Lesson 8

[Karen Christine Angermayer]

Karen Christine´s Writing Great Hope and Fear!

What I learned doing this assignment is that it was a wonderful experience playing with Hope and Fear. It helped me create even more twists and profound moments throughout the whole story, and especially in Act 4. I found it extremely helpful to watch GRAVITY and to see how many fear-moments they built into the last minutes.

Act 1:

HOPE: The family really needs this time-out. All of them have emotional, financial or health issues. They deserve this vacation.

FEAR: The cabin is far away from all other cabins and the reception. What if Max´ illness gets worse?

HOPE: The forest is so beautiful and nourishing. This could be the place where they start anew.

FEAR: Since the big trunk lying in Max´ bed is too heavy to be removed the children share a room. Will they make it with their age difference and their permanent discussions?

HOPE: Lori and her mother Judy find knives and try whittling. It seems a nice activity to bond in a new way.

FEAR: Max suffers from breathlessness. They did not bring enough oxygen tanks, because they´ve presumed they wouldn´t need them in the fresh air in the woods.

HOPE: Mark has an idea on how he and his partner could save their project, their money and their reputation.

FEAR: But he cannot reach him, because there´s no Internet in the cabin. Will his partner perform well during the interrogation and manage to navigate this ship?

HOPE: The landlord provides them with a big gift basket full of delicious fruit and snacks. The gesture is kind, but why is he wearing a gas mask outside?

WARNING: The landlord warns them to go out. There has been an unexpected emission of carbon dioxide. He locks all doors and windows. Then he leaves.

Act 2:

HOPE: If they find a way to connect with somebody outside the can call for help.

FEAR: There´s still no Internet. And the trees outside seem to grow bigger and bigger and night. It´s overwhelming. What´s going on?

HOPE: Lori has found a place in the attic where she can send text messages.

FEAR: The moment they´ve decided to whom to send their SOS-calls, a tempest breaks loose and cuts of the Internet and electricity. They cannot cook and have no light except some candles and their flashlights from their mobile phones until they run out of battery.

HOPE: Mark has found a door in the cellar that leads to a narrow tunnel. Could this be her way out – under the trees?

FEAR: The tunnel leads to a bunker with lab equipment and notes and strange pictures of people half-human, half-tree. One girl on a picture wears the same bracelet like the tree in one of the beds. What does this mean? Who lived here or is still working here?

HOPE: At least they found 2 gasmasks in the bunker, they take them back into the cabin.

WOUND/DISPAIR: In a vulnerable moment mother Judy confesses to her husband her fears about Max´ coming death.

FEAR: Lori has taken the pictures from the bunker without her father knowing. Now she shows them what she has discovered: That the trees look like the ones that are lying in front of the cabin in strange positions. Are they dead people?

HOPE: The landlord brings another oxygen tank for Max and some “natural”. medicine. He also manages to turn on the electricity again.

FEAR: He reacts angry when they ask him about the bunker. He tells them about his brother who was a biologist and environmentalist with “some strange ideas”. He tries to calm them that his brother has vanished a couple of days (weeks?) ago. Mark and his family pretend to believe him and try to calm Max who is concerned – but they don´t believe it at all.

WARNING/DANGER: Lori stops her mother from giving Max the medicine. The bottle reminds her of the ones she has seen in the bunker. What did the brother of the landlord administer to the people?

Act 3:

HOPE: Judy finds a drawing from a child in a cupboard that shows the cabin, some trees and some kind of a radius. Does that mean that the trees behind that line are okay and not dangerous?

FEAR: Lori wants to go, because she´s an experienced climber. Her father won´t let her go. He doesn´t want to lose another child.

HOPE: With one of the gas masks Mark starts his way through the woods. But after few steps he´s trapped and injured!

FEAR: Lori and her mother feel that something went wrong. Judy wants to go, but Lori won´t let her. She grabs the second gas mask and leaves. Judy stays alone with Max in the cabin trying not to show her fears. But it won´t work.

HOPE: Max tells her how much he loves her and all she has been doing for him all her life.

HOPE: Lori finds her dead and his relieved …

FEAR: … only to find out that she cannot free him from the trap. It´s too strong and she didn´t bring tools. She hates herself for not thinking of this. Her father calms her. Instead of losing their time here, she must go and search for help!

WARNING: On her way back Lori hears a sound. She finds a man surrounded by tree bark. Is he the landlord´s brother. No, he´s a former visitor of the cabin. He is weak and can only say few words, but he warns Lori. The landlord´s a maniac. He´s a multiple personality. He and his crazy brother are one person! The tree-man dies.

DANGER/TICKING CLOCK: Should Lori run on and search for help? Or tell her mother and Max first what she just found out?

Act 4:

HOPE: If she arrives in time, she can warn her mother and brother and hide them in a room in the cabin.

FEAR: When she arrives the landlord´s already there and has taken her mother and brother hostages. He reveals his crazy vision to them – to save the planet by transforming people (who are way too many on this Earth) into trees.

HOPE: Lori manages to stay undetected.

FEAR: Her gas mask broke when she got stuck in a tree on her way to the cabin. There´s carbon dioxide flowing in …

HOPE: When the landlord leaves Lori finds a way to climb through the chimney and free her mother and Max. They quickly repair her gasmask and build two other improvisational ones with plastic bottles and other material they find in the house.

FEAR: The three manage to get out of the house. But it´s difficult fleeing with Max in the wheel-chair. He asks them to leave him there. But this is the last thing they will do! They have to take care of the traps.

HOPE: They are finding the empty trap. Has Mark made it to escape? Is he on the way for bringing help?

FEAR: The find a man dangling dead from a tree. Is it Mark?

HOPE: It´s not Mark. They find a purse, and a message on a mobile phone that was never sent. Only a few more steps then comes the line with the trees that are not damaged and don´t emit carbon dioxide …

FEAR: They hear noises, and find out: The landlord is behind them. They won´t make it with Max in the wheel-chair!

HOPE: Lori takes Max on her back, and climbs a near tree with him. With gestures she instructs her mother how to climb on another tree nearby.

FEAR: Her mother steps onto a loose twig and falls down. Right in the arms of the landlord! Lori and her brother would like to scream, but he holds her hand over his mouth, holds him tight and calms him.

HOPE: In the minute the landlord wants to kill Judy Mark arrives with the police and the resort manager. Mark tells his family that he managed to break free from the trap and sent out some SOS text messages. The landlord takes some of his self-made tree DNA, then he shoots himself, because the police can arrest him.

The family is being saved and returns home in their car. They are happy in a new way.

We hear that Mark is quitting his job, and wants to find a new position in environmental research – in a healthy way.

We also hear that the trees around the cabin will be protected and taken care of. The cause for the 180 degree change of the photosynthesis will take biologists some time to be explored. It has created a new kind of respect for the forces of nature.

[Rae Rodgers]

SWU – CONTAINED MOVIE – LESSON #8

RAE WRITES GREAT LOVE/FEAR

What I learned this assignment is it looks like another big re-write, but it will be worth it.

BRAINSTORM 5 OR MORE HOPE FEAR MOMENTS THAT CAN OCCUR IN EACH ACT.

OPENING:

1. Jesi is jilted at the altar, vows she’s over men – moves in with her father Jackson:

2. Jesi’s fears she’s losing her autonomy.

3. After Jackson dies: Show Jesi’s sense of abandonment.

4. Jesi seeks solace with Harold, Jackson’s old friend. Confides her Dad’s construction business is where she wants to be – but to pay off his debt she needs big income. He says she should do commercial real estate.

5. Harold’s friend, Jason Schindler at West Coast Investments, takes Jesi on with a caveat that she remain single, office policy Jesi says it’s illegal, but she is desperate for the job.

6. CEO Sheila Harden remains anonymous to her salesmen. Jason’s her only mouthpiece.

7. Two months on the job, working both real estate and construction, Jesi has not made a deal. The truck business is her sole income.

8. Jesi stalks Jason for leads, but they go to top producers only. She’s desperately making cold calls, knocking on apartment manager’s doors.

INCITING INCIDENT: West Coast Investment’s #1 producer.

1. Jackson dies, the result of a freak accident. Jesi becomes the recipient of her father’s mounting debt, medical and IRS.

2. She has a love connection with Gerard, her father’s surgeon. He makes it clear he wants to marry her but she fears losing her job.

3. Harold is listing his twenty-unit apartment with long time agent Henry Woo, asks him to split the listing with Jesi. He says too late! Jesi vows to beat Henry at his game and become #1 in sales.

4. To compensate for the lost listing Henry introduces Jesi to his “Good Old Boys,” all wealthy apartment owners. Within twenty-four hours she lists a twenty-unit building.

TURNING POINT:

1. The good old boys use Henry Woo as their agent but are now looking for new blood. One by one Jesi signs their listings. Henry is furious. Jesi keeps apologizing, setting up a love-hate relationship.

2. Gerard pursues Jesi with calls and flowers – until finally she agrees to meet for coffee. There’s chemistry. She agrees to a dinner date where he proposes. Gerard’s friend, a wedding officiant, shows up serendipitously, marries them right there in the restaurant.

3. Jesi has several listings and sales to her credit, is a hot commodity for broker Jason. She worries about how to break the news of her marriage. She starts, then stops when he restates the office marriage policy.

PLAN OF ACTION:

1. Gerard pushes Jesi for a date to go to City Hall to consummate the marriage with a license.

2. Jesi is so busy listing and closing sales she does not have the time for marriage.

MIDPOINT TURNING POINT

1. Jesi pushes Jason to drop the Single Women Only clause in her contract.

ACT 3: NEW PLAN

1, Jesi keeps closing deals, headed for “Rookie of the YEAR.”

2. keeps pushing Jason – wants to meet the elusive CEO, Sheila Harden.

RETHINK EVERYTHING

1. Gerard puts the pressure on. Wants to announce the wedding to the world.

2. Gerard also has a withhold. Jesi has made it clear she wants no children. He has an undisclosed twelve year old boy, Julian.

3. Also Julian does not want another mother – because they die.

NEW PLAN:

1. Gerard tells Jesi he has a twelve year old boy, Julian.

2. Jesi pulls back.

3. Finally Jesi agrees to mee Julian.

ACT 4:

FINAL PLAN:

1. Jason calls Jesi to his office – he knows she is married.

2. Jesi insists on a face-to-face meeting with CEO, Sheila. If not, she will take her single women only ruling to The Dept. of Real Estate.

3. Sheila avoids – we learn her backstory – she is Jesi’s mother (pronounced deceased to Jesi at age four.

CLIMAX/UNTIMATE EXPRESSION OF THE CONFLICT:

1. Sheila exposes herself, tells Jesi the truth.

2. Jesi is devastated – has to rethink everything.

RESOLUTION:

1. Sheila is a runner. Invites Jesi to run with her and the sharing is intense.

2. Finally, playing Sinatra’s music and reminiscing there is a resolution.

3. Weeks later at City Hall, Jesi leaves Gerard waiting – she’s too busy closing a deal.

4. Gerard says it is now or never.

5. The next day, Gerard exits the City Hall with Jesi – followed by Sheila, and young Julian.