Lesson 1

[Elizabeth Appell]

What’s my pitch?

A rookie cop on her first night on the watch shoots and kills a low level perp in order save the life of her training officer. The lover of the perp goes on a brutal unholy war of revenge killing everyone near her and finally the rookie herself.

[Michael Williamsen]

A. Genre = Adventure, drama
B. Title = How TO Die Like a Billionaire
C. Current Concept = A billionaire’s dying wish is to reunite with estranged friends on a trip of a lifetime, unaware that his former flame and protégé—a woman driven by ambition and revenge—has orchestrated a hostile takeover of his company.
D. Major story hook = “Brett has been secretly extorting funds from his company for years.”

• This reply was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by  Michael Williamsen.

[Mary Andrews]

Just watched the Empowerment video and did the exercises. So beautiful and powerful! Thank you! And thanks for the detailed instructions and prompts for using AI. This is all very helpful xoxo

[Joseph McGloin]

**Act 2:**
As Ivy and Logan reluctantly team up to investigate cryptic carvings and ancestral secrets, sparks fly between them, despite their clashing values. The deeper they dig, the more they realize the curse ties their families’ pasts to the forest’s fate, threatening both their legacies and their budding romance.

**Act 3:**
With time running out, Ivy and Logan must confront their families, rally the town, and trust each other to protect the forest. Along the way, they learn that breaking the “curse” requires not only saving the land but healing old wounds—and risking their hearts.

[Joseph McGloin]

That should have read:

Title: Shivering Timbers
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Act 1:
When headstrong activist Ivy Greenfield chains herself to a centuries-old tree to stop a logging project, she collides with rugged foreman Logan Carter, whose family business depends on clearing the forest. A sudden storm traps them together, forcing them to uncover the truth behind a haunting local legend—the Shivering Timbers Curse.
Act 2:
As Ivy and Logan reluctantly team up to investigate cryptic carvings and ancestral secrets, sparks fly between them, despite their clashing values. The deeper they dig, the more they realize the curse ties their families’ pasts to the forest’s fate, threatening both their legacies and their budding romance.
Act 3:
With time running out, Ivy and Logan must confront their families, rally the town, and trust each other to protect the forest. Along the way, they learn that breaking the “curse” requires not only saving the land but healing old wounds—and risking their hearts.

[Michael Fine]

Genre:
Comedy / Romantic Comedy

Title:
Dad’s First Date

Concept/Logline:
An ex-military father with control issues, surveils his soon-to-be eighteen-year-old daughter on her first date to make sure she’s okay, but when he is discovered he ends up doing more harm than good.
Main Characters: Dad, Daughter, Dad’s Surveillance Specialist Friend, Daughter’s Boyfriend
Short synopsis: Dad (45) and Daughter (18) move to a new town to begin his security business after living in a sheltered small community following the death of Dad’s wife. For the first time, Daughter goes to a real high school and meets a nice guy who wants to take her out on a date. Dad refuses as he has sheltered her from everything her whole life and feels the whole world is a dangerous place. Ultimately he relents and lets her go.

Dad secretly follows her throughout the date, trying to sabotage it so his daughter doesn’t want to get involved in dating. He is discovered by daughter who is appalled, but her boyfriend doesn’t notice so she goes along with the date as usual. Dad still “senses” boyfriend is hiding something. He sneaks into boyfriend’s home and finds something on his computer suggesting he is just using the Daughter for his own pleasure. Dad shows information to Daughter and ruins date.

Daughter is mad at Dad. Boyfriend shows Daughter than information on his computer is just a misunderstanding and he really wants her to help him with organizing Prom and doesn’t want to “use her.” Dad realizes this and tries to get Boyfriend back with Daughter so they can organize Prom in time for it to be a success and to fend off others wanting to cause danger there. It is and Dad sees his Daughter can handle herself and fend off danger.

What makes this movie or show funny?:
1) Hilarious purpose – A hawkish father hovering over his near adult daughter to protect her. 2) Dad’s extreme “helicopter parent” protective measures

[Douglas Ross]

Subject Line: (Douglas Ross) Title, Concept, and Character Structure!
• My vision for my success in this program is to choose the appropriate title and prepare all my completed scripts for the market but send only one to Sales Managers and Producers which will compel them to request that script.
• “What I learned from doing this assignment is that each of my projects needs to be distilled into marketable content with a title that presents the genre, concept, and hook.”
1. State: I am really good at creating characters that audiences can relate to and admire.
2. Title: Beyond the Other Side
Concept: After a near-death experience unlocks his psychic abilities, a young man confronts malevolent supernatural forces.
3. Character Structure: Dramatic Triangle

[Elizabeth Appell]

Hello Douglas and to all the writers in this “class.”

This program doesn’t work for me in any way. I’m writing here because I couldn’t find another portal. I WANT OUT! AND I WANT MY MONEY REFUNDED. I asked several timed…nicely…now my frustration is amping up my anger. It’s shameful the way Cheryl and Hal ignore their students…no…not students. Victims! If I find a solution, I’ll try and communicate it to you.

Elizabeth Appell alwaysappell@gmail.com

Good luck to you all!

[Kathi Wahed]

Genre: Comedy-Drama

Title: “Till Death Do Us Part…and Beyond”: or “Remodel Specter”

Concept: A grieving widow — guided intuitively by a new angel getting her wings — buys and renovates the first home she shared with her husband only to discover his ghost wreaking havoc on her remodel until they heal an old conflict.

Main characters:

Kat, an accident-prone and insecure 50 year old widow, trying to start over after the loss of her husband. She decides randomly to sell her house and buy elsewhere.

Nova, an angel-in-training, who’s been assigned to Kat. She’s in over her head but If she doesn’t pass her trianing she’ll be sent back to a dismal waiting room to try again…in a distant future.

Elie, the ghost of Kat’s husband, is still hanging around in this dimension because of unresolved issues with his wife. He worries she wont’ be able to manage without him. He’s a control freak, annoyed he has so little control without a body, but trying to direct Kat’s life from the grave.

Jack, Kat & Jack’;s next door neighbor, who knew her and Elie in their youth. He wanted to buy Kat’s former home and connect it to his own, but Kat beat him to the punch. He’s trying to make her life miserable to run her off. Until he develops feelings for her.

Synopsis:

Kat, driven by maintenance disasters at home, decides to sell her home and buy elsewhere. In her search she discovers the first home she had with Elie is on the market. But it’s no better for the wear after 30 years. She takes on the job of renovating it but between her inexperienced angel, her husband’s meddling ghost and her neighbor who wants to force her out, she faces hilarious challenges left and right. Unaware of these hidden influences at first, she faces a nightmare renovation. But gradually she starts to understand that she must forge a true life of her own now and really take matters into her own hands.

What makes this funny?

Between the angel, the ghost and the neighbor — all with competing motives — Kat faces unknown, unseen and unimaginable forces. All of which create hilarious mishaps in a house being renovated.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by  Kathi Wahed. Reason: don't know how to code to create proper spacing

[H.B. Faulkner]

H. B. Fulkner’s Title, Concept, and Character Structure!

VISION :
H. B. Faulkner is a household name and at the top of every great producer’s wishlist to partner with in making dream stories and epic movies come to life, which audiences worldwide love and crave, and buy tickets to experience, then continue to talk about their whole lives.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that producer’s really do want an outline of a screenplay, and there is a simple process for building one. (Yay!) I used to hate them! But I’d never been trained in building one. I just trained myself when I needed one. I look forward to being better trained!

Title: The Widow’s Guide to Honeymooning

Concept: A stagnating widow takes her husband’s planned Irish honeymoon, only to find herself transformed by riotous mishaps, unexpected romance, and life-changing revelations about her purpose.

Character Structure: Rom-Com with two characters owning the story