Lesson 6 Assignments

[Mhmd AbuRayan]

Mhmd’s Genre Conventions

My Vision: I will keep creating constantly and effectively; in order to be the most demanded and influential glorified writer within the industry and with the audience.

What I learned from doing this assignment is..

– At first glance it seems very tempting to work on 3 stories together more than one in the assignments; However, it turns out that focusing on one script is the most appropriate solution.

Concept: Shocking revolutionary actions escalate inside a labor colony of conjoined twins cut out of the will, underhandedly driven – with sudden and unexpected patterns- by a conjoined twin who has an impossible mutation.

Genre: Thriller

Conventions:

Purpose: Any thing or one could be lethal, how my hero survives? The villain is after him in order to know what knows even if it demanded to kill him. My hero doesn’t know yet that he is the most lethal element in here.

Life and death situations: every step through the journey above.

Mystery/ Intrigue/ Suspense/ Hero/ Villain: How could my hero be unintentionally unexpected every step? What my hero knows about or can do, no one else. What the villain knows about him exclusively and schemes relying on it.

Main emotions: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, and surprise.

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Act 1:

· Opening: Lethal mistakes happen a lot inside the conjoined twins colony. (84) carries out the work orders he receives as any wellnessless worker inside the colony. He has to survive every day from others’ mistakes and being discovered by guards as a free well one, otherwise he is an introvert. And while all the other twins obey what is asked of them by anyone, he refuses to obey the orders of the followers of (3) to join their gang.

· Inciting Incident: (3) orders (Spider) to target (84), who refuses to obey; either recruits him or kills him. No one knows why (3) insists that bad to get (84) in, even (3) himself; yet.

· Turning Point: Spider is alone with (84) and puts him in front of two options: either he will obey and join them, or he will be killed now. Spider severely injuresh (84), who nonetheless manages to escape. Will he escape out again from the gab that no one else knows about? He has to deliver some ones to death first and survive more dangerous things from now on. The physical pain now is nothing besides his feeling treachered. They did a great mistake!

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Act 2:

· New plan: To be declared (84) forsaked and wanted at the same time. He has no place or people he can trust but he can do a lot by moving undercover as a lone wolf who refuses to build up support from the utterly obedient workers who surround him everywhere he goes.

· Plan in action: (84) begins to neutralize gang members randomly and vandalize some of their places. But every time he does this, they put procedures in place so that he cannot return to the scene again. He decides to target Spider. Spider, on the other hand, is busy carrying out (3)’s sporadic, incomprehensible orders. (84) considers each of them a good opportunity to target him, but he misses the opportunity after other, and he does not realize that his mistakes are very important to (3) and exploits them in a vague way that those around him do not understand.

· Midpoint Turning Point: Finally (84) manages to catch Spider at an unexpected point, and Spider at that moment only cares about leaving in any way because there are much more serious matters and he has only one last chance to leave. And (84) cuts him off already. Spider reveals to him that he is an undercover agent and that his mission was to discover what is being schemed inside the colony, and that he thought (84) was responsible for this, so he did not hesitate to carry out (3)’s orders regarding him. Whereas it appeared to him later that there was a massive escape plan that had already started with (3)’s planning. And that there is a role for (84) that he was supposed to play if he had accepted to join. And no one else can fulfill this role. Now Spider has to go back to improvise and pretend to complete his role in Scheme of (3) as the only security breach that will be done in the Scheme.

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Act 3:

· Rethink everything: (84) re-evaluates everything after the cognitive shock he received from Spider. He decides to devise new and rapid strategies to recruit an increasing number of conjoined twins and builds them into contiguous formations that can respond and move in surprising ways like never before.

· New plan: Now he will move on a different scale to control the internal borders of the colony from the outskirts, in order to precede (3)’s plan, block the road for him and besiege him inside the colony.

· Turning Point: As soon as (84) is able to achieve control, he is surprised that this is what (3) wanted him to do, and that the recognized conditions in the colony mean that he is now just a cog in the (3)’s sweeping machine. He’s back in more crushed than he ever was.

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Act 4:

· Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Now there is no solution but for him to be in sole control of the colony before the security forces from outside can regain control of it. And he has to go into direct confrontation with (3). He will secretly ally himself with Spider to thwart (3)’s plan and unite the groups equipped to escape. He will direct those with him to implement a new and crazy strategy.

· Resolution: (3) discovers that he and the security forces have become part of (84)’s last strategy, and that he now controls everyone. He unleashes his orders and tells them part of his vision, which has become open to unprecedented levels, and that he also has other goals that go beyond the colony. We will work to achieve it soon.

[Kristina Zill]

KZ’s Genre Conventions

Vision for my future: I am an empowered writer who is a master of structure and genre, and who can turn any idea into a salable script.

What I learned doing this assignment is that this point in the process of creating something-from-nothing is like a Catch-22. You need to add in more genre conventions, but you’ll get more ideas about how to add in genre conventions by going further into character and plot. Everything at this point is in flux and subject to change, which is both wonderful and unsettling.

Title: ESCAPE FROM NIRVANA

Concept: Two rival cutthroat negotiators must work together to outwit their meditation instructor in order to escape Nirvana

Genre: Comedy

Four-Part Structure with genre enhancements

Changes are in bold:

Prelude: Warren Buffet touts the benefits of meditation for improving the speed of thought, thus gaining an edge in business. Suddenly, Myra’s meditation class is full of business types looking for an advantage over competitors.

Opening: For Wendy and Darwin, everything is a negotiation, no matter how trivial. Also for both, they don’t win unless the other person loses. We see Wendy and Darwin winning negotiations, but in domestic or social settings, not at the negotiation table. They have different dirty tricks, but the same goal: to defeat their opponents, whether it’s manipulating Mom, or achieving victory over a street vendor selling hot dogs. We see them in their actual jobs making mincemeat of other, gentler negotiators. Then we see them at a conference where they brush up on their skills. After hours, they and other young hotshots play strip poker. Wendy and Darwin are attracted to each other, but as they sit in their underwear after the game, watching other players pairing off for the night, they are unable to come to terms about how lovemaking would be conducted and each wind up in their hotel room alone.

Inciting Incident: Wendy and Darwin sit at opposite sides of the meditation room, but because they ace everything, they quickly become standouts for how well they meditate. Wendy and Darwin are assigned by their respective Mergers & Acquisitions departments to face off against each other in the most high stakes negotiation of their lives.

Turning point: During one of Myra’s guided meditations, all three – Myra, Wendy and Darwin – wake up on a train hurtling through space, on its way to Nirvana.

Act 2: En Route to Nirvana

New plan:

Wendy and Darwin must convince Myra that they don’t belong in Nirvana and should be sent back.

Plan in action:

Here is an opportunity for misinterpretation. They speak of one thing, and she interprets it through her one-with-the-universe lens. When they finally make their meaning clear, the negotiators find that Myra is impervious to their techniques because she thinks they are agents of samsara sent to deny her access to Nirvana. She has a map that outlines the steps they must take for the train to deliver them to Nirvana. Without telling her the truth, Wendy and Darwin takes steps to manipulate Myra and sabotage the plan. They are desperate to make it back to the negotiating table.

Midpoint turning point:

Myra figures out what they’re up to and tells Wendy and Darwin that they must work together, but that there is only one place on the express train back to reality. Wendy double-crosses Darwin and imagines she’s back at the negotiation table facing off with his replacement, but it was an illusion, and she’s back on the train. Wendy realizes that her usual scorched earth negotiation tactics won’t get her anywhere, and she must try to adopt the techniques Myra recommended, but which she’s never used before: trust, honesty, cooperation.

Act 3

Rethink everything:

Wendy and Darwin go against years of ingrained training and try to be honest with each other.

New plan:

In order to get what they want, the negotiators must also see that Myra gets what she wants, which goes against their core belief of scorched earth tactics.

Turning Point – huge failure, major shift.

(not sure what this will be yet)

Act 4

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict/ Resolution

In an act of supreme cooperation, Wendy tells Darwin he can take the only spot on the train, but to her surprise, he has changed course and realizes that Nirvana is what he wanted all along. She takes the train back to reality and winds up in the meditation room where the other students were just becoming aware that the three of them are unresponsive. Wendy wakes up and tells her classmate Jen that she doesn’t think the other two are coming out of their “coma.”

Wendy meets Darwin’s replacement at the negotiating table, determined to find a win-win solution that is in everybody’s best interest. A win-win.

Probably, this is really a Rom-Com, and Wendy and Darwin wind up back in the real world together, but able to search for a Win-Win in every negotiation.

[Danielle Dillard]

Vision: To write touching, entertaining family stories that have a message to teach and entertain audiences at the same time.
What I learned doing this assignment is improving on my structure.

Title: Come to Daddy

Concept: A single mother with a pattern of bad romantic relationships finally meets a great guy who becomes like a dad to her daughter, but what she doesn’t know is that he’s attracted to little girls.

Genre: Family Drama

Changes are in bold:

Act 1:

Opening: Protagonist finds out her boyfriend is cheating and that he lied about having a job, she kicks him out. Her kids wonder who their next “daddy” will be. Protagonist sings in church and captivates everyone except an older woman who looks at her in disgust.

Inciting Incident: The older woman gives Protagonist a bitter prophecy about her lifestyle with various men and says that the next man will cause her to change her ways. Protagonist is offended.

Turning Point: Protagonist is on a mission to find a new man. Protagonist catches her boyfriend cheating and kicks him out of her home.

Act 2:

New Plan: Protagonist vows to go on a dating site and give the first 5 guys that come to her profile a try. Protagonist is on a mission to find a new man.

Plan in action: Protagonist begins dating but the guys aren’t what she’s looking for, they’re not interested in kids. Protagonist vows to go on a dating site and give the first 5 guys a try.

Mid Turning Point: Protagonist meets a great guy, but he senses her desperation and doesn’t pursue a relationship. She meets Antagonist who seems to be a great guy and is looking to settle down.

Act 3:

Rethink Everything: Antagonist is secretive, manipulative and gives more attention to her daughter to the point she begins spying on him. She finds out that he was fired from a job as a teacher’s aide for inappropriately interacting with a little girl.

New Plan: She notices that there’s hidden cameras in her daughter’s room that Antagonist has set up

Turning Point: Protagonist kicks Antagonist out of her home and her daughter (having a tight bond with Antagonist) runs away to be with him. She’s sees him as her dad. Protagonist is fearful, worried and blames herself for picking this man.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate Expression of Conflict: Protagonist must look within and learns what she needs to change while trying to get her daughter back. This is a test of her faith. She prays and vows that she’ll change for the better. She goes to the intercessors at her church for help and the one who helps the most is the older woman from Act 1. She goes to find her daughter but doesn’t know where she and Antagonist are.

Resolution: Protagonist’s daughter returns home unharmed as Protagonist continues to work on herself. Antagonist is caught by authorities.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by  Danielle Dillard.

[Geoff Gwillim]

Geoff Gwillim’s Genre Conventions

VISION: I am a writer of popular and critically acclaimed films, enjoying and grateful for every aspect of my creative life, consistently writing what and as I choose wherever I choose to live in the world, loving the wonderful experiences my writing enables me to have.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT IS:

Exploring and employing the genre conventions enables ‘fleshing out the bones’

Title: Eighteen Deep

Concept: A former submariner turned fireman suffering PTSD is recruited for
an exploratory mission when the earth’s crust is torn apart, only to
discover the answer to some of life’s biggest questions

Genre: Sci-Fi

Conventions for Sci-Fi:

Purpose: To explore implications of technologies, alternate worlds/pasts/futures

Fantastic worlds / our world with twist

Derives from Science and its potentials past/present/future

See things alien to current / known reality

Probes social issues, may make social comment

World/Science is the environment. The sub-genre gives us the story.

Act 1:

Opening:
Garrett experiencing
nightmare, suffering torment and the guilt of his past – fire, confined
spaces, the dead, the death of his best friend Rob.

Garrett is isolated in a wilderness cabin. Dishevelled, he holographically connects with his estranged wife back in the city but the exchange is unsatisfying, they argue re the child. He talks to his dead friend Rob, continues drinking and contemplating his end

Inciting Incident: A stranger arrives in LAV (low altitude vehicle) and extends invitation from his employer for
Garrett to join a mysterious mission ‘of enormous importance .. time is
short’ for which he is ‘uniquely qualified’. Garrett refuses, the stranger
places a contact on the table and leaves. Garrett ignores it and resumes.

Turning Point: Drunk
and determined he staggers to a high bluff, is confronted and challenged
by Rob .. then .. the Earth moves!

Act 2:

New plan: Garrett returns to city in LAV. Extensive damage and many deaths, police patrol while bodies are removed by emergency crews, news of incidents around the world mixed in with trivial news. The
city is eerily quiet, people docile and unconcerned, consumed in ‘immersive
reality’ of porn, sport, games and game shows.

Garrett travels to the stranger and his employer, an extremely old and reclusive billionaire named RB, in a high tower over the city, across which damage is clearly visible. RB explains he has long been researching and that current events are tied to a greater, hidden truth. He proposes to investigate the ocean’s immense depths, now even greater and newly-exposed as result of global shifts .. ‘the answer is down there .. but there are problems’

Garret joins the mission, he and RB travel by HHAV (hyper-sonic high altitude vehicle) to the custom submarine base, meets international specialists recruited including audiologist and code-breaker. Garrett records a farewell message for wife and child, mission departs including RB

Plan in action: Mission underway as the specialists engage, undercurrent
tensions and conflicts due to nature of (is this suicide?) mission as well
as other unknowns/hidden agendas.

RB and audiologist explain and demonstrate his research on energies delivered via sound transmissions through water and how in addition to known ie whales, there are myriad other sound transmissions .. from other sealife ‘and others’ .. has been going on for millennia .. references in ancient times. RB demonstrates how they have ‘broken the code’, developing the ability to transmit as well as receive, and have recently begun sending messages throughout the ocean.

As they descend, Garret and others are experiencing intensifying nightmarish visions. They begin encountering extreme heat and energy pulses, together with the extreme depths creating impassable barrier to descent and a threat to the sub, which was not designed to travel to deeper than 12,000 metres while the depth below them is unknown, their instruments unable to ascertain a bottom.

Midpoint Turning Point: Garrett revisits
nightmare state and pushes beyond barrier, Rob provides him with guidance.
They adapt the transmission tech, using sound
energy to enable the sub to traverse the barrier and descend into the extreme
depths below.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Realisation that collective energy, experience and
consciousness are essential if the mission is to advance

New plan: Working
together in different way, they begin experiencing empathic connection and
intention. Garrett and others begin having dream incidents pointing to
expanded consciousness and potential as well as abyss of limitless
suffering. They realise they are being tested by external probing energies,
having challenging realisations even as their sanity comes under strain while
the sub descends into the utmost depth

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift As the sub approaches
ultimate depth resistance suddenly building towards catastrophic failure.
Enormous fire walls flaring around them, energy pulses increasing
exponentially and the sub compressing under impossible pressure. A decision
needs to be made .. abort or die

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of
the conflict: Amid warping
reality of immense pressure, Garrett confers with Rob and realises the
Antagonist is within – ‘I have met the enemy, and he is us’. Sees that this
is his ultimate test of external / internal belief and capability .. he exits
submarine into impossible pressure / flame / energy, Rob appears alongside
him. He farewells his friend and passes safely through barrier into
ethereal space.

Garrett meets with The Elders, RB is with them (one of them?) .. and learns the history of Earth / space and of humanity’s / his future

Resolution: Returns
to the sub and specialists, ascent to the world now calm after massive
upheaval, wife and child and .. the future!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by  Geoff Gwillim.

[Brandyn Cross]

Brandyn Cross’ Genre Conventions

My vision for success in this program is to develop and hone my skills to the extent that my screenplays will be produced and widely viewed.

What I learned from this assignment is how to lock in the chosen genre by building in all the elements of the genre expected by audiences and producers.

Title: Ghost Writer

Concept: A struggling children’s book author mourning the loss of his son develops psychic abilities, enabling him to communicate with dead children, following a disabling accident in which his own son was killed.

Genre: Drama

GENRE CONVENTIONS

Purpose

Character-Driven Journey

High Stakes Come From Within

Emotionally Resonates

Challenging, Emotionally-Charged Situations

Real-Life Situations

Additions on Bold

ACT 1

Opening: Alex drinks at a grave during a snow storm, shown from the side, so we don’t see a name on the headstone. Alex is then driving in the snow. Despondent over his failing career, Alex intentionally crashes his car into an overpass pylon in a suicide attempt. A few cars pull over, and a few men run to help. We are led to believe that Alex survived the crash, but is left disabled. As he awakens in hospital, a news report in the background reports on the crash, claiming it involved several vehicles and that there were multiple fatalities, but he is seemingly oblivious to the report. As Alex rehabilitates, we see him as depressed, despondent and self-absorbed, filled with negativity and concerned only with how his misfortunes have made him a perpetual victim.

Inciting Incident: Alex is visited by Sandy, a child ghost, who tells him he has the power to help other grieving parents, and help their departed children cross over to eternity.

Turning Point: Alex is initially not interested, more absorbed with reviving his career, and ignores his psychic connections, but is haunted by his abilities, which he can’t get out of his mind.

Alex remembers being at a grave, showing a little more of the headstone, but still no name. He also remembers being at the crash as the drivers who pulled over fight to get him out of the car. From there, he is able to psychically see the first ghost child Sandy told him about, and his family, who are grieving over his death.

ACT 2

New Plan: Alex still has no interest in using his powers to assist others rather than himself, and tries to ignore these powers. But he discovers he is unable to suppress these powers, and is unable to ignore an internal need to bring these dead children and their parents together to help them achieve closure. Alex sees a kid gets out of one of the cars at his accident scene. He starts running across the highway, but stops cold, looking down the road, terrified.

Plan in Action: Alex writes a book about the first child Sandy connected him with. He then contacts the child’s family to get the book to them, insisting their departed child compelled him to write it. They are skeptical and want nothing to do with Alex.

Midpoint Turning Point: Initially Alex doesn’t care about the family’s dismissal of him and his claims, feeling he can chalk it off to having done everything he can, and then forget about it. He then remembers being at the grave again, camera a little more to the front. This connects him to the feelings this family feels, and he decides he must succeed in bringing the family and their departed child together. At this point, Sandy introduces him to other child ghosts, and shows them their families as well.

ACT 3

Rethink Everything: Somehow, Alex feels connected to the grief of the family as if he, himself, has lost a child himself. He begins to understand that all life is connected, and that he must develop an honest empathy for others going through the grief process.

In further remember his crash, he sees the child in the street, paralyzed in fear as a truck goes out of control as it approaches the crash scene. He remembers more of being at the grave, even further to the front of the headstone, but still unable to see the name.

New Plan: Alex now realizes he must succeed in getting these other families to believe in his ability to connect them with their departed children. He is now unwilling to accept failure, and becomes absorbed in helping these other families to move beyond their paralyzing grief.

Turning Point: Huge Failure / Major Shift: The mother of one of these other departed kids commits suicide, unable to continue in life without her child, even with the assurance of gaining closure. Instead, she is resolute on joining her child in the afterlife. Devastated and now believing his is doing more harm than good in connecting these departed kids with their families, Alex tells Sandy he wants nothing more to do with these kids, and will no longer use his connection to these kids to do so. At this point, Alex sees the truck crash through the cars pulled over to help at his accident, further convincing him he wants nothing to do with this.

ACT 4

Climax / Ultimate Expression of the Conflict: Sandy shows Alex that this woman’s suicide was unavoidable but, without Alex’s intervention in connecting her with her departed child, her suicide would have been an act of despair rather than a misguided act of hope, and would have taken the rest of her family with her, including her other kids. Alex is convinced to continue to bring the remaining departed kids together with their families to bring them all to a point of acceptance and closure.

Resolution: As Alex accomplishes the task, he sees himself full at the grave, where the name Alexander “Sandy” is on the headstone. He realizes that Sandy is, in fact, his son, who had died previously and led to his isolation and loss of interest in living. He also sees the accident scene clearly. He then sees himself in his car as the rescuers realize that he is dead. Just then, the truck plows through the cars, he sees the ghosts of the children Sandy showed him in the cars, with the other being the kid in the street, all of whom are killed in the crash.

Alex realizes that he has been dead throughout the story. This whole journey has, in reality, been about his own reclamation and redemption, which he must undergo before being allowed to join his son in the eternities. He also realizes that the children he has connected with are kids who died as an indirect result of his own suicide. As he has helped connect the child ghosts and their families, and helping all of them come to terms, they forgive him and, more importantly, he is able to forgive himself. His redemption complete, he is allowed to cross over himself, and join Sandy in the afterlife.

[Raquel Solomon]

Raquel Solomon’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!

What I learned from doing this assignment is that I must bring out the protagonist’s internal journey and changes within the horrific world she finds herself in. Though in this story external events are intense, I must show that Miri, the protagonist’s internal journey has changed her from selfish to selfless, fearful to heroic, and she has chosen this path.

Title: Death Fugue

Concept: A young Jewish Warsaw Ghetto prisoner uses her violin skills to access guns and food for the uprising.

(my additions to bring out the drama genre are in parenthesis)

Genre: Drama

Act 1

Opening: Miri plays American blues with her band in a club in Warsaw to a mostly young exuberant audience.

Inciting Incident: Neo Nazis storm the club, beat up a Jewish audience member before they are thrown out.

(Her friend Caterina walks home with her after the concert and laments about the growing threat of ant-semitism. Miri is in denial and wants to discuss how great she played that night.)

(Miri has casual feelings toward a young man she is sleeping with. She turns down his marriage proposal.)

Turning Point: The Nazis have invaded Poland and Miri is taken to live in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Act 2

New Plan

Miri teaches singing to children in the ghetto. (She at first is emotionally distant from the children and more business like in her approach to them, avoiding closeness.)

(Jacob, a ten year old boy whose father taught him violin attempts to have Miri give him violin lessons. She puts him off for a while. She learns from another musician teaching the children that his father has already perished. She finally relents and teaches him. She allows herself to become close to him when she realizes that he is pretending that his father is still alive. She also begins a romantic relationship with a fellow prisoner who protected Jacob in the ghetto and who meets her through Jacob.)

Plan in Action:

(Miri attempts to join the ghetto orchestra because she learns that she will then have access to extra food which she will bring to her music children. Her first audition fails as she had left classical music behind to pursue blues. She practices classical music for her next audition and is overheard by a Nazi officer who takes an interest in her.)

Midpoint turning point:

Miri is blackmailed into being the Nazi officer’s mistress with a death threat against Jacob if she does not comply.

Act 3

Rethink Everything:

(As a result of being the Nazi officer’s mistress,) Miri is now entertaining Nazi officers at their club outside the ghetto. Her music has opened further opportunity to fight back. A connection meets her outside the club when she is supposed to be alone practicing. She begins to smuggle in weapons.

New Plan:

Miri continues to use her freedom to gain access outside the ghetto to smuggle guns for the resistance.

Turning pt: Huge failure/major shift

Miri is in love for the first time with fellow prisoner Avi.

Avi is killed helping to smuggle Jacob outside the ghetto.

Act 4

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:

Miri is caught with weapons by the Nazi Officer.

She kills him and escapes to join the resistance outside the ghetto to continue to fight the Nazis.

Resolution: The war has ended and Miri searches for Jacob. She finds him in an orphanage. (She has to say goodbye when relatives of his are found.)

[Paul McGregor]

Paul’s Genre Conventions.

6. I want to write scripts that become movies that change people’s lives.

7. What I learned from this assignment is that, again, like earlier assignments in this module, this is a great way to stimulate me to think about my story before writing a word of dialogue. As I worked on this assignment new story ideas came to me, making it, I think, far more interesting. This is an exciting approach, with great potential.

In re-working my outline using the Drama genre conventions, I have built up my Protagonist’s personal experiences and suffering and also her daughter’s, heightening the emotional stakes. I still have a lot of work to do on her Internal Journey.

2.

Title: The Phony War. (one of many on my list of potential titles).

Concept: A Mexican woman launches her own drugs war – against the DEA.

Genre: DRAMA.

5. Improvements from genre conventions are underlined.

Act 1:

· Opening: Lilia is working hard to earn a living to get her daughter out of poverty. As she walks home through the poor, unpaved streets of Culiacan, she walks straight into a military operation to destroy a fentanyl lab. DEA agents are present. Lilia (previously unaware of the lab’s existence) witnesses the raid and tries to shield her daughter from the violence, which includes the shooting to death of one man and the violent arrest of two women. Arriving home, her daughter announces that she has won the scholarship to study in the USA.

· Inciting incident: Lilia’s daughter has made it to college in the US on a scholarship. She is settling in to college life in a new country, determined to study hard, but assailed by fellow students who are just interested in getting high. Despite her refusal, they force her, and she dies of a drug overdose in a party hosted by the son of a US senator, a hawk in the drug war.

· Turning point: The US Senator tells his son to claim it was the Mexican girl who brought the drugs. Lilia watches US senator on TV not only condemning Mexicans for the US drug problem, but accusing her daughter of supplying the drugs that killed her. Lilia decides on revenge.

Act 2:

· New plan: Lilia makes contact with the Sinaloa Cartel, to have the senator’s son kidnapped and brought to Culiacán.

· Plan in action: This costs money, so Lilia agrees to enter US as an illegal immigrant, carrying drugs for the Cartel. She uses some of the drugs to pay off the CBP agents. Once in the US, she sells the drugs to a criminal gang that can also engineer the kidnapping of the young student responsible for the death of Lilia’s daughter.

· Midpoint turning point: Due to a mishap, the gang kidnaps the Senator instead of his son.

Act 3

· Rethink everything: Lilia has to decide what to do with this much higher value prey.

· New plan: Lilia decides, with the help of the gang, to take the Senator back to Culiacán to give him a real education in drugs. There she uses him to launch a media campaign against the drugs war.

· Turning point (huge failure/major shift): After his experience in Culiacán, the Senator changes his opinions on the drugs war. Lilia engineers interviews with him that are posted on social media. But this makes her enemies in two major institutions with financial interests in the drugs war: the DEA and the United Nations. They try to cancel her.

Act 4 (To be completed)

· Climax (ultimate expression of the conflict): To make sure she’s listened to, she plots to make the DEA agent pull the trigger on the Senator. The video is published on social media with Lilia’s message: the DEA finally gets it right – eliminate the consumer and there’ll be no supply.

· Resolution: A media campaign to end the drugs war starts to gain traction and powerful voices are raised in favor of Lilia’s policy to end the drug war.

END

[Madeleind Gentinetta]

Madeleine’s Genre Conventions

Vision: I am going to do whatever it takes for me to be a writer of amazing stories with meaning who can move the audience and change the world resulting in financial, critical and audience success.

What I learned from doing this assignment is: I’ve learned that doing the structure is work in progress. There are still many things, which are not working. I have to practice to leave it like this and move forward – not an easy lesson.

Title: Menopausal Dad

Concept: What if an aging professor of growth economics gets confronted with his limits?

Genre: Comedy/Drama.

ACT 1:

Opening: Alex teaches growth economics and looses it with the student Mirai when she asks a critical question.

Inciting Incident: Mirai crashes birthday party to get apology.

Turning Point: Because the old dean Luke retires, he urges Alex to apply for his position, away from students.

ACT 2:

New plan: Alex self medicates.

Plan in action: Alex wants Mirai’s support but she wants a new curriculum.

Midpoint Turning Point: Flavia becomes interim dean because Alex has to stay home after a break down and Luke died.

ACT 3:

Rethink everything: Alex gives in and works out a curriculum that pleases the students.

New plan: Alex starts to practice the new self-limiting lifestyle.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Corrie and Eva move out, because they want their former life back.

ACT 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Mirai tells Alex that they support him and want Alex to become dean. Dilemma: become dean or keep family. à has to be between Corrie and Alex.

Resolution: Alex and the family live in a new, open-minded family situation.