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Lesson 4
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CJ’s Villain’s Mission Track
What I learned: filling in the logic gaps/motivation of the Villain revealed a few weak coincident-driven points of my plot that I’ll need to rework so the Hero is well motivated to be where they need to be and increase “touchpoints” between them and the Villain, also a lot of my original action ideas included secondary characters with their own subplots, but now I’m wondering if that’s making things way too complicated and if I should instead streamline things to just my hero—hard to choose, basically I could go “Die Hard” or a big, sprawling “Mission Impossible” not sure which is best…
1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? Alex Morozov, the Bratva leader has been planning this for a long time—it’s his legacy to his sons, a way to ensure that their fortune and future will be secure no matter what happens in Russia. His plan is to use a stealth narcosub his youngest son designed and built to ferry drugs through the Gulf of Mexico then throughout the American Heartland’s rivers without law enforcement ever suspecting, thanks to his backdoor access to the DOJ’s computer network.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero? He’ll kill her second in command, kill her husband, take her daughter hostage, kill hundreds of civilians in a variety of ways: shooting, throat slitting, gas attacks, missile attack, arson, bomb, strangling, drowning.
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie? Manpower and weapons, allies who know the city and are as ruthless as they are, and a mole on the inside who’s willing to betray the hero.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done? Since his motivation is to create a legacy for his sons, he’ll need to first see his sons defeated by the hero and then in the end, despite the fact that he had her at his mercy, unarmed, be killed as well when she blows up his magnificent stealth narco-sub.
2. Include labels with each step of their plan.
ARRIVE AND TAKE CONTROL: tugboat and empty barge concealing stealth narcosub arrive at New Orleans’ Ninth Ward’s Industrial Canal Lock where the Bratva immediately kill the lockmaster, close the lock to conceal their presence, and take control of area
DIVERT FIRST RESPONDERS: multiple nonlethal gas attacks along Mardi Gras parade routes to create chaos and panic, pulling local and mutual aid responders to the French Quarter and overwhelming the 911 system… except Lucy, an FBI agent, witnesses one of the attacks and intervenes, the Bratva orders their local gang partners, the Reapers to stop her
INFILTRATE 911 COMMUNICATION CENTER: with the hacker inside, as soon as the 911 center requests that the FBI take command of the incident, thus opening the national law enforcement network for a brief time, the hacker installs a backdoor into the network
DEAL WITH NEW THREAT: Lucy has alerted the FBI, but as they mobilize, the Bratva launches a missile from the barge that destroys FBI HQ
ERASE TRACKS OF HACK: the hacker is picked up by the Reapers, BUT Lucy, with the help of a local with history with the Reapers, has followed them and a gunfight at the Katrina memorial and nearby cemetery ensues
END LUCY AND SAVE PLAN: the Reapers call for Bratva backup and together force Lucy to make a desperate stand at the 911 building—which the Bratva has rigged to blow as part of their initial plan to cover any evidence of their hack. They take the 911 operators hostage to force Lucy to focus on saving the civilians while they escape with the hacker. When Lucy goes into the building she finds the bombs but outwits their arming devices to buy time to evacuate the civilians. The Bratva blow up the building remotely BUT soon learn Lucy is still alive… and more dangerous than ever because she saw and recognized the leader’s sons.
TRAP LUCY: the Bratva find Lucy’s daughter and take her hostage, demanding that Lucy surrender herself or they’ll kill Emma and fire a missile into the heart of the French Quarter
PIVOT: Lucy tracks Emma and rescues her, killing the leader’s youngest son, but to buy time for Emma to escape, she surrenders herself to the leader’s eldest son and he brings her to the barge to face his father’s wrath
SHOWDOWN: on the barge Lucy comes face to face with the Bratva leader who is preparing to leave on the narcosub, all trace of the Bratva destroyed, the Reapers will be blamed for the terrorist attacks and he can start his drug pipeline—the perfect plan, until Lucy came along. He’s ready to execute her but then his men bring him the body of his youngest son and Lucy admits to killing him. Now just shooting her isn’t enough, she must suffer. So he aims a final missile at the French Quarter, knowing there’s a good chance Lucy’s daughter will be in the vicinity and even if the girl survives, Lucy will still know thousands of innocents died because of her. He drags her to the missile launch controls…
FINAL BATTLE: as he’s forcing Lucy to push the launch control, she suddenly throws her weight against the launcher so the missile is fired not up into the sky but straight ahead, blasting the massive steel and iron canal lock doors—going thru the elder son on the way. The water held in the lock floods out, the barge hanging by mooring ropes, suddenly gone vertical, Lucy and the Bratva leader in a death match as the water surges, whipping the barge against the steel walls. The leader scrambles to his sub and Lucy follows. He launches the sub before she can board so she hangs on outside as it submerge, fighting the current, struggling to open the hatch, but fails, is about to drown if she doesn’t let go…
LUCY WINS: a body floats near—the eldest son, barely recognizable. Lucy grabs a military knife from him and uses it to cut through the gasket around the hatch, sending water rushing inside, sending the sub out of control just as it’s steering through the jagged iron doors, one leaning precariously… Lucy propels herself to the surface, away from the sub as the sub hits the door, the massive hunk of metal falling, crushing the sub beneath it
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Ron’s Villain Track
A. What is the Villain’s plan? Cuccinelli has two villains: the entire Japanese Imperial Fleet AND his incompetent/political CO. To the Japanese destroyers, the PTs are annoyances, pests. The average Japanese destroyer captain doesn’t know Cuccinelli, doesn’t care about him except to the extent he has to ensure that Cooch doesn’t keep him from HIS mission. They’re in conflict it IS a war) but it’s not personal, and it’s not constant. The conflict shows up every night out in “the slot”. Both parties are just doing their respective jobs, but can’t avoid conflict by the nature of their assignments. The nature of the villain’s “plan” is pre-existing, determined by the fact that Japan and the USA are at war.
As to the CO, he’s less a “villain” and more of an “impediment” to Cooch getting his job done. He demands unrealistic procedures that are bound to fail (radio silence, not believing the reports from his own crews and the valuing of BuOrd’s insistence that the torpedoes are fine, the problems are misapplication by the PT crews. He does not “necessarily” man ill for Cooch (or any of the other boat captains) but his insistence on doing things “by the book” does stand in the way of a successful operation. His “plan” is a reaction to Cooch and the other boat captains complaining about the poor quality of the torpedoes.
B. How might the villain attack? The IJN only comes in contact with the PTs every night, but in the dark, at speed. Basically the destroyers use their speed as an asset (albeit less than the PTs). They also have 5 inch guns that could tear apart a PT with one successful shot. There are also Japanese Air Force planes, especially at night, the infamous Kate bombers, who are there to protect the destroyers but remain close to invisible in the dark. Each incident is a brief meet/confront/recover process, extreme violence for short periods of time, in the dark. Consequently, the battles are shadowy things, almost “meta”. visibility is low, speed is high, danger is everywhere for all parties. It’s a dance, night after night. Very impersonal.
The CO sees his crew every afternoon in a briefing, just before the boats go out. Again, this is not an active “villain” situation, but the CO’s incompetence and narrow-mindedness creates a barrier to success in Cuccinelli’s mission. The techniques used by the CO are direct orders and rules of engagement, also dress-downs and social pressures. He’s not trying to attack or destroy our hero, but he is an impediment to his success. That, combined with the poor quality of the primary weapons system are the obstacles our hero must overcome.
C. What advantages does our villain have over our hero? The IJN destroyers have an overwhelming advantage in size (4X length, 10X weight, armored), plus plenty of armaments. They’re fast too (but so are the PTs). Also, the destroyers are supported by aircraft and this IS enemy territory. They come every night, one or two destroyers, every 24 hours, in the dark. There are a lot of them.
The CO has the advantage of superior rank AND the assignment as the squadron CO. He gets to make decisions about his squadron, the ROE, support for ongoing improvements in tactics and weapons systems (BuOrd continues to insist there’s nothing wrong with them).
D. Fitting end for the villain? For the IJN, our hero has to sink at least one destroyer, but in general, everything the IJN throws at PT129, whether it’s a destroyer, an aircraft or a barge.
Fitting end for the CO? Being relieved of command.
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Deb’s Villain Track!
What I learned doing this assignment. These “fill in the blanks” are a great way to just get something on paper. By following the villain, I was able to create more of the story that didn’t exist before. Obviously, it needs a lot of work – but at least, now, I have something to work with.
VILLAIN: Cal Taskin – Cal is the head of a secret terrorist cell and works at the behest of the government (which disavows any knowledge of this group). Cal’s country is in a cold war situation with a country that borders his own.
HERO: Titan Benoit – a secret agent and a part of Cal’s team.
1. MISSION BRIEFING: Cal sends a secret message to Titan briefing him on a mission to cause a drone strike on a bridge to derail a train. The result will contaminate the water and make the surrounding towns uninhabitable.
2. NOT ACCEPTING: Titan, realizing the town is where his wife and child are hidden, refuses the mission and goes dark.
3. RETALIATION: Cal learns of Titan’s defection and sends his team after him to kill him. He commissions another agent to carry out the attack.
4. PLAN: WEAPONS: Cal recruits Titan’s own friends to go after him. Only one is loyal to Titan. Cal assembles a different team – with himself as the leader to facilitate the drone strike. But they are missing something vital to the operation – something only Titan can provide.
5. ALTERIOR MOTIVES: The truth behind the strike is not part of the ideological differences between the two countries. Cal is not working at the behest of his government but working for a foreign company that wants to use this strategic location to build a factory and use the waterway and air space to its advantage. Cal will receive a huge sum of money and a stake in the company once it’s up and running. It’s his retirement.
6. SURPRISED: Titan is completely off the grid and nowhere to be found. His planted story of a mother and sister hiding out – also proves to be false. Cal has no leverage on Titan… and he realizes someone (Titan) is sabotaging his plans for the train wreck. This was not part of the plan.
7. MEETING: The team meets to decide what to do about Titan. Most are freaked
out, but Cal says to stick to the plan and they’ll get revenge in time.
8. ATTACK: Cal and the team uncover Titan’s location on a movie set. Cal sends his henchman to track him down. Some sort of fight ensues – on camera. One of the henchmen is killed. The other apprehends the doppelganger actor, thinking it’s Titan. Titan escapes.
9. DECEPTION: The actor is freaked out by his abduction and denies everything when confronted by Cal. Cal thinks it’s Titan playing games, but then realizes they are look-alikes. Cal is unable to get the information he needs to proceed with his attack on the train.
10. IMPERSONATION/ REAL GUNS: Cal, himself, goes in disguise, to the movie set to apprehend Titan. He poses as a weapons expert of some sort and puts real bullets in the guns that will be used on the set. Titan barely escapes death and almost kills someone.
11. DEMANDS: Cal learns of Titan’s real family and somehow posts a message to Titan that he’s going after them unless Titan gives him what he wants
12. BETRAYAL/EXPLOSION: When Cal realizes one of his own is protecting Titan, Cal kills him. He also blows up an elaborate set piece. The director gets it all on film. Titan secretly moves his wife/child – but he’s being watched.
13. DECISION: LACE THE FOOD: Before Cal leaves the set, he laces all the food with a substance that he knows Titan is allergic to. Titan goes into anaphylactic shock. Cal finally gets what he needs to initiate his attack. Titan is saved by someone on the set.
14. EXECUTION: Cal proceeds to attack the train as planned. He is thwarted by Titan. But Cal has managed to capture Titan’s family. Titan must save his family and stop the attack. He saves his family but the train is derailed.
15. FINAL TWIST: Titan switched the cars on the train and what ends up in the water are diapers and Twinkies. The water is safe from contamination. The people of the town are safe.
16. FITTING ENDING: Cal is thrown into the water and drowns when he can’t surface because all the diapers suffocate him.
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Pam’s Villain Track
What I learned: I enjoyed filling in the blanks as I went along, and am “keeping the question open” as the story unfolds.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? Villain’s plan before movie started was to kill his wife. But Hero refuses to do what he was hired to do.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?
Have professional assassins track him down, when the hit on his wife appears to be botched. They will chase Hero on foot (and at gunpoint) in Boston, in cars as they head out of town, fight him inside a restaurant where they stop for food, frame him for a crime he didn’t commit, have him captured, send another assassin, hand-to-hand combat.
C. What advantage does Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?
Villain is quite wealthy. He has many resources at his disposal, including mob connections, more hitmen-for-hire, friends in the media, and crooked lawyers.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain, where they pay for what they’ve done?
His shady plastic surgery practice backfires on him? One of the thugs that he transformed (in a botched cosmetic surgery?) does something that devastates him. His past comes back to haunt him.
He will die in hand-to-hand combat with Hero, who pushes him off a cliff in self-defense.
OR: he doesn’t die, but gets disfigured. Hero and (the angry mobster client?) see that the surgeon is cosmetically altered — to look like Hitler (or someone horrible).
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VILLAIN TRACK: PRE-EXISTING PLAN
Villain: Devon DelBianco, Plastic Surgeon for the Boston Mob
Hero: Ray Cassidy, Soon-to-be-Retired Hitman
DISCOVERY: Dr. DelBianco discovers Ray did not carry out the hit on his wife (Charlize), as planned.DECISION: Hires a team of hitmen to kill both Ray and Charlize.
PLAN: Dispatches them to track down Ray and Charlize, who are on the run.
NEW INFO: They fail, but he has reason to believe Ray is back in town.
REVISED PLAN: He creates a scheme to frame Ray for a crime.
COSMETIC SURGERY: He alters the face of a wanted criminal, Anthony, to match Ray’s. Anthony kills a cop, and his face (identical to Ray’s) is caught on camera.
APPREHENDED: Dr. DelBianco alerts law enforcement, and Ray is erroneously jailed for the cop killing.
REVISED INTEL: He learns of Charlize’s hideout — Acadia National Park.
IN PURSUIT: With Ray behind bars, he heads to the Maine coast, bringing Anthony (altered to be Ray’s lookalike) for back-up. They find Charlize at her cottage.
TRICKERY: She initially thinks Anthony is Ray, and she lets her guard down. They gain access to her.
REVENGE: The doctor sends Anthony to dispose of Charlize, in a way that will make it look like an accident occurred on the cliffs. But Ray breaks out of jail and catches up to them.
TWIST: Ray and Anthony engage in a strange battle that looks like they are fighting themselves (they look identical). Ultimately, Ray shoots and kills Anthony.
FITTING ENDING: Ray and Dr. DelBianco engage in hand-to-hand-combat on the cliffs. Ray pushes Dr. DelBianco off of a ledge, but he doesn’t die. He gets taken to a hospital and undergoes both life-saving and plastic surgery, where he is either horribly disfigured… OR made to look like a despicable person (like Hitler). And he gets sent to jail, for “aiding and abetting” criminals via his surgery practice.
Meanwhile, Ray and Charlize have grown closer and have begun a relationship.
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Ray’s Villain Track
What I learned doing this assignment is to define the elevating actions of the villain.
Version 2 Plan: Before the movie started, the villain learned of the attacks on his various casino’s. In turn, he decides to kill the bounty hunters that he feel is responsible for the attacks. The hero is tossed into the mix without knowing the full extent of the situation.
1. Bounty Hunter Attacks: The vllain sends the Hit Squad to kill various bounty hunters. One happens to be the mentor of the hero, so the hero is hot on the trail of the villain.
2. Hero Attack: The Hit Squad attacks the hero’s mother and she thwarts the attack. Then, they kidnap the wife and son of the hero to force a meeting with him.
3. Headquarters Attack: The Hit Squad blow up the Headquarters building and the hero’s partner is killed.
4. Planet Attack: The aliens inhabit compatible hosts in order to take over the planet. The alien army combat the enhanced humans.
5. Fitting End: The enhanced humans defeat the alien army and force them back through the portal. The hero is able to close the portal. The villain and his Hit Squad are imprisoned.
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Villain Track!
What I learned: Meticulous plotting shows the Villain’s motivations (or lack thereof).
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot.
Villain’s pre-existing plan is thwarted by Hero. So Villain must reveal/expose who the real person behind the plan is – causing the Villains to want to crush Hero and helper.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?
Through the executive branch – CoS is able to use IRS, FBI & DHS to track and find the Hero and AG. Through his connections to defense contractors, CEO is able to get black ops team to “seek & destroy” Hero.
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?
Villain has the power of the executive branch – and control over social & traditional media to get his version of the “truth” out in the public.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?
A fitting end would be someone who’s got the power to destroy someone to see that same power inflicted upon him… sent to windowless cell in “terrorist prison” – (same cell!)
In-the-moment Plan
MISTAKE: When CEO learns his scam center has been exposed, he shuts it down and forces Chief of Staff to take action to purge the YT sensation.
DILEMMA: When CEO learns that his profitable scam center can’t provide “free” money for PAC, he has to decide on using his fortune to help re-elect the President or risk losing defense contracts during next 4-years.
DECISION: Keep the PAC solvent.
PLAN: Fund the PAC until culprit is caught. Then, go back to using scam center to making election money.
FIRE ALARM MOMENT: CEO exposed in social media as doing bad things.
RETALIATION: CEO has story erased. Sends Black Ops team after hackers.
FIGHT OR FLIGHT: Black Ops have a bead on hackers. They must call police to get out alive.
CAPTURE: After AnonGirl is captured, scam center is put back into operation.
REPRISAL: Hero uses PAC’s tactics against its scam centers – causing CEO to bleed money again.
RETRIBUTION: CEO tied to “terrorist” call centers – making him a Most Wanted.
ESCAPE: CEO flies to private island in foreign country to avoid law enforcement.
FITTING ENDING: CEO locked up in Quantonimo Bay as “domestic terrorist.”
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