Post Day 4 Assignment Here

[Peter Birdsong]

Peter BIrdsong’s Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment: For one, I learned my Protagonist, Carly, has a boyfriend. HAHA! Seriously… this helped me get in their heads, and I genuinely discovered things. Their characters are becoming far more three dimensional.

(Maybe I’m dense but I wasn’t entirely clear if I’m to post my complete interview. Anyone else? Oh well, I’ll add it just in case, along with my updated profiles.)

INTERVIEWS:

QUESTIONS FOR CARLY

Tell me about yourself.

I’m on the Cheer Squad — GO SAINTS! My boyfriend is on the basketball team. I used to date the quarterback, but Samantha can have him.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

“Forced” you mean. Forced on this journey. On this stupid attempt my mom is making to apologize years too late. But, if I can suffer two semesters dating Craig, I can suffer a month with her.

You are up against Mom. What is it about Mom that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

It’s just mom. The hardest part is being disconnected from my accounts while on the open water. How can she ask me to put my brand on pause? Just because she’s having a midlife crisis doesn’t mean she has to drag me into it.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

I guess I have to learn to sail. (LAUGHS). You know, she might take the boat and trap me forever, I need to know how to operate it. I’m going to have to learn how to let my connections go… that will be hard. That is what defines me — my popularity, I mean.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

Like I said above, my popularity. I crave the spotlight. It makes me feel loved and important.

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

I’ve always set the terms. Or, I’ve tried to. This time the terms are being set for me. What if I’m not famous? People forget I exist? This month on the sea — cutoff — could hurt the brand I’m trying to build around myself.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

I’m athletic and a capable learner. This will help me in managing whatever it is you do on a boat out in the open water.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

High School is a waste. Education in general is a waste. You know adults my age — yes, I consider myself an adult — are making more money than the average household income through social media? Mom wouldn’t get it, but getting my brand off the ground means ditching school forever. I’ve already ditched most of this semester, but she hasn’t a clue.

What do you think of Mom?

I wish she had been around. I think she skipped out on Dad and me to climb a corporate ladder. Well, she won. Bravo. But she missed out on Dad, and she’s going to miss out on me.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

My side is she should sell the boat where it is. Why move it here? Why the extra work? And why rip my from my personal life to do it? I find this entire thing unnecessary.

What does it do for your life is you succeed here?

If I get what I want, this will be the last time I allow someone to control my life. But, if can see it going a different direction. What if we reconnect? My idea of success may not be a success story after all.

QUESTIONS FOR MOM

Tell me about yourself.

I’m the vice president of marketing for a large corporate entity that operates globally but is based on the East Coast. I spend most days in meetings or on the road. Since taking the role four years ago, the company’s stock has climbed an average of fifteen percent annually, and our market cap is closing in on 1 trillion dollars.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’ve never encountered a task I could not manage. My weakness is certainly that I have never once sailed a boat. Well, not true. I took a class with my husband because HE wanted to, but nothing afterward. I’ve never captained — helmed? — a boat on my own. I’ve arranged a few lessons before our departure. Strengths? Money. I’ve paid to upgrade the boat significantly. Hopefully that will help us.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

When my husband died, I realized the lie I had told myself for years, “there’s time.” There isn’t, or we should behave as though there isn’t. My husband dreamed of sailing, and I don’t know why. I hope my daughter and I can discover that together.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

I messed up. I don’t even know her, and I want to. But, I hope she can forgive me. I hope I can forgive myself for missing out on two lives.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

Reconnecting with my daughter. Reconnecting with my late husband.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

The secret I keep…. I’m being promoted.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

I’m a fast learner. Focus. I’m a force when I put my mind to something. Maybe that’s where my daughter gets it from.

What do you think of Carly?

I want the best for her. As it turns out, the best was me… and I often didn’t give her that.

PROFILES:

CARLY

Carly (Protagonist/Antagonist)
Type: Dreamer / Change Agent

Roll: She’s a dreamer. Typical self-seeking teen who believes she’s figured out the world and doesn’t need anyone’s help.

Age: 17

Internal Journey: From prideful and crass to humble and gentle.

External Journey: From a weak teen without a clear direction to a strong young lady with a goal.

Motivation: To become famous thereby feeling everyone loves her.

Wound: Father was killed in accident. Mom wasn’t present in her life.

Mission/Agenda: To get back to her own life. To be in control.

Secret: She intends to drop out of school and is currently failing. But her plan to succeed isn’t taking off as should would have everyone believe.

What makes her special: Being a cheerleader, she very athletic. She’s a fast study when the subject interests her.

What draws us to this character? She’s the high school dream girl. Her perfect hair and makeup means her appearance is a bit fragile in the elements. She doesn’t belong on a boat, but finds herself there anyway. Hidden beneath is a strong, capable young lady who’s a quick learner. Maybe a trait she inherited from Mom.

Traits: Athletic. Bold. Ambitious. Fearless.

Subtext: Her persona is practiced. She sees herself as a brand that needs to be maintained and promoted. This leads to hours of careful prep daily. She uses this to hide the real self.

Flaw: Her irresponsibility.

Values: Truth. Popularity. Beauty.

Irony: Outwardly rejects her mother. Inwardly wishes she had someone she could call a mom.

What makes this the right character for this role? She’s tied to her mother not only in birth but in a shared tragedy — her father’s death. This sets them both on the journey her father had dreamed of taking himself.

MOM

“Mom” Name TBD (Antagonist/Protagonist)

Type: Change Agent / Runner

Roll: A business woman who’s desperate to reconnect with her daughter after tragically losing her husband.

Age: Late 40s

Internal Journey: From guilt to forgiving herself

External Journey: From career focused to family focused.

Motivation: Feel a connection with her late husband

Wound: Husband is dead. Daughter’s relationship is destroyed

Mission/Agenda: To deliver her husbands boat to a potential buyer.

Secret: She’s been asked to take over the company.

What makes her special: She’s a problem solver able to analyze situations and learn to change them or adapt.

What draws us to this character? She’s mentally tough. A smart negotiator. She’s underestimated in every initial meeting, and she’s learned to use that to her advantage. Give her thirty minutes and she’ll own the room.

Traits: Guarded. Bold. Focused. Distrusting.

Subtext: She is all business — dress and demeanor. Her guard is always up; which she’s used to protect her long corporate climb.

Flaw: Her job has been her highest value.

Values: Career. Honesty. Her daughter. (Possibly in that order)

Irony:

What makes this the right character for this role? Her husband’s boat is left behind after her death, and it’s her responsibility to either keep it, or sale it. But what does she know about about the open water? Selling is the logical step.

[Robert Wood]

Robert Wood’s Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment included various specific details about my characters including their professions, Matt’s mom & sister’s names, and more… I’m not sure much of it is useful to fit into a revision of the Character Profiles, so I’m not going to update those at the moment, but it is great to have this extra information on my lead characters in this interview, which I’ll keep along with the Character Profiles. The other useful thing of course was to be able to switch into the characters’ voices for dialogue – not sure I was entirely successful with their individuality, but it’s a start and I’m aware of it.

I’m also not sure whether or not we’re supposed to share the entire interviews here, but here are mine…

QUESTIONS FOR MATT

Tell me about yourself. I’m Matt. I’m 50, single, and living in Vancouver. I own and manage a liquor store but have always been interested in winemaking… maybe I’ll get to that one day. Also, my dad recently died.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? Because my sister wouldn’t do it! (LAUGHS) She’s in Toronto – too far away and busy with her family. There was no one else who could go take care of clearing out Dad’s house… our old house.

You are up against Bert. What is it about him that makes this journey even more difficult for you? We were distant… too distant. I don’t think either of us meant to be, but we just never connected quite the way we could or should have. There was distance between us and I don’t think we knew how to reach past that. What’s gonna be difficult is walking back into that house and all those memories.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I’m gonna have to just plow into it, I think. Keep the emotions off as much as possible. Not think too deep… because if I do that and let it get inside me, I could end up in a dark place. Besides, I’ve got a case of wine in the trunk, so that’ll help.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? Playing the son. I mean, I’m still his son – even though he’s dead – but I don’t think I ever stepped outside that role or made it past that in our relationship. I never got to really be an equal with him or deal with him on an adult man-to-man level.

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? Oh man… wounds… well, that goes back to playing baseball as a kid. My mom took me to all the games, but my dad never came. Not to one. I don’t know why. He didn’t go to anything I did – never even went to a parent-teacher meeting. It was all my mom’s job. Fears? Maybe just that if I had a kid, I’d do the same things he did, and I don’t wanna do that.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this situation with Bert? I’ve just gotta go clear out the family house, pack it up, take the shit to charity shops, and maybe keep a few things for my sister… and probably a few things for me too. It’s not hard – and I’ve got wine to help with the pain. (LAUGHS)

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? From my dad? I guess I was hiding that I wish I’d been there more… especially in the last few years. But we had that distance… and I moved away and kept myself busy. Didn’t want to deal with it, I guess. Regret that now.

What do you think of Bert? I think he was a good guy. A nut. Eccentric. Not a great dad, but he tried in his own way. Difficult. Short fuse… guess that’s where I got that from. (LAUGHS.) Yeah, he was a good guy.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. My side… we never really had a conflict. Bert was Bert. He did his thing and I just tried to live my life. Not perpetuate the cycle. I guess he was sad I moved away and didn’t keep trying to help him out or work together, or something. Whatever it was, we just never figured out a way to close the gap.

What does it do for your life if you succeed here? I guess it’s a kind of closure. A new chapter of the book. Maybe even a whole new book. Closing up the old family house… that’s gotta bring up some memories.

QUESTIONS FOR BERT

Tell me about yourself. Well, I’m dead for a start. My name’s Bert – Herbert, but my wife June never liked that name, so I became Bert. I was 75 when I died. Always thought I’d go a lot longer than that, but it wasn’t to be. I lived my life in the Okanagan Valley and had a furniture store for 30 years. I always kept an eye on the lake… You know Ogopogo, the sea creature? He lives there, and I’ve been tracking him most of my life, since I was a young boy.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? Well, Matt’s coming to clear out our house. I should have done more of that myself and not left such a mess for him and his sister Jessie, but I guess I procrastinate about stuff like that. Maybe I can convince Matt to go on one last search out there on the water for Ogopogo – that’s my strength. I know everything there is to know about that beauty… except I haven’t found him yet. I keep saying he, but there’s a family of them down there, I’m sure of it. A small family, but there’s got to be more than one over all these years.

Were you a supportive father? Were you there for your son? Yeah, sure, I was supportive and tried to always be interested. But everyone has their own interests – I have mine, and the kids had theirs, and June had hers… I guess thinking about it maybe there were times I was a little too wrapped up in my own obsessions to pay much attention to theirs, but they always knew I loved them. Not everyone shows that the same way.

What do you get out of succeeding in your plan? To finally be the one to discover proof of the truth? It would be like having the biggest trophy in the world up there on my mantle! Maybe a little bit of bragging rights… maybe a little bit of vindication after all these years.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? Death doesn’t scare me anymore. (LAUGHS.) But I’ve worked so long, so hard, to prove something exists down there… be a shame to never learn the answer. It has to be!

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? Secrets… my secrets are probably just that I’ve doubted myself. Never let on about that, of course, but maybe I was just a foolish old man – and a foolish young man before that – chasing a myth that doesn’t exist. And maybe I should have spent more time on other things… like my family.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? No one’s had the dedication or perseverance I have to follow my passion for 70 years. And one day I’m going to find what I’m looking for.

What do you think of Matt? He’s a good boy. Always a hard worker and seems to have made a good life for himself. I don’t know… I think he might be lonely. Must be. Needs to find a good woman and settle down, have some kids… he’s only 50, so it’s not too late.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. I don’t think there is a conflict between Matt and I, is there? News to me if there is. Distance is what it is. He chose to move away and didn’t come visit that much. I could have invited him more, but I was busy, too.

[Patrick Downey]

Patrick Downey – Character Profiles Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that the more I build up my character to either be liked or hated, the more the audience is going to be invested into that character. I’ve seen many movies that don’t take the time to give you a reason to care if they die or get the girl or win the game etc. I see why the subtext is so valuable because it lets a smart audience figure it out along the way without having to write in so much detail only to be cut out when produced due to time and length.

Protagonists: Cayman Stingnelli (Hero)

Antagonists: Dardanos Alexandrite (Predator)

Supporting characters: Ray Stingnelli, FBI agents, business partners and company employees

Minor roles: Cayman’s mother, Cayman’s teacher

Background characters: Varied from police officers, FBI Director, betting runners, Stingnelli family members and others

Genre: Thriller

Lead character: Cayman

Role: Grandson of the CEO Ray Stingnelli that has lost his mother, is hearing impaired and wants to do the right thing in the end.

Age range: From 8 or 9 years old through his 18^th birthday

Motivation: Revenge his grandfather’s death

Wound: Being hoodwinked into thinking his grandfather was a good man doing good for the community. Working for and with a bunch of criminals.

Mission/Agenda: Set things right in a way that outsmarts the best of them.

Secret: Cayman can read lips and only his inner circle knows this about him.

What makes them special: He can be your worst nightmare if you get on the wrong side of him. He has his mother’s intelligence, grandfather’s business sense and his own newfound agenda!

Traits: Naive, brilliant, deaf but other senses are heightened, charismatic

Subtext: Hard worker, people pleaser, visionary, insightful

Flaw: Loved his grandfather too much

Values: Hidden ability to read lips, great at rallying the troops, strategic thinker, easily forgives others.

Irony: His handicap/disability became his greatest asset. The ability to blend in without being seeing as a threat has many advantages. Also, being a young kid makes adults believe you don’t really know much about the real world thus you can operate behind the scenes to obtain your ultimate revenge.

What makes this the right character for the role?

Cayman has history with the organization being around the partners since he was little. There’s a comfort level between them and nobody suspects otherwise. He is very motivated to turn on the partner’s once his grandfather is killed by one of them. He has access to all of them and the organization with or without their permission by them just talking in an eyesight of Cayman.

[Patrick Downey]

Patrick Downey – Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment is I have the perfect Antagonist from the beginning and a Protagonist that will morph into his own as the story unwinds. The Antagonist while the women will love his on-screen presence and bad boy attitude because they always get the most attention for some reason will be easy to cast aside as time goes on because his arrogance is overwhelming. While doing my interview he made me want to vomit!!!! LOL

Protagonists: Cayman Stingnelli (Hero)

Antagonists: Dardanos Alexandrite (Predator)

Supporting characters: Ray Stingnelli, FBI agents, business partners and company employees

Minor roles: Cayman’s mother, Cayman’s teacher

Background characters: Varied from police officers, FBI Director, betting runners, Stingnelli family members and others

Genre: Thriller

Lead character: Cayman

Role: Grandson of the CEO Ray Stingnelli that has lost his mother, is hearing impaired and wants to do the right thing in the end.

Age range: From 8 or 9 years old through his 18^th birthday

Motivation: Revenge his grandfather’s death

Wound: Being hoodwinked into thinking his grandfather was a good man doing good for the community. Working for and with a bunch of criminals.

Mission/Agenda: Set things right in a way that outsmarts the best of them.

Secret: Cayman can read lips and only his inner circle knows this about him.

What makes them special: He can be your worst nightmare if you get on the wrong side of him. He has his mother’s intelligence, grandfather’s business sense and his own new found agenda!

Traits: Niave, brilliant, deaf but other senses are heightened, charismatic

Subtext: Hard worker, people pleaser, visionary, insightful

Flaw: Loved his grandfather too much

Values: Hidden ability to read lips, great at rallying the troops, strategic thinker, easily forgives others.

Irony: His handicap/disability became his greatest asset. The ability to blend in without being seeing as a threat has many advantages. Also, being a young kid makes adults believe you don’t really know much about the real world thus you can operate behind the scenes to obtain your ultimate revenge.

What makes this the right character for the role?

Cayman has history with the organization being around the partners since he was little. There’s a comfort level between them and nobody suspects otherwise. He is very motivated to turn on the partner’s once his grandfather is killed by one of them. He has access to all of them and the organization with or without their permission by them just talking in an eyesight of Cayman.

Questions for the Antagonist: Dardanos Alexandrite

1. Tell me about yourself?

I’m the oldest of 7 children born into a wealthy Greek family that owns luxury hotels across the world. When I turned 10 my parents sent me to boarding school in Switzerland and on my 17^th birthday I was sent to America to attend the University of Princeton. My name means “to devour” and I have planned my whole life to takeover my father’s business when he steps down.

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

My strengths are that I’m young, hungry and adored by most of my male friends and all of my female friends. At 38, I could be the CEO of one of many Fortune 500 companies but choose to wait on my father but not too long. For sure I should be heading up the H.A.V.O.C. partnership instead of old man Stingnelli. I have no weaknesses that I know of…

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail?

Cayman Stingnelli is a young punk that can’t even hold a conversation, and everyone treats him like royalty because he’s Ray’s little project. Plus, I hate kids and the way he looks at me all the time makes my skin crawl. When I’m running H.A.V.O.C. he won’t be around anymore making people uncomfortable.

4. What do you get out of succeeding in your plan?

I show my father that I’m ready to take over the business. I show these other losers how to make more money than they ever have in their lives. I become my own made man that others should fear!

5. What drives you towards your mission even in the face of danger, ruin of death?

Did I mention my name means “to devour” so, I don’t fear anyone or anything. I was born, educated, and trained for this exact moment in time. I want the name Dardanos Alexandrite to be known by every businessman, businesswoman, hedge fund manager, economist, and socialites in the world. My empire when it’s all said and done will dwarf the likes of Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos.

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear/insecurity?

Next questions please. I didn’t get to where I am by sharing my secrets.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

First, let’s understand that there’s no one else like me! I broke the mold! Seriously, I’ve set some really high goals for myself before I’m 40! I’ll be damned if anyone stops me.

8. What do you think of the Cayman Stingnelli?

Not much, why should I? I mean I don’t feel sorry for the kid those were the cards he was dealt. Ya, he can’t hear, and he lost his mother, but he’ll never have to worry about money.

9. Tell me your side of this whole conflict?

You’ll have to wait and read the script or see the movie buddy!

[victor Valleau]

Vic Valleau Lesson 4 Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment: Writing fast with less control produces a better story, unpredictable.

LESSON 4 CHARACTER INTERVIEWS

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself.

I’m just an ordinary girl looking for an ordinary guy.

Why do you think you were
called to this journey? Why you?

Beats me! Maybe it’s part of my probation, a secret little punishment.

You are up against <the
Antagonist>. What is it about them that makes this journey even more
difficult for you?

JT has a reputation with women. He is a raconteur. Isn’t that a good word for a high school dropout to use, right?

In order to survive or
accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box.
What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

Pretending I’m in love.

What habits or ways of thinking
do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

Pretending he’s the perfect man! Stop being critical of him or of other people.

6. What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

My perfect parents divorce.

What skills, background or
expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

My parents counseled divorcing couples. As a child I listened from the other room. People are evil, particularly wandering husbands. Now, Im an expert in making husbands wander, then I punish them.

What are you hiding from the
other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

That I have an agenda to punish men.

What do you think of <the
Antagonist>?

He’s perfect, ripe for his punishment.

Tell me your side of this whole
conflict / story.

This could be her jailhouse confession:

I dedicated so much time and energy to this one weak man to wake him up. He has followers I’m sure, who will have second thoughts about being unfaithful to their wives, girlfriends, etc.

I run him over twice. Once just to scare him. You should see his face when I’ came at him at 50 miles and hour. Splat, really ruined his beloved VW van!

What does it do for your life
is you succeed here?

My mission accomplished, a cautionary tale for young women.

Ask any other questions about
their character profile that will help you.

Isn’t using dating and sex as a weapon deeply immoral and unethical? Answer: YOU have no idea of women’s suffering caused by men. I’m balancing the scales of justice a little.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself.

I’m a solid guy, a real catch for women, everyone says. People look up to me, why I don’t really know.

Having to do with this journey,
what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m told every day about my strengths, a gentleman, a successful gentleman and a scholar. Did I leave out kind toward children and animals, and women.

Why are you committed to making
the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed
to making them change?

Does she even want to change? She would be a lot happier if she got off her high horse and listened to me, for once. She hangs onto her harmful, useless, stupid opinions and views, which are damaging to her and incidentially, to me. Of course, she doesn’t consider my welfare.

In college I was a sexton, a church janitor so I also cleaned women’s restrooms. To be delicate, they suffer enough with their biology, so I try to be kind. After all, they have babies, which keeps the world turning. I just plant the seed.

What do you get out of winning
this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

I never say no to a woman, argue or challenge. It’s not gentleman behavior. People say I coddle women I’m interested in. When it gets me in trouble, like sued for paternity, I settle. You can never beat a woman since Hell hath no furry like a woman wronged. Society is against you, protecting female bad behavior. It’s bad manners to be truthful, even if she “jumped my bones”. You shouldn’t force her to face herself and bad behavior. It takes two to Tango but its always the man who is the philander. Society never blames the woman. I hate myself for saying that, but it’s true.

5. What drives you toward your
mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

I really want her as a girlfriend.

If sex is the mark of a good relationship, we are great together! Thankfully I’m friends with local cops who walked away, ignoring our public indiscretions! I can never tell when or where she wants sex; on the beach, in city hall after closing, once even in jail, or my boring old beach cabana.

I know she tried to kill me once when I said let’s wait about getting married. She tried to run me over with my own car, got my leg pretty good.

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed?
What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

Her brother tells me dirt on her, cautions me to wake up, points out wreckages she caused with men pursuing her. I’m sworn to secrecy Ill never tell her.

Compared to other people like
you, what makes you special?

I have a fan club of women advising me, hoping they will be my next girlfriend.

What do you think of <the
Protagonist>?

She’s a great challenge, maybe my best yet. Bagging her would be like a trophy for my new fireplace. Serious, I could fall in love with her. She brings out the animal in me!

Tell me your side of this whole
conflict / story.

All games aside, she is worth the challenge. If that’s too much masculinity, then say getting her would be like winning the league championship and getting the ring. Women are trouble wanting you to change something about you. She’s obvious what she wants. I can read her next move.

[Don Thompson]

Don Thompson – Character Interviews

What I learned from this assignment: I learned to be braver in how far I dig into a character’s psyche. This will make for fuller, more three-dimensional characters.

Protagonist Questions

1. Tell me about yourself. My name is Billy Budd and I’m a sailor.

2. Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? They grabbed me from ‘The Rights of Man’. They must have thought I looked like a hard worker.

3. You are up against Claggart. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you? I just want to get along with people. For some reason, people don’t always like this. I’m not sure why.

4. In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I have to defend myself. I can’t just roll over and play dead all the time, or put on a smile. I have to stick up for myself or else no one else will.

5. What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? Being nice all the time. But then, I like being nice because it makes my day go easier.

6. What fears, insecurities, and wounds have held you back? I don’t like not knowing who my parents are. I wish I knew that. I would like to know how to read and write someday as well. I believe I’m smarter than people give me credit for.

7. What skills, background, or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? I’m a damn good sailor. I’m fit and up to the task. I can do the work of two men.

8. What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? I sometimes pleasure myself at night in the dark. I try to be quiet about it. Sometimes I have dreams about having sex with all kinds of people – both men and women — or even things. Once I dreamt I went into the sun and relieved myself. It is all very odd. I wake up wondering about it all, and what to make of it. I would never tell anyone about this.

9. What do you think of Mr. Claggart? I feel sorry for him. I believe he hates himself. He seems to like me, but then he seems to hate me. I can’t figure him out.

10. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. They called me ‘the peacemaker’ on the Rights of Man – the ship that Captain Vere drafted me from. That seems to be my natural talent – to make people feel good, to smile, and to want to get along. I like it when people sing and dance and get along. I don’t like them quarreling.

11. What does it do for your life is you succeed here? If I succeed, I will eventually not be a sailor. I will find work on the mainland. Maybe I will marry and have children. That is a far-off dream, though.

Antagonist Questions

1. Tell me about yourself. I am Master of Arms of the HMS Avenger.

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? My main weakness is that I let people get to me. I let them get to me and I can react in a way that might land me in jail. That’s why I came on this ship. I can do things here that if I did them on land I would be in jail. I understand I’m a dark bastard. I believe all people are, if they are honest. I am honest about it. People are dark, with dark motives. They want to survive, to live, and to beat the next man.

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change? Billy Budd lives in a fantasy world. He believes people are good. What a fool. People are not good – even the Bible tells us so. If they are not redeemed by a Savior, then they are certainly evil. I don’t like the Savior, frankly. He is weak. How can such a model be held up for people to follow? Such a weaking? I therefore worship strength.

4. What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? I get a sense of pleasure when another is defeated. I love seeing others defeated by my doing, and I love waking them up to the futility of life. Life is futile. It is boorish, brutal, and over soon enough. The only respite from the suffering is the brief pleasures of the body. The pleasures of the soul – I don’t know about that, and I believe others are lying about it for their own gain (like priests). The priests, oh I love them. The ones that touch you when you’re a young lad, alone in the dark in confession, and get that funny look in their eye.

5. What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? I love to see defeat in man’s eye. That they fear me. If they fear me they also respect me. That is good – it shows that I have made myself the better.

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? I have never been with a woman, and never married. I have been with men. My priest taught me to distrust women, really, except maybe your mother. But my mother was not kind to me. Nor my father. They regretted the day I came into the world. But I accept it. I don’t believe it is abnormal to love a man, but of course I cannot admit it to anyone or they throw you in jail. The man I was with was the one person that I did truly love in my life. But he died of TB. The authorities accused me of killing him prematurely – and I did. I smothered him with a pillow to put him out of his misery. He was close to death. But the authorities would have locked me up, if the Navy didn’t need men. They gave me the option: jail or the Navy. I chose the Navy.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I am a strong man. I can overcome damn near anything. But there is a darkness in me that is special. I would say that I’m a son of the devil, but I doubt sometimes even the devil would claim me. Perhaps this is self-hatred. But there is a certain pride and strength in it.

8. What do you think of ? Billy Budd is a fool. He is a fool and he cannot succeed because if he succeeds the world will most certain become a cesspool of weakness and sloth. Discipline redeems us – not the Savior. The Savior, as I said, is weak. It is discipline that gives us strength.

9. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. Billy Budd wants to see me fail. To fail and to wind up flogged, and keel hauled – he would love that. Keel hauled and dead. I’m certain of it

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  Don Thompson.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  Don Thompson.

[Daisy Khalifa]

Subject line: Daisy Ridgway Khalifa’s 4 Character Interviews (Lesson 4)

What I learned doing this assignment: This screenplay might be better suited to episodic television what with multiple characters who have conflicts. Still, this story has one central matter, and for that reason, it also makes a good screenplay. At this point in the process, I think it is important to keep it simple, persist and figure this out. This interview exercise was wonderful and helps me understand the “voices” for my protagonist and antagonist, and get a feel for writing dialog for these two characters.

MIA PAULEY

Tell me about yourself. The seven-year-old me? Or, the adult Mia? Both of us, but mostly the adult Mia, will have a point of view.
Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? I am very strong, and probably have extrasensory perception, a psychic gift, and I always knew that I met Mr. Laughton as a child in the garden of the house in which we both lived but at different times, inexplicable as it may be. I’ve also had other encounters with so-called ghosts, which they aren’t.
You are up against C.L. and FATE. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you? The difficult part is proving to myself and my friend, Ian Gardner, that this happened. I wouldn’t even believe me. But, Laughton’s decisions are critical. Anything he does will effect, pretty much, my whole life. If he stays in Pinecliff, the house we both lived in, my family’s fate will change.
In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? Keeping my composure and sanity upon facing an entirely new life because of Charles’ decisions. Read: living a whole new life while being perfectly aware of the previous life.
What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? I judge myself, my family and everything associated with me. Sometimes I am on top of the world and see myself as intensely smart, aware and in touch. Other times, to put it bluntly, I hate myself, and think I am worthless, frivolous and searching. I am a dreamer in the most positive way, and, likewise, the most useless way, or so I tell myself in a fit of pique.
What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? My parents’ absenteeism, and their own struggles. My “unsupervised” childhood. The loss of Tina, my housekeeper and best friend, who lived with us, and who was more of a true, nurturing mother to me. I also feel like I have never been able to love someone, or, put another way, to be in love—without losing that love and having my heartbroken. I never get what I want when it comes to love. I am never chosen by the ones I want to choose me. Charles and I are kind-of alike this way.
What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? My imagination and creativity, my sense of adventure and my flexibility about the impossible (to me nothing is impossible) coupled with a lot of knowledge of Charles Laughton’s life. I have to handle Charles with care. That part is easier than even remotely understanding what goes on in his mind.
What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? Most see me as strong, attractive, privileged and a person with “flair”, which I like to think is valid, but I am an anxious mess, and have been since I was about seven, when my parents divorced, when I lost Tina…when I met Charles!
What do you think of Charles? He confuses me. He is in another world and is so good at acting that I feel like an outsider, and that I have to reel him in to get him to really understand the situation. To that end, he does’t believe in me, or that I exist as “someone from the future’”. He deals in facts—when he is not creating his characters for another film or play—so my only leverage is on the topic of earthquakes, since that is what got us into this in the first place.
Tell me your side of this whole conflict. TK
What does it do for your life is you succeed here? It gives me peace of mind and allows me to love someone with all of my heart.
Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you.

CHARLES LAUGHTON

Tell me about yourself. I am an actor. It is all I know and what I adore. I went to RADA- the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts at 19. I have an Oscar—for Henry VIII that I couldn’t be there to accept. I was famous at a young age. I have demons. Among them, William Shakespeare, which I try to avoid—that blasted iambic pentameter. My last role at the Old Vic was a humiliation that haunts me. Shakespeare, my bete noire. I am an Englishman from “tradesman” stock. My parents were hoteliers. I was in the War. I am injured, and I am ugly as it is. I don’t care to look at myself. I only feel free in my roles, never in my own skin. I am happiest teaching, I might add, my young actors, like Shelly Winters and Robert Ryan.
Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? It is absolutely absurd to think I met a child one Sunday afternoon in my garden at Pinecliff. My students were on their way over to the house for acting class. I can’t believe in something as otherworldly as a child meeting me from the future, yet she spoke with such conviction about the house, calling it “her house”, and when she said she had lived though an earthquake, I was dumbfounded. I see this child a is see God and faith—it might be beneficial to believe. But I am too busy to think about it.*
Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change? I see it a as stroke of luck- the fates- that she came along at the very moment Elsa and I have been told to move from my beloved home here in Pacific Palisades. Whether she is a figment of my wishful imagination, or if indeed, I am part of a great otherworldly conspiracy, I am to understand that I do not have to move. As I piece to gather the puzzle of the little blonde creature roaming in my orchard, I take it to be a message, nothing more, that I can live in this beautiful home for the rest of my life! We are being forced to move, in my opinion, because of something that hasn’t happened- an earthquake. We had a mudslide, and I lost some sculptures. Now, I can’t get insured because of the potential damage to my art-my beautiful paintings. I don’t want to harm the child, or upset her, but were I to stay in the house, we would never know. As for the grown woman I met, who tells me —it’s lunacy I, I say—that she is the same little girl, and that nothing brought down the house until nearly the year 2000. The future! Whatever is going on, I am intent upon staying in my home, and not moving to the Beverly Hills house Elsa found for us, though it has a swimming pool, which I would enjoy.
What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? I get to live in the home that has so much meaning to me, and where I have done wonderful things. Paul (Gregory, my manager) got me started on my “touring”, which has been a splendid success, and kept me away from wasting my energy on lackluster achievements at the Playhouse. I read to groups all over the country—alas, they like me, these war veterans, and patients, and students in college- excerpts from the Bible and great poems, and my favorite literature.
What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? Sometimes I already feel dead, I am so miserable. If I can do what I love, and if Pinecliff has anything to do with it, I may stop thinking about death, or my fear of death, or my unworthiness as a living mortal. These are moments in my mind. Forgive me. I only wish to act well, and to work.
What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? I love my wife dearly, she is my muse, my confidante, my helper. But , as she is well aware, I yearn for others, for the boys and men. I need that companionship too, which makes me angry with myself. When I fail in a role, I am morose, sometimes hellbent on disappearing forever.
Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I understand the art of acting. I love beauty. I do admit there are moments —most often when I am empowered by a good role- when I believe I am a force.
What do you think of Mia Pauley? I think she is a lost soul, a total curiosity, and while I wonder whether she is telling the truth, I do not think she is a liar, nor is she malicious in any way whatsoever. I have not yet I determined as to whether I need to help her. She is also rather lovely, the child, and, so too, the other woman, who claims to be the child after 25 years.
Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. I’ve explained as much as I can for now. Very little will make me change my mind about leaving this house. When the child first appeared, it was a wonderful day. My at-home acting classes were in full swing, and I was making a bit of money staying off the stage and preparing to tour around the country and do readings. What irony! When the woman appeared and explained all there was to explain about the history of earthquakes along the Southern California coast line, I decided to believe her. Another secret. Who could possibly identify accept this tale in my life? No one. Well, perhaps Bertolt (Brecht). And Norman (Corwin).

[[Note from D. Khalifa: I need to flesh out the beats and structure of the story, and I having trouble with the time continuum narrative. Charles is a passive change agent/antagonist. He means no harm, except for his trials and struggles to be admired, to conquer Shakespeare, to direct great films, to work and do it well, to love and be in love.]

[Timothy McDevitt]

TIM’S CHARACTER INTERVIEWS

What I learned doing this assignment is that my lack of a singular, strong antagonist is causing me concern. It’s frustrating but is probably beneficial to hit this wall early on. I’m changing the main character’s mission from the nebulous “avoid humans” to something more concrete – “help his new Squirrel friend find his family”. This makes it more of a buddy travel story, which is one of the established story types, while allowing me to elevate my existing antagonist character (Dog Catcher) and add others, such as grumpy neighbors and the mayor. The other significant character remains Emma, the injured, depressed girl who still serve as change agent for Duke, and vice versa.

My previous character profiles for Duke and Emma haven’t really changed, but I need to work on the Dog Catcher to make him more than a stereotypical, hard ass authority figure.

The fun character is Squirrel, but as Duke’s buddy he’s not quite an equal protagonist, nor is he the antagonist.

Will update this later.

[Rebecca Jordan]

Rebecca Jordan’s Lead Character Interviews

What I learned with this assignment is that each character needs to go through this process. In the past, I’d start with one character and have less clarity on the others hoping for them to unfold, thereby causing the story to be too one sided. Doing this helped me to find a balance between the characters, and find the different perspectives from the same information. I also found that “tell me about yourself” is different from telling “the story/conflict”, which at first felt the same.

Questions for Rachel (protagonist):

1) Tell me about yourself – I am half Puerto Rican and half Norwegian. Yes, both hot and cold. I grew up way too early and was given adult responsibilities from the age of six. I have a Puerto Rican father who died about five years ago, and two Japanese step fathers, one of whom I liked and respected, the other who I hated and found despicable. Because of my childhood circumstances, I was too mature for my age and overly self sufficient. Today, I am a performing artist and musician. I have had great unexpected success in my career, having pursued my dreams with a vengeance. I am highly evolved. I put all my garbage into my craft and worked hard. Of course, because after being endlessly criticized, I had something to prove and became a perfectionist driven to be loved and liked. I’m a people pleaser learning now not to be so much. I am finally in a good stable relationship. I’ve had lots of setbacks but I work really hard to overcome them and always seek happiness and lightness of being.

2) I was called to this journey, because I am the daughter of a woman from whom I am estranged. And nobody else can make this journey but me. I have waited for her to make the journey and now know that that won’t happen. See above.

3) What is it about this journey that makes it difficult for me? The fear of seeing my Mom’s critical look and still being criticized. The fear of not getting what I need out of it, in spite of the fact that I have accepted that I may not and that she likely hasn’t changed much. The fear of her still blaming me for the kidnapping of my brother who she’s never had a relationship with. The fear of her denial. The fear that I’ll never hear her tell me that she’s proud of me. I also fear becoming emotional in front of her and not getting what I need in return. The fear of being too late.

4) The most difficult thing I will have to change in order to make this journey will be to let go of any expectations and accept that she is and always will be who she is. And also I will have to let go of my stubborn pride and the idea that it’s her job to be the Mother and that she should have come to me first.

5) The habits and ways of thinking that I will have to let go of, are being right and not being lovable and my pride. I will have to let go of any expectations that anything will have changed.

6) The fears, insecurities and wounds that I have held back are that I am filled with shame for that which I may not be completely responsible for. That those actions are unforgivable. See above…

7) What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? I am a survivor and able to put myself in the face of danger. I am resilient and have been through worse than this journey. I have evolved with intention, ie. tons of self help avenues. I know how it feels to be whole, for the most part, even though it wavers. I have a strong understanding of the human condition. (More above on background.) She is my Mom.

8) What do you think of Mom? That she also is a survivor. That she was too young and out of her element. Narcissistic. Intelligent. Detached and in denial. That she has to move on and never look back in order to survive, or not have to face herself or her wake of destruction.

9) What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

That I still struggle with self esteem. My shame story about the sexual abuses I endured during childhood. My lack of self worth. Being a runaway and having to live and hide in undesirable and shameful circumstances.

10) Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. My Mom left my Dad and brought me to the states when I was three years old, leaving my younger, 1 1/2 yr old brother behind. We went to live with my Grandparents in Illinois and lived in their basement until my Mom found a job. Skipping ahead, I went to ten different schools by the time I barely graduated from high school, due to truancy as opposed to lack of smarts. I went to an affluent school with very wealthy kids for third and fourth grade, where I excelled and had skipped fourth grade initially only to be put back in the fourth grade because my Mom didn’t want me to be with the older kids, as I was already overly mature both physically and emotionally. I believe however that it was because my Mom was very young and didn’t want people to think she was even younger than she was. But mostly because I was growing up way to fast and her boyfriends often commented on my looks and thought we were sisters. She was very jealous. Okay I will abbreviate, as I’m also telling you too much about Mom and that’s next. Ha! However, this is where things began to go downhill. I was left home alone from the age of 6. Apparently, I was mature enough to take care of myself? My family would joke about how our great dane would take me for walks. When I was in first grade I was home alone and poured myself a glass of wine, took a bubble bath and shaved my legs, for example. Then we moved to a high-rise in Chicago where I was the only child living in the building. I made friends and hung out with all the old Jewish widows learning how to knit and crochet. Anyhow, this is the time period in which inciting events happened that would forever changed the trajectory of my life.

We moved again. From the city to a northern suburb. And I was now enrolled in my fifth school for fifth grade, eleven years old. This is where the trouble began. My mom was never around and left me to my own devices to learn. I was an ice skater and made new friends and the party started. A lot of my new friends were young adults, and I could pass for 18-20 when I was 14 years old. for example, I could buy alcohol for my older friends at thirteen.<font face=”inherit”> I got an apartment when I was thirteen and painted it, moved in, and shortly thereafter was picked up by the police and taken in to the station where my Mom picked me up and admitted me into a lockup facility for derelicts where I spent three months. I was happy go-lucky on the outside with a dark internal life, carrying the burden deep seated self loathing, low self esteem and shame. I had run away from home because my Mom had been match-made with a man (Kendo Sensei) who was fresh off the boat from Japan (spoke no English) at the age of twelve, and I was suddenly expected to behave like a nice girl from Japan who would never be out after dark. They were objects of service. My Mom was suddenly being present and inauthentic, running around in a kimono, bowing “hai hai” only speaking Japanese and being submissive (complete 360 and out of character). I was forced to go to Japanese school with Japanese American 1st graders who stood half my height. A lot happened between the ages of 6-17 to make me who am today (1970-1980). In the telling of my Mom’s story below, I reveal the inciting event at age 8 when my brother came to live with us briefly. It’s a source of shame for me, as I always was made to feel responsible for his disappearance. As a result, I’ve made many bad choices that held me back. But I always felt that my past has made me who I am today, and I got to have a lot of fun while being there. And then we jump to today. I haven’t had a relationship with my Mom at all since I had to drop out of college mid semester because my Mom’s check bounced. We tried to communicate on and off over the years, but she was detached and it was toxic and extremely critical. I think because she may have been jealous of my sense of adventure and freedom. Finally, about 15 years ago, at the advise of others, and because I couldn’t accept her lack of compassion for me, I cut her off I said “If you’re going to be pompous like everyone says you are, and you can’t just say everything will be alright and I love you, then I don’t want to talk to you anymore. The branch doesn’t fall far from the tree.” She said okay, and she hung up. I never heard from her again. Recently, I will get an email saying “Happy Birthday. Love, Mom”. This phone conversation happened at a time when I had gotten myself into a horrible situation where I lost all my money and credit to a man and was in danger. This was later in life when I thought I had my shit together and was on top of the world only to come tumbling down and land on my head. I really needed something from her and realized she’d never be capable of giving it without being critical and judgmental. Love. I think I’ve spent most of my life trying not to be the bad parts of my Mom. But I recognize the strengths I have inherited and learned from being her daughter, too. I was always too emotional for her liking. “Smile, there’s nothing to frown about.” That wasn’t at all true. And then one day more recently I wasn’t emotional and got tough. And now I am again and I embrace my pain. And I still struggle. Being older now and having everything I want, for the most part, I understand that she won’t change. I feel sorry for her, and I wonder how deeply she has buried her losses. I’m curious. I wonder if I’ll feel bad if she dies before I decide to find her. Or if seeing would be the death of her. And then I think perhaps she’ll outlive us all. I’m torn. In spite of the successes I continue to achieve, I often never feel that it’s enough. I always stack my plate too high and criticize myself when I don’t follow through to the end, because I recognize that as self sabotage. Or still not feeling that I’m enough or worthy.11) What does it do for your life if you succeed here? It exonerates me of having regrets. Makes me the bigger person. Ugh. I said that.

12) Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you…. ???

Rachel Profile – Daughter (Protagonist)

Age range and Description: Middle aged (50’s) and Youngster (8-14), Half Caucasian, half Puerto Rican.

Internal Journey: Needs to have closure with Mother before she dies.

External Journey: Takes a road trip to find her Mother’s whereabouts.

Motivation: Peace of Mind. Curiosity.

Wound: Unloved by her Mother. Responsible for the kidnapping of her little brother. Has never felt good enough. Abused.

Mission/Agenda: To see and confront her Mother before she’s gone.

Secret: Deep guilt and shame for having been abused sexually as a child. And also for destructive behavior and relationships.

What makes Rachel special? Extremely self sufficient and resourceful, in spite of not having the support in order to succeed. Quirky, funny, positive – even when the chips are down. Mature, Independent, determined, survivor. Handy. Resilient. Rebellious.

What draws us to this character?

Rachel is a scapegoat and has the burden of adult responsibilities as a young girl. She is constantly criticized by her Mom who isn’t present enough to set an example. Rachel excels in spite of this. She is smart and entertaining and sensitive with a heart of gold and only wants to be loved by everyone and anyone. She is heartbreaking, resilient and overcomes or embraces all that is thrown her way. She is her own hero.

Traits: Kind, bubbly, generous, risk taker, edgy. OCD, perfectionist. Destructive, party girl. Sarcastic. Honest/dishonest.<div>

Subtext: Resentful. Sad. Pain, unworthy, insecure. Jealous. all-knowing. Defensive.

Flaw: Reckless, Guilt, Shame, Entitled, Overly self-sufficient, lacks self worth, rebellious.

Values: Honesty, Justice, Integrity, Pride. Success.

Irony: Rachel fights for justice while being defiant, sneaky and rebellious in order to outsmart authority or get away from her Mom. She believes this is best for her well being. Can be sarcastic when defending herself. Disobedient and independent because she doesn’t trust anyone. Runs away and gets her own apartment at the age of 14.

What makes Rachel the right character for this role?

Rachel, as a child, is overly mature and has endured more than any child her age should have to. She is able to present as someone way beyond her years. She never stops being kind to people she respects, because she longs to be loved and recognized as a good person. As an adult, she has proven herself and found a community in which she belongs. And she has does the hard work to get there. She is successful in her own right but continues to struggle and works through it with tons of self care. She is, as an adult, a little OCD and struggles with perfectionism.

——————————————————————————–

Questions for Mom (Antagonist):

1) Tell me about yourself – I am a caucasian woman of Norwegian and English decent. I am 75 years old, and recently received a doctorate as a Naturopath, after many other reincarnations. I am resourceful and am like a cat having lived many lives. I have been married three times. My first husband was Puerto Rican with whom I had two children. A daughter, Rachel, now 58, who I haven’t seen or talked to in many years. Although, I have occasionally wished her a Happy Birthday via email over the years. And a son who is 56, who I haven’t seen since he was 6. I live alone in a small town. I am educated, and very cultured. After my first divorce, I worked for a famous baby heart surgeon I almost married. He was twice my age. And then I worked for Japan Airlines for many years. I speak Japanese which drew me to martial arts and my second and third husbands. I raised my third husbands children. He was abusive and horrible. And I am estranged from his children. I am content on my own. I am nomadic.

2) Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? My strengths are that I keep going and don’t look back, which is also my weakness. My weaknesses are my need to be right and have control. I view being a Mother as the authoritarian figure and can’t see it any other way.

3) Why are you committed to making Rachel change? I am committed to making Rachel change so that she lives up to my standards. Deep down, I probably don’t want her to make my mistakes. But externally I have high expectations of her because she is my daughter and is not living up to her potential.

4) What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? The opportunity to brag about how well I raised my daughter. I don’t want to be embarrassed of her. I am all about appearance. I am shallow. I want a trophy daughter I can take credit for.

5) What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? My ego, on the surface. Deep down, she’s my daughter and I love and want the best for her?

6) What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? My jealousy of Rachel’s freedom to be who she wants. My jealousy of boyfriends noticing her maturity and finding her attractive. I never truly got over the failure of my 1st marriage, and love/hate him.

7) Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I am always right. I am critical. I am a chameleon and nomadic. I am full of myself. I can hide my feelings to be right. Stoic.

8) What do you think of Rachel (Protagonist)? I am jealous of her and secretly proud and envious of her ability to become what she has chosen to be. I admire her strength and resilience, secretly.

9) Tell me your side of this whole conflict/story.

My father died when I was six years old. And nobody told me he was never coming back. He was my hero and the one who loved me most, as I had two older brothers and my Mother who raised her younger sisters during the depression never letting me forget that, preferred boys and made no effort to hide that. After my Father died, my Mother married a militant military man, an officer in the Navy in order to have financial stability for herself and her three children. It seemed a loveless marriage which she made known. She had a son with him late in life, a step brother who I could never stand, as he was the source of all her attention. We moved a lot and when I was 17, my brother brought home his handsome Puerto Rican friend who he became buddies with in the service. He was handsome and we had sex and I got pregnant. We got married quickly so that I would not have to move to Bangkok with them. I moved to Puerto Rico to start a life with this man I hardly knew without speaking the language. Within a year and a half I gave birth to my second child, a son. My first was my daughter Rachel. Their father was “away at work” a lot, he had 13 brothers and sisters who helped to keep me company and care for me. Meanwhile, I became anxious and wanted to go back home. He was spending a lot of time studying medicine with a female “cousin”. I did not approve of this, as he was supposed to be raising a family… I was jealous and lacking his attention. And in fact, he was having an affair with this woman whom he married soon after I left and quickly had 3 children with her… I took Rachel and left my son with his Evangelist preacher grandparents in hopes of coming back for him once I was back home and settled with income. I moved into my mothers basement with Rachel. Once on my own, I took Rachel to see her Father and was intimate with him after he’d already married Fathered 3 more children. After that trip where Rachel also met her little brother who was about 6, she started nagging at me about having him live with us. So I sent her to stay with her Dad’s sister in California and went to PR to see my son. He was 6. I told his grandmother, who was raising hem since his father already had a new family and no room for him, that I was taking my boy shopping and instead we hopped on a plane never to return. I hid out at an older couples/friends’ home while attending to my son who didn’t speak English and had pneumonia. I feared that he might die. And while my daughter was visiting California, her Dad went and picked her up and used her as a bartering chip to get my son back to his Grandmother who claimed him for her own, as her husband had recently died and she needed a companion. This woman didn’t even raise any of her own 15 children. Eventually, Rachel’s dad sent her home. She went back to her elite school and I put her brother in a public school, as he didn’t speak English. I was frightened and then one day, Rachel’s dad and his wife showed up at her school and asked the head master to see her. He manipulated her into telling him where her brother went to school, and that day, he never made it home from school, shattering me deeply. Rachel was too you, 8 or 9, to put the pieces together. She was so focused on her dad coming to visit her. That night we had police officers at the apartment trying to find out if he’d gone to a friends, who is friends were if any, etc. Until her dad called at 2 am to report that my son was back at his grandmother’s where he belonged and would stay for the remainder of his childhood. I was so angry. I blamed Rachel and don’t think I’ve ever been able to forgive her. I remarried twice more, both men were from Japan. The first was when Rachel was 12. She so badly wanted to have a Dad. Having worked for Japan Airlines, I learned to speak Japanese and also spent my younger days engaging in martial arts such as Aikido and Kendo with friends, which is how I met my second husband, Rachel’s step dad, with whom I was match-made by an older Korean man who was a Kendo Sensei, as was my new husband to be. He would invite me to go out for drinks after Kendo class. I married him, in part, because my daughter desperately wanted a step father and he seemed to be the first of many men who was a contender. And I was still young and tried numerous times, intravenously, to have a baby with him. After several miscarriages, I gave up and found him to be too weak for me. My third husband, I met at work and had befriended bringing home to make friends with my 2nd husband. Eventually, we had an affair, and I agreed to help him, so that he could bring his 2 kids back from Japan, one of which was caucasian, and looked like me. He had adopted him from his drug addict wife and never told this kid he wasn’t Japanese. The second daughter was his with the same mother as the first. I never went back home to my husband. We got divorced and I married number 3 raised his children until they left the nest. They are also now estranged from me. Husband 3 was a difficult, volatile complicated and street smart man. Completely against my nature and the first man who I ever submitted to and lost control. I alienated Rachel at this time, completely, just in order to avoid conflict with my husband and his children. I don’t think I’ve ever realized the impact this may have had on her. She was about 20 years old at this time. I live alone in a small town now and keep things simple and to myself. I go on as I always do. And as on must in my shoes. My oldest brother drank himself to death when he was mid fifties. And my brother recently shot himself in the head. I was the black sheep of the family. And I’m still here.

Mother Profile – Authority Figure

Age range and Description: Younger Barb Mid 20’s-30’s, Older Barb mid 70’s

Internal Journey: Cold. Militant. Narcissistic, Pompous and judgmental, leaving a wake of destruction behind her where ever she goes. Not sure how humbled she becomes, if at all. Regrets. Alone. Perhaps tries to show love but never is apologetic.

External Journey: Nomadic. Moves from relationship to relationship and from place to place starting over once she’s done with current set of circumstances. Numerous jobs and career moves. Ends up unconscious literally.

Motivation: Self serving. Escaping the depths of her pain and destruction by abandoning circumstances and changing location. To have a life without conflict or having to face the past.

Wound: Left her son behind, and eventually abandoned her daughter, as well. Empty. Alone. Not that likable. Her father died at the age of six. Had a selfish, militant Mother.

Mission/Agenda: To abandon anything or anyone who causes her any discomfort. To lead her life as she sees fit, in spite of who may get hurt along the way. Self serve. Live in peace where nobody gets to know her too well.

Secret: Is filled with self loathing and regrets for past choices. Never stopped loving and hating my Dad. Resents Rachel for looking like her Dad and for getting to do what she never could. Hates/resents Rachel for sabotaging the kidnapping of her son, Rachel’s younger brother.

What makes her special? Able to be charming and pretend that everything is fine. Able to move on and not look back. Highly intelligent. A hidden emotional life that may never be revealed. Handy and resourceful. Resilient. Survivor. Self sufficient.

What draws us to Mom?

Mom is delusional with a sense of grandeur. She presents as opposite of who she is. She believes she’s a great Mom, when in fact she has never mothered either of her children or taken part in their lives. She initially, comes off as beautiful, charming, and poised; however, she is diabolical. Although she is cultured and intelligent, she is pompous and cold without a leg to stand on. She is not well liked; she is the black sheep of the family. She looks down her nose at people who don’t live up to her standards, and yet she doesn’t even live up to her standards. She is a hypocrite. And she is intensely critical of her daughter.

Traits: Flippant, dishonest, charming, cold and detached. Hot headed. Always right. Militant.

Subtext: Pompous, uptight. Makes light of when things get too heavy. Jealous. Judgmental. Rigid.

Flaw: Has alienated everyone and has never looked back. Entitled. Always right.

Values: Integrity, Rules, Laws, Power, Control, Culture, Education.

Irony: Breaks all the “rules” and is dishonest in order to be right. Believes that holding the title of “Mother” entitles her to be right, in spite of being absent and negligent. She holds her head high as if she were the greatest Mother on earth simply because she gave her daughter skim milk as a kid, thereby making sure she’d have strong bones.

What makes Mom the right character for this role?

Mom is right for this role because she is Rachel’s Mom. Her behavior and her actions make Rachel have to fight hard for what she has to overcome in order to become who she is today. It’s both heartbreaking and hopeful. Mom unknowingly forces Rachel into becoming her own hero by criticizing her, which ironically causes Mom to be proud of her. Mom is so inept and unable to celebrate her daughter’s successes that it’s gut-wrenching. So much so that we pray for her to change and have a loving last moment with Rachel.

</div>

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  Rebecca Jordan.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  Rebecca Jordan.

[Dana Abbott]

Dana’s Character Interviews

What have I learned during this assignment?

Interviewing my characters was a unique way of gaining insight into their motivations and focus the trajectory of the script to its conclusion. I have a better understanding of the beats, plot points and the climax.

GENRE: THRILLER/ACTION

QUESTIONS FOR PROTAGONIST: JACK DONOVAN

1. Tell me about yourself.

My name is Jack Donovan. I come from a long line of cops. My father was a cop. And so was his father. I spent the last 12 years in prison, isolated from the general population, convicted for a crime I didn’t commit. My father died while I was in prison. My mother moved out of state and died in a retirement home. I lost my wife, my friends, and my family. And now I want justice.

2. Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

Somebody needed a fall guy. And my partner and I fit the bill.

3. You are up against the antagonist. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

They’re powerful enough frame me for a murder I didn’t commit.

4. In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

Hide in plain sight. Learn to live on the street. Trust no one. Avoid my family to protect them.

5. What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

I spent my life believing in law and order. Everything by the book. And now I have to break the law to find the truth.

6. What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

That I’ll be killed before I can prove my innocence. That my family name will be forever shamed. My daughter will never know who I am.

7. What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

I’m police officer and prison survival skills. I’ve studied my case forwards and backward, and I have a road map where to start and who to ask for help.

8. What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

My wife was pregnant when I was sent to prison. She remarried after my daughter was born, and she’s being raised with another man’s name.

9. What do you think of the Antagonists?

They’re ruthless and willing to do anything to succeed. But they’re scared with a lot to lose.

10. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

My partner and I arrested a student activist at a protest march that threw a brick through our car windshield. We walked him through the booking process and put him in a cell, and the next morning he was found dead. He’d been beaten to death and died of internal bleeding. The evidence pointed to us, and we convicted of manslaughter.

11. What does it do for your life if you succeed here?

I get my reputation back. My family name is redeemed. I get my daughter back.

12. Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you.

QUESTIONS FOR PROTAGONIST: FRANK VALENTINO

1. Tell me about yourself.

I joined the military out of high school where I served as an MP. I joined the police when I left the service. I never married. I have a brother in Arizona I haven’t seen in twenty years. I’m a loner. I have spent 12 yeas in prison for manslaughter, a crime I didn’t commit.

2. Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

I was forced into this situation. My partner

3. You are up against the Antagonist. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

I don’t know who they are yet. But whoever they are, they had to have help.

4. In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

I learned to use violence in prison to defend myself. I have to temper my violent nature.

5. What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

My partner wants justice. I want vengeance. I’ll do things his way…for now.

6. What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

Prison has held me back.

7. What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

Ex-cop. Ex-con. The best of both worlds.

8. What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

I killed men in prison in cold blood to survive.

9. What do you think of the Antagonist?

They’re going to pay for what they did.

10. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

My partner and I were convicted of a crime we didn’t commit.

11. What does it do for your life is you succeed here?

I can live in peace. Disappear and forget the past.

12. Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST: SIMON

1. Tell me about yourself.

Simon isn’t my real name. I was military trained, but I won’t tell you by which country. I have been working as a professional for more than three decades. I’ve never been arrested. My clients never meet me.

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m intelligent. Highly skilled and well trained. But when it comes to my survival, everyone comes last, including my clients.

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

I’ve been paid by my client, and I pride myself in my professionalism.

4. What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

Money.

5. What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

I enjoy the challenge of the job. To test my own precision. It’s better than sitting behind a desk.

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

My identity. The people I’ve killed.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

I’ve never failed. I’ve never been caught. Nobody knows my real identity.

8. What do you think of the Protagonist?

I have empathy for them. Innocent men sent to prison. But I can’t let that get in the way of my job.

9. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

There are no sides. No right or wrong. No cause to fight for. Just the believe of yourself.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST: BRADFORD MILLS

1. Tell me about yourself.

I’m the governor of the state. I spent my life in public service, first as a district attorney and then attorney general. I’m married to a wonderful woman, and we have one daughter. My father was a senator, and I’ve been groomed for higher office almost since birth.

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m good at campaigning and influencing people into thinking I care about them. I enjoy the company of women outside of my marriage.

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

It’s either them or me. If I fail, it means prison or worse.

4. What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

A place on the presidential ticket at VP.

5. What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

I’m a narcissist that craves notoriety. And I like power and defeating my enemies.

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I fathered an illegitimate son with a prostitute when I was in law school.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

I have no shame. I will do anything to win.

8. What do you think of the Protagonists?

Two cops? Now ex-cons. Who will believe them?

9. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

My illegitimate son was becoming a political liability. His existence threated my career. I paid for his education and upbringing on the QT to keep him and his mother quiet, but it wasn’t enough. He began acting out publicly to threaten me. But I wasn’t responsible for what was done to him. I learned about it after the fact. Not that it upset me. It had to be done.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST: BRENDA MILLS

1. Tell me about yourself.

I’m the wife of a governor. A mother of one. I had a degree in law and worked at a prestigious law firm for many years, until I quit to support my husband’s campaign for governor.

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m intelligent, ruthless, and shameless. I have connections my husband doesn’t. And I’m willing to use them for my own ends.

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

They need to fail for my husband and I to achieve our political goals.

4. What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

My husband is on the short list for VP.

5. What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I had my husband’s illegitimate son killed.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

I’m not the typical political wife. I’m willing to kill to accomplish my aims.

8. What do you think of the Protagonist?

They’re a nuisance that should have been dealt with in prison.

9. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

I’ve had to tolerate my husband’s infidelities our entire marriage. And he owes me. But when I learned he impregnated a prostitute while we were dating in law school, I wasn’t going to let his bastard son threaten our political ambitions. I had him killed and framed the two cops.

[Janeen Johnson]

Janeen’s Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment is that I have some additional backstory/explaining to do for some of my character’s behaviors and I’ll have to blend it into the dialogue. I’ve bolded the new stuff I learned.

NICK – Hero

1. Tell me about yourself: Not much to tell. I’ve been pretty useless since I got back from the war. Can’t sleep well, can’t hold a job. Nobody wants some guy that crouches down on the ground with his head in his hands or hits the dirt every time a door slams too loud. I can’t do any of the jobs the other Rangers do when they get back because I’m a wreck. Thank god for Grizzly. She’s the only thing keeping me alive at this point. <div>

2. Why was I called on this journey? I was in the right place at the right time. That’s all.

3. You are up against a corrupt FBI agent and foreign mercenaries. What is it about them that makes this journey more difficult for you? They are merciless. They don’t care if civilians get hurt. That don’t care if anyone gets hurt. It’s more difficult because of the gunfire, that’s for sure.

4. What changes do you expect to make to survive or accomplish this and which of them will be the most difficult? I’ve been a loner since I got back from the war. I’m safer alone because I can’t hurt anyone else if I go, you know, off base. I’m going to have to be around people, to think for others again and to trust my instincts again. They’ve been so far off since the attack that I’m not sure I’ll be able to do that.

5. What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? Survivor guilt, for sure, but mostly the sadness of losing people because I didn’t see the attack coming. We had no time to react, no way to help the victims. Sadness drags you down. It slows down your thinking, your survival instincts. If you’re dwelling on things from the past, you’re not ready to respond to the “now”.

6. What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? Not saving my buddies, not knowing what lay ahead for them has made me afraid to take any chances or responsibilities. Whenever it’s up to me, I crumple. I quit. I crawl away. It’s horrible.

7. What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict? I’ve got a lot of years of training and combat. Lots of field experience evading the enemy, finding them, taking care of them. I’d feel better if I had my unit, but Ivy, Holly and Rudy will have to do. And Grizzly, of course. If anything happened to her, I’d be curled up in a ball again.

8. What are you hiding from the other characters? The extent of my PTSD — how debilitating it is. How often I freeze or assume the fetal position or just get lost in a flashback.

9. What do you think of Ivy? She’s gorgeous — my dream woman.

10. Tell me your side of this whole story: I’ve seen the president’s parents walking here every day. When I saw the FBI guy’s muscle pull his gun, I knew something was up. When it went off, I didn’t crumple like I usually do with a loud noise. I ran. I thought about them. I thought about Ivy. I had to help. Then, with Ivy dead, I had to protect the parents, run, get off grid, get rid of trackers, run more, change cars, run more, kick ass when they caught up to us, trade cars, hide in my aunt’s house, meet Ivy, nearly kick her ass, run again, etc. I just wanted to keep the parents safe.

11. What does it do for your life if you succeed here? It saves my life. No, it gives me my life, my dignity, my purpose back. I have some self-respect.

DASHER – Villain

1. Tell me about yourself. I think I did that in the character profile — except to add that I was a fool to believe the mercenaries would let me live. I’m guessing they’ll kill me when this is over considering how trigger-happy they are. </div><div>

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? My strengths are my thirty-plus years with the FBI and all of the relationships I’ve built with other law enforcement agencies in that time. I can find these people no matter where they hide. Traffic cams, rest area camera footage, car trackers, car companies that can kill the engine, small town cops? I’ve got them all in my arsenal. I’ve also got some muscle in the mercenaries. Weaknesses? None that I know of.

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? I’m in so far that <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>I can’t go back. I have to keep going to get the retirement I’ve earned. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>If I don’t, I’ll get a jail cell for the rest of my life. I have to win.

4. What do you get out of winning this fight? Freedom, money, life.

5. What drives you toward your mission/agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? The fact that<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> I’m in for a penny in for a pound — and I’m in for a boatload of pounds.

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? I can’t let anyone in the bureau know I’m in on this — that I’m benefiting from it.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I’m smarter than them. I have a plan to retire with dignity — and money.

8. What do you think of Nick? He’s an unknown, a threat. I don’t know who he is or where he came from, but he’s got skills and came out of nowhere.

9. Tell me your side of this whole conflict: If Ivy had just let us take the parents, this wouldn’t have gone sideways. Then Santa got in the act and all hell broke loose. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>I’m just trying to complete the mission — kidnap the parents, control the mercenaries, get the political prisoners released, get my money, and get the hell out of this country.

IVY – Hero

1. Tell me about yourself. I’m a career Secret Service (SS) officer. I’ve worked my way up, but I’ve hit a glass ceiling of sorts. The last few high level people I’ve protected had security breaches that I took the fall for. How was I to know that one guy’s nephew was a terrorist? Or that the VPs mother’s new boyfriend was a spy? They should have been vetted better but security, but when the shit hit the fan, I got sprayed with it. I like the PP. They’re like extra parents for me, but they’re also easy targets so I’m always very vigilant. I’m so busy with work that I don’t bother with a social life any more. Every guy someone’s set me up with or I’ve met some other way has just wanted access to the president. They’re lobbyists or cult types or super fans. It’s sickening. I just won’t date until I retire, I guess. 🙂 </div>

2. Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? Because these people are important to me and whoever did this couldn’t get through my protection for the PP any other way.

3. You are up against Dasher. What is it about him that makes this journey even more difficult for you? He has sources and tendrils throughout law enforcement. I don’t know who I can trust besides Joy at this point. I don’t know what his game is, but he cased the joint by hanging with me that one day and he’s totally off the rails. I can’t trust anyone so I’m going to have to protect the PP on my own.

4. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I’m going to have to work without a net. I’ll be doing it all by myself. I don’t usually lean on a team, but I used to know who I can trust. Now I don’t.

5. What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? That I can always call the White House and get help. Now I don’t know if I can. If Dasher is having me tracked too, then the WH surely knows about it. I may not survive if they think I’ve kidnapped the PP when all I’m doing is trying to keep them safe until they figure out how big Dasher’s web is.

6. What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? Other people not doing their job, not vetting people properly have caused most of my problems. It’s so hard to know whose doing the work because it’s their patriotic duty and whose in it for fame and access.

7. What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? I’ve taken loads of self defense classes, even Krav Maga training so physically, I’m ready for close combat, but I only pack my service revolver, not an arsenal. I have to improvise and I’ve taken classes on doing that too. When you’re in a foreign country and you’ve got to protect your VIP, you improvise and I’ve studied a lot of ways to do that. I’m practically a McGyver.

8. What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? I really, really, really want to get married, maybe have a family, have a real home, you know? I’d like to feel safe when I go to sleep at night instead of wondering if some rogue agent is going to disable me so he can get to the PP.

9. What do you think of Dasher? I think he’s scary good at keeping his double agent status or whatever it is under wraps. I never liked him, but I thought it was just because he was always checking me out. I had no idea he’d hire mercenaries and do something like this.

10. Tell me your side of this whole conflict/story. I’d seen Santa in the mall and knew he checked me out every day. When I saw Dasher’s guy pull his gun, I thought maybe the bad guy was Santa. Then the mercenary shot me and the next thing I know, the mall cop told me that Santa had rescued the PP and taken them away with his go bag. That didn’t make any sense. Santa with a go bag? I just followed him until I saw him fighting off Dasher and his man. Then I wasn’t sure if maybe both of them were bad guys. I caught up with the PP while he was elsewhere and they thought he was one of the good ones. They told me where they were going so I went ahead to check it out. Then he nearly killed me and I almost had to kill him. I guess he’s one of the good ones. He’s nice too. Really nice.

11. What does it do for your life if you succeed here? I’ll get more respect at the SS. I may have Nick in my life longer. Rudy and Holly will be happy. 🙂

[andrea cabanas]

Andrea Freitas’ Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment is that I loved doing it and for the first time, I’m 100% in favour of this interview excercise. The questions were so deep, completely different from things like ‘Where did you study’, ‘What’s your political POV’, etc. And of course, I learned so much about my characters; writing about one brought ideas to the other one, and vice-versa. Now I can say that I know them in more depth. Can’t wait to interview my other characters!

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself.

Well, my name is Zoe Muller; I’m 35 years old. I was born in a small country town and now I live in Sydney. I have a younger brother, Victor, and my older brother Chris committed suicide when I was about twelve.

I left home when I was seventeen. My parents were from a church that preached that we, women, couldn’t do anything. My dad was a chauvinist and violent; he hit mom and me for no reason, and I couldn’t stand it. I’m sure my brother killed himself because the pastor molested him.

Anyway, long story short, after years with no contact, mom reached me. Franz (I deny calling him dad), almost killed her. I convinced her to leave him and now we live together. She received a good inheritance when my grandfather, her father, passed away, and she’s the one who puts money in the house.

I know, I’m 35 but still can’t afford to live independently, but I’m getting there.

I met Paula; she’s a Spanish and beautiful woman. She’s ten years older than me and looks like Pelenope Cruz—I always liked the actress. We made love once, but I don’t know, something is happening here. I’m so confused because I love a man—well, I thought I loved him—and now, Paula appears. I never thought I would have feelings for another woman. A woman. I think there’s a part of me that says it’s not right, but why, right? My uncle was gay, Georgia is a trans woman… I don’t know what’s going on here.

I’m an interior designer, and Paula’s helping me create my website, my own business. Hope I’m not confusing things here.

Also, I don’t believe in marriage. To me, it’s a failed institution. And love… although I feel something, I’m not sure it exists as my mom never loved me.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

I guess it’s because I’m still discovering who I am, who I really love… I’m still finding what exactly I want to do in my life gaining the courage to make it happen without my mom’s shadow.

You are up against Katrina. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

As I said, I love my mom, but she’s a hard person to live with. She doesn’t seem to be happy, never. I tell her things, you know, good things that happened to me, and she always has something negative to say to me about it.

It looks like she doesn’t want me to be happy and independent. It seems like she wants to drag me to her frustrated, sad, and grumpy world; she doesn’t want me to succeed because she still believes that women can’t succeed in life. And now, that she discovered just by chance bout Paula, my life became worse than a nightmare. Being in a relationship with a woman, it’s a death penalty for her!

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

I need to have another bank account (yep, mom controls even my bank account!) and start saving money in there, pretending my casual jobs aren’t paying enough. Then at the right moment, I’ll move and have my freedom. But honestly, I think the most challenging part would be to leave her. Not sure if she will have the strength to live on her own. I think I feel sorry for her, it’s hard to say it, but this is what I think.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

I still feel weird when a man talks louder to me. For sure, this is something that comes from my dad’s violence. Also, I need to let go of the guilt for having feelings with Paula. It seems there’s a little ghost of prejudice that I’m battling on. Part of me wants to jump into this relationship, but another part is ashamed.

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

I’m still not sure if I’m good enough in my profession as an interior designer. Also, what if I leave mom and the house and I’m not able to pay my expenses on my own?

How would people see me if I kissed Paula in public? Will God forgive me, even if I’m not sure if I believe in God?

I also wish I could have understood what was going on in my brother’s mind, so I could have prevented him to kill himself. When my uncle also took his life, I didn’t see the signals! Again? Am I so naive to not reading well people I love to avoid tragedies like this?

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

I know my mom’s weakness, she hates being embraced. Every time I want something, I hug her, although not all the times I get what I want… her love back.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

My grandfather abused me. It was only one time, but enough for me to collapse in disguise, to feel I was worth nothing, and no one had respect for me.

What do you think of Katrina?

I feel sorry for her. She’s a frustrated woman who might have wondered about being successful and independent one day but was forced to marry Franz. She also had a strict education, but I think it was worse for a woman to find her voice at that time.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict/story.

Mom thinks I’m a loser, that I don’t have the skill to be successful, and I will live with her forever, but she’s wrong.

What does it do for your life if you succeed here?

I’ll prove to myself that I made it, that I’m finally an independent woman, doing what I want without the need of living under the shade of anyone. And single, even if I love James or Paula, I still don’t believe in marriage.

Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you.

Who’s James?

He’s a guy I met a few years ago when I made the landscape for his parent’s house. I fell in love with him because we had the perfect relationship, no ties, no feelings. Until I realised I was in love with him. Now, we saw each other occasionally, which was when I learnt he was dating someone. He dated other women but not me! As expected, when I said that I loved him (for real), he disappeared. And then, Paula came into my life to shake my feelings.

Do you believe in God?

Yes, I do, even though I’m not sure who or ‘what is god’ if it makes sense. I have my faith because to me, God is something more significant, it’s a spiritual thing, something that it’s around us in nature and inside us, in our hearts.

Do you have a religion?

No. And breaks my heart when I hear people saying they follow a similar sect my mom followed.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself.

I’m Katrina, married to Franz Muller, mother of three kids, Christian, Victor, and Zoe. I have a brother, he’s older than me, but he had terrible influences in life—or had a devil in his body, who knows.

I married at the age of seventeen, and at eighteen years old, I got pregnant with my first son, Chris. Then Zoe came, and after a few miscarriages, our dearest son Victor was born.

Chris was taken away from me too soon, then Zoe decided to rebel against our family values. Franz banned her from the family and I couldn’t do anything to help her until now.

After an episode of domestic violence where I ended up in the hospital, Zoe (I never lost contact with her), convinced me to leave Franz. My father had passed away and left me a good inheritance, so I felt I could deal with life independently. But I regretted it, and now I live with Zoe, such a hard kid to tame. But until the last days of my life I’ll do my best to make her change her views about the world, to make her learn to respect her father again and make her marry a decent man. And may she stop these ridiculous ideas of having sex with women. This is the devil’s thing.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m good at persuading her emotionally, and I use my strong voice to make her obey me or even shut up when she’s talking nonsense. I remember how she followed her father when he spoke louder to her, so I do the same.

I’m also patient; I think it may be my best virtue. Every time Zoe is vulnerable, it’s the right time for me to change her mind toward something.

My weakness is when Zoe hugs me. I’m not a person who embraces; I never hugged my mom, my husband, or even by any of my children, apart from when they were little ones. I like a hug, and when it happens, I can even be persuaded by her, which she tries sometimes.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or, for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

Zoe needs to understand that we need to have someone in our lives to be looked for. I don’t know what she’s doing with her life, as she can’t see that she’s no one; she’s not able to be anyone if she doesn’t have a male figure at her side. She’s having this freak relationship with this foreigner; who knows where she comes from and tries to make my daughter sin. God forbids same-sex relationships; this is not correct. Zoe came out of my womb, has the same family blood. If she doesn’t get a respectful husband, she will have to look after me forever.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

I won’t be alone, and she will look after me until the day I join the Lord’s heaven.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

What Zoe is doing is wrong. She is a woman and can’t be successful as such. I couldn’t make it, why will she? She needs to open her heart to God again to understand she needs a male figure. I want to see her happy, and I can see that she’s not the way she is. It’s just a matter of time…

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I need to pretend all the time that I’m the victim, so she will feel guilty about the idea of leaving the house. And I’m good at emotional blackmail.

Other secrets to keep out of fear/insecurity? I fear being alone.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

I know I have moments when I explode and argue with everyone, but I like to listen to good music, and I can be funny sometimes. My neighbours like me and invite me very often to travel with them, have dinner, that kind of thing. And I also play the piano, something my daughter never knew about.

What do you think of Zoe?

I love my daughter, and I want her to be happy. I need to make her change her mind because she’s going crazy with this idiotic idea of being independent. She is an adult woman, but she’s not ready for the world. Too naive, I’d say. She needs a father figure again to put her ‘in line’.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

I believe this will never have an end because it seems we think differently. And having a strong personality—because Zoe can be loud too—she will understand my side of it. And she won’t understand it because she doesn’t want it, that’s all.

4. Add any new info to your Character Profiles and share with us what discovered about the characters.

I discovered the real reason Zoe flees home when a teenager and why she’s still so dependable on her mom.

Through my protagonist interview, I also found something about the antagonist, Zoe’s mother, which made so much more sense than my previous thoughts.

I also decided which year Zoe was born, and through that, I went back to when her grandparents migrated to Australia, which coincides with when women were still dependent on men.

[BG]

BG’s Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment: Amazing experience. They became almost alive!

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself. Not too much to tell. What do you want to know?
Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? I just happened to be there and I just knew it was very, very wrong.
You are up against <the Antagonist>. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you? He has enormous power and resources and does not seem to be open to reconsider anything.
In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I’m going to have to become physical and deceptive.
What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? I don’t know. I’ll have to learn to watch my back.
What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? I have this fear of commitment, that I’ll get too attached to something, anything, and I’ll get hurt again.
What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? None, really. This is not my world.
What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? I don’t want them to know that I know.
What do you think of <the Antagonist>? An arrogant, self-centered megalomaniac.
Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. What I saw was was so aggregious that I couldn’t turn away.
What does it do for your life if you succeed here? It will give me a sense of self-worth.
Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you. Why did she dump you? I wasn’t much of a catch, was I?

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself. To whom much is given, much is expected. I’m someone who’s been put on this earth to help change and improve it.
Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? I’m extremely intelligent, can accurately and quickly assess any situation, and I’m willing to do whatever is necessary.
Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? He doesn’t know the consequences of what he’s doing and how much harm he’s doing to the world.
What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? We will achieve a more secure and stable world order.
What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? I feel that I have been put on this earth to improve the state of humanity.
What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? We must keep our plans closely held, because they will not be understood by the common man.
Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I have the ability to form a cohesive group of my peers and LEAD.
What do you think of <the Protagonist>? I think he’s a child. He doesn’t recognize what is good for the world.
Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. The world is sliding into disorder. Malign forces are seeking to upend the world order established after WW2. They must be contained, confronted, and defeated. If necessary, through military means. I want a more cohesive and democratic world order.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  BG ERENGIL.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  BG ERENGIL.

[Giles]

Charles Ferrell’s Character Interviews

What I learned by doing this assignment is to question the characters about their motivations, secret desires, weak points and strengths.

Genre Action / Drama

Duncan Smalls

Role in the story: Protagonist / Explorer / phd candidate, university teaching assistant

Age and description: 30, socially withdrawn and obsessed with history

Internal Journey: Withdrawn, loaner struggling for acceptance to center of public attention and potential leader.

External Journey: Mediocre history teacher a virtual unknown, to history maker who unearths what has been under everyone’s feet.

Motivation: Initially to quiet the voices, eventually to reveal the hidden tragic history.

Wound: painfully shy, abhors conflict and violence

Mission/Agenda: avenge the victims by revealing the tragedy

Secret: He was the little Asian girl

What makes them special? He is the only one who sees the ghosts and/or visions.

Traits: Organized to a fault, all things must be in place

Subtext: repeats himself

Flaw: Shuts down, disengages when challenged, narrow focus on himself

Values: Facts over beliefs, Integrity

Irony: His view of the world is driven on facts and evidence established over time, he is about to be confronted with the world of belief & the supernatural which cannot be proven.

What makes this the right character for this role? He lives a contained life, one comprised of safe calculated moves. His coming experience in the story forces him to believe, to step out of planned safe moves into risking all for others.

Tell me about yourself. “I’m just me and the rest is history….lol. I’m an assistant history professor and phd candidate….and the rest is history!. He he he..not really much to say

Why do you think you were called to this journey? I don’t about any calling, it was more like an intrusion, I never asked for this and why won’t she leave me alone?

Why you? Maybe its about history and I’m an expert, or maybe I’m a history expert because I was supposed to reveal it in this life.

You are up against <The agent, the Asian girl>. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you? This agent guy, whoever he is has connections, access, some unknown level of credibility that I don’t have to ruin my life. He evidently can take apart everything I have built. This little girl won’t leave me the hell alone, her problem should be her problem and not mine, but it is.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. First of all there is nothing wrong with my box, except for you people who keep messing with it. You stay in yours and I’ll stay in mine and if I wanted to step out I could. I could make my thesis about this discovery and cement its place in the historical record for all to study and research. (under his breath) that was a statement, not a question. This will take me to the edge of ruin and in the end secure my future and tenure.

What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

I don’t like the spotlight or to make waves. I have a strong appreciation for rules and order. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories of the government hiding things from us but if they did we should know about it. All history should be known.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

Not challenging people, I hate confrontation

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

I’m more comfortable in the past ‘history’ than in my own present, my parents died at an early age, I was raised by my elderly grandmother and books were my only friend.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

If there is evidence, I can find the trail. Research is what I’m the best at, the facts can’t be hidden forever. I spend every day on campus, college students love a good cause to get behind. This agent is one guy, who thinks he is only up against one guy.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

What do you think of <the Antagonist>?

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. These visitations, the visions are driving me crazy..I honestly feel like I’m loosing my mind but at the same time it all feels oddly familiar. I don’t believe in ghosts but this feels a bit like home.

What does it do for your life if you succeed here? I could gain my phd , tenure, industry recognition and write a new chapter in history that has been hidden.

Ghost of the little girl

Role in the story: Antagonist / Change Agent

Age range and Description: 8 to 10, apparition of a small Japanese American girl

Internal Journey: from innocent believer in freedom, to victim of racial hatred

External Journey: American girl to unjustly imprisoned victim of medical experiments

Motivation: Vengeance and Recognition

Wound: She was murdered in the camp along with her family

Mission/Agenda: to get the world to listen

Secret: her and her family’s deaths along with the camp were wiped from all records, their suffering has been kept secret

What makes them special? As a ghost she can appear anywhere, even in the dreams of the living

Traits: elusive, persistent, methodical

Subtext: responds with escalation and anger

Flaw: Blindly driven by her victim status

Values: injustice should have no place to hide

Irony: looks innocent and was killed at a young age but has the experience of humankinds potential for cruelty driven by hatred & fear.

What makes this the right character for this role? She is the only one who possesses the hidden knowledge along with the desire for reveal and cannot be silenced any longer. She is also the previous incarnation of the main character.

Tell me about yourself. I was born in California to Japanese immigrant parents, we were rounded up in the middle of the night and taken by our own government because we are Japanese or of Japanese decent.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? My strength is that I’m a ghost, I can walk through walls, you can’t kill or harm me, I can show up in your nightmare’s. Weakness is that I am a ghost, people resist believing in me or what I show them as fact.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change? He needs to understand that his whole life has been leading up to this, there is no more ignoring or delaying the truth. He needs to change and step into the possibility of who he can and must be to make this happen. His current ways of being must fail, they must die off and be shed like a cocoon that no longer serves him.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? Vengeance and recognition through the facts getting out, uncovering this painful secret that has literally been buried right under the entire town’s noses. No one is ever completely in the right, in war. There are no good guys.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? Since my death, I have thought about nothing else but this for decades. I have groomed Duncan’s subconscious to be driven and obsessed with the past and now that must be blown wide open.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? That Duncan the protagonist was me in a past life, Duncan and most of this western society is not equipped to handle that fact.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I gave all simply because of the color of my skin, my family and I suffered greatly in secret and no one knows! I came back as a white male, educated in history for this sole purpose, for this time, for this moment.

What do you think of <the Protagonist>? We are the same, this current life of his has its advantages and its hindrances. Being a white male in this society is what I have waited patiently for, his education and obsession with history is my own doing. But this mind’s leaning toward being an introvert is not helpful, that is my greatest battle with him.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. I’m hurt, I’m angry and rapidly growing impatient. My young appearance is far from innocent compared to what I was subjected too. I know that things take time but enough is enough, it is time our treatment be known. The internment camp was run by the US government and the experiments led by Nazi doctors brought to the US. The war was over and we were still being held and experimented on, all for the sake of producing bio-weapons.

The Agent

Role in the story: Antagonist / Villain

Age range and Description: 50’s / pock marked face, missing left earlobe burn scars creeping up out of his shirt.

Internal Journey: mildly dispassionate about the assignment, to hell bent on destruction

External Journey: situational monitor to direct personal violence

Motivation: to win

Wound: He was a POW and is very black and white about the ENEMY

Mission/Agenda: Disinformation

Secret: Is an addict

What makes them special? Access to the truth and the resources to conceal it at all costs

Traits: Direct to the point,

Subtext: Scratches at the burn scarring on his neck and chest

Flaw: He enjoys destruction of things and people’s lives

Values: Mission above all

Irony: He knows his career of destruction and lies has cost him personally, he struggles to justify what he does and the cost

What makes this the right character for this role? Saboteur, The burn scars are a result from a near escape sabotage mission.

Tell me about yourself. I’m not sure if you have the clearance but I have worked for multiple agencies over my career, correcting or cleaning up messes. I tighten up loose ends when state secrets begin to slip, weaving misinformation and discrediting whistleblowers.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? No one in this story has the experience that I have, this is all I do. Everyone else in this story are amatuers, they don’t stand a chance. My weakness is, I never know if the mission is just. I struggle to justify in my own mind what I do when I ruin careers and lives sometimes even kill.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Well hello, it’s the mission! Its not personal, it’s an assignment. Its not my place to judge right or wrong, just to execute the plan to keep information and noise to a minimum.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? I love to win and accomplish the mission, maybe someday retirement although I have no life outside of this to retire too.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? To win at any cost, plus if I don’t accomplish the mission then I will become the mission for someone else to take out. So with any target, it’s me or them.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? It’s not a matter of keeping secrets as much as make any truth that leaks out seem ridiculous and the whistleblower a laughingstock. The government and its contracted agencies are massive and are concealing so many huge secret in plain sight of the people.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I have nothing to loose but what I know and have seen could flip perception of every average person upside down, if I lived long enough to convince them.

What do you think of <the Protagonist>? I don’t, to think of a target as anything other than a target is a mistake, a weakness. At time I do question what my superiors are really up too, do they have the full story of just a carefully chosen piece of it.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. I’m here to dismantle anyone involved, kill if I have too. I can generate any credibility I need to destroy the credibility of anyone who gets in my way.

The Old Sargent

Role in the story: Supporting role

Age range and Description: 70’s, Old smoker, only living former internment camp guard

Internal Journey: Desperately struggling with the suppression of past deeds, finds peace in completing the missing pieces of the puzzle.

External Journey: Prison guard, witness to medical experiments in the secret camp, whistleblower

Motivation: to unburden his soul

Wound: He contributed to the death and cruelty as a foolish young man

Mission/Agenda: to connect the dots and confirm the facts as a witness

Secret: he knows where the secret camp was and how it was erased with the man made lake

What makes them special? The missing link and is murdered by the agent

Traits: harsh, loudly outspoken, quick to dismiss or shut others down

Subtext: his anger and regret towards himself, shows as anger towards others

Flaw: he feels that he has lived a lie, his whole persona is a front

Values: duty

Irony: the fulfillment of his duty long ago, stripped him of his internal ability to feel deserving of honor

What makes this the right character for this role? He is the last living eyewitness and in his twilight years is heavily burdened by it.

Tell me about yourself. I’m a proud veteran and I like to think a long-standing pillar of the community. I have served on the city council in the past and remain connected at the core. I

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? I’ve been carrying this secret around for 50+ years, its getting really heavy. Also I’m old enough, I’ve lived my life the government has nothing left to hold over my head, they can’t take anything away from me at this point but I can regain some integrity.

You are up against <the Antagonist>. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?I’m up against my own past more than anything, the mistakes I have made as a camp guard and helping to hide it all these years. The agent can threaten all he wants but nothing he can do can match the pain of my nightmares.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I have to give up the lie that I have lived that I call a life, I have to let this town know the horror that resides underneath the lake and the ugly legacy that has been hidden from them.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

My pride, habits? All the ways I justify that I did my duty, that I was just following orders

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

The screams, I can still hear the children crying and parents screaming over the dead children. Knowing that they were being injected with something that would make them suffer and die. I kept them from escaping that fate.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? My military training of course, to hold the line and await orders. I just don’t know who my commanding officer should be at this stage in my life.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? The truth damnit, that the camp and the experiments were real. Operation paperclip operated right here!

What do you think of <the Antagonist>? He’s a bit a of a bookworm but I guess he means well, he just doesn’t know what he is stepping into. He’s better off not knowing the truth.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. I was a guard at the prison, I saw it all with my own eyes. Keeping it a secret has allowed this small town to just be that, just another small town in America. If I take the lid off of this there is no telling what will happen to the town, the jobs, the university….even me! People have no idea what really went on, how ugly it was watching people die slowly of diseases that were engineered with imported Nazi scientists.

What does it do for your life is you succeed here? I’m not sure what success is for me, I have lived my life but always under the shadow of my past. I can’t decide what is the right path, I have spent my life following orders even after I left the military.

Minor Roles:

Girls Father

The University Chancellor

News Broadcaster

Local Police Officers

Librarian

Background characters:

Prison Guards

Prison Physicians

Prisoners

Billy Bob Backhoe

[Katherine Bennett-Greer]

Katherine Bennett-Greer’s Character Interviews

What I learned from this assignment is that when the characters are developed and I don’t know it, I can use the interview technique to find out what they already know that I don’t.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself: I’m a kid who misses her dad. I really don’t care about much more than that. He left on Christmas day during a blizzard to go to work. They found his car but not him. Since, I build things to destroy other things. I’m not having fun if I’m not doing that. I try to be a good kid for my mom when I’m at school because I don’t want to make life harder for her. I pay attention and try not to get into trouble. I do get into the occasional fight at school when someone insults my mom. She’s the principal at that school so it’s important that I’m good.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? I was called to this journey because that lady wants to steal my dog. He’s so little and he needs protection. And her bad guys want to take down my school to get my dog. So, I can’t not do something. It’s up to me to save everyone.

Considering who ou are up against, what is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you? Who I’m up against is a bad lady. She’s obsessed with my dog. She’ll stop at nothing to get him. She’s got everything she needs to steal my dog. And, she’s got guns.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I’m going to need to really plan my builds so that they work. I can’t build something that’s a dud. I’m also going to need to accept help and ask for it. I’m going to need to rally myself and others to get this job done. I think I can motivate others to help me. I can rally them.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? I need to let go of thinking everything will have a bad outcome, like my dad leaving and not coming back. I need to believe that good things can happen to me. I need to understand that this is real and it’s up to me and I need to step up.

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? My dad disappearing has impacted me. I have felt that nothing good exists, that what I can’t see for sure isn’t worth investing in (my mom says I don’t believe she loves me). I haven’t moved on from being angry about my dad leaving.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? I’m a great builder. It started out with Lincoln logs, then with legos, then I moved on to Fortenite, and building contraptions at home out of whatever’s there.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? I don’t want them to know that I’m so sad about my dad that I don’t believe life can be good.

What do you think of? I think of before my dad left.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. Well, I was on vacation with my family, and this lady tells me how cute my dog is. I turn my back and my dog’s gone, and she’s rushing away with him. I get him back, and her bad guys track us down and follow us to Bring Your Pet to School Day at my school, where my mom is Principal. A snowstorm hits, which brings up fear and sadness about my dad leaving, because it was the same kind of day. The bad guys come in and try to get my dog. We kick them out of the school, and then have to defend their attempts to get in and get the dog. When they’re not successful, Mitzi the crazy lady shows up in a helicopter to get the dog herself. But, my dad shows up in Santa’s sleigh (he helped a guy whose sleigh had broken down and ended up unable to move from the sleigh and has been trying to get home since (he has a gift for Mitzi – he’s been forced to try and track her down to give her the gift (her own chihuahua puppy – she had wanted one when she was a kid from Santa but her mom told her she was too fat). Santa delivering the Chihuahua heals Mitzi on the spot from her being so messed up, and she agrees to stop trying to get my dog. We end up inviting her to our house for Christmas dinner, and her new Chihuahua and mine become best friends. We go and visit Mitzi the next Christmas so our dogs can spend time together.

What does it do for your life if you succeed here? If I succeed, then I have shown myself and others that I can care enough about something beyond my dad being missing. This means I am able to go on with my life. When my dad comes back, everything’s great.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

Tell me about yourself: My name is Mizi Gain. I’m a successful entrepreneur in markets that are well..illegal. I’m careful to not sell drugs or people. Those are gross things. But, pretty things at a discount? Yes. Avoiding tariffs? Yes. Avoiding taxes by laundering money through bingo halls, Yes. I mean, who wouldn’t. They are advantages any self-respecting person trying to get ahead would take. It’s just good business sense, which I have plenty of. I also love beauty and I surround myself with pretty things, bought at a discount of course. Why pay full price?

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? My strengths have to do with my determination. When I want something, I want something. I always get it. I have lots of resources. I will convince anyone to do anything I need them to do. I have a hypnotic effect on people. Actually, I have hypnotic powers. I took a course. It was for getting the best timeshare deal through hypnosis. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? I don’t want her to fail, I just want her dog. Two separate things. Get it together.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? That dog is lucky. A blue-eyed Chihuahua? It’s a rare thing. Heck, I could breed that dog until he drops dead and then make a gazillion dollars. But, I would like him to find love if he could, I mean, I wouldn’t deny him just because he could make cute little babies. I’m not a monster after all.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? What drives me forward is to be the best at what I do. I have my standards. I don’t just try and make a buck. There’s a right way and a wrong way. I’m sensible. But, when I want something, I want it. So, that drives me.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity? Secrets I keep to succeed? Well, if I had any, I wouldn’t share them, would I? But, if you and only you must know, then I carry a secret about how my mom used to treat me. She didn’t think I was good enough. I carry around that secret, that I’m not good enough. And, I’m still looking for real love. Until then, I’ll buy people’s loyalty. That’s the next best thing.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I care about getting it done. Getting it done right. I don’t take no for an answer.

What do you think of Emily? She’s a kid. It’s nothing personal. It’s her dog I want.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story: I’m on the beach in Acapulco sunning myself, and I see this dog. Most beautiful dog I’ve ever seen, rare blue eyes. Have you ever seen a Chihuahua with blue eyes? Me neither. I see the dog, I ask the dog’s owner about him, his name’s Churro. Where she got him. She said at a dog shelter. I ask if I can buy him. She tells me no. She turns her back, I take the dog. She catches up to me right in front of the cops, and I hand him over. I can’t get the dog out of my head, so I tell my crew to find him. They see him board a plane for the U.S. I tell them to go and get him. They find the house. The Mom loads a big crate into the car. My guys break in. The dog’s not around. They find a flyer for take your per to school day, and they follow the car. They watch the girl’s mom take the crate into school. They look in the principal’s window to see kids and a chihuahua in the crate. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what happened. They call me as it starts to snow, and it snows a ton. Blizzard style. Within an hour, the school’s snowed in. It’s all over the news. The kids and the dog are trapped. So, my guys have the perfect opportunity to take the dog. Only, Emily recognizes my guys from Acapulco and builds these things every step of the way and takes them down every time. I’ve finally had enough, and I take my private plane and hire a helicopter and as I’m shimmying down a rope to get on the roof, Santa lands. He and I fall down the school chimney. He has a gift for me. It’s a chihuahua puppy, just what I wanted for Christmas when I was a kid. Just then, Emily and her family show up in the room and they realize that Santa’s their dad. I feel different. Like changed on the inside. I even glow for a minute. Then, I decide to become good. We step out the front doors of the school and I see this fireman – he’s the spitting image of the model on the front of my favorite romance novel. I ask him about it and he tells me that’s him. He’s that guy. It’s love at first sight. We’re getting married at Christmas. Emily and her family will be there. And my dog and Churro? Well, they’re best friends and we’ll all be spending Christmas together. It turns out they make babies during our visit. We’re expecting perfect little Churros anytime now.

[Daniela Bolanos]

Daniela’s Character Interviews

I learned what my story needed more desperation and a drive for the protagonist to act.

Michael

Role
in the story: Protagonist <div>

Age
range and Description: 30-35

Internal

Journey: Selfish to caring and loving

External
Journey: Lonely cowboy to family man

Motivation:
/To feel safe and in control

Wound:
Terrible relationship with his family

Mission/Agenda:
To recover his estate

Secret:
he feels very lonely

What
makes them special? His urge to survive, he is accidentally sweet,
will stay and fight for what he loves even if it breaks him

What
draws us to this character? Impulsive, we don’t know what he will do next.

Traits:
impulsive, sweet, fun

Subtext:
deflates hard questions, very much an extrovert, excellent at changing the
subject
Flaw:
He will drop everything for love

Values:
loyalty, money

Irony: In order to prove his love and loyalty, he must lose everything he used to care for

Questions

Tell me about yourself.

I work in a ranch. I’m a cowboy, Your boy next door. I like drinking beer and a nice steak. I love hanging with my people and working in the ranch.

Why do you think you were
called to this journey? Why you?

I made mistakes that led me to grow. I think I was ready for a path different from the one chosen for me.

You are up against <the
Antagonist>. What is it about them that makes this journey even more
difficult for you?

She is the most amazing, interesting woman I have met in my entire life. I can’t stop looking at her and want to give her everything. At the same time I think I need to get out asap before she catches on.

In order to survive or
accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box.
What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most
difficult?

I will try and connect with people, not only think of myself or my ranch for a change.

What habits or ways of thinking
do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

Always being on fire, learning to let go and trusting other people.

What fears, insecurities and
wounds have held you back?

I don’t have a connection with my dad, or even my mom. I don’t really have any close friends either. I don’t know if I’m really open to connecting with people.

What skills, background or
expertise makes you well suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

I’m smart and always on the look for trouble.

What are you hiding from the
other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

I’m really a cowboy. I have no interest in a vegan lifestyle or a life with 30 people up in my business.

What do you think of <the
Antagonist>?

She is a handful, crazy and intense. Also, the most beautiful woman I have ever met.

Tell me your side of this whole
conflict / story.

I was just trying to survive and suddenly I’m in this whole mess, meeting the love of my life in the worst possible way.

What does it do for your life
is you succeed here?

I can recover my estate.

Ask any other questions about
their character profile that will help you.

Violet

Role
in the story: </div><div>

Antagonist/Love interest

Age
range and Description: 30-35

Internal
Journey: Not caring about Michael, to falling in love with him.

External
Journey: Not accepting of outsiders, to letting Michael in knowing who he
is.

Motivation:
keep her people safe

Wound:
Her dad is trying to destroy her

Mission/Agenda:
Tog grow her community/To feel safe and in control

Secret:
her dad is a successful rancher /she is growing weed

What
makes them special? she is a fighter, will do anything for her people

What
draws us to this character? she cares

Traits:
goal-oriented, calculating, loving </div><div>

Subtext:
pretends
to be naive and carefree, but it’s a facade

Flaw:
cares too
much what her people think
Values:
friendship, loyalty

Irony: will fall in love with a man that represents everything she hates

Tell me about yourself. </div>

Having to do with this journey,
what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m smart, I’m a planner and a
team player

Why are you committed to making
the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed
to making them change?
He needs to change. Nobody can be alone forever

What do you get out of winning
this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?
I get to change 1 person who
can inflict real change in his world

What drives you toward your
mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?
I get to make the world a
better place/help my community grow and be with less danger.

What secrets must you keep to
succeed?

How we keep financially stable

What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I’m growing weed/ My parents
are actually successful cattle ranchers

Compared to other people like
you, what makes you special?
I can be very disciplined, and
organized.

What do you think of <the
Protagonist>?
He is kind of cute, but a little square

Tell me your side of this whole
conflict / story.

I met this guy,
who seemed like he was just passing by, let him into our circle and he
betrayed us. Turns out he was working for my dad!

[Benito Selim]

Benito Selim’s Character Interviews

DARRYL CASE

Tell me about yourself.

I’m a 23-year-old college student with dreams of becoming an investigative journalist. I really enjoy documentaries, especially those that have to do with true crime. Despite wanting to pursue this career, I honestly went to college to get away from my parents and home. I have yearned to be treated as an actual adult and not someone with a disability. College was a great escape to start my new life.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

I always knew, going back to childhood that I wasn’t crazy. I can feel a presence around me often and I knew I had to figure a way to communicate with these entities. This was constantly around me and on my mind. When I came across the Starkoaks legend, I became obsessed instantly and knew I had to visit. I felt drawn to that farm and was right, we connected instantly and wanted to learn everything I could about it.

You are up against Karen Young. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

Karen has attached herself to me because she needs my help. The difficult part is no matter how dangerous my investigation into her murder gets, this includes people around me being targeted by this unknown serial killer; she won’t leave until she finds peace. I have no other option but to solve her case. She will not disappear, and the serial killer will still pursue me.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

I am going to be very open-minded about the situations I encounter. I know a lot of the things I find in my personal investigation; I won’t be able to share with the cops right away. I have come to the realization that I could lose my life and as crazy as it sounds, I have to suppress that fear. If it’s my time, then it’s my time. The most difficult for me is trying to explain how I came across findings that were given to me by Karen. No one is gonna believe me.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

My anxiety is always high when I encounter a presence. I have the schizophrenic meds that calm me when I feel like I’m just having a crazy episode. Now, that I know and am learning to navigate my gift, I must quit doubting myself and finally trust my instinct as I was born to do.

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

I was always told I was pretty much crazy. It pissed me off all these years that I was cursed with this disability and couldn’t be a normal person. Now that I realize I possess a gift, I’m a different kind of mad now. I’m mad that I had been lied to about who I really am because people couldn’t understand me.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

When I was younger and before my medication was stronger, I had often come across kids who were dead or had been murdered. My parents always brushed it off, but I know I had single handling solved a few cases without realizing it. Now that I’m an adult and living my truth, I can investigate without being blocked.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

I have not told my friends or my girlfriend that I’m psychic. I didn’t even mention to them I was diagnosed a schizophrenic, but rather told them I was bipolar. As I am getting deeper in this case, I want them to know the truth, but they are not ready to hear it.

What do you think of Karen Young?

I feel sad for her, I can see her pain. I genuinely want to help her solve her murder.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

I feel like someone else knows just as much about her murder as I do, but I can figure out who it is, yet. I also feel like people around me are just passing me off as crazy because there is something that someone is hiding.

What does it do for your life is you succeed here?

Everything changes, I am a new person and born again. My approach to everything from this day on will be in a different light.

KAREN YOUNG

Tell me about yourself.

I’m a popular college student who wants to be a nurse. I know just about everyone, mainly for the fact that my father is the former sheriff. This can be both good and bad and linked to my disappearance.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

My strength is getting through to Darryl and showing him what I have experienced. My weakness is the inability to fully explain what happened.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

I don’t want Darryl to fail at all, but I have disturbed his life by taking him out of the reality he thought he was in. He’s the only one that can help me cross over.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

My murder is solved, and I can rest in peace. By solving my murder Darryl can expose who this vicious serial killer is and bring closure to a town that has been scared for years.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

I’m already dead and unrested. I’m not the only one and other souls need peace.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I may know my murderer and they are connected to Darryl. When the time is right, I can reveal it to him, as of now I can’t because he may not pursue this investigation.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

Anyone with the gift that Darryl possesses can see and speak with me.

What do you think of Darryl Case?

I think he is smarter than he realizes. He has a good heart and overall, just a good person who really loves to help people.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

My murder wasn’t random but planned. I am strongly convinced Darryl is the next victim.

What I learned from this assignment is your characters draw your story out more and leave endless possibilities to enhance your script. This also helps tremendously with the dialogue.

[Jess Paxton]

Wow, my two main characters talked my ears off! I still have to do the third — and I forgot to post what i learned. I learned that it’s good to just sit back and listen. It proves that other people are as dazed and confused as I am (even if they have incredible, important jobs). I learned how human we all are, and that even a sociopath can care about somebody (or is it just lust?) It’s easy to say that my antagonist is sowing the seeds of his own destruction, but he may take the whole country down with him. And that’s scary. but so’s his boss. And my protagonist is walking into the lion’s den and putting her head in the lion’s mouth.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST

Olivia Thurmond

Tell me about yourself.

I don’t talk about myself often, or much. It’s my job to listen, analyze, diagnose. I’ve been a therapist since age 24, having graduated very early considering I had to do a few years of med school. But as I practiced with patients, I began to realize that the efficacy of drugs could be limited. I searched for better ways, immersing myself in Jung, Janov, and others. After a while, I developed a hypnosis technique that

worked to bring hidden memories to the surface, but at first it was trial and error. I had a lot of patients pouring out things at random, as if they were on LSD. I needed to get their thoughts, emotions, and memories working together. I refined my process, year after year. What worked for some patients needed to be altered slightly for others, depending on their diagnosis. But it began to work, and I eventually had some limited success in treating a variety of cases, including schizophrenic patients. I just never thought that someday I would be called upon for a case like this.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

They tried others for a year without results. The drugs were preventing the President from fulfilling his duties, as you know that a couple of times the 25th Amendment was invoked, voluntarily on the President’s part. Vice President Turner did a competent job filling in, but she demonstrated a lack of imagination. If anything critical had occurred while she was in charge, she might have responded conventionally.

2b. What’s wrong with that?

Nothing, really, except that conservatives have trouble adapting to new situations. Not all situations are alike. President Munson can juggle a lot, and has a sharp insight into people that he can rely on to develop creative ways of dealing with unique challenges.

You are up against Will Davis. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

Will and I have a great deal of history. He studied, and later taught, under my father, who was the head of the Medical School at Johns Hopkins. As you know, I attended three universities, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard. But I had a relationship with Will while I was at Stanford. He was teaching Political Science under my father, which explains a lot. He also has that perfectionism, but without the anger and the brutality. After I moved to Columbia to finish my bachelor’s, I did my med school at Harvard, but by that time Will was practically running the PoliSci department there. We hooked up again, this time as lovers, and then he took the job as Munson’s campaign manager. They had known one another since high school and Stanford. I was crushed. Will left without notice, and he had known he was leaving for some time. He had been doing research for Munson’s campaigns for years. It was as if I didn’t matter at all. He just wasn’t there one day.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

For one thing, I am confined to the East Wing of the White House for the duration. And where will I go after that? I could be a target for kidnaping and even torture — there are lots of people who would love to know the President as intimately as I soon would. Will has to listen in on the sessions full-time, because if Munson blabs state secrets, the session has to be interrupted. So much for medical confidentiality. Once I discovered that, I had to alter my procedures to pull out only certain information during the sessions, too, because even Will can’t know everything. But, secretive as he is, I wasn’t warned about that at the beginning. Also, I have never got over Will. Like my Dad, he can manipulate people, which makes him a strong Chief of Staff, but it causes a lot of problems for me. It’s a reminder of my early life through my late teens. But Will knows exactly how to take advantage of me, he knows how I like to be touched, held, kissed, made love to. And Munson is just — incredible. He has, when he’s working, such strength, power, charisma. But when he’s with me he’s so vulnerable.

And should Will be privy to that? So, we decide to meet in secret, to get more done. And the kind of charisma the President carries, the self- confidence, the strength — plus he’s drop-dead handsome — is hard tp resist. I’ve never become emotionally or physically involved with a patient.

And the brutality of the First Lady’s murder — first, I read it in the papers, then some White House aides prepped me on it, but it wasn’t

until I saw the photos that I really understood — and that is an emotional gut reaction, fight or flight syndrome. I can’t be off my guard a moment, or the whole case could collapse. I can’t treat this as a “normal” case. If I screw up, and the President can’t function, then I’ve left the country in the hands of a woman who may not be equal to the task. And then, the next election is coming up in a year. If Munson isn’t the candidate, Turner will probably lose, and the favorite from the other party — well, to put it mildly, he’s a monster and should never be in charge of a country, any country.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

I have to discern when Will is being manipulative and when he’s sincere. There’s a great deal of caution I have developed because of him, and it has, in the past, helped me to avoid involvements, but who knows what I’ve missed because of caution? And now, in this most unique of situations, with this most unique of patients, I have to get out of any patterns I’m stuck in, any rote or routine way of approaching the case. Because there is nothing routine about the President. I’m the psychiatrist, but this is a situation I don’t face with most patients.

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

Authority figures are, well, authoritarian to some degree. My father was a world renowned doctor who beat his wife. She never really left him, she kept going back to him when he would beg her to return. She kept the violence secret, and because of her, I kept it quiet, too. But there’s always a paranoia about having a man, especially a powerful man, assault me. So I’m both fearful of authority figures and attracted to them, because they are the only men who can figure out all the right things to say to get to me. Will knows how to manipulate me, he knows my buttons, and President Munson is the ultimate in charismatic alpha males. Both, like my father, strong authoritarian men, used to disguising the truth or lying outright. I don’t want to be another version of my mother, but as I say, I never got over Will.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

As I say, my program, my procedures, and my ability to adapt. I may be a little rusty on the last one, as the system I’ve developed works so well that I could at least begin the same way with all my patients until now. That’s out the window. I have to pre-adapt, and Will and I always worked well together as doctors. So I’m ready — I think. I’m rated the top in my field, and having studied Jung, I’ve studied dreams. But I can already tell you why the President has nightmares. If you’d seen those photos, you would, too. And Will only showed me the least gruesome. Now, I have a job — to get the President of the United States functioning again. We have to draw it all out of him — every bit of hysteria, anxiety, emotional paralysis, force him to examine it, to see it like a med student dissecting a frog. Every dark corner. Because if something pushes the buttons, he has to be able to dismiss it and get his job done.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

It’s Will. No one ever knew we were lovers, and if they did, it would disqualify me from the job. But he begged me to help, the other doctors failed. We need a President. But once I’m there, what might happen between us? And will it affect my ability to work?

What do you think of ?

Haven’t I made that clear? I’m thinking of two things: Will, and getting my job done. How was I to know what would happen between me and Munson?

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

I’m the President’s therapist. The President. Let that sink in. I’m surrounded by Secret Service agents and political hacks. Everyone here has secrets, but their secrets are more important than 99% of people’s secrets, because these secrets, and these flaws, these predilections and biases and positions that they all have, can change the course of history.

Meanwhile, there’s me, feeling small for the first time in a decade, and it makes me so vulnerable. I’m still putty in Will’s hands, and I may be falling in love with the most powerful man in the world. And I have to stay focused, to be rational, objective. How does that work?

And we still don’t know who killed the First Lady. Is that person here?

What does it do for your life is you succeed here?

I want to get in, get on with it, get it over with, and get out. But, as I say, after this, whither me? I’m never going to be able to trust anyone who walks through the office door again. They could be a spy, or a terrorist, someone pretending so they can get me, one way or another, to cough up everything I’ve learned about Munson. I’ll never be safe again. There’s no upside, other than selling my story, “How I Saved the President” to a book publisher for ten million dollars, which I can’t, I can’t even write anything down on a scrap of paper.

It doesn’t do anything for me, it does it to me. I can only hope that Will loves me and I can convince him to leave this place he was born to operate, this job he was born to perform, and marry me and move to the U.S. Virgin Islands or American Samoa and live happily ever after surrounded by secret agents who have to fend off other secret agents. We’ll never even be able to make love again without someone watching through a camera or listening in on a wiretap.

Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you.

What’s your plan here?

I have to find out my limitations and stay within them, while trying to do what they hired me to do. So, at first, i expect some blowback. I may get my feathers ruffled, but I have to watch, listen, learn. I need to stay detached, which will be hard with Will. And get inside Munson’s head, just enough to find out which techniques he will respond to, to get him to face up to what happened, the fact that we may never find the killer,

to get out all the tears, the fears, the paranoia. I’ll begin by establishing trust.Presidents need to trust a lot of experts, and I will present myself as another one. Without trust, there’s no cooperation. Without cooperation, there’s no progress. Without progress, there’s no solution. And I need to solve this for him, the country, the world.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

Will Davis

Tell me about yourself.

I studied under, then taught under, Olivia’s father. There was a guy who made manipulation an art form. The man could find everyone’s soft spots, and the next thing you knew, they were eating out of his left hand while he stabbed them with his right. He nearly killed his wife, but she stayed with him. I can command that kind of loyalty.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m considered an expert in political analysis. I don’t take the polls, but I design them. And by designing polls, you influence, sway, control the vote. I’ve managed a few campaigns, and my candidate always wins. Always.

Once the campaign’s over, then is when I really shine. I keep a mental file of everyone around me, I know who can be suckered and who can’t, and I know their strengths and weaknesses.

I know Munson. And I know Olivia. Intimately. They’re both well- assembled watches, and I’m an expert watchmaker. They’re fine-tuned instruments, and I’m the prodigy musician. I can make anyone do anything.

Weaknesses? Only one. Olivia. She doesn’t know how much I desire her, how every minute I want to be with her. It’s not emotional. It’s like a physical addiction, and I need more every day. I’ve regretted taking the campaign job ever since, but I quit Harvard to take it, and then Munson asked me to stay on as Chief of Staff. What was I going to do — force him to give it to some inept bastard who couldn’t handle it? I couldn’t even tell Olivia I was leaving. She’d have talked me out of it. And then where would I be when she graduated and went off somewhere to private practice? I had to break that one off.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

I don’t want her to fail, I just don’t want her to get the whole job done. I need her to discover that Munson is a serial killer. I don’t want her to know that the First Lady was about to expose him, that she told me in secret, that everything would be ruined.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

My next campaign would be to re-elect Munson, but after that it would be to replace him. I’d have the goods on him, force him to, endorse me for President. But his damn wife was about to blow the whole thing up, to divorce him. What if she blurted out how she and I had been fucking for two years, and that her husband was a serial womanizer she suspected had killed one of his mistresses? I needed him. I had to take her out of the equation. And I had to make it look like some madman had done it, maybe even Munson in a fit of rage. Now,

I may be addicted to Olivia, but I hope I can get her to find the answer to the First Lady’s suspicions. By God, then I’d have the President by the balls. Maybe even get the job four years earlier.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

Olivia’s father taught me how to gain power, how to wield it. What good is it just being the power behind the throne? I’ve made over a billion dollars as Chief of Staff, but it’s not the money, it’s the throne. I want that, and Olivia beside me.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I have to shift the blame to Munson. I need Olivia to get the confession from him. Then, once he’s admitted to murder in a blind rage, she’ll never suspect me. Because I’m the one who did the deed.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

They’re cowards, weaklings, or they have scruples. Screw that.

Power is what matters. Once you’ve been President, you can get anything you want.

What do you think of ?

Of what? I don’t give a damn about anyone else — except Olivia.

Olivia and me. Together. In the East Wing. The Residence.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

Munson isn’t strong. He cheated every chance he got. And then threw it in his wife’s face. But he was stupid. He told her about the one he took out. He raped her outside a party at Stanford. Behind a dumpster, for Chrissake. I watched. The whole disgusting mess. But she didn’t know I was there. And years later, when he was running for governor, I ran into her. Even bedded her, just to see if I could. She said she’d tell if he won the election. I told Munson about it. And a few days later she disappeared. I always suspected, but his wife didn’t. I introduced them. She was a girlfriend of mine, before I met Olivia. She wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but she was loyal and knew how to keep her mouth shut. Until last year.

The things I do, I do for the country. We have a severely flawed President. The people deserve better. They deserve me.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  Jess Paxton.

[Jess Paxton]

Wow, my two main characters talked my ears off! I still have to do the third — and I forgot to post what i learned. I learned that it’s good to just sit back and listen. It proves that other people are as dazed and confused as I am (even if they have incredible, important jobs). I learned how human we all are, and that even a sociopath can care about somebody (or is it just lust?) It’s easy to say that my antagonist is sowing the seeds of his own destruction, but he may take the whole country down with him. And that’s scary. but so’s his boss. And my protagonist is walking into the lion’s den and putting her head in the lion’s mouth.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST

Olivia Thurmond

Tell me about yourself.

I don’t talk about myself often, or much. It’s my job to listen, analyze, diagnose. I’ve been a therapist since age 24, having graduated very early considering I had to do a few years of med school. But as I practiced with patients, I began to realize that the efficacy of drugs could be limited. I searched for better ways, immersing myself in Jung, Janov, and others. After a while, I developed a hypnosis technique that

worked to bring suppressed memories to the surface, but at first it was trial and error. I had a lot of patients pouring out things at random, as if they were on LSD. I needed to get their thoughts, emotions, and memories working together. I refined my process, year after year. What worked for some patients needed to be altered slightly for others, depending on their diagnosis. But it began to work, and I eventually had some limited success in treating a variety of cases, including schizophrenic patients. I just never thought that someday I would be called upon for a case like this.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

They tried others without results. The drugs were preventing the President from fulfilling his duties, as you know that a couple of times the 25th Amendment was invoked, voluntarily on the President’s part. Vice President Turner did a competent job filling in, but she demonstrated a lack of imagination. Let’s face it; she was nominated just to get women’s votes, and minority votes. She wasn’t acquainted with Washington at all. If anything critical had occurred while she was in charge, she might have responded conventionally.

2b. What’s wrong with that?

Nothing, really, except that conservatives have trouble adapting to new situations. Not all situations are alike. President Munson can juggle a lot, and has a sharp insight into people that he can rely on to develop creative ways of dealing with unique challenges. Turner might panic under some conditions.

You are up against Will Davis and Roberta Massey, the Chief of Security. What is it about him that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

Will and I have a great deal of history. He studied, and later taught, under my father, who was the head of the Medical School at Johns Hopkins. As you know, I attended three universities, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard. But I had a relationship with Will while I was at Stanford. He was teaching Political Science under my father, which explains a lot. He also has that perfectionism, but without the anger and the brutality. After I moved to Columbia to finish my bachelor’s, I did my med school at Harvard, but by that time Will was practically running the PoliSci department there. We hooked up again, this time as lovers, and then he took the job as Munson’s campaign manager. They had known one another since high school and Stanford. I was crushed. Will left without notice, and he had known he was leaving for some time. He had been doing research for Munson’s campaigns for years. It was as if I didn’t matter at all. He just wasn’t there one day.

Massey is a whole different story. She doesn’t want me there at all. I wonder if she’s afraid I might succeed. She wants to tie my hands before I’ve even begun, by putting a security officer in with us during our sessions.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

For one thing, I am confined to the East Wing of the White House for the duration. And where will I go after that? I could be a target for kidnaping and even torture — there are lots of people who would love to know the President as intimately as I soon would. Massey has to listen in on the sessions full-time, because if Munson blabs state secrets, the session has to be interrupted. So much for medical confidentiality. Once I discovered that, I had to alter my procedures to pull out only certain information during the sessions, too, because even Will can’t know everything. But, secretive as Massey is, I wasn’t warned about that at the beginning.

Also, I have never got over Will. Like my Dad, he can manipulate people, which makes him a strong Chief of Staff, but it causes a lot of problems for me. It’s a reminder of my early life through my late teens. But Will knows exactly how to take advantage of me, he knows how I like to be touched, held, kissed, made love to. And Munson is just — incredible. He has, when he’s working, such strength, power, charisma. But when he’s with me he’s so vulnerable.

And should Will or Massey be privy to that? So, we decide to meet in secret, to get more done. And the kind of charisma the President carries, the self- confidence, the strength — plus he’s drop-dead handsome — is hard to resist. I’ve never become emotionally or physically involved with a patient.

Then there’s the the brutality of the First Lady’s murder — first, I read it in the papers, then some White House aides prepped me on it, but it wasn’t

until I saw the photos that I really understood — and that is an emotional gut reaction, fight or flight syndrome. I can’t be off my guard a moment, or the whole case could collapse. I can’t treat this as a “normal” case. If I screw up, and the President can’t function, then I’ve left the country in the hands of a woman who may not be equal to the task.

And then, the next election is coming up in a year. If Munson isn’t the candidate, Turner will probably lose, and the favorite from the other party — well, to put it mildly, he’s a monster and should never be in charge of a country, any country.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

I have to discern when Will is being manipulative and when he’s sincere. There’s a great deal of caution I have developed because of him, and it has, in the past, helped me to avoid involvements, but who knows what I’ve missed because of caution? And now, in this most unique of situations, with this most unique of patients, I have to get out of any patterns I’m stuck in, any rote or routine way of approaching the case. Because there is nothing routine about the President. I’m the psychiatrist, but this is a situation I don’t face with most patients.

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

Authority figures are, well, authoritarian to some degree. My father was a world renowned doctor who beat his wife. She never really left him, she kept going back to him when he would beg her to return. She kept the violence secret, and because of her, I kept it quiet, too. But there’s always a paranoia about having a man, especially a powerful man, assault me. So I’m both fearful of authority figures and attracted to them, because they are the only men who can figure out all the right things to say to get to me. Will knows how to manipulate me, he knows my buttons, and President Munson is the ultimate in charismatic alpha males. Both, like my father, strong authoritarian men, used to disguising the truth or lying outright. I don’t want to be another version of my mother, but as I say, I never got over Will.

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

As I say, my program, my procedures, and my ability to adapt. I may be a little rusty on the last one, as the system I’ve developed works so well that I could at least begin the same way with all my patients until now. That’s out the window. I have to pre-adapt, and Will and I always worked well together as doctors. So I’m ready — I think. I’m rated the top in my field, and having studied Jung, I’ve studied dreams. But I can already tell you why the President has nightmares. If you’d seen those photos, you would, too. And Will only showed me the least gruesome. It was Massey who shoved the major ones down my throat.

Now, I have a job — to get the President of the United States functioning again. We have to draw it all out of him — every bit of hysteria, anxiety, emotional paralysis, force him to examine it, to see it like a med student dissecting a frog. Every dark corner. Because if something pushes the buttons, he has to be able to dismiss it and get his job done. The question is, when your wife has been murdered, like that, can you ever get over it? Will it return in a moment of stress to render him nonfunctional and irresponsible?

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

It’s Will. No one ever knew we were lovers, and if they did, it would disqualify me from the job. But he begged me to help; the other doctors had failed. We need a President. But once I’m there, what might happen between us? And will it affect my ability to work?

What do you think of ?

Haven’t I made that clear? I’m thinking of two things: Will, and getting my job done. How was I to know what would happen between me and Munson?

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

I’m the President’s therapist. The President. Let that sink in. I’m surrounded by Secret Service agents and political hacks. Everyone here has secrets, but their secrets are more important than 99% of people’s secrets, because these secrets, and these flaws, these predilections and biases and positions that they all have, determine the course of history.

Meanwhile, there’s me, feeling small for the first time in a decade, and it makes me so vulnerable. I’m still putty in Will’s hands, and I may be falling in love with the most powerful man in the world. And I have to stay focused, to be rational, objective. How does that work?

And we still don’t know who killed the First Lady. Is that person here?

What does it do for your life is you succeed here?

As I say, after this, whither me? I’m never going to be able to trust anyone who walks through the office door again. They could be a spy, or a terrorist, someone pretending so they can get me, one way or another, to cough up everything I’ve learned about Munson. I’ll never be safe again. There’s no upside, other than selling my story, “How I Saved the President” to a book publisher for ten million dollars, which I can’t, I can’t even write anything down on a scrap of paper.

It doesn’t do anything for me, it does it to me. I can only hope that Will loves me and I can convince him to leave this place he was born to operate, this job he was born to perform, and marry me and move to the U.S. Virgin Islands or American Samoa and live happily ever after surrounded by secret agents who have to fend off other secret agents. We’ll never even be able to make love again without someone watching through a camera or listening in on a wiretap.

Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you.

What’s your plan here?

I want to get in, get on with it, get it over with, and get out. I have to determine boundaries and stay within them, while trying to do what they hired me to do. So, at first, I expect some blowback. I may get my feathers ruffled, but I have to watch, listen, learn. I need to stay detached, which will be hard with Will, and get inside Munson’s head, just enough to find out which techniques he will respond to, to get him to face up to what happened, the fact that we may never find the killer, to get out all the tears, the fears, the paranoia. I’ll begin by establishing trust.Presidents need to trust a lot of experts, and I will present myself as another one. Without trust, there’s no cooperation. Without cooperation, there’s no progress. Without progress, there’s no solution. And I need to solve this for him, the country, the world.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

Will Davis

Tell me about yourself.

I studied under, then worked under, Olivia’s father. There was a guy who made manipulation an art form. The man could find everyone’s soft spots, and the next thing you knew, they were eating out of his left hand while he stabbed them with his right hand. He nearly killed his wife, but she stayed with him. I hope I can command that kind of loyalty.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I’m considered an expert in political analysis. I don’t take the polls, but I design them. And by designing polls, you influence, sway, control the vote. I’ve managed a few campaigns, and my candidate always wins. Always.

Once the campaign’s over, then is when I really shine. I keep a mental file of everyone around me, I know who can be suckered and who can’t, and I know their strengths and weaknesses.

I know Munson. And I know Olivia. Intimately. They’re both well- assembled watches, and I’m an expert watchmaker. They’re fine-tuned instruments, and I’m the prodigy musician. I can make either of them do anything.

Weaknesses? Only one. Olivia. She doesn’t know how much I desire her, how every minute I want to be with her. It’s not emotional. It’s like a physical addiction, and I need more every day. I’ve regretted taking the campaign job ever since, because I need her, but I quit Harvard to take it, and then Munson asked me to stay on as Chief of Staff. What was I going to do — force him to give it to some inept bastard who couldn’t handle it? I couldn’t even tell Olivia I was leaving. She’d have talked me out of it. And then where would I be when she graduated and went off somewhere to private practice? I had to break that one off.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

I don’t want her to fail, I just don’t want her to get the whole job done. I need her to get Munson working again, not to discover that he is a serial killer. I don’t want her to know that the First Lady was about to expose him, that she told me in secret, that everything would be ruined.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

My next campaign would be to re-elect Munson, but after that it would be to replace him. I’d have the goods on him, he’d have to endorse me for President. But his damn wife was about to blow the whole thing up, to divorce him. What if she blurted out how she and I had been fucking for two years, and that her husband was a serial womanizer she suspected had killed one of his mistresses? I needed him.

I had to take her out of the equation. No one would hire the Chief of Staff of a serial killer to be the next President. So I had to make it look like some madman had done it, maybe even a jealous husband in a fit of rage. He’d have fired my ass if she had told him about her and me. Maybe worse.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

Olivia’s father taught me how to gain power, how to wield it. What good is it just being the power behind the throne? I’ve made over a billion dollars as Chief of Staff, but it’s not the money, it’s the throne. I want that, and maybe Olivia beside me.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I’m the President’s Chief of Staff. That’s the most powerful position in the White House. I have to know everything, and everything’s a secret. Olivia’s father taught me self-hypnosis (that’s right, as much as she dislikes him, she learned hypnosis from him), so I program myself every night to be able to act as if nothing had happened. I can be completely dispassionate, even when cutting up the First Lady’s body. I don’t have any urge to talk about it.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

They’re cowards, weaklings, or they have scruples. Screw that. Power is what matters. Once you’ve been President, you can get anything you want. I have that kind of drive, the kind that puts you in the Oval Office.

What do you think of ?

Of what? I don’t give a damn about anyone else — except Olivia.

Olivia and me. Together. In the East Wing. The Residence. She probably has some syrupy romantic dream about life on a tropical island, but I have more to do first.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

Munson is strong. He cheated every chance he got. But he was stupid. He did it in his wife’s face. He shouldn’t have done that. Hell hath no fury, y’know? And he was sloppy. Like the time he raped that girl outside a party at Stanford. Behind a dumpster, for Chrissake. I watched. The whole disgusting mess. But she didn’t know I was there. And years later, when he was running for governor, I ran into her. Even bedded her, just to see if I could.

She said she’d tell if he won the election. I told Munson about it. And a few days later she just disappeared. I always suspected, but his wife didn’t. I introduced them. She was a girlfriend of mine, before I met Olivia. She wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but she was ambitious and knew how to keep her mouth shut. Until last year.

The things I do, I do for the country. We have a severely flawed President. The people deserve better. They deserve me.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

President Munson

Tell me about yourself.

My entire life, I knew I would go into politics. Once I got started, during middle school, I discovered that I was a born orator. By the end of college, I had been class president or student body president every year for 10 years. One year after graduation I was in the state assembly, then, two years later a House seat became vacant and I was drafted by my party. A few terms later, they asked me to run for Senate. At the ripe old age of 42, I became a Presidential candidate, and at 46 was running as my party’s nominee. I turned 47 the day before I was sworn in, beating Obama out of 5th place for youngest president.

I’m a master-rated chess player, quarterbacked my college team at Stanford, rowed, and ran the 10K and the steeplechase. A few years later, I hooked up with a corporate lawyer who understood ambition after I beat her out in a state primary. She helped me rise to the top, and I’m going to make certain she becomes the first woman President, right after me. She’s been a player in the party as long as I have, and can call in a lot of markers.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I care deeply about the American people. I do what I can to get a corporately-owned Congress to pass bills for the people’s benefit. I have been inured to the power circles since childhood, know how the game is played, and can play it like a Diddley-Bow. That’s a one-stringed instrument, in case you don’t know.

I was crazy in love with my wife. We shared passion above all else. Sure, I slept around all the time, but the make-up sex was phenomenal. It’s unfortunate that she had survived cancer and couldn’t and couldn’t have more kids (we had a daughter early on, but we’ve grown apart, possibly over my philandering — she’s a bit of a feminist and now lives somewhere in the Rockies with her female partner). When my wife died, it crushed me. I soon began blaming myself for her death. I should have been there with her instead of making out with a blond a few doors away in the hotel. It’s hard to forgive myself. I’ve seen two therapists, but they were useless. Now, Davis has found me a hypnotist. I have my doubts, by she’s a knockout, so I’ll try it.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

I don’t need anyone messing with my head. What if hypnosis works — and she turns out to be a spy? Or gets kidnaped by the Saudis and forced to reveal my weaknesses or state secrets? I don’t want her delving too deep, or in places she shouldn’t be.

Once I get to know her, I’ll learn her buttons. I’m good at getting what i need to know out of other people too. She’ll have to reveal her secrets to me before I tell her mine.

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

She’ll be the next First Lady. She’s hotter than a branding iron, and she’ll know too much about me to be let loose.

What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

The future of this country and the planet.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I need to keep state secrets. I can’t let her know about my extracurricular activities with women. Especially the kinky stuff, until she’s mine. Then I’ll introduce that slowly. I used to get a secretary into a hotel room here or there when I was in Congress, and do some off-color things, but I always paid them off well. Or took care of them.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

Are you joking? I’m the President. The most powerful man in the world. It’s the strongest aphrodisiac for any woman in the world.

What do you think of Olivia?

She should have been a porn star.

What do you think of David?

He’s smart, sly, cunning, commanding — everything a Chief of Staff should be. He knows whose ass to kiss and whose to kick, and he gets things done. I trust him to get me re-elected, but I won’t play poker with him. He bluffed me with a pair of threes once, and I don’t want that getting out. He’s also the only person in the world who knew about that party girl behind the dumpster. He’s loyal, he’ll never tell; and that makes him valuable.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.

The sight of my wife lying there, tied down and cut up, was a shock. I had to take a month off and retreat to Camp David to recover. But soon after I returned to the White house, I began hearing voices in my sleep. They blamed me for her death, and I haven’t any good arguments left. I try to stay awake, but I can’t function as President with sleep deprivation. The doctors have given me sleeping pills, but the voices keep calling. And calling.

[Steven Nikosey]

Steven, Character Interviews

Questions for my Protagonist: Yannis Georgiou

1. Tell me about yourself. What’s to tell? Ever read the Bible? Familiar with the story of Job? Well, you’re looking at him. I was the Co-Founder and CEO of Simdyne a virtual reality gaming company evaluated over 8 billion dollars at our IPO. I was a billionaire before my 29^th birthday. Married to a brilliant, gorgeous, loving woman, and a highly successful author. My soulmate and life-long partner, or so I thought. We had two beautiful and talented children, the lights of my life. My parents were always there for me, doting parents, but wonderful examples and teachers, so proud of me and my sister and for our accomplishments. I had a tight circle of good supportive successful friends and the respect and admiration of my peers and even my competitors. I was healthy, swam two miles a day, ran 50 miles a week, had a ten handicap, and just got my pilots license and a Leer Jet. I had it all and I was just starting, and within less than two months it was all gone, everything.

2. Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? I am talented and highly driven. I started learning about technology before I could walk. I had an intuitive sense of how technology worked. I went into gaming and virtual reality because first, I loved it, I lived it and breathed it, but I truly believe, no, I know through its advancement and discovery, I can change and improve this world. I wanted to do my part to leave this a better world for my children and posterity. I tried. I poured my heart and soul into it. I got to the very top on my talent and through determination. I was on the top of my profession. I was on top of the world. I had the world in my hands and then everything was lost, almost overnight and through no fault of my own. But, why not me? Was I born impervious to bad luck or shielded from the whims of blind chance? I lost everything and I had so very much to lose.

3. Who or what are you are up against? What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you? If I wasn’t such an avowed agnostic and materialist. If I hadn’t made it part of my life mission to remove superstition and ignorance from the human condition and been at the forefront of moving humanity past and beyond the divisiveness of organized religion, I would say I had offended was personally up against an angry and vengeful God. It would make this much easier, like in Thomas Hardy’s poem Hap, if it were in fact some vengeful God, then I could steel myself against the “ire unmerited of one more powerfuller than I.” But, it’s much worse having no enemy, no one or nothing to blame or to appeal to and supplicate for mercy, no reasons, or explanations for my misfortune, no cause and effect, just blind chance and happenstance.

4. In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I need to find meaning and purpose behind these events. I must. I need to know what is real, and find a reason and meaning behind them and for them, as Gaugin sought answers in his painting, “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? And Where Are We Going?” I need to know, no matter where it leads me. Although I have already been laid low, I must humble myself. I must accept that what I thought I know I no longer know. In fact, comparatively, I know nothing. But, I will keep asking, keep knocking, until I know what I must know. Why? Why did this happen to me?

5. What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? Honestly, I’m afraid, terrified of finding there’s a God that I will need to answer to and who’s standards I haven’t met and unsure if I can or am willing to meet. I hate being told how to live…by anyone. That is not free will to me.

6. What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? I am afraid to lose more, to suffer more. Even though I have lost everything, emotionally I can’t lose anymore. It will be the death of me. And, the only way I can’t lose anymore is to stop trying to gain or possess anything in this life to stop trying to do, and resign myself to just being, whatever that means.

7. What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? Though I am wracked with fears and terrors, once identified, I always force myself to confront and face my fears, I don’t run from them. I don’t know how. If anything, I run towards them, and I am creative, imaginative, and tenacious. I won’t give up until I find the answers I’m seeking. I will find the answers I seek.

8. What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? I am hiding from them that I have totally lost my belief in and adherence to my agnosticism my fervent espousal and advocacy of anti-religion. I realize now that I considered belief in God and religion an impediment and not believing in a Creator the only and most expedient course to my true and more prescient priorities, goals, and desires.

9. What do you think of? As Descartes said, “I think, therefore, I am.” But what of a vegetative state, the brain dead, they still exist, do they not, they are still real. What about insensate life or inanimate matter, it exists, it is real. I must know what is real, what is truly real, and it must begin and end with the Creator, if the Creator is real, then that would be the source of explanations for what is truly real.

10. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. I feel I am a good person. But, then who doesn’t? I am sure in their own twisted and distorted brains, Adolph Hitler, Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Osama Bin Laden, Jeffrey Dahmer people most would consider as evil incarnate, thought of themselves as essentially good, albeit maybe sick or deeply flawed human beings. But, yet, we are all flawed, so can anyone of us, be considered categorically and entirely good?I guess it is a sliding scale. But, on that sliding scale, I feel I am on the right side. I am a good and decent human being. I have tried to do good for not only myself but for others, my contemporaries, and even posterity. I am no Albert Schweitzer but I respect and value all living things. I am a humanist, egalitarian, and protector and conservator of the environment. I am a Vegan and a fervent advocate of all environmental causes. I truly want to make and leave this planet world a better place for me and my children and all living things. I know no one is immune to suffering. It pervades the air we breath from our first breath. We all breath the same contagions, hate, violence, greed, evil, sin, etc. But, why? I know it is ego-centric of me, but why, why me? What did I do? Did I bring any of this on my own head? I think my suffering is not commensurate with my sin. Not by a long shot.

11. What does it do for your life is you succeed here? I will have peace, true peace.

12. Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you. Do you have any tangible, manifest, personified antagonists or forces of antagonism? What is your external Object of Desire and your internal object of desire?

Questions for my Antagonist: Jada Leterneau-Georgiou

1. Tell me about yourself. I am a
realist, some would say a cynic, but I was once a dyed-in-wool optimist,
until I saw and came to intimately know the darker side of humanity and of
life. It stains you indelibly. It
changes you. It changed me
immutably, the transformation is complete.
I feel like a different species entirely, like something out of
Kafka’s Metamorphosis, a hideous, grotesque insect, something most humans
don’t want to look at and will shoo away upon sight. I lost all my friends, even the life-long
ones. Where once my husband and I
had what other’s called the Midas touch, we became Medusas and our coterie
of friends who once championed and fawned over us, after we fell head
first off the pedestal they themselves had put us on, they turned from us
en masse, in abject horror. Oh,
they feigned sympathy, for their own benefit and conscience, but words
quickly failed them, and when there were no more words there was no more
pretense of sympathy or commiseration.
And, I blame my husband for the lion’s share of it, why because
someone has to shoulder the blame.
He loved to boast, the buck stopped with him and that come what
may, his shoulders were broad and strong enough to bear the weight of the world
like Atlas. So, like a nice little
wife, I allowed him prove it. And, he
has proved he can’t bear the load, that he is finally just a macho windbag,
full of his own excrement. The
final straw, is he proved he does not have the courage of his own
convictions and has turned to the last bastion of the weak-minded, the
opiate of the huddled masses, religion and escape into mysticism.

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths
and weaknesses? My strength is knowing I am weak. I never boasted that I was super human
like Nietzsche’s strength Superman, that I was somehow beyond good and
evil. I am beyond nothing, except
cowering in fear, chasing after ghosts, or seeking answers to ultimately
unanswerable questions. I am just a
speck of dust adrift in this cold, dark, cosmos. I accept my and revel in my own insignificance,
the utter meaningless of my very existence. My acceptance of this is what makes me
strong, because I no longer dream, aspire, or seek any sense of purpose or
meaning from my life. I live minute to minute, breath to breath, know my
first inhalation is not all the far from final exhalation. I am here today but will be gone tomorrow. I rose from the oblivion a momentary spark
and flash of atomic light to soon to return to the black void and vacuum of
perpetual darkness.

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail?
Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change? I
have no respect for what he is doing of who and what he has become. He is shirking and evading his responsibility,
he is escaping, he turned his back on me and abandoned me emotionally. I want him to be the man he once was, to
take stock of himself, and not be afraid to face his fears and start
over. He has given up and thrown in
the towel, he has raised the white flag of surrender as far as I can see
and I have no respect for that. I
have lost all respect for him, all my deep tender love and affection for
him, has completely drained and dissipated. I feel nothing for him anymore except
antipathy and revulsion.

4. What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding
in your plan / taking down your competition? Nothing
really. I guess it is for some expiation
of the guilt my husband and I bear for not being able to save our children,
or us, or ourselves, for not being stronger people. We are better than this. I want to deter him from his decent into
weakness. But, ultimately, I think
I just want to hurt him in hopes it will somehow purge or extinguish the animosity
I have for him.

5. What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in
the face of danger, ruin, or death? I
am an atheist, unlike my weak, indecisive, and ultimately cowering husband,
I have picked a side and will not switch due to personal tragedy or
misfortune. I refuse to get on my
knees even if I find out when I die that I was in fact one hundred percent
wrong about the existence of God and I am being judged adversely, condigned
to eternal damnation and consigned
to hell. I will accept such a fate rather than
live a lie. That is my personal
ethos. It is what I live my life by. It is all I have and all that keeps me
together and I will not alter it out of fear of being wrong.

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other
secrets do you keep out of fear or insecurity? That for all I know I may be wrong, dead wrong. But, I don’t care. If there is a God, I still want nothing
to do with any of it. I didn’t ask
to be born. I didn’t ask for
anything other than to give my children the best life possible and see
them outlive me and hopefully beget life beyond themselves, to endure a
long time on the earth. But, I am intellectually honest and it is impossible
to deny or refute there are many things in the observable universe that
scream design.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you
special? I can’t change a thing about this life, but I can take
this confused, chaotic, crap storm called life and turn it into a work of
art, something out of which someone can make sense.

8. What do you think of ? I
think this life is cruel, downright cruel.
Is it any surprise then that people are also cruel and that I myself can
be so cruel, unmercifully so, and without remorse.

9. Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. Life did me
wrong, it has done many wrong much worse than even than me. But, I will not say thank you sir, may I
have another. And, I am not about
to roll over and die. I will not go
quietly into that good night. I am
going to exact my pound of flesh from my weak husband for not doing more for his children, for his wife, and our life together, for not fighting harder, for submitting and for surrendering to life and the universe.

<div></div>

[Lori Lance]

Lori’s Character Interviews

What I learned from this assignment is to see my characters as real people. It was fun to picture them in my mind and let them speak.

QUESTIONS FOR PROTAGONIST, THOMAS

Tell me about yourself. My name is Thomas. I’ve been the pastor of the Pleasantville country church for nearly thirties years now. My wife, Joan, served beside me for all these years until this year. She died of cancer earlier this year. We have two adult children that live away.

Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? I’ve always consoled others going through grief, but now it’s personal. Joan was a gift from God, and she’s been taken away. I don’t know how to move forward without her, especially now that Christmas is coming.

What are you up against? Christmas and Miriam, God love her, she just wants to help.

What is it about it that makes this journey even more difficult for you? As a pastor, I’m in charge of many Christmas activities. It’s expected of me, and I don’t want to let people down.

In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make, and which of them will be the most difficult? I’m not sure I can do this.

What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? How am I supposed to go on now that my wife is gone?

What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? I’m not sure about my faith in God anymore. Joan was a good person, why her? Am I being punished? No, I know that’s not right. I can’t think that way?

What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? I know all the right answers. I just need to get them from my head to my heart.

What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? I’m trying to avoid Christmas as much as possible.

What do you think of Miriam? Miriam is an important figure in our church and community. She has a very caring heart and just wants to help. I’m hoping she doesn’t see me as her next project.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict/story. I know the meaning of Christmas, but I just don’t want to participate in all the celebrations.

What does it do for your life if you succeed here? I’m not sure. If I succeed at skipping Christmas, I will continue on, but I will be brought to the end of myself if I’m forced to face this. God help me.

QUESTIONS FOR ANTAGONIST, MIRIAM

Tell me about yourself. There’s not much to tell, really. I’m a simple woman that loves home, family, and traditions. I enjoy helping people whenever I can.

Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? I’ve been a widow for many years and know Thomas’s pain. Joan was a good friend of mine also.

Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change? He’s a preacher. He can’t just decide that he’s skipping Christmas. What about all the people that depend on him?

What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? I want to see Thomas smile again. He’s not smiled in months.

What drives you toward your mission/agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? Do you think Thomas will be the death of me? (laughs) But it’s the craziest thing, every year I take a pie to his house for Christmas. Pecan pie is his favorite, or maybe it was Joan’s favorite. This year, he actually told me he didn’t want the pie. Who doesn’t want pie? I’m known for my pie.

What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear/insecurity? Oh, my, I don’t think I keep secrets.

Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I’m always ready to help others.

What do you think of Thomas? I want what’s best for him. I hope I can help him.

Tell me your side of this whole conflict/story. I feel a little hurt. I thought Thomas respected me and cared about my feelings, but I’m not sure now. I feel a little rejected when I’m just trying to help.