Module 1 – Lesson 3: Engaging Main Characters That Sell Your Show

[Brett Born]

Assignment #1 – AHS Engaging Main Characters

A. ROLE IN THE SHOW:

Vivien: The matriarch of the broken family.

Ben: The husband in the broken family. He’ll do anything to keep his family together.

B. UNIQUE PURPOSE / EXPERTISE:

Vivien: Purpose: She’s working to see if the family can stay together but doesn’t know if it will work.

Expertise: She has a miscarriage which is the catalyst in the deterioration of the marriage. The Murder House feeds on her tragedy.

Ben: Purpose: He illustrates the immense pain the couple feels through his bad actions.

Expertise: Psychiatrist who can understand his wife’s pain and express it in words, but he can’t connect with her emotionally.

C. INTRIGUE: WHAT SECRETS ARE BENEATH THE SURFACE?

Vivien: She is probably carrying the baby of another man.

Ben: He had an affair with one of his students, and now she is pregnant with his child.

D. MORAL ISSUE: WHAT MORAL BOUNDARIES ARE THEY CROSSING?

Vivien: She threatens the real estate agent with a lawsuit if the agent doesn’t do whatever it takes to unload the murder house on another unsuspecting buyer.

Ben: He has an affair with a student. He’s complicit to the murder of the student, who is carrying his child. He contemplates sleeping with Moira, the maid.

E. UNPREDICTABLE: WHAT WILL THEY DO NEXT?

Vivien: She has sex with Latex Man. She fights back against the intruders during a home invasion.

Ben: He sleepwalks and plays with fire. He helps to bury the body of his murdered student.

F. EMPATHETIC: WHY DO WE CARE?

Vivien: She has a miscarriage and has to carry the baby for two months before delivering a stillborn.

Ben: Feels sincere remorse for his infidelity and poor decisions. His deep pain stems from the loss of their baby.

[Keema Mingo]

Assignment 1

Keema Mingo: Engaging characters that sell you show

A. Role in the show: Olivia Pope, owns and leads Pope and Associates<div>B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: fixes problems for the elite and wealthy
C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? She had an affair with the president
D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? She isn’t always on the side or what is moral. She defends him ever she wants to believe. She has t told her team she had an affair with the president.
E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? She will tell the truth, intimidate, advise, scheme to win. She does extensive research to prove her point
F. Empathetic: Why do we care? She one of the good guys who did something really bad. I’m rooting for her to win what she wants

Assignment 2

Keema Mingo: “What I learned doing this assignment is that what sells the show isn’t the general, obvious details. It’s the deeper level ideas that matter.

Tell us the journey of your show: the mayor starts by playing by the rules and showing manners and consideration and grows into a leader who makes the hard decisions and keeps people in line. At the beginning of season one, she wants to change the game. After many fights and losing battles, by the end of season one, she decides to play the game.

2. Who are the main characters that will sell your show? The mayor, city manager, city council, city attorney, her assistant, developers, community activists

A. Role in the show: She is the newly elected mayor who takes her political activism and alienates the council in order to help the underdogs

B. Unique purpose/expertise: Purpose: She runs for mayor stating she wants to drain the political swamp but in reality, her goal is to stop developers from stealing more land from its black residents. Expertise: she combines her activism and business acumen to take down the people who have been driving the city to become a place of the haves and have nots.

C. Intrigue: What is the secret beneath the surface? She presents herself as a soft, flowery community activist but she is actually a strategic business woman. Targeting political figures and predatory business entities who have intimidated black people in order to steal their land, she learns the rules of the political game so she can destroy it from the inside out.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? Is it right to use her political office to benefit a few people when she was elected to represent all of her constituents? She develops a lot enemies: those who are used to getting their way, new people who want to climb the ladder, those who expect her to be blindly loyal to party and culture

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? The closer she gets to her goal, the more lines she has to cross. She has to make deals with the enemy to trap the enemy. Is avenging these people and dismantling the system worth alienating the whole and creating enemies?

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? W One of the families whose land was stolen was her grandfather’s land. She uses her political power to get back at those who were involved directly and indirectly. want to see a moral politician fight for the underdogs despite the hurdles and personal attacks they endure. What would it look like if black people actually got restitution for their pain?

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[Brett Born]

Assignment #2 – Devil’s 8 Engaging Main Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is how much thought it takes to structure the journey of the main characters in such a way that the reveal is done in layers. It’s fun trying to figure out what to reveal first, what comes next, and how to keep surprising the audience.

The Journey:

Gregg leads an unassuming life. He’s the pastor of a small church and works as a social worker to help make ends meet. He will lose everything as he uncovers secrets of a dangerous religious cult that will make him a target for murder.

Main Characters: Gregg Engell, Sandra Poe, Mareesha, Adam

A. Role in the show:

Gregg – Pastor who discovers a Christian organization is not who they say they are.

Poe – Sheriff who believes Gregg and is willing to help expose the cult.

Mareesha – Victim of the cult and helps to keep Gregg from completely losing his center.

Adam – Leader of the cult who targets Gregg, what he stands for, and all that he cares about.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Gregg: Expertise – Knows the community and its people and has experience with dangerous cults.

Purpose – Expose the cult for what it really is and save as many people as he can.

Poe: Expertise – Has spent her career dealing with serial killers and unexplainable phenomenon.

Purpose – Take all the pieces collected throughout her career and put the puzzle together. She wants to figure out how everything connects.

Mareesha: Expertise – Victim of the religious cult and knows exactly how dangerous they are.

Purpose – Work with Gregg to expose the cult and help him keep his humanity.

Adam: Expertise – Leader of the religious cult and the mastermind.

Purpose – Achieve his ultimate goal, as well as ruin Gregg.

C. Intrigue: Secret Beneath the Surface

Gregg: Responsible for a death in his family. Willing to lie, cheat and steal, whatever means necessary, to expose the cult.

Poe: Works outside legal boundaries and uses her position to protect and aid Gregg.

Mareesha: She’s the reason that her parents crossed paths with the cult and were ultimately murdered. She’s pregnant and keeps the identity of the father a secret.

Adam: Not just the leader of an extreme religious organization, he’s sinister on an entirely different level.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Gregg: Digs up a grave. With no real proof, Gregg has decided to expose a religious organization that he believes is actually a dangerous cult.

Poe: Used a young girl and her special talents to help advance her own career. Now, she is once again crossing lines to help Gregg.

Mareesha: She is driven by revenge. She doesn’t just want to expose secrets… she wants someone to pay with their life.

Adam: Prideful. Isn’t concerned about who he hurts or what happens to anybody who interferes with his plans.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Gregg: Doesn’t act like a man of God as he sets about on his mission to expose the cult. Stages an attack on his own church to try and frame the cult.

Poe: Opens cold cases on her own initiative. Takes a child psychic on an unsanctioned stakeout to catch a serial killer. Helps cover up Gregg’s wrongdoings.

Mareesha: Hatches her own revenge plots.

Adam: Always scheming to take down anyone who threatens him.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Gregg: Undeserved misfortune – Loss of family members due to tragic events. Sacrifices his own well being to expose a dangerous cult in an effort to save others.

Poe: No matter what she does to prove her worth and earn respect, it’s never enough.

Mareesha: Dealing with an unwanted pregnancy.

Adam: He’s a product of the world in which he lives. Maybe under different circumstances, he could have been a good person. Has many pastoral qualities.