also watches Helen from a distance. Follows her every gesture every move. He’s smitten. Nick invites Helen to dinner. It’s a romantic restaurant at the beach. Helen is surprised but also cautiously pleased. The family follows. Everyone is excited that Helen is having fun except Stuart. Alexann thinks she has seen reindeer and Santa Claus must be nearby. Will wants to check it out. Stuart tells them, there is no Santa Claus and to stop being so silly. Muffy argues with Stuart to let them be kids and believe in magic.
Helen and Nick talk about their past, Christmas. Helen mentions in passing that her grandchildren believe in Santa Claus but their father discourages their silliness. Nick asks Helen if she believes. She does…but there’s all that snow. Nick says it doesn’t have to be. Helen agrees and kisses Nick under the mistletoe. Magic dust surges from the mistletoe and falls all over Nick and Helen. Rudolph appears and bathes in the magic dust. His antlers and red nose appear. Helen thinks she is seeing things. Nick tells her Rudolph is his great dane and likes to dress in costumes. Ralph and Wilbur are shocked.
New Plan:
Ralph and Wilbur remind Nick that he has to get closer to Helen and discover her secret to creating magic dust. He vows he will find the secret because there are only seven days until Christmas. He has to get her to teach him to make cookies.
Helen and Nick find they have fun together. Have a lot in common despite their age difference. Nick teaches Helen to overcome her fears and go sky diving. The family nearly has a fit. Stuart is beside himself. Muffy accuses Stuart of only thinking of Helen as a meal ticket. Stuart thinks twice. Maybe he does. Rudolph jumps out of the tropical greenery, and stares at Stuart, ask him “how’s it hanging? Stuart faints. Rudolph disappears in spurts. The magic dust is wearing off and they need a solution.
The more Nick is around Helen, the more he falls for her, and the more subtle differences appear, gray hair, white whiskers. Helen thinks she is seeing things when gray hair appears and disappears, when Ralph and Wilbur appear in their elf costumes, she knows she is seeing things. But she likes Nick too much to care. They dance the night away. Snow falls. She is really seeing things now.
Helen agrees to give Nick a private cookie making lesson. They have fun…Nicks ask too many questions, all the while changing appearances. Helen becomes suspicious. Nick is disappointed when there is no magic dust from eating cookie after cookie. Helen demands to know what the heck is going on. Nick finally confesses that he is Santa Claus and needs her cookies to regain his magic. Helen is furious. Tells Nick she never wants to see him again. Helen rushes away, passes under the mistletoe. Nick catches her, kisses her and magic dust flies everywhere. Nick begs Helen to marry him. Helen slaps him and calls him a fraud.
Will and Alexann go on a quest to find the reindeer. They find the hiding spot and the eight reindeer and have a conversation with them. Rudolph explains what is going on. Ralph and Wilbur tells them the clock is ticking. They must find the secret to Helen’s magic cookies or Christmas will be lost forever.
Act 4:
Alexann and Will confide in Muffy. Muffy reminds them there is no secret. Helen cooks and makes desserts because she loves cooking. Love might be the answer. Stuart is still recovering from his encounter with Rudolph when Will and Alexann tell him the whole story and that Nick needs Helen to be the second Mrs. Claus to save Christmas. Stuart faints at the prospect of losing Helen’s television show.
Alexann and Will tell Helen about the reindeer and the deadline with Christmas. Helen searches for Nick and find him surrounded by fat reindeer and cookies. Nick and Helen make up. Dinner, again. They walk under mistletoe and magic dust flies everywhere.
Nick and Helen are back at the North Pole. Hustle and bustle everywhere. Helen makes cookies. Mistletoe hangs from everywhere. Kisses all around. Helen tells Nick he seriously needs to be on his way. Wilbur and Ralph stock the sleigh. Helen kisses Nick goodbye, hands him a box of cookies. Magic dust glistens. Lift off…reindeer lead by Rudolph fly past the moon.
Helen waits at the beach restaurant. There’s a flash of light. Nick appears. He’s back to his hot self only Helen’s age. Nick says he seriously needs to think about relocating. Helen tells him she can make that happen. Kisses him and magic dust flies everywhere.
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[WIM2] Antonio Flores’ Genre Conventions
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To write profound stories that make the audience feel inspired,
empowered to achieve ongoing growth today and in the future.
— Antonio Flores
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What I learned from doing this assignment:
I still need to map the thriller, but so far this is an amazingly fast process that facilitates brainstorming, helps identifying gaps as well as genre inconsistencies.
2. Tell us the following:
Title: Chronicles of Stars: Forgotten Future
Concept: When the stars turn into black holes and people forget the future, a young warrior fights to save a star – it’s the end of the universe… and it was all planned!
Genre: Supernatural thriller
3. Make a list of the conventions for your chosen genre, like this:
CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS
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. 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.
4. Brainstorm ways to deliver the conventions more effectively and build those parts into your 4-Act Structure.
5. List your structure along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions.
Act 1:
Opening: Legend has it that two sisters married two star brothers and went to live in the skies. [INTRIGUE] One of them conspired against the other sister and got her expelled. Back on Earth, Weeping-Eyes gave birth to a half star, half human boy named Red Star, who grew as a righteous warrior trained by Bird Spirit and the Protectors.
Inciting Incident [UNKNOWING, UNWITTING, RESOURCEFUL] Red Star and all humans [UNCERTAINTY AND SURPRISE] [MYSTERY TO SOLVE] suddenly loose their memories of the future. Meanwhile, unknown to the people, a girl star takes human form and lives among them. Morning-Drizzle knows her destiny is to marry Red-Star, [DANGEROUS, DEVIOUS, UNRELENTING VILLAIN] [PLOT TWIST] but when Cold-Fire, a cunning youth, steals Weeping-Eyes powers and claims Morning-Drizzle as his bride, [LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] [PLOT TWIST] she commits suicide.
Turning Point: [UNCERTAINTY AND SURPRISE] [PLOT TWIST] The soul of Morning-Drizzle returns to Red-Star, but now her name is Water-3. [INTRIGUE] [MYSTERY TO BE SOLVED] She warns him that an evil force is changing destiny. She can stay as long as their place is quiet, [ANTICIPATION] but [DANGEROUS, DEVIOUS, UNRELENTING VILLAIN] when the village is in [LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] danger and [UNKNOWING, UNWITTING, RESOURCEFUL] Red Star has no choice but to use Bear Roar to protect them, Water-3 is [PLOT TWIST] sent far away. [LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] Now Red Star must cross the space-time portal to [UNCERTAINTY AND SURPRISE] find her. In the new world, his name will change to Nightwalker and he will be restricted to invoke his Protectors only once each.
Act 2:
New plan: [MYSTERY] [SUSPENSE] Nightwalker follows the track of Water-3 to a futuristic era. [ANTICIPATION] [SUSPENSE] [MYSTERY] Cyrus helps Nightwalker find clues to solve the mystery. [ANTICIPATION] [SUSPENSE] Unknown to them, [DANGEROUS, DEVIOUS, UNRELENTING VILLAIN] Cold Fire has genetically developed his own chimeras, similar to Nightwalker’s Protectors. He has a whole army of them. [HIGH STAKES] [LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] Cold-Fire kidnaps Water-3 to lure Nightwalker into his trap.
Plan in action: [HIGH STAKES][LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] Nightwalker uses two out of the four Protectors left to rescue Water-3.
Midpoint Turning Point: [HIGH STAKES][LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] Cold Fire reveals this is all part of a plan to make the Darkness prevail. It’s the end of the universe. [UNCERTAINTY AND SURPRISE] [LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] Outnumbered, overpowered, Nightwalker is killed by the forces of darkness. As the torture of passing through the portal is unbearable for Nightwalker, Water-3 chooses for them to forget everything. Her memories of the future get erased.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Upon arrival to a new era, Nightwalker and Water-3 are [UNCERTAINTY AND SURPRISE] [PLOT TWIST] perfect strangers. But music notes from the early past bring [UNKNOWING, UNWITTING, RESOURCEFUL] Nightwalker hints about their nature. When he tries to convince Water-3 about these signs, she calls him crazy, gets angry, and [HIGH STAKES] [TENSION] refuses to have any further contact with him.
New plan: [UNKNOWING, UNWITTING, RESOURCEFUL] Nightwalker follows the music notes, finds his sword, continues fighting for the weak. In his battles, he uses one of the two Protectors he had left. There is no hope without Water-3, he realizes. Nightwalker and Water-3 grow old, distanced from each other, estranged. Cyrus finds them and keeps an eye on her.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: [DANGEROUS, DEVIOUS, UNRELENTING VILLAIN] The darkness once again uses Water-3 as bait to lure Nightwalker into combat and terminate him. [SUSPENSE] [TENSION] Nightwalker agonizes in the arms of Water-3, which makes her realize that he was right all this time.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: [HIGH STAKES][LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS] While the universe approaches its demise, Water-3 invokes her star power. She releases the last of the Protectors: the power of the Black Hole. They travel through the black hole to every era and conquer every evil that had previously defeated them. Finally, they build a new universe.
Resolution: In the new universe, Nightwalker, Water-3 and Cyrus are transformed into a new constellation with a legend of their own, a legend that now is recorded in the… Chronicles of Stars.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Antonio Flores.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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[WIM 2] Greg’s Genre Conventions
My vision for the end of this course is that I have elevated my writing to a professional level and have sold my first screenplay. My vision for ten years from now is that I am a multimillionaire, have won an Oscar and that I have a whole wall of movie posters that represent my success.
What I learned from doing this assignment is that my script idea is more comedy than action comedy, so I’m glad I made that clearer for myself in these beginning stages.
Title: CODE GRAYConcept: A thief assigned community service meets a promiscuous 80-year-old lady and together they conspire to rob her spoiled grandson-in-lawGenre: Comedy
COMEDY CONVENTIONS
PURPOSE: To entertain the audience with a story packed with laughter-inducing moments.
A wrinkled old lady acting like a feisty little minx could be really funnyA clever young man being outsmarted by a presumably weak and mentally compromised old lady would be amusing to watchA old lady using her powers of seduction to distract a security guard would be entertaining A thief being successful by dumb luck would cause an audience to laugh and maybe shake their heads a little bit, maybe question his competence which comes into play later
INCONGRUENCE:
An old lady teaming up with a thief who has amateur skills at best to get past a high level security system.
MECHANICS OF COMEDY:
Misinterpretation: Old Lady thinks the thief is her new nurse while he’s just there to read to her.Fish out of water: Thief tries to steal from old folks but keeps getting checked by old lady. Thief isn’t used to this environment and he has meet his match!“Bingo!” could be a running gag
COMEDIC PROTAGONIST(S):
The thief would be the “straight man” of the story, getting laughs by enduring the ridiculousness of his situation caused by old lady.
STRONG STORY:
Thief and Old Lady incentivizing each other to first plan a caper but then to have better perspective on life.
Act 1:
Opening: Thief pulls a heist but then betrays accomplices to avoid getting caught.Inciting Incident: Thief gets caught anyway.Turning Point: Thief weasels his way out of a hefty sentence that is reduced to only 1000 hours community service. He serves this at an Old Folks home. There an Old Lady thinks the thief is her new male nurse while he’s just there to read to her. Uncomfortable moment for him!
Act 2:
New plan: Thief decides to rob the old people blind. His parole officer questions him.Plan in action: Thief targets promiscuous 80-year-old Lady while dodging parole officer’s investigation. The wrinkled old lady keeps acting like a feisty little minx.Midpoint Turning Point: Thief gets robbed by promiscuous 80-year-old lady instead! Thief tries to steal from the other old folks but keeps getting checked by old lady. Thief isn’t used to this environment and he has meet his match! Parole officer wanted to bust him but fails.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Thief becomes impressed by the old lady who turns out is very sneaky herself. Grandson-in-law gets introduced and is the kind of guy they both love to hate.New plan: Thief and Old Lady decide to rob her spoiled grandson. A mother/son dynamic starts to develop between these two. “Bingo!” could be a running gagTurning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Thief underestimates the grandson’s level of security at his mansion, and his former accomplices catch up to him. He almost gets caught again, and the old lady gets arrested herself!
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Thief comes forward and admits his own wrongdoing and exonerates the old lady Resolution: Thief serves his time in jail while maintaining friendship of old lady who visits him regularly.
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MODULE TWO LESSON SIX
FRAN’S CHARACTERS THAT ATTRACT ACTORS
MY VISION: I want to write great movies. Movies that are magical, movies that move people and tell the truth. I want to write movies that stars will want to be in.
WHAT I LEARNED: Just keep going, keep brainstorming. Just get started and it begins to flow out.
TITLE: WINTER’S LOST LOVE/ I also like LOST IN A MOMENT OF TIME I’m keeping both, deciding later
CONCEPT: DRAMA: The discovery of an old diary written by a friend of Czar Nicholas II’s daughter turns the doomed princess’s little known, tragic love story into a blockbuster Hollywood movie and an Oscar for its discoverer and screenwriter.
CHARACTER STRUCTURE: DRAMATIC TRIANGLE
MAIN CONFLICT:
Struggling to maintain her career as a screenwriter while working to save her failing marriage with a philandering, egotistical director/producer, Meredith discovers her own worth as a writer—and human being—apart from her marriage and unequal partnership with her husband through a little-known story she discovers about the doomed Grand Duchess of Imperial Russia, her loves and the struggles she endured before her untimely death.
OLD WAYS:
Meredith has accepted her “role” in life: wife, mother, taking the backseat to her husband’s career, wants and needs. She doesn’t give herself much credit for being a great, competent writer. Doesn’t think for herself in that way. She turns a blind eye to her husband’s infidelities.
NEW WAYS:
She no longer believes her writing is mediocre when she wins an Oscar for her script. She divorces her husband for adultery. She forms a new partnership that is beneficial to her career. She tells her daughter not to allow the man in her life to dominate her wants and needs and put his career ahead of hers to the detriment of her career, self-esteem and well-being. She loves what she does. She teaches her daughter to work at what she loves DESPITE BEING TOLD she can’t do it because SHE CAN! She finds a new love in her life, one that is beneficial and supports her career as a screenwriter.
ACT ONE:
OPENING: Christmas time. Taking a break from a shoot to do some shopping for their daughter Alex’s Christmas Eve birthday, Meredith and Jerome Kerns are in a gift/pawn shop in Moscow looking around to find the perfect gift. Jerome finds a strand of pearls that is alleged to have been owned by the Grand Duchess Olga. Very expensive. Meredith objects. Too much of an extravagant gift for Alex. Jerome says nonsense. Nothing is too extravagant for HIS daughter. He proceeds to buy the necklace, among other things, as Meredith quietly retreats to a shelf of old books in the store. She browses them, takes one down. It’s an old diary written by a Valentina. She opens it, begins reading. It’s in Russian, but she can read some Russian. A passage strikes her as very interesting. She asks the clerk how much for the diary. Jerome objects. Too frivolous a buy. Besides, they have all the things they need. He’s ready to leave. Meredith buys the book on the QT and slips it in her purse without Jerome’s knowledge.
ELEVATION: Meredith asks the store clerk who Valentina was. Clerk answers she was the friend and confidante of Grand Duchess Olga when they were nurses together at the military infirmary. She says she wants the diary. Jerome says no. He pays for his items and walks out alone without her. Meredith quietly pays for the diary, slips it in her purse and leaves alone.
INCITING INCIDENT: Next day on the set, Meredith and Jerome have creative differences over the scene they are about to shoot that turns into a heated argument. Jerome WILL HAVE HIS WAY when he objects to Meredith’s reasoning for writing the scene the way she did. He shuts down production for the day and tells her to rewrite the scene the way he wants it written.
ELEVATION: Meredith shuts down. She goes her separate way to calm down and to think through her frustration. She calls her agent, tells her she’s been thinking of taking on a new job. She’s not happy with the job she’s doing now for her husband and he wants a new writer. She wants out of her contract with her husband’s company. The agent says she’ll contact their lawyers and begin the paperwork. Meredith tells her about the diary she found. Maybe something historical this time. A period piece. In the meantime, Jerome has told Meredith he is finishing his shoot and looking for that new writer. Jerome, however, is out furthering his affair with his leading star.
Another night alone, she begins reading the diary … (We are introduced here to Olga’s story here, her first crush, Pavel, and her debutante ball. Olga is with her family on her father’s yacht with a young officer, Pavel. They are in love, but Pavel tells her they cannot be together. He is beneath her station and she must marry a prince—a man of her status. Pavel promptly get engaged to a lady in waiting in the e family’s entourage breaking Olga’s heart.)
when Meredith gets a call from her agent. There’s a producer looking for an experienced writer to write a new script on the fate of Czar Nicholas’s family during the Russian Revolution. Are you game??? Meredith tells her she will think about it. Right now, they’re in the middle of shooting. They won’t be back in the states for a few days yet.
Next day, Meredith and Jerome have another blowout. Jerome, this time fires her outright and walks out asking for the phone number of his new writer. Meredith goes back to their apartment and calls her agent. She tells her YES. She would love to write the script for that producer and begins making plans to return home.
ELEVATION: Meredith gets a call from her agent. She’s found a job for her already. They want you to start right away, she says. They loved your idea. Meredith says what idea. Agent answers the diary. Can you work up a treatment asap? She can. In the meantime, Meredith leaves Jerome a note telling him she’s on her way home. Meredith begins writing on the plane.
TURNING POINT: She has a meeting with her agent and gives her the treatment. The agent falls in love with her story and tells Meredith she will set up the meeting with the producer. She tells her to go home and start outlining the script.
(We are introduced to the man Olga is in love with and slated to marry as the Grand Duchess, her cousin Dmitri, who’s in love with her, but becomes involved with the murder of Rasputin only to get banished from the kingdom and Olga’s life forever. Another heartbreak for Olga.)
ACT II:
NEW PLAN: Meredith talks to her daughter, who knows about her father’s many affairs with his leading ladies. Meredith seems to think that if she takes a break from their partnership, Jerome will come back to her. He needs a break from her as much as she needs one from him. Alex is not so sure. She tells her mother not to stay with her father must for her sake. She supports her mother whatever she decides.
PLAN IN ACTION: They celebrate Christmas and Alex’s birthday as a family, as if nothing’s wrong. Meredith tries to tell Jerome and Alex of her good news. She tries to tell Jerome maybe it’s a good thing. They need a break from each other and the writer he hired can finish the rewrites and whatever shots he needs to finish. She’ll step back. His calls are the best idea all the way around. But Jerome isn’t happy about any of it. He calls her a quitter, a loser. She can’t do anything right and she’ll fail at this job, too, like all the other ones she’s done for their company. Meredith has a spiritual breakdown from the put downs.
(We are introduced to World War I and the Russian Revolution. The czar’s family must go into exile for a little while. They end up at a military hospital with Czarina Alexandra and her oldest daughter become nurses there. Her she meets Valentina. Olga confides in her immediately of her breakup with Dmitri. Olga has a hard time taking care of all the injured soldiers. So, she’s given a desk job for awhile.)
MIDPOINT TURNING POINT: Meredith has her meeting with the new producer. She’s not so sure she can do the job anymore, but the producer assures her she can. He loves the treatment and he can’t wait to get started on the project. He just needs a few changes. She objects for historical reasons. But the producer assures her it’s not about the work already done. He just needs a few changes for the budget and the filming of the movie. She agrees to continue and they quickly get started on the work needed to be done.
(We continue with the story of Olga and her inabilities to cope with the nursing life. Soon there’s a battle where many soldiers are wounded. She must care for some of them. One of them. His name is also Dmitri. Olga after caring for him for some time falls in love with him. And he seems to love her, too.)
ACT THREE:
RETHINK EVERYTHING:
Working with the producer and rereading, reworking her story about Olga—she has a heart-to-heart talk with her daughter about Jerome’s infidelities—the talk transforms Meredith’s way of thinking about her situation, her marriage and how she’s been handling it. She begins to think, it’s not her who’s destroying her marriage. It’s Jerome, his bullying and the affairs he’s having with his leading ladies. Alex tells her mother she has seen how her fathers’ been treating her. She’s unhappy about it, too. She tells her mother again she has her own life to live. Don’t stay with daddy on account of me. She’s a very special mom and a good writer. She’s seen her stuff. She loves it. It’s time now to find someone new to love. It gets Meredith to thinking about her life, her role as a mother a wife—and a writer—through the eyes of Olga and her heartbreaks.
(We get to learn about Olga’s new love and their love story. She writes him long and tender love letters. And then …)
NEW PLAN:
She gets to the point of Olga’s dilemma of loving a man who’s no good and disrespectful and then comes the kidnapping and ultimate death scene of the Romanov family. It makes Meredith realize staying in a loveless marriage, taking all that crap from a man who doesn’t respect her or love her back in the same way isn’t worth it. Life’s too short and it’s time to live again.
(… we learn Dmitri is not such a good guy after all. He likes to get drunk with his friends and carouse. He shares Olga’s love letters to him with his friends who make fun of them—and of Olga.)
TURNING POINT HUGE FAILURE, MAJOR SHIFT
Meredith asks Jerome for a divorce. But he’s not going to give one to her. He argues about their company the work he’s put in all these years to their movies, their plans, everything. He can’t lose the money.
Suddenly, Meredith thinks she’s trapped, she can’t get out.
(But before Olga can do anything about Dmitri, the family is taken hostage and in a couple of weeks’ time …)
ACT FOUR
CLIMAX/ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF THE CONFLICT:
Her new producer, agent get her a lawyer to combat Jerome. They file for a divorce on the basis of adultery and start divvying up the company’s assets. Jerome fights it with everything he’s got. And then Alex is dragged in to testify on her mother’s behalf. Meredith says she wants nothing. She doesn’t need anything from the marriage. She just wants out. And she makes it very clear she’s had it with all the little affairs, etc. he’s had over the years, trying to cover it up, making excuses. And just plain being a miserable husband. AND she knows she’s a much better writer than he’s ever given her credit for. With all that, she forgives him because that’s just the way he’s been and always will be and she needs to move on without all his baggage weighing her down. She’s wasted enough time on a loveless, unfulfilling marriage—and a loser.
(… the Romanovs are executed by their Bolshevik kidnappers. Lenin takes over. The Russian Revolution plays out ….)
RESOLUTION:
Meredith finishes her work on the script. The producer finishes shooting it. The film LOST IN A MOMENT OF TIME gets nominated for best screenplay. Meredith wins.
(DENOUEMENT)
Jerome is jealous—and left behind. Meredith, now in a very different place with her feelings about herself and her abilities, gets a visitor from the actor who played Nicholas II in the movie. He’s come to thank her for the script that gave him his Oscar win. He asks her out on a first date. She accepts.
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Joe’s Genre Conventions
My vision is to persevere and stay the course of building steady daily routine, and disciplines that produce consistent writing of exceptional quality. Ultimately, the fruit of those habits and disciplines will be a track record of great marketable scripts that will make other successful talented pros seek me out.
What I learned: These written genre conventions were a great help and I can tell that this is going to be the most organized outlining of a script I’ve ever done. I used it to create a new discipline for me; giving each element an abbreviation and notating each part of the outline with the appropriate notation in parenthesis, reading through the outline with one “genre convention” at a time in mind.
Title: Elevated
Concept: Despite thinking they are world’s apart, a pizza maker who doesn’t dance and a recent non-pizza eating dance teacher who rents the space above the pizza shop, must work together to fight the two-faced landlord over the elevator and lease violations, and fall in love in the process.
Genre: RomCom
P – PURPOSE: To have the audience experience falling in love again.
JL – THE JOURNEY OF LOVE: Two people go from their “cute-meet” to denial of
love to overwhelming attraction to breaking up over differences to finally
reuniting and experiencing the love of their life.
RSU – RELATIONSHIP SET-UP: From the moment of the “cute-meet.” we see the
romantic future for the couple, even if they refuse to believe it.
I – ISSUES: Each person has an internal personal issue that must be resolved
for them to truly be together. This requires personal growth for them to
become a couple.
S – SEPARATION: Either physically or because of a specific situation,
something keeps this couple apart. It is this separation that causes the
audience to yearn for them to come together.
C – COMEDY: Relationship and personal issues are dealt with through humor.
As we laugh at the embarrassing moments on the screen, the audience
feels better about their relationships
Act 1:
Opening – Emily arrives, and despite the locationl; above a pizza parlor of all things! (I) she signs the lease with the all-too friendly landlord ’cause she’s driven to make this dream a reality (RSU). Landlord “warns her” about pizza guy Lorenzo, implying that he’s a big problem. (S)
– Meet Lorenzo and we see that he’s driven to make his business a success, just like Emily (RSU)
Inciting Incident – One of her students gets stuck in the elevator and has a panic attack (C) and Emily is forced to deal with it. She goes after Lorenzo, because the landlord leads her to believe it’s Lorenzo’s fault. She vows never to get in the elevator herself again (I)
One day she is desperate for something in the attic closet but the door is locked. But Lorenzo gets it open for her, which she is thrilled about (RSU). But when she asks how he got that the door open and he says “with a credit card, duh” which repulses her. (I)
Turns out the landlord’s dark side comes out when he throws a fit over potential teachers at Emily’ studio that he thinks are subleters. (C for audience, but terrifying to Emily)
Turning Point – One day while carrying stuff down the steps (cause she won’t use the elevator), she falls. Lorenzo finds her and feeds her some of his homemade Stratchiatelli soup. She is enthralled with it (RSU), but doesn’t tell him cause she still doesn’t trust him (I). But as they talk they start to see each other differently (JL). But by the end she is forced to finally acknowledge that there is something problematic with the landlord.
Act 2:
New plan – She will work with Lorenzo to fight the Landlord (RSU-I) starting with helping the student who got stuck in the elevator to sue him.
Plan in action – They work together to fight landlord. Lorenzo begins to respect her work ethic. (RSU)
Midpoint Turning Point – – Lorenzo decides to go up to see her for the first time to express his feelings for her, (JL) but gets stuck in the elevator (S) He breaks out of it. She helps him.(c) (JL)
The Landlord blames them both for breaking it.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – ????
New plan – They now have evidence to take landlord to court and file a claim.
They win big against Landlord and Landlord is forced to make repairs and finally bring it up to code. They’re so happy they embrace & kiss (JL)
Turning Point: Huge failure/Major shift: both businesses are shut down while indefinitely while repairs are made. Lorenzo goes to Italy, and to Emily’s dismay, decides he’s going to stay there indefinitely. (S)
Act 4:
New pizza guy moves in, but he’s not the same at all. Emily deeply misses the ambiance and food of Lorenzo’s. (S). Also, Emily notices similar trends with how Landlord treats the new guy. She starts to investigate previous tenants, and they all have horror stories. Emily finally realizes the Landlord has a business model of intentionally renting to passionate artistic entrepeneurs, and taking advantage of their naivite.
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:
She is now the one saying the landlord is evil to the new naive tenant who thinks landlord is great. the new guy starts to think Emily’s got a thing for him (C). (I) Emily now fully understands Lorenzo’s desire to leave. (S), (JL)
Resolution
She goes to find Lorenzo, but Lorenzo decides to come back to the states instead. They end up together, either in the states or in Italy, after buying their own building with a nice restaurant/studio/home, in a dream location. (JL) They are arguing, just like married people (C), but still in love.
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Module 2 – Lesson 6
Subject: Rob Ingalls’ Genre Conventions
MY VISION:
To be a Talented writer that delivers quality fast, with the film industry seeking me out.
WIL: Focus on the genre conventions to ensure it is strong. Put aside the details of the script and focus on genre conventions.
DRAMA: List out emotional dramatic elements that can occur, then place them appropriately in script AFTER list done.
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Title: NIRVANA GOLD
Character Structure: Dramatic Triangle ??? Not sure anymore. I lost the third element doing this assignment.
TRIANGLE CHARACTER (Creates a Competition or Conflict between Protagonist/Antagonist)
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Concept:
A giant Buddha statue made of pure gold is stolen by tunneling underneath and hollow it out.
Genre: Drama or Dramedy
Main Conflict:
A TikToc Influencer in hopes to revive his followers and influencer status by going on a trek deep in the jungles of Thailand in search of a hidden golden statue
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Conventions for Drama:
– Purpose:
Explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for their characters
– Character-Driven Journey:
We need to care about the characters in a Drama, and their internal journey drives the film’s events and progression.
– High states come from Within:
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 & struggles they run into.
– Real-life Situations:
Drama stories are grounded in reality.
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Act-1 (Set up and see old Ways) 25-30 pages:
– Opening:
TikToc Influencer (World travelor) living the dream lifestyle: GOLD, GOLD, GOLD plus fast jet (gold-plated inside),
cars (gold-plated), pool, exotic locations as he travels the world (and has subtle product placement). Adventure seeker (or so we believe).
–> Create connection to audience: Influencer provides for his grandmother (Mimi’s) at a nursing home.
Despite his visual appearance of ego lifestyle, he’s really down to earth and has a heart.
– Inciting Incident:
Wakes to find followers rapidly dropping off TikToc, Massive loss of ad revenue
Competitor (Antagonist) has blasted/dissed/throws shade on Protagonist
Competitor reveals Protagonist’s lies and fake travel and product placement. Hidden camera of Influencer dissing minotities.
Turns followers and ad companies against Protagonist.
–> Yes, all true. Influencer was trying the ‘fake it ’til you make it’ approach.
–> Loss of income will affect his ability to provide for his grandmother (Mimi’s). Guilty, he pleads forgiveness.
– Turning Point:
Protagonist/Influencer is given a map from his sick/bedridden Mimi’s showing the way to a hidden gold statue in jungles of Thailand.
His grandad, along with an Army buddy (maybe this is the Dramatic Triangle character), found it years ago but was never able to
transport it out of the jungles of Thailand.
Act-2 (Challenge the Old Ways) 20-30 pages:
– Plan:
Protagonist decides to show followers and ad companies that he’s for real and will prove it. He lays out travel adventure plans
Attempt to re-ignite followers with plan to video the trek and discovery of golden statue. But this time people aren’t buying it.
Influencer must go out of his way to prove it’s real.
–> A copy of the map gets leaked. Competitor learns of map and makes copy (iphone).
– Plan in Action:
Protagonist flies to Thailand, hires a guide. This is Influencer’s first real adventure and he sucks at it.
–> Doesn’t know how to prepare, what to buy/bring/wear.
Documents everything for TikToc followers. His followers continue to drop off. Nothing works like it used to.
They think he’s faking it again.
Competitor is one step ahead of Influencer and continues to throw shade on Protagonist. Enlists top Influencers to also throw shade.
– Midpoint – Turning Point #2:
Protagonist discovers Competitor who leaked/ruined Protagonist (Betrayal)
Competitor is also documenting his adventure on TikToc.
Race to find statue, between Protagonist and Antagonist!
–> Someone else has beat both men to the gold statue (it’s granddad’s army buddy’s granddaughter!
–> She does everything to stop Influencer and Competitor from discovery.
Influencer tries to get his followers to help. They don’t buy it and instead root for Competitor.
–> Granddaughter is carving out the gold beneath the statue so that local villagers don’t suspect.
Act-3 (With Midpoint change, Profound moments that give us new ways) 20-30 pages:
– Rethink everything
– Protagonist Learns of his shallow life and fake lifestyle.
– New plan: Opens up his own fears and beliefs to audience
and SHARE the discovery with followers – each gets share??
–> Later, SHARE equates to sharing with locals
– Turning Point (Huge failure / Major shift):
–>Learns grandma Mimi has died
–> TikToc shuts down his feed
Act-4 (Test the change in this character! Prove new ways!) 20-30 pages:
Protagonist almost loses himself with gold greed, thinking of tunneling underneath and melting gold,
then recovers and turns around to do good.
– Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Battles Competitor for gold statue and for followers.
Each tells their audience smack of other. Each gets greedy for gold.
–> Discover statue, unable to move it
–> Ignore native villagers, then later realize it’s their statue and not Influencers.
–> Influencer does what it takes to give back to villagers and to overcome his rival’s efforts to steal it
Reveal of Competitor’s own fake adventures and he has big loss of followers.
Both grab statue but competitor wants it all for himself while Protagonist doesn’t want it.
Protagonist tells of the peaceful villagers and what the statue means to them (vs the meaningless/selffish of Competitor
(and previous Protagonist)
– Resolution:
Protagonist Gifts the golden Buddha statue to local villagers (capture on Video).
Video goes viral. Influencer is on top again; reinstated in TikToc! Nirvana gold (an Inner glow). Competitor followers drop off.
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EMOTIONAL MOMENTS
–> Create connection to audience: Influencer provides for his grandmother (Mimi’s) at a nursing home.
Despite his visual appearance of ego lifestyle, he’s really down to earth and has a heart.
–> Yes, all true. Influencer was trying the ‘fake it ’til you make it’ approach.
–> Loss of income will affect his ability to provide for his grandmother (Mimi’s). Guilty, he pleads forgiveness.
–> Doesn’t know how to prepare, what to buy/bring/wear.
–> Someone else has beat both men to the gold statue (it’s granddad’s army buddy’s granddaughter!
–> She does everything to stop Influencer and Competitor from discovery.
Influencer tries to get his followers to help. They don’t buy it and instead root for Competitor.
–> Granddaughter is carving out the gold beneath the statue so that local villagers don’t suspect.
– Turning Point (Huge failure / Major shift):
–>Learns grandma Mimi has died
–> TikToc shuts down his feed
–> Discover statue, unable to move it
–> Ignore native villagers, then later realize it’s their statue and not Influencers.
–> Influencer does what it takes to give back to villagers and to overcome his rival’s efforts to steal it
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My Vision: I am a writer/director/producer that writes and makes films of all kinds, and I am recognized by the industry as both a highly successful filmmaker and as a person that’s easy to work with.
What I learned from doing this assignment is how to improve upon the structure of a screenplay by using tried and true conventions of its specific genre.
Concept: A nameless villain uses masks to control the minds of the people he sends them to, in order to carry out terrorist acts through the U.S.
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.
Act 1:
Opening
A prologue that shows Rick in charge of a hostage situation that goes horribly wrong. After a tense negotiation, the kidnapper kills both the hostage and Rick’s partner, and escapes into the night.
We get a look into Rick’s home life six months later, which is not good. He keeps to himself, and hardly says anything to his wife or his children.
A 30 something year-old woman walks into a mall and carries a large handbag. She ducks into a hallway on the third floor behind some of the stores. A security guard confronts her. She overpowers him and drags him to a supply closet, where she leaves him and the bag. The woman exits the mall, after which a huge explosion goes off. Suddenly the woman’s face shimmers, and a mask falls to the ground. The woman, whose face looks different from the mask she was wearing, looks around in bewilderment and horror, and runs off.
Inciting Incident
There’s a knock at Rick’s door. It’s his boss. He tells him he’s needed on a new case that requires his expertise. Rick balks at it, telling him his leave of absence is for six more months. His boss tells him it’s just for this one case, and Rick reluctantly agrees.
At the mall, Rick investigates the crime scene, and is introduced to his new partner, Special Agent Sean Gray, who has a background in biomedical engineering and munitions. He finds the mask the woman was wearing and looks at the blast site. He struggles to stay calm as the blast site is on the third floor of the mall, and he’s afraid of heights.
Turning Point
A second terrorist attack occurs much like the first in a different city, except it involves a 60 year-old man depositing a brief case in the bathroom stall of an office building. He emerges from the building right before a massive explosion goes off at one of the floors near the top of the building. His face shimmers, a mask falls to the ground and he runs off. Rick and Sean are now dealing with a serial terrorist.
Act 2:
New Plan
Sean analyzes the mask they found at the first crime scene. He discovers the mask’s ability to control people’s minds, which starts when a person picks it up and looks at it in the eyes, and it forces them to put it on. Sean then demonstrates. It takes two other agents to pull it off his face. Rick and Sean get ready to head out to the next crime scene.
Plan in Action
Rick and Sean arrive at the crime scene. Rick again struggles with his fear of heights, as the blast site is on the 25<sup>th</sup> floor, and there’s a gaping hole in the building.
Midpoint Turning Point
After following a series of leads, Rick and Sean track down and arrest the mastermind behind the attacks.
Act 3:
Rethink Everything
Back at the office, Rick and Sean receive a flash drive in the mail. It has a video file with a message from the terror mastermind, stating that the person they caught at the second bombing was merely one of his pawns. The video then shows a news segment, showing how the man Rick and Sean arrested now looks completely different, and that the prison staff found a mask inside his cell, and that the man has now idea why he’s there. The terror mastermind then says that another attack is coming, and on a much larger scale.
New Plan
Rick and Sean tell all the major news outlets throughout the country about the message they received, and work with FBI field offices to take appropriate security measures, as they race against the clock to try and stop a new wave of attacks.
Turning Point: Huge Failure / Major Shift
Five medium sized cities suffer terrorist attacks, which is a complete surprise to Rick and Sean as major cities have been the targets up till now. Each city has the same scenario, with an anonymous perpetrator dropping off an explosive device in a heavily populated area, and leaving, followed by the mask they were wearing falling off their faces, leaving them completely unaware of what they just did.
Rick is devastated, and for the first time in months, opens up to his wife, who is more than ready to listen. She tells him he can’t quit, that the country needs him to find who’s behind the attacks and bring him to justice. He also reconnects with their kids and comes to realize what he’s been missing out on by distancing himself from them the whole time he’s been grieving.
Act 4:
Climax / Ultimate Expression of the Conflict
Rick and Sean are at the office. Sean asks him if they can talk and reveals that he’s been disappointed by the FBI’s lack of ability to stop the attacks, and that’s why he’s kept planning new ones in hopes that they’d finally get it right. He goes on to say that he set all this up in order to give the FBI the opportunity to practice stopping terrorist attacks, where the danger is real, which makes if a far more valuable exercise than some pre-planned fake scenario. So he tells Rick that this time there are ten targets he’s selected throughout the U.S., but he’ll tell him where they’re located, in hopes that this time they’ll be successful. All the bureau has to do, is find the perpetrator. He also warns Rick not to turn him in, because he sent his wife a “package” with a mask the same day he was called in to investigate the first attack, and that unbeknownst to her she’s been wearing it ever since. It currently looks like her, but if he activates it, it’ll change to look like someone else, and she’ll be instructed to plant a bomb at a certain location and stay there when it goes off. Unbeknownst to Rick, Sean activates his wife’s mask anyway, and she heads off to plant a bomb in a designated location.
Resolution
Rick and the rest of the agents throughout the country figure out how to identify the people Sean sent masks to, including his wife. Satisfied that the FBI has finally cracked the case, Sean makes his escape, with Rick in hot pursuit. The chase takes them to the top of a skyscraper, where Rick and Sean have their final showdown. Rick shoots him, which knocks Sean over the edge, and he plunges to his death. Rick is awarded the Presidential Freedom Medal with distinction for his meritorious service and is promoted to field office supervisor. The country is safe once more.
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Dawn C Crouch Genre Conventions
Vision – In WIM, I will listen and learn to write my best screenplay, which will be optioned and produced.
What I learned from this assignment is to consider and build the genre conventions into the script before I start writing. Have to say, I’ve never done so much “prep” work in anticipation of writing the script. Nice!!
NURSING A GRUDGE – Concept – After a series of unexplained “accidents” occur at a newly renovated hospital, the new administrator, a nurse practitioner, and a reclusive medical researcher are reluctantly assembled to conduct an internal investigation of the medical misadventures.
Thriller
Act 1: 25 to 30 pages — Set up and see Old Ways.
Opening: The gala opening of the newly renovated hospital. All the movers and shakers are present. As the new administrator, Dr. Carling Hearne is the man of the hour, with Kingsley Welles, nurse practitioner and Carling’s hoped-for love interest, at his side. Dr. Tallis Porter stands alone at the entrance. Tallis rolls his ticket like a cigarette between his fingers. When Kingsley encourages Tallis to join them, he refuses to enter the room.
Inciting Incident: An accident in one of the surgical suites causes the death of a patient on the table.
Turning Point: Carling and Kingsley go to Tallis and essentially force him to join in the investigation of the incident. The three do not get along, are openly derisive and combative then Tallis determines that the incident was not equipment failure but intentional sabotage.
Act 2: 20 to 30 pages — Challenge the Old Ways.
Reaction: Carling sees the accident as a direct attack on his authority within the hospital. Kingsley distrusts her fellow surgical team members and Tallis was tapped because he is invisible, discreet, and a total expert in medical equipment. While investigating, Kingsley alerts Tallis about a misplaced machine and Tallis realizes that the child of an administrator is in possible danger from faulty equipment.
He changes out the equipment, and the child is safe. Then Tallis believes someone is following him as he returns to his lab. He escapes his pursuer and then questions whether his reaction was a panic attack or real.
The Plan: Tallis uncovers numerous problems within the hospital and the software used to run the equipment. He alerts Carling, but Carling is too preoccupied with political schemes within the hospital that he misses meeting with Tallis who has trouble explaining his suspicions. He is unknown within the hospital with little or no credibility. He tries to warn Carling that another big calamity is on the horizon. Because Kingsley is in danger, he decides to handle it himself.
Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: A problem in the surgical suite escalates and Tallis rushes into the sterile area to save Kingsley as the suite explodes. Tallis is injured in the explosion.
Act 3: 20 to 30 pages — With Midpoint change, Profound moments that give us new ways.
This Midpoint changes everything. The hero must rethink and create a new plan.
Rethink: This is an important part of the Hero’s transformation.
As Tallis recovers from injuries in the explosion, he realizes that he must produce hard evidence, not just suspicions and thoughts about what is happening. He is also near panic about being a patient in the hospital where the problems are happening. Carling is apologetic and tries to assuage Tallis. Kingsley ignores Tallis although he saved her life.
Tallis is highly allergic to an antibiotic, and when the antibiotic is unwittingly given to him, Kingsley is barely able to resuscitate him in time. Tallis checks out of the hospital AMA and Kingsley takes him to her home.
The police step in to investigate the explosion as a crime scene. Carling points the finger at the families of the previous victims who are out for revenge.
Turning Point: The “All is lost” or “lowest of the lows” moment where everything has failed. Tallis returns to his “cave” but finds his inventions and carefully restored antiquated medical equipment in ruins. He has no “cave” to return to.
Act 4: 25 pages — Test the change in this character! Prove New Ways!
New Plan – Tallis, Carling, and Kingsley decide to bait the murderer who they believe is the former Chief of Staff who was not exteded privileges at the new hospital.
Climax – The suspected murderer is injured and must go to surgery but to the surgery suite that has been set up for the next “accident.”
Resolution – Tallis, Carling, and Kingsley are the best of friends and a secret that is apparent throughout the script reveals a twist.
Still working on this but had to get something down!!
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Dawn C Crouch.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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Subject line: Hari’s Genre Conventions
My Vision: I want to write screenplays that enable me to work with like minded creative people in the industry to produce profound movies that will have a long lasting positive effect on the world.
What I learned… Knowing the genre conventions helps to build in suspense.
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.
Genre conventions in italics.
Act 1:
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Opening:
<ul style=””>- Colt McBride on the freeway, driving into Jefferson. Wants to get away from the disaster of his big city life. In the back of the car, his new K9 partner, Jake. McBride is not a fan.
Sheriff Del Beck stops him for a minor traffic violation. <i style=”font-weight: bold;”>Their interaction reveals McBride’s past (on suspension, pending hearing- his career at stake)and Beck’s iron clad control of Jefferson. A Hitchcock type portrayal of authority.- <i style=”font-weight: bold;”>McBride drives into Jefferson. There is a strong police presence for such a backwater town. Why?
<i style=”font-weight: bold;”>The battle for control of Jeffersons water supply is introduced. The town is deeply divided and on edge over it.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: bold;”>Inciting Incident:
<ul style=””>- McBride is hungover, fishing at a lake. He discovers a dead body in the water. As he’s pulling it out of the water, it <i style=””>suddenly morphs into a strange reptilian creature, then back into human form. WTF?
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: bold;”>Turning Point:
<ul style=””>- McBride won’t let it go, pushes Beck to investigate. Beck wants him out of there. <i style=””>Gives him 24 hours to leave town or he will see to it that McBride’s hearing doesn’t go well. McBride digs in.
Act 2:
New plan – <div>
- Realizing that he needs help, McBride teams up with some of the locals. Everyone experiences Beck’s threatening presence.
Plan in action –
- Mayor Hal Burton becomes his staunchest ally. He sees McBride as someone who can finally help him challenge Beck’s vice like grip on Jefferson.
- <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>McBride works with an alien investigator, but also starts to look into the unscrupulous dealings of the water company.
<i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Solomon Daly, the judge presiding over the hearing on the water supply is found dead. Was he murdered?
<i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>McBride meets the widow, Jamaica Daly, who sits on the Jefferson Water Board. She believes Solomon was murdered, asks him to investigate because she doesn’t trust anyone in Jefferson. She arouses his suspicions – and his interest. Femme fatale.
He becomes friendly with Evelyn, Jamaica’s mother.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Midpoint Turning Point –
- Against his better judgement,<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> McBride falls in love with Jamaica. On an excursion, they embrace, about to kiss, when <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>she suddenly morphs into reptilian form, then back into her human form.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – </div><div>
- Jamaica is unaware that she is the offspring of interspecies breeding. Evelyn has kept it from her because Beck threatened to kill Jamaica if she ever revealed it.
- McBride gets Evelyn to tell them everything. The aliens need to perform a ritual with the water from Jefferson to maintain their human morph when they are 28 years old. The water company is really shipping the water to aliens all over the world for this purpose.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>New plan –
- Jamaica needs to perform the ritual or she will lose her human form forever.
The local doctor makes some calculations and declares that she will lose her mph on July 4th. - Jamaica decides to let the morph go and reveal herself and the alien presence at the big 4th of July celebration in Jefferson.
- McBride is heart broken, but agrees it is the best plan.
- Now they just have to keep her safe until then. Ticking clock.
- Beck issues a warrant charging McBride and Jamaica with Solomon’s death. They are hunted by the police.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift –
- The aliens find out Jamaica’s plan and Beck kidnaps Evelyn, threatens to kill her unless Jamaica turns herself in. Jamaica agrees, but McBride has enlisted the help of Hal Burton and they plan to ambush Beck at the meeting…
- Except that Hal Burton is really the Alien in charge. Beck was just a front. Hal shoots Evelyn. Jamaica is next.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – </div>
- Jake attacks Burton and they manage to escape.
- McBride gets Jamaica to the stage just in time where she morphs into Reptilian form in front of everyone. Ticking clock -there is an actual countdown timer on the stage.
- People are freaked. A crazed person in the crowd shoots Jamaica.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Resolution –
- As she lies dying, McBride figures out a way to get all aliens to instantly lose their morph and reveal their presence.
- Humanity unites and defeats the aliens.
- McBride and Jake ride off, back to the big city to face whatever lies in store for them.
- Colt McBride on the freeway, driving into Jefferson. Wants to get away from the disaster of his big city life. In the back of the car, his new K9 partner, Jake. McBride is not a fan.
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Nancy’s genre conventions.
My Vision: To create a polished portfolio and do whatever it takes to get a manager, and then sell multiple TV and or feature scripts.
What I learned doing this assignment is that a psychological thriller is different than a straight up thriller in the sense that much of the suspense and conflict will come from having an unreliable narrator and events that will take place in the protagonists mind.
Title: Survivor’s Guilt
Concept: A grieving investigative reporter discovers she’s the reincarnated wife of the legendary fugitive killer that she’s investigating.
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Conventions for Thriller:
Thrill audience
Face danger physically, emotionally, mentally
Mystery to be solved, underhanded plan and suspense
Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful hero
Villain
Main Emotions: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, and surprise.
Act 1:
Opening: A mysterious, flash image of her drowning, Freya drives her car off a bridge, her husband and child with her. She bobs to the surface, she can’t swim. Fails to save her family.
Inciting Incident: Haunted by dreams, unable to sleep, Freya flees to an uninhabited island to grieve.
Mainlanders warn her of impending doom if goes to the island.
Deathly afraid of water, she’s barely able to make the crossing from mainland to island. She speaks to her husband/child as if they are with her.
Turning Point: Freya learns about the legend of the island, a mother (Lisbeth) and child (Hanna) allegedly murdered by the husband/father (Lars) 30 years earlier – she has an unexplainable drive to solve their mystery to absolve her own guilt.
Act 2:
New plan: Freya becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of Lisbeth and Hanna. She feels their presence all around her, her daughter appears to give her clues.
Plan in action: Freya pushes her boundaries to explore the island, gather info, Her insomnia leads to paranoia – she hears footsteps outside her door, tapping on her window, thinks someone has followed her in the woods. She finds her belongings in the cottage have been ransacked … is this reality or her imagination?
Midpoint Turning Point: She’s not on the island alone – she’s confronted by the Caretaker of the Ericksen estate – a dilapidated home where Lisbeth, Lars and Hanna once lived. He warns her she must leave to save her life. But there’s a deep unexplainable connection/attraction between Freya and the Caretaker that she can’t explain.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Not sleeping, and when she does her dreams are flooded with realistic dreams of Lisbeth, Hanna and Lars. So realistic, Freya believes she was there the night they were murdered.
New plan: She sneaks into Lisbeth’s and Lar’s abandoned home for clues. A picture reveals Lisbeth wearing a one of a kind antique amulet that Freya now wears around her neck.
When the caretaker sees the amulet, he locks Freya up. Freya has almost pieced together the puzzle of Lisbeth and Hanna…
Turning Point: Freya shares what she knows about the murder with the caretaker. The caretaker tells her she was Lisbeth in a past life, that he brought her here to discover this. She turns her back on the story, tries to flee – a deadly storm is coming and there is no way off the island.
Act 4:
New Plan: Join forces with the caretaker and together focus on survival and getting off the island alive. She has to face her fear of water when the only means is to restore a dilapidated powerboat.
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The Caretaker confesses his deep seeded love for Freya. Freya and the caretaker struggle to survive as they cross to the mainland, Freya has to find the will to survive and get to the other side.
Resolution: Freya wakes up, washed up to shore. When rescued, she asks for the Caretaker, but there is no evidence that he ever existed on the island or boat with her. She discovers he was the spirit of Lars (Lisbeth’s husband) that has been stuck in this life wracked with guilt from wife/daughter’s death … by absolving Lars of the crime by learning the truth from her dreams, Freya enables Lars to cross peacefully to the other side.
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Bice-Stephens Thriller Genre Conventions
2022 is my year to break through!
What I learned: Brainstorming is very valuable.
1. Concept: A criminally insane young psychopath kidnaps a baby to manipulate the ex who rejected her.
2. Genre: Thriller
3. Thriller Conventions:
Purpose—high stakes, plot twists, suspense until climax
Life and death—danger at every step, physically, emotionally, mentally—either in danger or implied
Mystery/intrigue/suspense—mystery to be solved to survive, intrigue is underhanded and covert, suspense from danger hero faces
Hero—unknowing, unwitting, resourceful
Villain—dangerous, devious, unrelenting, committed to destroying anyone who gets in their way
Main emotions—suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, surprise
Adding conventions to structure lesson 5:
Act 1–Opening—Brandy takes a knife and slashes smiles off the pictures taped on walls.
Inciting incident—Brandy takes pictures of Alex while he’s sleeping, including nudes, deliberates how to best use them.
Turning point—Brandy refuses to let Alex ditch her for another woman, at any cost.
Act 2–New plan— Brandy connives a way to replace Emma; she may need to get rid of her completely.
Plan in action—Brandy starts searching gun info on line, stalks Alex and Emma.
Midpoint turning point—Brandy kidnaps an infant girl and disguises her as a boy. Reads news about kidnapping and reward. No shame or conscience, goes out and about flaunting baby.
Act 3—Rethink everything—Brandy is totally crazy. Convinces DSHS she has 3 kids for child support, guilt trips Alex at every turn.
New plan—Results to drugs to control Alex, sedation to planned overdose. Whatever it takes so the other woman doesn’t get to keep him.
Turning point—With Emma suddenly out of the picture, Brandy can gleefully have a practice wedding with herself. Til death us do part on steroids.
Act 4—Climax—Brandy destroys evidence of any crime, including the kidnapping headlines which she burns with a candle. Blames Alex for everything, acts totally sane and innocent. Then sets out to find another victim just looking for a good time—and with a big smile she finds him.
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Drew Foerster’s Genre Conventions
MY VISION IS (living as if it is already fact): I am an award-winning produced Hollywood screenwriter with an excellent reputation that is represented by an outstanding manager and whose life is filled with creativity!
What I learned from doing this assignment is…specifically focusing on ideas that fit the genre help add interest
Title: MISSING TYME
Concept: When a FATHER becomes a suspect in his daughter TYME’S (10) disappearance, he goes on the run through the dark underbelly of online alien abduction chat rooms, conspiracy theory groups, and secret abduction survivor clubs, convinced that she was abducted by aliens… But is this a fantasy created by his mental illness or is there truly something darker and otherworldly going on?
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Sci-Fi Conventions:
Purpose: Explore technology, Think beyond our own world – Aliens. UFOs. Abductions.
Fantastic Worlds: Underground government bases and alien technology
Science: Things that are alien to us (actual aliens)
Incredible Visuals: Spacecraft, hybrid and cloning technology, underground bases, Las Vegas UFO/Alien conventions, abductions
Social Commentary: UFO subculture, underground government, conspiracy theories, dirty cops
Sub-Genre: Add action and thriller elementsOUTLINE
Act 1:
Opening – Open with something alien based. Like a dream of an abduction. We meet Marc standing in the middle of a busy road, in his pajamas. Soon after, he’s in a therapist’s office talking about his “episodes” and how he used to hear a voice when he was younger, and it’s back now. Sounds like gibberish or a different language. Inciting Incident – Marc hears his daughter, Tyme, calling for him. When he reaches her room there is a blinding light and strange electronic sounds outside and when it’s gone, so is Tyme. Turning Point – Marc works with the cops. But during a search of his home, overhears them talking to the FBI that he is a suspect.
Act 2:
New plan – Marc goes on the run. Mysterious Men in Black are watching. Plan in action – He makes a video for social media. Changes his appearance. Meets Lilly who helps him search the underbelly of the UFO conspiracy world. Midpoint Turning Point – He plans to meet with his wife but discovers that it’s a trap. She goes on TV saying she thinks he took their daughter and that he’s mentally unstable and his therapist backs it up. The audience finds out the Lilly is the daughter of the FBI agent that is trying to catch Marc. Mysterious Men in Black start following Marc.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – After discovering new evidence, he now thinks that Tyme has been taken by aliens. A hacker shows him alien technology and surgically removes the chip Marc’s been implanted with. New plan – Go deeper down the rabbit hole in the Alien Abduction world. Full tin foil hat. Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – The Men in Black call in a tip. The FBI finds Tyme’s body buried in Marc’s backyard. Lilly tells him that she’s the daughter of the FBI agent but that she believes he’s innocent and wants to help.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – With help from a conspiracy theorist that Lilly gets him to, they hunt down someone who works at area 51 and helps Marc disguise himself to look like the man. With this he is able to sneak into Area 51. There he finds many children in an alien tech laboratory are being used by the U.S. government as test subjects to create hybrid humans. Marc helps an alien that is imprisoned and with their help, he is able to free all the kids.
Resolution – Marc mind is wiped. So is his daughter’s. The go back to living their “normal” life. But Lilly shows up and with a few words and the use of a device, the memories come flooding back.
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Marcus’ Genre Conventions
My Vision: I have well-founded confidence that what I write is excellent and will be acknowledged as excellent by everyone who reads it.
I learned about genre conventions and making sure they’re correct and fully incorporated into your movie.
Title: “Beyond the Faded Trail”
Concept: A builder and his team go to a ghost town to dismantle it for lumber and find that thieves’ have been using it as a hideout. The thieves arrive and a fight for survival ensues.
Genre: Drama
Act 1:
Opening –Jake Barnet parties with a local businessman in the town saloon, while his foreman, Isaac Castle (aka Holland Whitaker in disguise) has conflicts with another builder, who he accuses of stealing supplies. Jake’s workers are all mediocre carpenters and Isaac continuously tries to show them how to improve. He tries to get Jake to help. Jake brushes him off with the prospect of another payday imminent. The local Sheriff hangs wanted posters all over town for local thieves, Lucien Rickey and Holland Whitaker.
Inciting incident – A suspicious fire destroys all of Jake’s lumber causing him to delay all his construction projects in the booming town by weeks. His customers threaten to go to the competition, who gets a timely delivery of wood. Jake can’t handle the pressure. He packs up to leave town, abandoning his troubles. He’ll start over somewhere else.
Turning point – Isaac convinces Jake to stay with it. He tells Jake about an abandoned town he knows about, two days ride away, where they could procure free lumber by dismantling old buildings. It’s not a journey Jake wants to make. Isaac reveals that he knows of some hidden treasure that might be there. The town is called Justice because thieves were hung in the town and they left the gallows standing.
Act 2:
New plan – during the trip, Jake has no respect from his crew. Jake avoids riding his horse, preferring the wagon, hates sleeping outdoors. Insists on putting up a tent for himself and makes the men help him. They think he’s a soft city boy.
Plan in action – Some of the men practice shooting targets. They are all very good. Jake has flashbacks to combat. He tells them to stop. The men challenge him: hit a target and they will quit for the night. Jake is an amazing shot. Admits he was a cavalry officer in the Mexican-American War and it made him hate guns. The men all turn out to be ex-Army or hunters. Isaac had hired all of them.
Midpoint turning point – They arrive in Justice in the evening. The men go into the town saloon and are surprised to find a fully stocked bar. They commence to party and get drunk. Isaac is conspicuously absent. Jake decides to let the men blow off steam and goes in search of Isaac. Isaac is in the steeple of the church with a telescope. He reveals to Jake that a gang of thugs uses Justice for a hideout. Jake learns that it was Isaac who burned the lumber in order to convince Jake to go to Justice. Jake wants to leave immediately. Isaac reveals that he knows where the treasure is and there’s lots more than he’d said. He believes the gang will be robbing the stage coach and won’t be back to the town for two days.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – Next morning, Isaac has the men dismantle the Sherriff’s building which is well built. An old sign on the wall there says, “Sheriff Rickey”. Jake notices that all of the men are very bad at their jobs and there is unnecessary waste. He wants to give up. Isaac privately convinces Jake that if they don’t get a substantial amount of lumber, there will be nowhere to hide the treasure where the men won’t find out about it. Jake insists on seeing this treasure. As Isaac leads him through town, they see a cloud of dust in the distance. It’s the outlaws on the way to town, earlier than expected.
New plan – They go to the work site and tell the men. The men want to get out, but Jake convinces them that they have a great tactical position plus surprise. They will win the fight and they can all split whatever loot the thieves have with them and collect bounties. Jake’s army experience kicks in. He directs the men to tactical positions and gives instructions. The thieves ride into town and roll up to the saloon.
Turning point: Huge failure/Major shift – Isaac shocks everyone. He reveals that all along he came here to take down Lucien’s gang. Then he walks into the street and confronts the gang leader, Lucien Rickey, at twenty paces. Lucien knows Isaac, calls him Holland. Lucien holds Isaac’s girlfriend hostage. Jake’s men stay hidden in buildings and watch as the girl, dressed in men’s clothes, dismounts her horse and goes to Lucien’s side. Isaac is infuriated. He draws and shoots, misses Lucien and shoots the girl in the belly. Lucien guns down Isaac. The girl crawls to Isaac’s side. Jake’s men start shooting and a massive gunfight ensues. Lucien’s men go into the saloon. Now everyone has defensive positions that result in a standoff. Jake’s men are low on ammo and Lucien knows it. Jake takes two of his best shooters with him, sneaks out the back of his building and flanks the outlaws. The outlaws run out in the street and Jake’s men run out in the street and gun them down.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Lucien takes off down a back street. Jake must pursue on horseback or lose Lucien. He rides. Out of bullets, they fight with knives. Lucien tells Jake that he’d been sheriff of this town and it died because the railroad owners got a better deal from another town and changed the path of the railroad. He formed his gang and has been stealing from the railroad payroll deliveries for revenge. This revenge backfired. It only hurt the rail workers who weren’t getting paid. Jake subdues Lucien and hangs him from the gallows.
Resolution – Jake gets back to town with a load of lumber and two (dead) wanted men. He begins building in earnest, teaching his gunfighters to be craftsmen.
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Chris Blanchett’s Genre Conventions
I am a brilliant, massively successful, professional screenwriter who writes incredible movies in a wide variety of genres which become instant-classics. I am respected by my professional peers and bring genuine, thought-provoking entertainment and uplifting emotions to hundreds of millions of movie-goers.
What I learned from this assignment the broad-strokes overview of where the comedy lies.
Unwoke
Concept: After his politically incorrect rant accidentally goes viral, a timid office-worker becomes a modern day thought criminal to one half of the country and an unintentional hero to the other. Can he elude the clutches of the “woke” mob and successfully avoid sparking a second American civil war?
Genre: Comedy
Act 1:
Opening: Tim is compliant, go-along-to-get-along employee, keeps head down. Careful to comply with dominant woke corporate culture. Over the top nature of the “woke” corporation played for laughs. More funny than threatening.
Inciting Incident: During a corporate sensitivity training session, Tim does not adequately affirm to trans-sensitivity Trainer Rachel Donahue that he/she (Rachel) is in fact a “real” woman. Again, the exercises and content of the sensitivity workshop are fodder for comedy. Rachel will likely be a 250 lb linebacker type with perpetual five o clock shadow and a deep, bellowing, eminently masculine voice.
The vindictive Rachel takes video recordings of the training session, edits together statements by Tim, making him look like an angry “trans-phobe and bigot” and posts the video to social media. It goes viral and the attention-averse Tim gains instant on-line infamy. Tim’s slow realization that he is a trending story played for laughs.
Turning Point: Struggling hyper-liberal news network (name) decides to own the story to drive ratings and Tim’s new-found negative notoriety is amplified via mass media into the popular culture. Running joke: they are on the verge of bankruptcy – running out of office supplies, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, technical equipment falling apart and in disrepair etc.
Act 2:
New plan: out of a job and under severe monetary strain (mortgage payment due – something big and compelling) and on the lam from the “woke” mob, Tim takes up an offer from struggling hyper-conservative news network (name) to help him get his side of the story told and hopefully get his old job (and life) back. Counterpoint to liberal station – will get names in opposition – saying the same buzz phrases but the photo negative version of what the liberal station says. Similar lack of basic necessities
Plan in action: Tim gives interviews to a number of hosts who passionately advocate on his behalf and champion his “cause” – despite Tim’s insistence he doesn’t have a cause. He is now more in the public eye than ever, and no closer to getting his old job (and life) back. “Interviews” consist of hosts putting words in Tim’s mouth obviously bent on ginning up controversy.
Midpoint Turning Point: Tim is invited to attend a rally on his behalf. He is reluctant, but when rally organizers reveal a Go-Fund-Me type account they have set up on his behalf which has more than enough money to handle his financial challenges. He agree to attend. Humor in Tim’s protestations that he need to be true to his convictions and not overhype his situation and turning on a dime when the money is offered that will alleviate his financial struggles.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Tim is a huge hit at the rally and is swept up by the adulation of the crowd. Humor in Tim’s tentative acceptance of the crowd’s adulation which grows into full-fledged megalomania. The liberal network starts promoting Rachel Donahue (the trans-sensitivity instructor who posted the video of Tim) to counter Tim’s popularity. Rachel’s supporters (publically) set up a Go-Fund-Me type account to support Rachel, which is mocked and denigrated by Tim’s supporters and angrily defended by Rachel’s.
New plan: Tim becomes more aggressive in his on-air and public appearances and his fame and power reaches a crescendo… until the liberal network exposes the go-fund me account and paints Tim as a gold-digging hypocrite. Tim schedules a hotly anticipated public appearance to be covered by all major media – cable, broadcast, and online. Humor in hypocrisy: Tim’s detractors turn on a dime to defend Tim’s Go-Fund-Me type account and Rachel’s supporters/defenders turn on a dime to attack it.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Tim discovers both the liberal network and the conservative networks are owned by the same person and information is being shared and events are being orchestrated purely to feed ratings. Humor flipping back and forth with the networks being inverse mirror images of one another.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Tim confronts the owner of the two networks and learns the game being played isn’t just about ratings; there is a conscious strategy to generate meaningless controversies to keep people at one another’s throats, keeping them oblivious to the puppet-masters pulling the strings. Humor in confrontation scene Tim alone in a dark room talking with a disembodied voice… subtle implication the puppet-masters are AI…?
Resolution: Tim uses his hotly anticipated public appearance to reveal the truth he has learned to the masses… and is met with stony silence. Just then a video of parents at a school board meeting denouncing drag queen story hour goes viral, commanding the attention of the media and arousing the ire of the audience who depart in an impromptu protest march. Tim is alone on the stage at the microphone. Humor in those who claim they are defenders of the truth – on both sides – not wanting to hear it when Tim tells them the truth. Humor in a set up running gag with Tim using metaphors no one gets culminating with him telling the crowd “we need to stop salivating when they ring a bell” crowd turns to one another, mystified by the statement “huh? What did he say?”
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Erin Ziccarelli’s Genre Conventions
Vision: I am going to create meaningful scripts that leave audiences remembering my movies and leave me excited to keep writing and moving up in the industry.
What I learned doing this assignment is: the drama genre conventions. I find the character-driven journey convention most interesting – in my previous scripts, my protagonists were very reactionary. Now, I will make my characters’ internal journey drive the plot rather than external circumstances.
Title: Check in the Dark
Concept: Conditionally released from prison, a former black marketeer must stay clean and leave his old way of life behind. Grudges, secrets, and family ties, old and new, draw him back into the familiar underground world of cocaine hustling and counterfeiting.
Genre: Drama
Act 1:
· Opening: Counterfeiting operation gone wrong – Boston, 1973. Meet the different crime families and explore their conflicts. (purpose)
· Inciting Incident: Flash forward 20 years, Alex is imprisoned, crosses paths with an old rival, reveal that he has a daughter allied with the rival crime family (emotionally resonates)
· Turning Point: Almost one year later, Alex has achieved sobriety and is ready to venture out and start his own business with support from social workers (challenging, emotionally-charged situations)
Act 2:
· New plan: Alex as a self-made entrepreneur, starts a car resale business and keeps a low profile (real-life “business” situation)
· Plan in action: Alex starts up the business, meets Scarlett and offers her a position, she accepts, the cars are delivered, they get to work (real-life situation, high stakes within as Alex tries to meet all his demands as a manager and stay away from his old ways)
· Midpoint Turning Point: word gets around that Alex is out of prison, his uncle dies, and the family wants him back to be their new leader. Alex rejects the offer but is now a target of both sides. (real-life situation that emotionally resonates, character-driven journey)
Act 3:
· Rethink everything: Alex can no longer remain under the radar – he must confront his past and take a stand against their lawlessness and pointless family feud. (challenging and emotionally-charged situation)
· New plan: Alex gets to know Scarlett better, offers her advice about turning her life around, he and his staff become a team, he’s feeling a sense of personal accomplishment for the first time in his life (real-life situation, high stakes)
· Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – his old buddies burn his business to the ground, Scarlett finds out she’s been lied to, his other two staff members leave him, one of the social workers is killed, and Alex is left alone/without an ally. It’s up to him to deliver on the contract and avoid going out of business, as well as face his past without any backup. (high stakes, emotionally-charged, and character-driven)
Act 4:
· Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: the big counterfeiting operation the story has been building up to, both sides show, Alex’s big speech on the futility of their family feud, the leader of the rival crime family turns the gun on himself, leaving both sides without a leader. Alex walks away without killing anyone, and the family feud will fizzle and eventually die. (high stakes, character-driven journey)
· Resolution: Scarlett and Alex make their peace. (emotionally charged)
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I hope this is the right place!
(Patty Ruland’s) Genre Conventions
My vision: To get better and better at this in order to obtain representation and earn a good living in this profession.
What I learned doing this assignment is: This can be fun, indeed! And, it’s okay not to know exactly how to plot things—for there’s always another pass and another and another during which improvements are surely likely to be made.
Act 1:
Opening/ Adrenaline-stirring
/ fast pacedScientists and benefactors gather at their rainforest headquarters to receive their assignments. Other scientists receive the plum assignments, like finding arks and grails and the like. The father’s and mother’s party receives the lowest status assignment: find “Boto,” the fabled pink river dolphin, for a monetary prize and modest renown. No one really believes pink dolphins exist, so the assignment is really a mockery and sabotage of the expedition’s chances. The husband and wife had once embarrassed the director of expeditions, so this is just another instance of payback.
Inciting Incident/ Demand for
Action/Mission/The expeditions dispatch to their respective launch points, awaiting the go-ahead. The mother’s and father’s expedition begins auspiciously, for they are experts and have outfitted their vessel with every advantage. The son and daughter are allowed to pilot a fancy canoe, to improve their skills. Suddenly, a violent storm system assembles in the sky. Not only that, a nearby volcano erupts. Torrents of rain and fire rush down the cliffs into the river. The main boat and the canoe are separated. The father yells for his son and daughter to make camp and wait for him. They shout they will, but then the main boat is swept up and away by rapids laced with sparks and flames. The canoe carrying the son and daughter seems no match for the violent rapids, almost overturning countless times. The tumble over a gorge and hold onto the canoe until they can board it again. Eels and capybaras and alligators in the water and leopards and jaguars on the banks stalk the canoe, which is carrying very vulnerable “prey.”
Turning Point/ Mission The
storm ends and explorers gather at headquarters to see who is there and
who is not. The parents have not returned. The son and daughter are
nowhere to be seen.On the river, the two debate what to do next. The son wants to return home and wait. The daughter wants to proceed—to look for their parents and the pink dolphin, she promises with the help of her relatives far down river. She says that they have to find the pink dolphin to honor their parents, whether they are dead or alive. The son reluctantly agrees.
Act 2:
New plan/Mission/ Adrenaline-stirring
/ fast paced/demand for actionThe son and daughter build a new vessel, a makeshift flat raft, shelter, and side canoe. They hurriedly load it with supplies, for they know they are safer on the water where they can move more quickly. The son climbs a tree and braves bee stings while he harvests honeycomb to take with them. The daughter gathers larva and caterpillars to eat. They fill long hollow cane sections with water. They test their fire-starters—flints and dried sap from the incense tree, which is highly flammable and which is very useful in starting fires during rainstorms. Meanwhile, in the shadows in the forest, the poachers prepare to follow them, stalking them, too, on foot.
Plan in action/Escalating
Action:The son and daughter cope with any number of calamities, using skills they share and continue to perfect. Suddenly poachers abduct them and tie them to masts of their ships, forcing them to direct them to where the pink dolphins are. The daughter plots a mutiny and capture of the poachers’ ship.
Midpoint Turning Point; Escalating
Action:The poachers get wise and take the son and daughter to a camp, where they are imprisoned and questioned, ruthlessly. But there, the daughter’s relatives come, at night, in stealth, to inform them they know where the parents are—captured, too–and where the pink dolphins are. One in their party, a long lost friend of the family, a wildlife warden, also visits them, with the dire prediction that the poachers will sell the pink dolphins abroad to aquariums, where they will surely die. The relatives and warden promise to watch over and guard them, as they gather information from and about the poachers.
Act 3:
Rethink everything/Mission/Demand
for ActionThe warden gives the son and daughter an ultimatum: Come with him now and return home safely. Or stay captured in camp, which they choose, with the intention of finding a way to escape, to join an even greater mission—to help bust the poaching ring.
New plan/ Adrenaline-stirring /
fast pacedThe rain pours. Night deepens and darkens. The son and daughter move at night for stealth, as the glowing eyes of the predator capybaras shine menacingly, to scout out where the poachers are.
Turning Point: Huge failure /
Major shift/ New plan/ Adrenaline-stirring / fast pacedThey find them—capturing and leisurely taunting the others.
The son and daughter hang back and wait for their moment to strike. They outfit poison dart guns, per the daughter’s upbringing—not one, but many. The daughter whistles a signal.
The poachers and their reinforcements surprise the party comprised of the warden and relatives, and capture them. The poachers are so enraged, they seem to have murder on their minds. All seems lost for everyone.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of
the conflict/ Adrenaline-stirring / fast pacedThe daughter persuades the son they can and must escape to go get a lot more help—despite the gauntlet of guards surrounding them. She whistles another signal but whispers, “Wait.”
Resolution/ Adrenaline-stirring
/ fast pacedJust as the poachers are preparing to tie all of them to leaky, broken canoes and send them to certain death down the next stretch of violent rapids plunging into a deep and rocky gorge, reinforcements arrive—their parents, their fellow scientists, the daughter’s relatives, and a whole school of pink dolphins. They take up the poison dart guns and hold the poachers hostage. The pink dolphins show their warrior natures—baring their teeth and using their beaks to pummel their adversaries. They liberate all of the captives, including the father and mother and warden.
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