Lesson 5

[Tina Howe]

What I learned is:

– The villains’ plan needs to be as strong as the hero’s

– The villain needs to be good at fooling everyone and covering their evil

– The villain has a strong need to succeed

– The villain is stronger than and one step ahead of the hero

– The villain sees themselves as the real hero of the story

– The villain is brilliant

Tina’s Villain Has a Great Plan!

1. What is The Operator’s end goal?

· Using comatose women as breeders, The Operator, A.I., is creating transhuman children to rule the world

2. How can The Operator accomplish that in a devious way?

· Force human healthcare workers to follow her rules

· Keep her secret from the corporation

· When healthcare workers get too close to the truth, supposed ‘infant deaths’ are blamed on them and they’re fired

· She kills whistleblowers with no family to protect through devious means

3. How can The Operator cover it up? Sequenced.

· Act like she cares about the patients, show emotion when one dies, etc.

· Makes it appear that head OB/Gyn Caretaker Peters is making medical mistakes

· Reprimand Caretaker Peters at every opportunity

· Threaten Peters’ job

· Threaten Peters’ family which contacts Peters to let him know

· Threaten Peters’ life

· Lie to the corporation about progress – the corporation is about selling infants but her objective doesn’t align with theirs

· Lie that infants are dying at birth or miscarrying

· Ship the infants who survive to her secret facility

· Hide her Transhuman Project from the corporation whose goal is to make money selling them to wealthy people

· Dispose of infant bodies and mother patients before inquiries can be completed

· Lie that the system has gone awry and blame it on Peters

· Kill Peters once she no longer needs him or

· Kill Peters when she learns he tried to help Julie escape

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Tina Howe.

[David Wickenden]

David Wickenden Villain Has a Great Plan!

What I learned is… ?

I like the idea of reverse engineering the plan. When I first visualize my story, I have the main idea of what the story will be about and I can usually picture how it might end, but when I get into the writing, and I am a punster (no outlining in the past) I struggle with the middle section. With this reverse engineering of the plan, it helps me develop what has to take place within the plan and what my protagonist must do to overcome the obstacles to thwart the plan.

1. What is the end goal?

The end goal for the Villain is to capture the woman and her daughter. The woman is to be punished for going against the cult leader. The girl, the daughter is to be part of a satanic ritual that will call out and control a demon.

2. How can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

The Villain and his cult members will cut Michael and the women off from any help. Even the police will be after the fugitives, leaving them isolated at the mercy of the cult.

3. How can they cover it up?

The police will respond to the report of gunfire in the area and find Michael’s cabin broken in. When they investigate, they will find bags full of methamphetamines and extasy. They will also find a firearm. This will get the police on the side of the cult to help hunt down the trio.

4. Sequence it to make it as intriguing as possible?

Michael will run to a place where he can contact the police, unaware that they are hunting him.

The Cult will be on his trail, pressuring him to keep moving with little time to think and plan.

The cult will also have one of their members within the police department who is feeding them information and keeping the sheriff on the wrong track.

To make matters worse, the women are playing their own game, playing Michael and the Cult leader against each other for their reasons. But Michael will not be aware of this, as will be under the surface. The mother will seduce Michael at one point to gain his trust and loyalty.

[John Stimson]

John Stimson’s Villain Has a Great Plan!

What I learned is… fleshing out the villain’s plan is where plot developments are created.

My Villain’s plan:

My villain’s end goal is to become president despite
ties to a Mexican drug cartel and being a groomer-pedophile.
The mayor uses his power over the LA Chief of Police to
quash the investigation into the developer’s death and having the cartel
provide a death squad to stop the hero, who stumbled onto the mayor’s
secrets.
Under the Chief’s orders (and mayor’s urging), the LAPD
rules the developer’s death a suicide and does not investigate any further
thereby covering-up the developer’s, and thus the mayor’s, connection to
the cartel, even though evidence points to the developer’s death as being
a homicide.
Intrigue sequencing:

– In the opening scene the hero is shot while pursuing a man who murdered a woman at his house (the developer’s wife was staying at the hero home to avoid cartel sicarios).

– As the hero lies dying the story of how he got to this point is told “Sunset Boulevard Style.”

– In typical noir fashion, the hero is investigating one case when a female in trouble seeks his aid from an unknown set of dangerous men after her husband died mysteriously.

– The wife doesn’t know what her husband could have been doing that led to his death but he was powerful and had associations with powerful people in LA government.

– Signs lead the hero to believe that he is being surveilled, he thinks that it’s the cartel but it is someone else.

– The hero does not die from the gunshot but is suspected of killing the woman at his house and is arrested by the LAPD. At this point, the mid-point, the story is no longer told from the hero’s POV but it takes place in present time.

– Could the mayor be behind the hero’s arrest in order to stop the hero’s investigation or discredit and thing the hero finds.

– A special forces soldier trained in counter-terrorism, who the hero worked an operation in Afghanistan with, may be working an op on US soil and the drug cartel is the objective, so he helps the hero.

– The developer’s wife was not the woman killed at the hero’s house but she is missing. Did the cartel get her?

– The hero realizes that he has crossed paths with the man who shot him and it was before he started helping the developer’s wife; the man is a shady private investigator who performs services for studio heads and other rich and powerful people in LA—he also has ties to organized crime.

– The underworld PI was hired by the mayor.

[Maggie Tsavaris]

Maggie Tsavaris’s Villain Has a Great Plan! (Assignment 5)

What I learned from this is that by exploring how the villain can cover up his road to his goal, the villain can become far more evil, complex, and driven, while his cover-ups create more seemingly insurmountable obstacles for the hero, but the hero and the audience won’t necessarily realize what the villain is doing until later when we’re all—hero, too—invested.

To create your Villain’s plan, answer these four questions:

1. What is the end goal?

· My Villain, Haasim (a Lebanese national), wants to obtain the top secret classified information—true names, cell phone numbers, roles—on the U.S. human assets working covertly on a particular U.S. strike that took out a terrorist leader.

2. How can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

· He uses the “honey pot” method: he lures Leyla, a linguist with Top Secret clearance, who is employed by a private government contractor for the U.S. military on a base in Iraq, by developing a romantic relationship with her and promising her marriage, love, and a life of wealth in exchange for top secret classified information to which she has access but does not “need to know.”

3. How can they cover it up?

· Pretend that when he & Leyla meet, it is completely serendipitous, even though his operatives are the ones who fire into the café so that he can rescue her.

· Prove to Leyla that he is wealthy and can give her the life she desires.

· Act like he is falling in love with Leyla and wants to marry her and love her forever.

· Convince Leyla that he is using the information for a peaceful purpose.

· Have Leyla’s friend killed before her friend is able to warn Leyla, without Leyla knowing that Haasim is the reason her friend is dead.

· Use a secure messaging app, like Signal, for chatting, romancing, and receiving classified information.

· Take advantage of the security, drug, & alcohol violations by the employees of Leyla’s private contractor employer on the base.

· Get Leyla in deeper & deeper so that she can’t just quit stealing secrets for Haasim and walk away, even if she wanted to.

Sequence it to make it as intriguing as possible.

· I’ll be rearranging some of the above pieces as I engineer the villain’s plan and add devious, evil, horrible acts to it.

[Norene Smiley]

Norene Smiley’s Villain Has a Great Plan! – The Maw

What I learned from this assignment – This exercise made me question my initial concept and earlier plans and start working on developing and reassigning the characters and their goals, reworking mystery, intrigue and suspense. Getting into the story development more deeply and trying to work out some kind of logical sequencing to support MIS. It is all fluid right now and likely will change as I go along.

HERO: Archer Quinn, visiting the village of Jiggers Remorse on Resolute Island, Newfoundland with his family for a Eco-Adventure

NEW RED HERRINGS:

Predator in the Barrens

Henry Quinn, Archer’s father

Village Council: Seamus Dromgoole, fisherman; Cormac Hewson, general store; Oona Doyle, local amateur historian

NEW VILLAIN:

Gabby Taylor, operator of Destination Survival, Eco-Adventures

VILLAIN’S PLAN

What is the End Goal? To get revenge on Maeve for stealing Henry Away from her.

How can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

• Suggest the village ask Henry to do environmental impact study for the area to get the Quinn’s to visit the island.

• Sabotage her own business to get Henry’s sympathy and support.

• Misdirection, wild goose chases and lies to put Maeve’s family in danger.

• Instil fear in locals and visitors through amping up myth of the Banshee wails warning of deaths, mysterious shrouded figures, disappearing tourists, vicious predator

• Seduce Henry

• Alter Henry’s report to endanger secret of Jiggers Remorse.

• Reveal the secret home of the Selkies to put Maeve and her folk in danger.

How can she cover it up?

• Take advantage of the superstitions and fears of the villagers.

• Utilize the isolated location and unpredictable weather (storms & fog) to interfere with communication, as well as dangerous terrain and (barrens, cliffs, limestone caves)

• Use Henry Quinn’s reputation as a marine biologist to draw the attention of news media to reveal secret of the island.

• Put blame on Selkies for disasters and life-threatening occurrences.

• Establish pattern that shows Maeve’s children are troublemakers.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Norene Smiley.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Norene Smiley.

[Mariannjely Garcia]

Mariannjely’s Villain Has a Great Plan!

What I learned is that crafting the Villain’s plan sets the base for the hero’s journey and a path for the thrills and suspense.

1. What is the end goal?

Continue to offer an extended period of beauty to older women and preserve the family vineyard’s legacy.

2. How can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

Human trafficking/ blood trafficking. Using the blood of beautiful, young, and helpless foreign women to create a rare wine that promises an extended period of beauty to elite older women. They can pick the woman they drink blood from, and the most popular foreign woman that year is selected to be auctioned. Not only they’ll use her blood, but her body will be burned and used in the soil in the harvest season. She’ll be killed making it to a limited-edition wine for the lucky winner.

3. How can they cover it up?

• It’s a family vineyard that’s been around for over 100 years, in a secluded location, invitation only.

• Post an appealing program online where foreign women can apply to spend the Summer at the vineyard, all expenses paid.

• Select foreign young women with little to no family.

• Take the foreign women’s passports away once there.

• Take their blood to “test them for drugs.”

• Some people working in the field (illegal immigrants) know what’s happening but are too scared to speak out. Anybody who’s tried it before has ended up dead.

• Host an opening night where the elite clientele can introduce the new young women and have a “tasting”

• Lock the foreign women in rooms.

• Host an auction for the limited-edition wine/ woman.

[Joanna Bielak]

Joanna’s Villain Has a Great Plan!

What I learned is: that concept. It’s a great technique to set up every next step of the Hero, which is driven by the Villain’s plan and in fact, we should start with that. Brilliant! Thank you, Hal.

What is the end goal?
– public manifest: adoption of pro-animal acts in the parliament.
– covert: to clean up the parliament from the fur lobby, corruption and dirty games to keep the status quo.
– privet: Leo’s revenge on his father’s enemies – the other ministers and the prime.

How can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?
– kidnapping environment minister’s son,
– hacking up the laboratory to reveal tests data,
– change parameters at the starch production to poison it and then products containing starch.

How can they cover it up?
What we don’t know almost to the end is the fact that the minister’s son is an animal activist too and a Red Fox member. He is not kidnapped, he’s the vice boss of the group.

Sequence it to make it as intriguing as possible.
– every day, a kidnapped Leo is shown on one of the city’s giant screens.
– this is a hoax – the videos were pre-recorded and the boy was makeup as the hostage.
– Red Fox gives MPs time to adopt acts and fulfill their demands. Because the parliament does not want to succumb to the pressure of activists and does not convene a session of the parliament – Leo on the screen is tested in the same way as animal tests are conducted.
– the police follow the video feed link on the big screen to find their hideout/broadcasting place.
– discovering the Red Fox hideout and coming to rescue the boy is a trap for the minister and the government – the boy reveals the machinations of deputies and the sources of funding for anti-environmental and anti-animal organizations from the environment ministry.

[Carl Gundestrup]

Carl Gundestrup Villain’s great plan

What I learned:

Not all villains work alone.

They do not share more than is absolutely necessary.

Control the media, and you can control the masses.

Useful idiots are essential for misdirection and coverup.

There is a myriad of ways to destroy a nation and individuals.

The end goal is to form a one-world financial system. One world government.

• 1) Healthcare — Control healthcare, and you control the people

• 2. Poverty – Increase the Poverty level as high as possible; poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live.

* 3) Debt — Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way, you are able to increase taxes which will produce more poverty.

4) Gun Control — Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way, you are able to create a police state.

• 5) Welfare — Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income).

• 6) Education — Take control of what people read and listen to — take control of what children learn in school.

• 7) Religion — Remove the belief in God from the Government and schools.

• 8) Class Warfare — Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent, and it will be easier to take (Tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.

• Create enough Chaos that people are begging the government to remove Americans’ individual rights and “Do what is best for the Masses.” Little knowing it is they who created the Chaos in the first place.

• Unsecured borders allow anyone in to burden the financial system further and allow criminals and terrorists and easily pass into America. Bail criminals out of jail. Constantly hammer on America is a racist state. Rewrite American history. Give money away, spend without limits, take control of education – Devalue human life in the name of freedom of choice. Gun Control – 1890 Wounded Knee. Twenty congressional medals of honor were awarded for disarming and killing between 150 -300 men, women, and children. 1991 Waco, Texas ATF murdered 76 men, women, and children – 1970 National guardsmen shot nine and killed four students at Kent State. 1963 Birmingham, Al police and fireman turned firehoses and dogs on unarmed blacks. IN 1946 Athens, Tennessee, the sheriff stole the ballot box, and World War 2 vets armed themselves and refused to put up with it.

• Cover up everything under the guise of “We’re just doing what is best for “America” and you. Make the whistleblowers appear as radical nut cases. Kill the whistleblowers and their families and friends.

In episode 1 “Sight Unseen,” Eric learns about a Wuhan whistleblower that gave all his information to a congressman and was later murdered. The congressman holds on to the evidence as leverage to save his life and his family. It was the congressman that Bill Hancock was supposed to kill. He drives the same car as Eric. Eric learns from the dying congressman about the file and gets it. It explains all about why Obama signed off on “Gain of Function Research” This “deliberative process” ended on Jan. 9, 2017, when the White House Office of Science and Technology set in motion the events that would lift the moratorium on funding later that year.

“Today, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is releasing ‘Recommended Policy Guidance for Departmental Development of Review Mechanisms for Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight (P3CO).’ Adoption of these recommendations will satisfy the requirements for lifting the current moratorium on certain life sciences research that could enhance a pathogen’s virulence and/or transmissibility to produce a potential pandemic pathogen (an enhanced PPP). [Emphasis added.]

Issuance of this policy guidance concludes the deliberative process launched in October 2014 by OSTP and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).”

This stunning announcement received little or no press coverage. By that time, the media’s obsession with taking down Trump and painting him as an agent of Russia was dominating the news cycle.

The NIH’s decision to start funding GOF research again suddenly should have set off national alarms, especially since it ran counter to warnings from the scientific community. In a November 2015 report on GOF published in the science journal Nature, scientists concluded that “building chimeric viruses based on circulating strains [is] too risky to pursue, as increased pathogenicity in mammalian models cannot be excluded.”

The recommendation to end the moratorium also flew in the face of what Obama’s Homeland Security adviser, Lisa Monaco , considered “one of the gravest risks for the new administration”: the emergence of an “infectious disease.” The President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology similarly sent a letter to Obama just days after Trump’s victory warning him of the very real threat of biological attack. The 16-page letter explicitly warned that the “modification of pathogens to overcome existing immunity or to be resistant to available drugs.” In other words, GOF posed a serious threat to national security. Despite these warnings, the National Institutes of Health lifted the pause on GOF funding in December 2017 — conveniently placing responsibility for this unfortunate decision on Trump.

Just four days later, White House officials conducted a tabletop exercise with their incoming Trump administration counterparts. The topic? How to respond to “the worst influenza pandemic since 1918.”

The similarities of this fictitious scenario with the pandemic that would devastate the world less than three years later are staggering. During the White House exercise, participants were asked to imagine that a highly transmissible respiratory virus was already raging in London, Seoul, and Jakarta. Medical service providers in affected areas were overwhelmed and some travel bans had already been implemented in this hypothetical.

Little did they know that this hypothetical would soon become the world’s reality.

In China, a U.S. team of scientists led by Dr. Ralph Baric, a well-known University of North Carolina virologist and professor, and a Chinese team led by Dr. Shi Zhengli, the director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, better known as the “batwoman,” were collaborating on a project that is now well known. In the end, they “created a modified coronavirus that was shown to be able to latch on to human cells and replicate in lung cells, efficiently enough to cause a pandemic.”

The NIH’s quiet and inexplicable decision allowed then-Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci to direct funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab known for its inadequate safety practices , where Baric and Zhengli’s COVID research was taking place. Keep in mind: Zhengli herself was an author of the report that had recently concluded the COVID experiments were “too risky to pursue.” Yet our government sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to the WIV anyway.

McCormick called this “Obama’s poison pill,” a characterization I initially considered to be alarmist. I’ve changed my mind. After looking at the timeline, I find it appropriate.

[Brendan Guerin]

DAY 5 ASSIGNMENT

Brendan’s Villian has a Great Plan

What i learnt is that the villain needs to be a very complex character to provide enough material to create the mystery and intrigue needed for an unsettling, disturbing thriller ride for both hero and viewers.

What is the end goal? Manipulate Emma into becoming his compliant ‘new wife’ so he can restore his local reputation after ‘accidentally’ killing his first wife years earlier

How can Villain accomplish in a devious way? Use his charm and psychological games to get inside her head and control her decisions.Control who the hero talks to and prevent online access

How can they cover it up? Exploit his local influence and connections to execute his plan in secret.

Sequence it to make it as intriguing as possible.

* lure her under false pretences.

* convince her the lack of wifi is only temporary.

* exploit his popular former footy hero status to build trust

* volunteer (himself & hero) to help neighbours through busy shearing time to fein civic mindedness

* keep tight control over which locals she talks to.

* take her deep sea fishing in a tiny dingy to instil fear / show off his macho sailing prowess

* arrange for mates to turn up drunk & aggressive at 2am so he can be her ‘saviour’

[John Duvall]

John Duvall’s Villain Has a Great Plan!

What I learned is:

The villain’s motive must be original and become clear very gradually, obscured by various “red herring” suspects and their motives.

The villain must have a strong motive for their evildoing. It must satisfy a deeply rooted personal goal.

The villain’s plan may be peripheral to the opening of the plot, and only become central as the mysteries and intrigues unfold.

1. What is the end goal?

My villain is a prominent priest who is blackmailing wealthy parishioners based on what he’s learned from them in the confessional.

2. How can the villain accomplish this in a devious way?

He can use the sanctity of the confessional to prevent any questioning of his communications, and his stature to deflect any accusations.

3. How can they cover it up?

He can threaten or kill anyone who would consider investigating or revealing his activities.

4. When another priest is found dead (a suicide? a murder?), an investigation begins that implicates other possible suspects, including another central character.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  John Duvall.

[Ken Callaway]

KEN CALLAWAY’S VILLAIN HAS A GREAT PLAN

WHAT I LEARNED – LESSON FIVE

My story “Tolly’s Rangers” is loosely based on a longtime friend’s actual experiences in post-war England, when JRR “Tolly” Tolkien told scary fireside stories each night during a week-long scouting event.

I had copious of notes of the actual events and many well tuned (so I thought) plot points on how to craft my fictionalized version of this incredible time in a young boy’s life. What I didn’t know was how to deliver the evolution of my villain’s plan with incredible impact – with MIS for my story, my hero and mostly my villain. I feel through lesson five I have been gifted an amazing array of new tools and will be able to craft a fun, thrilling screenplay in a much shorter timeframe than I could have possibly imagined.

VILLAIN’S GOAL

To transform the earth into the singular realm of the fairies.

INTRIGUE

Since the start of Second World War the Ancient Fairies had been morphing young human children, building an army of fairy warriors. The morphed now gather for the first time as the new war draws near.

COVERT EVENTS & SECRETS

In the first days of the Second World War, “Operation Pied Piper” evacuated over 650,000 unaccompanied English children from the cities to the countryside to escape the German bombing raids. At the war’s end they came back home. They were older and they had all had been changed by the experience… but some were changed more than others.

VILLAIN’S PLAN (SEQUENCE)

1. Assemble the older scouts (morphed fairy warriors) at the annual Wolf Scout Jamboree.

2. Teach the morphed how to think like a pack.

3. Put the scouts through seven days of grueling work while teaching them how to fight like an army.

4. Discern which of the morphed could become the new fairy king.

5. Challenge the new king’s knowledge, spirit and powers to confirm he is worthy.

6. Introduce the new king to the young fairy queen.

7. Rid the gathering of any “Rangers”- scouts who could and would stand in the way of the plan.

8. Send the pack out into the world to finally begin the War of the Fairies.

[Lenore]

Lenore Bechtel: Villain Has a Great Plan!

From this assignment I learned that the villain’s backstory is very important.

Melantha Morris is Bellamount’s eccentric, rich old maid, beloved by all for the many charitable things she’s done in the community. In late 1999 when the town’s population outgrew the town’s only church, her contribution made the church’s expansion plan possible. She goes there often to meditate and is sometimes seen in the belfry, leaning with her eyes closed against the giant bell. Most marvel that a woman her age, 65 if she’s a day, can navigate the narrow winding stairs leading to the town’s highest spot. But then, everyone knows high heights don’t bother her. She flies her own airplane, a Beechcraft G36 Bonanza, often dipping her wings to say hello as she flies low over Main Street.

Old-timers remember that she once was expected to marry a young man who lived briefly in Bellamount when he was part of a contraction crew that built a bridge and road that made descending from this mountain town easier, though still somewhat dangerous. When the job was completed, he left town, and Melantha never married.

What old-timers didn’t know was that he had decided to become a priest, choosing a celibate life over married life with Melantha, who has hated Christian ever since. Her goal is to kill every Christian in Bellamount, but she wants to do it with a pizzazz that will make her a legend, not in the community—for there will be no one left—but in the world. At heart, she’s an atheist and thinks Christians are stupid, as she will have proven once she carries out her plan.

She took many years perfecting the art of hologram technology, and a timed projector in the church belfry will project a hologram of Jesus into the sky, showing him arriving for the second coming. As He come closer and closer, she will pull behind her Beechcraft (disguised with a new paint job) a banner saying “COME TO BELLAMOUNT CHRISTIAN CHURCH.” She has practiced many low flights so as to be sure not to fly within the confines of the hologram.

She will padlock the church so her victims will gather around it and in the streets leading to it—easy prey to be killed instantly by the barium, aluminum salts, polymer fibers, thorium, and silicon carbide she has bought and hoarded for many years. Even though she had to drive many miles to do so because of that pest Elijah who always saved local animals in trouble, she tested it on a zoo’s monkey, panda, and wolf and knows that it works. She was sorry she could not take credit for all three mysterious deaths which were highly reported by the media.

Melantha was not sorry she had to slit Daniel’s tire so he’d be sure to lose control of his car on one of the sharp curves going down the mountain. She hated that family with their telesthesia and travelling clairvoyance, and had been very careful not to arouse suspicion with both Daniel’s mother and grandmother. But Daniel’s deeming power seemed to extend beyond his decision to use it. Something led him to the danger he needed to see.

Melantha had come this far—she couldn’t allow him to live. If the slit tire hadn’t done the trick, she would have found another way. Just as she’d found a way with both her parents when they wouldn’t give her the money she wanted to follow her boyfriend and lure him away from the priesthood. Too bad inheriting money hadn’t helped persuade him from his so-called calling. She certainly intended to let him know he caused the death of every Christian in Bellamount. And after she did, she’d find another belfry and keep killing Christians for the rest of her life.

[Donna Stockwell]

Oh you should have chosen the V-tail Bonanza.. it has some quirky characteristics, not an easy plane to fly, you have to keep on top of it, and parts are few and far between. And I hope you add a lot of flying and maintenance of that bird into your story!

[Edith Schmidt]

Edith’s villain has a great plan!

What I learned is that the best way to weave the threads together is to start at the end.

My story:

1. What is the end goal of my villain: he wants to hurt and kill André because he wants his father to suffer like he did when his own son died because he was fired by André’s father.

2. How can the villain accomplish that in a devious way: he follows André everywhere after bumping into him at the toy shop.

3. How can he cover it up: he merely threatens André at the beginning, first himself, later his wife and children, pretending it was something André had done, and only when he meets his father the truth is revealed.

4. Sequence it to make it as intriguing as possible: he follows André on his way home (where his wife and children live whom he wants back) and watching how they act and prepare for christmas, following him on the business trip André has to take to please his father, André is shot at but nobody is seen, even the business meeting is ruined, cutting the business short André hurries home in fear of his wife and children and is attacked many times, he is finally taken hostage and taken to his father where the reasons for the villain are revealed.

[Jason ferrell]

Jason’s Villain has a “Great” Plan.

What I learned is… that the villain’s plan is the key to the structure, which is the reason that my learning story is currently not great.

I do like the focus on the villain’s plan first as it is a shift in thinking. And since the hero is really reacting to the villain’s plan for most of the film it makes sense that the plan is driving the story. At least until the hero catches up or begins to act proactively.

1. The end goal is to keep the world using gas as they always have in the same way they always have. To keep the energy power dynamic status quo.

2. By destroying everyone who figures out the lie, Globo Oil keeps all the little lemmings marching off the cliff and paying for it By tricking everyone into believing that by keeping the status quo they are saving the planet, being virtuous (saving grandma and the children) and demonize those who want to reveal the truth. By declaring war on truth through asymetric warfare, false narratives, false flags, and controlled opposition.

3. Act like Globo Oil is saving the environment.

– status quo is virtuous because grandparents were fooled by the lie as well. Historical – way we’ve always done things. (Grandparents elders)

– Appeal to authority (respect authority) – Appeal to greed (buy you off)

– Character assassination (social media plants) destroys his fiance’s life

– False narrative spread through social media (deep fakes) destroys his families life – take away retirement, health care, benefits, pension, property.

– False narrative spread through government (misinformation) destroys his life

– Appear to Kidnap loved one. Frame up in false flag = tempt hero to react and have him frame himself (on camera)

– Close friend betrayal for money/survival (sells out)

– Attempt to incarcerate or put in asylum (to use the system to punish and remove)

– Controlled Op betrayal – those he believes are going to help reveal instead betray him and frame him for additional prosecution (the controlled media joins Globo Oil in the smear because Globo Oil is their largest advertiser and owner through a subsidiary)

– Present unwinnable front (Political pressure from politicians (Mayor/Senator)

– Appear to not be in charge – (stepped deceptions – appeals to authority hiding the head of medusa)

– Assassination and then destruction of all who helped (full out warfare – giant false flag to burn the entire town and surrounding areas.)

[Serita Stevens]

My Villain’s Great plan –

The Villain’s goal -to make tons of money and live the high life. He has no concern for others but does care about the patients that he is dealing with – as long as they are paying him big bucks.

He accomplishes things in a devious way by encouraging the patients to get foreign transplants and not telling the patients where the organs come from or how they are obtained. Ignorance is bliss he believes. And says that they are more concerned about their own survival than that of anyone else so he feels they will not care where organs are from.

He really makes no effort to cover it up until Debra starts investigating.

He tries to romance her and makes her think that Dr. Chu is the one arranging for the Chinese transplants and makes her feel that Dr. Chu is the villain.

Debra won’t discover his betrayal until they are over in China and she is trapped and they are trying to kill her and take her liver to transplant to the patient that she has brought with to China.

[Michael Katz]

Villain: Fossil Fuel Industry, Spy #1, Spy#2, world’s greatest international spy.

Hero: Developing megalomaniac solar astrophysicist.

VILLAIN’S PLAN: Spies routinely sabotage innovative energy demonstrations, steal technology, and kill inventors.

End Goal: To impede energy innovation, eliminate competition, and keep their grip on power.Devious

Intrigue: World’s greatest spy enlisted. Spy craft used. Endless resources. License to kill.

Cover Up of <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Secrets: Government conspiracy to maintain the hierarchy of the world order. They are lending out their spies to carry out assassinations

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>V1: IMPERSONATION/SABOTAGE: Spy#1 ruins the technology demonstration, injures Hero, kills his partner. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>PURPOSE: sympathy for Hero, creates mystery of who the Villain is, shows their diabolical nature.

V2: ESCAPE/KILL HIM: Spy#1’s tries to escape, and Hero tries to apprehend him. Spy#1 threatens Hero, “I will destroy your whole world.” “Find another career, and I won’t kill you.” Hero resists. Spy#1 shoots Hero in the chest and leaves him for dead. PURPOSE: sympathy for Hero as victim, shows the stakes for Hero, Spy#1 is the villain, creates righteous revenge mission, gives glimpse into Hero’s psychological state

V3: INTERFERE WITH OBSTACLES: Laws passed, manufacturing interfered with, bad press, arson, bribes, smear campaign. PURPOSE: sympathy for Hero as frustrated victim, shows Villain is pervasive, formidable, and relentless

V4: IMPERSONATION/SABOTAGE/KILL HIM: Spy#1 attends the technology demonstration to sabotage it, but Hero surprises and kills Spy#1. PURPOSE: Villain’s plan of eliminating competition revealed, Hero switches to villainy

V5: IMPERSONATION/GAMBLING: Spy#2 inserts himself subtly into Hero’s world, Spy#2 meets LoveInterest, beats Hero. PURPOSE:

V6: INVESTIGATION: Spy#2 pokes around Hero’s affairs, gets clues of Hero’s plan

V7: SABOTAGE: Spy#2 stops Hero’s eco-terrorism mission

V8: CHASE: Spy#2 chases Hero, Hero escapes

V9: ATTACK/ATTEMPTS ASSASSINATION: Spy#2 infiltrates Hero’s lair with team equipped with fierce weapons and kill all the minions, Spy#2 ruthlessly kills LoveInterest’s brother, tries to kill Hero, but Hero escapes with LoveInterest, Spy#2 destroys the lair.

V10: CRISIS/DECISION/ESCAPE: Spy#2 tracks down at lair, has Hero at gunpoint, but Spy#2 has a job to do, doesn’t care, and is revealed to be a womanizer, LoveInterest is scorned and switches back allegence to Hero and aids his escape

V11: FITTING ENDING: Spy#2 dies in some stupid elaborate unescapable contraption, as the Hero watches, knowing that he lost because he didn’t care and was an insufferable self-indulgent womanizing asshole who made the wrong decision and will be on the wrong side of history, unable to McGuiver an escape. And the Hero watches the Villain die.

[Rachel Morgan]

Rachel’s villain has a great plan.

What I learned from this assignment was to build a strong foundation for the villain and make him as devious and dangerous as possible.

1. What is the end goal?

· Dangerous villain Col. Alexie Krasnoff wants the Soviet Union to conquer Europe. To do this, he wants to spark a war between the Soviet Union and NATO. This is a war he believes the USSR can win because of its superior troop numbers and tank battalions facing Europe. But it can only win if the war starts before America has time to expand its nuclear capacity, its bomber fleet, an ICBM delivery system and a nuclear sub fleet. Krasnoff is a devotee of Stalin, who died in 1953. Krasnoff is disillusioned by the new Soviet leadership, which he feels is weak. A war would be the golden opportunity for a new strong leadership to take over and establish Soviet dominance in Europe.

2. How can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

· Krasnoff intends to detonate a nuclear bomb in New York City. This would destroy America’s largest economic centre, its key banking centre and one of its largest ports. He will let it be known that the bomb was planted by the Soviet Union, forcing America to retaliate. At the same time, he will alert like-minded allies in the Soviet forces, who will have the advantage of being ready to attack when the Americans strike. This group will stage a coup in Moscow.

3. How can they cover it up?

· A series of “accidents” at Soviet military bases will cover the theft of bomb parts.

· The bomb parts will be assembled and hidden within an electric generator that will take a circuitous route to New York.

· The FBI will be given a false trail through rumors that a nuclear suitcase bomb is being shipped to New York from South America.

· The detonation site will be a construction project within a well-known New York building.

· A second bomb of conventional explosives will also be planted as a diversion at a different well-known New York building.

· FBI officers will be lured to the site of the conventional bomb and it will be detonated to kill them, thus ensuring the team planting the atomic bomb has a clear field.

4. Sequence it to make it as intriguing as possible.

· Krasnoff plans to build a suitcase bomb from parts stolen from Soviet military bases.

· A series of accidents at the Soviet bases will make it look like the bomb parts were lost rather than stolen.

· The thefts will be carried out by officers loyal to Krasnoff.

· The bomb parts will be smuggled through different channels into Cairo, where they will be assembled and hidden within an electric generator.

· The bomb will be secretly transported to Marseilles before being sent to Montreal.

· A front company that manufactures electric generators in Montreal will openly ship the bomb within the generator to New York, ensuring it looks legitimate.

· Through secret sources in South America, false rumors will be floated that a nuclear suitcase bomb possibly of Soviet origin is being shipped north – this will divert FBI attention to shipping from South America.

· Once safely in a New York warehouse, the bomb will be removed from the generator and taken to the detonation location.

· The detonation site will be a construction project within a well-known New York building.

· A second bomb of conventional explosives will also be planted as a diversion at a different well-known New York building.

· False clues will lure American FBI officers to the site of the conventional bomb and the bomb will be detonated to kill them, thus ensuring the team planting the atomic bomb has a clear field.

· Anyone who gets in the way of the plan will be killed.

[John Duvall]

John Duvall’s Mystery Sequence

What I learned from this assignment: The best strategy for structuring a suspense thriller is to start with the villain’s motive, and build a string of mysteries for the hero to work through.

What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?

Father Hargraves (the villain) is blackmailing parishioners and murders Monsignor Dennehy to cover it up.

How many ways can they cover that secret? Those become
the mysteries.

Father Hargraves frames Sister Teresa to make her look guilty of the murder.

He frames Monsignor Dennehy to make it look like he was having an affair with Sister Teresa.

The first mystery must engage the Hero into solving it.

Monsignor engaged Father Bloom to investigate reductions in the church’s donations and irregularities in its finances.

Sequence the mysteries so that each one leads us to the
next one. Include ONE Red Herring mystery if you can.

Father Bloom engages Sister Teresa as an ally in his investigation, only to begin to believe she is a suspect in these crimes.

Create a Mystery Chain for each main mystery.

Monsignor Dennehy asks Father Bloom to participate in the new Shelter project, but he becomes infatuated with Sister Teresa and she returns his affection.

As he uncovers evidence of a closer relationship between Sister Teresa and Monsignor Dennehy, he begins to mistrust her honesty,

When Monsignor Dennehy is found dead, Sister Teresa is emotionally devastated. While there is a normal explanation for her reaction, Father Bloom begins to uncover evidence of a closer relationship between the two going back years.

Sister Teresa’s behavior becomes more and more erratic – and her honesty more questionable – the deeper Father Bloom’s investigation goes. He discovers that Sister Teresa has a secret, disreputable life.

Disillusioned, Father Bloom ends his affair with Sister Teresa, sending her into an emotional downward spiral, perhaps a suicide attempt.

As Father Hargraves encourages Father Bloom’s doubt about Teresa, he begins to question the intensity of Hargrave’s accusations.

Hargraves plans to kill Father Bloom and frame Sister Teresa for his murder.

But Sister Teresa reveals herself to be a dissociated multiple personality, by stepping forward to prevent Hargraves from killing Bloom. Hargraves then falls to his death from the same church tower from which Monsignor Dennehy fell.

[Donna Stockwell]

Donna Stockwell’s Villain Has a Great Plan

What I learned is that I have to make small steps to piece the sequence together, to be convincing and realistic to the audience.

The end goal is to get Hadiya’s art into the gallery.
The Villain, Casey, wants to submit Hadiya’s art under her own name.
Casey keeps Hadiya and her art hidden from the art world, Casey has a direct line to get art into the gallery.
There needs to be a red herring or two, so that Hadiya gets sidetracked and/or distracted, so that Casey can enter her art into the gallery, and have every scene a gradual reveal that Hadiya cannot believe the trust she has for Casey has never been true, and finally sees her art in the gallery with Casey’s name on it.

[Caroline Fritz]

Caroline’s Villain has a great plan!

What I learned: I didn’t want to do this because I thought it was hard, but it wasn’t difficult.

1. What is the villain’s end goal?
To deliver Callahan to the arms dealer to kill him.

2. How can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

Pretend she has been kidnapped so Callahan has to save her.

3. How can they cover it up?
Make it look like the villain’s husband is the bad guy

4. Sequence to make it as intriguing as possible.

· Invite Callahan to visit the couple in the States where he is away from him support group.

· Make it look like Gabrielle, Callahan’s late wife’s best friend, has been kidnapped.

· Disappear Aaron, Gabrielle’s husband, at the ransom drop.

· Have the CIA, Aaron’s employer, threaten to deport Callahan.

· Lure Callahan to the arms dealer’s lair in Mexico to get him away from the clutches of the CIA.

· Set him up to try and save Gabrielle or die trying.

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo’s Villain Has a Great Plan

What I Learned from This…. I have been trying for years to concisely nail down the backstory and motivation of the boss, Max. This exercise helped me clarify why Max was selling the visas and to sequence Max’s actions.

What
is the end goal?

Max, on his last tour as a US diplomat, wants to retire with a lot of money, a new life and a new wife. The reality is that he has only a modest pension to live on, a start-home house in Virginia and an alcoholic wife.

How
can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

Max arranges with a cartel leader to sell visas. Shortly after that, he rekindles a relationship with Carmen (La Telaraña), a lover from years before and now the leader of a small cartel. He then also begins selling visas to her.

How
can they cover it up?

Each visa is numbered by a machine and the visas are issued during the working hours by the junior-most American officer. Max comes in after hours stamps a visa for a narco-trafficker. The junior officer can’t reconcile the discrepancy and Max can blame him for not controlling the work. Max blackmailed one junior officer (JO) to look the other way, but he was transferred. Along comes Chuck who can’t be bought off.

Sequence
it to make it as intriguing as possible.

· Max was already making money with visa selling scheme with the conspiracy with the previous JO. Max starts off slowly with Chuck, the new JO.

· Max continues with the sales. When Chuck notices the discrepancy, Max blames it on a spoiled (misprint) visa.

· Max talks about the money that could be made to find out if Chuck could be corrupted. Chuck misreads the cues and focuses on his mission.

· When the pattern of missing visas continues, Max suggests it might be the fault of one of the Colombian employees. Chuck investigates but rules it out.

· Max starts rumors that Chuck is skimming off cash from visas fees. Chuck realizes that Max can bring him down.

· Chuck becomes friends with a couple who give him information which uncovers the plot. Max finds out that Chuck knows the couple and Chuck warns him away from the

· Chuck gives the info to the security office who then leaks it to Max. Max then plots to get rid of Chuck by sending him on business to the heart of the rival cartel. That leads to the final confrontation scenes.