[Ashton Reech]

My TV Show’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is that I can create the depth that my main characters need if I do my best to flesh out these six elements of this model. And I could have completed this lesson in much less time if I had used the AI prompt as my first step.

Journey:

When Johnny and Steve are presented with an opportunity to make some fast money to get them out of debt and help their mother, find themselves transforming from poor, struggling, streetwise …. they find themselves caught up in a criminal underworld they know nothing about.

Main Characters: Johnny and Steve

A. Role in the show:

Johnny: Twentysomething telemarketer struggles to support his mother and ailing grandfather.

Steve: Looks for a get-rich-quick scheme to pay off his debt to local loan shark and take care of his family.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise:

Johnny:

Expertise: Natural salesman
Purpose: Make money to take care of his family

Steve:

Expertise: charisma, resourcefulness
Purpose: Start his own business and make money to pay back his loan

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?

Johnny and Steve hide their weed smuggling business from family, friends, law enforcement, and the local organized crime boss.

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

Is it okay for Johnny and Steve to smuggle weed, engage in violence, lie to their mother, kill people even if it’s self defense?

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Johnny and Steve rely on their talents and resourcefulness to overcome each hurdle, but they find themselves making ethical compromises and slipping deeper into a world of crime.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Johnny and Steve’s father left them and their teen mother when they were very young forcing her to take care of two small boys on her own. As they grew up, Johnny and Steve learned to fend for themselves on the streets of Baltimore. Now in their twenties, they work menial jobs while their mother juggles a job and takes care of their ailing grandfather.

[Ashton Reech]

ASSIGNMENT 1:

MAIN CHARACTERS CIRCLE:
Elizabeth
Philip
Stan (FBI neighbor)

CONNECTED CIRCLE:
Henry (son)
Paige (daughter)
Chris (Stan’s partner)
Annelise (wife of assistant undersecretary)
Nina (woman working at Soviet embassy)

ENVIRONMENT CIRCLE:
Viola (Weinberger’s maid)
Grayson (Viola’s college student son)
Viola’s brother
Other Russians at the Soviet embassy
Stereo store owner

ASSIGNMENT 2:

My TV Show’s Three Circles of Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is that when you organize your characters into these three groups, it’s easier to figure out how best to make use of them to drive the story over multiple episodes.

MAIN CHARACTERS CIRCLE:

Johnny – Twenty-something, street-smart, introvert with a natural gift of persuasion.

Steve – Johnny’s charismatic, partying, younger brother with an entrepreneurial spirit.

CONNECTED CIRCLE:

Mary – Johnny and Steve’s mother

Whitey – Johnny and Steve’s grandfather

Spanky – Flamboyant nightclub owner

Bobby – Member of the organized crime family known as The Baltimore Crew

Jeffery and Eric – Steve’s nightclub friends from the suburbs

ENVIRONMENT CIRCLE:

Johnny’s boss

People at the nightclub

[Ashton Reech]

The Americans 5 Star Model

What I learned doing this assignment is that you can actually get viewers hooked in just one episode of a TV show using this model.

————–

OUTLINE:

· Establish Elizabeth and Philip as spies in 1981 Washington, D.C. at the height of the cold war kidnapping a defected KGB officer.

· They miss the hand off of the KGB defector to send him back to USSR and now must keep him in the trunk of their car until things die down.

· Flashback – Russia, 1961 – Elizabeth is sparring/training. The KGB officer they kidnapped rapes her.

· Philip and Elizabeth debate about what to do with KGB officer.

· Philip and daughter go to the mall. He tries on cowboy boots and dances. An asshole at the mall hits on the daughter.

· Philip makes advances toward Elizabeth. She stops him. Scene shows that they might not be a loving, trusting couple, but rather their relationship could be more of an arrangement.

· Philip and Elizabeth welcome their new neighbors with brownies. The neighbor turns out to be a counterintelligence agent for the FBI.

· Philip and Elizabeth are unsure if his moving in is a coincidence or if the FBI is on to them. They discuss options for their future. Philip wants to defect and live their lives like a normal American family. Kerry is opposed and is loyal to their home country.

· Flashback – Russia, 1962 – Philip and Elizabeth meet for the first time as they are paired up to be deep cover spies to pose as husband and wife in Virginia outside of DC.

· Philip learns that their comrade died the night they dropped him at the hospital.

· FBI neighbor stops by to borrow jumper cables. Philip must open the trunk. We are still unsure if FBI neighbor is on to them.

· Assembly at the kids’ school. National anthem. Astronaut gets ovation. Philip’s wheels are turning about defecting.

· That night, Philip lets KGB defector out of the trunk to turn him into the FBI neighbor. Elizabeth stops him. They argue. Elizabeth kicks KGB ass, but then stops short of killing him. Philip finds out that KGB raped her, so he kills him.

· They drive together to dispose of the body. Kerry looks at him and realizes that he does love her and care about her. They make out and do it in the car.

· FBI neighbor discusses his suspicion of Philip with his wife. Wife thinks he’s thinking too much like FBI guy.

· Philip finds the mall asshole and beats the crap out of him in his own backyard.

· Elizabeth visits a Russian general at a KGB safe house because they’re in hot water after botching the kidnapping job. We learn that Elizabeth has been questioning Philip’s loyalty to the home country, but now she wants to protect him as she also takes the blame for botching the job. The general also talks about escalating the cold war.

· Counterintelligence meeting – speech about rooting out sleeper agents in USA. We now see both sides are escalating.

· Elizabeth and Philip in bed having an intimate moment. Elizabeth shares a story about her father fighting the Nazis to establish her motivation.

· Flashback – 1965 – Philip and Elizabeth arrive in Virginia to begin their life as deep spies. We see that Philip has feelings for her. Elizabeth is all business.

· FBI neighbor breaks into the garage to check out the car. He opens the trunk to see a clean trunk. Philip watches him as he holds a gun at the ready.

————–

1. Big Picture Hooks
Two Soviet spies pose as a married couple in the U.S. during the cold war.

2. Amazing and Intriguing Character
The double life of Elizabeth and Philip adds complexity to their characters and creates suspense around their possible exposure as spies.

3. Empathy / Distress
Elizabeth and Philip are forced to question their loyalties when their work as spies threatens to destroy their family.

4. Layers / Open Loops
Will Elizabeth and Philip have to choose between family and loyalty to their country? Will their FBI agent neighbor discover that they are Soviet spies? Will their children?

5. Inviting Obsession
By introducing empathetic characters that we want to root for. We want to find out if Elizabeth and Philip are going to keep their family together and if they can avoid being discovered as spies.

[Ashton Reech]

Hi everyone, my name is Ashton Reech. I’ve written a few features over the years. This is my first time getting into television writing. Looking forward to trying out AI as a writing tool alongside the BW model.

[Ashton Reech]

Ashton Reech

I agree to the terms of this release form.

As a member of this group, I agree to the following:

1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.

2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.

I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.

3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.

4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.

5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.

6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.