-
Lesson 7
Reply to post your assignment.
-
20 Replies
-
Ashley’s Connection with Audience
This assignment helped me to refine my character personas. I have a lot more clarity now. With so many ideas it helps to pick out the important traits of each character.
Malinche
A. Relatability: Malinche doesn’t like herself, and is ashamed. She is afraid of shining and being different.
B. Intrigue: We don’t know what Malinche is hiding until after the Midpoint, only that it’s “her gift” and the key to saving her people. And we don’t know why she is ashamed of it.
C. Empathy: Malinche is sold into slavery by her mother and step-father. She is then given to the Spaniards after their victory in battle. She falls in love with Spanish conquistador, Hernando, but she must betray him to save her people. She must also own her supernatural gift to save the world. However, doing so would put her in danger.
D. Likability: Malinche is a loving mother, and will do anything for her son. She is also clever and entertaining when alluring Hernando away from his mission.
Hernando
A. Relatability: Hernando’s father wants him to pursue a career in law, which would be a slow death for Hernando. He is constantly disappointing the “father figures” in his life. He wants to prove himself, but at the same time he is deeply insecure.
B. Intrigue: Will he conquer the Mexica Empire a second time? And if he does, will he rule the Empire despite the orders against it from King of Spain and Governor of Cuba?
C. Empathy: The King of Spain won’t allow Hernando to rule Tenochtitlan despite his victory. The Governor of Cuba and the King of Spain underestimate him.
D. Likability: Hernando is charming and flirtatious and isn’t afraid to flaunt his eccentric and slightly feminine style.
-
Bob’s ‘Connection with the Audience’
What I learned doing this assignment was the value of crafting my play so my audience is eager to see what’s next. In Hal’s words, “…if we feel a connection with your characters, we’ll go on the journey with you.”
1. Characters I hope to create an audience connection with:
Fabian, the baker. (Change Agent) A) Reliability: He is someone others can rely on to admit when he’s wrong and be loyal to his friends. B) Intrigue: The audience will wonder whether he will want to get revenge for Malvolio burning down his mill. C) Empathy: He is the lowest status of his friends, but he accepts that status and is comfortable in his own skin, which will get audiences on his side even before his business goes up in flames. D) Likability: Unlike other characters in this play, he does not take himself too seriously. He is able to step back and be himself without adornment. In addition, he puts his family above himself and is easy to forgive, despite the disaster to his business.
Malvolio, the steward. (Transformational Character) A) Reliability: He can be relied on to be obnoxious to anyone he considers lower status or unworthy of his time. And he’ll reliably be servile to anyone above his station who may be able to help him raise it. B) Intrigue: How far will he go to get even with the people who smeared his name and locked him up? C) Empathy: The audience will have empathy for him when he’s in the dark, alone in the dark. And when they hear of the dastardly tricks played upon him. But after the first or second time he gets even, far surpassing the nastiness done to him, the empathy will melt away and the audience will begin to root for either his comeuppance or his transformation. D) Likability: As with his empathy quotient, his likability factor will probably plummet by the time he gets even with the second offender. Although he may be admired for the evil genius of his plans.
-
Hi Bob, I think the word Hal uses is relatability rather than reliability. In that case, Malvolio would be similar to the audience in some way in the first 30 minutes. However, I’m not sure that will work for your play.
-
Thank you, Joan. I guess I was the unreliable one.
-
Bob–Very funny.
-
-
-
-
I created the following unintentionally, but I could have done it intentionally. I will use this information in my other screenplay.
1. Characters: Selma, the counselor and Elizabeth, the brainwashed woman
2. Selma:
a. Relatability—
She feels guilty and says sorry to her mother.
She has a job interview.
She starts a new job and uses a cheat sheet.
She is very nervous before the interview, when she speaks to her boss, and before the 1<sup>st</sup> session of deprogramming.
She is excited when the 1<sup>st</sup> session goes well.
She gets angry.
b. Intrigue—
Who is Young Selma and why is she pulling a woman away from the transition house?
Why is Selma feeling guilty?
Why is she taking pills?
Why is Selma reluctant to work at the transition house?
What is deprogramming?
Is she capable of learning it?
She promises not to lie to Elizabeth. Will she keep her promise?
c. Empathy—
Selma is sick and poor.
She receives an eviction notice from a landlady who is fed up with her.
She gets flustered during the intake.
d. Likeability—
She takes care of Elizabeth.
Her boss likes her.
3. Elizabeth:
a. Relatability—
She fell in love with the wrong person.
She is confused about her relationship with Mark.
She has never been to a transition house.
Her first wish is to be happy.
b. Intrigue—
Will she get caught while she is getting ready to flee?
Will she leave him? What will happen to her during deprogramming?
c. Empathy—
She is hurt, scared, and abused by Mark.
She has lost herself.
d. Likeability—
She takes care of Mark and tries to make him happy.
She is concerned that women must cope on their own when they leave the transition house.
She wants to give her room to someone who needs it more than she does.
She loves caring for her patients and she has a kids-with-their-grandparents selfie wall.
She cares for the flowers.
Selma likes her.
-
Joan- regarding the character of Selma, you say, “Her first wish is to be happy.” But that desire may be too vague for it to be useful to you in developing her character and how she deals with the stuff that constantly gets in her way. Perhaps a better tack might be to say, “Above all, she needs to find herself and her purpose.” I am only repeating your own thoughts in a different way. (You wrote, “She has lost herself.”) Maybe with that one shift, you might see that puzzle fall into place a little easier.
-
Thanks for the insight!
-
-
-
Lesson 7 Audience Connection
What I learned doing this assignment is…
In my movie, Rotary Phone LilPutins, I am going to intentionally create a connection with the audience with the Judge Ken character.
A. Relatability
In Rotary Phone LilPutins Judge Ken wants to avenge his wife’s death but he doesn’t know how. He feels pushed around because if his sentences are too harsh they just get overturned on appeal. He also gets easily angered by reckless drivers that are so common place, which is triggered often by his daily commute. There’s a scene in the first five minutes in which a pick up truck cuts over four lanes to make a right turn and in the process cuts off another pickup overstacked with pallets. One of the pallets hits a boy as he and his mother are coming out of a Kumon learning center. (The boy later dies of his injuries). Judge Ken is so enraged while witnessing this in front of him. A few more seconds-and he-would have been cut off. He catches up with the driver of the pickup and cusses him out. I lovingly call this driver Burlyman (thinking someone like Gerard Butler, perfect for this role, if you’ve seen Den of Thieves). They exchange words but when he sees Judge Ken has a gun on the dashboard, he flees. There is another scene in the first thirty minutes where Judge Ken is driving home from work and a kid totals his souped-up car in a traffic jam by letting a large gap evovle between him and the next car and then on one of the iterations of doing this, he fails to stop in time and rear ends the car in front of him: smashing in the front of his car about eighteen inches. It is totalled. Judge Ken is in the lane next to him and just laughs and says you deserve all that you get here. Then a minute later he’s off of the freeway and a driver ducks in to make a left turn on a divided avenue and at the last second changes their mind and pops back into his lane. He has to jam on the brakes, his coffee goes flying making a mess, leaking on a hardcover book he has on the passenger side floor. He’s pissed now and they just drive off like nothing happened.
B. Intrigue
We see Judge Ken soldering rotary phone parts together and his neighbor kid, named Zappa, comes over who is in high school to help him with this task. The boy asks him what are they for. He says he can’t tell him yet but watch the news in a couple days. They boy is going to make sixty of these for him for the first batch that is needed.
C. Empathy
He’s down in the basement doing some laundry and sees a picture of them in Lake Louise that his wife liked to have on the wall while folding laundry-he flies into a fit of rage and punches the freezer and leaves a nice dent in it and two of his knuckles are bleeing.
D. Likeability
He gives Zappa some food because his single mom is unemployed and having a hard time findind a new job. He gives him a big bag of rice, a pack of steaks from Costco, avacados and potatoes. Enough to last them for a while. Zappa is uncomfortable, so Judge Ken says it’s your bonus pay for helping me with the phones saving him face. Judge Ken offers to help his secretary with a legal matter. She and her husband were trying to start an online coffee mug business in which the cups are to say “Rico Suave” but the company that made them screwed up and sent them 2500 mugs that say “Rice Suave” on them. They refused to give her a refund or new cups. He helps Judge Jason’s daughter with a homework question where she has writers block on an essay. He draws five ovals on piece of paper and puts a topic in each one, trying to ferret out of her what she would put in there. It works and she’s on her way to getting it written. She gets a little mad and says you’re doing it all wrong and writes in her five topics for each paragraph.
-
Chris–I like your image of Ken getting angry while doing the laundry. I’ve heard that most anger is about fear or pain.
-
Zappa seems like an interesting person in Judge Ken’s life. Do you see him having any role in changing Judge Ken’s life?
-
-
Liz Janzen’s Connection with Audience
What I learned doing this assignment:
There are four characters who establish a connection with the audience within the first half hour: Sally Moss (the protagonist); Herman Abrams (change agent); Louise Abrams; Charlie (who Sally encounters before she meets the Abrams).
SALLY
Relatability: She’s 14 – we’ve all been that age – and a beloved only child. She’s also a young person in a vulnerable situation.
Intrigue: The immediate intrigue is: what will happen to her after the house fire leaves her alone in the world and the family down the road, although they take her in for a night, can’t afford to keep her (it’s the Depression). This triggers her decision to find her aunt and the subsequent intrigue of: what will happen to her on the road alone as she sets out on foot for San Francisco. This is followed by the intrigue of: what’s in store for her once she is taken up by the Abrams, followed by what’s in store for her now that she has become the star of a successful film series?
Empathy: Empathy for Sally is generated by a heart-rending opening, followed by callousness towards her when she’s hungry, followed by more callousness from the desk clerk at the hotel where the Abrams are checking in on their holiday. When Louise intervenes and ‘hires’ Sally as her maid for the week and buys her dinner, Sally is overwhelmed with gratitude for Louise’s kindness and generosity and so are we.
Likeability: Sally is an obliging, plucky girl whom we are thrilled to see rescued from her dire circumstances.
HERMAN ABRAMS
Relatability: Herman is a business man suddenly beset with a business and legal problem – he needs to break contract of the current ‘Belle’ actress because she’s no longer right for the role, which means dealing with her difficult stage mother. Herman’s problems occur concomitantly with Sally’s in the opening pages. His almost comic situation and behavior are a counterweight to Sally’s dire straits at the beginning of the movie.
Intrigue: First intrigue: what will be the outcome of Sally’s screen test – has he found the next Belle, as he hopes? Next intrigue: will Herman be able to fire Edna Flount, the current ‘Belle’ actress, and replace her in the face of Edna Flount Sr’s rage at her daughter’s being dismissed from the role?
Empathy: 1) Edna Sr. is a nightmare and Herman dreads dealing with her (so do we). 2) After meeting Sally, Herman hires a private detective to locate Sally’s aunt in San Francisco and arranges for gravestones for her parents at his own expense. We warm to his humanity and generosity.
Likeability: He’s lovable and comic (without intending to be) in whatever frustration he is experiencing and relies on the calming abilities of his wife Louise to keep him on track. We also appreciate his business acumen.
LOUISE ABRAMS
Relatability: She’s her husband’s right arm. She’s loyal and intuitive and understands what drives Herman. She’s relatable to the audience as Herman’s ideal helpmate.
Intrigue: Like Herman, she’s hoping the gamble on Sally will pay off as the new Belle.
Empathy: Louise herself is empathy writ large, and consequently we feel whatever she feels.
Likeability: In the same comic vein of Herman’s problems at the beginning, Louise establishes herself with the audience as the voice of reason in the face of hysteria. We also love her for being savvy about the film business. She functions like a producer in many ways.
CHARLIE
Relatability: He’s kind to someone in need. A decent kid stuck in a menial job.
Intrigue: Will we ever see him again after Sally heads off on the rest of her journey? Then, at the half hour point, he happens to meet her again…. will anything develop between them?
Empathy: He’s governed by a tough as nails mother.
Likeability: He secretly defies his mother and gives food to Sally. He’s unsentimental and a realist when he tells Sally just how far she still has to go to get to San Francisco.
-
Marilynne’s Connection with Audience
What I learned doing this assignment is… it crossed my mind that maybe I should think about reversing the transformational character and change agent, ie. Chloe is the Change Agent and Rosemarie is the transformational character. A decision for earlier in the day…
I’m INTENTIONALLY trying to create a connection with the audience for two characters using each of the four ways of connecting in the first 30 minutes of the movie.
Dr. Chloe – transformational character
A. Relatability
· When Dr. Chloe agrees to manage the new African project, she is anxious about the project’s success and afraid she may fail – be responsible for more women and babies dying.
B. Intrigue
· Everyone congratulates Dr. Chloe on her successful career and by extension a successful life. Why does she struggle with this not being what she wanted in life? How could she possibly not be happy with her success?
C. Empathy
· Dr. Chloe is passed over for promotion… again. She is frustrated by what seems to be a biased selection process.
D. Likability
· Dr. Chloe is a good teacher and treats her students fairly– in the classroom and with individuals in office meetings.
· Dr. Chloe contributes time and money to worthwhile causes in her community.
Rosemarie – change agent
A. Relatability
· Rosemarie’s wicked sense of humour is often a surprise, particularly as she comments on the absurdities of life, for example people arguing about the freshness of their croissants at an early planning meeting for the Africa project.
· Rosemarie expects the best from people and tries to draw out their strengths during counselling, such as a couple’s love for each other.
B. Intrigue
· Why did Rosemarie become a Buddhist nun now, at this stage of her life and career?
· What is Rosemarie’s real motivation for supporting the Africa project?
B. Empathy
· Rosemarie struggles to keep her composure when supporting new parents whose baby died shortly after birth.
· Rosemarie worries she won’t be able to contribute what the Africa project team needs from her.
C. Likability
· Rosemarie is likeable from the moment you meet her – charming and outgoing.
· Rosemarie has a megawatt smile that makes you want to smile right back!
-
Hope’s connection with the audience
This was a great way to consciously consider all of these pieces for these characters. I like to think I’ve been doing this in my earlier scripts, but this assignment made me go deeper than before, which will definitely make a difference in the script.
Characters to connect with the audience:
Charlie Piper, Amber Piper, Lois Piper, Dr. Jed Mack, DVM
Charlie (protag)
Relatability: She’s screwed up at work big time; she has dreams for her future; she’s afraid of big farm animals; she has a life-changing health diagnosis; she argues with her mother.
Intrigue: her relationship with Dr. Mack; how will she be able to overcome her fear of the livestock? What did she discover in the journal?
Empathy: She ill yet moves forward in spite of the diagnosis; she tries to fix her business screw-up; she has issues with her stepmother; her father died of cancer.
Likeability: She falls in love the rescues! She works hard and has fun doing it.
Amber Piper (antag)
Relatability: A woman business owner; trying to move forward after death of her husband; wants to date again.
Intrigue: How does she know Daniel? How does she plan to take over the farm?
Empathy: Young widow; trying to save a failing business.
Likeability: Wants to help Charlie soon after Charlie has her diagnosis; makes amends with her late husband’s ex-wife
Lois Piper (mother of protag)
Relatability: Middle-aged; trying to figure out retirement; into social media.
Intrigue: Was a B-movie actress. Why does she come to Charlie’s farm? Is she rich or is she poor?
Empathy: She feels obsolete; she feels unwanted; she tries new things to stay relevant; her ex-husband died of cancer.
Likeability: Sense of humor; has big ideas; loves the farm animals right away; loves her daughter.
Jed Mack, DVM
Relatability: Helped his elderly neighbor; runs his small business; loves animals.
Intrigue: How did he know the great aunt? Will he fall for Charlie? Will he fall for Amber?
Empathy: He works long, hard hours.
Likeability: Sense of humor; loves animals; supports his community and neighbors.
-
Vivien’s Connecting with Audience
What I learned doing this assignment is that I need to design multi-dimensional characters to engage the audiences emotionally with them from ACT1. It’s important for the audience to care about the characters to follow their journey.
I choose two characters to study: the Transformational Character, Alicia, and the antagonist, Alicia’s mother, referred to as Mother.
1. ALICIA
1.1 Relatability
· Alicia is a hard-working young woman like most young people in modern time.
· She lives alone and is self-reliant, a common traits of single people in our time.
1.2 Intrigue
· Alicia must bring Mother home, but she must not tell Mother about the untimely death her son.
· We want to know how Alicia negotiates this sensitive matter; what story will she tell to convince Mother to go home before Grandma’s birthday.
1.3 Empathy
· Alicia suffers in silence. She’s not allowed to tell anyone about her brother’s passing. She must hide her own grief.
· She feels guilty for deceiving Mother but can’t find another solution.
· She takes Mother away from Grandma, knowing that this may be the last time Mother sees Grandma. Alicia is in full conflict. We can feel her painful dilemma.
· Alicia has not seen Anthony for 12 years and will never see him again. She’s beset with regret.
1.4 Likability
· Alicia is a good person. She’s intelligent, hardworking, principled, and honest.
· She loves Mother and cares for her happiness.
· She loves Grandma.
2. MOTHER
2.1 Relatability
A mother’s love is universal, everyone can relate to it.
2.2 Intrigue
Mother comes to California to celebrate Grandma’s 100<sup>th</sup> birthday. She is told to go home before then. We wonder if she suspects anything. We want to know how she reacts when she hears the tragic news when she gets home.
2.3 Empathy
Everyone can imagine the pain of a mother who loses a child. Mother’s ignorance about Anthony’s death makes this all the more heart wrenching.
2.4 Likability
Mother has a joyful personality and a generous heart. She is totally devoted to her family. She loves deeply and is fiercely protective of her children.
-
JD’s Connection with Audience
I learned the importance of the audience’s attachment to multi-dimensional characters.
I want to intentionally create a connection between the audience and: Jake as the Transformable Character; and, Lana as the Change Agent.
Relatability:
Jake has to go against his better judgement to take on a partner. Jake feels he has to take the job and a partner because his cash flow is tight.
Lana feels betrayed by the man she is falling in love with.
Intrigue:
What’s Jake doing with a strong box from the Nevada Assay Office? Do we get to hunt treasure in the Bahamas?
Are there really mermaids?
Empathy:
Jake is insecure about learning to scuba dive. When he starts gasping for air under water, we can feel him losing control and facing death.
Lana’s home and life are in jeopardy.
Likability:
Jake is a mysterious and rugged man, who drives cool cars and lives an adventurous life.
Lana is a beautiful mermaid who values home life and tradition.
-
Connie’s Connection with Audience
What I learned doing this assignment is…these layers are the reason I love the fictional characters I do. While I may have intuitively built intentional connection aspects into the characters I’ve created before, it’s amazing to now have a systematic model to follow. The deeper we get into this profound model, the more I love it!
I will be intentionally creating a connection to the audience via Layla (Transformational Character), and her sister Millie (Change Agent).
Intentional connection will be created within the first 30-min in the following ways:
Layla (Transformational Character)
A. Relatability – she’s a Gen X’er who has dedicated over a decade to a company/her career; she’s an older sister, she’s been dumped and is heartbroken; she’s looking for love and opens up to a romantic connection again
B. Intrigue – she travels through time with her sister
C. Empathy – she gets restructured out of her job (relatable, and evokes empathy over her loss),
D. Likability – she’s funny, sarcastic, works hard/plays hard
Millie (Change Agent)
A. Relatability – younger sister, mother of two small kids, married, loves her small town life
B. Intrigue – travels through time with her sister
C. Empathy – she misses her kids, she is trying her best, trying to work with her sister even though her ideas are not getting attention
D. Likability – she’s grounded, has common sense, she’s kind and considerate
-
BRENDA BODDY- CONNECTION WITH AUDIENCE.
What I learned doing this assignment is…I originally had two different introductions for Karma. I went back and put in the one in that ‘showed’ her humanity, taking care of her cripped nana. Doing the previous assignment (putting in levels of gradients) also helped this process as I consciously looked for ways to show denial, anger, etc.
RELATABILITY: Karma is introduced by bringing her crippled, burned nana from the doctor. She works as a waitress and is struggling to pay bills. She’s freaked out when Thamia attacks her and confused when she hears and sees things.
INTRIGUE: Karma is having dreams and hearing things. We know things are not normal in her world. She’s frightened by these things which comes back to Relatability.
EMPHATHY: Karma is attacked. She doesn’t know why or what’s happening. She’s hearing voices. Later on…she has trouble dealing with her powers and eventually her nana dies.
LIKABILITY: Karma’s neighbor Sobin likes her. She is loved by her nana that she takes care of. She helps the neighbor girl.
-
Chhimed Drolma’s Connection with Audience
What I learned doing this assignment is that it’s much easier than I thought to quickly introduce a character and make them connect with audiences using these methods.
Tell us which characters you are going to INTENTIONALLY create a connection with the audience.
AV: A. Relatability B. Intrigue C. Empathy D. Likability
E: D. Likeability
D: D. Likeability
W: D. Likeability
PF: B. Intrigue
C: D. Likeability
With each character, tell us how you’ll use each of the four ways of connecting with the audience in the first 30 minutes of the movie. A. Relatability B. Intrigue C. Empathy D. Likability
AV: Show her horrific lifelong recurring nightmares accompanied by daytime panic though she can’t remember the dreams, and in spite of that, she acts easily and effectively to help others in life and death situations.
E: Show her cuteness and her ability to help and soothe AV.
D: Show him help AV and be her loyal, dependable ally in tough spots.
W: Show her help AV as well as a revolving door of other crew members on a daily basis.
PF: Show her have a hot one-night stand, accidentally incinerate her lover, then go back to her job despite being obviously traumatized.
C: Show his expert fighting skills and that he’s an extremely chivalrous romantic.
-
Tom’s Connection with Audience
What I learned in this assignment is that I really want to make the change agents pop by putting special attention on these four items early on. One change agent only has one scene in the first 30 minutes, but then becomes a major player at the midpoint. This got me thinking about that first scene and how I can really go big with it. The other change agent is the antagonist and I’ve gone back and forth about how I wanted to portray him, but now I feel like having a very complex and likable villain will make the character that much more memorable.
Log in to reply.