Lesson 7

[RAMSEY ANDERSON]

<div>Not able to copy/paste without getting a TON of HTML. ;-(
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Homework #7 = complete

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• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  RAMSEY ANDERSON.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  RAMSEY ANDERSON.

[H. Vince]

Subject: H. Vince’s 4 Act Structure

Contained – 2023

Lesson 7: Structure for Containment

What I learned from doing this assignment is…a little more of what is going to happen.

1. Tell us the following:

Concept: What if while accepting an
invitation to go on an opposite views podcast in a remote desert location,
the grid shuts down? <div>

Main Conflict: Grid Shutdown

2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.

Act 1:

Opening: Podcast guest arrives to a rented out remote desert
location </div><div>

Inciting Incident: Conflict between all podcasters

Turning Point: Grid Shutdown

Act 2:

New plan: Wait it out for someone to arrive </div><div>

Plan in action: Inventory of supplies

Midpoint Turning Point: No one arrives, producer and podcaster leave
for help

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Producer comes back hurt </div><div>

New plan: Pirate Podcast without internet

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Someone undesirable comes
to the rescue

Act 4:

Final plan: Survival Team Effort </div>

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Low supplies, extreme
heat

Resolution: Help arrives

[Gustavo Cosenza]

Gustavo’s 4 Act Structure

What I learned doing this assignment is things are moving well, and structure is helping me expand the story.

Create a first draft of your 4 Act Structure.

1. Tell us the following:

Concept: 2 top-tier microbiologists that are escaping their lawless country, get caught and put into a prisoner transport vehicle, they soon discover they are the missing piece to an operation that could free their homeland.

Main Conflict: While trying to escape your country you are forced to return and be part of a dangerous operation to regain control of it.

Act 1:

Opening: Dan and Victoria prepare to escape their country, they leave their daughter with their grandmother.

Inciting Incident: Their driver gets killed by the border patrol after they find out he is transporting immigrants, they have to escape into the forest nearby after bullets start to fly

Turning Point: After a couple of days of traveling, Dan and Victoria get ambushed and trapped in a prison vehicle with Rich.

Act 2:

New plan: Rich shares his immigration story with Dan and Victoria, they do the same, but they are focused on escaping from this cell and continuing their journey.

Plan in action: They get very close to escaping the cell, Rich uncovers he is lying and is under control of the operation and is part of the revolution. He wants their research to develop a weapon to kill a narco leader, a friend of the president. He threatens them to kidnap their daughter if they don’t join.

Midpoint Turning Point: As they follow Rich and his armed soldiers, Dan escapes, tells Victoria to trust in him.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Victoria doesn’t understand why Dan escaped alone. They take her to the place they discovered the organism, but she can’t find it.

New plan: Dan kills Rich’s soldiers using the organism as a weapon. Rich regains control and is thrilled by what he saw, sociopathic behavior. Dan and Victoria accept to help Rich on killing the narco leader.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Rich shows his true nature by killing border officials to re-enter the country. (He just found out the government found and killed a big group of revolutionaries.) Rich fuelled by hate show the real operation, he wants to kill all the head positions in the government and reinstate himself as president. Dan and Victoria refuse to do this and are put in a cell.

Act 4:

Final plan: Dan and Victoria set a security protection for the use of the organism, Rich has to free them. He manipulates them showing them they are very organized, financed by external money, and they have everything in place to take control of the country. Dan recognizes David, his lost brother.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: With the help of David, the operation is a success, they manage to slowly kill all the big shots in the government.

Resolution: Dan and Victoria kill Rich and strategically put David as the new major candidate

[Aurora AURORA Harris HARRIS]

Aurora’s Four Act Structure for Pilot Episode of Insurrection.

I learned I already had the elements for the structure but they were stacked in the wrong order. I think following the proven structure will make the story stronger since it meets audience and producer expectations better.

1.

Series Concept: A Praetorian Centurion, naïvely loyal to Emperor Tiberius, is sidelined by Sejanus, his newly promoted boss, and sent on a bootless errand to find a mythical Jewish rebel. In Palestine, he is placed under house arrest in a remote luxury hostelry, full of spies, and intrigue, and while he struggles with his out of control subordinates, he discovers he himself is an insurrectionist.

Main Conflict in Episode One: Centurion Theophilus Cato struggles to maintain his loyalties to the Roman Empire while protecting his beloved Jewish household slaves from a new wave of anti- Semitism in Rome.

2.

Cold Open: Older Luke (character he will meet in the future in Palestine) writes to an Older Theophilus, causing him to reminisce.

Act 1:

Opening:
Theo rewards a Jewish soldier in his cohort for loyalty and bravery and
announces he’s being reassigned.

Inciting
Incident: At his slave, Philip’s race, Theo discovers from Atticus there
is a new wave of anti Semitism coming. Theo sees it carried out against
Philip by the race official. During the race Theo follows the official and
retaliates against him.
Turning
Point- He learns from Atticus that the race official was murdered, stabbed
with a military issued Iberian dagger left at the scene and Sejanus thinks
its convenient to blame the Jews.

Act 2:

New
plan- Theo notices his own Iberian dagger is missing. He confronts Hannah, Philip’s mother and finds
out Philip was lying about his whereabouts. Theo is going to investigate.

Plan
in action- He follows Philip and learns he had taken Theo’s dagger to the
rebels but is unable to get it back. When confronted, Philip recites a poem
about a a prophesied Jewish warrior overthrowing with an iron rod. Philip
also quotes Virgil.

Midpoint
Turning Point- Theo finds his Jewish soldier killed and his reward stolen.

Act 3:

Rethink
everything-He rejects Atticus’ suggestion that he spy on Tiberius.

New
plan: He tells Tiberius his new plan, he will retire, and to go to
Jerusalem to find the insurrectionist.

Turning
Point: Huge failure / Major shift He is dragged before Sejanus.

Act 4:

Final
plan- Sejanus wants to send him as an emissary of the Emperor to Palestine
to conduct the investigation.

Climax/Ultimate
expression of the conflict-Thugs attack during a Seder at Theo’s home on the day
his home guard is off duty.

Resolution-
Theo decides all of them are going to Palestine

TAG

Hannah is blackmailed into making secret reports on Theo’s
investigation, by threats to expose her son Philip’s involvement with Jewish rebels.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Aurora AURORA Harris HARRIS.

[Tom Wilson]

Tom’s 4 Act Structure

Doing this assignment, I learned I need a deadline like this to do my work faster.

· Concept: 3 people wake up on a life raft gliding over the sea. No idea how they got here. Or why.

· Main Conflict: Keep attempting to hail a ship to save them vs. Get control of the submarine that pulls them?

Act 1:
· Opening: Gus, Elaine and Alfredo wake up in a life raft crossing the mid-Atlantic.

· Turning Point – They discover a submersible is pulling them. Where is it headed?

Act 2:
· New plan – Gus swim to and board a merchant ship that will save them.

· Plan in action – The ship’s captain won’t return to pick up Elaine and Alfredo.

· Midpoint Turning Point – Gus jumps overboard and swims back to Elaine and Alfredo.

Act 3:
· Rethink everything – Alfredo makes the submersible pulling them chase the ship Gus boarded.

· New plan – They meet Gus who swims to rejoin them.

· Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift / Heart of Darkness moment: Gus returns their life raft. A shark bites him. Alfredo won’t save him. Elaine pulls Gus aboard. Binds his wounds.

Act 4:
· Final plan – They will fire the flare gun (Gus stole from the 1st ship) at next ship they see.

· Climax/Ultimate expression of conflict: Alfredo won’t let Gus attract a passing ship. Gus and Alfredo fight. Elaine yells their life raft stopped. It hovers over a ship wreck on the ocean floor. Thousands of gold coins have spilled out of the ship.

· Resolution: At the last second, the ship returns to rescue them. They fight the ship’s captain who wants to take the three onboard. They want the captain to give them supplies. They want to remain with the gold.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Tom Wilson.

[Thomas Doran]

Tom’s 4 Act Structure

Create a first draft of your 4 Act Structure.

What I learned doing this assignment is that I need to do more brainstorming with respect to Act 3 and especially Act 4; the protagonist is in a face to face struggle with the elements as opposed to another person. I believe that this was the case with films like “127 Hours” and “Cast Away”.

1. Tell us the following:

Concept: Complying to a mandatory hospital call-in, Alex and Kris are trapped in their “dead” electric SUV in a generational blinding blizzard, without working cell phones.

Main Conflict: Between Alex and Kris; Alex wants to leave the SUV to find help, shelter and a way to get to the hospital, where Kris wants to stay in the vehicle, even though there is no heat. (She also has hidden reasons for staying in the SUV- low insulin and she’s pregnant with Alex’s baby.)

2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.

Act 1:

Opening: Alex, driving his electric all wheel drive SUV, pulls into Kris’ driveway. They venture out into unplowed streets, headed to the hospital.

Inciting Incident: Kris asks Alex to turn around and take her back home because the visibility on the road is very poor. Alex refuses, explaining that the hospital is short staffed and that have to get there ASAP.

Turning Point: Alex loses his sense of direction in the blinding snow, then realizes he’s low on his charge. He swerves and spins into a snowbank, becoming stuck.

Act 2:

New plan: Alex climbs into the back of the SUV and retrieves a flare.

Plan in action: Alex gets out of the car, but drops the matches in the snow. He’s unable to get the flares lit.

Midpoint <div>

Turning Point: Alex learns that Kris is low on insulin and believes that he has to go out into the blizzard to find help. Kris insists on staying inside the vehicle, with that being their best chance at survival. When Alex pressures Kris to go with him, she reveals that she’s pregnant and doesn’t want to harm her baby.

Alex, angry at Kris for not previously informing him of the pregnancy, gets out of the vehicle and disappears into the blinding snow.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: In the blinding storm, Alex follows what appears to a light in the distance.</div>

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>New plan: Alex’s plan is find help, but if not, a warm place where he can bring Kris.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Turning <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Alex finds a building and breaks inside. He writes a note apologizing for breaking in. Attempts to dial out, but no signal.

<div>

Act 4:
Final plan: Alex returns into the storm to look for Kris and his SUV.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

Alex finds other SUV and buried cars in the snow but cannot find Kris; he’s able to find and rescue other people.

Kris bangs on the window to alert several EMT’s.They smash the side window and drag Kris out. Alex collapses in the snow, while searching for his SUV.

Resolution: Kris gets rescued by first responders and ends up in an ICU bed at the hospital. She looks up and sees Alex at the side of her bed, but then we see her asleep. When she opens her eyes, Alex is gone.

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[Bent Hanlen]

Bent’s 4 act structure!

what I learned doing this assignment is this……. I can fill this out for my main conflict and then write out the B story and the C story using this. It makes sense to me. There is consistency.

Concept – Michael the bellman wants to retire from working a long career in the hotel business. He hasn’t saved enough money though so he remains a servant to providing customer service.

Main Conflict – Mike delivers bags to a room and the guest does not tip him. Instead, the guest hands the money to the maid in the room as compensation for preparing the room in front of Mike

Act 1:

Opening – Mike is scratching a lottery ticket while his manager Betsy has brought everyone together for the shift briefing. He is worried about his future and gambling is the only way.

Inciting Incident – They all receive envelopes for christmas from the General Manager. Nothing of value is inside.

Turning Point – They all surrender to the fact they will never be appreciated by management.

Act 2:

New plan – No choice but to work harder. Otherwise turn in two week notice.

Plan in action

Midpoint Turning Point

Act 3:

Rethink everything

New plan

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

Act 4:

Final plan

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

Resolution

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Bent Hanlen.

[Bent Hanlen]

Bent’s 4 act structure!

what I learned doing this assignment is this……. I can fill this out for my main conflict and then write out the B story and the C story using this. It makes sense to me. There is consistency.

Concept – Michael the bellman wants to retire from working a long career in the hotel business. He hasn’t saved enough money though so he remains a servant to providing customer service.

Main Conflict – Mike delivers bags to a room and the guest does not tip him. Instead, the guest hands the money to the maid in the room as compensation for preparing the room in front of Mike

Act 1:

Opening – Mike is scratching a lottery ticket while his manager Betsy has brought everyone together for the shift briefing. He is worried about his future and gambling is the only way.

Inciting Incident – They all receive envelopes for christmas from the General Manager. Nothing of value is inside.

Turning Point – They all surrender to the fact they will never be appreciated by management.

Act 2:

New plan – No choice but to work harder. Otherwise turn in two week notice.

Plan in action – Mike takes bags up by himself and they are way too heavy.

Midpoint Turning Point – Mike hurts his back and struggles to lift bags It hurts so much that he wants to quit the job. THe guest arrives to the room and is dissatisfied with the room itself. He tips out Lorena the housekeeper for making up the room. He ignores Mike.

Act 3:

Rethink everything – Mike finds out he has to move the bags to another room. Mike knows he needs help but no one will come to the room to help him.

New plan – He asks Jerry the Page for help because he’s goof for it after Lorena the housekeeper refuses to help him

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Jerry instead steals a sunday paper to deliver to a guest. It came from Lorena’s cart.

Act 4:

Final plan – Michael has no choice but to deliver the luggage to the new room.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Mike delivers the bags to the room then with his crippled body he finds Jerry as the kid is dropping off a sunday paper to a guest. Lorena pushes Mike aside and yells at Jerry. The guest is in bed and wakes up yelling. They all run.

Resolution – Jerry gently closes the door and softly says the sunday paper is on the desk.

[Robert Barhite]

Bob’s 4 Act Structure

What I learned doing this assignment is the story works better as a comedy than a supernatural thriller. Need to continuously review and revise the 4 Act Structure to clear up plot holes prior to outlining.

Concept: To avenge a double cross by the Mob, the Bartender reunites with his ex-partner, now a Sheriff, to steal $60 million from the Mob and send the Boss responsible for the double cross to jail before the pair’s true identities are discovered.

Main Conflict: The Bartender and The Sheriff recruit ex-Mob members to help, but one of them is an FBI informant. They race the clock to scam the Mob and escape before a hurricane crashes down.

Act 1:

• Opening: To get back in the good graces of the Mob (and get revenge), The Bartender has allowed is establishment to be used as a money laundering facility.

• Inciting Incident: In two weeks a mob Lieutenant is coming for the monthly pickup of cash. The Sheriff plans to arrest him and trick him into snitching on who set up her lover/partner The Bartender.

• Turning Point: Change of plan – due to a hurricane the Boss himself is coming for a pickup in five days.

Act 2:

• New plan: Scam the Mob Boss into believing he’s caught in an FBI set-up.

• Plan in action: Recruit past associates and trusted allies to help with the new plan – make sure the Mob Boss is trapped by the hurricane then trick him into snitching out the rat who set up the Bartender.

• Midpoint Turning Point: A Stranger arrives who seems to know everything.

Act 3:

• Rethink everything: The Sheriff is contacted by the FBI. They’re on their way to bust the bar and arrest everyone. Someone is a snitch.

• New plan: Find the damn snitch before the FBI arrives.

• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: The storm wrecks the only way off the island. They’re trapped.

Act 4:

• Final plan: Tell the Mob Boss that the whole thing is an FBI setup organized by one of his lieutenants and coerce The Mob Boss into ratting out the rat during their treacherous “escape.”

• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: They trick the Snitch into revealing themselves – it’s the Husband-and-Wife team the Bartender recruited.

• Resolution: The FBI arrive, and Mob Boss and The Snitch are arrested. The Bartender and the Sheriff leave town with half of the laundered cash. The rest is given to the townsfolk to help rebuild the island.

[Martha Manuel]

ASSIGNMENT – LESSON 7: Structure for Containment

SUBJECT
LINE: Martha’s 4 Act Structure

What I learned doing this assignment is: a first draft is much easier to do if you follow all the other lessons’ suggestions and piece them all together one at a time.

Create a first draft of your 4 Act Structure.

1. Tell us the following:

a. Concept: A major hurricane hits just as two young bungling escaped convicts are in the process of robbing a small country store; and, being trapped inside with its’ occupants, they all begin to see the old adage, “Crime Doesn’t Pay” shot to pieces.

b. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Main Conflict: The 18 and 21-year-old inexperienced robbers begin to push the panic button as they confront three completely different personalities stranded in the store with them during the hurricane.

2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Act 1:

a. Opening: Two escaped convicts, Tye (18) and Lance (21), with one gun between

them, enter a small rural country store to rob it.

b. Inciting Incident: The robbers and three occupants of the store, Mr. Martin,

Bobby, his 15-year-old mentally challenged grandson, and Susie, Bobby’s 18-

year-old sister, are confronted by the arrival of a major hurricane.

c. Turning Point: A large tree falls in front of the store entrance, trapping them all

inside; back exit of store blocked with heavy metal cabinets and old machinery

never disposed of when store was originally an old feed mill; phone lines and cell

phones inoperable due to weather.

Act 2:

a. New plan: Tie up people inside; get money from cash register; pack up store

items; search for another way out.

b. Plan in action: No obvious way out; limited money in safe; convicts become

irate; decide to hold Mr. Martin as main hostage until Bobby tells of marijuana in

back storeroom; he will get it for them if they leave his grandfather alone.

c. Midpoint Turning Point: Everyone smoking up evidence of store’s secret

venture until someone carelessly drops a joint and a blazing fire quickly erupts.

Act 3:

a. Rethink everything: Robbery has now converted from stealing to surviving.

b. New plan: Search for way to put out fire in back; to do so robbers must get

cooperation of others in store.

c. Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Fire in back now blazing out of

control; everyone in store high on marijuana; must find way to bring everyone

back under control.

Act 4:

a. Final plan: Lance has become close to Susie; she encourages him to give himself up as they hear sirens coming from down the road; she will get her mother to help him and his friend find a good lawyer that will help prove their innocence.

b. Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The robbery was bad, the hurricane was worse, the fire was unbelievable, and yet if it were not for the beginning of this fiasco, Lance might never have met Susie, Tye might never have connected with Bobby, and Mr. Martin might never have realized his daughter’s true feelings about her current life situation; and ultimately none of them may ever have seen the old adage “crime doesn’t pay” shot to pieces.

c. Resolution: Firetrucks come flying down the road, an ambulance follows, and following everyone else is a lone undercover vehicle still searching for the missing Angola escapees.