Lesson 5: Create Your ACTION Track

[Robert Smith]

ROBERT SMITH’s ACTION TRACK.

WHAT I LEARNED DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT IS…?

A great tool to mesh together Hero and Villain tracks into a story.

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Review of the story:

GENRE: Gangster-Action

TITLE: The Golem of Gangland.

PLACE: New York City.

TIME: 1940.

The New York Syndicate, headed by Charlie “Lucky” Luciano and Meyer Lansky have a subdivision of contract killers that came to be known as “Murder Incorporated” headed by Jewish gangsters “Lepke” Buchalter and ruthless hitman Abe “Kid Twist” Reles. This story is based on actual persons and events but fictionalized.

PITCH: A gangster and rabbi’s son (Max Levitsky) acquires a demon-possessed Golem and an ancient text of a death-curse for his use in order to protect the Jewish community from enemies. After the gangsters and the Golem wreak havoc on a Nazi Rally in New York, the villain (Abe Reles) is out to kill Max and capture the Golem and the death curse for the nefarious criminal purposes of the mob. Will Max’s rabbi father rescue him before he is destroyed by either Reles or the Golem who is growing in demonic power.

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ASSIGNMENT

CREATE A ROUGH DRAFT OF YOUR ACTION TRACK.

1. Answer Action Questions.

A. What actions could show up in this movie.

Gangland related violence and violence related to a supernatural monster (the

Golem)

B. Considering the Mission and Villain Tracks, what action could work for this track?

Fateful orders

Boss Meyer Lansky calls Jewish gangsters to disrupt Nazi Rally.

Boss “Lepke” Buchalter orders Reles to kill Max and capture the Golem

and the Pulsa di-Nura (Lash of Fire) death-curse to further the criminal empire of the Syndicate and Mirder Incorporated.

ACTIONS

Fight of Max and the Golem against Nazis at their Rally.

Car Chase of Reles after Max to capture the Golem and kill Max.

Car crash of Reles (who escapes), Golem slams car.

Tommy gun drive by shooting by Reles of Max, but misses Max and kills

beloved family friend Hayyim Gottlieb/

FATEFUL ORDER: Detective Mike Murtagh and Assistant D. A. Jack

Saperstein order APB to arrest Reles.

Reles vows to kill Murtagh and Saperstein – against mob rules.

Boss Lucky Luciano and Lepke order a preemptive hit on Reles.

Reles surrenders to Police for protection and rats on his former

mob boss Lepke.

The Golem kills Reles (throwing him from his police-guarded hotel room,

after overhearing Max reading aloud the Pulsa death curse upon

Reles.

Golem derails a subway train.

Max’s father (Rabbi Shmuel) deactivates the Golem.

RESOLUTION: Max renounces the mob, surrenders to police to testify against Lepke, and re-enters his family and faith.

C. How can the action start well, build in the 2^nd Act and escalate to a climax in the third?

ACT ONE

ACTIONS

ACT ONE

Detective Murtagh and Asistant D. A. Saperstein find mobster turncoat Abe Reles dead, fallen from (or thrown from) his police-guarded 6^th floor hotel room on the eve of his testifying against his former boss Lepke Buchalter of Murder Incorporated.

CARD: A YEAR EARLIER.

Gangster (and rabbi’s son) Max Levinsky acquired a live clay demon-

possessed golem from a noted rabbi in Jerusalem as well as the text of an ancient death curse (The “Pulsa di-Nura” or “Lashes of Fire,” hereafter referred to as the Pulsa), The Rabbi called on Max to use them to protect the American Jewish community from its antisemitic enemies, i.e., the American Nazi Party.

Max shows off the Golem and the Pulsa death curse to his boss Lepke

Buchalter and to Lepke’s ruthless killer Underboss Abe “Kid Twist” Reles.

Syndicate Boss Meyer Lansky calls all Jewish gangsters to disrupt a Nazi

rally in New York. Max will bring the Golem.

However, Lepke orders Reles to kill Max and capture the Pulsa and the

Golem for the nefarious purpose of expanding the power of the

crime Syndicate.

At the Nazi rally, Max fights Nazis with martial arts he learned from the

Haganah, while the Golem, now growing in height and strength

uses brute force..

After the rally and bloodying many Nazis, Reles car chases Max (who has

the Golem) so he could kill Max and capture the Golem as ordered by Lepke. Instead what happens is…

Reles’s car crasjes/ Re;es escapes but the Golem crushes the car.

Next day, there is an attempted tommy gun drive-by shooting by Reles of

Max, but Reles only slightly wounds Max and kills

beloved family friend Hayyim Gottlieb. Max tells police that the shooter was Reles.

ACT TWO

FATEFUL ORDER: Detective Mike Murtagh and Assistant D. A. Jack

Saperstein order APB to arrest Reles.

Reles vows to kill Murtagh and Saperstein – against mob rules.

Boss Lucky Luciano (from prison) and Lepke order a preemptive hit on

Reles.

Reles learns he’s a marked man and surrenders to Murtagh and Saperstein

Seeking their protection and in return rats on all the mob bosses who now seek his life, principally, Lepke.

ACT THREE

In his hate-filled thirst for revenge against Reles, Max recites the Pulsa.

The Golem hears him and takes it as an order from Max to kill

Reles.

Led by some supernatural radar, the Golem treks through subway tunnels

to Coney Island

The Golem kills Reles (throwing him from his police-guarded hotel room,

On the return trek, the Golem derails a subway train.

Max’s father (Rabbi Shmuel) deactivates the Golem. Murtagh and

Saperstein realize the Golem killed Reles but cannot charge a non-

human being with a crime and can’t arrest Max for murder simply because he ‘wished Reles was dead.’

Max’s father (Rabbi Shmuel) deactivates the Golem using formulae from

Jewish mysticism ..

RESOLUTION: Rabbi Shmuel also rescues his son as Max renounces the mob, surrenders to Murtagh and Saperstein, agrees to testify against Lepke, and he re-enters his family and faith.

2. Select the types of action you’ll use.

___ Shoot out.

___ Orders.

___ Dangerous Situations.

___ Covert work.

___ Escape/evade..

___ Interrogation.

___ Rescue.

­­­___Discovery

3. Sequence the action scenes to deliver your story. Give us your list of action scenes and the purpose of each scene.

(At this point I realize I have more of a crime thriller with elements of action rather than an action film but I want to take this script as far as I can. Its premise is unique. Nobody has done a Golem film in a century and mixed the Golem into the gangster genre. Maybe add more action where I can.)

ACTION SCENEs

FIGHT: Jewish gangsters, including Max and his Golem disrupt with violence

the Nazi rally. Max fights Nazis with martial arts he learned from the Haganah.

PURPOSE: To demonstrate the strength of the demon-possessed Golem and the reality that the gangsters were admired among the Jewish community as the only Jews with the muscle to protect them.

CHASE/PURSUIT: After the rally ,and bloodying many Nazis, Reles car chases

Max (who has the Golem) for the purpose of killing Max and capturing the Golem as ordered by Lepke. Instead

Reles’s car crasjes/ Re;es escapes but the Golem crushes the car.

PURPOSE: The villain (Reles) is evil and stops at tnothing.

SHOOTOUT: Next day, there is an attempted tommy gun drive-by shooting by

Reles of Max, but Reles only slightly wounds Max and kills beloved

family friend Hayyim Gottlieb/

PURPOSE: Sympathy for innocent bystander who dies. It moves Max to

consider that his mob involvements are not worth it. When Murtagh investigates,

DANGEROUS SITUATION: Murtagh and Saperstein put out an APB to arrest

Reles. PURPOSE: To move story into its climas of Reles precipitant action which is…

DANGEROUS SITUATION: Mob Bosses Luciano and Lepke order a hit on

Reles to prevent him from killing Murtagh and Saperstein which is against

mob rules because it will draw police attention.. PURPOSE: To show

there is really no safe home for a mobster and to compel Reles to do the following…

DANGEROUS SITUATION/ESCAPE.COVERT WORK: Upon learning that his

former bosses have ordered a hit on him, Reles surrenders to Police,

Murtagh and Saperstein for their protection with his willingness to ‘rat’ on

his former bosses, especially, Lepke.

CHASE/PURSUIT: The Golem overhears Max recite the Pulsa death-curse

against Reles and hikes through the subways following a supernatural

radar to Reles’s hotel room.

DANGEROUS SITUATION: The Golem tosses Reles out his hotel room to his

death on the eve of Reles’s court testimony against Lepke.. PURPOSE: symmetry with opening of finding Reles’s body. This also demonstrates the danger of the destructive demon animating the Golem.

FIGHT: The Golem does not understand subway trains, so he derails one.

PURPOSE: Demonstrate how dangerous the Golem has become

reaquiring his deactivation.

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• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Robert Smith.

[leland teschler]

What I learned doing the action track is that varying in the action sequences can make for a more interesting movie script.
A. Considering the concept from Lesson 1, what action could naturally show up in this movie?–gun fights, knife fights, hand to hand combat, explosions
B. Considering the Mission and Villain Tracks, what action could work for this track? – combat scenes, unconventional weapon fights, bomb defusing, chase scenes, people thrown through windows, lethal version of food fights.
C. How can the action start well, build in the 2nd Act, and escalate to a climax in the 3rd Act?–Initial scene is an action sequence. Second act includes fights with run-of-the-mill thieves and thugs, then a thwarting of one of the villain’s plans. Third act climaxes in a confrontation with the main villain.
Action sequence
A. Near miss—On undercover assignment, hero finds out his cover is blown when thug pulls a gun. The thing that saves him is his ability to read the thug’s thoughts before the gun comes out.
Purpose: Reveals the hero’s ability to read minds; near miss shows why he wants to retire to a desk job
B. Street fight: Hero & colleagues watch villain’s meeting place get raided by uninformed police. Once again, an operation is blown.
Purpose: Sets up need for villain to change meeting place. Shows how easy it is for undercover operations to be compromised accidentally.
C. Confrontation: Hero subdues armed robber using unconventional weapons, without altering villains what’s going on.
Purpose: Gives a glimpse of hero’s skills—improvising weapons, using robber’s thoughts against him.
D. Rescue: Hero rescues owner’s kid from the French fryer in a creative way.
Purpose: Endears hero to little kid; lets hero reveal his slight-of-hand magic skills in conversation after the rescue; sets up kid for believing hero later when he reveals he can actually read minds.
E. Prelude: Hero thwarts weapons buy in armed confrontation with villain agents.
Purpose: Shows the hero’s weakness—he can’t read minds of people thinking on other languages; gives villains a hint that the hero is the one sabotaging their plans.
F. Finale: Hero takes on villains bent on killing him and entire staff. Gets help from kid who speaks the villains’ language.
Purpose: Gives the villains what they deserve. Reveals hero identity to restaurant staff who hassled him.

[ATAUR BACCHUS]

ATAUR’S ACTION TRACK

WHAT I LEARNED – 1. STRUCTURED FILL IN THE BLANKS APPROACH; 2. TECHNIQUE FOR MERGING CONCEPT, MISSION TRACK AND VILLAIN TRACK

Action Track Development
1. Answer the Action Questions
A. Considering the Concept, what action could naturally show up in this movie?
• Given the urban guerrilla fighter turned private investigator, action scenes would include infiltration, sabotage, hand-to-hand combat, shootouts, and strategic takedowns of the syndicate’s operations. Jesse’s background suggests guerrilla tactics and close-quarters combat will be prevalent.
B. Considering the Mission Track and Villain Track, what action could work for this track?
• For the mission track, action could include covert infiltrations, sabotage missions, and intelligence-gathering operations.
• For the villain track, action could involve ambushes, escapes, retaliatory strikes by Noriega’s men, and climactic confrontations.
C. How can the action start well, build in the 2nd Act, and escalate to a climax in the 3rd Act?
• Start well: Introduce Jesse’s skills and motivations with a small-scale sabotage mission against the mining company.
• Build in the 2nd Act: Increase stakes with Jesse infiltrating deeper into the syndicate, facing escalating threats and larger skirmishes. Introduce high-tension situations where Jesse narrowly escapes or rescues allies.
• Escalate to a climax in the 3rd Act: Jesse launches an all-out assault on the syndicate’s headquarters, culminating in a final showdown with Noriega.
2. Select the types of action you’ll use
• A. Chase/Pursuit
• B. Fight
• C. Shootout
• D. Rescue
• E. Escape/Evade
• G. Dangerous Situations
3. Sequence the action scenes to deliver your story
Act 1: Setup
1. Reconnaissance and Initial Sabotage
o Purpose: Introduce Jesse’s skills and establish the threat of the mining company.
o Action Type: Escape/Evade, Dangerous Situations
Act 2: Confrontation
2. Infiltration of a Syndicate Operation
o Purpose: Gather intelligence and disrupt minor operations.
o Action Type: Chase/Pursuit, Fight
3. Ambush by Syndicate Enforcers
o Purpose: Increase stakes and showcase Jesse’s combat prowess.
o Action Type: Shootout, Fight
4. Rescue of Captured Allies
o Purpose: Develop Jesse’s character and his bonds with the townspeople.
o Action Type: Rescue, Dangerous Situations
5. Deep Cover and Discovery of Crucial Evidence
o Purpose: Drive the plot forward and reveal key information.
o Action Type: Escape/Evade, Dangerous Situations
o
6. Capture and Escape
o Purpose: Introduce significant peril and highlight Jesse’s resilience.
o Action Type: Escape/Evade, Fight
Act 3: Resolution
7. Final Assault on the Syndicate Headquarters
o Purpose: Climax of the story, featuring coordinated attacks and high-stakes action.
o Action Type: Shootout, Dangerous Situations, Fight
8. Showdown with Noriega
o Purpose: Resolve the central conflict between Jesse and Noriega.
o Action Type: Fight, Dangerous Situations
9. Aftermath and Restoration of Order
o Purpose: Show the resolution of the main plot and Jesse’s impact on the town.
o Action Type: N/A (focus on character resolution and thematic closure)
HOPE This sequence ensures a steady escalation of tension and action, leading to a satisfying and climactic resolution.