Lesson 2

[Paul Penley]

Paul Penley’s First Three Decisions.

What I learned doing this assignment. This assignment gave me a few ah-ha moments. I now feel that I am better able to understand the story I’m trying to tell.

My Profound Truth:
Your troubled past does not dictate your future.

What is the change your movie will cause with an audience:
Bad People can do great things, they just need the right environment to use their skillset.

What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Metaphore.

[Jennifer Quintenz-Berry]

Jenn’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is: First, I know what I want my story to mean, but I’m not sure how to fully articulate it yet. Second, I know it doesn’t have to be perfect right now, which is comforting. .

What is your profound truth?
Own your power (trust your intuition?), even if it makes other people uncomfortable.

What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
Inspire people to make the changes needed to live their lives in the way they want – rather than accepting the status quo.

What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Pick A World.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  Jennifer Quintenz-Berry.

[Gerard Tretton]

Gerard – First Three Decisions

4. “What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
(place at top of your work).

That I had already resolved the questions asked before I started this class. With this class I hope to pay attention and study the lessons and hopefully validate my creative guidance. But be totally open to revisions.

1. What is your profound truth?

That there are higher levels of consciousness that virtually nobody accesses, even though it is simple.

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?

That which the female protagonist achieves through a series of tragic events, interspersed with victories, over the 13-year story with her maturing from age 12 to 25.

She finds a way to have almost immediate peace of mind once disturbed, even when her life’s events are horrible, through a revolutionary non-traditional form of forgiveness and utter surrender.

Her demonstration of this will teach and assure the audience that they too can do it. It really is simple, but not easy because of our innate resistance

3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?

I believe that the needed Entertainment Vehicle is a miniseries, most likely on Netflix.

A Netflix miniseries, also known as a limited series, typically has 4–10 episodes.

My story has 10, possibly stretched to 12.

These exclusive series are designed to tell a complete story in a single season, though there are some exceptions.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  Gerard Tretton.
• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  Gerard Tretton.
• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  Gerard Tretton.

[Sylvia Krawczyk]

Day 2: Define The Change
Sylvia’s First Three Decisions
What I learned doing this assignment is…finding the truth in the story by answering these questions is a great exercise. It gives focus to the intent. Great questions/assignment.
ASSIGNMENT:
Give us your three decisions.
1. What is your profound truth?
To find love in others, you must first love yourself.

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
Empowers the audience to find the humor in intimate relationships.

3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Metaphor / Satire–Online dating platform thru the “ages”.
World: Ballroom Dance class mates.

[AMIE WILLIAMS]

Amie’s First Three Decisions

1. What’s the profound truth?
–we are all tied together by our shared trauma, it’s what makes us human

2. What is the change I want to see in the audience?
–you can overcome the worst pain in your life by helping someone else
–to forgive yourself you have to GIVE yourself

PICK A WORLD
Politics (refugee rights), road trip

ENTERTAINMENT VEHICLE: Metaphor? Greek Mythology

What I learned doing this assignment is I don’t really know what my entertainment vehicle is yet, and the change I want to see in the audience is far more personal than I originally thought.

[margo meck]

Margo’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment: is way to garner more clarity on what my story is “really” about.

Profound Truth: One’s identity isn’t static. People are puzzles; the piece your see isn’t the whole picture.

Audience Change: See yourself and others with a wider lens.

Entertainment Vehicle: Projection. Seeking to know her enigmatic brother by retracing his steps, she learns more about herself.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  margo meck.

[Margaret]

Margaret’s First 3 Descions
What I learned: If you want to write a profound story, you must first know what your profound truth is – what are you trying to say?

First 3 Decisions:

Profound Truth: God created each of us for a specific purpose
Change I want the audience to make: Find their calling and step out to fulfill it.
Entertainment Vehicle: A World: World War II, Resistance in Lyons, Religion

[Mark Roeder]

Mark Roeder’s First Three Decisions:

What I learned doing this assignment is by looking beneath the concept, I found a profound truth similar to what we’re doing on this assignment: to look under the surface, and not to judge by what’s on the surface.

1. What is your profound truth?

Instead of judging creatures for their features, look beneath.

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?

Inspires us to look beneath the surface of someone for what’s really there.

3. What entertainment vehicle will you choose?

A world where pandas are really aliens

[Mary Albanese]

Mary’s three decisions
These decisions are the key to creating the skeleton of a profound story.
1. My profound truth – you can’t give of yourself until you can forgive yourself.
2. The change I want audiences to experience – you can’t rectify a mistake by changing things. The only way to truly go forward in a compassionate way is to forgive yourself first.
3. Entertainment vehicle – injecting the audience into a dark and scary world. Shock them with historic truth about this scary world. Then slide them little by little towards the profound truth that can set you free.

[Lonnie Nichols]

What Lonnie learned from doing this assignment: I revisited my script, and delved more deeply into the profound truth to its message. I also discovered what I really wanted the audience to receive from it, in addition to the entertainment value.

(My) Name of Feature: Rubytown Genre: Sci-Fi

1. What is your profound truth? Never give up. If you know in your heart you are doing the right thing, then never give up on your desires and intentions. Also, a strong resistance to your journey usually brings greater success and strength.

2. What change will the movie cause with audience?

Twofold: a. The power and will of one person should never be denied, and can change an entire community.

b. As a plausible concept, there are good, positive space aliens who come to Earth to assist in many areas of our lives to help individually and collectively.

3. What is the entertainment vehicle? The broad perspective of the strength and will of a high school teenager in a high school setting.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  Lonnie Nichols.

[Eclipse Neilson]

Eclipse Neilson – what I learned is to make sure to consider the audience's experience and help them relate.
What is your profound truth?

SECOND BREATH

We all have a moment when our life’s meaning is revealed.

Every one of us experiences a moment when our life’s purpose is revealed.

Or no soul is insignificant

2.What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
-The audience will see how their life journey has a purpose in healing others.

3.What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?

A Woman’s hospital (infusion room) frozen in time filled with angels and spirits.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is the Audience Arc is importantly different from the Character Arc.

Profound truth:
Animals have more awareness than most people realize.

The change the movie will cause with an audience:
Audience starts looking at the animals in their homes and environment and start wondering what and how much animals really know.

Entertainment Vehicle that will tell this story:
Metaphor and The Cause is the Background

[Mark]

Subject line: Mark K.'s First Three Decisions

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
That starting with the Profound Truth of my story, and the change I want to see in the audience is a great foundation upon which to build the rest of my story.

What is your profound truth?
Focusing on what we have in common gives us connections and strength, while paying attention to our differences only divides us.

What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
To have renewed hope and take action, working with others, despite our differences, to make a change in the world.

What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Pick a World–The current political climate and social ills of the US.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  Mark Kelton. Reason: Editor is horrible

[Brent KINETZ]

Brent’s First Three Decisions

What I learned during this assignment is how much answering these three questions clarifies where my story needs work. And where there is a mismatch between the story I want to tell, and the story I’ve drafted.

1. What is the profound truth of my movie?

Trying to control everything is often far more dangerous than letting go and taking risks.

2. What change would I like people to experience when they see my movie?

Inspire them to consider if they’re holding on too tight to safety, and if that may actually be more damaging.

3. Entertainment

Pick a world? Two anxious parents experience anxiety and helplessness when they can only keep tabs of their teenage son by watching social media posts.

[margo meck]

Margo’s First Three Decisions- FYI I changed the story I am using to apply the Profound Model.

What I learned doing this assignment: is way to garner more clarity on what my story is “really” about.

Profound Truth: Loss can create new opportunities.

Audience Change: Resilience in the face of loss.

Entertainment Vehicle: Sports. Losing her dream of marriage and family, she finds an unexpected talent in competitive parachute surfing.

[Terrie Shaft]

Terrie’s First Three Decisions
What I learned from this assignment is that this deeper level can turn my action thriller into something much better. I also think this is why I never fully sorted out an ending. I need the profound message to help me get the right ending.
1. What is your profound truth?
Everyone is a human being that has a right to be treated equal to other human beings.
2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
Fight for democracy/self determination
3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Action / political thriller that starts with a murder investigation.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by  Terrie Shaft.

[Kristina Zill]

KZs First Three Decisions

What I learned from doing this assignment: I found this to be so clarifying an exercise that I did not stop at the story I am using for this class. I put 10 stories through it and got insight into each one. I will be asking those 3 questions of all my projects from now on. I also thought it was interesting that all of my stories use the e-vehicle Pick-A-World.

1. What is your profound truth?
There can be no freedom without the constraint of (just) laws.

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
Respect for the Rule of Law

3. What is the Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Pick-a-World with a smidgen of Metaphor

[Frank E Legette III]

Frank E Legette III’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is how to impact the audience. I’m truly started to get it that a great or profound movie is not just when the protagonist changes. But rather, it’s when the audience changes it’s perspective or behavior.

# 1 – What is my profound truth?

Being loved and respected by my family is more important than being a hero in society.

# 2 – What is the change my movie will cause with an audience?

The audience believes that being insensitive to the need of others may be good politics but it’s bad Christianity.

# 3 – What is my Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?

The Cause Is the Background!

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by  Frank E Legette III.

[Sharyn Grose]

Sharyn’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is that I had not been going deep enough with the idea of change. I usually focused on the character and their change in the story, but had not necessarily focused as much on the change I wanted from the audience. I knew I wanted the story to impact them, but I never defined it from an audience perspective. By asking these three questions, I can make my stories more impactful.

1) What is your profound truth?
If you don’t tell yourself who you are, the world will tell you who you are

2) What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
Don’t dismiss people without getting to really know them. Look for the good in people so that they can show their best self.

3) What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Pick a World

• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Sharyn Grose.