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Lesson 3
Reply to post your assignment.
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12 Replies
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I learned that part of the process of Action is interweaving various tracks of the story. The first is the Mission Track.
1. Ask the Mission Track Questions to discover the Hero’s mission.
A. What is it about this hero that will have tem go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds? Frank was bred for missions like this. His enhanced senses plus his decades of military service make him the ideal candidate for the task.
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal? Frank must track and capture a lethal Alien Predator without the public discovering the Alien or Frank’s mission.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero? Promise of a pardon if he completes the mission. Keeping the predator from killing him.
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on theis mission against this villain? I envision a cat and mouse game where both are at one point hunter and hunted. The tactics get more devious and desperate as time passes and the body count goes up. Eventually shoot-outs with advanced weapons and even hand-hand combat.
2. Use the Mission Steps to Outline the mission.
Clear Mission:
1) Motivation: If he doesn’t get killed, Frank can receive a full pardon for his war crimes.
2) Inciting Incident: An unauthorized Alien Predator inadvertently kills two local hunters on restricted governement property.
3) First Action: Frank pursues and captures an unathorized Alien but it is the wrong one.
4) Obstacle: When cloaked, the Alien Predator is undetectable by Frank, masking its scent, sight, sound.
5) Escalation: Alien Predator begins to hunt Frank.
6) Overwhelming odds: Alien Predator uses advanced weaponry and strength to beat Frank at first.
7) New Plan: Frank must use decption and trickery to capture the Alien Predator and advanced warfare tactics.
8) Full Out Attack: Frank and Alien Predator go mano-a-mano exhausting all of their ammo until it becomes hand-hand combat.
9) Success: Frank captures then releases the Alien Predator to its fellow Warriors.
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What I learned this Assignment is how to define the Roles of The Hero and Villain
What is the mission of this Hero.
To get Revenge for her daughters death.
Internal motivation: To Revenge her daughters death who was kidnapped and murdered by The Syndicate.
External Motivation: Her family was Marked for Death by the Mob.
Inciting Incident: The Head Assassin breaks into her house, beats and tortures her. Kidnaps and kills her daughter
First Action: When The Syndicate finds Xena us working as Spy for the British Intelligence, They send a team of Assasins to kill her and her family
Overwhelming Odds:She sneaks into The Russian Embassy, suits up with armour vest and wealons, and while holding the Russian Ambassador as a shield, she fights off armed Body guards.
Apparent Defeat: She is captured, handcuffed to a chair and beaten and left for dead
Apparent Success: She gains consciousness, frees herself from the chair and kills The Body guard who is guarding the door.
Full Out Attack: She tracks and kills The Head Hit man who killed her family.
Success:. With The Head Hit man and many of his fighters dead , she finds and rescue the kid and returns her to safety.
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Bob Rowen’s Hero’s Mission Tract
What I learned doing this assignment is how to brainstorm and draft a mission (a storyline sequence) for the protagonist.
1. My Hero’s mission.
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds? VIRGIL PRATER: A former Force Recon Marine Pathfinder whose military training and experience made him the most fearless in the U.S. human arsenal.
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal? VIRGIL PRATER: One man taking on the unlimited resources of the corporation and the government.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero? VIRGIL PRATER: Internal Motivation: He witnessed the cover-up of a needless and senseless Marine fatality and remained silent because of the Unit’s honor code– Prater swore, “NEVER AGAIN”– thus he’s driven by guilt! External Motivation: He cannot abide acts of wrongdoing that endangers employees and the public!
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain? VIRGIL PRATER: He constantly challenges plant management with radiation safety issues, receives personal threats from the nuclear engineer and the rest of nuclear plant management, he’s targeted with life-threatening accidents in the nuclear plant and in his community, there’s a conspiracy to make him a national security risk; he along with his family receives death threats.
Virgil Prater’s Clear Mission: To PUBLICLY EXPOSE the wanton violations of radiation safety and their cover-ups by the corporation and government.
1. MOTIVATION FOR THE MISSION: Prater discovers the company has been lying to its employees about the biological effects of ionizing radiation exposure.
2. INCITING INCIDENT: Prater’s discovery of highly radioactive particles on employees who had not been in the radiation control zones of the dirtiest plant in the nation; the same highly radioactive particles management initially called Chinese Fallout.
3. FIRST
ACTION: The company’s removal of the constant air sample
monitor from the elementary school downwind from the nuclear facility.<div>
4. OBSTACLE:
The plant engineer tells Prater the company decided the
monitor is no longer needed at the school. Prater vehemently disagrees!
The plant engineer tells Prater he needs to learn the difference between
being an employee and a member of management. More threats follow, and a
corrupt police force joins with the company. And to make matters worse,
the nuclear workforce view Prater as a threat to their livelihoods.
</div><div>
5. ESCALATION:
Virgil leads an insurrection at a company safety meeting
by very publicly confronting plant management’s disregard for radiation
safety.
6. OVERWHELMING
ODDS: Corporate headquarters launches an all-out effort to
neutralize Prater; first by terminating his employment, blacklisting him,
and then by making him a national security risk.
7. NEW
PLAN: Recognizing the danger he has placed himself in, Prater’s
university professor, DR.
KASUN, who has befriended him says he must now go public immediately and
in as many different ways as possible!
8. FULL
OUT ATTACK: Prater becomes a whistleblower,
uses the unemployment appeals board to extract testimony from his former
plant managers, meets with a Wall Street Journal reporter, and testifies
before the grand jury.
9. SETBACK:
Prater’s IBEW Union refuses to join the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers
Union’s petition effort to protect nuclear whistleblowers.
10. SUCCESS:
The Nuclear Plant Engineer sings a different tune about the hazards of
ionizing radiation exposure at a subsequent company safety meeting, which
vindicates Prater– sort of.</div>
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I learned that if you hit reply instead of post that you lose everything and start again. I learned the name of my Antagonist Answar Adams. Dalton Mitchel vs. Answar Adams. Dalton Mitchel’s clear mission is to pick up the badge and gun. Answar’s mother died at child birth. Her last words were “I’m sorry” but they thought that was the name she wanted on the birth certificate. Answar was born with a chip on his shoulder. MOTIVATION FOR THE MISSION: Dalton’s wife’s suicide brings him back to his hometown. He reluctantly takes a job with the sheriff. INCITING INCIDENT: Three climate scientist trespass on the secret Air Force Base. Dalton is sent to do a routine arrest but the 3 disappear. While investigating the missing scientists Dalton unknowingly stumbles on a plot to blow up the new Pagan Worship center. He is promptly escorted off the base.
FIRST ACTION: Dalton is ordered to investigate the backlog of calls then head back to headquarters. The Wolf Sanctuary filed a complaint a week ago about a fire and explosion up in the canyon bordering their ranch. Upon further investigation Dalton finds a model of the Pagan Worship Center at the main ranch. There is evidence of explosives detonating the models. The ranch is deserted except for one lone ranch hand. Dalton learns the ranch owner is in charge of the fireworks display out at the Center opening.
ESCALATION: Dalton responds to a report that cattle are running loose not far from the base. Entering the farm, Dalton is feeling uneasy. He approaches the farm house that looks deserted. The gate is wide open and there are no vehicles in sight. Calling out, he gets no response from the house. He heads over to the barn when two Chinese business type exit from the barn. Dalton gets a glimpse of electronic equipment before the barn doors slam shut. They convince Dalton that they are the new owners and will round up the cows. Two more intimidating characters exit the barn and follow Dalton back to his vehicle.
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Gary Holland – Hero’s Mission Track
Clear Mission – To save the girl, save Earth and destroy the villain.
Motivation – It’s not just to save the girl, but to also save his unborn child and he wants a planet that child can go back to.
Inciting Incident – When they find out the artifact has been compromised and who it will effect.
First Action – When a cop…a criminal… and a woman for hire arrive in search for the artifact.
Obstacle – A force of ten space fighters attack a one of a kind Earth fighter… the artifact in control.
Escalation – An intense air battle ensues… culminating with the complete destruction of Las Vegas.
Overwhelming odds – At this point the people of Earth are unprepared.
New Plan – Hide the artifact until things become clear.
Twist – The hero must work with the woman for hire to stand a chance at a full out attack, but he is betrayed… or has he.
Full Out Attack – The hero and woman for hire track the villain to his father’s planet where he fights his way to find the girl… run into obstacles… and confronts the villain to the death.
Success – When the artifact is in the right place and the good guy’s get the hell out of there… but the hero’s fate is unclear.
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Bob McCord’s Hero’s Mission Track
I learned that there’s big value in seeing one story track at a high level to identify the flow and the holes; that I need more time to keep coming at the bad questions/cliches to get a great one; and that the whole thing, end to end, remains an open question.
Ask the Mission Track Qs:
What is it about this hero that will have him go straight into the face of overwhelming odds? He wants the opportunity more than he is afraid of any threats that are likely to come at him from the man that killed his brother. He knows he will be hassled, threatened, maybe shot at or worse. But the stakes are worth it, the client is desperate, and the consequences of losing are devastating to the community.
What is the mission that would be an impossible goal? He and his small business client are up against a deadly villain who commands everything and won’t tolerate the loss of millions. How can anyone win against an adversary that is the largest defense contractor with Pentagon favor, political, banking, and industry might aligned against him?
What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero? Internal–Defeat long-time opponent and killer, regain/burnish his shaky reputation, get past-due bonus, new fee, and follow-on business. External–Establish his client as a competent defense supplier and economically rescue the base-dependent community.
Imagine the mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against the villain? Taking on the consulting job under strained relations, surviving a shooting by “someone,” dealing with revoked security clearance and access, police disbelieving his story and role, returning fire from 2 guys who attack him, losing a key technical expert, some hitman taking another shot, killing that guy, being arrested, learning of contract award, enraged villain sends the posse, blazing; explaining the better solution that denied villain the win, blasting him once for trying to eliminate hero and once again for killing his brother.
Hero’s Clear Mission: Get the money for client and himself by beating the competition while avenging the death of his brother.
Motivation: A capable business, strained for revenue, needs help to secure a contract that will ensure its survival. Hero takes it on and sees the chance to get back at the guy who killed his brother in a long-ago “accident.” He’s got the smarts and the confidence and the memory.
Inciting Incident: Hero is hassled with delays and denials to the info he needs. No one knows why. Then someone takes a shot during his first meeting with a key expert.
First Action: He suspects an old adversary with whom he once worked. He knows the attacks will only increase. He has to turn a skeptical base policeman into an ally. Mission: cause some pain.
Obstacle: Distrust and disbelief by those he encounters. Client not sure they should retain him. Cops at all levels are skeptical of his claims. He is under pressure to perform and avoid playing cop and investigator.
Escalation: Two other shooters come at him at night. He kills both and takes their sidearms, leaving the rifles. Next day is devoted entirely to the proposal and it is shaping up to be a loser.
Overwhelming Odds: Another key expert has to depart the proposal team and there’s talk of abandoning the quest. A “hitman” fails to take out hero who forces him to tell what little the hitman knows about the plan to eliminate competition. Hero figures out the rest and kills hitman.
New Plan: Assembles the forces he can to keep the proposal on track, devising new solutions based on experts’ input. At the same time lure the opposing forces into an ambush.
Full out Attack: At a “fake” win party, the villain and managers think they’re going to celebrate, but learn that they have in fact lost the contract. The cops are gathering to take them to jail. The enraged villain gives the order and all firearms flash. Hero shoots villain once, but he scoots away. Hero catches him, tells him of the hero’s better proposed solution, reminds him of his dead brother, and shoots him again, dead.
Success: Hero watches acolonel and the client sign the contract. His phone texts fill up with congrats and offers. Stores in town display “We’re STILL HERE sale!” over full parking lots.
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What I learned doing this assignment is that ex-military is too easy and I need to come up with a better backstory for my hero.
Clear Mission: To save a man from being tortured to death
Motivation: A possible payday at first then to keep the accountant alive while not repeating her past.
Inciting Incident: Defending accountant from local hit men in city park
First Action: Cartel invades her apartment where she was hiding the accountant. They take the accountant and her fathers matching pistol set.
Obstacle: Figuring out where he was taken
Escalation: Crossing the border to retrieve the accountant Overwhelming Odds: Invading the well fortified home of the cartel boss
New Plan: She crosses the border into Mexico to go after the cartel boss.
Full out Attack: Night time assault on the cartel compound
Success: She kills the cartel boss and returns to the US with the accountant
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Impossible Mission: Infiltrate a Mexican cartel and rescue the accountant before he is tortured to death by the cartel boss.
A) What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of overwhelming odds – She is desperate to not fail and let the accountant be killed by the cartel boss. She retired from the military because someone she was in charge of protecting was taken and killed.
B) What is the mission that would be an impossible goal – to get into Mexico, find the cartel and rescue the accountant before he is tortured to death by the cartel boss.
C1) What strong internal motivation could drive the hero – Failure is not an option. She wants to protect this person unlike the person she let die in the military.
C2) What strong external motivation could drive the hero – To put an end to the cartel trying to kill her.
D) What could naturally happen if the hero went on this mission against the villain – Surviving attacks from the cartel, crossing the border into Mexico, evading the local police who are owned by the cartel, heat, dehydration crossing desert, language barriers.
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Beth Zurkowski Hero’s Mission Track/ What I learned doing this assignment is how to brainstorm differently.
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go
straight into the face of the overwhelming odds? She’s a marine and martial arts instructor.
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible
goal? Velda Fights 20 men and women involved in honor killing and beats
them. Then the daughter’s father hires goons off the street who were
fighters to take her on.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could
drive the hero? She was raped in the military.
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story.
What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this
villain? She could be trapped or caught and killed.2. Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
Clear Mission:
Motivation: pregnant severely beaten up young woman enters
her life.
Inciting Incident: loss of baby.
First Action: take on honor killing force.
Obstacle:”Stay out of our way of life.”
Escalation: father hires street fighters to take on
Velda.
Overwhelming Odds: They capture Velda. Father wants to
know where daughter is so he can finish what he started. Velda escapes.
New Plan: Velda calls in reinforcement.
Full out Attack: Martial artist take on street
fighters.
Success: Velda wins. -
Chris’s Hero’s Mission Track
What I learned doing this assignment is: I like where this is going…
Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
Clear Mission
Motivation: wrongly accused and struggling with PTSD our hero must find the killer before he is taken into custody for his billionaire father’s attempted murder.
Inciting Incident: the accusation of attempted murder forces the war hero into action, as he attempts to clear his name and catch the real killer
First Action: the attempted assassination of our hero’s father.
Obstacle: while being chased by the authorities, the real killer manages to stay one or two steps ahead.
Escalation: he faces various challenges, finds allies who help, and encounters enemies who try to stop him.
Overwhelming Odds: the real killer is nothing he’s ever encountered in his military special ops position.
New Plan: our hero seeks “special training” to deal with this new threat.
Full out Attack: our hero has to offer himself up as bait to catch the brilliant psychopath killer.
Success: he captures the killer, clearing his name and restoring the relationship with his father.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Chris Spizuoco.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Chris Spizuoco.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
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Confer’s Hero Mission Track
What I learned doing this assignment is:
1. Ask the Mission Track questions to discover your Hero’s mission.
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds:
Judge Ken wants revenge and to set things right, he wants justice for the reckless people who drove their car into his wife and senselessly killed her.
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal?
To fight the SVU sponsored gang of subversives that is causing mayhem in his town.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero? Nothing to lose since his wife was taken from him, very dangerous and unpredictable since he has nothing to lose. Not much scares him any more. Just wants revenge and to set things right.
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain?
Judge Ken and Judge Jason pay scumbags visits and dish out warnings, beatings and sometimes executions. (At one point Ken says maybe we should job this out and take the risk off ourselves. But what about doing our own work and not being cowards to hire it out?)
2. Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
Clear Mission: Judge Ken wants revenge and to set things right, he wants justice for the reckless people who drove their car into his wife and senselessly killed her and are killing other people.
Motivation: He wants justice for the reckless people who drove their car into his wife and who are subverting society intentionally.
Inciting Incident: He witnesses a boy get injured by a reckless driver when a pallet flies off of a moving vehicle and strike the boy down.
First Action: Handing out harsh sentences including Rotary phone sentences that require that offenders turn in their smart phones for a dumb Rotary cell phone. (These really exist, check Youtube. A woman invented one.)
Obstacle: He’s not ready to join the star chamber yet, afraid of getting caught, that it is wrong (contrary to what he was taught and illegal) and could lose his status as a judge.
Escalation: The boy who was hit by the pallet dies and Kirill the Russian SVU guy is monitoring the hospital for such an event and his henchmen notice the two judges talking to the boy’s mom. They send a warning by feeding poison to his dog. Call him on the phone and mock him. The dog lives, but barely.
Overwhelming Odds: Judge Jason and Judge Ken and the Star Chamber now are aware of this gang of Russian intelligence people they are up against.
New Plan: Ken finally goes full on in with Judge Jason into the Star Chamber, they need a force multiplier against the SVU boys. Jason is already running the Star Chamber and Ken now sees its “virtues” and effectiveness.
Full out Attack: Maybe with a mini tank or a full size tank, but then Kirill’s guys blow up the tread and the tank becomes useless just as they are starting to win.
Success: They fight hand to hand after they crawl out of the disabled tank and Judge Jason uses a microwave weapon he finds on-premise of Kirill’s property against Kirill while Ken kills Burlyman (the driver of the pickup that cut off the pallet truck) mano a mano. After the climax scene, Judge Ken says “This looks like the beginning of a beautiful judgeship.” “Fuck off!” Judge Jason says as he pushes his face away, chidingly.
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Day 3 Jeannine Hegelbach’s hero’s mission track
What I learned doing this, I am able to surprise myself and having some ideas for twists while writing that I have not thought of before.
<div>
A. What is it about this Hero that will have
them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds?
</div><div>He has been in one of
the hardest mega prisons in South America, locked up with brutal gang members.
He has learned to fight Bacom from them, one of the deadliest martial art forms
in the world. He has been trained as a sleeper agent, is physically fit
because of the daily training in the prison and highly intelligent.B. What is the mission that would be an
impossible goal?The breakout of the
toughest prisons where not even the worst gang members can get out, fight a
group of highly trained agents of the CIA and find out about the where
abouts of his lost and maybe killed twin brother.C. What strong internal and external
motivation could drive the hero?Internal motivation:
find out if his brother is dead and what happened to him, free him of the
accusation of the murder of his twin brother.
External motivation: The
CIA wants him dead, once he escaped the prison.D. Imagine that mission playing out across a
story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission
against this villain?Breaking out of the prison, getting back into the usa, finding out
where his brother went missing in the underground, fighting the CIA agents
that want to kill him, fighting the CIA boss, fighting his brother, expose
the program.</div>
Clear Mission: Find out what happened to his twin brother and who is responsible for his disappearance.
<div>Motivation: he got accused of the murder of his
twin brother and thrown in a gang prison in El Salvador
Inciting Incident: he wakes up totally beaten up in a South
America gang prison, he finds out that he was put in jail for the murder
of his twin brother and the inmates beat him up for this
</div><div></div><div>
First Action: he has to break out of prison and to get
back onto US territory
Escape: Jordan must
collaborate with gang members in order to work out an escape plan to
overwhelm the guards and get out of prison. From there he needs help from
them to organize a ride through the desertObstacle: Since the CIA is responsible for his
trip to prison he has to cross the border illegally to get back into the
US and find his brotherEscalation: at the illegal border crossing he gets
arrested and they want to take his DNA together with some other illegal
immigrants, he has to fight against the whole border patrol and escapeOverwhelming Odds: in the fight a border patrol agent
scratched him and they know that he is back in the usa and the CIA is
informed. Beckster sends out CIA sleeper agents to find and kill him.Twist: He identifies a
doctor of the sleeper agent program, kills him and steals his chip and his
identity to get him inside the facility.New Plan: Jordan tries to get access to the file
and he finds records that his twin brother got a chip implanted in his brain,
he finds his locationApparent success: he
finds his brother, but he is not responsive and lies in a kind of comaApparent defeat: it turns
out to be a trap and when Jordan gets there he is captured and tortured by
the CIAFull out Attack: Beckster programs the twin brother to
kill his brother and plans to watch it like in an arena with a gladiator
fightTwist: Jordan has no
choice but to kill his brother, surprised Beckster sends in more agents to
kill JordanTwist: but Jordan has
reprogrammed his twin brother secretly over the chip. He reawakens and the
two of them fight the agentsSuccess: Jordan and his brother kill Beckster
and find out that he was their father who was left by their mother, because
she wanted to protect them from his violent nature and he tried to revenge
that.</div>
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Donna Stockwell’s Hero’s Mission Track
What I learned doing this assignment is I need to keep the hero’s roles and traits separated from the antagonist’s role.
1. Ask the Mission Track questions to discover your Hero’s mission.
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds? A scientist who is a boxer(maybe), and knows all of antagonist’s pain points (but also the reverse is true too)
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal? scientist wants to “re-kill” partner since he took the dog’s breath and came back to life with a vengeance
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero? The scientists are best friends and long time colleagues, but very much moral driven
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain? Villain talks to the hero’s pain points and evokes sympathy, at which time the villain overpowers him and gains momentum in his vengeance. But when hero recovers (2nd coming of the serum) hero is able to destroy the evil in the antagonist, but also his body dies as well.
2. Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
Clear Mission:
Motivation: he and partner investigate essence of dog’s breath
Inciting Incident: partner falls dead from heart attack
First Action: essence spills on partner and revives him, but hero doesn’t know about vengeance that it instilled
Obstacle: the evil power that is brought out by essence
Escalation: antagonist kills his students and makes them followers
Overwhelming Odds: how is hero going to stop the killing spree followed by the evil vengeance
New Plan: re-investigate with science how to neutralize or stop the “rise of the DB’d people
Full out Attack: need to spray new neutralizing serum on all affected – where and how
Success: the new serum works and stops the evil , but also re-kills all the bodies that were originally dead
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