Lesson 11

[Rebecca Sukle]

Rebecca’s Reveals

What I learned: I found a lot of set ups and reveals in my Thriller map based on previous exercises. I discovered more doing this assignment.

A few eveals built into my Thriller Map.

Reveal 2:

Coverup: Jacob hides behind his reclusive technician persona. <div>

Mystery: Why does he agree to hide her?

Intrigue: She is skin and bone, anorexic.
Suspense: Will he regret his decision?

Reveal: Jade is a missing singing sensation. Police are conducting a search around the convention center.

Reveal 3:

Coverup: She claims to be hiding from her abusive Manager who is forcing her to go on a world singing tour.</div><div>

Mystery: Why did she run away?

Intrigue: Is she telling the truth this time?

Suspense: What else is she hiding?

Reveal: She fears that she is forced to perform on a world tour that the stress will kill her.

Reveal 6:

Coverup: Jacob dismissed Jade’s question about his music room full of instruments and older recording equipment. </div><div>

Mystery: Was he a recording engineer or gifted musician?

Intrigue: Why else does he hide about himself?

Reveal: She picks up a guitar and begins to sing. He accompanies her on the keyboard and she learns that they both share perfect pitch and love of music.

Reveal 10:

Coverup: When captured by Mertz and his bodyguards, Jacob doesn’t take them out and leads them to the training camp. </div>

Mystery: Why didn’t Jacob take them out in the grocery parking lot?

Intrigue: Jacob plays it cool and bluffs that the building surrounded by paramilitary. A bluff?
Suspense: Will Mertz shoot Jacob and Jade after he talks too much?

Reveal: Jacob’s security business partner shows up, armed and followed by several men in military gear.

[Carmen Radtke]

Carmen’s dramatic reveals

What learned in this assignment

Small reveals can have a huge impact

Set-up and pay-offs and how to let viewers connect the dots

Reveal:

Wyatt is a CIA guy, hiring Laney for an illegal job
Suspense: He lied about his name and job. Laney thinks he’s trying to uncover security leaks
Reveal:
His soon to be murdered friend calls him by his real name, and we see where he works

Reveal: Laney and her sidekick are great at stagecraft

Mystery: They pretend to be location scouts and trick a woman

Suspense: They secretly film the key code to a safe room in the woman’s mansion

Reveal: they hand over the tape to Wyatt and tell him where to send the money

Reveal:

Something’s wrong at the CIA

Mystery: why would an agent need help from an analyst friend?

Cover up: The agent has botched up a mission before, and tells his friend he can’t have anything go wrong

Reveal:

It’s all about the drive he’s stealing

Mystery: why does he change the schedule?

Reveal: Turner kills the agent

Wyatt receives mail, with the drive, a warning note and coded messages

Reveal:

Laney and her sidekick are in danger

Suspense: How can they trust Wyatt after his lies and betrayal?

Will they stick around?

Answer: They get in car with him

Reveal:

Killer Turner has access to the information the boss gives Wyatt

Suspense: Is anyone on their trail?

Answer: A dozen red flags go up when there’s cash withdrawals using all the cards the boss has made available to Wyatt, and Turner calls on his henchmen

Reveal: Laney and her sidekick are great at spycraft

Mystery: What can an actor and a writer do?

Reveal: They buy plane and train tickets for different destinations, using Wyatt’s alias

And they use tinfoil to cloak their phones

Reveal: The boss is trying to find out who he can trust

Suspense: Does he know about Turner?

Reveal: He has a surveillance tag on him

Reveal: Laney can’t be trusted

Mystery: Why would she use her phone when she knows it can be traced?

Reveal: she messages her agent, confirming a second audition

Reveal: Turner is catching up

Mystery: How can they escape?

Reveal: Laney and her sidekick pretend they’ve spotted a superstar, and a bunch of people rushes to see him

Reveal:

Laney and her sidekick can outsmart the professionals

Mystery: How can they keep up on e-scooters with a car, when Wyatt is caught?

Reveal: Laney slipped him an air tag she’d confiscated from a stalking ex

They can pick locks

Reveal: there’s one man who can save them

Mystery: Who is the man Wyatt’s friend mentioned, and who the boss sends him to?

Suspense: can he be trusted?

Reveal: the boss allows Turner to know about the man and his address

Reveal:

the boss knows a lot more than he lets on

Mystery: Why doesn’t he help Wyatt?

Suspense: There must be someone he can trust – or not?

Reveal: Laney finds a cozy picture of the boss and the man whose safe room they infiltrated

Reveal: it’s all a trap, but for whom?

Suspense: can Wyatt, Laney and sidekick survive?

Reveal: Turner and his henchmen are shot as they lay in wait

Reveal: Laney and Wyatt have the upper hand

Mystery: why doesn’t the man who supposedly encrypted the drive recognise it’s not the real one?

Suspense: the boss enters

Reveal: He holds them at gunpoint, demanding the real drive

Reveal: a trap for the boss

Suspense: where is the drive? Will they give it up?

Reveal: Laney has a tiny camera that transmits everything to her sidekick, and they know how to share videos instantly

Reveal:

The bad guys have lost

Mystery: why all this elaborate cat and mouse game?

Suspense: Does Laney’s blackmail work?

Reveal: She and Wyatt walk away

Reveal: Game over

Mystery: Are they safe?

Reveal: The Boss is found dead in an accident, and half a dozen people in the upper echelons receive Wyatt’s report including the message that the video and the report will be accessible to the media if anything happens to him, or Laney, or her sidekick

Reveal:

New beginning

Mystery: What comes next for Laney?

Suspense: she’s waiting tables again

Reveal: she wears an earbud and uses a script from her sidekick, under Wyatt’s supervision

[Agnes McCourt]

Subject Line: Agnes’s Dramatic Reveals

“What I learned doing this assignment is that by constructing the Thriller Map, I am able to see my entire plot evolve, plus I am able to add more to my original plot as I go along filling in the various parts I am learning lesson by lesson.”

Twist #1:

Direction: Wife Helen Deans pushes for quick marriage with high school sweetheart, John Roberts, even though he is not ready for marriage.

Twist: She arranges a job for him at her father’s bank. But within 3 months she is tired of his “beastly” behaviour of wanting relations and not happy with married life at all.

TRUST: Hero (John Roberts’s trusts his wife, Helen Deans plans to marry and work for her father.

DISTRUST: Wife is quickly unhappy with marriage but John tolerates her behaviour.

OPENING: A troubled wife goes missing suddenly during a daytime picnic.

Twist #2:

Direction: Helen Roberts disappears suddenly without a trace.

Twist: No one sees her disappear.

TRUST: Hero trusts wife and father-in-law.

DISTRUST: Father-in-law is quick to blame hero once his daughter disappears mysteriously.

Life Threatening Sequence #1: Helen faces a life threatening situation and as to what made her go missing. No one can remember seeing her go missing from the picnic, least of all her own husband, who worked late at the bank. Helen vanished into thin air.

TRUST: John trusted his wife and father-in-law.

DISTRUST: John no longer trusts his father-in-law and has no idea what happened to his wife.

Mystery Sequence #1: Is Helen mentally ill? Does she suffer from the same mental illness her mother suffers from? Why is no one able to help her find out her identity?

Reveal #1: Helen Roberts disappears without a trace.

Twist #3:

Direction: Helen is mentally ill like her mother.

Twist: Is Helen mentally ill or faking it?

TRUST: Hero trusts wife but she suddenly disappears and he is blamed for her disappearance.

DISTRUST: Hero loses trust in his father-in-law and the justice system that quickly condemns him for her disappearance.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #1: Father is not searching for his daughter immediately knowing she has done this on two previous occasions. He is more intent on removing the unwanted and unpopular son-in-law, John Roberts from his business forever, whatever it takes.

Reveal #2: Mike Deans is not in a hurry to find his daughter.

Twist #4:

Direction: Mike Deans is hiding a big secret he does not want revealed that could destroy his career and standing in the community.

Twist: Mike Deans is willing to go to cover up his secret whatever it takes.

TRUST: Father-in-law (villain) trusts son-in-law, lets him marry his daughter and gives him a job.

DISTRUST: Villain father-in-law knows of his daughters’ disappearing acts, but lets his son-in-law take the blame for his daughter’s sudden disappearance.

INCITING INCIDENT: Hero is arrested for murder and causing her body to disappear as she is never found.

TRUST: Hero trusts the system as he knows that he did not murder or hurt his wife.

DISTRUST: Hero loses faith in the system once he is found guilty with no evidence and he is sentenced to 20 years for her murder.

Twist #5:

Direction: Mike Deans is quick to conclude that John Roberts, his son-in-law, somehow murdered and hid his daughter’s body, when he knows she has disappeared before.

Twist: Mike Deans is hiding a secret from the authorities and the townspeople.

TRUST: Hero trusts townspeople and jury to find him innocent.

DISTRUST: Hero loses all trust in townspeople and system once he is found guilty and sentenced without evidence.

Life Threatening Sequence #2: Mike Roberts felt guilty that their marriage was not working out after all the effort he had put into that relationship.

Mystery Sequence #2: Father (Mike Deans) is not actively looking for his daughter and prefers everyone believe she is dead?

Reveal #3: Mike Deans knows his daughter is not dead and lets his son-in-law get convicted for her death though no evidence is ever found.

Twist #6:

Direction: Mike Deans suspects his daughter suffers from the same mental illness as his wife and that she has disappeared on two previous occasions and returned.

Twist: Mike Deans allows John Roberts to be blamed for her disappearance this time.

TRUST: The Villain, Mike Deans, is sure that they will find his son-in-law guilty and lock him up, despite knowing that his daughter has disappeared on previous occasions on her own.

DISTRUST: His dislike for his son-in-law makes him want to have him take the blame for her sudden disappearance and to get him out of his life.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #2: John Deans is quick to accuse John Roberts of murdering and burying his daughter’s body in the nearby woods near the picnic area. He has a lot of sway with the authorities in the town.

Reveal #4: Mike Deans is hiding a family secret from the police and townspeople about his private life.

Twist #7:

Direction: No one listens to John Roberts when he proclaims his innocence and they quickly judge him as guilty.

Twist: John can find no allies to help him in his case and he is immediately judged as guilty.

TRUST: Deep down the Villain, Mike Deans knows that his daughter is safe and has just disappeared on her own.

DISTRUST: His hatred of his son-in-law, allows him to let his son-in-law take the blame instead of telling the truth about the family secret of mental illness.

TURNING POINT 1: John Roberts is quickly arrested, tried and convicted for the murder of his young new wife.

Twist #8:

Direction: John Roberts is judged quickly for the murder of his new wife, Mike Deans’ daughter, Helen.

Twist: The case against John Roberts is wrapped up very quickly.

TRUST: John trusts the system and the fact that there is no proof he did anything to his wife.

DISTRUST: John quickly realizes he has no allies to help prove his innocence and he is quickly found guilty with the help of his own father-in-law. John is betrayed by his own father-in-law and accused of murder.

Life Threatening Sequence #3: It’s more efficient to have John Roberts removed from his life permanently than for the town to find out that Mike Deans has some dark secrets that he doesn’t want anyone to know about his family and home life. If Mike Deans’ secret is revealed, it can affect both his reputation and his career in the small town.

Reveal #5: Molly Deans is suffering from a mental illness caused by John Deans previous actions.

Twist #9:

Direction: Mike Deans is hiding a secret from everyone that he wants this matter wrapped up quickly and John Roberts out of the way.

Twist: Mike Deans underestimates John Roberts’s resilience in fighting for justice.

TRUST: Mike Deans (Villain) feels secure that his secret will remain secret if his son-in-law is locked away for murder.

DISTRUST: He is not quite sure what he will do once his daughter resurfaces in the future.

Mystery Sequence #3: John Roberts is quickly arrested and accused and convicted for murder getting 20 years at a penitentiary.

Reveal #6: John Roberts is shockingly arrested, charged and quickly sentenced to 20 years for a murder without any evidence.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #3: Mike Deans plans to keep John Roberts locked up for 20 years to get him out of his life.

Reveal #7.1: John Roberts knows about Mike Deans family secret through his wife, Helen Roberts.

Reveal #7.2: John Deans underestimates John Roberts’s ambition to achieve higher education and become a model prisoner and help other inmates successfully with their Appeals as he eventually gets all his qualifications as a lawyer.

Direction: Incarceration does not destroy John Roberts.

Twist: He makes good use of his time in prison.

TRUST: John never gives up on his proclaiming his innocence and decides to work within the system to prove his innocence, via appeals.

DISTRUST: John no longer trusts his father-in-law and after a while he no longer trusts his own wife and starts to forget about her.

MIDPOINT: We discover that John Deans’ wife, has been suffering with some form of a mental illness for years, and he has suspected that his own daughter is also suffering with the same mental illness, and she has disappeared before and then returned.

Threatening Sequence #4: Helen is lured away by a strange hitchhiker and seems to not remember her own name.

Helen leaving with a stranger can put her life in danger.

Her disappearance puts John Roberts in jail for murder, and in danger.

Twist #11:

Direction: Helen appears to be suffering from a mental illness or amnesia.

Twist: Is it learned behaviour or is she really mentally ill?

TRUST: Helen takes off with a complete stranger.

DISTRUST: Helen is no longer happy with her new boyfriend and starts the same mental health issues she had with her husband.

Mystery Sequence #4: Helen is locked up in an asylum by her boyfriend but Helen is writing letters everyday in the asylum

Reveal #8: Helen writes letters and addresses envelopes daily, but no one can figure out who she is.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #4: Mike Deans is taking his time in searching for his daughter till he’s retired and not sharing his previous experiences with authorities about his daughter’s previous disappearances.

Reveal #9: Mike Deans is not in any rush to find his daughter, but starts thinking about hiring a private investigator to find her.

Twist #12:

Direction: Mike Deans is in no rush to have his beloved daughter found.

Twist: Mike Deans loves his daughter and deep inside knows she just disappeared but is in no hurry to locate her.

TRUST: Mike Deans is satisfied that his daughter is probably fine and is glad to have his son-in-law locked away for a long time.

DISTRUST: He is more concerned with his position in town, than looking for his missing daughter and having his son-in-law released. He is concerned about what will happen once she does reappears and he is released.

TURNING POINT: Helen is alive but appears to be suffering from amnesia. She gets locked up in a state mental asylum far from home. She writes letters and envelopes every day and only one nurse assistant is interested in what she is doing. They do not know who she is.

Threatening Sequence #5: Mike Deans knows that his daughter will resurface and then there will have to be an explanations and possible consequences to face for having John wrongfully convicted.

Mike Deans works actively with the Chief of Police so that John is not released and the truth of the disappearance is never revealed as it would be bad for his reputation so he fights every appeal John makes, but worries what he will do if, and when, Helen surfaces.

Mystery Sequence #5: The asylum is unable to determine Helen’s identity.

Reveal #10: Helen’s identity remains a secret for quite a while.

Twist #13:

Direction: Mike Deans’ reaction once his daughter finally resurfaces.

Twist: John Roberts is released and reunited with his wife who has been missing for 8 years.

TRUST: John Roberts’s faith in the law is renewed and further he is successful in suing for wrongful imprisonment.

DISTRUST: He is no longer treated badly by the townspeople, but he has lost all trust in his father-in-law and his wife when she reappears.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #5: Mike Deans believes his daughter is suffering from the same mental illness his wife has but has not shared that information with anyone.

Reveal #11: Mike Deans does not know that John Roberts knows his secret about his wife, Molly Deans, and why she is ill.

CLIMAX: Mike Deans knows that his son-in-law is innocent because Helen has disappeared and reappeared later on previous occasions, but wants to keep the secret of the mental illness in the family quiet for his reputation and career.

Threatening Sequence #5: Mike worked hard to make John give up all his appeals so that he will never be released to return to town.

Mystery Sequence #5: John Roberts becomes a model prisoner, and starts taking college studies to improve his chances for a better job later when he is released.

Reveal #12: John Roberts behaviour as a model prisoner surprises everyone, especially Mike Deans.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #5: Mike Deans continues the cover-up of his daughter’s disappearance and lets John Roberts rot in jail.

Reveal #13: Mike Deans underestimates John Roberts’s ambition and ability to succeed in prison not only as a model prisoner, but as a scholar.

Twist #14:

Direction: John Roberts release and successful lawsuit against the state for wrongful imprisonment affects Mike Deans.

Twist: The changes in John Roberts’s financial situation once he receives a huge settlement for wrongful imprisonment.

TRUST: The hero regains his trust in the system and his life improves.

DISTRUST: He has no love for his father-in-law or his wife who has not changed at all. But he endures the situation for a few years.

RESOLUTION: Daughter is released and returns home to her small town and husband.

John Roberts is released immediately from prison.

John Roberts is a now successful lawyer who sues the state successfully for being wrongfully incarcerated and wins a large amount of money to set up his small law practice and buys a beautiful home back in his home town across from the very park where the original picnic and woods are located.

The townspeople now welcome him back and see that they had misjudged him.

John appears to live happily ever after with Helen but there are changes in their marriage arrangement.

John seeks revenge for the years he lost for the false accusations of murder; an action from his wife spurs him on.

Threatening Sequence #6: Mike worked hard to make John give up his appeals and never be released to return to town.

Assistant nurse is the only one interested in figuring out what and to whom Helen is writing daily.

Reveal #14.1: Helen Roberts’s identify finally surfaces and she is sent home.

Reveal #14.2: The truth is finally revealed; John is released after 8 years and successfully sues the state penitentiary for wrongful incarceration.

Reveal #14.3: John Roberts is released and he has to face Mike Deans and the townspeople that had him convicted wrongfully.

TRUST: Helen (red-herring) had kept writing letters for some reason.

DISTRUST: Helen is not sure who she can trust in the asylum with her letters.

Mystery Sequence #6: How will John react if or when Helen resurfaces?

Reveal #15.1: John Dean accepts his wife’s strange disappearance and they return to living together as husband and wife.

Reveal #15.2: John Dean’s reaction when his daughter returns and John Roberts is freed.

Reveal #15.3: John Roberts’s decision to take revenge for losing 8 years of his life?

Twist #15:

Direction: John Roberts discovers in an argument that his wife was only “faking her mental illness” to get back at John for his “beastly behaviour” and that she has watched her mother’s behaviour since childhood and simply copied that behaviour.

Twist: John plans for over two years on how he will rid himself of this troublesome wife that took 8 years of his life away and has no remorse whatsoever for her behaviour.

TRUST: At first, John accepts his wife’s “mental illness” as the excuse for her disappearance.

DISTRUST: When she finally reveals that she had only been “faking it” to get away from him and that town, he loses all trust in her and starts planning his revenge.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #6: Mike Deans fear once his daughter returns and she and John are reunited.

Reveal #16.1: Mike Deans wronged John Roberts and never explains or apologizes for misjudging him.

Reveal #16.2: John Deans keeps a close eye on his daughter daily and his son-in-law.

Reveal #16.3: John Deans keeps waiting to see what John Roberts will do about his participation in having him incarcerated wrongfully.

Reveal #16.4: How John Roberts takes his revenge successfully.

TRUST: Mike Deans continues to believe that his daughter has the same illness as his wife, but on occasion wonders about it.

DISTRUST: Mike Deans keeps a close eye on his son-in-law in case he finds out that his daughter has disappeared before and that she may not be suffering from any mental illness.

Twist #16:

Direction: John Roberts successfully rids himself of his lying and cheating wife once and for all without anyone being the wiser.

Twist: Incarceration has taught John patience and he plans his actions over the course of two years, as nothing has changed since his wife returned.

TRUST: John gains everyone’s’ trust after he is released and receives a nice sum of money to set up his own law firm and buy a nice new house near the park and woods.

DISTRUST: He quietly plots his successful revenge towards his cheating and lying wife who cost him 8 years of his life. He is also able to pay back his father-in-law at the same time he takes his revenge.

Twist #17:

Direction: Mike keeps daily tabs on both his daughter and his son-in-law.

Twist: Mike Deans has no way of knowing whether Helen disappears on her own, or not, and they will not charge him with the same crime again.

TRUST: Mike Deans trusts that all is going well now that his daughter has returned and is living in good style with her husband who has been released for being wrongfully incarcerated for 8 years.

DISTRUST: His entire secret never surfaces, but he keeps close tabs on is daughter in case she gets the notion to disappear again.

He’s not sure if he can trust his son-in-law but has no choice at this stage.

Reveal #16: John Roberts takes his successful revenge on his wife and his father-in-law.