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Day 7 Assignment
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Glede’s Life-Threatening Sequence
What I learned doing this assignment was that brainstorming these sequences can help eliminate weak spots, plot points that may not be as compelling, which allows the focus to be on the ones that are thrilling.
1. A mysterious stranger tries to run Shelby off the road in a car chase.
2. A threatening note is left trapped beneath the windshield wiper of Shelby’s car.
3. A GPs tracker is placed on Shelby’s car.
4. Shelby is pulled over by state police. Several cruisers pull up, officers jump out of the cars with guns drawn, pointed directly at her.
5. Shelby receives a photo of her daughter Abbie taken inside her school building, at close range, and Abbie’s class schedule hand-written on the back.
6. The stalker mentions Shelby’s kids by name.
7. Shelby is forced to refuse bail after she’s arrested, or her kids will pay the price.
8. The villain is operating covertly. She’s close to Shelby and her family knows the inner workings of their lives.
9. Knowing that news of Shelby’s affair with the murdered Alessandro Rossi is about to hit the media, Jason resigns his post as chief financial officer of Orphion Technologies.
10. Jason also resigns fearing for his reputation, the secret of how he got the seed money to start his own company would come to light.
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David’s Life Threatening Sequence
“What I learned is…?” Working out dangers seems more obvious than cover ups. One problem for me is to see how the scenes play out. I can create a danger, but how would it look on the screen? Would they be sequential?
Create your Life Threatening Sequence.
1. What is the Villain’s plan and how does that put the Hero in danger?
The Villain is a psychopath who has been born into a Cult of religious fanatics descended from the Spanish Inquisition. He has recently been chosen Grand Inquisitor of the Cult. He wants to find a sunken treasure ship, The Santa Elena, that originally, 200-years ago, belonged to the Inquisition. He wants to reestablish the Order of the Spanish Inquisition. A Cajun family has the original map of the ship’s location, but there is a secret to the map and the treasure is still lost. Paul, an 18-year-old, is a member of that Cajun family, but does not, as yet, know about the map or the treasure. Paul begins to investigate the murders of a priest followed by a that of close relative and becomes a person of interest to the Cult . Then, Paul finds out about the treasure and looks for the map-secret. Paul now becomes a person who must be made to reveal the secret or die.
2. What other potential dangers could your Hero experience as they try to solve the mystery and confront the Villain? and
3. From the list of potential dangers, choose the ones that work for this story.
Threats, Physical danger, Surveillance / watched, Chased, Lured into a dangerous situation, Trapped / Abducted / Arrested, Danger to someone they know, People around them die or are injured, Stalked, Thugs or professionals hired to hurt them, Presence of weapons or thugs, Something that damages their reputation, The chance that a relationship could end, The threat that their own secret could be revealed, Public humiliation, Betrayal from someone close, Someone operating covertly around them, Danger in diving for the treasure.
4. Sequence those dangers in order and make a list like the one I did for Basic Instinct above.
1. Paul’s parish priest is murdered on the altar of his church. Paul’s Uncle Jack was seen with him shortly before the murder and an item found at the scene belonged to him. Is this a threat or an attack on a friend? Why?
2. Jack disappears from his blood-stained house. Was he killed? Paul investigates involving himself in danger.
3. Paul’s locker is searched. A fellow student is watching him.
4. Paul is threatened and told to reveal the secret. He doesn’t know a secret.
5. Paul meets cool, cute Sandy who seems to like him. Timid, bullied Paul wonders why.
6. Paul is deathly afraid of spiders. Why does his uncle keep a large spider on his boat?
7. Paul realizes he is being followed by a rough-looking character.
8. Paul finds his neighbor in his yard with his throat cut and a shotgun nearby.
9. Paul learns from his mother their family has murdered too.
10. The Grand Inquisitor feeds a Cult family, who tried to leave, to trained alligators.
11. Jack returns. The man following Paul is Lenny, a man Jack picked up in a bar. Lenny has the skills needed for the treasure hunt. Should Jack trust him?
12. Sandy is lured to a Cult party. Paul goes to rescue her knowing it may be a trap. Was he setup?
13. Paul thinks he has solved the mystery of the map. Paul, Jack and Lenny check out Paul’s idea with Jason, a marine archeologist at the University Marine Station.
14. Paul sabotages the Cult boat. The treasure hunters go after the treasure.
15. They dive for days, but do not find any treasure. They return, exhausted.
16. The group is angry at Paul for wasting their time. They break up.
17. Jack is kidnapped by the Cult and taken to a Cult house on a spooky bayou. He is tortured to give information on the map.
18. Paul reforms the group to rescue Jack. They kidnap a Cultist and force him to show them the house.
19. Paul’s friends free Jack.
20. Paul’s friends are captured.
21. Paul frees his friends.
22. Paul is framed for a crime.
23. Paul stabbed to death.
24. Paul comes up with a second solution to the map’s secret.
25. Convinces his friends to try a second search.
26. The group starts their second voyage. The Cult does not attempt to folllow.
27. The cult has put a tracker on Paul’s boat and takes their ammo.
28.Paul’s mother is kidnapped.
29. Sandy rescues her.
30. Cult attacks Paul’s group while the divers are below. Cult throws blood in the water. Sharks gather and attack the divers.
31. The Cultists attack Paul and Jack. Jack knocked out. Paul takes over.
32. Paul faces his greatest fear.
32. The Cult is defeated. The divers are rescued. The Grand Inquisitor jumps to the sharks.
33. The group is exhausted, but Paul convinces them to try one last time.
34. They find the treasure.
35. They are betrayed.
36. Paul conquers his nemesis.
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Rachelle’s Life Threatening Sequence
What is the villain’s plan and how does that put the hero in danger?
Xander’s plan relies on deception, concealing he is Cyn’s ex boyfriend “Alex,” hiding their past relationship from Jules, his mother is their step-mother, he killed their mother and set Jules up to take the fall in case anyone caught on, he was responsible for the death of their older brother years ago.
His plan is to cash in on the inheritance one of these women is sure to be granted.
The hero is in danger whenever they uncover the truth about one of Xander’s secrets.
Potential danger is also present from characters we may perceive as villains (red herrings) Jules and Xander’s mother (if she makes it into the story).
Threats from Jules when she discovers the medication that killed their mother.
Talking about the danger with Xander’s mother, since she trusts her. This information can then be relayed to Xander.
Closeness to the villain when we think it is Jules and even more so after we know it has been Xander all along.
Lured into the dangerous situation by the death of her mother.
Contemplating an arrest due to Cyn’s addictions. Would give her even more of a reason to have to stay in town longer.
Danger to someone they know would be Jules or her father once the puzzle is solved. Cyn’s brother and mother are already dead because of this guy.
Presence of weapons – I had this idea that Cyn could get a gun from Xander to use against her sister during their big fight. Once they realize the truth they can turn it back against him.
What other potential dangers could your hero experience as they try to solve the mystery and confront the villain?
Snowstorm “of the century” taking place this whole time preventing travel.
Loss of Cyn’s job if she can’t wrap this up and get back to L.A.
Betrayal from everyone close to her, a lifelong pattern.
The covert operator would be Xander’s mother. Nobody will suspect a thing about her.
From the list of potential dangers, choose the ones that work for this story.
Threats
Talking about danger
Closeness with villain
Lured into dangerous situation
Arrest
Danger to someone close
Presence of weapons
Weather/trapped
Loss of job
Betrayal
Sequence the dangers…
Begin with the death of their mother. Everything in the will goes to Cyn. (Lured in)
Cyn must travel from L.A. to VT and arrives during a devious snow storm. (Weather/trapped)
Cyn finds the medication that could have killed their mother. Only Jules, as a nurse, would have access to it. (Closeness with villain)
Sequences with Jules talking about Xander and Cyn hanging out with Alex – the same guy, different names. (Closeness with villain)
Cyn confronts Jules about medication. Conversation that sounds threatening, because their relationship is on the rocks already.
In anger, Cyn storms out, drinking and driving. Jules calls to report a drunk driver on their road. (Betrayal, Arrest)
Really hating her sister now, Cyn goes to see her dad who has a new wife. She’s a psychologist and Cyn spills. (Talking about danger)
It only makes sense for Cyn to stay in VT, since she can’t manage to fly out, and her impending court date. (Loss of job)
The big fight between Cyn and Jules where she’s sure Jules has killed their mother – Cyn brings a gun just in case. (Weapons)
What I learned is… danger is the bones. It was so hard to resist putting the meat on the rest of the story. I’m glad I didn’t go down that rabbit hole though! Also, the ‘big fight’ is kind of the false defeat, so I’m not sure if I did my job well or not. I think I still have 1/4 of a scripts-worth of danger scenes to come up with.
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Michael’s Life-Threatening Sequence – Day 7
*I learned how each step builds upon the previous and this process is invaluable for structuring the clues, bread crumbs and red herrings required for a “good” thriller.
[1] What is the Villain’s plan and how does that put the Hero in danger? He plans to force Luke Strickland, incarcerated forger, to give up the location of his engraving plates.
[2] What other potential dangers could your Hero experience as they try to solve the mystery and confront the Villain? Dino Strickland faces incarceration, the death of his friends who are helping him solve the mystery
[3] From the list of potential dangers, choose the ones that work for this story.
Threat of incarceration
Talking about the danger w/ his friends puts them in danger
Physical danger from the local police who chase after him
Surveillance and being watched by the villain
Chased after and hunted: in school, in the town
Lured into a dangerous situation
Closeness to the villain – it is his stepfather
Trapped / Abducted / Arrested
Danger to his friends and lovers
People around Dino die as a result of the villain’s actions
Stalked by the villain
Presence of weapons
The chance that Dino’s relationship with the detective ends w/ her death.
The threat that their (Dino & Leah) secret (their love) could be revealed.
Public humiliation if the detective is found out having an affair w/ Dino.
Loss of a job or career is a real possibility for the detective
Betrayal from someone close. Dino ‘thinks’ Leah betrayed him
Other parties, namely the police, need to solve the mystery first.
[4] Sequence those dangers in order, make a list like the one I did for Basic Instinct.
(1) Dino faces the threat of incarceration as a result of Cindy’s murder.
(2) Other parties, namely the police, need to solve the mystery first.
(3) Dino is a danger to his friends and lovers given the villain’s love of murder.
(4) The threat that their (Dino & Leah) secret (their love) could be revealed.
(5) Public humiliation if the detective is found out having an affair w/ Dino.
(6) Loss of a job or career is a real possibility for the detective if discovered.
(7) The chance that Dino’s relationship w/ the detective ends w/ her death.
(8) Physical danger from the local police who chase after him.
(9) Surveillance and being watched by the villain.
(10) Chased after and hunted: in school, in the town.
(11) People around Dino die as a result of the
villain’s actions including Leah</div>
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Leo’s Life-Threatening Sequence
What I learned is I had a series of life-threatening situations planned, but not enough. I doubled the amount.
LIFE THREATENING SEQUENCE
Matt has a life-threatening medical condition
The floor of his old house has massive blood stain
Matt is being surveilled by a mysterious man
Twitter threat – We know you’re looking for your dad. We’ll protect him, even if it means killing you.
Matt’s father has allies in the mountain town near his cabin – they are reporting on him
Matt is caught in a trap
Someone shoots arrows at Matt’s car
There are people patrolling the woods
Matt passes out in a restaurant
They encounter a bear
Matt thinks he has killed his father
Matt considers suicide
Matt must jump from one cliff to another
The antagonist has captured both Matt and his father
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Noree’s Life Threatening Sequence
What I learned doing this assignment is that there were situations that I thought were exposition in my script, that truly serve to put my hero is further danger!
The villain’s plan to is exploit a unique population for their genetic immunity. This puts the hero in danger because she works for the company, and her father is a descendant, unknown to her.
What other potential dangers could your Hero experience as
they try to solve the mystery and confront the Villain?•Raven could be killed.
•Raven’s parents could be killed.
•Raven could accidentally kill their parents with a rogue cure for the current environmental crisis.
•Raven could be framed as a murderer.
•Raven could lose her job.
•Raven could put the population she’s trying to save in danger.
•Raven could be killed by the very population she’s trying to help/save.
•Raven coworkers and/or friends could betray her.
•Raven is abducted.
•Raven is threatened to stop pursuing the safety of the people of neighborhood
H.
Raven could be labeled as crazy/unstable.
•Raven could be followed and stalked by the minions of Hermetix Corp.
•Raven could be caught by company security digging around.
From the list of potential dangers, choose the ones that work
for this story.(The ones that work for the story are bolded)
Sequence those dangers in order:
a. Raven’s parents go into cardiac arrest when she administers a rogue treatment
from Hermetic Corp.b. Raven’s mother dies
c. Raven’s father is smothered in the ambulance by a mystery EMT
d. The pharmacist who was helping Raven warns her to stay away
e. Raven is followed by a fellow employee, Marcus, to see why she hasn’t been to work
after her parents passf. Raven goes back to work and her train coincidentally derails
g. Raven is kidnapped in a subway tunnel
h. Raven escapes the tunnels into further danger, and discovers “Neighborhood H”
i. Raven realizes
Neighborhood H is being medically tortured and abused by her companyj. The life of a resident is placed in danger as he helps her escape
k. Raven sneaks into her job and steals a coworker’s laptop
l. Raven spots her coworker speaking with someone she’s previously seen dump a
bodym. Raven must solve the connection between Hermetix and Neighborhood H before Marcus
finds her and the laptopn. Raven solves the mystery of returns to the tunnels where she is kidnapped for further
answers, placing herself in danger again -
Day 7 Assignment – Gordon
What I learned: The villain’s secret drives the story.
What is the Villain’s plan and how does that put the Hero in danger?
Plan: To raze the building with all inside and place all blame on the prior owner. Rebuild and sell, making a figurative “killing” on the property (even though it was a literal “killing” as well). Keep up the appearance that he’s a hero of the community.
How the hero becomes endangered: Unwittingly Gwen takes the files home. (See Day’s 6 assignment re. her job and how she ends up with the files.) Turns out they are Jeb’s files and include his most damning, criminal scheme for the building. Jeb discovers that someone has a copy of the material. He must get it back at all costs.
What other potential dangers could your Hero experience as they try to solve the mystery and confront the Villain: Avoiding Jeb’s hired assassin. Avoiding Jeb’s second hired assassin.
From the list of potential dangers, choose the ones that work for this story.
Threats
Physical danger
Chased
Lured into a dangerous situation
Closeness to the villain
People around them die or are injured.
Thugs or professionals hired to hurt them.
Presence of weapons or thugs
The unknown
Sequence those dangers in order and make a list like the one I did for Basic Instinct above.
1. Opening scene. Present time. But we open near the end of the story. Assassin busts through the door to the mountain cabin where Gwen hides out. The gun and silencer are prominent. It’s a man. The trigger squeeze begins.
2. 76 hours earlier: Jeb is advised that someone electronically passed through the security system and likely copied files. Jeb realizes his most private, darkest, dastardly evil scheme re. the building is within those files.
3. Jeb hires one of the world’s best assassins, a woman, to locate, identify and eliminate the risk.
4. Intro to the hired hit woman who, on another asssignment, easily eliminates her “mark” on a deserted beach walk. She’s paid $3 million for the hit which is what Jeb would have to pay as well should she accept the assignment. This is who Jeb contacts to locate, identify and eliminate the individual who took the files.
5. When the hit woman locates Gwen, she is ready to kill. But something stops her. And Gwen now knows she’s in mortal danger for what she has but doesn’t yet know what it contains.
6. Jeb knows his hired assassin did not do the job when having opportunity to do so. He also now knows who Gwen is and where she’s hiding.
7. Jeb hires another assassin, this time to kill both Gwen and also the first assassin who failed at the job, because he now cannot trust the hit woman either.
8. Gwen now knows Jeb’s secret. She now knows she’s in mortal danger.
9. The first assassin helps Gwen get prepared for battle. And by necessity she must go after Jeb.
10 The second assassin comes for Gwen. Back to the opening scene (present day) where the rest of that deadly scene is played out.
11. Second assassin is killed by a combination of Gwen’s planned defensive tactics (helped by the first assassin) and by a (sorry, cannot disclose) surprising helper.
12. Etc.
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Linda’s Life-Threatening Sequence
What I learned doing this assignment is focusing on brainstorming just the life-threatening sequence makes it much easier to plot.
What is the
Villain’s plan and how does that put the Hero in danger?Vittorio is plotting to take over the mob and he wants Leo to do it with him, but he would never do it voluntarily so Vittorio needs to force him to do it.
What other
potential dangers could your Hero experience as they try to solve the
mystery and confront the Villain?· Is stalked and threatened *
· Ignores the threats *
· His family is threatened passive-aggressively *
· Is shot at *
· Car chased *
· Friends with the stalker / villain, but has no idea *
· Confides in friend (villain) eventhough stalker warned him he’d die if he did *
· Lured into a war with Antonio *
· Antonio tells him to back off
· Antonio shows up at his daughter’s school or wife’s work *
· Shoot out with police and Antonio
· Set up for a crime *
· Has to quit his job over crime – pictures will be given to the DA *
· His investigator is killed *
· Tricked into meeting with Antonio *
· Can no longer be a prosecutor or run for DA with crime he committed *
· His friend / stalker encourages him to go after Antonio *
· Friend convinces him they can “protect” the community *
· A hit is put out on Leo *
· In the cross-hairs of a mob war
· Threatened while in court and it’s lie to the Judge or get family killed *
· Tells the villain who he thinks is his friend exactly what he’s going to do
· Tries to continue job after he commits crime and dangerously close to getting found out
From the list
of potential dangers, choose the ones that work for this story.The ones with the asterisk
4. Sequence those dangers in order and make a list like the one I did for Basic Instinct above.
· Is stalked and threatened *
· Ignores the threats *
· His family is threatened passive-aggressively *
· Friends with the stalker / villain, but has no idea *
· Is shot at *
· Threatened while in court and it’s lie to the Judge or get family killed *
· Car chased *
· Confides in friend (villain) eventhough stalker warned him he’d die if he did *
· Tricked into meeting with Antonio *
· His friend / stalker encourages him to go after Antonio *
· Antonio shows up at his daughter’s school or wife’s work *
· Lured into a war with Antonio *
· A hit is put out on Leo *
· His investigator is killed *
· Set up for a crime *
· Has to quit his job over crime – pictures will be given to the DA *
· Can no longer be a prosecutor or run for DA with crime he committed *
· Friend convinces him they can “protect” the community *
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Stepfather threatens to kill her if she talks. <div>
Lily flees the house by climbing out of the window. She’s followed by stepdad.
Stepdad catches her and takes her to gynecologist office.Gynecologist talks with both Lilly and stepdad in private about the abortion. Who’s the father?
Lilly asks the gynecologist for help.Gynecologist tells stepdad to leave her alone and not to report her missing.
Female detective is visiting her stepdad and wonders why `Lilly is not living with them anymore and they don’t want to reveal her whereabouts.
.Gynecologist takes Lilly to billionaire couple. She is kept there against her will.
One of the girls befriends Lilly in secret. Tells Lilly about the control room.Lilly asks gynecologist for help.
She finds out gynecologist hasn’t performed the abortion on her and flees the island. Chased by criminals who are after gynecologist and the baby.
Threats – stepdad </div>
Talking about the danger – friendship with other victimPhysical danger – flees the island, tries to escape the cellar falls down the stairs.
Surveillance / watched – camera’s in the house. Control roomChased – stepdad – gynecologist – criminals
Lured into a dangerous situation – taken to the billionaire’s couple
Closeness to the villain – thinks he’s on her side. Until she discovers she’s still pregnant.
Trapped / Abducted / Arrested – thinks she flees the island but is abducted by gynecologist. Is trapped in his basement.
People around them die or are injured. – the girl she befriended never returns to the big house. She goes on a search and finds out she must be murdered.
Control room. Tapes.
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