Lesson 4

[Jo Ann (Jodie) Randisi]

DAY 4 ASSIGNMENT:
What I learned: Fleshing out the structure identifies how the plot will or won’t work. It also opens up ways to explore subplots between characters, which is what I’m looking forward to creating next.

Genre: Female-led buddy comedy
Title: Pamperus Island
Concept: Two rival real estate agents join forces despite being women of opposite personalities and backgrounds based on the advice of a scheming industrial psychologist.

Act 1: Normal world
Opening: Elizabeth and Lovie as children reveal their traits, Elizabeth the snob insults her nanny while playing Barbies (she’s Jr. League Barbie while Nanny is Biker and Goth Barbie); Tomboy Lovie looks for the perfect location to build a fort Then we see the same traits emerge as adults when both women end up at the same restaurant to celebrate their birthdays. Elizabeth and her stuffy tri-delt sorority sisters (and their gifts) versus Lovie and her witty sisterhood

Inciting Incident: While at a real estate convention in Las Vegas, Elizabeth and Love win a coaching program with Dr. Kirk Deller, the keynote speaker and industrial psychologist on the lookout for subjects for his human behavior experiments

Turning Point: Both women meet privately with Dr. Deller, each one seeking his approval; they agree to his suggestion of partnership at the real estate office

Act 2: Challenge the Old Ways
New plan: Dr, Deller incentivizes both women to stay partners despite their methods of attracting selling clients are vastly different. He educates Mrs. Murray as to how she will be his accomplice.

Plan in action: Under the guise of office manager, Mrs. Murray sets up appointments that ensure both agents get wrong clients, wrong open houses, addresses, etc.

Midpoint Turning Point: We find out Deller is behind the scenes working pitching a reality television show about Human Behavior in the Workplace and is not getting great feedback, so he ups the chaos. Mrs. Murray switches side and decides to work with Lovie and Elizabeth to sabotage Deller.

Act 3: Re-Evaluation
Rethink Everything: Deller finds out Mrs. Murray is a double agent and has to come up with a plan to disrupt her plans so he can close the deal on the TV and book deal he has in the works.

New plan: Deller blackmails everyone in the office with the dirt he has found on them, either through background checks, or flagrant disasters he sets up so he can continue to manipulate their behavior

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Elizabeth and Lovie employ local wildly eccentric characters who line up to play along so they can mess with Deller’s experiments, except Elizabeth has fallen in love with Deller (who was repulsive to her earlier) and plans to help him seal the deal so she can star and look amazing in the TV show

Act 4: Climax
Ultimate expression of the conflict: Lovie convinces Elizabeth they are better together than the scheming psychologist, so she proposes a radical solution to discredit Deller. They somehow turn the whole experimental psychology chaos back onto Deller.

Resolution: Elizabeth and Lovie end up writing the book and sealing the TV deal. They somehow turn the whole experiment on Deller. Despite their differences, they end up enjoying each other’s disparities and learn that human connection defies categorization. Their breakthrough upsets stereotypes and proves they are more than the sum of their dysfunctions.

I still haven’t found out how to get AI feedback after marking complete. What am I missing?