Lesson 2

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s 4 Act Structure
PRO RE-WRITE LESSON 2
What I learned doing this assignment is how it behooves me to start as quickly as I can because, once I’ve dived into the material, I probably go deeper than is useful for the assignment. I’m working to temper that .

ASSIGNMENT
List the beats of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
1. Give us the following:
• Title: Hekate Rising
• Genre: Drama with Romantic and Speculative aspects
• Concept: Hekate heh-KAH-tay), an ancient, Titan-Greek, triple-powered goddess, controller of good and evil, blasts into modern life, entrances and inhabits Kara, an unsuspecting, driven graduate student, and enlists her help to transform a chaotic world racked by virulent fear, greed, and treachery before it’s too late to save humankind and Mother Earth from ultimate self-destruction.

OR SIMPLY:

An ancient goddess wants to save humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction by inhabiting a female doctoral student who does her bidding.
• Main Conflict: Kara must grapple with her past trauma to restore self-worth by completing her dissertation, while fulfilling the demands of Hekate, a goddess intent on saving Earth and humankind from self-destruction.
2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
• Opening:
o In bed sleeping, Kara dreams and learns she is the daughter of the goddess Hekate and that she is the one who is destined to help Hekate save the world.
o In the car, by phone, Kara argues with her mother about mom’s opinion that Kara’s self-esteem issues are keeping Kara from completing her dissertation.
o Kara goes to a local bookstore to do research. Unbeknownst to Kara, Hekate takes the shape of a lightning bolt, strikes The Book of Witches in a bookstack in front of Kara, which sends Kara careening in to a bookshelf and straight home to call her Jungian Analyst.

• Inciting Incident:
o Kara goes to her analyst’s office to talk about the dream and what happened in the bookstore.
o Kara’s analyst tells Kara to allow Hekate to guide her and that she is being called to her destiny. Kara who considers herself a scientist doesn’t cotton to what her analyst says. The analyst poses the question to : Will you say, “Yes,” to Hekate or not?
o Kara returns home heavy-hearted.
• Turning Point:
o Kara decides to follow Hekate’s lead and dives deeper into her research, overtime embodying Hekate’s energy little by little.
Act 2:
• New plan:
o Kara resolves to let go of her previous research methodology and takes up the project according Hekate’s Feminine Harmonic.
o Kara is companioned by both Hekate and Calum in designing the research.
• Plan in action
o Kara opens herself to weird encounters and ideas with Hekate; Calum and Jenn reinforces her standing for help her on her dissertation and personal journey.
o Grayson Benoit, the department dean calls Kara in to account for her progress and to severely berate her for writing in the school newspaper about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, drawing unwanted attention to the department and to other sahadowy aspects of Grayson’s life.

• Midpoint Turning Point:
o While Kara is immerses herself in her project, she and her beloved, Oliver, fall into an abyss of pain due to the complications of Kara’s past family traumas. Kara breaks off their relationship, and Oliver is devastated.
o Oliver cajoles Kara to go to dinner with him. He tries to win Kara back: she rebuffs him.
o Kara begins to feel more confident in her work as Hekate’s energy fills her.
Act 3:
• Rethink everything:
• New plan:
• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift
Act 4:
• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
o Grayson refuses to sign off on Kara’s dissertation unless she presents her work publicly
o Unbeknownst to Kara, Calum has arranged for her to give a TEDx talk. Kara’s petrified. She grapples with the terrifying challenge of crossing
• Resolution: Kara gives the talk, which goes viral. This leads to much bigger and more prestigious