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Post Day 5 Assignment Here
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Bernadette Wilson – Lesson 5 – Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is that there are so many more ideas floating around my mind. And there’s new characters appearing to drive the story.
Create a first draft of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
1. Give us the following:
Concept: After Brinda’s gay fiancée is
murdered, Brinda helps the NY police department in finding the serial
killer.Main Conflict:
Psychology PHD student Brinda’s gay fiancée Jesse is found murdered in a
drive-in movie theatre in a car that he never owned. She needs the help of
the police by going undercover and finding the killer.Old Ways
1. She’s nerdish, naïve but bohemian village person.
2. She’s afraid of authority, especially the police.
3. She’s already escaped a horrendous childhood. She wants
to help other misfit people.
4. She ‘s comfortable in a contained, controlled
environment, like the NYU Psychology Dept where she excels.
5. Afraid of her sexuality
6. Thinks she’s an orphanNew Ways
1. She explores a new way to treat herself.
2. She gains confidence and respect from the
male-dominated, corrupt NY Police Department.
3. She finds the real killer, whereas the police thinks
it’s a drag queen
4. She loses trust for the Psychology professor and psychology
itself.
5. She realizes she’s not an orphan. She finds out her
mother is not dead.
6. She finds out how her father died.
7. She reconciles the lost life of her youth.2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
Opening: PHD Candidate Brinda Cage is in one of her
sessions with a drag queen at NYU 1964. After coming home and working on
her Thesis presentation in the mirror and failing at it, she gets a phone
call that Jesse, her fiancée has not shown up at the loft for a photo
shoot. She gets to the shoot and helps the gay men into their costumes for
the shoot.Inciting Incident – Brinda’s fiancée Jesse is found
murdered at a drive-in movie theatre. The police find out that Brinda is
Jack Cage’s daughter. She almost freaks out but Dr. Sonya brings her back
to life. The police find out that Jesse was at a party with a dressed up
woman who looked like Marilyn Monroe, but they thought maybe she was a
drag queen. Jesse’s parents blame Brinda for this. They never liked her.
They try to get to all of Brinda’s patients but she refuses. The dudes who
found the car thought they saw a man in drag.Turning Point – Something weird happens in Brinda’s apartment.
Is it a patient of Brinda’s who is pissed at her and kills Jesse in spite.
The police think that the killer is after Brinda, as well as her fiancé.
So if they use Brinda as a decoy or undercover that they can get to the
killer. But I have patients.Act 2:
New plan
1. They train Brinda to be undercover. While doing that
she teaches them a few tricks of the trade of psychology. The men try to persuade her to be more
feminine. Ha ha
2. They dress
Brinda up as cigarette girl at gentlemen’s club with drag queens (One
dressed as Marilyn), which mistakenly turns into a bad shootout with the
wrong person. It fails miserably.
Midpoint Turning Point
–
another man
found, killed the same way.
1.Dr. Sonya comes in and says this is really dangerous
for Brinda’s mental health. They need to do something else. Someone is
calling Dr. Sonya and hasseling her. She’s got a few secrets no one knows.
Dr. Sonya is almost killed by someone. And she is saved by Brinda. Brinda
tries to run after the killer but the killer escapes. Brinda gets the
medics over to take her to the hospital. Dr. Sonya is really in bad shape
after attack with knife. Oddly she is not knifed the way the other victims
are. But the same hypnodrug is used. A drug from Dr. Sonya’s medicine
cabinet.Act 3:
Rethink everything
1. Brinda is beginning to suggest that the killer does
not want the victim to look at them. She starts analyzing the killer. What
does the killer not want to see?
New plan
1. Brinda thinks the police are doing a bad job finding
the killer. She goes out on her own with her gay friends in tow to figure
it out. Her drag queen friends take her to dangerous places to see if they
know any funny stuff going on at the pier or any weird behavior amongst
the community. Only some of the police are following her and blowing her
integrity and cover.
Turning Point: Huge failure /
Major shift
1. Bad move – it goes horribly wrong. Dr. Sonya wakes
up and finally reveals to Brinda that the killer was one of her patients
who escaped the insane asylum, a few years before Brinda arrived there.
That it’s actually a woman, not a drag queen. You must go to the world’s
fair and Before Dr. Sonya can tell Brinda who the woman is, the lights go
off in the hospital and when they come back on, Dr. Sonya is dead by drug
overdose.
Brinda now knows that it is a woman, not a drag queen who is doing all the killing and trying to get to Brinda. But why hasn’t Brinda been killed?
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of
the conflict
1. Brinda gets to Dr. Sonya’s papers of her patients
and looks at the women from circa 1945-1955. She realizes that it’s her mother, who
she thought was dead. Brinda finds case file. But her mother is dead.
Maybe she’s not.
Resolution
She gets to where Mimi is hanging out. At the wall of
mirrors at the world’s fair. There one of the police detectives is there
with his family. Mimi tries to kill him, but Brinda stops her. The two –
Brinda and Mimi face each other. Mimi wants to save Brinda, hold her, she
sings her a song from when she was little. She’s crazy. Mimi says, they
wanted to deceive us darling, but they haven’t. I’m protecting you. Don’t
you know that it was this policeman that killed your father. Mimi goes to
kill man but Brinda stops her with a bullet to her arm. Mimi runs away and
saves the policeman who Mimi has wounded.3. Once you have created the 4-Act Structure for your Protagonist, go back over it to see if there is any big picture points you need to add to represent your Antagonist.
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Tyberius Asante – Lesson 5 – 4 Act Transformational Structure
“What I learned doing this assignment is how to weave the journey for the characters through the story showing their transformation.”
1. Give us the following:
<div>Concept
After her husband’s traumatic brain injury, Margot must adjust to the loss of her dreams and find a path forward. She is completely
terrorized within an inch of her sanity.Main Conflict
While Margot is trying to find a way to adjust from being
a “princess wife” to her husband’s primary caretaker she doubts her
ability to take on the role while witnessing her husband’s terrifying and
brutal transformation.
</div><div>Old Ways
Loving wife
Romantic
Sense of humor
Shy and lighthearted
Unsure of herselfNew Ways
Broken and disillusioned
Realist
Traumatized
Outspoken
Fearless – nothing left to lose.</div><div>
</div>
2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
<div>Opening
Dante wins another motorcycle race. His sister Tiffany flies in but only catches the winning lap. She joins Margot and Dante in the winner’s circle as they all congratulate him on the win. All three go out
together to catch up and celebrate.
</div><div>Inciting Incident
Dante rushes out without his helmet and has a terrible
motorcycle accident on his way to a routine meeting with his racing
team.Turning Point
Margot is devastated at the possibility that Dante may not survive. Dante pulls through, but the prognosis is bleak. Doctors do
not believe he will regain much of his previous cognitive ability.</div>
Act 2:
<div>New plan
Margot notifies Tiffany of the terrible accident, and she flies back out for support but cannot stay longer than a day. Doctors recommend extensive physical rehabilitation. Margot falls apart as she cannot handle the added burden of taking care of Dante. She doesn’t handle anything well. She doesn’t know what to do and seems like everything she tries just makes things worse. Dante is conscious and very temperamental.
He doesn’t sleep through the night but wanders the house at night rearranging furniture and eating out of the garbage.
</div><div>Plan in action
Margo reaches out to Tiffany but cannot reach her.
Tiffany is traveling on an important case she is trying to crack. Neighbors begin to complain about Dante’s wanderings outside naked. One of the
neighbors recommend a full-time live-in nurse/helper to alleviate the
the burden on Margot.Midpoint Turning Point
Stressed out and a nervous wreck, Margot hopes that the new nurse will allow her to get some sleep. She goes to bed only to be attacked in the middle of the night and raped. She doesn’t know what to do now. It seems that Dante has become violent in addition to strange behaviors.
She says nothing to anyone about what she experienced. She suffers in silence.</div>
Act 3:
<div>Rethink everything
Margot reflects back on how she grew up and wonders if she was destined to live a life of pain and anguish. She cannot escape her past or her present. The violence against her continues… mostly at night when she cannot see who it is. She feels guilty for hating what her husband has become while acknowledging it’s not his fault. Margot is riddled
with guilt and remorse.
</div><div>New plan
Exhausted and suffering from PTSD, Margot now sleeps in a locked room at night fearful of leaving it. The door has been reinforced, but it doesn’t last long. The room is broken into, and Margot flees for her life into another part of the house. As she hides in the
basement seeking safety, she is overcome by a terrible odor and finds the
dead body of the male nurse and two other dead mutilated bodies hidden in
different parts of the basement. Margot screams in terror and runs out of
the house.Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift
The police arrive and have Dante committed to a psychiatric hospital. Margot checks into the hospital herself to deal with abdominal pains that persist after the incident. Margot was eight weeks pregnant but suffers a miscarriage. She is at her lowest point now bordering on
nervous breakdown.</div>
Act 4:
<div>Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
Margot receives counseling while she is in the hospital and is discharged home in a few days. She plans on following up with additional counseling once she settles in. The phone rings… its
Tiffany returning her call asking what happened to her brother. Margot is resentful towards Tiffany for not staying in touch and recounts everything she has lost. Tiffany is unbelieving that her brother could be responsible
for the things Margot says and Margot is furious at the accusation she is
making it up… She has been the one to go through hell because of Dante;
not her!. Upon hearing that Dante has been committed to a psychiatric
facility for the criminally insane, Tiffany flies out to see her brother.
</div><div>Resolution
Margot calls in a professional cleaning service to get the house in order. Later, she goes to take a hot bath to relax. Tiffany arrives to see her brother and speaks to him. Dante is heavily sedated but recognizes Tiffany and is glad to see her. Tiffany asks her brother how he is feeling. Dante drifts in and out but tells Tiffany that she has
to help Margot… she is not alone in the house!Tiffany rushes to get to a phone as her cell phone has no reception in the hospital. Tiffany rushes to the front desk to call
Margot. Margot answers and when she tries to tell her to get out of the house,
Margot still upset from the previous conversation doesn’t want to hear
Tiffany’s defenses of Dante anymore. He hurt her worse than she could have ever believed … she lost her baby and innocent people are dead! She hangs up the phone on Tiffany, but as she turns, she sees the cleaning crew dead and mutilated on the living room floor. As she screams in terror, a figure grabs her and throws her against the wall. Margot for
the first time gets a clear look at the perpetrator realizing it wasn’t Dante,
but a stranger that invaded their home months earlier… she directs her
rage at him and fights the monster with everything she has.</div>
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Karin Hallén’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is that there is so much I don’t know about this story and journey yet. It was challenging and I am certainly not sure I have the best answers yet. I learned and got confirmed that I work better visually, so when I pulled out drawing paper and pen and drew a clothesline I got somewhat of a better idea, before putting it into writing in the assignment. I learned that I need more and stronger conflicts than just the back and forth of George refusing to make wishes and Geena trying to force him to make them. I realize I have a lot to set up and show, as well as good conflict and drama in the beginning but after my midpoint, I am not sure if it holds up. It is a wake-up call for me to keep pondering how I can add more conflict, drama, and up the stakes after midpoint, without repeating what we’ve already seen a lot of. I don’t want this to be a one-note, one-joke gag.
1.
Concept
Protagonist angle: George, a highly ambitious, but flawed, lonely, and failing self-help writer and public speaker, finds a genie that he decides to ruthlessly use in any way he can in order to achieve success, not realizing that it’s only through his own internal changes external success can be found.
Antagonist angle: Geena, a genie who’s been trapped for 3000 years with only one mission left to fulfill before she can retire, is found by a lonely public speaker who refuses to ask for his wishes in order to keep her around, so she uses everything she’s got to force, bully, beg, seduce or trick him into asking for his wishes, so she can be released and be free.
Main Conflict
George sees Geena as his golden ticket and is set on keeping her around for her to help him achieve his goal of becoming hugely successful. Geena’s sole goal and desire is to retire and she does everything she can to hurry George up and make his three wishes so she can leave him and be free.
Old Ways
Protagonist
– Whining about circumstances.
– Displaying arrogance to hide feeling insecure.
– Blaming others and everything around him for failures.
– Refusal to see and confront his own shortcomings.
– Acceptance of failure and resignation.
– Putting up a fake facade and hiding behind a mask.
– Constantly comparing himself to others.
– Afraid to be honest, with himself and others.
– Focused primarily on receiving validation and on being seen as successful.
Takes his frustration out on those he has power over.
Bullies Geena.New ways
– Having the courage to trust that things can work out.
– Courage to be and act honestly.
– Stands up for himself.
– Faith in his message
– Focus on contribution and what he can give, rather than on what he can get.
– Confident and worthy.
– Generous
– Easygoing and understanding of others.
– Cares about people for real
– Goes on his mission for a greater cause than himself, beyond external validation – a human cause.
– Respects and appreciates Geena
2.
Act 1:
Opening.
Introduces us to George and his personality as he embarks on a book tour, arrives at a hotel, where they forgot that he was coming in the excitement of his competition, Brad Brightly’s arrival. George holds his first, awful and dull lecture in front of a sparse audience that leaves before he’s done. He blames Brad.
Inciting Incident.
On the way back from the lecture George stops at a yard sale where he buys the lamp containing Geena the genie. Geena emerges and George, to his astonishment, stands eye to eye with a real genie, who is obliged to grant him three wishes. This opens a whole new door for him!!
Introduces us to Geena and who she is.
Turning point.
George realizes the power he has in Geena having to stay around for as long as it takes until he’s asked for his three wishes. He also realizes he’s less lonely with her around. After his first wish being that she plays tennis with any time he wants, he refuses to ask for more wishes.
Geena realizes that George doesn’t want to ask for his wishes and that he might never set her free. She gets furious and makes secret plans as to how she will “make” George hurry up and ask for his wishes.
Act 2.
New plan
George realizes that he looks successful with an assistant (Geena) by his side, prompting him to ask for his second wish, for Geena to be by his side and help him anytime he demands.
Plan in action
George uses Geena to sit in as a sidekick at lectures and to take payment for book sales, to appear rich and successful. Geena very reluctantly obeys and in order to wear George out, deliberately sabotages more than she helps.
Midpoint
George gets an upset stomach at a lecture and has to run to the bathroom. The audience turns to Geena to ask questions and with her natural wisdom and common sense, her answers and insights are a huge success. The audience loves her. For the first time, a few books sell. And word gets out that these lectures are worth checking out.
Act 3.
Rethink everything
George sees Geena’s charisma on stage and changes his strategy, to use her in different ways. At the same time, he realizes that Geena has the power now, after the audience loving her and that he needs to change his manners towards her to coax her into giving it all she’s got without him having to ask for his last wish. Geena realizes and enjoys her newfound power and decides to use it to make things even more difficult for George so that he’ll get tired of her and finally ask for his last wish.
New Plan
George gives Geena more visibility and time on stage. But Geena is not interested in going any further than the wishes have obliged her to and she gives blunt, often rude answers to the audience’s questions. (Which backfires, as the audience often loves them, as they are brimming with truth) Geena realizes that golf at resorts costs a lot of money. Suddenly success becomes important to her as well. Now George has the power. She makes a deal with him to get a percentage of sales.
Turning point: Huge failure / major shift
The success is there. The money. The audience. The recognition. But George has become completely invisible behind Geena. She has taken over and has become the real success. There are rumors that she ghostwrote the book with George’s name on it. Oprah calls her. Someone mistakes George for being Geena’s assistant. He is completely broken.
Geena is getting cockier by the minute. She loves her newfound fame. At the same time, she can only come out to enjoy it when George calls her out of the lamp. Which he hates to do, but he needs her. The conflict is at its worst in a horrible co-dependent relationship. They have a huge fight and by mistake, George blurts out either: “I wish I never had to see you again!” Geena grants him his wish and disappears.
Act 4.
Climax
George is left on his own. He has to finds his way at lectures by himself. He doesn’t do well. He feels and looks more like a failure than ever. The audience keeps asking for Geena. He is lonelier than ever. He misses Geena despite their conflicts. He has to play tennis against a wall, with her not there. He feels bad that he treated her badly. He realizes his errors and flawed ways. He undergoes a change and becomes an authentic speaker. He stops pretending to be perfect to his audience and speaks from his heart and truth. He genuinely wants to help people. People start listening. He becomes increasingly popular, but he is not driven by that anymore.
Geena on her end is free and in Florida where she enjoys golf but misses George. She feels bad that she wasn’t very nice to him, either.
Resolution
At a big convention which George and Geena were booked to speak at together since before they parted ways, George shows up and says that he’ll be doing it alone. Just then Geena shows up. When George says he thought he’d never see her again, she says that his wish was that “ he’d never HAVE to see her again”, but that she knows that he silently WANTED to see her at the convention, which is not the same as “HAVING TO” so her showing up is unrelated to his last wish. So, she decided to come. Because she wanted to see him, as well. They realize they are friends. For real. This is their last lecture together and it’s a huge success.
A year later, George is on the cover of a magazine and Geena sips a Tom Collins at a Florida golf resort course, while she calls to congratulate him.
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Kim Michael McCarthy LESSON 5 Four-Act Transformational Structure
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
Holy Cow! I feel the process working. This exercise was fulfilling in that it flushed out a structured blueprint / synopsis for my screenplay / story. That is what I learned today… HOW TO BUILD A STUCTURED BLUE PRINT for my screenplay / story.😊
Create a first draft of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
1. Give us the following for: GOLD MOUNTAIN LOVE (Working Title) c WGA WEST 2020
Concept:(Protagonist) After WILLIAM’S Mother, the love of his life, is killed by a rockslide
caused by a dynamite blast from an unscrupulous and greedy gold mining
company, WILLIAM vows revenge, saving GOLD MOUNTAIN from destruction.Main Conflict: WILLIAM
sees his mother get killed by the rockslide caused by dynamite blast ordered
by Mr. METALBAUM. WILLIAM wants revenge and to save his home, an ancient sacred
mountain from destruction. METALBAUM, is intent on destroying the mountain
and stealing all the gold for his own greed.WILLIAM’S OLD WAYS
1. Old Identity: Avoids conflict.
2. Shy, introvert.
3. Unsure of his gifts and power.
WILLIAM’S New Ways
1. New Identity: Brave.
2. Self-confident.
3. Leader, saving GOLD MOUNTAIN.
2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
Opening: WILLIAM
is sent on an errand by his mother. While doing his errand, the bear
family promises WILLIAM honey from an out of reach bee’s nest, if he helps
them get it. The bear family tricks
WILLIAM and they do not give him any honey. WILLAM fails to finish his errand
and does not get the honey that he was promised. WILLIAM runs away from home
feeling sad and that he is worthless.Inciting Incident: WILLIAM’S mother is worried that he did not come home. She goes out
looking for him. She is killed by a rockslide caused by a dynamite blast order
by METALBAUM. WILLIAM wants revenge for his mother’s death. WILLIAM must
stop Mr. METALBAUM and his work crew from destroying the sacred mountain… before
it is too late.Turning Point: WILLIAM
searching for a way to get METALBAUM’S miners to leave the sacred mountain,
gets shot, by a stray bullet, meant for mountain lions prowling around the
encampment. WILLIAM, injured and sacred, retreats down to the desert.Act 2:
New plan: WILLIAM is ready give up. He meets, a Scorpion
Mom and her TWINS, while nursing his bullet wounds at the desert that he retreated
to. They form an alliance, become true friends of WILLIAM, and offer to
help him get rid of METALBAUM and his mining crew.Plan in action: The alliance, WILLIAM, the SCOPION Mom and her TWINS, head up to
the encampment at the mountain’s river head. Once there, the alliance realize
that they are outnumbered. METALBAUM is building a mountain river dam for water
that he needs for his mining operation. He sees the alliance sneaking
around and shoots at them. The alliance escapes to safety at the desert oasis
pond.Midpoint Turning Point: WILLIAM, The SCORPOIN Mom and her TWINS
(The Alliance) adopt WILLIAM has their best buds. WILLIAM feels safe and loved with
them. They have never seen a mountain goat before, and WILLIAM’S head horn which makes trumpet sounds, is not odd to the SCORPION Mom or her TWINS. They
think all goats head horns look and sound that way. The SCORPION Mom likes
WILLIAM a lot. WILLIAM heals from his gunshot wound while being his nursed
by the SCORPION Mom. WILLIAM becomes confident in himself. A love interest
insures. WILLIAM delights in his new family and living in the desert. The alliance
goes for a day of fun at the desert oasis pond. They meet and
have fun with the beavers, the fish, the turtles, and the ducks. All get
along. Life is sweet. Everyone plays water games together.Act 3:
Rethink everything: WILLIAM looses interest in revenge.
New plan: WILLIAM
wants to become a happy, loved “desert goat”.Turning Point: METALBAUM’S
dam stops the mountain river head from flowing to the desert oasis pond. The
pond dries up. Everything that depends on the water is in danger of dying.Huge failure / Major shift
WILLIAM and his new family and all who live at the desert oasis are in danger of dying without water, which METALBAUM has dammed up. The sacred mountain WILLIAM’S old home and all who live there are still in danger also. With a strength and confidence of WILLIAM’S newfound love (the SCORPION Mom and her TWINS) WILLIAM plans an attack on METALBAUM’S encampment, aided by and together with all the desert oasis creatures.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The plan is in place, designed by
WILLAIM who knows the mountain area better than anyone. An attack from
land and air is executed.Resolution: WIILIAM
leads all his pals from his new home the desert, to save his old home, the
sacred mountain. A battle ensues. Teaming up, under WILLIAMS direction, a fierce
battle ensues. The encampment is destroyed by WILLIAM and his desert
friends. METALBAUM and his work crew abandon the mountain. They retreat to
place far away.WILLIAM saves the sacred mountain and the desert oasis from METALBAUM’S greed and destruction. WILLIAM is the HERO and takes a leadership role of protector and defender of the sacred mountain and desert. Everyone LOVE’S WILLIAM, the HERO, for saving GOLD MOUNTAIN.
4. Once you have created the 4-Act Structure for your Protagonist, go back over it to see if there are any big picture points you need to add to represent your Antagonist. Nothing at this time.
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Gregory’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is… how helpful it is to get the big broad strokes down first before getting into the details of scenes and beats.
Concept – Having stumbled upon a corruption scandal involving the governor’s office and the DOT, Spud decides to go against his boss’ orders and pursue the story with the hope of proving his worth as an investigative reporter.
Main Conflict – The News Director wants to keep Spud on his traffic beat, and goes so far as to tell Spud not to pursue a story about possible corruption and stick to what he does best. Spud defies the order and goes after the story.
Spud’s Old Ways – Works the traffic beat, does what he’s told, doesn’t speak up for himself to his boss, avoids confrontation, afraid to pursue what he really wants
Spud’s New Ways – Investigative reporter, dictates what stories he does, speaks up for himself, not afraid of a fight, confident to pursue what he wants
Act 1:
Opening – Spud is on location doing yet another report about a bad pothole in a city street that a viewer has complained about. He acts like he cares about the story, but he’s so over this beat.
Inciting Incident – Spud overhears a couple DOT officials talking about an embezzlement scheme. He runs back to the station to pitch the story to the News Director, but she rejects the idea.
Turning Point – Spud decides to look into the matter unofficially in between shooting his segments.
Act 2:
New plan – Spud is tired of not getting the opportunity to do some real investigative reporting. He visits the DOT press rep, whom he has a crush.
Plan in action – Spud’s field producer gets fed up with him going missing constantly and when she finds him hanging out at the DOT, she reports it to the News Director.
Midpoint Turning Point – The News Director instructs Spud to drop the story or he’ll be fired.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – Spud realizes that he must risk his job to prove his worth as an investigative reporter. And he’ll need some help doing so.
New plan – Spud recruits his field producer to help him along with the DOT press rep.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Spud’s digging around gets the attention of the corrupt DOT officials and Lt. Governor who have guys kidnap the DOT press rep and attempt to kill Spud.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Spud exposes the corruption at a press conference and saves the DOT press rep from being blown up.
Resolution – Spud gets the job with the I-team and a date with the DOT press rep.
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JAYE’S 4 ACT TRAMSFORMATIONAL STRUCTURE
What I learned is that as lost as I feel, this class is helping to guide me. My mind is constantly working to come up with ideas on this, elevate characters and situations, and fill potential plot holes. It’s still early on, and it still feels clumsy, but the guidance of this 4 Act Structure serves as a mini outline to keep me focused and ease the panic!
Concept Lightning strikes at just the wrong time, mid-fight in the battle between good and evil, scrambling superhero powers. A truce is called while the two Supers figure out the resolution.
Main Conflict Good must team up with evil in an effort to correct the mayhem
Old Ways the Hero is arrogant, privileged, elite
New Ways a rude awakening causes the Hero to re-evaluate his life, and his cause. He gains insight and humility.Act 1:
Opening A battle. Good v. Evil. Building are destroyed. Superpowers are displayed
Inciting Incident Mid-grapple, lightning strikes the two Supers. Their powers are switched and they don’t know how to fight.
Turning Point They flee to their hideouts and try to figure out what’s happened. Try to work with their new powers. Failure abounds.
Tail between his legs, the Villain shows up to ask the Hero for help.Act 2:
New plan Call a truce and work together to revert powers or train each other
Plan in action Hero learns that everyone only liked him for his heroness. Girlfriend has left, town ridicules him. Villain sabotaging him.
Midpoint Turning Point Hero doesn’t even know if he wants to be the Hero anymore. Starts to resent the citizens he once loved and protected.Act 3:
Rethink everything The Villain and the Hero start to form an unlikely friendship
New plan The Villain finds the solution. It wasn’t the lightning at all… well not entirely. They discover the additional thing that caused the switch.
Turning Point With some trial and error, it workedAct 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict Hero refuses to be bad, Villain refuses to be good. Played out in a vivid and ruthless physical, emotional, and superpower battle.
Resolution They continue as mortal enemies. Agree to disagree. Each with a different respect for the other and a new perspective on their own lives and purpose. -
Mary and Rich’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is that it’s kind of like a puzzle – take all the previouss pieves, put them together, find the ones that don’t fit and “reshape” them so have a coherent whole. Then start revising that as you expand the details into an outline.
Concept – When a Gen X man whose lost everything returns to school, he is paired with a Gen Z neer-do-well to create a screenplay they hope will redeem them both.
Main Conflict – One creator is stuck in the 90’s while the other just doesn’t care. When the situation changes, can they possibly create
a coherent script, let alone a winner?
Morty
Old: Discarded, lonely, desperate, stubbornly brave
New: Learns skills anew, Welcomes new love, unconditionally brave, collaborative
Jax
Old: Dismissed, unmotivated, introverted, a bit desperate
New: Self worthy, talent shining, independent, collaborative
Act 1:
Opening – What’s that old guy doing in school? Morty starts the semester with a wild class and an unusual teacher.
Inciting Incident – He’s paired with Jax on the first and biggest assignment. They are linked now, pass or fail together.
Turning Point – The two can’t even agree on whose place to start working together at. They settle for a nearby diner and have a waitress judge whose idea they develop. Jax wins, but pays for dinner.
Act 2:
New plan – Morty tries to twist so his own idea goes into the script, but he has to get Jax, who is still disinterested, to work with him. His mission
is to pester him into doing his half of the work.
Plan in action: Finally, the two start to work together, dismally. Through their discussions, Jax finds out that Morty likes Bella Bustamante the teacher.
He proceeds to help him “get with the tech-stuff” by learning texting, etc. Jax tells his Dad that Melanie/Kyle left, and he’s working hard with Morty –
the Dad smirks and forks over cash.
Midpoint Turning Point – Morty scores a date. They find some shaky common ground for their screenplay, agree to proceed.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – Morty thinks he’s impressed the teacher on the date, dinner at Mickey D’s and a Redbox rental. Next day, he texts her but flubs the message so its an insulting typo. Morty finds out Jax’s secret, that he’s helping his old work-mate, Melanie and her young son, Kyle. That’s where his money goes, because even though Jax hates his Dad and his money, he has to take it to help out. The script work is starting to be a collaboration between the two.
New plan – Morty tries to find Jax’s Dad and get him to “show up” for his son.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – His dad shows up at a picnic at Morty’s house, see’s Melanie and Kyle. Plus teacher Bella gets Kyle to do push-ups and he likes military discipline – Jax goes wild, shades of his Dad’s stern ways. It’s a complete failure. Jax now refuses to work with Morty or the teacher
anymore. Morty almost relapses to despair, but realizes he’s gotta help Jax and be the father he doesn’t have.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Work has stopped, they will fail. Jax realizes Dad’s money has stopped, and his only recourse is
to win the contest. He rethinks his situation and convinces Morty to work with him. They pull something together and finish, entering the contest.
Morty is too nervous to see the results. Jax does and tells Morty they won, and now he can get his car fixed and Jax is not a loser anymore.
One Last Twist – Wrong! In truth, they lost. The $500 winnings are actually a loan from the payday loan place. “Both Shakespeare and Hitler almost
went broke, y’know!” Morty refuses the money. Refuses to fix Mabel. He is a failure, going back to his old life.
Resolution – Jax shows up at Morty’s place. He convinces Morty to work with him in the second class. Just for fun. And he will coach him on his next date.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by Mary Chamberlin.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by
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Subject line: Christopher Sequeira’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is 4 Act Structure needs to really incorporate character weaknesses and failings. And then the consequent learnings. I suspect mine’s going to need revision, many times.
Concept: In 1880 regional Australia, outlaw Ned Kelly (with his gang) is a fugitive but also local hero who taunts corrupt authorities, until those authorities mistakenly bring in a man – the Comte – to hunt Kelly with horrific supernatural powers that won’t just net Kelly but will unleash a mystic plague upon the earth.
Main Conflict: Authorities want Kelly caught, convicted and executed at any cost, and hire the malevolent Comte to do so. The Comte uses this permission to unleash widening horrific supernatural activity.
Ned Kelly Old Ways:
Old
Identity: Clever, but angry fugitive outlaw gang-leader / local Robin Hood.Wants
to destroy structure of society, must keep the cause alive.
Has
secret, serious relationship with Mei – claims it has to be secret to
protect her.Ned Kelly NEW Ways:
New
Identity: Not a benevolent hidden-away Robin Hood but an icon of man’s
fury at injustice, not a merry teaser of authority but a human army of
righteous defence; merciless if needed.
Will
preserve society (even corrupt society) to destroy supernatural evil. Knows
if he kills enemy and the cause dies with him it’s the right price to pay.
In
the face of the far greater danger realises she can look after herself and
deserves the respect of being known as his wife.2. Act 1: 25 to 30 pages — Set up and see
Old Ways.Opening: 1880. After a weird supernatural flashback teaser showing a sadistic Australian military man (the Major) in the battlefields of Turkey having a bloody vision compelling him to head back to his home country where he’ll encounter his destiny in the form of a bearded 25-year-old man, who is…
…Ned Kelly, outlaw… wee then see Ned and his gang pull off a brilliantly clever, audacious raid on a bank, tweak the authorities and make off with a chest of goods belonging to the soon-to-arrive new local authority (The Major). In the chest is a strange golden antique goblet, that Ned drinks from that night…
…not realising that gesture triggers the supernatural manifestation within the vicinity of a debonair old man known as the Comte who can appear near where the goblet is and has great supernatural evil powers. The Comte summons monsters from the Australian earth and has them hide outside town. The Comte then presents himself to the Major as strategic military expert here to advise on how to capture Ned Kelly. An evil bargain is struck empowering the Comte in frightening ways. The Comte’s price is the soul of Ned Kelly, to use in an occult ritual that will grant him a secret desire (the death of God).
Inciting Incident: Ned is targeted for destruction by both the Major and the Comte.
Turning Point: Ned conducts a daring raid on the Major’s own home as a fancy dinner is prepared. Ned and his men make a bold challenge get the drop on all police and soldiers but then are shattered as the Major introduces the elderly Comte who murders a townswoman and is mystically de-aged to a powerful young man. He shows strength and reveals he has supernatural powers. Ned’s bullets bounce off him and with horror Ned realises a monster is now going to hunt him and demand his submission and ritual surrender (and the apparently the spilling of a little of his own blood voluntarily into the goblet). Ned is now the mouse being tortured – and his brother, his lover and all his friends are in deadly danger.
3. Act 2:
20 to 30 pages — Challenge the Old Ways.New plan: As horrific attacks begin on townspeople Ned and his gang try to help but start seeing their efforts are useless. Supernatural attacks and powers are aiding the Major as he clamps down on things. The townspeople hide behind closed doors terrified.
Turning Point/Midpoint: Mei tells Ned he’s mistaken, the townspeople won’t lie down and die for him, or anyone, they have children to protect – they’ll flee, if they’re not struck down while they try and run.
Ned wants to lead people against the bad guys but he’s powerless. Anyone known to be his friend is slaughtered. His role as Robin Hood / local hero is revealed to be hollow, it was never real.
The army he needs to fight the horror doesn’t exist.
4. Act 3: 20 to 30 pages — With
Midpoint change, Profound moments that give us new ways.New Plan: Ned realises he was fooling himself he was a leader, he was just a financial convenience for the people to use against the authorities. He had never earned these people’s true trust – he was a crazy, live for himself outlaw. There are people who would follow him, Mei, her family, Jindara. The people he’d taken for granted. The people outside his ‘cause’.
New Insights: Ned goes to Mei and her father’s workshop. Time to get the suits of armour ready…
The Comte and the Major are wreaking havoc. When armoured Kelly Gang shows up!
Turning Point 3: The Comte defeats the armored figure and plucks off the helmet – it’s not Ned – It’s Mei! The Comte is amused and plans to use her as a hostage to taunt Ned, but the major shoots her! She’s seriously wounded as a lesson for Ned. He arrives in time to see the attack and is broken. His gang want to fight back, but he’s distraught they barely get away as dawn breaks and the villains retire to the shadows.
The Major and the Comte are going to destroy all, in their own sweet time, the following night.
5. Act 4: 25 pages — Test the
change in this character! Prove New Ways!New Plan: Ned goes to Mei’s father and Father Carrigan and pleads with them to fix the armour. Ned admits he was wrong, he needs to be part of a community not a figure outside it. A battle group is formed, with silver-plated, blessed armour! They start fighting their way through the monsters to the throne of blood where the Comte is in control, sending monsterised citizens into the night to spread more darkness.
Climax: The Major steals the goblet, and drinks from it and has the Comte’s power (the Comte becomes a smouldering ruin) and his hellish servants at his command. Ned and his crew battle them – two forces of outsiders vying for the town – and the world’s future. All seems lost though because the major has issued a magical spell and contaminated the entire town, they are all becoming monsters! The contagion will spread and strike down the world… until Mei appears – she’s hurt badly but still just has strength enough to join the crisis – and revives the deadly Comte, even as she collapses at death’s door. The Comte stands with Ned. They beat the Major. The Comte forms an occult link with Ned; they must perform a ritual. They both will die – but both be eternal. They do it and drink each others’ blood from the goblet. There’s a mystic explosion and all the monsters are killed and the townsfolk returned to normal. The Major becomes an insane wreck, locked in the local asylum.
Resolution: The Comte, an old man again, bids farewell. He tells Ned is told one day he’ll be caught, he’ll be defeated, he’ll be tried, he’ll be executed. Ned says yes, but I’ll be a man. Such is life.
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Stafford’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned from this assignment was how to blueprint and formulate my protagonist’s journey through the 4 Act structure. The more I puzzle the pieces, it makes perfect sense to how they’ll navigate as a character. This was a really fun process.
Concept: After engaging in an adulterous affair with a coworker, Mateo Vargas must take drastic steps to save his relationship and job, when the mistress becomes obsessive and dangerous to everyone’s well-being.
Main Conflict: Mateo feels guilty for cheating on Marisol; he breaks things off with Glorivette. When Glorivette takes no for an answer, she begins to attack everything around Mateo; personally and professionally.
Mateo’s Old Ways: 1.) Witty and easy-going. 2.) Non-confrontational. 3.) Curious and sneaks around to act on his lust for another woman.
Mateo’s New Ways: 1.) On edge/Fearful. 2.) Honest/Faithful. 3.) Has a distaste for Glorivette.
Act 1: 25 to 30 pages
Opening: Mateo Vargas graduates from college. A year later, he’s working for one the biggest tech companies in the nation. At his job, he’s introduced to a temporary employee — Glorivette. He develops a secret crush on her.
Inciting Incident: Mateo acts on his lust, and sleeps with his Glorivette — betraying his fiancé, Marisol.
Turning Point: Feeling guilty, Mateo decides to end things with Glorivette. Glorivette responds with a hostility — sparking a newfound fear within Mateo.
Act 2: 20 to 30 pages
New plan: Mateo wants to rid Glorivette out of his life completely.
Plan in action: He cuts off all and any communication with her. He also avoids Glorivette at work.
Midpoint Turning Point: Glorivette figures out what Mateo’s doing to her; begins to make trouble for him.
Act 3: 20 to 30 pages
Rethink everything: When Mateo realizes Glorivette’s treacherous act, he begins to plot her downfall: getting her fired or arrested.
New plan: Mateo goes to the police to look into Glorivette’s suspicious behavior.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Glorivette informs Marisol about her affair with Mateo. Marisol confronts Mateo; kicks him out of their apartment. Mateo moves into a motel.
Act 4: 25 pages
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Mateo and Glorivette reconcile and decide to getaway for a while. Glorivette track them down, tries to kill them both. Together, Mateo and Marisol defeat Glorivette.
Resolution: With Glorivette out of his life for good, Mateo can move on with his life. Learning from his mistakes.
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Judith Abingdon / 4 Act Transformational Structure
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” : I have a long way to go, but I feel I have better structure now.<div>
Concept:
<div>
A young girl’s adolescent journey into adulthood during the wild cultural changes of the ’70s.
<div>
OLD Ways:
passive, polite, obedient
NEW Ways:
Curious, devious, headstrong
Act 1:
Opening:</div>
School yard scene, kids leaving for the day. A group of girls form and talk about their plans for the afternoon. The group of girls form and they start singing their favorite Mowtown hits (Stop, in the name of love, Supremes)
<div>
Inciting Incident:
After much discussion they talk Juliet into going to her house , since her mother will not be home for hours. They want to continue practicing their harmonies.
Turning Point:
While the girls are playing around they decide to take some photos with Juliet’s new Polaroid Instamatic. Several photos are taken and Juliet gives them away. She saves the one of her and her friend Grace ( she is black). She stashes it in her bedside drawer. A few days later when her mother happens to find it a big fight ensues, her stepfather is enraged that a ” nigger” ( his word) has been in his house, her mother, as usual, offers Juliet no help. Juliet is confused, she questions all the religious commandments they are supposed to follow. Dissolution continues to grow.
Act 2:
NEW Plan :</div>
Juliet is becoming more and more aware of a big cultural change. News reports and music happenings are highlighting the changing views of young people. She is desperate to leave her home environment. Since she is not quite 18 she must find a way. Perhaps she can go live with her Godmother?
NEW INSIGHTS:
Her mother is never going to take her side, she has no allies at home. she needs to go.
<div>
Midpoint Turning Point:
Away from her mother and with less restrictions Juliet is embracing all her new experiences. Going to New York City to see concerts, museums, art galleries and meeting all the people that inhabit these places is a real eye opener.
Act 3:
Rethink everything ,New plan ,Turning Point: </div>
Staying with Inez is ok but she does not even have her own room, there are always big fights between the two sisters that live together. Seeing Inez be depressed when she returns from work every day is depressing. her Mother keeps calling, and now says the family is moving to Florida, would Juliet like to come and have a new start?
<div>
Huge failure / Major shift:
Juliet feels she should give it one more try, but Florida is a cultural wasteland, nothing but surfers and more drugs than in the city. Its a major fail, she over doses on acid and knows family life will never work for her. Inez nudges her in this decision , as she does not want to cut her mother out of the picture entirely.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflictResolution:</div><div>
Juliet heads back to New Jersey but decides to take a new track, looks for a room to rent and gets serious about her career. Inez supports her in this decision and helps her with cash.
She practices her singing and goes on an audition for Hair gets the part, flies off to Portugal with new confidence and a new life in the making.
3. Once you have created the 4-Act Structure for your Protagonist, go back over it to see if there is any big picture points you need to add to represent your Antagonist.
<hr>
</div></div></div>
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Create a first draft of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
Mickey Gonzalez 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is…? you don’t get the concept the way I wrote it”. Like to Work in fiction and the creative process, does it good.
1. Give us the following:
Concept: As one, Mark Fox written a massive Vast collection of writings worth millions and wants to be this remarkable young writer to build a fortune.
Main Conflict: Seymour wants Mark dead and his Vast collection. Every time Mark has to settle down to fight out strangers to keep coming around to get his work down to Seymour. The fighting is because of Seymour’s greed.
Old Ways
1. town of Duck Island
2. sees many options to explore
3. womanizer and a young writer
New Ways
1. scours Duck Island
2. knows get to fight perpetrators and Seymour to retrieve V.C
3. meets Raquel a prostitute
2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
Opening young Mark Fox is in a Ferris wheel pod accidently had fallen asleep. During the night, after the amusement park had closed a group of nuns finally find him.
He wakes up among adult inmates in a vermillion jail house. He does not remember how he got there Two inmates confront young Mark as he preps himself up on jail cell bunk chained to the steel wall. A deputy sheriff stops inmates from talking to Mark. He leads Mark out to a man outside the cell’s doors. The man has a unmark car waiting, a Ford LTD.
Inciting Incident: Mark is becoming a writing genius. He does not know yet. A Vast collection of writings accumulated has been stolen from him.
Turning Point: Mark scours Duck Island and gets to learn it’s violent corrupt world outside of his lone place.
Act 2: 20 to 30 PAGES, challenge the old ways
Mark expectations from his experiences that their intentions are to steal a Vast collection of writings that is worth a lot of money from him.
New plan: After grueling effort to find the whereabouts of his material. Mark is going to try to get his story on air at a TV station.
Plan in action: Mark wants to get his story about the theft on air. A TV producer slams the doors in his face, literately. After the meeting, Mark is inside a police building and surrounded by police. Mark asks if the TV WKYC people can be brought in to set up shop to get his story aired. The police commander yells “No”.
Midpoint Turning Point: As he exits on an innerbelt bridge e-way some perpetrators cut him off. One of the vehicles is a company car with its’ WKYC emblem on the driver’s side door and a police cruiser behind him warning him to stop searching for the vast collection. This the work of Seymour’s group.
Act 3:
Rethink everything
New plan: Mark knows what he needs to do. He must continue on to be the remarkable writer. He continues to work on his typewriter and effortlessly produce new material. And he does produce.
New insights: Seymour’s group is watching Mark. Raquel is coming to his apartment to be with him.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Mark comes along to his apartment after scouring Duck Island with no avail. Mark surprises a woman who is burglarizing the apartment. Five bad guys jump Mark beating the stuffing out of him. Left bloodied on the sidewalk the woman steps over his body. Flees in a double park car with part of a vast collection of writings in her grasp. From his POV, he realizes the driver resembles the commander.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
Mark gets into the apartment with Raquel. She tends to his wounds. She realizes the manuscript is gone again.
Mark looks beaten up at a telephone booth. They are at the nine building. He wants to get to Seymour.
Raquel goes in and out of rooms as Mark is confronted by a deputy sheriff. A fight starts. Mark fights off the deputy sheriff, knocks him out. Raquel is unaware what is going on.
When she comes in, she sees the deputy wondering what had happen. Mark grabs her hand. Both run out of the building.
At the apartment, it is empty. Just a suitcase. As the start for the door to leave. The telephone rings. Mark answers. Is a woman asking Mark “if he has any new ideas”? The woman says Its’ for Alice.
Resolution: Get to Seymour. Both start to thinking is better to move.
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Subject line: Daisy Ridgway’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
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.
Concept
Main Conflict
Mia Pauley Old Ways
1. Ignores her memories and plods through life <div>
2. Happy but unsure of herself; questions happiness
3. Simultaneously angry at and worried about her family
Mia Pauley New Ways
1. She is strong enough to deal with different fates presented to her; bold time traveler, of sorts
2. Learned in a whole new way; aware of huge chunks of history
3. Accepts the hand dealt her; a good and righteous person with integrity
4. Capable of falling in love, being in love, giving love; open heart
Act 1
Opening
A major Earthquake strikes Los Angeles we see a family flee an oceanfront house that is rupturing from the ground up as they escape
Inciting Incident
Mia Pauley, who once lived in house in the earthquake, is told of the damage to her old oceanfront home, called Pinecliff. She is flooded with memories, dreams even, about an encounter she had as a little girl with Charles Laughton, yet another tenant of the house, but who lived there in 1947. Mia decides to face them head on by visiting the house, called Pinecliff, while reliving (flashback) the experience she had as a child. She recalls that Charles and she were both sad about having to move from the house.
Turning Point
After recounting the experience she had as a little girl to her friend Ian Gardner, who just lost his father, Mia prepares* to go back to LA to visit the house. When she visits, Mia, now an adult, finds herself in the same garden spot of the house face to face with Charles Laughton.
Act 2
New Plan
Mia has to convince Laughton she is the little girl. When she does, and tells him all sorts of things about the future, Charles casually changes his mind about the house and decides to stay, and not move out in 1947. Now, we see Charles’ life.
Plan in Action
Charles is in his world; we see Elsa, his agent, his readings, his classes, his filmmaking; and what he is working on (Brecht; Don Juan in Hell). All the while, he is slightly haunted, if vexed, by the child. Was it a sign about earthquakes and staying by the sea? Meanwhile, it is a completely different life for Mia; many things are reversed in her new world. Charles’ decision created chaos for Mia’s family, but Mia’s new way of life is beginning to grow on her.
Midpoint Turning Point
Mia is seeing all sorts of things in the new world. Teddy Pendergrass lives; John Lennon is performing with Lyle Lovett; her father is remarried; her mother is happy and not married; Ian Gardner’s father, Michael., was not killed; and, to her horror, Charles has No Night of the Hunter, or Advise and Consent, or anything.
Act 3
Rethink Everything
While Mia likes her own new outcome and family more, she is missing Ian, whom she doesn’t know, and Charles is having a more lackluster life than he did. She also never meets Tina.
New Plan
Mia must get to Charles and convince him to move from the house. She wants it to go back to the old way for the sake of Charles’ life, among other things.
Turning Point
Charles and Mia spar over what to do. Charles won’t move and Mia appears to be shut off from Charles
Act 4
Climax/Ultimate Expression of the Conflict
Mia figures out how to get to Charles and walks him through his life and, when he asks, his death. She also figures out that in order to save Michael Gardner, Mia has to sacrifice ever knowing Ian, though Ian, at the beginning, asks for Charles to get him an Elvis autograph (details later). How is all of this accomplished?
Resolution
Charles has moved from the house but, with Mia’s input, has made a few alterations to the universe. Marilyn etc..; Michael Gardner, and Mia’ and Ian’s now-non-existent friendship. Still, she has the autograph; she seeks Ian out; he is a museum director, same wonderful guy, but a single father. She gives him autograph; he chases after her as she leaves. They walk off across the National Mall together.
Fade to Black
</div>
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James E. Clark Transformational Structure
Title: Carrie Waters
What I learned from this Assignment: Breaking down the Structure into ACTS allows me to simplify my thoughts and to organize the story.
1. Concept, Main Conflict, Old Ways and New Ways
Concept: CREATING MY CONCEPT
A. Who is the lead character this story is about: Carrie Waters. Retired Navy Sr. Chief, 40. 23 years in the Navy as a SeaBee.
B. What is the improbable goal that Carrie is going for: Spend her retirement travelling and making life better for others. Helping on church construction projects in every state.
C. What/who is the opposition: 1) A pending serious illness. Time is the opposition 2) Because of her petite size, people don’t take her constructions skills seriously. Being underestimated is the opposition 3) She is treated poorly for her Christina faith. Anti Christian bigotry is the opposition.
D. What is the interesting world worth exploring: The various projects she tackles and the people she meets.
E. What makes this concept unique: A petite (100#) woman is highly experienced in all aspects of construction. Because of her military career, she’s a great leader and negotiator and she’s a 3<sup>rd</sup> degree Black Belt in Tai Kwon Do
CREATING THE LOGLINE
A. A retired Navy Sr. Chief spends her retirement travelling and doing construction jobs for churches as she faces a terminal illness.
B. A retired SeaBee Sr. Chief wants to spend her retirement travelling to all fifty states and helping on church construction projects. Her diminutive size leads to people not taking her seriously.
C. A diminutive retired SeaBee Sr. Chief travels in her van hoping to help churches in all fifty states on construction projects as she faces racial bigotry and a terminal illness.
Main Conflict: Due to a terminal diagnosis, Carrie Waters has a limited amount of time to enjoy her retirement from the Navy and to use her skills to help others during that time.
Carrie Waters
a. Old Ways: Rigid schedule, gives/takes orders, cynical of civilians, lived in nice Navy housing, if it ain’t Navy it’s nothing.
b. New Ways: Sets own schedule, gives/takes suggestions, civilians are great, lives in a van, civilian life is worth living.
2. Act 1: 25-30 pages Set up and see old ways
Opening: Sr. Chief Waters is berating a young sailor for not remember how to operate the heavy earth mover. She does it nicely but firmly.
Sr. Chief Waters I at a Women’s Bible study on the Navy base. The younger women gravitate to her for advice.
She is at a dojo wearing a 3<sup>rd</sup> degree Black Belt. She’s teaching children the art of Tai Kwon Do.
Inciting Incident: Carrie is in the doctor’s office on base. She’s been given the news of a terminal diagnosis. We don’t hear what it is, but we see her reaction.
Her Commanding Officer and the Battalion Command Master Chief instruct her that she is going into forced retirement. She has 60 days.
Turning Point: Carrie purchases an old school bus and builds it out into her own custom RV. She starts planning her trip round the country. She goes on websites and offers her services to churches, schools and camps.
The bus buildout is complete. She has a plan. Navy friends throw her a party and wish her well.
3. Act 2: 20-30 pages – challenge the old ways
Carrie rankles people in an RV caravan by giving orders when she thinks she’s suggesting. She can’t understand why people dislike her.
There’s a problem with her solar electrical system and she can’t figure it out. She asks for help from the group. Everyone turns her down except for one person.
She tries to be nice by sharing food. Not working there either.
She starts manifesting physical ailments that hinder her – slight, but there.
He feeling hurt, she leaves the caravan group and goes off on her own.
She has a gig at a church camp. She does not charge for her work. It’s her way of serving. The Camp Director turns out to be the Navy SEAL she almost married. She doesn’t know how to react. He understand her and is kind. She responds with kindness. He never married either.
Turning Mid Point 2:
Carrie runs into a county bureaucrat who makes her life miserable in trying to get permits for work to be done for the camp. She starts by giving him “orders” but realizes that is not working in civilian life. She goes back with honey rather than vinegar. He’s still a jerk. She enlists the camp director who resolves the whole thing.
A fire starts in the forest near the camp. She jumps on the skip loader and tries to create a fire break. The skip loader breaks down and she doesn’t have the tools to fix it. Fortunately the fire was extinguished.
She’s frustrated that being a civilian is tougher than she thought and tougher than the Navy.
4. Act 3: 20 – 30 pages – With Mid Point Change Profound moments give us New Ways
Carrie is beginning to see that even in civilian life, she needs to rely on teams to accomplish large tasks.
She realizes she needs to move on to accomplish her travelling goal. She finishes the project. BUT…
She and the SEAL have fallen back in love. He agrees to support her travel goal. She agrees to return when she’s facing imminent death.
Carrie is on the road.
Carrie is working at a Christian school.
Carrie now has six states left to see. Her map indicates the 44 states she has been in.
Carrie is on an island in Maine.
5. Act 4: 25 pages – Test the change in this character! Prove the New Ways.
Carrie is starting to enjoy life as a civilian while her physical capabilities are slowly declining.
She spends more time getting to know the locals than she does working on projects – although she still does that too.
She takes candid photos of people in their everyday life.
She starts a blog about her travels and her predicament.
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What I learned from this assignment was that I developed many new plots for my story as well as a new ending for my story based upon this formating.
Create a first draft of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
1. Give us the following:
Concept
Two competing self-absorbed and narcissistic hospital CEOs, antagonists Dr. Frank Shanis and Dr. Johnathan Skipper, of top ranked national hospitals in Chicago, will stop at nothing to take steps to improve their local and national hospital rankings, even harm and murder patients of each other’s hospitals to position their own hospital to have better outcomes. Neither CEO is aware that the other CEO is engaged in this type of activity to undermine their hospital’s patients and reputations. Thankfully, two newly practicing physician hero protagonists, Dr. Phillip Morgan and Dr. Quinn McAllister, who are friends and trained together, one working at each hospital, have become aware of the nefarious motivations and activities of the hospital CEOs, unbeknownst to either of the CEOs, and are forced to take actions as physicians to prevent the best they can the abilities of these CEO and their compatriots to achieve their malicious objectives. Each of the physicians, nevertheless, have their own internal battles and struggles they must overcome which often prove challenging.
Main Conflict
Two young physician protagonists must prevent two CEO agonists from their clandestine efforts to inflict injury, harm, despair, pain and suffering to patients and the smooth operating functions at their competitor’s hospitals.
Old Ways
Both protagonists are new staff physicians fresh out of their fellowship training and have self-doubt about their abilities to care for patients. They are introverts and often afraid to speak out or question what they know are questionable medical practices and delivery of medical care to patients which they sometimes are observing.
New Ways
Both protagonists must mature more quickly than normal from becoming novice new inexperienced physicians who at time have self-doubt of their abilities to becoming proactive, well-respected physician leaders and patient advocates, while at the same time exercising old and existing wounds out of their systems.
2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
Opening
Introduce us to the lead characters in action.
Dr. Phillip Morgan and Dr. Quinn McAllister are sitting at Dr. Morgan’s apartment talking to each other about their fears of starting their respective staff physician positions, at crosstown hospitals, in the coming few days. They are discussing having had their orientations at their respective hospitals and meeting their department physician chairs as well as attending introductory speeches at their orientations by their respective physician CEOs. Dr. Morgan is telling Dr. McAllister about his impressions of CEO Dr. Frank Shantis and Dr. McAllister is giving Dr. Morgan his impression of his CEO, Dr. Johanathan Skipper. One striking thing that they observed during their respective CEO’s speeches was that each of the CEOs spent a great deal of time to impress upon the new doctors during the orientation that one major objective of importance was for their respective hospitals to focus upon paying attention to the metrics that are used to calculate the national hospital rankings and also to remember that the hospital business is a very competitive business like sports is and that the other hospital was their major rival. Each of the protagonists thought that was rather unusual for the CEOs to focus a major part of their remarks on, as if they were giving “Win one for the Gipper” speeches.
Phillip described what he perceived Dr. Santis’ personality, characteristics, exquisite dress, polished presentation style and mannerisms, and observed that he had in his company what Phillip equated to an executive team of “soldiers”. Likewise, Quinn spoke about his impressions of his CEO Dr. Skipper and described him as appearing not CEO like in his dress, mannerisms or speaking abilities, and noted that, in contrast to Dr. Santis, Dr. Skipper had with him only his executive assistant.
Antagonists’ Openings:
Dr. Frank Shantis is at a meeting with his hospital board of directors who are congratulating and praising him over champaign toasts for leading General Hospital to this year’s #2 National Hospital Ranking position.
Dr. Johnathan Skipper was called into a private meeting with the chairman of his hospital board of directors. The discussion they are having is quite different from that which Dr. Shantis is experiencing at his meeting. The chair of the board of HOPE Hospital is frantic and is sternly warning Dr. Skipper that the board is very much worried that HOPE Hospital this year has fallen in the national hospital rankings from the 5<sup>th</sup> position to the 7<sup>th</sup> position nationally and that the board is getting more and more concerned and starting to ponder if Dr. Skipper is the right person to be CEO of the hospital.
Inciting Incident
Day 1 is each protagonist’s day as new staff physicians, both Dr. Morgan and Dr. McAllister respectfully are faced with long stressful days but also both were called to respond to CODE Blues on the regular non-critical care ward of their hospitals to assist in resuscitation of patients in distress. Neither one of the young doctors were in charge of leading the CODE Blue emergencies but assisted the lead physicians and nurses in the attempted resuscitation of the respective patients, neither of whom survived. Witnessing these unfortunate patients die were stressful experiences for both of our protagonists and these experiences even made them both feel even less certain of their own medical competencies. How would they have responded if they had been the lead physicians during these codes they wondered. In reviewing the medical records of the patients who had died, each of the young doctors realized that the patient they had coded had been in the hospital recovering from routine elective procedures and neither had a history of cardiac disease or other significant comorbidities. Each young doctor was puzzled as to why these otherwise healthy patients, both in their early 30s would have experienced cardiac arrests.
Later that first week, both doctors also witness what they consider to be unconventional medication orders placed by their physician supervisors, but they don’t feel they are in a position to question the orders. Unfortunately, both patients on the receiving end of those orders wind up having complications from medication errors. An elderly African American orderly at General Hospital where Dr. Morgan worked pulled Dr. Morgan aside and told him that over the past year, he had heard gossip from some nurses that there was some questionable care going on that was inexplicable. The orderly also confided in Dr. Morgan that he had heard some gossip on the street that there was some illegal drug activities going on at the hospital.
Protagonist’s Inciting Incidence
Dr. Jonathan Skipper is distraught about his hospital board of directors placing stress upon him and threatening his job as CEO should his hospital rankings continue to slide. He realizes that his crosstown rival CEO Dr. Frank Shantis has been having great successes at his hospital and that he is respected by many as a great leader. Dr. Skipper decides to set up a meeting with CEO Shantis to ask him privately to serve as his mentor and coach.
Dr. Frank Shantis
Dr. Frank Shantis basking in the glow of having received high praises from his hospital board of directors understands that his next goal is to achieve the #1 national hospital ranking and decides that he must further and strategically step up his goals to distinguish his hospital locally from his major local competing hospital HOPE Hospital. Dr. Skipper has contacted and met with Dr. Shantis privately requesting that Dr. Shantis serve as his mentor. Initially, Frank tells Dr. Skipper that he is flatered but that he doesn’t feel he has enough time to devote to mentoring Dr. Skipper; but then he realizes that serving as a mentor and coach to Dr. Skipper would strategically provide him with even more opportunities to advance his own personal objectives and advance his own, General Hospital’s, competitiveness over HOPE Hospital.
Turning Point
Dr. Morgan and Dr. McAllister are sitting in Dr. Morgan’s apartment having a beer and discussing the happenings of the week and some of their experiences their first week as working as staff physicians at their respective hospitals. They realize that had they both spoken up in their respective situations that those medical errors would have been averted. Dr. Morgan told Quinn what the elderly orderly had confided in him and Morgan encouraged Quinn to keep his eyes and ears open for anything suspicious appearing at his hospital, HOPE Hospital.
Both protagonists make a pact that they will provide each other the emotional support necessary for each to become better, more assertive, leading physicians and patient advocates, because they both had taken oaths to be the best physicians they could be and that they had a responsibility to protect the patients.
Turning Point Anatagonists
Dr. Shantis meets with Dr. Skipper and informs him that yes, he will serve as his mentor and coach. Dr. Skipper is very grateful. The two CEOs make plans to meet to get started with the coaching and mentorship. Dr. Shantis tells Dr. Skipper to keep their arrangement confidential and request that Dr. Skipper provide him with his hospital’s 5-year strategic plan, including HOPE Hospitals financial statements and internal SWOT analysis. He tells Dr. Skipper he needs this information to determine how to best start providing advice and guidance to Dr. Skipper. Dr. Skipper is grateful and agrees to provide Dr. Shantis with this sensitive HOPE Hospital information.
Dr. Skipper is approached one evening by an underworld criminal figure who threatens and blackmails him to increase his “voluntary contributions” to his organization’s illegal operations, in the form of continued participation in the illegal drug market and organ procurement black market.
Similarly, Dr. Shantis is approached by the same underworld figure and threatened and blackmailed to also continue to participate in his criminal drug and criminal organ procurement black market operations.
Act 2:
Protagonists New plans
Both protagonists take actions to get to know better other doctors, nurses, orderlies and other hospital employees, and to be more observant as to the ongoings of the hospital.
Antagonists New Plans
Both CEOs establish their own new plans to pursue their aspirations and to respond to the threats by their criminal underworld menace. Dr. Shantis solidifies his strategy to further undermine HOPE Hospital’s patient outcomes and Dr. Johnathan Skipper comes up with a plan to backstab his new mentor and coach Dr. Frank Shantis.
Protagonists’ Plans in action
Both protagonists volunteer to join the morbidity and mortality committees of their respective hospitals and they are accepted onto these committees which routinely review all accounts of patient complications occurring within the hospital as well as review any cases of previously discharged patients being readmitted within 30 days or discharge or dying outside of the hospital within 30 days of discharge. At the committee meetings, only certain portions of the patient’s medical records are presented to the committee to review and both protagonists respectfully a puzzled within their own minds as to why certain medical documentation is not included to be reviewed by the committee. This leads them to independently and privately review certain medical documentation where they not inconsistencies in terms of what happened versus what was documented that happened and that was reviewed in certain cases.
Antagonists’ Plans In Action
Both CEOs meet with many of their faithful, loyal minions to instruct and guide them as to what they need to do for their respective strategies. Both CEOs offer their minions financial rewards and in some cases threaten some of them individually because the CEOs have incriminating information on them.
Protagonists’ Midpoint Turning
PointBoth protagonists having compared notes, now understand that there are major irregularities associated with the complications, morbidity and mortality, involving many of these patients.
Dr. Morgan also has received more information from his elderly orderly friend who tells him that there are certain doctors, nurses, pharmacists, administrators and others who are illegally stealing narcotics and other medications for the black market and that he is aware also that this is also happening at HOPE Hospital.
Dr. McAllister tells Dr. Morgan that one of the orderlies at HOPE Hospital tells him that he thinks it is very strange also that HOPE Hospital over the past year has hired several doctors, nurses and others who previously worked at General Hospital, where they were paid considerably more money and had better benefits than HOPE Hospital provided them.
Antagonists’ Midpoint Turning Point
Dr. Johnathan Skipper is remorseful because one of the patients who died whom his minions sabotaged at General Hospital turned out to be Dr. Skipper’s first cousin.
Dr. Santis is further executing beautifully is masterplan to gain insider information in HOPE Hospitals executive and strategic plans and has successfully harmed and killed a number of patients at HOPE Hospital; however, he realizes that he must be cautious about completely sabotaging HOPE Hospital too much because he realizes that it is in his best interest that Dr. Skipper is not fired as CEO of HOPE Hospital out of fears that HOPE Hospital might replace Dr. Skipper with a more competent and competitive CEO.
Act 3:
Protagonists’ Rethink
everythingBoth protagonists start to suspect that there is more to the eye behind many of these patient complications and dedicate themselves even more to becoming watchdogs for patients in their respective hospitals.
Each protagonists apply to be appointed to their respective hospital’s patient experience committees as well as their hospital’s patient quality and outcomes committees of which the CEOs of their respective hospitals lead and preside over. This gives them an opportunity to have direct interactions with their respective CEOs and to get to know them better and develop further insight into them as individuals and their motivations.
Antagonists’ Rethink Everything
Dr. Shantis realizes that he must work to help Dr. Skipper maintain his position as CEO of HOPE Hospital.
Dr. Skipper is remorseful about harming patients at General Hospital; however, he decides that he must continue to sabotage patients but be more selective in which patients are targeted.
Protagonists’ New plans
Each protagonist advances their relationships with their respective CEOs, developing a trusting mentorship-mentee relationship with them, telling their CEOs that they aspire at some day themselves to become hospital CEOs and that they admire their leadership. The CEOs being narcissistic themselves love the attention and adulation the young doctors are showing them and let the young doctors into their more inner circles. This provides the young doctors more opportunities to get into the minds of the CEOs and their obsessions with outdoing the other CEO in achieving higher national hospital ranking than the other CEOs hospital.
Antagonists’ New Plans:
Dr. Shantis realizes that he must work to help Dr. Skipper maintain his position as CEO of HOPE Hospital.
Dr. Skipper is remorseful about harming patients at General Hospital; however, he decides that he must continue to sabotage patients but be more selective in which patients are targeted.
Protagonists’ Turning Points:
Huge failure / Major shiftBoth protagonists realize that they cannot themselves police the safety of all of the patients in their hospitals and therefore understand that they need to form coalitions of doctors, nurses and other hospital employees to assist in their efforts. Both protagonists also start to discuss their ideas that perhaps they need to themselves plan to target for removal from power the two CEOs or even, even worse, target them for demise.
Act 4:
Protagonists’ Climax/Ultimate
expression of the conflictBoth doctors, unknowingly to the CEOs, perform heroically in several situations to prevent the CEOs from harming/killing patients at their competitor’s hospitals and undercover details of underlying drug rings and illegal harvesting of organs for transplantation, many organs for sale on the black market, occurring at both hospitals. However, they as only two physicians don’t have the bandwidth to know what is going on over the entire hospital to be effective in preventing most of the premeditated complications. They therefore know that they need to recruit others to join them in their watchdog mission to save patients.
In the end, the protagonists’ come up with plans and execute upon plans to kill/murder the two hospital CEOs to prevent their patient killing sprees.
Antagonists’ Climax/Ultimate Expression of the Conflict
The two protagonists strategically inform each CEO of the clandestine activities of the other CEO to undermine their hospital rankings and to kill their hospital’s patients. Dr. Frank Shantis discovers that Dr. Skipper is backstabbing him and Dr. Skipper discovers that Dr. Shantis has been behind the many patient deaths occurring at his hospital. Each CEO formulates plans to murder the other CEO.
Protagonists’ Resolutions
The young doctors develop enlist a very select group of honest and ethical physicians, nurses and employees at their respective hospitals, as well as a few law enforcement officers, attorneys as well as some shady individuals living in the shadows to be on their teams to clandestinely combat the actions of the CEOs.
They are successful in their abilities to save patients in some instances and fail in other instances.
The young doctors ultimately decide that the only way to protect the patients is to eliminate the CEOs, not simply by exposing them and getting them fired from their positions, but by killing them, or having them killed.
Antagonists’ Resolutions
Both CEOs devise strategies to kill the other CEO, unknowingly that the other CEO is aware that they were backstabbing the other and unaware that each CEO has plans to kill the other.
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Assignment 5
N. Lucas
Create a first draft of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
1. Give us the following:
Concept : ‘Hallmark’ type romance set in tropical location Main Conflict: Main Character, who does not like weddings, dating, or being impulsive is named Best Man for his (best) friend’s elopement in just a matter of days. He has also been tasked to find the hotel rooms, wedding planner, cake, etc. En route, he finds himself falling for the hotel manager/wedding planner and the tropical sun.Old Ways: loves structure, following a charted path, success, planning well in advance, loves Chicago, all the seasonsNew Ways: finding himself becoming more spontaneous, outside forces make him think for the ‘now’ and forced to make decisions that could affect him for the rest of his life. In this story he will see a few other people make big decisions (that will affect their life) spontaneously and with ease and he is now forced to do the same.
2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
Opening: Dan, his co-worker at the law firm is eloping and named him his best manInciting Incident: Meets the Hotel Manager, who will help him with all the plans- and become a love interest against all odds.Turning Point: Thinks he should abandon her hotel/wedding planning services for somewhere more upscale. He has to decide to ‘trust his gut’
Act 2:
New plan (I don’t know)Plan in actionMidpoint Turning Point
Act 3:
Rethink everything (I don’t know)New planTurning Point: Huge failure / Major shift
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Knows he can become partner if he goes back to Chicago, success would come faster. Not sure what will happen staying in (what he feels is) a sleepy resort town. But also realizes that he really enjoys helping the girl – fixing things around the motel, and the restaurant. Likes to see her happy and gains satisfaction in knowing he has contributed. Resolution: he finds a place in the village – a perfect spot for the new office near the realestate office. But also, he discovered, a space for him to rent, and buy a truck and start up a side job of being a Mr. fix-it (a job he grew up doing, as, his father was a contractor)
3. Once you have created the 4-Act Structure for your Protagonist, go back over it to see if there is any big picture points you need to add to represent your Antagonist.
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Lora Bachman 4 Act Transformational Structure
“What I learned doing this assignment is I know where the story is headed, even if I don’t have all the specifics ironed out yet.
Create a first draft of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
1. Give us the following:
Concept – Our Protagonist is
searching for her soul mate and finds out first hand just how hard and
demoralizing the modern world of dating is.Main Conflict – Realizing her
self-worth and trying not to get lost in toxic and abusive relationships.Old Ways – Naïve,
people-pleaser, will take what she can get.New Ways – Jaded, independent, strong,
knows her worth.2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
Opening – I’m thinking the
opening should be a flash forward to the most intense/tragic moment of the
season, then it will go back to present day and introduce the main
character in her normal, everyday setting.Inciting Incident – She meets
the person she believes might be her soul mate, and she falls head over
heels.Turning Point – She has decided
she will do whatever it takes to make this relationship work.Act 2:
New plan – After several
incidents in this relationship, she starts to question if this person is
who she is meant to be with – or if she even knows him at all.Plan in action – She struggles
with her own self-worth, and the situation she has gotten herself in. She
tries to leave, but is trapped. She looks to her close circle for help.Midpoint Turning Point – She starts
weeding out friends, realizes she can’t trust anyone and takes a more
independent stance.Act 3:
Rethink everything – She
questions who she is and what she brings to the table. Is this
relationship the problem? Or is she the problem?New plan – She tries to date other people and see what else is out there, but she is drawn back into the relationship in question.
Turning Point: Huge failure /
Major shift – She is left to suffer her darkest moment alone.Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of
the conflict – He blindsides her by making a major decision and gives her
no choice but to fight or take flight.Resolution – She has to learn
to pick herself up and carry on even though she feels worthless and
destroyed. -
Kay Hundley – Lesson 5 – Transformational Structure
What I learned in this assignment is where to draw the breaks between acts. I find the transition between the Act 2 Turning Point and the resolution somewhat difficult to discern. In my head it all just flows, so it’s good to be able to differentiate that a bit better.
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1.
Concept/theme: Entrysk is forced to choose between her friend and her dragon clan after they discover the intruder within the Sheltered Forest. Will she accept her new friend even if it means going against her own clan?
Main Conflict: E’s mother has instructed her to escort the intruder from the forest, and instructed the guards to make sure she stays out.
Old Ways: E is set in the ways of the clan
New Ways: E accepting those outside the clan
ACT 1:
Opening: Morning, E wakes and discovers a visitor a young raptor who seems familiar to her
Inciting Incident: She tries to hide her while going about her dragon duties but others discover the visitor and reveal her location to the elders.
Turning Point: Elders allow E to escort the visitor out of the forest, but secretly instruct her brothers to look out for her.
ACT 2:
New plan: Agree to send her away and make sure she leaves
Plan in action: Violet doesn’t make it so easy, causing trouble along the way, but the two have fun learning about each other on the way.
Midpoint Turning Point: V gets E in trouble with the Brutes. they get kicked out of the lagoon. E has had it, and sends R away with the Brutes to escort her, as E has to go with brothers to the ‘Challenges’.
ACT 3:
Rethink everything: E realizes she misses her new friend and hasn’t been fair.
New plan: E finds a trinket she needs to return to Violet as a ruse to get back to her friend, and excuses herself. Much to the chagrin of her mother, she goes to find V and apologize for sending her away.
V wanders aimlessly out of the forest, kicking pebbles, dragging her tail, and brushes a dragon nest, knocking an egg out of it.
Turning Point:
E approaches as she witnesses V send the egg out of the forest. E goes after the egg to save it. The egg rolls out of the forest, and both E and the egg are caught by hunters in a trap/netting. Once again V has got her in trouble.
V emerges from the forest to see her friend in trouble. E hands her back the trinket and apologizes. Then, the hunter stuns E in the trap and pockets the egg in a satchel.
V witnessing her friend hurt, cleverly attacks the hunters and snatches the netted bundle containing her friend. She bolts back into the forest.
ACT 4:
New plan: V accepts the Raptor and plans to challenge the elders to allow Violet to stay.
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The elders and several members of the clan have been alerted to what happened with the egg, including the distraught mother of the egg. They all converge on the two friends to see E still in the trap as Violet chews them out.
Hgielyak confronts the two as they return, hearing what happened. Other elders are aware and want the R banned. H considers this but doesn’t want break her daughters heart.
Resolution: As the elders and H are discussing, R (hiding back under the protective wing of E) produces a prize to the camp that she secretly had hidden away in her tail since leaving the hunters – the runaway egg. E stands up to clan in support of V and claims her as subject.
Es mother sees the bond between them and puts aside her order to remove the raptor and agrees to let her stay.
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Leo’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is that this story which I had been struggling with for a long time was missing what was identified in the lesson as Act 3. I was going directly from two to four. The lesson was helpful in solving this problem.
Mama Says
Concept – Two brothers reconnect with their mom. One to
meet her, the other to kill her.
Main Conflict – Martin seeks to protect his employer, Nunu,
who unbeknownst to him is his real mom, from exploitation and ultimately murder,
by Francis, a half-brother he didn’t know he had.
Old WaysJokes about everything
Won’t make a commitment
Believes a lie about his familyNew Ways
Fights for his friends
Declares his love for his girlfriend
Learns the true meaning of familyAct 1:
Opening – Martin obsesses about his missing Mom and why
he was abandoned.
Inciting Incident – Martin helps Nunu discover a
magical amulet that her deceased husband, Brock, had hidden from her,
releasing supernatural forces into the house.
Turning Point – Martin meets the lady he thought was his
mom, only to discover that she was his brother Billy’s mom, but not his.
He leaves his stepfather and stepbrother.Act 2:
New plan – Martin moves into room in garage of his
employers estate.
Plan in action – Jokes begin to fall flat, especially
with the maid, Peaches, upon whom he has a crush. Tries to help everyone,
but begins to suspect that Francis is up to no good.
Midpoint Turning Point – A birthday party for Nunu turns
into an attempt by Francis to kill her. Martin, Nunu, and Peaches are trapped
inside the main house of the estate as Francis goes mad and tries to kill
them all.Act 3:
Rethink everything – Accepts Peaches friendship and
vows to save her and Nunu. Tries to get message to his stepfather and stepbrother.New plan – Trick Francis into thinking his deceased father,
Brock, has returned from the dead and has a message for him, so he will
give up the fight.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift – Because of
Nunu’s magical amulet, Brock’s ghost really does return, bringing spirits
with him. Now Martin must fight Francis and ghosts.Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Martin’s
relationship to Nunu, Francis and Brock is revealed. Martin risks his life
to save everyone else. He faces Francis directly, and hands him over to
the police.
Resolution. Martin and Peaches get married in the
restored estate. His real family and his adoptive family are united as
one. -
Christi Falk – Lesson 5 – Transformational Structure
I learned so much about structure in this lesson. I wish I had the funds to take more courses like this. It takes almost 3 months just to save up enough for small ones like these.
Before, I would watch the genre I was writing and try to reverse engineer the structure of movies. Probably why I had such limited success.
Well, I’m confident in blocking out my timeline and can’t wait to flesh it out.
PS- That reminds me, if you have buckets of money and can’t write mysteries, I’m absolutely for sale. I have a mortgage that isn’t paying itself. 🙂
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K-onna’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
What I learned doing this assignment is that I had to completely reassess the focus of the story. This changed the concept and main conflict.
Concept: After witnessing a murder, Jane is presumed dead and has been safely living under an assumed name, but when she meets John, a man who has secrets of his own, she must decide whether to run again or to trust him to help her bring the murderer to justice.
Main Conflict: Jane must figure out if she can trust John, while planning how to epose the murderer.
Old Ways: no relationships; afraid of everything; always prepared to run, keeping to the defensive
New Ways: no more running, going on the offensive
Act 1:
Opening: Jane sneaking off to meet with friends. She gets goaded into going off with Vince
Inciting Incident: She sees Vince get murdered
Turning Point: She escapes and becomes a new person
Act 2:
New plan: stay hidden, avoid connections; carries gun
Plan in action: avoids John
Midpoint Turning Point: Someone has broken into her home
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Decides to ask John for help
New plan: goes to NY to meet John
Turning Point: Jane finds John with the murderer
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: fighting for her life
Resolution: Murderer is caught and she gets to stop hiding.
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Meg Stout’s 4 Act Transformational Structure for Sundered (about the 1985 Mormon bombings)
What I learned doing this assignment is that sometimes you have to leap on an opportunity.
Act 1:
Opening: Terri Christensen drops her husband, Steve, off at his downtown office in 1985.
Inciting Incident: A bomb explodes. Steve dies in Terri’s arms.
Turning Point: Return to the day Steve and Terri were married by Terri’s great-uncle, a member of the First Presidency of the Church (Marion G. Romney).
Act 2:
New plan: President Romney asks Steve to begin acquiring documents related to the founding of the Church.
Plan in action: Steve immerses himself and Terri in the New Mormon History movement, which is radically re-thinking the foundations of the Church claims to authority. The movement goes outside Church imprimatur as the Church clamps down on research.
Midpoint: Steve is able to acquire a document that fundamentally challenges the Church’s truth claims but is unable to keep the document from being published.
Turning Point: Terri tells Steve her faith is undergoing crisis both because of the new finds and her knowledge of how hard the Church is working to suppress the historians.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Steve plans to get out of the document business, but is offered the chance to acquire a cache of early documents that are reported to be very damning relative to the Church.
New plan: Steve agrees to purchase the cache of documents, planning to end his activities after this acquisition. Meanwhile the seller, Mark Hofmann, delays.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Steve threatens to destroy Hofmann’s credibility if the documents are not produced. Steve sees this as a way to restore Terri’s confidence in the Church, as the documents that have bothered Terri have predominantly come through Hofmann.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The bomb goes off, killing Steve. Another bomb kills the wife of Steve’s business partner an hour later. The next day a bomb maims Mark Hofmann. The initial pool of potential victims is almost the same as the initial pool of suspects. But the investigation focuses on Hofmann, whose account of the bombing conflicts with physical evidence and accounts from other witnesses. Ultimately the investigators uncover evidence Hofmann’s “finds” included forgeries he had created. Hofmann agrees to confess what he did and how he did it in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. Meanwhile, the documents Hofmann was claiming to be selling are located in the Church archives, having been purchased decades before for only $50.
Resolution: Terri goes to Steve’s grave to tell him about Hofmann and the McLellin journals, which had been purchased for only $50 decades before. While she promises to raise Steve’s children in the faith, she has lost her faith. She removes her wedding ring and places it on Steve’s headstone, walking away.
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