Lesson 11

[Mark Roeder]

Mark Roeder’s Outline

What I learned doing this assignment is it wasn’t too hard or time-consuming to put together this outline since we were plugging in things from assignments we already did. It was fun coming up with new ideas as I did it. Thank you.

Title: SUPERNATURAL DISASTER

Genre: horror (or horror comedy)

Logline: The ground caves in during a graveyard screening for a movie’s cast and crew, and the corpse of a writer who didn’t get credit for that movie won’t let them leave.

Act 1:

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

OPENING: Magdalena’s blocked to get into cemetery. Has to find a way in. She’s the producer and editor of the horror movie about to screen there for a special outdoor cemetery screening for cast and crew.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

High wind warnings, flash flood warnings. Magdalena, Everest, her husband the director, and Ivy, the actress, are the only ones there, and they decide to do the screening anyway. Wind blows screen down.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

They set it back up. Rain.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

They set up canopy . Warned not to do screening. Movie starts. Lightning.

LAYER: as they watch the screening of their movie SUPERNATURAL DISASTER it says at the beginning: Written, Directed by and Starring EVEREST.

Ivy asks where her name is, but then it come on, half the size as Everest’s name.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

LAYER: The movie they watch that they made is about an evil spirit. Ivy plays someone with supernatural powers.. Everest plays her enemy.

Ivy’s upset that Everest cut Ivy’s part down, making himself the main character, which she was supposed to be.

LAYER: Magdalena and Ivy stroke Everest’s ego about his acting.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

Magdalena thinks Everest’s bad acting is hurting the movie and she plans to help Ivy restore her part.

REVEAL: Everest catches them whispering and cutting down his part in a new cut on Magdalena’s laptop and he walks off .

EXT. CEMETERY – NEAR SKYLAR’S GRAVE

Ivy goes to console/talk to Everest.

EXT. CEMETERY – NEAR SKYLAR’S GRAVE – LATER

CJ (character journey): Everest takes pictures of Ivy by her husband Skylar’s grave.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

Magdalena creeps up and it looks like Everest and Ivy are together, but really he’s just taking pictures of her. She goes back to watch the screening alone.

EXT. CEMETERY – NEAR SKYLAR’S GRAVE – NIGHT

LAYER: Everest and Ivy dedicate this screening to her husband Skylar, since he was “so supportive” of his career. If not for him and his “friendship with Everest,” Ivy may not have even gotten this part.

EXT. CEMETERY – NEAR SKYLAR’S GRAVE – NIGHT – LATER

CJ: Everest seduces Ivy against a tree near Ivy’s husband Skylar’s grave. They’ll get away with it because Magdalena’s consumed by the movie.

CJ: Magdalena catches Everest cheating on her with Ivy.

Magdalena threatens divorce. Everest doesn’t want that. Magdalena threatens to cut Ivy out and recast. Ivy says that’s crazy ‘cause she’s the best thing about the movie. He made her do it for the part. She just wants to make the movie better. Cut his part, not hers. ‘Cause he can’t act.

INCITING INCIDENT: There’s a real earthquake that matches an earthquake on the screen. Lots of destruction and the ground caves in. They fall beneath surface.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT

CJ: Ivy hits her head on the way down and lands in a limp position, unconscious.

Magdalena and Everest are OK, but they’re trapped in a giant cemetery size grave, far below the surface. Magdalena’s claustrophobic, afraid of being buried alive.

CJ: Everest revives Ivy, but now she’s in character and thinks she caused the earthquake, convinced she’s the character she played in the movie with supernatural powers.

She’s also convinced Everest is the character he played, her enemy. And fights him off.

Coffins sticks out of sides of new sunken cemetery formed. Maybe they can use the coffin sticking out to help them climb out.

TURNING POINT/LAYER: Skylar’s corpse comes out of his coffin and won’t let them leave.

Act 2:

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT

Movie keeps playing inside sunken grave onto the dirt wall. Magdalena unplugs projector from cable that hangs down. It keeps playing.

They use the cable to help them climb up the dirt wall and try to escape. As they climb, cable falls down and they fall.

Someone grabs a leg bone which sticks out of the side. It breaks. They hit a ledge.

Between Everest and Magdalena all kinds of things about their marriage under the surface bubble up under this pressure. They work a few things out. The cheating is brought up

CJ: Magdalena kicks Everest onto Ivy and they fall down.

Everest and Ivy fall through a coffin when they fall —

EXT. GRAVE – NIGHT

— Into a grave and get stuck in it with rats in it.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT

Ivy climbs out of coffin. Everest climbs out but she kicks him back in.

LAYER: Ivy raises her arm as if she has supernatural powers and Magdalena repels from wall and falls.

Everest climbs out and claims it’s a coincidence that Magdalena fell then, tries to convince Ivy she has no supernatural powers, because she’s Ivy, not the character she played.

Ivy calls Everest by his character name and that causes conflict between them. She fights him because she thinks he’s the enemy he plays in the movie.

Everest gets away from Ivy.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

CJ: Everest accuses Magdalena of setting this whole thing up with Skylar, faking his death and using her FX and make up skills to make this look real and get revenge on them for cheating on them.

Magdalena wishes that were true, but didn’t even know they were cheating before this. She says maybe Skylar found out and that’s why he killed himself. She blames Everest for Skylar’s suicide.

Everest has good arguments and examples of why this may not be real. He even finds a camera filming them. Magdalena says he’s the director, he was probably filming them.

CJ: Skylar attacks Magdalena. Tells them they all need to suffer for what they did.

CJ: Everest thinking Skylar’s not really dead, blocks Skylar and pulls skin off him.

CJ: It’s real skin with bone underneath, too thin for make-up

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT

CJ: Ivy tries to use her supernatural powers on Skylar. She doesn’t have any supernatural powers:.

CJ: She realizes she’s not that character. She knows she’s Ivy now.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – ANOTHER SECTION

REVEAL: Skylar’s corpse attacks Magdalena accusing her of cutting his name out of credits. Magdalena says you didn’t write the script. My husband Everest did. Ivy says Skylar wrote it.

LAYER/REVEAL: Ivy tells Skylar she tried to stop Everest from stealing his script. Everest says you gave it to me. Ivy says that was the only way I could get the part.

REVEAL: Ivy tells Skylar if he wouldn’t have let the evil spirit the script was about possess him and wouldn’t have neglected her, she wouldn’t have brought the script to Everest and cheated on him.

LAYER: Skylar says there was a contract and he deserves credit. Skylar says he’s keeping them there because they stole his script and didn’t give him credit.

REVEAL: Everest tells Skylar he offered Skylar a contract, but he blew it by not signing it. Skylar says he wouldn’t give him what he wanted and Everest says he had ridiculous demands.

MIDPOINT TURNING POINT/REVEAL: They almost climb out of the sunken cemetery, but Skylar uses supernatural abilities to create a flood, which washes them down lower to the bottom and could drown them. It’s really Skylar who has had supernatural powers to cause the earthquake and make Magdalena fall.

Act 3:

EXT. SUNKEN GRAVEYARD – NIGHT

Flood sends them down farther than before completely out of control sinking. Could die.

Magdalena survives. Massive destruction by flood, skeletons and corpses everywhere in water.

CJ: Magdalena steps on Ivy, pushing her down into flooding water.

CJ: Magdalena decides to save Ivy. Help her out.

CJ/REVEAL: Ivy, barely alive, tells her she saw a contract Skylar made with the evil spirit. She thought he made it up for the script he was writing about the evil spirit, but now she sees the truth. The evil spirit was real and it possessed him.

Magdalena thinks Ivy’s still confused about reality vs. the movie.

Ivy thinks Skylar signed a contract with an evil spirit, that it’s there in the cemetery, and they need to destroy it.

Magdalena and Everest don’t believe her at first, but Ivy explains how Skylar was one way, then became obsessed, traveling the world looking for clues about this evil spirit, then at one point he changed, he was possessed, he had made a contract that he signed. Ivy convinces them it’s true.

PLACEHOLDER: They believe the contract was buried with Skylar in his grave or that it was in a folder or case that Everest brought to this screening, with some memorabilia they brought for the Q and A and awards ceremony after the movie, where Everest planned to give himself awards for everything.

Skylar accuses Everest and Ivy of planning to kill him. Magdalena says she overheard them planing a murder one day, but thought they were rehearsing a new scene for this movie, but now she’s convinced they did it.

Ivy says they were just speculating, had no real plan, and Magdalena saw Skylar kill himself when he came to the set upset.

Magdalena didn’t know why Skylar was upset then, but it’s because not only were they not crediting him, they weren’t even filming what he wrote verbatim.

Magdalena accuses Everest and Ivy of killing Skylar and making it look like a suicide.

CJ: Skylar wants them to suffer, to die very slowly, and buries Everest and Ivy alive

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

CJ: Magdalena disguises Ivy and Everest in zombie-make up.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

Everest and Ivy are literally buried underground. Ivy tells Everest he ruined the movie by acting in it, he should have cast someone else in that part, and focus on directing, his only real skill. She says he better not blow this by bad acting.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT – LATER

CJ: Everest and Ivy have to rise like zombies to throw Skylar off. Ivy kicks Everest back in and buries him.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – ANOTHER SECTION – NIGHT

Magdalena searches for the contract,

EXT. GRAVE – NIGHT

Magdalena has to search a grave, can’t find it

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – NIGHT

Magdalena gets out of that grave, trudges on. Flood water could come around a corner at her. It does.

Gets head above water, swims through it.

Rats come after her. Throws them off

Dead bodies and skeletons everywhere. Climbs over them.

EXT. SUNKEN CEMETERY – ANOTHER SECTION – NIGHT

CJ: Ivy’s great as this zombie character. It freaks Skylar out, who retreats.

Everest crawls out, but his make-up is restricting, driving Everest crazy. It helps his acting as zombie.

CJ: Skylar sees through Everest’s bad acting.

CJ: Everest pleads with Skylar, then runs.

CJ: Skylar uses his supernatural abilities to make his tombstone fall on Everest, which injures him.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT – ANOTHER SECTION

Skylar goes after Magdalena.

TURNING POINT 3:

CJ: Magdalena finds the contract. It gives Skylar supernatural powers if he keeps their souls there. He made the deal to get revenge on them for stealing his script and not giving him writing credit.

Skylar comes after Magdalena.

CJ: Magdalena burns the contract, and Skylar burns. Everest cheers.

CJ: Skylar’s ash reforms and he comes back to life in a new more powerful scarier form, 10 times more dangerous than before.

His supernatural ability has increased to the point that he sees into their minds or into the past that Everst and Ivy did plan to kill him.

Ivy claims it was Everest’s plan, that she had no choice, and Skylar didn’t let them do it anyway. He killed himself.

CJ: Skylar kills Everest and Ivy.

Act 4:

Magdalena’s lost only companions in there, including her own husband.

EXT. SUNKEN GRAVEYARD – NIGHT

CJ: Magdalena digs tunnel and plans to break contract Skylar made by digging her way out (so he can’t keep their souls there).

Climax/ultimate expression of the conflict:

EXT. MAGDALENA’S TUNNEL – NIGHT

CJ: Skylar, in his new form, comes after her in tunnel. She cuts off Skylar’s limbs.

His arms and legs come after her, choking her. She chops his leg into pieces. Skylar’s disembodied hand grabs knife and chops her foot off.

She blocks the bleeding and fights the hand with a knife, cutting its fingers off.

His body parts reform into Skylar. She cuts off his head.

Skylar’s head, with its enhanced supernatural abilities, tells her now he sees she knew Everest didn’t write the script. But she cut his name out anyway and let him take credit.

The disembodied head bites her.

She says she was being a supportive wife to Everest and Skylar sabotaged himself by not signing contract. And she apologizes for cutting his name out.

She smashes his disembodied head in.

Each time he comes back stronger, deadlier, meaner. More dangerous, more evil.

Skylar buries her in tunnel. She has to overcome claustrophobia to get out.

Digs tiny tunnel out. Gas from bodies and stuff making it toxic down there. She passes out.

Water rushes into tunnel.

Water revives her. She’s buried alive.

EXT. CEMETERY – DAY

CJ: Outside cemetery, a body rises.

EXT. OUTSIDE CEMETERY – DAY

CJ: It’s Magdalena, alive.

CJ: Through the cemetery fence: she sees Skylar dissolve because she broke his contract with the evil spirit. She got out.

RESOLUTION:

EXT. OUTSIDE CEMETERY – DAY

REVEAL: She walks away, and Skylar stands there, in human form now. He says congratulations! You’re the sole survivor of the “who can escape” reality show. People come up with cameras. Lights come on exposing the cemetery set with lights above it, all set up to quake and flood and everything. All the tricks and secrets given away.

She’s given a choice: she wins $200,000 or she can be on the next show trapped underneath an airport and if she escapes that, she wins one million dollars.

Only has thirty seconds to decide whether to take the $200,000 for escaping the cemetery or do the next show or she loses it all.

Magdalena attacks all the equipment used to film the show.

[Alfred Dunham]

Alfred Dunham’s Feedback Version 1
“What I learned doing this class is –
Lining up all the small details seemed confusing at first, but it was doing two things. First, it was forcing me to think in terms of “What’s this story about, anyway.” And secondly it began forcing creativity as I added to and changed course in my thinking. I also found that creating and editing are closer together than I imagined. I sail, so that part of me repeatedly surfaces, but if the budget says “NO SAILING,” that’s an imposed edit over which I have no control. So what good does it do to imagine “on the water” scenes? I’ve been there and done that, and those scripts get tossed every time. Yet we do see boat scenes all the time, even on TV.

Now that I’m ready to write, I have a big garden of ideas from which to start building a story, and as I build, new ideas keep popping up. When I long ago set about to write my first database, I had no idea what dimensionality meant, but I figured it out, wrote a 3-dimensional database, and then defended it in Federal Court (long story). Writing without the usual cliched fistfights and chase scenes is something I’m learning to do by adding levels of dimensionality. This is challenging but fun.
ASSIGNMENT 12
Concept:
A teen, more dead than alive, is wheeled into a special hospital unit for guarded prognosis patients and soon discovers he’s been automatically booked “on a voyage of the damned,” but he chooses to give fate no quarter, despite the scorn of his fellow travelers who become classic “Job’s Wife” critics – “Curse God and die.”

In brief: Death is inevitable; life is not. If we want to know life, we have to ride it out to the end.

Main Conflict: Life – choose it or lose it.
a. Albert sees himself as a winner, not a loser, so inherently, must choose to accept his loss of life as he has known it, despite the tempters who cause him to fear both life and death.
b. Archie plays on his fear of death by denying it via braggadocio and intimidation.
c. James plays on his fear of living by continually reminding himself of all the things he can’t do anymore.
d. Helen, though Albert’s perseverance rethinks her character arc – where it’s taking her?

Subjective Story: The Main and Influence Characters and their Internal (Subjective) Story
Main Character Albert Dunston Is a little too ego-driven – too cock-sure of himself.
Influence Character Nurse Helen Kramer reigns in Albert’s ego but embraces his life-spirit.

Objective Story: All the story characters/characteristics, including the Main and Influence characters
 ARCHETYPES * CHARACTER CHARACTERISTICS
Action/Decision

1. Protagonist: Albert (Al) Dunston Pursue/Consider
+Reason: Control/Logic

2. Guardian: Nurse Helen Kramer Help/Conscience
+Sidekick: Support/Faith

3. Antagonist: Mr. Archie Cobb Prevent/Reconsider
+Emotion: Uncontrolled/Feeling

4. Contagonist: James (Doc) Andrews Hinder/Temptation
+Skeptic Oppose/Disbelief

 Note how I combined the four archetypal Driver characters with the four archetypal Passenger characters [the classic eight] to make only four complex characters.

Title:
DEATHWATCH

Genre:
A Contained Drama

Logline:
A college kid’s hopes are ripped from him, and his goulash tempters are poised to finish the job if he can’t re-find them.

Act 1:

Opening
Nurse Helen wheels Albert to his room – and warns Archie and James to leave him alone.
a. Albert:
Fear – he’s certain he’s dying.

i. Internal Conflict
Albert believes that suicide is a sin, but he’s terrified of living in a dog-eat-dog world as “half a man.”

ii. Subtext
Albert has been raised ultra-conservative evangelical Christian with all the baggage that that entails, but:
He is now forced to reconsider everything he’s ever been taught, and
His church family is adding to his disbelief by trying to force an outcome to their liking

iii. Wound
Albert has had to struggle against prejudice all his life, and
Now, he faces exclusion because of his illness
Not to mention his lack of physical strength, his self-doubts, and the guilt being loaded on him

iv. Motivation
Albert’s inner voice, telling him to find a different way
Helen’s encouragement to find a better way. She’s a flawed person but with no excuses
Albert’s distrust of both Archie and James, two flawed people that are full of excuses
Albert’s natural inquisitiveness about meaning and his love of science

v. Dilemma
Does he have to give up everything he’s ever believed, or can he reshape his life with new understandings?

vi. Intrigue (secrecy, stratagem, interest)
Albert’s secret love affair with science is driving him straight into conflict

vii. Secret Identity
As a college student, he’s already “hanging with friends” his church would not approve of but with whom he can share his understanding of science

viii. Hidden Agenda
Albert wants to become a scientist, but sooner than later, he’s going to have to “come out of his spiritual closet” and assert his own personal selfhood and beliefs

ix Hidden Character History
Albert believes that truth is where you find it, not in an arbitrary set of rules of conduct

x. Character layers
Albert as fundamentalist Christian
Albert a secret scientist
Albert as a thinker – looking outside the box

b Helen:
Fearful that Archie and James will push Albert over the edge. He seems too naïve.

c. Archie:
Hopefully, he can turn Albert’s “certain death” into a propaganda campaign against Helen.

i. Internal Conflict
Archie.”

ii. Subtext
Archie

iii. Wound
Archie

iv. Motivation
Archie

v. Dilemma

vi. Intrigue (secrecy, stratagem, interest)
Archie

vii. Secret Identity
Archie

viii. Hidden Agenda
Archie

ix Hidden Character History
Archie

y. Character layers
Archie

ii. James:
Disgusted by Archie’s rank attitudes, and fearful for what Archie could do to him as well as Albert.

Plot Layers
Surface Layer: Four people, thrown together, struggle to understand their lives, why they’re here, and what will happen to them.

Beneath That: Their futures are actually already history now, and they are all mere footnotes in time.

How Revealed: In the epilogue, where Albert gives his final goodbye to Helen.

Character Layers:
Albert
Surface Layer: Albert is a young man with a presumptive death sentence written all over his body. He has a tentative Dx of Systemic Lupus erythematosus (SLE)

Beneath That: Albert is a college student in physics.

Beneath That: Albert, for some time, has been questioning his Christian articles of faith as being arbitrary, if not irrational.

How Revealed: In bits and pieces on his own and via discussions with each of the other characters.

Helen
Surface Layer: Helen is a large, multi-tiered hospital staff nurse. She shows up each morning, does her work with efficiency, and then goes home.

Beneath That: She is a very lonely, lost soul.

Beneath That, She became a Nurse to (a) pay the bills and (b) to fight her depression.

Beneath That: She had a husband and son. Both died.

Beneath That: She was a teenage runaway.

How Revealed: In bits and pieces, talking with Albert.

Archie:
Surface Layer: Archie presents as an older guy with a crusty, malevolent attitude. He’s here because of a Dx of tertiary syphilis. He demonstrates the symptoms of personality change, hallucinations, and forgetfulness. He was a danger to himself and to others living homeless

Beneath That: Archie has a recent history of being homeless.

Beneath That: Archie was a businessman with a questionable lifestyle.

Beneath That: Archie had a friend he trusted who cheated him and left him destitute.

How Revealed: He is a wanted man, was hiding out, but when his behavior got out of control he ended up in the hospital against his will, and eventually, he is transferred to a prison hospital. In short, he is a con man who was hiding out on the street.

James
Surface Layer: James presents as a spoiled rich kid who was in his third year of medical school, before this place. He’s here because of his Dx of hairy cell leukemia (HCL).

Beneath That: James was not a promising student. He hated medicine.

Beneath That: James was bullied by his father into becoming a physician.

Beneath That: James became passive because his mother had become passive to his father and would not stand up to him.

How Revealed: James goes into a rant and reveals his desire to die – how he has considered suicide in the past.

Location Layers
Surface Layer: The location is clearly a hospital unit or ward.

Beneath that: This hospital unit is a unique special needs ward for seriously life-challenging illnesses. A kind of “voyage of the damned.” A “waiting for God” kind of place.

Beneath that: Except, the entire story is a memory of a pivotal time for Albert.

How revealed: Albert is 90 years old, in a cemetery, saying goodbye to his deceased friend, Nurse Helen, for what may be his last time.

Inciting Incident
“It’s a miracle.” The next day, Albert seems completely cured.
a. Albert: Hopeful his prayers, and those of his church, have been heard, and he is cured.
b. Helen: Hopeful Albert will adjust to the reality of his illness when his medication’s side effects kick in.
c. Archie: Fearful of Albert’s “miracle” will work against him, and he begins to fear God’s wrath.
d. James: Hopeful, maybe he can be cured, too.

Turning Point – Albert Relapses
Albert relapses. Archie and James are emboldened in their critique of him.
a. Albert: Fearful he’s being punished for being too boastful of his miracle cure.
b. Helen: Fearful Albert will lose rational hope and, like James, fall for Archie’s negativism.
c. Archie: Hopeful he can still get the audience he’s looking for, to use against Helen and his doctor.
d. James: Caught between Hope and Fear, he doesn’t know what to think, like Albert – or Archie.

Act 2: Archie exacerbates the fears in Albert and James
New plan
Albert agrees to take it easy. To take his medication. To focus on getting well.
a. Albert: Hopes he can get support from James and Archie. Apologies for showing off.
b. Helen: Hopes this is Albert’s first step towards being rational about his illness.
c. Archie: Fears Albert’s rational change. It forces him to think about what he’s avoiding.
d. James: Fears, once again, that his hope was in vain.

Plan in action
Albert sets a routine.
a. Albert: Makes a show of conforming to his schedule.
b. Helen: Encourages Albert in his hopeful commitment to improving his health.
c. Archie: Fears Albert’s rational change and becomes defensively rude in his characterization of Albert’s religious component. Arguments.
d. James: Hopes Archie’s tirades are justified (even though he knows better – the fear element in his Hope/Fear), and maybe an incompetent doctor, in fact, gave him the wrong Dx – joins in with Archie.

Midpoint Turning Point – James Dies
Albert relapses again — is embarrassed. Archie, followed by James, taunts him relentlessly.
a. Albert: Fears that he still hasn’t done enough.
b. Helen: Fears Albert will fall in with James and just give up.
c. Archie: Hopes, once again, he can justify his own bad actions by creating ultimate disruption on the unit and blaming the hospital and its staff.
James dies.

Act 3:
Rethink everything
Albert Archie to join him. He refuses – derides Albert mercilessly.
a. Albert: Hopes he’s right and Archie’s wrong and continues to make efforts to change.
b. Helen: Seeing Albert’s persistence Hopes she, too can find a way out of her misery.
c. Archie: Fears, again that he’s losing his battle of self-justification.

New plan
Albert decides to go it alone if that’s what it takes.
a. Albert: Fears for his changing thoughts on miracles, God’s wrath, his church’s disapproval.
b. Helen: Fears for herself as she is forced to relive her losses through Albert and to self-examine.
c. Archie: Hopes Albert will die, too.

Earthquake.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Major Earthquake – the ward is isolated –
Archie goes berserk – attacks Helen
Albert becomes depressed – feels he’s a joke – relapses further
a. Albert: Fears he is losing his grip. Want’s nothing to do with Archie.
b. Helen: Fears for the effect this will have on Archie
c. Archie: Fears he’s totally lost control of Albert and Helen
Archie goes berserk and attacks Helen
d. Helen and Albert barricade themselves inside the medication room. Helen is forced to call security
e. Security finally breaks through and takes Archie into custody

Act 4:
Final plan
Concentrating on only his physical condition does not suffice; Albert comes to understand the need to develop his mind, too.
a. Albert: Hope springs to life again as he begins to imagine his future, realizing what he can still do.
b. Helen: Her Hopes build on the strength of Albert’s. She, too, realizes she doesn’t have to “live this way” anyway.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
Nurse Helen receives a call – In prison, Archie’s true identity is discovered (he’s been hiding out on the street as a homeless person), and he is killed in a prison fight.
This, along with James giving up, are sobering thoughts for both Albert and Helen

Resolution
Albert finally understands Nurse Hellen and himself.
Albert invites Nurse Hellen to join him in a search for how to live beyond tragedy.
She accepts. They become friends for life.
a. Albert: Hope Springs Eternal
b. Helen: Hopes for both of them and vows to become an active participant in Albert’s life-long search for meaning.
c. Archie: Terminal Fear got him killed.
d. James: Terminal Fear caused his body to give up.

Epilogue:
Graveside: A very old Albert decorates Helen’s grave as he recites their mutually productive years of friendship
Albert: Hopes that maybe his former beliefs were not all wrong – that he will see Helen and her family again, together with his wife and his children.

QUESTIONS TO SOLVE:
1. First thing that needs to be solved.
When and how does Albert find out about Nurse Helen’s tragic loss? What is its effect on him?
2. Second thing that needs to be solved.
What’s fueling Archie’s attitudes? I need to do a work-up on him like I did for Albert,
3. Third thing that needs to be solved.
Why is Helen so sad? There‘s more to it than just her loss of husband and child.
4. The fourth thing that needs to be solved.
Thinking outside the box, creativity suggests that I need “other” external forces to expand the hope/fear generated by the patients and their diseases. I’m thinking earthquake on a level similar to the one in the San Fernando Valley, where a whole tower toppled over, effectively cutting them off

5. I need to work in the MMM Steps and cluster an event progression with them as well as with the Acts.
Act 1 Step 1 Intro
Act 1 Step 2 Inciting Event
First Major Twist

Act 2 Step 3 Plan A
Act 2 Step 4 Plan B
Midpoint Twist

Act 3 Step 5 Plan C
Act 3 Step 6 Second Major Twist

Act 4 Step 7 Crisis
Act 4 Step 8 Resolution

6. Etc.
Alfred Dunham’s Feedback Version 1
“What I learned doing this class is –
Lining up all the small details seemed confusing at first, but it was doing two things. First, it was forcing me to think in terms of “What’s this story about, anyway.” And secondly it began forcing creativity as I added to and changed course in my thinking. I also found that creating and editing are closer together than I imagined. I sail, so that part of me repeatedly surfaces, but if the budget says “NO SAILING,” that’s an imposed edit over which I have no control. So what good does it do to imagine “on the water” scenes? I’ve been there and done that, and those scripts get tossed every time. Yet we do see boat scenes all the time, even on TV.

Now that I’m ready to write, I have a big garden of ideas from which to start building a story, and as I build, new ideas keep popping up. When I long ago set about to write my first database, I had no idea what dimensionality meant, but I figured it out, wrote a 3-dimensional database, and then defended it in Federal Court (long story). Writing without the usual cliched fistfights and chase scenes is something I’m learning to do by adding levels of dimensionality. This is challenging but fun.