Lesson 1

[Lois Wickstrom]

What I learned doing this assignment:

I don’t really want to write a conventional action scene.

Concept: Dare is a thief who gets arrested, then is given a choice – he can go to jail or join an organization called Secret Sharers.

Conventions

Hero: Dare, a young thief who got
caught.
Demand For Action: avoid going to jail
Mission: figure out what the
secret sharers are up to
Antagonist: Anitra – she is
smarter than Dare, knows more than Dare, has Dare in her debt
Escalating Action: Dare is learning
more, but enjoying this new life, even though he knows Anitra must be
stopped.

3.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Lois Wickstrom.

[Timothy Barley]

Tim Barley’s Conventions

What I learned from this assignment is that it’s fun to revisit some of the ideas I had for other classes and remake them into something different.

Concept:

When a reclusive widow in a quiet New England town offers her entire fortune to anyone who can kill her within 72 hours, a menagerie of assassins, bounty hunters, and family descend on the peaceful community, igniting a high-stakes game of survival, deception, and revelation of international conspiracies.

Conventions:

Hero(es): The entire Marlowe family, including Sylvia Marlowe, daughter Emily and son Thomas.

Demand For Action: A menagerie of assassins, both pro, international and government sanctioned down to local yokels descend on the poor town, through each other, to claim the prize.

Mission: The Marlowe children must use their skills to navigate the insanity to reach their mother and save her.

Antagonist: Every would be assassin, including Dupre, a Marlowe family adversary sent with a message from a mysterious organization.

Escalating Action: As the lower level wannabes are knocked off by local deputies, each challenge to reach and protect their mother becomes tougher and tougher and rougher and rougher.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Timothy Barley.

[Tony Scott]

Tony J Scott Conventions!

I learned to fill in the blanks and sort it all out later.

In a world where humans and vampires coexist and ex Vatican Nun, turned Vampire Justice Department Investigator must protect a key whistleblower.

Hero: Ex Vatican War Nun Special Operator Team Head,
Turned Vampire

Demand For Action: The witness is being hunted by the
drug Cartel boss, the cops and the corrupt vampire underground.

Mission: Get the witness to the Vatican Embassy in time
to testify to the Vatican/Vampire Peace Council.

Antagonist: Imprisoned drug Cartel Boss indicted for breaking the Vatican/Vampire Peace agreement terms.

Escalating Action: The protagonist has to rely on her
former military skills and operators to help her escape assassins hunting
them. Cartel Boss puts a $50M bounty on the whistleblower. Some of the assassins kill each other off.

[Carol Paur]

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” I don’t know much about water.

Concept: An environmental conservation scientist, who is on leave for cancer treatment, is brought in by world governments to save the five largest water supplies of the world.

Conventions

Hero: The scientist is depressed and losing hope as she undergoes cancer treatment but is brought in to stop bio-terrorists from destroying major water supplies of the world.

Demand For Action: She must stop who is doing this before they kill her.

Mission: To stop the bio terrorists from destroying the world’s water supply.

Antagonist: A terrorist group who had their leader killed and politicians who don’t think this is a threat so don’t want to put forth the money.

Escalating Action: Vitriolic meeting before congress, car explosion intended for her, detonating a bomb that would release toxins in the air which would destroy the water supply, boat chase on Arakawa River (Japan),

[Mary Goldman]

Mary’s Conventions

So when I signed up for this course I was thinking that it would help with adding action to a Suspense/Thriller that I am working on–I wasn’t actually thinking of writing a full on Action screenplay. All this to say that as an exercise, I’ve begun brainstorming a new Action screenplay. Here’s what I got so far (I’ve added a “ticking clock”):

Who is your hero and what makes her highly skilled?

Sky Silver, Olympic gymnast as a teenager, served time in the Israeli military, recruited and trained by the CIA for covert operations.

What is the demand for action?

Sky’s sister is kidnapped by a mysterious Operative who seeks classified U.S. war documents (locations of nuclear subs?). To save her sister, Sky must penetrate the Pentagon and find the documents. Sky faces a moral dilemma: save her sister by divulging classified documents or find a way to save her from the kidnapper.

Ticking Clock

Sky’s sister has an illness that requires regular medication. She can last only 4 days without this medication.

What’s the mission Sarah is on?

To save her sister and to take out the Operative.

Who is the antagonist?

The Russian Operative and his Handler. It will later be revealed that the operative is actually a disillusioned, retired agent who has been blackmailed into doing the kidnapping by his Handler.

How will the action escalate?

The opening scene will be a spectacular action set piece involving a car chase with Sky on a motorcycle. This will establish her skills, i.e. gymnastic parkour, etc. She will complete the assignment, bringing down foes, at which time we learn she is a C.I.A. (or maybe Mossad?) agent. However, she sustains a leg injury which puts her behind a desk, working as an analyst in Intelligence.

Sky enlists the help of a fellow analyst to track the operative’s digital footprint, giving her clues as to who he is and where he’s likely holding her sister.

Before setting out to find the operative, Sky visits a friend/colleague at a C.I.A lab where they are developing bionic aids, i.e. exoskeleton suits, etc. She convinces the friend to fit her with a pair of hi-powered bionic leg exoskeletons. She tests them out in their parkour gym, providing an entertaining action scene.

Unbeknownst to the operative, his handler has enlisted another agent to assassinate Sky once she’s divulged the documents. This operative sets up surveillance of Sky. She figures this out and tries to flush out the operative. A high-octane chase ensues.

What I learned from this assignment:

To establish a protagonist with exceptional skills, to establish an illusive, ruthless Antagonist who ensnares the protagonist in a mission, putting her through escalating challenges.

[Alyssa Giannola]

What I learned from doing this assignment…is the power of brainstorming and being fully free to adjust and dismiss and restart from scratch. Too often I get stuck on an idea and then it causes problems down the road because it’s hard to be flexible, so I’m looking forward to powering through and keeping the momentum while I tweak and elevate this seed concept.

Concept: In Victorian London, a bodyguard with supernatural powers must protect a secret society member’s son from demonic assassins or the entire city will be destroyed.

Hero: A supernaturally powerful bodyguard who is an angel in disguise

Demand for Action: If the son dies before the secret society’s vital meeting, the city will be invaded by demonic creatures.

Mission: Protect the son from the enemy and keep him alive

Antagonist: The demonic king of London

Escalating Action: From people to supernatural creatures to demons

[David Halligan]

Dave’s Conventions
What I learned from this assignment: Once again my first impulse is to write a comedy.
CONCEPT: Delivery driver must complete his rounds on Christmas Eve.
HERO: Weary divorced dad.
DEMAND FOR ACTION: Must not let his kids down again.
MISSION: Must make it to his ex-wife’s house to play Santa.
ANTAGONIST: Ex-wife’s new husband
ESCALATING ACTION: A minefield of obstacles, man-made and natural.

[Raz Ray]

What I learned doing this assignment:

There is more to action than just the protagonist and antagonist fighting each other.

Concept:

In a dystopian future, Neo Sapient freedom fighters travel back in time to kidnap a pacifist Geisha and bring her to the future to help them assassinate evil elites responsible for placing society under their genocidal spell.

Conventions:

Heroes: The Geisha, Neo-Sapient Freedom Fighters.

Demand for Action: The Pacifist Geisha is kidnapped and forced to assassinate powerful elites to return home.

Mission: To break the genocidal spell on humanity.

Antagonist: Rich and powerful, evil Elites.

Escalating Action: The pacifist Geisha has to train to become a Neo-Sapient assassin and learn to work with her kidnappers to complete the mission and return home. Although she is hunting evil Elites, they are also hunting her down.

[Kevin Lobo]

Kevin Lobo’s Conventions!

What I learned…Think of the concept and the Action Hero at a very high level without the benefit of a story or finer details.

Concept: A regular IT-Cyber Security programmer, must give in to a Crime Lord’s gang and hack the rivals to save his errant brother trapped in the gang and facing a long hard sentence.

When his upset, unsuspecting wife abandons him for a rich business man, he realizes that the gang has a double hold on him and it will require more than just his IT skills to save them.

Conventions

Hero: A cyber
security specialist.

Demand For
Action: Rescue his brother and wife from the clutches of a gang lord.

Mission: He
must hack the rival gang and take down their black-financial network.

Antagonist: A
ruthless gang lord.

Escalating
Action: He is drawn deeper and deeper into the inter gang rivalry, must
secretly please both and finally pick up a real weapon if he is to save his
wife and brother.

[John Puffer]

John Puffer’s Conventions!

What I learned doing this assignment is…trust Hal. (No, I learned that a long time ago.) To not be quite so lazy and complacent in the development/thinking process, to start the process earlier when I’m fresher, and to be more outside-the-box imaginative.

Concept: To restore his tarnished reputation, a mining engineer must destroy a diamond-smuggling ring and the international thugs keeping it in business.

Conventions

Hero: Brilliant Mining Engineer, Evan Merritt, recovering from injuries
stemming from a raid by international thugs
Demand For Action: Evans goes where diamonds are mined.
International thugs track Evan to abscond the booty he unearths.
Mission: Evan has to trap, and then wipe them out. The law won’t
help him.
Antagonist: Formidable, evil, “invisible,” seemingly unstoppable
mercenary, Nikolai Vovk.
Escalating Action: Deadly raids in isolated regions of northern Russian
and Canada, lead to clashes with Vovk’s henchmen, uproar from a rural
community caught up in the violence, treachery within Evans confidants and
a mystery insider, an exploding exploration site, a midnight chase scene on
an isolated northern highway, a kidnapping, a capture plan at a major airport,
and a final clash between Merritt and Vovk.

[audrey jacobs]

Audrey’s conventions

What I have learned is I subconsciously am making myself the protagonist.

Concept: A wayward recent widow is lost in her own home and mindset.

Conventions

Hero: Melissa with wavering self esteem and confidence.

Demadt for action: Become aware and decisive.

Mission:Overcome overwhelming mindset and take action.

Antagonist: Others who bully or demand their way.

Escalating Action: Arguments, avoidances, physical issues, broken promises and betrayals

[Raz Ray]

Hero: Bugeisha. Villain: Mammon Faust.

What I have learned doing this assignment?: I have learned more about what my characters want and what they’re willing to do to attain it.

1. Fill in the blanks and see what shows up.

Concept:

• Hero Morally Right: Kill the oppressors, fight for the people.
• Villain Morally Wrong: Reduce the population, enslave the people.

Hero

• A. Unique Skill Set: She has a cosmic weapon. The only one able to break the spells.
• B. Motivation: To return to her timeline and forget about the dirty deeds she committed in the future. To become a submissive wife and mother.
• C. Secret or Wound: She fears that the more she kills, the more she will like it and become like her enemies. To live a life surrounded by violence, which has taken everything she loved away from her.

Villain

• A. Unbeatable: Trillionaire. Has access to vast resources.
• B. Plan/Goal: To buy all the resources on the planet and attain the cosmic weapon.
• C. What they lose if Hero survives: They will lose their tyrannical control of society and their immortal lives.

Impossible Mission

• A. Puts Hero in Action: The Elites are using their vast resources to hunt her down first before she finds and hunts them down.
• B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: She gets broken down mentally, physically, and spiritually to fight back with lash-out violence.
• C. Destroy the Villain: Society will reset and not be controlled by fear. The Planet will become healthy again.

2. Once you have filled in a quick answer to each, go back and extrapolate (If _____, then how might _____?) to elevate any answers you can.

3. Tell us your improved answers.

4. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.

5. Post your assignment in the forums at http://www.ScreenwritingClasses.com/forums

Subject line: (Your Name’s) Hero and Villain (place in first line)

[Hiram Watkins]

Hiram Watkins, Conventions!

What I learned doing this assignment is how brainstorming helps breakdown the story and characters in a simple way.

Concept: a thief steals components to make a weapon of mass destruction for a business mogul. A highly skilled highway officer is tasked to stop him.

Conventions:

Hero: DeMarloe Williams, highly skilled driver who is a police officer

Demand for action:

Mission: stop the construction of the weapon of mass destruction

Antagonist: Marshall a highly skilled driver who is a master thief

Escalating Action: Marshall puts a team together and uses the underground racing as a cover for his plan.

[Lyn Embree]

Lyn’s Conventions

What I learned from doing this assignment is how challenging and important it is for me to let go of the perfectionist detail-hunter in the initial stages. I can be loose and have fun brainstorming, knowing I can change it all as I go.

Concept:

Champion MMA fighter Valentina returns home to El Salvador to seek and destroy the psychotic MS-13 leader who has kidnapped her son.

Conventions:

Highly Skilled Heroine: Valentina Alarcón, MMA champion

Mission: To retrieve her son from MS-13 kidnappers

Demand for Action: An MS-13 leader has put a bounty on her head and sends a legion of sicarios to take her out.

Antagonist: Esteban “El Malamor” Montes, Psychotic MS-13 leader

Escalating Action: The MS-13 leader has a personal vendetta against Valentina. She is arrested, detained, and charged with drug trafficking by corrupt law enforcement.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Lyn Embree.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Lyn Embree.

[Carmen Radtke]

Carmen’s conventions

What I learned during this assignment: Clarity matters! If I’m unsure about one item, nothing works.

• Hero: Laney, a talented but unsuccessful actress
• Demand For Action: After being conned into using her acting skills for a CIA job, she’s on a kill list
• Mission: To find out what she unwittingly did help steal and who the person hunting her and her friends is and why
• Antagonist: the man who set up the whole operation and his henchman
• Escalating Action: she flees, is being chased, shot at, and narrowly escapes death until she decides to turn the tables together with her friends and uncover the truth