Lesson 2

[Rice Rice]

Frances’ Great Hook!

I was amazed and pleased with how well this process worked for me, helping me evaluate my ideas and come up with ay great hook when I thought I could not do it at the beginning of the lesson.

[victor Valleau]

Vic Valleau,
Great hook

ASSIGNMENT
6. Answer the question “A. How did this process work for you? B. What did you learn doing this assignment?” and put it at the top of your work.

i LEARNED HOW HORROR SEEMS TO BE THE FAVORED GENRE WITH CONFINED IDEAS, NOT FUNNY, NOT ROMANTIC.
CONFINED SEEMS TO ADD DRAMA TO EVERYTHING SINCE SURVIVAL IS USUALLY AT STAKE,
WHAT IF CHARACTERS DIDNT KNOW OF CONFINEMENT?
brainstorm possible major hooks.

A. Intriguing Contained Setting:-
Trapped in threatening space- avalanche, underwater, lacks air, fire possible, explosions, infested with bugs, snakes, poison air,
innocent looking but bad locations- near hostile gangs, military, hospital, courtroom,

B. Unique Device atomic reactor in closet, poison canisters ready to explode,
c. . Unique Monster/Villain: invisible, silent , bugs, airborne germs,
D. Mystery:
people are stricken frozen then recover from sound high pitch sirens.

E. Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem: Halloween tour leaves realistic bodies in closets, scares people
AI follows their movements, generates complimentary images.

F. Unique layers:
randomly generated holograms offering surviving various courses of action,
such as long treks thru snow, surviving falling thru ice,
falling in love images, soft, loving, warm engaging like love stories
split group of half to love movie and half to violence/horror, then observe them
to see if they cooperate. AI generating loving conditions just from watching.
social engineering thru AI

7. Post your assignment in the forums at https://www.screenwritingclasses.com/forums/

[Micki Hess]

Micki’s Great Hook

What did you learn doing this assignment how a single idea can be expanded and deeper into unlimited possibilities.

A. How did this process work for you?
It expanded my thoughts processes.
Taking each exponents and dig deeper what the hook could be.

Hotel
Mountainside with room doors facing the lobby.
Beach side with rooms facing the ocean.

Hotel workers
An elf like work that is up to mischief.
Desk worker that is a wannabe actor.

Just some examples

[Bob Rowen]

Contained Movie Lesson 2

Subject line: Bob Rowen’s Great Hook!

A. The process worked very well for me.
B. I learned a way to discover possibilities for the developing storyline that I hadn’t thought of.

1. 5 ideas from Pre-Lesson

• Contained Setting: A community hall filled with portraits of the school’s founders and past educators, inscribed with the school’s values of truth, toleration, and liberty. The hall now echoes with hypocrisy as it hosts a kangaroo court-like hearing.

• Unique Device: The school’s original, hand-written charter from 100 years ago, outlining the commitment to truth, toleration, and liberty mysteriously disappears just before the hearing.

• Unique Villain: Ken Franks, the ultra-conservative school board president, a staunch traditionalist who despises any deviation from his rigid view of education. He has deep ties to political figures with agendas of their own.

• Mystery: Those school’s century old charter, which upholds the ethos of truth, toleration, and liberty goes missing before the hearing. Its loss sparks suspicion and hints of sabotage by the school board.

• Impossible Goal/Unsolvable Problem: Reversing a pre-ordained verdict! The school board has already made up his mind to fire the teacher, despite the public hearing being a formality. The teacher’s impossible goal is to sway public opinion enough to overturn the inevitable.

• Unique Layers: The school’s founders intended for it to be a beacon of liberty and free thought, but recently, the school board has twisted these values for personal and political gain. The teacher has a deeply personal connection to the school’s curriculum. His fight is not only professional but existential. Parents are split, with some siding with the board for political or ideological reasons, while others quietly support the teacher but fear speaking up due to potential backlash.

• This reply was modified 7 months, 4 weeks ago by  Bob Rowen.

[Leona Heraty]

Leona Heraty’s Great Hook!

A. How did this process work for you? Brainstorming different components works great for me and it’s fun!
B. What did you learn doing this assignment? There are many possible components in a contained movie.

1. Taking your 5 ideas from the Pre-Lesson, use the techniques below to brainstorm possible major hooks.
A. Intriguing Contained Setting: Greenhouse
B. Unique Device: Rare plants that disintegrate in the rain and produce toxic gasses
C. Unique Monster/Villain: A ghost with a vengeance
D. Mystery: Who created the toxic plants? Why is the ghost full of vengeance?
E. Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem: How can the three relatives get out of the greenhouse alive, when it’s surrounded by toxic gases?
F. Unique layers: Who created the plants that emit toxic gases in the rain? Who is the ghost haunting the greenhouse and why is she so vengeful?

2. Ask the High Concept Question.
Having to do with ghost stories, what haven’t we seen before?

3. Pick one and do the Exchanging Components process.
List the components of your current concept.
The current components are:
A. Two sisters and a male cousin, a vengeful ghost
B. Haunted greenhouse and mansion
C. Harassed by a ghost and threatened by toxic gases
D. Ghost who was killed by the toxic gases

A. Two sisters and a male cousin, a vengeful ghost
• A maid, a neighbor, a gardener, a romantic ghost
• An elderly grandmother, her grandson, a neighbor, a scary ghoul
• A realtor, a home buyer, a neighbor, a banshee
• A recluse, a neighbor, a gardener, a werewolf

B. Haunted greenhouse and mansion
• Haunted trail and recreation center
• Haunted apartment complex
• Haunted grocery store
• Haunted ski lodge and ski slopes

C. Harassed by a ghost and threatened by toxic gases
• Harassed by a ghoul and threatened by toxic paint on the walls
• Threatened by a ghost and doors that lock behind them
• Threatened by werewolf and man-eating giant frogs
• Chased by ghost and threatened by man-eating roaches

D. Ghost who was killed by the toxic gases
• Ghost who was killed by being pushed down the stairs by a jealous neighbor
• Werewolf who was tricked by a neighbor and was bitten by another werewolf
• Banshee who was killed by an evil man and is determined to warn other women about him
• Ghoul who murdered by a competitor and seeks revenge on the family

• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by  Leona Heraty.

[Marni Sullivan]

Marni's Great Hook

1) How did it work for you?
The process worked great. I was rather confused about whether or not I was supposed to share the brainstorming process since it was stated we were supposed to keep our high concept to ourselves until later, so I didn't post any of the work. Nonetheless, I came up with a great setting, a fascinating device that is the focal point of the story, unique traits on my main character, and some scary adversaries for her to contend with.

2) What did you learn?
The idea of doing "more with less" is easier if you pick a location that in itself can offer many obstacles and interesting scenes without having to do multiple location changes.

• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by  Marni Sullivan.

[David Kandel]

David Kandel Great Hook!

A. How did this process work for you? This process generated new creative ideas.

B. What did you learn doing this assignment?” This process takes creativity to a new, more potent level.

• A. Intriguing Contained Setting: A group home for elderly men
• B. Unique Device: Caretakers who hate each other
• C. Unique Monster/Villain: The ravages of age.
• D. Mystery: Main character is unpredictable. What will he devise next?
• E. Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem: Health never gets better. Everyone is in a state of decline.
• F. Unique layers: Humor as a mask and a soothing balm for broken hearts

2. Ask the High Concept Question.
• Q. Having to do with aging and mortality, what haven’t we seen before?
• A. How can humor serve as a healing elixir to depression, pain, and fear?

3. Pick one and do the Exchanging Components process.
• List the components of your current concept.
o Conflicts among the elderly men
o Conflicts between the caregivers
o Personal frustration caused by failing health, depression and fear
o Introduction of humor and absurdity to the home

• Brainstorm many alternatives for each component.
o Jealousy among the men
o Competition among the men
o Anger among the men
o Jealousy transformed into admiration
o Competition transformed into cooperation
o Anger transformed into compassion

• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by  David Kandel.

[Gina Coviello]

Gina’s Great Hook!

A) How did this process work for you?

Once I started, I came up with some different ideas, things that changed the direction I originally thought I was going in. For the question “Having to do with_____, what haven’t we seen before?” I started with my original idea and what we HAVE seen before, then brainstormed ideas that had nothing to do with those. It was easier for me to avoid the monotony that way.

B) What did you learn doing this assignment?

I went into this thinking I was going to use one concept for this class, but once I started taking all 5 concepts through the assignment, I came up with a lot of ideas for a different concept that I wasn’t that thrilled about at first. But now I think that it will fit the Contained model better, and doing the assignment helped me discover a lot of potential twists to take the story in. I know I’m not at the point where I think the hook is the best it can be, but this assignment helped me come up with a lot of options for setting, device, goals, and layers that as I keep working on it, I know it will get there.

I keep thinking about what Hal said in the first Zoom meeting – would you rather write something you love that doesn't have a high concept and may never be produced, or would you rather work on creating a high concept that will excite producers and get optioned/produced and have a chance at being made into a movie? Starting out, I wanted to work on one particular concept, because it's something I'm excited about, but it needs a lot of work before it gets to high concept level. Rather than hold on to that story idea and not give the others a chance, I let myself go though the process and waited for the right idea to jump out at me.

• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by  Gina Coviello.

[Arthur Anderson]

Arthur’s great hook

How did this process work for you? It enabled me to look at my concept from different vantage points and narrow down what the focus of the story should be.

What did you learn doing this assignment? When developing your concept, it helps to be able to step back and let your creative process have room to entertain more effective approaches to your story.

Intriguing Contained Setting: Abandoned former Bio-weapons lab located on an island off the Carolina coast.

Unique Monster/Villain: Island animals exposed to genetic bio-weapons research transformed into super predators.

Mystery: How did the local animal population become transformed by the genetic bio-weapons?

Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem: How will a group of teen partygoers escape the island super-predators with the houseboat they arrived on is disabled.

Unique layers: One of the teens mothers was a research scientist who died working on the island, but is she really dead?

[Karyn Laitis]

Karyn Laitis–Great Hook!
Assignment 2
How did this process work for you?

It was very helpful to work through the variations of the High Concept and the Concept components. I must be honest that I have been practicing my skills using AI to assist me with the brainstorming. The AI assisting is somewhat of a reinforcement that my ideas have relevance. There were some interesting variations on the Villain/Monster.

[Anna Maganini]

LESSON 2 –

Anna Maganini Great Hook –

What did you learn doing this assignment? – I have found something I love and a way of brainstorming that is really fun for me and leads to many fertile ideas. And that was the – Intriguing Contained Setting – Unique Device – Unique Monster – Mystery – Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem – Unique layers guidelines. I will use this for many other scripts!

Taking your 5 ideas from the Pre-Lesson, use the techniques below to brainstorm possible major hooks. (I did it for all five ideas but I am only posting the one I am actually doing for this class.

A couple must rob a woman’s house in the half an hour she takes a shower. But there’s a catch. If they fall early or behind, they die. If the victim falls early or behind, she dies.

————

A. Intriguing Contained Setting: Victim’s house, a strange ‘idyllic’ little community with over-friendly neighbors, a greenhouse, a neighborhood in a ghost town with only a handful of neighbors, a beautiful resort hotel, a ship, an rv community, a houseboat community, a senior living community, a swamp shantytown community, a trailer home in a homeless community, a desert community that has moved into refurbished bomb shelters an old neighborhood of homes that were nuked by nearby radiation

B. Unique Device: She can’t finish early or late, her robbers can’t finish early or late, or they die there is a time bomb-they must all sign an agreement that they will follow the rules of the game-each step gets players more involved in the game, and they must give up something valuable at each step that they will lose if they don’t follow the rules – maybe a game of attrition. Or – Predators take over a vulnerable woman’s house, pretending they’re destitute. Or – Victim thinks she’s preparing for a romantic night with the next door neighbor. Couple on the other side wants to get a debtor off their back.

C. Unique Monster/Villain:
The Poet sends people letters that detail disturbing intimate details of their lives until he rules their lives and seems to know everything they’re doing and maneuvers them into doing terrible things – or they die. The Feeler – can tell what you are doing in your house kinesthetically – *** The Sniffer – can tell what you’re doing in your house by sense of smell – the Ear-bat – can tell what you’re doing in your house by hearing. The Taster – can tell what you’re doing in your house by taste

D. Mystery: Neighbors play a game, but it’s being taken over by someone who has evil intent – WHO? And how does evil-doer seem to hear and smell anything happening in your home? A neighbor is bent on evil-doing=but WHY? An evil presence has taken over the game – but HOW? A mysterious neighbor wants to do something bad-but WHAT? A stranger wants to take over the neighborhood-but WHY? Several people are targeted-but WHY? There may be a solution to the predicament victims are in-but WHAT?

E. Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem – Victim and robbers must finish their task at the exact same time, no clocks, any different outcome and they die, until they find out, even with the winning outcome they die. Is there an escape? A crippled woman must beat her two healthy opponents and find her mysterious evil villain’s identity before the bombs and guns go off. SMELL – the vents

F. Unique layers: MC may be partly crippled and eager to make friends, but watch out – she is a former soldier in Afghanistan, hardened and sharp. Bad tough robbers are really a desperate couple pushed into robbing her. The Sniffer ends up being a harmless old man whose oxygen tank combines with petrol oil and his quartz and granite rocks to create an explosion – he wanted people out of his community taken over by GEN-X types with money

++++++++++++++

2. Ask the High Concept Question.
Having to do with ___________, what haven’t we seen before?

A ticking clock
A half hour shower and a half hour robbery
If either opponent is early or late, they’re dead
And if they both finish on time??? – They’re dead.
But there is a possible solution – maybe.
MC – is crippled BUT a former Afghanistan soldier

3. Pick one and do the Exchanging Components process.

Component A – Tenants in an apartment building

-OR –

Hippies in a new age community //
Scientists in a lab //
Architects on an island //
Patients in a Nuthouse or Hospital //
Inmates in a prison //
Travelers in a youth hostel //
Magicians at a Magic Convention Hotel //
Musicians at a rehearsal hall //
Voodoo worshippers at a Santeria retreat //

=============

Component B – Villain – An unseen SNIFFER who smells and hears everything

-OR –

A dominatrix who thrives on others’ anxiety and pain //
A shapeless monster who feels everything kinetically //
A computer nerd who can’t feel anything but stress and pain of others //
A group conspiracy/evil neighbors-scientists-inmates-patients-nurses-hippies-magicians //
A disgruntled boyfriend //
A teen wanting to stir up trouble //
A bored old man //
The Grand Voodoo lady-schooled in black magic //

=============

Component C – The Challenge – a half hour shower and a half hour robbery

= OR –

An architectural experiment – a bridge //
A race to find a way out of their cell – hospital room //
A race to find hidden gold treasure //
A piano and/or saxophone rehearsal //
A crocheting and butter churning contest //
A race to kill an enemy with voodoo doll //

=
=============

Component D – The Catch – If they are early or late in tasks, they die, no clocks allowed

– OR –

If they make a mistake, they die //
If their product doesn’t work, they die //
If they don’t find the treasure -or find it too early or late – they die //
If they don’t build the bridge – on time – they die //
If voodoo doll doesn’t work – on time – they die //

===============

Component E – Method of Death – By bomb and each others’ guns

– OR –

The other group blows up their bridge with them under it //
They die by tree traps, wood darts, etc. //
They die by pins on voodoo dolls by all their Santeria colleagues //

I kept most of my original concept with a few ideas I got from doing this exercise –

GEN-X-ers at a new age community – run by the mysterious SNIFFER, who smells and hears everything – get suckered into a task – one must take a half hour shower while two others rob her home. The catch – if either side finishes early or late, they die. No clocks allowed.

How did this process work for you? I LOVED the first part the most – totally in love with – Intriguing Contained Setting – Unique Device – C. Unique Monster – D. Mystery – E. Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem – F. Unique layers. These provided incredible avenues for brainstorming for me that took all five of my ideas into whole new levels. I had so much fun doing it.

The part 2 seemed redundant to me after I had done so much groundbreaking on part 1, but you never know what will spark.

Part 3 was kind of cool and a whole other way of brainstorming, but I think the ideas I brainstormed here were often silly and/or did not fire up my imagination as much as as what I did in part 1.

• This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by  Anna Maganini.

[ATAUR BACCHUS]

ATAUR’S GREAT HOOK

A. HOW DID IT WORK FOR ME
Very well. The Exchanging Components Process helped me uncover ideas that felt “familiar” and yet would have taken me a long time to uncover

B. WHAT DID I LEARN

That I could exchange components of all the big picture decisions : genre, character, journey, type of movie

[Pat Fitzgerald]

This process helped me let go of preconceived ideas and allowed me to open my mind to new possibilities. No idea was rejected and some really surprised me.

What I leaned is to keep my mind open and accept all surprises my creative mind gives me

• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by  Pat Fitzgerald.

[David Kandel]

Subject line: David Kandel Great Hook!

A. How did this process work for you? This process generated new creative ideas.

B. What did you learn doing this assignment?” This process takes creativity to a new, more potent level.

• A. Intriguing Contained Setting: A group home for elderly men
• B. Unique Device: Caretakers who hate each other
• C. Unique Monster/Villain: The ravages of age.
• D. Mystery: Main character is unpredictable. What will he devise next?
• E. Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem: Health never gets better. Everyone is in a state of decline.
• F. Unique layers: Humor as a mask and a soothing balm for broken hearts and confronting mortality

2. Ask the High Concept Question.
• Q. Having to do with aging and mortality, what haven’t we seen before?
• A. How can humor serve as a healing elixir to depression, pain, and fear?

3. Pick one and do the Exchanging Components process.
• List the components of your current concept.
o Conflicts among the elderly men
o Conflicts between the caregivers
o Personal frustration caused by failing health, depression and fear
o Introduction of humor and absurdity to the home

• Brainstorm many alternatives for each component.
o Jealousy among the men
o Competition among the men
o Anger among the men
o Jealousy transformed into admiration
o Competition transformed into cooperation
o Anger transformed into compassion

• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by  David Kandel.

[Joy Smith]

Joy Smith’s Great Hook!

A. How did this process work for you?

I like brainstorming, and I do like brainstorming with ChatGPT. It’s not as smart as I’d sometimes like it to be (though that’s great because there’s no way it will replace me!) but it does help spark ideas, especially if I am specific enough with what I want.

For a lot of these ideas, using Hal’s prompt, there were either malfunctioning locks or bad weather – we’ve seen that SO many times before, no matter what I told it or if I changed the prompt. It has got me thinking about a what will become fairly decent idea, though.

B. What did you learn doing this assignment?

It reinforced the fact that I can use ChatGPT to overcome blocks any time I get stuck – even if the idea isn’t perfect. I’m right at the start, so I just need to keep going with the ideas and see where I get it.

A. Intriguing Contained Setting: The North Pole Office Party – held on a magical island in the Bermuda triangle
B. Unique Device: Santa can’t leave either, but doesn’t know it yet.
C. Unique Monster/Villain: Santa is the antagonist!
D. Mystery: How did they get into this situation
E. Impossible goal/Unsolvable problem: Choose a husband and undo the magic before Santa has to leave on Christmas Eve
F. Unique layers: Sabotage by an Elf who thinks he should replace Santa, not Santa’s daughter’s husband