Lesson 7

[Jack Young]

What I learned doing this assignment is that mysteries keep the audience interested and watching the series. I felt confident from the beginning that having plenty of mysteries and open loops wouldn’t be a problem with telling this story.

Jack Young’s Open Loops and Mysteries

Act 1:

Michael has a good life with wife and son although he eats aspirin like candy. His wife is worried about his severe headaches. Has mysterious phone call with his buddy and keeps wife from hearing it, but it sounds like a big money making opportunity. On his way to work, we get glimpses of riots (No-birth). At work an old woman is upset about her house being repossessed and commits suicide in front of Michael. She, too, has eerie, cryptic message for Michael. Secretary at work is upset with Michael about affair he’s having with her. During chaos of suicide and secretary being upset, he gets call from buddy that deal went bad. Michael leaves for lunch while on phone with friend. He finds out that the FBI has shown up at his buddy’s work with warrant for insider trading.

Main Mystery:

What kind of shady stock deal did Michael get into?

Sub-Mysteries:

Is Michael having an affair with the secretary?

Main Open Loop:

Why are people rioting in the streets and how does this relate to Michael?

Sub-Open Loops:

Act II:

Michael stops at bar to get a drink and his head together. He sees cop cars go by. AT bar, news talks about ongoing no-birth crisis. Old guy makes jokes about test using monkeys to create babies that are half-human and half monkey. Michael goes to a table and eats aspirin like candy. Girlfriend stops in and they have fight. She tells him that the FBI came by work to arrest him. I told them you were probably at your old hangout. As she finishes, the FBI pulls up. Michael tries to run out the back and runs into the FBI. His headache rages to the point where he collapses. Michael is in hospital. His wife is on the edge of the bed going over how Michael lost all of their funds, had an affair, broke the law, etc. Doctor takes Michael out of room to tell her that Michael has terminal brain cancer. Michael watches a show on TV with the Professor explaining his theory of what caused the no-birth. He tries to change the channel but he’s on every channel. He realizes that one of his eyes is blind. Diane helps Michael to car as debris blows down street. A paper wraps around her leg. The obituary shows Michael’s death in 3 days. Michael says he needs to find Professor. At professor’s house, they meet astral team and he tells Michael about the stream. Diane doesn’t believe it.

Main Mystery:

What major events are playing out in society as Michael’s life is falling apart?

Sub-Mysteries:

What major medical problem is Michael going through?

Main Open Loop:

Everything seems to be guiding Michael towards the professor.

Sub-Open Loops:

Michael seems to be destined to die. How is this connected to the Stream and the no-birth crisis?

Act III:

Michael and Diane stay at professor’s house. Michael and Diane are told that he must die to enter stream. Diane is against it and leaves with Michael in car. Michael wants to be forgiven and realizes NOW that without someone going into stream, their son won’t be able to have a family. Michael tells Diane to stop and talks to her about their family going on through their son. They go back and agree. Thomas preps for the journey. Michael has a vision where he sees his dead brother and follows him from the house. In the pouring rain, he sees the ancient one (sorcerer) appear through the portal. The ancient sorcerer looks directly at Michael. Suddenly, the portal turns into headlights of a truck. Someone grabs him and pulls him to safety. It’s his wife. Michael and Diane return to the Professor’s house. Michael goes into the stream. Wife forgets to forgive him.

Main Mystery:

What is the Stream and will Michael die and go into it?

Sub-Mysteries:

1) Will Michael be forgiven by his wife before he dies?

2) Who is the mysterious man that Michael saw in the portal in his vision?

Main Open Loop:

Michael enters the Stream. What will happen now?

Sub-Open Loops:

Act IV:

Michael revisits the highlights of his life as his soul leaves his body and he enters the Astral plane. The Astral team, guided by the Professor, ensures that Michael enters the Stream and is on his way to the other side. Son freaks out after seeing father die in the pod. When Diane’s parents arrive they call police. Using the son’s help, the police find Michael’s body and seize it.

Main Mystery:

??? (will need to consider mysteries here)

Sub-Mysteries:

??? (will need to consider mysteries here)

Main Open Loop:

Diane forgot to forgive Michael. Will she ever get the opportunity again?

Sub-Open Loops:

What happens if they can’t protect Michael’s body?

Act V:

The professor escapes and manages to get Diane out of jail. They steal Michael’s body back with Thomas’s help. Michael arrives in the Ocean of Souls (Heaven). Michael is plucked from the Ocean of Souls and is given a new “Skin”.

Main Mystery:

Need to develop mysteries for this act)

Sub-Mysteries:

What is the machine that is plucking souls from Heaven?

Main Open Loop:

1) Has Michael really seen a glimpse of Heaven?

2) Where has Michael arrived?

3) What has Michael become?

Sub-Open Loops:

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by  Jack Young.

[Madeleine Vessel]

Madeleine Vessel’s Open Loops and Mysteries

What I learned doing this assignment is that I can increase interest and intrigue by finding opportunities in each act for open loops and mysteries. I was able to find 5 opportunities to incorporate open loops and mysteries. I do notice that there’s some overlap with previous outline entries, but it’s also beginning to make more sense.

OUTLINE VERSION 4

Opening

Ivan Aivazovsky on a Russian Navy Ship of the Line watching a rescue at sea.

Act 1

Essence: Opens with (S) cleaning an Ivan Aivazovsky painting that belongs to Falisa, her father’s fiancée. (S) is an art history professor and painter, who cleans paintings on the side.

Surface: Ivan is a passenger on a Russian Ship of The Line (1846), who witnesses a dramatic rescue of passengers from a sinking sailing ship.

Layer beneath: The painting Sophie is cleaning depicts the rescue at sea seen by Ivan.

How revealed: Underneath dirt and cracked varnish, the painting is signed by Ivan Aivazovsky, the official painter of the Imperial Russian Navy and the greatest seascape painter of all time.

Main Mystery: Was the painting S is cleaning painted by Ivan Aivazovsky?

Sub-Mysteries:

· Who is Ivan Aivazovsky?

· Who is Pasha?

· How did he come to have four Old Russian Masters?

· What other secrets did Pasha die with?

Main Open Loop: Will the Ivan Aivazovsky painting be safe in Sophie’s faculty office?

Sub-Open Loops

· What is Zhora’s relationship with Zhora?

· Why does Sophie trust no one?

· Who is Olivia Carr?

· What’s Sophie’s role int he Russian Art Exhibition?

Act 2

Essence: Sophie’s scholarship is the basis for the Russian Art Exhibition. Private donors around the world, such as Vitaly Burundukov and Logan Johnson, are making the exhibition possible.

Intrigue: At a lunch meeting with Olivia, when Sophie learns that Russian dignitaries from the consulate have been invited to the Russian Art Exhibition reception makes Sophie recoil.

Surface: Sophie is the scholar behind the Russian Art Exhibition.

Layer Beneath: Sophie doesn’t want her major achievements and photograph published?

How Revealed: To satisfy Olivia, Sophie says, “Less is more.”

How Revealed: When we learn that Sophie and Zhora are in the U. S. Witness Program.

Main Mystery: Who are Aleksei and Kazimir, the Russian shooters?

Sub-Mysteries:

· How did the shooters gain access to Falisa’s house?

· Why did they enter armed?

· What was the shooters motive for shooting Zhora and Falisa?

· Is Iosif Emin the calling the shots in the art thefts?

Main Open Loop: How did the Russian shooters know about Falisa’s paintings?

Sub-Open Loops:

· How did the shooters know there should be four paintings when there are only three?

· How far will they go to get their hands on the fourth painting?

Midpoint: Zhora and Falisa are shot in front of Falisa’s house.

Act 3

Essence: The art thieves need all four paintings. They believe Zhora has the fourth in his possession.

Intrigue: Iosef tells Aleksei and Kazimir to break into Zhora’s apartment and find the painting without any confronting or killing anyone else.

Surface: On the surface, Iosef is calling the shots.

Layer Beneath: Vitaly Burundukov is really the top dog.

Intrigue: Zhora tells San Francisco Police Department Detective Sergeant Dave Sharp he thinks the shooters are enemies from his past.

Secret: Zhora has been hiding the fact that he’s not just a Russian language translator, but he is also working as an FBI informant.

(S) meets (B) in (Z’s) hospital room. She learns that Bill is an FBI Agent and that (Z) is his informant. It shocks (S) to realize that (Z) hasn’t been living by the rules of witness protection.

Surface: Professor Sophie Wolf is a modest academic, whose scholarship informs the Russian Art Exhibit entitled, Russian Master Paintings, 1870-1925, and whose credits are minimal.

Layer beneath: Sophie does not advertise her credentials because she is trying to avoid being identified by Russia’s FSB.

How revealed: Sophie’s U. S. Witness Protection Status is revealed when she visits Zhora in the hospital and meets FBI Agent Bill Hillman, who tells her Zhora thinks the shooters were enemies from his past.

Turning Point: (S Turning Point 1) Sophie learns that (Z) believes the shooters were FSB. The ramifications of this are too terrible for (S) to contemplate. Either, they will be on the run from FSB, or they will be forced to reenter witness protection under new names and occupations.

(B) promises to take care of (Z) and (S).

Main Mystery: Who are the Russian Shooters? Are they FSB? Are they art thieves? Or are they both?

Sub-Mysteries

· If the shooters are FSB, how did they find out Zhora’s and Sophie’s true identities?

· If the shooters are FSB, will Zhora and Sophie have to assume new identities and start over their lives again?

Main Open Loop: If the shooters are FSB, will Zhora and Sophie have to assume new identities and start over their lives again?

Sub-Open Loops:

· Will the shooters try to kill Zhora in the hospital?

· Will the shooters try to kill Sophie?

· Are the Russian shooters enemies from Zhora’s FSB past?

· If the shooters are FSB, will they stage another attack on Zhora and Sophie?

· Will Zhora and Sophie need to start over in the U. S. Witness Protection Program?

Act 4

Essence: The art thieves enter Zhora’s and Sophie’s apartment to find the missing painting.

Intrigue: Russian thieves break into Zhora’s and Sophie’s apartment and turn off the burglar alarm.

Intrigue: They search the house but do not find the painting. Sophie comes home while the thieves still are in the apartment.

Intrigue: Sophie enters front door of her apartment and finds the burglar alarm off.

(S Midpoint) (S) returns home to find the alarm off. There’s an intruder in the house. She calls (B), but he doesn’t pick up. She investigates on her own and comes face-to-face with one of the intruders, who get away down the back stairs.

Intrigue: Sophie collides with one of the intruders. Before she flees, his face is burned into her memory.

Turning Point: Sophie falls down the stairs and lands on Bill, who is arriving at the apartment.

(S and B Turning Point) (B) and (S) find nothing in her apartment that would draw FSB. They do find that the intruders seem very interested in (S’s) paintings. This prompts (S) to think the Russians might be art thieves, not Russians.

(B) finds nothing that would draw FSB, but he does notice that the Russian intruders seemed very interested in (S’s) paintings.

Intrigue: Sophie and Bill search her apartment for what the Russians were after.

Intrigue: The only things they seemed interested in are Sophie’s paintings.

Intrigue: Sophie remembers she’s been cleaning one of Falisa’s paintings, likely an Old Russian Master.

Intrigue: Sophie tells Bill she thinks the Russians were art thieves, not FSB operatives.

Main Mystery: Will the Russians kill Sophie?

Sub-mysteries:

· Will the Russians find the missing fourth painting?

· Will Sophie run into the thieves?

· Will the thieves kill Sophie?

· Will Bill arrive in time to save Sophie?

· Why didn’t the intruder shoot Sophie?

· What were the intruders looking for?

· Why were the intruders interested in Sophie’s paintings?

· Were the intruders FSB or something else entirely?

Main Open Loop: The Russians don’t find the painting in Zhora’s and Sophie’s apartment. Will they keep looking for it?

Sub-Open Loops:

· Where will the Russians look next for the missing fourth painting?

· Will the Russian intruders return to Sophie’s and Zhora’s apartment?

· Is it safe for Sophie to stay in her apartment?

· Will the intruders return?

· Can Bill really be trusted to keep Sophie safe?

· Will the intruders turn out to be FSB or art thieves?

Act 5

Essence: (B) and (S) form an alliance to find out the real reason the Russians shot (Z) and Falisa. They determine the shooters were art thieves, not FSB. Bill takes Sophie with him to Falisa’s house to verify whether or not her Old Russian Masters have been stolen.

(S) reveals that she has been cleaning one of Falisa’s paintings in her faculty office and that the painting may well be an Old Russian Master. I could be that the Russians were after that painting.

Surface: Vitaly Burundukov is a wealthy Russian businessman and donor to Sophie’s Russian Art Exhibit.

Layer beneath: Vitaly Burundukov is the art thief bent on obtaining Falisa’s paintings.

How revealed: At the end of season 1, Sophie catches Vitaly trying to sell stolen Old Russian Masters worth millions.

(S and B midpoint) (S) and (B) find all Falisa’s paintings gone. The Russians are determined art thieves, not FSB.

Now, the pressure is on (B) to identify the Russians, so (S) and (Z) will not attract public attention and, by extension, FSB attention.

Surface: Zhora and Falisa are shot by Russians. Zhora thinks they are enemies from his FSB past.

Layer beneath: The Russians are really art thieves at Falisa’s house to steal her Old Russian Master.

How revealed: At night, Sophie and Bill sneak behind the crime scene tape at Falisa’s house and verify that her Old Russian Masters are gone.

Intrigue: Sophie and Bill sneak into Falisa’s cordoned off house and find her paintings missing.

Turning Point: All Falisa’s paintings are gone. The Russian shooters are art thieves, not FSB operatives.

Main Mystery: Are the Russians FSB, or are they art thieves.

Sub-Mysteries:

· How do the art thieves know where Zhora lives?

· How much does the art thief know about Sophie?

· Who’s pulling the art thieves’ strings?

Main Open Loop: Who is behind the theft of Falisa’s paintings?

Sub-Open Loops

· What will the art thief do with Falisa’s paintings?

· Will he come after Sophie to find the missing painting?

[Eric Humble]

Eric Humble’s Open Loops and Mysteries

What I learned doing this assignment is: how to create obsession by forcing the audience to wonder about the past and future of this story. These concepts of mystery and open loops are fascinating and have formed a significant portion of my BW framework. Between that and the thriller genre, I found that I already have a large number of mysteries, open loops, and sub-mysteries and -loops built in. In the end, I brainstormed a good amount of these but felt that the outline only warranted two additions otherwise it would have been too crowded with mysteries and open loops and would have muddled the story. But what I have has impacted the story greatly – more than anything I’ve written before, I feel like this pilot has the ability to make us wonder beyond the edges of the story. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more opportunities for open loops and mysteries as we move forward.

Main Mystery: Jude questions Dres about her blood sample… when someone tries to kill her. Who is trying to kill her and why?

Sub-Mysteries:

Is it because her DNA holds the secret to curing cancer… or is there something else going on?

Why are all the assassins well-off Pharma scientists? What drove them to this?

Who is in the cabal ordering these hits? What is their ultimate goal?

Who’s buried in the grave beneath the bridge? What is its connection to the cabal?

Why is Catherine being followed by the cabal?

Main Open Loop: Can Jude infiltrate the cabal?

Sub-Open Loops:

Will Jude be turned into an assassin like the others?

Will Jude get caught for killing the assassin?

Will Jude get caught by the police or the cabal?

Will Jude’s motive get found out?

Will Jude get Dres’ blood sample to make the cure?

Will they make another attempt on Dres?

[George Petersen]

George Petersen – OPEN LOOPS AND MYSTERIES

What I learned doing this assignment is how open loops and mysteries go together, how one sort of leads to the other.

Act 1:

(OL) Pinkerton is risking his agency’s reputation by hiring a woman. What if she gets injured, or worse, killed? That could sink the agency. What will happen as a result of this decision? / Though Pinkerton hires Kate, he won’t assign her to anything too dangerous. She’s a woman after all.

(OL) With Kate a hero in the newspapers, what will Pinkerton do now? / INTRIGUING WORLD: Pinkerton assigns Kate to a case that isn’t going anywhere. Kate goes undercover on her first case, a train robbery, and recovers the stolen money.

(OL) What will being famous lead to? / SECRET IDENTITY: The newspapers cover the story about her use of a secret identity to befriend the robber’s wife. She’s famous now as the first woman detective.

(M) How did Kate pull this off? / SECRET: Kate won’t reveal to Pinkerton the details of the case, how a woman managed to do what experienced male detectives couldn’t do, unless he assigns her to the Baltimore team. Pinkerton refuses. He won’t be blackmailed.

(M) Everyone wants to know more about Kate. Who is she and how did she pull this off? / Act 1 TURNING POINT- Newspaper reporters want to know more about Kate. Pinkerton changes his mind at the last minute, assigns Kate to the team leaving for Baltimore.

(M) What’s the game plan here? Why is it so important to block Yankee troops from passing through the city? / MYSTERY: The team’s objective is to investigate a rumor that Southern sympathizers are planning to burn the rail bridges around the city in order to prevent Yankee troops from passing through on their way to Washington.

(OL) Will Kate accept being demoted just because she’s a woman? Will she stay in the background and just watch passively? / UNDESERVED SUFFERING: But being a spy is more dangerous than being a detective, so she must understand that she will be kept in the background. Because she is a woman, she will not be allowed to go deep undercover.

Act 2 :

(M) Why are emotions running so high in this city? Is it a Northern city? Or a Southern city? The Southern sympathizers are determined to make it a Southern city. Will they succeed? / INTRIGUING WORLD: Kate enters Mobtown, the powder keg world of Baltimore as Miss Kate, Southern socialite.

(OL) Who are these characters who are playing a role in the emerging Confederacy and what is their game plan? / CONSPIRACY: Angelina takes Kate under her wing, explains to her who’s who in the rebel world.

(M) What secret plan is Rhett involved in? / HIDDEN AGENDA: Angelina boasts to Kate that her husband is part of a secret society devoted to the expansion of slavery and that there is a plan brewing that will shorten the war to a couple weeks, a month at most.

(M) Who is Ferrandini and what is he planning for an assassination plot? / Act 2 TURNING POINT – Confronting a drunk Rhett of the Black Snakes gang, Kate discovers that Ferrandini is the ringleader of the assassination plot and that the assassination plot is real.

Act 3:

(OL) What will happen with Kate’s ruse to get Ferrandini to pay attention to her? / DECEPTION: The public spat between Kate and Pinkerton in the hotel lobby succeeds in getting Ferrandini to protect Kate.

(OL) Will Kate slip up and get herself hung on Pratt Street? / CONSPIRACY: Kate’s decision to go on a date with Ferrandini pushes Pinkerton to the limit.

(M) Who are the KGC members and what are they doing with the gangs? / Act 3 TURNING POINT – HIDDEN AGENDA: Pursuing Ferrandini as the target, Kate learns about the KGC and its efforts to recruit and organize the gangs of the city for the assassination plot.

Act 4:

(OL) Will Ferrandini learn that Pinkerton is a spy and have him killed? / Pinkerton and Ferrandini become best friends.

(OL) Having discovered Pinkerton snooping around, will the Blood Tubs kill him? / ACCUSATION: The pig’s blood tub incident. Ferrandini comes to Pinkerton’s rescue.

(M) Now becoming a member, what can Pinkerton learn about what’s really going on with the KGC? / Act 4 TURNING POINT – DECEPTION: Pinkerton, disguised as Hutchinson, gets initiated into the KGC. Infiltration of the KGC is successful.

Act 5:

(OL) What will happen now with eight ballot winners independently planning to kill Lincoln? / Act 5 TURNING POINT – DECEPTION: Ferrandini plants eight red ballots instead of one in the drawing to choose who will have the privilege of assassinating the President.

(OL) Will Lincoln make it to Washington alive? Will he live to deliver his inaugural address? / WOUND: Lincoln gives a heartfelt, extemporaneous address before the Presidential train leaves Springfield.