[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Pitches

What I learned from this assignment: Keep rewriting and rewriting. It’s never too late to improve.

Elevator Pitch

Hitler’s Choirboys: From the flames of World War 2, a few good men must make Hitler’s henchmen denounce their Führer. But a bitter young hustler seeks revenge… A powerful story of redemption from behind the scenes of the world’s greatest trial at Nuremberg.

Phone Pitch

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd. I have a war drama called Hitler’s Choirboys: think Hacksaw Ridge meets A Few Good Men, movies that returned up to six times their budgets. Can I take a few more seconds?

From the flames of war, the Nuremberg Trial is set to begin. Behind the scenes, a few good men must get Hitler’s henchmen to renounce their Führer. Fail and a new generation of Nazis will fight on forever. But a bitter young hustler is bent on revenge… Inspired by a true story.

Pitch Fest Pitch

Credibility:

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a journalist, TV presenter, author of more than a dozen books, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a Jew whose family survived the Nazis, I’ve grappled all my life to understand the war and the Holocaust.

Genre: War drama, based on an untold true story.

Title: Hitler’s Choirboys.

Hook: Out of the embers of war, three good men must get Hitler’s henchmen to denounce their Führer. Fail and the Nazis could rise again. But on the team, an embittered hustler is bent on revenge. A powerful story of redemption from behind the scenes of the world’s greatest trial at Nuremberg – in time for its 80th anniversary. Think Hacksaw Ridge meets A Few Good Men.

Query Letter

‘These Nazis ain’t men, they’re monsters. Waddya do with monsters? You kill ‘em.’

‘War’s over, Sam.’

‘Mine ain’t.’

Or:

A powerful untold story of redemption and revenge from the aftermath of World War 2.

Dear Producer,

Title: Hitler’s Choirboys

Genre: War drama

From the flames of war, three good men must get Hitler’s henchmen to denounce their Führer. Fail and the fight could rage on forever. But a bitter young hustler seeks revenge… A powerful untold story of redemption from the world’s greatest trial at Nuremberg.

Think Hacksaw Ridge meets Schindler’s List, and Dead Man Walking meets A Few Good Men. Powerful movies crackling with conflict that netted a seven-times return on investment.

Hitler’s Choirboys is timely. 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2. 2026 marks the landmark Nuremberg Trail. Meanwhile, the world continues to grapple with war, the Holocaust and their meaning for today. Charismatic hustler Sam Fuller will bring these issues to life for a young audience, while this powerful story will hook WW2 buffs of all ages.

If you like the concept, please let me know and I will send you the script.

Andrew Boyd is a journalist, TV presenter, author of more than a dozen books, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

Please contact:

andrewboydmediaconsultant@gmail.com

+44 7919 311993

Andrew Boyd, Clint House, Washington Road, Storrington, UK, RH204DE

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Target Market

What I learned in this assignment: Is to think laterally. If a producer has worked previously on similar movies that is a good indication of possible interest. Also, one thing leads to another. If you step sideways off the beaten track you can find related titles that don’t come up under the genre filters. It’s also helpful to see the box office figures to avoid flops. Lastly, it helps to get a list of the other related movies the producer has made, to be sure to watch any you’ve missed before making contact. It’s a lengthy process – no surprises there – but hopefully it will justify the IMDBPro subscription. A helpful assignment.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Phone Pitch

What I learned from this assignment is: Hook them with your business pitch in the first few seconds.

Pitch opener

I would couple the title with a brief business pitch:

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, and I have a war drama called Hitler’s Choirboys. Think Hacksaw Ridge meets A Few Good Men, movies that returned up to six times their budgets.

If time: The war’s over, the Nuremberg Trial is set to begin. Behind the scenes a few good men must make Hitler’s henchmen renounce the Fuhrer before a watching world. Fail and a new generation of Nazis will take their place. But on their team is a bitter young hustler bent on revenge…

What’s the budget range?

$15-30m

Who do you see in the main roles?

Sam Fuller (angry, funny, charismatic, and vengeful): John Boyega (Star Wars) or H Hunter Hall (War of the Worlds / Harriet).

Chaplain Henry Gerecke: (Decent, conflicted): Tom Hanks (Bridge of Spies) or Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight).

Hermann Goering (Nazi Hannibal Lecter): Mads Mikkelson (Hannibal) or Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs).

How many pages is the script?

130.

Who else has seen this?

You’re the first.

Why do you think this fits our company?

I loved Hacksaw Ridge / Schindler’s List / Dead Man Walking / A Few Good Men

Hitler’s Choirboys has a similar theme – a few good men thrown into a shark tank of killers. Can they turn evil around – or will they be torn apart trying?

How does the movie end?

Angry hustler Sam finds redemption, but reveals he got the hangman to botch the Nazi executions in revenge for the murder of his brother.

I’d be honoured to send you the script.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Pitch Fest Pitch

What I learned is: Tighten and polish.

Credibility:

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, I’m a journalist, TV presenter, author of more than a dozen books, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a Jew whose family survived the Nazis, I’ve been fascinated by the war and the holocaust for years.

Genre: War drama, based on an untold true story.

Title: Hitler’s Choirboys.

Hook: Out of the embers of war, three good men and an embittered hustler must get Hitler’s henchmen to denounce the Führer. Fail and the Nazis could rise again. A powerful story of redemption and revenge from behind the scenes of the world’s greatest trial at Nuremberg – timed for its 80th anniversary. Think Hacksaw Ridge meets A Few Good Men.

Questions:

What is the budget range?

Middle budget: $15 – $30m. Main sets are a prison, courtroom, concentration camp, and bomb-flattened ruins.

What actors do you like for the lead roles?

Piano-playing hustler Sam Fuller (charismatic, bent on revenge): John Boyega (Star Wars) or H Hunter Hall (War of the Worlds / Harriet).

Chaplain Henry Gerecke: (Decent, conflicted): Tom Hanks (Bridge of Spies) or Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight).

Hermann Goering (Nazi Hannibal Lecter): Mads Mikkelson (Hannibal) or Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs).

What are the acts of the story?

Act 1: The war’s over. US Army Chaplain Henry Gerecke and his piano-playing sidekick Sam Fuller should be heading home. Instead, they’re assigned to Nuremberg. Henry has to get the leading Nazis to renounce Hitler before they swing for war crimes. But Sam finds out the SS murdered his brother and is bent on revenge.

Act 2: Sam walks out on the chaplain after the Nazis taunt him with racist jibes. He settles for guard duty where he can make their lives hell. His racist sergeant threatens to kill him. Meanwhile, the Nazis are running rings round Henry.

Act 3 / 2b: Henry overcomes his demons, toughens up and confronts the leading Nazis, including Albert Speer. Several denounce the Fuhrer in court. But Henry still can’t crack Goering. Sam takes a bet from his racist sergeant as to how many Nazis will hang – putting his own life on the line.

Act 4: Henry loses his battle with Goering, who commits suicide. The chaplains lead the condemned Nazis to the gallows, but the hangings are horribly botched. Sam shoots his racist sergeant and goes on the run. 15 years later, he’s in Menard Penitentiary as Henry’s assistant.

The ending: Thanks to Henry, Sam finally finds redemption. Then Henry dies. Sam pitches for parole to attend his memorial. Sam reveals he took his revenge on the Nazis by getting the executioner to botch the hangings. Sam is released to go to Henry’s memorial and plays the organ – hot.

Credibility:

I have been a professional writer all my life: journalist, author of more than a dozen books, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Six years of research, half a million words of notes from countless books and documentaries have gone into Hitler’s Choirboys. I want to open up the subject to a new generation. The screenplay’s done and I’m about to finish the novel.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Query letter

What I learned: Keep it short, make it intriguing. Polish it until it gleams.

‘These Nazis ain’t men, they’re monsters. Waddya do with monsters? You kill ‘em.’

‘War’s over, Sam.’

‘Mine ain’t.’

Dear Producer,

Title: Hitler’s Choirboys Genre: War drama

Out of the embers of war, three good men and an embittered hustler must bring Hitler’s henchmen to justice. Can they get these killers to denounce the Führer before a watching world? Fail and the flames of conflict will rise again. First, each must overcome his personal demons. A powerful untold story of redemption and revenge from the world’s greatest trial at Nuremberg. Based on true events.

Think Hacksaw Ridge meets Schindler’s List, meets Dead Man Walking, meets A Few Good Men. Powerful movies crackling with conflict that netted a seven-times return on investment.

Hitler’s Choirboys is timely. 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2. 2026 marks the end of the world’s greatest trial in Nuremberg. The world still grapples with war, the Holocaust and their meaning for today. Charismatic hustler Sam Fuller will make these issues come alive to a young audience. Other roles will hook WW2 buffs of all ages.

If you like the concept, please let me know and I will send you the script.

Andrew Boyd is a journalist, TV presenter, author of more than a dozen books, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

Contact info:

andrewboydmediaconsultant@gmail.com

+44 7919 311993

Andrew Boyd, Clint House, Washington Road, Storrington, UK. RH204DE

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Hooks and Elevator Pitch

What I’ve learned from this assignment:

The difference between a hook and an elevator pitch. One tosses the bait, the other reels ’em in. The hook snares the heart, the pitch drives it deeper, and also appeals to the head.

Hooks:

Can a few good men turn evil around, or will they be torn apart trying?

In the shadow of World War 2, a powerful story of redemption and revenge.

Elevator pitch. In answer to ‘What are you working on?’:

The screenplay Hitler’s Choirboys: In the shadow of World War 2, three good men and a troubled hustler must bring Hitler’s henchmen to justice. Fail and the flames of war could rise again. A powerful untold story of redemption and revenge from the world’s greatest trial at Nuremberg.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Synopsis Hooks

What I learned in this assignment:

Pulling together your hooks is like creating a trailer. All the good bits pitched at a producer without giving the game away. Helpful exercise!

The hooks are my logline, part of my concept, part of my actor appeal, mixed with intrigue and a few compelling lines about box-office potential. Here’s my draft:

Hitler’s Choirboys

Nuremberg 1945: In the shadow of World War 2, an unlikely alliance of three US Army officers and a revenge-seeking hustler are all that stand in the way of Hitler’s henchmen and a deadly Nazi resurgence.

The top Nazis are on trial for their lives and their place in history. They want the war to rage on for ever. Can a handful of men turn them around?

Hitler’s Choirboys is a war drama based on an inspirational true story. It offers a unique back-room angle on the Nuremberg Trial never before told on the screen.

This powerful story unfolds through the eyes of young hustler Sam Fuller, a man with a tough past who must wrestle with racism from the Nazis and his US army colleagues alike. Piano-playing Fuller has a wicked line in wisecracks and a thirst for revenge. This charismatic role will ensure a teen audience engages in this watershed moment for humanity, while the movie also targets WW2 buffs of all ages.

Top Nazi Hermann Goering wants the Allies to join Germany in fighting Russia. He’s the Nazi Hannibal Lecter: scheming, ruthless, and manipulative.

On the US team, three decent men with demons of their own have a mission impossible: to get these hardened Nazis to renounce their beloved Führer before they face the gallows. Time is running out… Can they call these killers to account? Fail and a new generation of fanatics will rise to take their place. But each man has cause to want revenge on the Nazis:

Chaplain Henry Gerecke’s sons were badly wounded in action – his posting to Nuremberg could shipwreck his marriage. Sixtus O’Connor helped liberate a concentration camp – and the thug behind that is now in his charge. Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert knows some of the Nazi defendants are on the brink of madness. But if he declares them insane they will escape justice… Meanwhile Sam Fuller is biding his time. The SS brutally murdered his brother Joel when he tried to surrender. And Sam is determined to make them pay…

All four nurse wounds and secrets that haunt them, that threaten to tear them down.

Hitler’s Choirboys illuminates the human condition. It explores themes of good and evil, redemption and justice. What happens when you throw good men into a shark tank of killers? Can decent people turn evil around? Or will they be torn apart trying?

Hitler’s Choirboys: Think Hacksaw Ridge meets Schindler’s List, meets Dead Man Walking, meets A Few Good Men. Major movies that returned on average more than seven-times their investment and offered career-defining roles for top actors. The actor attractions and box office potential are clear.

And the timing is perfect. 2025 is the 80th anniversary of WW2 and the start of the world’s greatest trial in Nuremberg. 2026 is the anniversary of its conclusion. Hitler’s Choirboys is a moving and powerful story that will stay with you long after you watch it.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Andrew Boyd. Reason: Developed further after feedback

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s project and market

Genre:

Drama, war, based on a true story. Gritty. Emotional. Inspirational.

Title:

Hitler’s Choirboys

Concept:

Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives and their place in history – if they go down as heroes a new generation of Nazis will rise to fight for the Fatherland. Only a handful of men stand in their way.

What is most attractive about this story?

2026 is the 80th anniversary of the greatest trial in history – the trial of the leading Nazis. The world remembers and wonders: how could this have happened, and why? And what can be done to prevent it happening again? Based on a true story, a few decent men work tirelessly to persuade Hitler’s henchmen to denounce the Fuhrer and all he stood for before they are sent to the gallows.

Who will you target first?

Producers, I think. This is a certain kind of film – profound, challenging, inspirational, and it will need a producer with a similar vision to bring it to the screen.

What I learned today is:

The challenge of being succinct over a challenging and cerebral issue. The importance of selling over telling.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Proofreading

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: It doesn’t matter how many times you proofread a script you will still find mistakes. I have read this out loud several times. While I can catch spelling errors this way, what the eye and ear tend to miss is punctuation, especially stray spaces. After reading it out loud again, I ran spell and grammar checks in both Word and Scrivener. Word was more accurate.

During the course of proofing I made a number of improvements to the script that the process highlighted.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd Wordsmithing: Elevate key words, cut distractions

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment:

I was surprised to find so many repetitions. There were 97 uses of ‘eyes’, 68 of ‘over, 44 each of ‘head’ and ‘get’, and 31 of ‘Look’ or ‘looks’

I made 57 changes, including eliminating one entire line that was repeated.

Here’s an example with ‘head’:

Before:

A woman HUSTLER heads his way. Seeing the meal ticket is black, she stops dead and hurries back.

After:

A woman HUSTLER zeroes in. Seeing the meal ticket is black, she stops dead and hurries back.

And here’s the line that was repeated:

The gun shakes in his outstretched hand, inches from Henry’s face. Henry looks beyond it and straight at Sam. [This last sentence was repeated a couple of paragraphs later.]

Sometimes there is no good alternative to the obvious word, in which case, it’s best left as it is.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd: Elevate key words, cut distractions

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment:

I was surprised to find so many repetitions. There were 97 uses of ‘eyes’, 68 of ‘over, 44 each of ‘head’ and ‘get’, and 31 of ‘Look’ or ‘looks’

I made 57 changes, including eliminating one entire line that was repeated.

Here’s an example with ‘head’:

Before:

A woman HUSTLER heads his way. Seeing the meal ticket is black, she stops dead and hurries back.

After:

A woman HUSTLER zeroes in. Seeing the meal ticket is black, she stops dead and hurries back.

And here’s the line that was repeated:

The gun shakes in his outstretched hand, inches from Henry’s face. Henry looks beyond it and straight at Sam. [This last sentence was repeated a couple of paragraphs later.]

Sometimes there is no good alternative to the obvious word, in which case, it’s best left as it is.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd has tested every line.

WIM Module 9, Lesson 1, Read your script to elevate dialogue

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment:

I’ve already gone through this several times, trying to trim back. But one feedback said it still read like a novel. So the approach to make the description a faster read has been helpful, and I’ve been able to trim back a further page throughout. Perhaps the most obvious difference is to the opening scene-setter.

Before:

INT. DARKENED ROOM AT US MILITARY HOSPITAL, MUNICH – DAY

A NEWSREEL is playing. A night offensive. The mayhem and chaos of war. Artillery BOOMS and FLASHES, bouncing off glasses and faces in the room. Deafening, blinding.

SUPER 1: US MILITARY HOSPITAL MUNICH, 1945

SUPER 2: They say the war is over…

SAM FULLER, black, early 20s, sassy, PENCIL jammed behind an ear as ever, sits beside MANCINI the PROJECTIONIST. Sam pulls a face at the RACKET and nudges MANCINI. COLONEL SULLIVAN and CHAPLAIN HENRY GERECKE, early 50s, balding, gold glasses, sat ahead of them, wince. The Colonel flashes him a look.

Mancini, unfamiliar with the controls, frantically scrabbles in the dark to find the volume control, finds the knob and cranks it down. Relief.

Eyes narrow as the Newsreel image brightens and and the THUNDER of artillery gives way to the DRONE of a plane. Nuremberg as seen from Hitler’s Ju52, Iron Annie. A NAZI ANTHEM plays, thousands march, crowds go wild.

After:

INT. DARKENED ROOM AT US MILITARY HOSPITAL, MUNICH – DAY

A NEWSREEL is playing. A night offensive. The chaos of war. Artillery BOOMS and FLASHES, bouncing off glasses and faces in the room. Deafening, blinding.

SUPER 1: US MILITARY HOSPITAL MUNICH, 1945

SUPER 2: Two months after the end of the war…

SAM FULLER, black, early 20s, sassy, PENCIL jammed behind ear, winces at the RACKET and nudges MANCINI, the PROJECTIONIST. CHAPLAIN HENRY GERECKE, early 50s, balding, gold glasses, is sat ahead of them with COLONEL SULLIVAN who flashes MANCINI a look.

Mancini panics to find the volume. SAM cranks it down.

The Newsreel image brightens. Daylight. The DRONE of a plane. Nuremberg as seen from Hitler’s Ju52. A NAZI ANTHEM plays, thousands march, crowds go wild.

NEWSREEL (V.O.)

(Brisk, portentious)

Nuremberg, where the whole shooting match began. The Fuhrer’s plane casts a long shadow over the Fatherland as adoring crowds hail their new Messiah.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Elevated dialogue

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Doesn’t matter how many times you’ve gone over this, you can always sharpen your dialogue. What helps is to look for specific things on each fresh pass. I elevated some 20 scenes and countless lines. Another helpful assignment.

Three examples:

Context: Henry’s refusal of the call to Nuremberg.

Act 1 p10

Before:

HENRY

Besides, I’m overdue in St Louis. I’ve got a wife whose still mad at me for letting my boys go to war, and madder still at me for chasing out after them.

After:

HENRY

‘Sides, I’m overdue in St Louis. I’ve got a wife whose still mad at me for letting my boys go to war, and madder still at me for hightailing it out after them.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Act 3 p71

Context: Goering is trying to manipulate the chaplain and win him round. He plays on his German extraction.

Before:

GOERING

(Conciliatory)

We may never agree on everything, Herr Pastor, but on this we must: it is the Russians who pose the greatest threat to Western civilisation. The English-speaking peoples and the Germans are the same. Our blood is the same! We must work together before we are all overrun by the Bolsheviks.

(Squeezes his shoulder)

You see? We are back to an understanding.

After:

GOERING

(Conciliatory)

We may never agree on everything, Herr Pastor, but on this we must: it is the Russians who pose the greatest threat to Western civilisation. The English-speaking peoples and the Germans are the same. Our blood is the same! You have German blood! We must work together before we are all overrun by the Bolsheviks.

(Squeezes his shoulder)

You see? We are back to an understanding.

Act 3 p103

Context. Confronting Goering, who cynically asks for communion as a kind of insurance policy – just in case.

Before:

GOERING

This… communion of yours, this bread, this wine that mean so much to you. Tell me more, just in case there is anything in this business of yours.

Henry stares. Caught in a moment of unexpected hope. Then reluctantly shakes his head.

HENRY

I see no regret. No remorse. Not even a glimmer of faith! You deny Christ. You refuse to accept him as your Savior! So how the… How could I possibly commune you?

After:

GOERING

This… communion of yours, this bread, this wine that mean so much to you. Tell me more, just in case there is anything in this… business of yours.

Henry stares. Caught in a moment of unexpected hope. Then reluctantly shakes his head.

HENRY

You think I’m the man from the Prudential, peddling insurance? I see no regret. No remorse. Not even a glimmer of faith! You deny Christ. You refuse to accept him as your Savior! So how the… How could I possibly commune you?

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd, Amazing Monologues

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: I love the monologue, which raises the stakes, lets the emotions soar, reveals character and creates a turning point.

Principal Characters:

Sam Fuller, Henry Gerecke & Hermann Goering

Monologues:

Sam Fuller

Sam is the sidekick to Chaplain Henry Gerecke, he’s a hustler, a jailbird and a project for the chaplain. Alternatively furious and funny, he’s a foil for Henry, an everyman who asks awkward questions and demands answers. He’s a gifted piano player and entertainer, who at the beginning of the midpoint sequence entertains GIs in The Stork Club in Nuremberg – and makes a sworn enemy of Sergeant Brannigan.

EXT./ INT. STORK CLUB – NIGHT

The Stork Club above the Opera House in Richard Wagner Street is a blazing beacon, illuminating sidewalks spilling with DRUNK GIs and MPs tapping night sticks.

Inside, the NOISE is deafening and the atmosphere riotous. The place is packed with jitterbugging GIs and their FRAULIENS. Happy Hanukkah POSTERS line the walls.

Brannigan’s with his pals, BEER in hand, scowling at the bar. Sam pounds the PIANO and THE BAND is thumping.

The white singer, EVELYN, leans on the piano making eyes at Sam in a curve-hugging dress. Sam leans over and kisses her on the lips, to Brannigan’s disgust.

SAM

(To Evelyn)

We’re minting it, baby!

Brannigan rises to bluster out. His PALS grin and hold him back. This place has music, booze and broads.

Sam finishes up the hit of the day, Don’t Fence Me In and riffs a little counter-point to some joke-telling.

SAM

Tell you, the boys behind bars love that number, especially that Rudolf Hess. He can swing – one day he will.

(Sinks a beer)

So Unser Rudi finally stands before Winston Churchill, clicks his heels and whacks out a Nazi salute. Great man sucks on that cigar and blows smoke in Rudi’s face.

(Churchill’s drawl)

‘So. You’re the madman, are you?’

Evelyn and the audience appreciate the impression.

SAM

‘Nein!’ yells Hess. ‘I’m just his deputy!’

(Riffs those keys)

Ah, you gotta laugh!

Sam sticks on a HITLER MOUSTACHE, hurls a Nazi salute and hammers out the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

SAM

I signed up for ze Nazis ’cause I liked the uniform

Was ze Jews who invaded Poland and who treated us viz scorn

So ve gave zem a home in Auschwitz and we fattened zem up viz corn

So ve von’t take ze blame no more.

Blame it all upon ze Führer – Seig heil!

Blame it all upon ze Führer

Blame it all upon ze Führer

So ve von’t take ze blame no more…

Some GIs are ROARING, others wonder what to make of it. They take their cue from Jewish SGNT SHLOMO, a man mountain who insists they see the funny side.

SAM

Hey, you gotta laugh – seriously! I’m not allowed to tell Jew jokes no more. Yeah, they made me burn my material. Up in smoke. Orders. Man in uniform with shiny boots. I said, ‘Hymies don’t mind – they feed me the lines.’ Take a bow, Sgt Shlomo.

Sam waves towards Shlomo, who takes an expansive bow.

SAM

If you like the material, buy Schlomo a beer. If you don’t, buy him two – this stuff is rough.

But you gotta obey them orders. That’s what they keep sayin’… Hey! I found out why Hitler murdered himself! Yeah, couldn’t pay his gas bill…

And it’s back to Battle Hymn:

SAM

Ve killed zem for their own protection – Sieg heil!

Ve killed zem for their own protection

Ve killed zem for their own protection

So ve von’t take ze blame no more.

Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the Negro master race I apologise to all our Jewish friends. Tonight I vas only obeying orders. Happy Hanukkah!

The place erupts again. And Sam hits that pre-war hit:

SAM

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey…

But that last quip is too much for Brannigan. He smashes a BOTTLE and his good ol’ boys wade in. Before they can storm the stage, six Jewish GIs close ranks, including Shlomo, who’s even bigger than Brannigan. Shlomo, who’s that close to Brannigan’s face, grins and rumbles:

SGNT SHLOMO

Smatter, Sarge? Don’t you got no irony?

Brannigan weighs the odds: on-duty MPs still happily tap their batons. Brannigan throws Sam a look: You’re dead, boy. Right now there’s no way round that Jewish sergeant.

SGNT SHLOMO

Like the man said, you gotta laff. Ditch that broken bottle, Sarge.

Sam snaps back a salute, blows a kiss at Evelyn and never misses a beat of Mairzy Doates.

OUTSIDE: Brannigan and his boys burst out into Richard Wagner Platz. Added illumination comes from burning copies of Mien Kampf. They shove off into the night.

*

Demanded by the situation: Yeah, because this stuff is so awful ‘you gotta laugh’. Where better than at the midpoint?

Takes us to a deeper place: It reveals Sam as an entertainer and survivor with a reckless streak.

Turning Point: It sets up the enmity between Sam and Sgnt Brannigan which will result in a jail term for Sam.

Emotional: An outpouring of gallows humour to overcome the horror of events. A tension breaker, which then raises the stakes again.

High Stakes: Not at first, but it winds up Brannigan to the point of near murder.

Beginning, middle and end: Sam is singing off colour songs and cracking jokes, in the middle he goes too far for the racist Sergeant who lunges at him with a bottle, and after Jews stand up for Sam, the Sgnt stalks off, nursing a fatal grudge.

*

Henry Gerecke

Context: In Act 3 Chaplain Henry Gerecke gets his mojo. He confronts Nazi armaments minister Albert Speer with hard evidence of his collusion with slavery in a manner designed not simply to get a confession, but to provoke a change of heart. With Henry and Speer in his cell is Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert, who has been spurring Henry on to get tough but has no idea of the storm that’s coming. What follows is the central part of that confrontation.

Henry leaps to his feet. His swiftness and the harshness in his voice startles the German, and Gus too.

HENRY

Goering, Himmler, Hitler… the mistakes were all theirs and theirs alone? As for you, the scales just fell from your eyes? That it? You were blind, but now you see?

Gus begins to protest. But Henry’s usual solicitous patience has given way to scathing sarcasm.

HENRY

You ignored the Führer’s announcement in ’39 that he planned to annihilate the Jews. Huh? And again in ’42. And in ’43 you happened to walk out of a conference just before Himmler announces his intention to slaughter every Jew and all their children… Gimme a break! Unglaub<i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>lich, Herr Speer. Unbelievable.

Henry pulls a photograph from his briefcase and slams it on the flimsy table, which creaks in protest.

HENRY

Recognise that?

Speer gets to his feet and picks up the photo: him, at a concentration camp, surrounded by men in striped pyjamas.

HENRY

(His rage rising)

Your VIP tour of your own armaments factory at Mauthausen. You complained the barracks were too lavish for slave labourers. (Beat)

Know how many died at Mauthausen?

SPEER

I…

HENRY

100,000. Give or take. Including slaves worked to death on your fighter jets. And you didn’t know!

Gus

Henry…

Gus reaches for his sleeve, but Henry sidesteps.

HENRY

I want the truth, Gus! And I want this man to face up to it! He thinks if he presents himself as a reasonable decent man his judges will accept him as such. Hah? One of us? Is that it?

His attention is back on Speer, whose mouth hangs open.

HENRY

But what decent man could possibly sanction this?

Henry dives into his briefcase and hauls out an object tied into a coil which he shakes in front of Speer.

HENRY

Recognise this? It’s steel whip. One of the many used on the foreign slaves who manned your factories.

Henry unties the steel coil and springs open with a metallic hiss, a snake darting for freedom, flashing close to Speer’s exposed face and clattering against the floor. The Judas window flies open. Gus waves it away.

HENRY

Take a closer look.

Unsettled, Speer takes the object between his thumb and forefinger, and peers more closely.

HENRY

What are those?

He stabs his finger at dark marks on the metal. Speer purses his lips and begins to shake his head.

HENRY

(Raging)

Oh yeah, they’re bloodstains. Your SS guard aimed this whip at their eyes. Women’s eyes. Women dragged out of their homes to work for you. For up to 100 hours a week.

Gilbert folds his arms. Speer is holding the whip as though it were on fire. Henry is on him like a foxhound. He hauls a document from his bag and waves it.

HENRY

Sent to you by Dr Wilhelm Jäger, senior physician at the Krupp works. You recall what Jäger said?

Speer’s mouth is working but makes no sound. Henry reads:

NEWSREEL MONTAGE

HENRY (V.O.)

‘Your workers lived in ash pits, dog kennels, baking ovens… every day they were brought to me covered in black bruises… writhing in pain. They died off like flies…’

INT. SPEER’S CELL – EVENING

HENRY

But you… you turned a blind eye. You say you didn’t commit those atrocities? But my God, man, you did nothing to stop them! The proof is in your hands.

Finally, Speer frees his eyes from Henry and raises them towards the whip still in his hand, a hand now poised, as if to strike. Speer lets the ribbon of black steel fall with a clatter, his fingers outstretched. He steps past Henry, walks slowly towards the window and hugs his arms.

*

Demanded by the situation: Henry has to turn Speer around to penetrate his self-serving denial and get him to denounce Hitler.

Takes us to a deeper place: It reveals Henry as a powerful interrogator and Speer as willing party to war crimes.

Turning Point: It sets up Speer to denounce the Fuhrer in court. It also pays off O’Connor’s wound at Mauthausen.

Emotional: It reveals the horror of Nazi slave camps and the appalling complicity of men like Speer who turned a blind eye.

High Stakes: Life or death. Literally.

Beginning, middle and end: Earlier (not shown here), Henry appears to be sympathetic to Speer. In the middle (this section) he confronts him. At the end (not shown here) he helps Speer to take responsibility and opens the way for a change of heart.

*

Hermann Goering

Context: In this scene the antagonist Hermann Goering confronts the chaplain with justifications for his actions. His aim is to win the chaplain over as an ally, by demonstrating a pragmatic moral equivalence and to secure the release of Nazi high command to join the Allies in the fight against their joint enemy: Soviet Russia. The scene begins on P5 of Act 1.

INT. CORRIDOR / GOERING’S CELL – DAY

A fusillade of German ricochets through the window of Goering’s cell. Sam, on guard duty, raises an eyebrow.

GOERING

The Treaty of Versailles was a humiliation, an emasculation! Do you know what it is to feel humiliated, Pastor? Do you know how much it cost to buy a loaf of bread in 1922?

Henry glances hopefully towards the cell door window.

GOERING

160 marks. And in 1923? 200…

Henry pulls in his chin, That’s not good.

NEWSREEL MONTAGE

GOERING (V.O.)

Two hundred… thousand… million… marks. For a single loaf of bread!

We Germans were better off burning banknotes than trying to buy coal. Why? Because we were printing Reischmarks like there was no tomorrow to service the debt you saddled us with – your USA. And then Crash! Wall Street collapses beneath its own excess and you pull the rug from beneath the entire German economy. So the Führer draws a line, and one by one we reclaim those territories snatched from us by that verdamt Treaty.

INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY

Goering scoffs, his contempt as dry as it is furious.

GOERING

Back then, Britain and France could have stopped us in our tracks. But those craven cowards handed us all the time and territory we asked for. Appeasement! While you…!

Henry lifts his hands in exasperation, but the Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe is diving for the kill.

GOERING

Your industrialists made fat fortunes hawking war materials to the Fatherland at inflated prices so we could fight your allies, and then fight you!

Henry is on his feet now, temper fraying.

HENRY

So Germany was right to go to war – with the entire world? The ends justify any means, however brutal? That what you’re saying?

GOERING

Of course! And so are you.

NEWSREEL MONTAGE

GOERING (V.O)

Hiroshima, Nagasaki – how many women and children did you turn into candles like Nero when your bombers rained fire on Dresden? 200,000? Had the tables been turned, it would be you standing accused of war crimes, not us!

INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY

Henry sighs, and stares at his watch. Again. Wearily he rises to leave, but Goering constrains him with a hand.

GOERING

(Conciliatory)

We may never agree on everything, Herr Pastor, but on this we must: it is the Bolsheviks who pose the greatest threat to Western civilisation. The English-speaking peoples and the Germans are the same. Our blood is the same! You, too have German blood! We must work together, so the Americans can see things from the German perspective before it is too late. (Beat) You see? We are back to an understanding.

HENRY

What I understand is this: if you’re right about any of this, then more knowledgeable men than me will judge. That’s why you’re here. What I know is this…

He leans in close enough to smell Goering’s breath.

HENRY

You guys started the first war. And the second. And dragged us in to finish them both. You declared war on us, Herr Reichsmarschall, four days after Pearl Harbor. Now you want us to walk a mile in your jackboots? Sorry, that’s just not our style! (At the door) Enough!

And as Sam swings the door open and purses his lips. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

*

The monologue is demanded by the situation, as Goering is fighting for his life.

It takes us into a deeper place by not only revealing Germany’s depth of humiliation over the Versailles Treaty, but by highlighting Goering’s amoral justifications for waging war with the world, and his scheming attempt to manipulate the chaplain to support his case for freedom.

The chaplain’s rebuttal also reveals for the first time Henry’s incisiveness, as well as his fiery temper.

It is a turning point, as for the first time, Henry gets tough with Hermann Goering.

It is emotional and high stakes, because as the date of execution draws nearer the stakes are rising and so are tempers.

And it has a beginning a middle and an ending: it begins with Goering’s justification and heartfelt grievance over the Treaty of Versailles and its consequences; it turns on Goering’s attack on the United States, which provokes Henry, and ends with Henry walking away.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd loves Subtext Pointers

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: There was already a lot of subtext in this, but going through one more time, I have managed to add five more lines, which strengthens the screenplay.

Subtext enriches a piece by making the characters seem more knowing, and making the audience work for clues. It’s like the bassline in a piece of music, you might not notice it’s there, but you’d really miss it if it wasn’t.

List of five subtext pointer changes (sorry formatting has been stripped out):

Added subtext is underlined.

Act 1 P5

HENRY

If I can’t help my own boys, least I can do is look after these guys.

GEORGE

Head on home, Henry. Your wife needs you, too.

HENRY

Not sure she’d see it that way.

GEORGE

Still mad at you? Don’t worry, Henry, that’s love, Time to worry is when they stop hitting you.

Implication 1: Henry is carrying a weight of guilt.

Implication 2: He thinks his marriage is in trouble. We wonder why.

Act 1 p20

Context: Sam berates a pastor who is addressing Germans at Dachau

SAM

(Speech slurring)

Where the hell were you? Standing in some pulpit praying for your beloved Führer?

Allusion: You did nothing to stop this. In fact, you were part of the problem.

Act 2 p33

SAM

Henry, about Dachau…

HENRY

Skip it.

SAM

Did you…

HENRY

Would I?

SAM

(Relaxes)

Thanks.

Implication: Henry would not betray his friend who he treats like a son.

Act 3, P86

Context: Military intelligence are trying to get Chaplain Henry Gerecke to spy on the Nazis during the Nuremberg trial. It’s a conflict of duty.

EXT. TOWARDS THE PALACE OF JUSTICE – DAY

Burnt out CARS, TANKS, public buildings. They pass through a devastated children’s PLAYGROUND.

GUS

Speer realised Germany could never match the Allies for planes, ships and tanks. Did the math, worked out the war was lost – and told Hitler to quit while he still could.

HENRY

Bet that went down well.

GUS

Yeah. Führer called him a traitor. Told Speer the German people were weak and deserved to die. Destroy it all – industry, transport, communications! If the Führer has to go down, all Germany can go down with him. That’s all too much for Speer, who finally finds his cojones. So he tells us. Watch how he plays it in court tomorrow. By the way, Col Andrus wants to know what intel you’re gleaning from the Nazis.

HENRY

I’m a chaplain, Gus, not a spy.

GUS

I know, I know. But like they say: ‘The more we know the faster the war will end’.

HENRY

The war has ended, Gus.

GUS

You think? Somebody better tell the Russkies.

Implication 1: Warriors on both sides want the war to go on forever.

Implication 2: The 2^nd World War has given way to the Cold War.

Act 3 p103

GOERING

This… communion of yours, this bread, this wine that mean so much to you. Tell me more, just in case there is anything in this… business of yours.

Henry stares. Caught in a moment of unexpected hope. Then reluctantly shakes his head.

HENRY

You think I’m the man from the Prudential? I see no regret. No remorse. Not even a glimmer of faith! You deny Christ. You refuse to accept him as your Savior! So how the… How could I possibly commune you?

Henry breaks away, clutching his jaw. Impasse. He lowers his head and plays his last remaining card.

HENRY

Your little daughter, Edda – remember what she said?

He nods towards the painting. Goering’s eyes follow. Beneath the picture, Edda’s writing: Daddy is flying to heaven, where I will see him again.

HENRY

She’s praying to meet you in heaven.

Goering stares back at Henry, his eyes glittering.

GOERING

Well, if you refuse to commune me, Pastor, my daughter and I will just have to take our chances.

Allusion: Goering is cynically looking for an insurance policy.

Insinuation: If the Chaplain refuses to give him communion, he will be hurting his little daughter, too.

Another helpful assignment, supported by strong examples. Thank you.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd loves covering subtext!

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Well, I love subtext. It gets the audience to do the work, and they love that, too. There was already quite a bit of subtext layered into this. But I found a few places where I could add some, and one significant exchange between the Chaplain and Goering, who implies, for those who know, that they will never hang him.

GOERING

Death. By hanging. Like a common criminal. A Reichsmarshall!

The line, based on what Goering actually said at Nuremberg after sentencing, foreshadows his suicide and points up his fatal flaw, his utter vanity.

Another helpful assignment. Thank you.

[Andrew Boyd]

WIM Module 8, Lesson 3, Andrew Boyd’s Anticipatory Dialogue

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: I certainly see the value of foreshadowing, whether through dialogue or events. I had incorporated plenty of this already, but going through, looking for this specifically, I have been able to add more. A helpful exercise.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd loves Attack / Counterattack Dialogue

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Again, going through looking out for one element to change at a time is a great way to work. And the movie clips Hal has selected to illustrate the technique really help, as ever.

A screenplay like this that deals with such a heavy subject – the holocaust – needs plenty of light and shade, and banter and interplay gives it that, and hopefully will open up the issue to a younger audience.

I thought I’d already filled the script with banter but going through I still found more opportunity.

Here’s an example (Sorry the formatting has stripped out):

INT. HENRY’S ROOM – NIGHT

Henry looks at a CHRISTMAS CARD.

INSERT: CARD ‘missing you more than I could say. Alma X’

He smiles, COUGHS, stabs the embers of the fire, turns back to the open BIBLE on his desk and rubs his hands. The door bursts open, and Gus all but falls through.

HENRY

You OK?

Unsteadily, Gus flings his coat on the door hook and crams his cap on top. He snaps open his BRIEFCASE and slaps a MANILA FOLDER down on Henry’s open Bible.

GUS

Merry Christmas, Chaplain! I bring you season’s greetings of good cheer…

With a grim nod, he flips open the brown paper file and spreads PHOTOGRAPHS across Henry’s Bible. Unseen by us.

HENRY

Good God! Cough.

GUS

You think?

Gus rummages for a WHISKEY BOTTLE and pours them a slug.

GUS

Trophy pictures. Keepsakes. Treasured possessions of Nazi guards. That’s where I spent my Christmas. Talking to killers. Know what they told me? They were avenging the death of Jesus. By crucifying Jews. Christ, Henry!

HENRY

Gus…

GUS

(Downing a whiskey)

Where was your God, Henry, when…

He takes it out on the embers with the POKER.

GUS

Do psychopaths have souls, Henry? ‘Cause let me tell you what these bastards lack. Empathy. The basic humanity even to begin to imagine what their victims must feel.

He slams his hand down on the Bible, scattering photos. He picks some up and waves them. Now we get a glimpse.

INSERT: GRIM PICTURES of Nazi crucifixions.

GUS

Know what I’d do, Henry, if I were the Almighty? I’d make the punishment fit the crime. I’d make these Nazis live through every moment of physical pain and emotional suffering they’ve caused every other human being. If raw, basic, human empathy is what these thugs need, empathy is what they’d get.

Henry pulls at his lower lip and sighs heavily.

HENRY

So an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? Endlessly? Who’d be left, Gus? Would you? I certainly wouldn’t.

(Empties his own glass)

Sounds like hell, to me.

GUS

(Calming down a little)

Yeah, yeah, give ‘em hell, Henry.

Gus downs the fumes in his glass, and raddles the fire.

GUS

What the hell is hell, anyway?

(Snorts)

I hope it’s hotter’n this… feeble… conflab… confab…

HENRY

Conflagration?

GUS

Bravo!

HENRY

Maybe hell is the place where you finally get to see everything clearly and realise it’s too late to change a thing.

GUS

Don’t gimme that! The one who could change it all, where was he?… I’m… not judging God, I’m just finding him absent. Without leave.

Gus crams the photos back into the envelope and waves off Henry’s objection before he can make it.

GUS

Ah… Not tonight, Padre! I… need to sleep.

Henry is racked by a fusillade of COUGHING.

GUS

Put a sock in it Padre!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Dialogue Structures

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Even when you think your dialogue has been honed to perfection, it can always be improved. Going through, looking specifically at dialogue, I have made improvements to two scenes and a series of minor tweaks. I’ve also spotted a repetition and eliminated it.

Specifically, what this assignment has helped me to see is that I can work against the grain by diving into that deeper layer that opposes the surface meaning of dialogue. This can add intrigue by getting the character to act against type and then spring a surprise.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Elevated Dialogue

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Again, there is such a strength in writing in layers. Each time you are looking for one thing only, so you are not overwhelmed by the demands of the whole. Going through this script character by character has allowed me to tighten the dialogue and give it more power and crunch. It takes time, because it involves rereading the entire screenplay several times over, once for each character.

There were so many line changes. But a few favourites (sorry, cut and paste has stripped out the formatting):

In Act 1, protagonist Henry Gerecke is asked about heading home after the war – he’s due to leave any day. The original had him distracted by tending a wounded patient. The replacement has him tear himself away, excited. This change reveals that the stakes for Henry when he later chooses to remain rather than go home are very high.

Original:

GEORGE

Hear you’re heading home, Henry?

HENRY

(Mid-prayer)

Yep. Any day.

Replacement:

GEORGE

How’s it feel to be heading home?

Henry tears himself away, mid prayer. His eyes light up.

HENRY

You have no idea!

Henry’s wound, at encouraging his boys to go to war is made deeper and more visible by this minor dialogue change:

Original:

HENRY

I encouraged them. Alma begged me not to. Now Roy’s about to sign up.

Replacement:

HENRY

I encouraged them. I whipped those boys up and Alma begged me not to. Now Roy’s about to sign up.

There was an awkward exchange with supporting character, Sixtus O’Connor. O’Connor helped liberate Mauthausen concentration camp. Henry pumps him about how he can bear to be with Kaltenbrunner, the Nazi who set up that camp, who is part of his Catholic congregation. While Sixtus deflects from his personal wound about what he saw there and failed to prevent, he also offers useful advice as a mentor.

Original:

HENRY

How can you bear Kaltenbrunner, having seen for yourself what he’s done?

Sixtus’ eyes cloud over. Then he remembers to smile.

SIXTUS

I picture him as a squalling kid in diapers. C’mon, let me introduce you to this merry band of pilgrims.

Replacement:

HENRY

How can you bear to be with him, after seeing for yourself what he’s done?

Sixtus’ eyes cloud over. Then he remembers to smile.

SIXTUS

I picture little Ernie as a squalling kid in crappy diapers. C’mon, let me introduce you to this merry band of pilgrims.

After Henry’s failure to get through to defendants Rosenberg and Hess, Gus asks him how it is going. The amendment reveals the real depths of his helplessness.

Original:

HENRY

Out of my depth. Completely.

Replacement:

HENRY

Out of my depth. Totally. Utterly. Completely.

I have also rounded out Henry’s character by adding a little more humour, sharp wittedness and rage, which is his flaw.

And I have tweaked Goering’s dialogue to reveal him as more urbane, more vain, more manipulative, and ultimately more sinister.

Many thanks.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Module 7, Lesson 4, Increase interest level of key scenes

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling and powerful screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their strongest WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Much of this is a prison-based drama, with the action set in three almost identical cells. In Act 1 there are multiple changes of location. But the locations settle later, especially in Acts 2 & 3. To add interest I have inserted external locations between some scenes or during scenes to illustrate the dialogue.

Act 1, S1, P1 – The opener has changed to get us to Nuremberg, the scene of the action, more quickly. It also introduces the context of the chaos of war and the war-weariness of the players. The opener now is like a prelude, reprising the war and the role the Nazis played, and drawing us into the characters.

In Act 1, P3 I have added a surprise with Henry not only liking swing, but playing the trombone – hot, along with Sam. It’s a bonding moment between them.

Act 1, P8. We head outside the hospital into ravaged Munich, where a concentration camp billboard and its answering graffiti highlights the Germans coming to terms with what their country has done.

In Act 2 p38 I have added a brief exterior GV to add interest and break up the preponderance of interior scenes.

Act 2 P39 takes us briefly to Mauthausen concentration camp to set up Sixtus’ wound and to add intrigue. How much did the chaplain know about the reprisals that took place? And what did he do to stop them?

Act 2 P44. I have added a description of chowtime to show the regimen and to break up the back-to-back cell scenes. This gives more life to the Rosenberg scene that follows. And it creates a greater contrast with Goering.

Act 2 P60. I’ve added another brief outside scene to break up the indoor shots. This also sets up Christmas and the growing tension with the Russians.

Act 3 I have added several location changes to break up the key dialogue scenes in the cells. Some are illustrative scenes to show, rather than tell. I have interspersed interior scenes with exterior scenes in a range of locations to add variety.

Act 3, P70. I have added a reference (previously deleted) to Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech, to further set up the tension with the Russians that Goering wants to exploit.

Act 4 adds a cliffhanger about whether it was Sam who slipped Goering his suicide pill. It also ties up the loose end about the botched hangings.

Many thanks.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Lesson 3, Making scenes more emotional

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling and powerful screenplay that Spielberg and Gibson will battle it out to produce their strongest WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: In Act 1, Page 9, I have amped up the emotion where Henry recalls his boys’ war injuries, wounds for which he feels partly to blame.

Act 2 Page 32, I have strengthened the emotional bond between Henry and Sam, by showing Henry offering forgiveness and affection. This reveals more about their father/son relationship and Henry’s character.

Act 3 Page 87, I have upped the anger and sarcasm Henry shows towards Albert Speer, as Henry shows he has overcome his wounds and can get tough.

Act 3, Page 98, I have upped Goering’s anger and sarcasm towards Henry, throwing back the accusation of only obeying orders.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd: Elevating the impact of your reveals

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling and thought-provoking screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: I have amplified the key scenes with Henry in the recruitment line where his German Pa drags him away and humiliates him.

I build on that again that scene later when we see the damage Henry inflicts on the bully-boy Willard who mocks him, which sets up his phobia of losing his temper.

These two wounds inflicted on Henry in a single incident set up two character flaws: his unwillingness to humiliate others, which means he holds back from helping them, and his fear of losing his temper, which means he backs off confrontation.

I’ve paid off Henry’s indication of his hatred of the Nazis at Dachau, by repeating the unconscious finger-curling-round-the-trigger gesture at the All-is-Lost-Moment with Goering.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd loves Character Depth

First apologies for my absence. I’ve been in Nigeria, filming, and drafting a book to a tight deadline. I’m glad to be back!

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling and thought-provoking screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: How to quickly in just a few lines, increase the depth of my characters. It’s been helpful to lay out the character storylines and ask those questions: what are they hiding, and how can I trigger their response?

I’ve been able to colour in a telling reveal about O’Connor, a supposed war hero who may have stood by while reprisals took place. By adding lines to two of my characters, Fuller and Goering, I have been able to show how the search for father and home is lifelong and the outcome not guaranteed. I’ve deepened Gilbert’s personal search for understanding of the Holocaust and implied that beneath that professionalism is a hidden desire for revenge that could prevent justice from being done. All good stuff, and able to be added lightly with just a word or two.

Helpful assignment – thank you.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Solved Scene Problems

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. (I know – but think big.)

What I learned from doing this assignment:

This has still been largely a case of hacking down an overlong script based on a novel without losing its essence. That means ditching characters and plotlines, combining scenes and elements and making those that remain work even harder. Slashing exposition has been another challenge. As has paring down dialogue. But I’m getting there!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd is Cliché Busting

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment:

The situation may be familiar (Holocaust, Nuremberg), but I believe this take on it is unique, as is this perspective.

One of the protagonists, Sam, is a hustler (similar to Battle of the Bulge, Dirty Dozen) and a singer (see Memphis Belle) but given his colour and his backstory, I think that’s OK.

Sam is a trickster and brings light relief to an otherwise harrowing setting, as well as acting as a foil to his more earnest boss. He also shows that racism is everybody’s problem and blind spot.

Sam Fuller is movie audience bait, he articulates their point of view, and is the reason why a younger generation would pay to watch this.

There are two chaplains at Nuremberg, Henry Gerecke and Sixtus O’Connor, but what comes out of them is squeezed out under intense stress. We might not agree with their perspective, but they’ve earned the right to give it. And I don’t see this kind of grit, anger and pain in most modern warm-to-the-notion-of-faith movies.

In summary, I haven’t seen this story before, and if there is cliché in the dialogue, then it would take a fresh pair of eyes to point that out.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Solved Character Problems

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment:

This has been very helpful. I hadn’t acknowledged that one of my leads vanishes for several scenes in Acts 2 and 3. I have written him back in. Doing so adds more humour and relief into the screenplay, breaking the tension at the peaks of conflict. I have revised my story hook to make more of this protagonist’s role. Lastly, I have broken up some of the static arguments that take place in prison cells, by overlaying monologue with illustrative newsreel montages. This would be inexpensive, up the pace and interest and add to the gritty authenticity. The downside is a long script has just got longer…

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Act 3 completion

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 drama since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. [Modified from ‘blockbuster’ to drama<i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>.]

What I learned from doing this assignment: Massive, massive cuts are required to turn a full-length novel into a screenplay. Entire characters, subplots and scenes must go. Scenes must be combined and truncated, yet essential themes allowed to play out to their conclusion.

Method: Highlight the outline scene by scene and make cuts. Highlight the corresponding novel text scene by scene, mark cuts in red; read again and cut deeper. Paste over into Scrivener, format as Action. Eliminate the red material. Reduce the rest, especially description. Format as a screenplay.

I have lengthened Act 2 to incorporate part of Act 3. Both are now running to 40 / 41 pages – about 25% over length.

So much has had to be cut. I will need to check again later that the key plot points are still present.

I think it must be easier to build up a screenplay from scratch than tear down from a book.

How many scenes should I be aiming for?

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd

Just nailed Act 2. Too long, but will cut it later. On to Act 3!

What I’ve learned from this assignment:

Keep going. I’m boiling down a book to about a quarter length. That’s a lot of darlings to murder. I’m learning to let intuition, backed up by planning, tell me what to merge and what to cut.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Act 2 (sorry, behind…)

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: There’s too much material in this outline. This is an adaptation from a novel, and it has to be pared right back. Thought I had, but I’ve needed to take a pruning saw to the outline again. The other thing: I’ve been away for a week, fully engaged on another assignment. It’s horrible falling behind…

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew’s Next Act 1 scenes

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: Keep moving forward. Cut to the chase. Don’t hang around to polish those turds. Momentum is your friend, and helps maintain an overview that can untangle plot and eliminate repetition.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew’s Finished Act 1

Vision: For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment: What I’m doing here is a little different. I’m adapting a novel, which means simplifying the story, reducing the content, and cutting the text by three-quarters. The layering process we have gone through so far has really helped me elevate the story and cut to the chase. Backstory has had to be minimised and layered in. Some is still absent and may have to go into Act 2. But the process is working and I have a draft Act 1 which seems to hang together. Thank you to Hal, and to Lynn and Dave for their wise, thoughtful and helpful suggestions.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s First Scene

I love it! So good to start writing the script. Had to refresh my memory on using Scrivener, but having started it’s hard to stop…

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Outline Exchange 1

Hi! I’m ready to exchange my outline for Hitler’s Choirboys. This is a drama based on a true story set during the Nuremberg Trail of the leading Nazis in 1945. Here’s the concept:

Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on keeping the war raging forever – can a couple of chaplains and a Jewish psychologist win their battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

I’d be delighted to exchange it for your outline.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Fascinating Scene Outlines

19.10.22

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their most powerful WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. That this screenplay will confront racism as everybody’s problem and resolve a new generation to prevent a holocaust of any race from ever happening again.

What I learned from this assignment:

That producers want a boiled down outline, and how to boil that down, while maximising interest. This is now eight pages.

ACT 1

1. EXT/INT BOMB DAMAGED HOSPITAL 1945 – DAY

The US military hospital in Munich where Henry Gerecke and Sam Fuller are playing up a storm to raise morale as the injured roll in.

Beginning: (Better setting) Bomb-shattered hospital from above. Frantic activity.

Middle: (Surprise 1) Amid the chaos, swing music played hot – in a chapel by two guys who are obviously best buddies. (Surprise 2 / Major twist) Yet Sam later says he hates Henry.

End: (Intrigue) What went wrong between them?

2. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM / CHAPLAIN’S OFFICE – DAY

The Colonel asks Henry to go to the Nuremberg trial, so his sidekick Fuller must go too. Neither wants to. Refusal of the call.

Beginning: (External dilemma) If Henry goes, his marriage could collapse. If Fuller goes, he loses his hustle.

Middle: (Major twist) Henry hears his boys have been wounded, Fuller his brother Joel is missing – then that he has been murdered by Nazis.

End: (Character change/intrigue) Fuller wants revenge, how will he get it?

3. EXT/INT RURAL SHACK – DAY

Fuller discovers his older brother has killed their drunken Pa. They’re orphans, and Joel teaches Sam to hustle to survive.

Beginning: (Major surprise) Joel has killed Pa!

Middle: (Character change) Sets up Sam’s wound – distrust of father figures.

End: (Uncertainty) Joel goes off to war, leaving Sam wanting to follow but too young.

4. EXT. DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP – DAY

Henry and Sam are sent to Dachau to harden Henry’s resolve to go to Nuremberg.

Beginning: (More interesting setting) Total horror.

Middle: (Suspense) Fuller’s been drinking – will he kill the Nazi POW?

(Surprise/Uncomfortable moment) Henry wants to kill the Nazi too. But instead he steps in front of Fuller’s gun.

End: (More interesting setting) Fuller’s brother was racially abused and killed when he tried to surrender – betrayed by Belgians because of his colour.

ACT 2

5. EXT. NUREMBERG – DAYLIGHT FADING

Fuller meets Henry in Nuremberg. Watched by an ex-SS soldier and his kids.

Beginning: (More interesting setting) Henry is late – his Jeep has been ambushed by Nazi resistance, the Werwolves.

Middle: (Uncomfortable moment) Henry is kind to the soldier’s kids – they remind him of his own. But Fuller just hates them.

End: (Uncertainty) Can Sam and Henry’s friendship survive?

6. EXT/INT. PALACE OF JUSTICE – DAY

Colonel Andrus tells Henry: ‘Keep the Nazis alive until we hang ‘em’. Henry is introduced to his teammates and shown the ropes.

Beginning: (Uncomfortable moment) The Nazis are committing suicide.

Middle: (Internal Dilemma) Conflict between Henry’s military and chaplain duties.

End: (Uncertainty) Conflicts over compassion v vengeance. Can they work together?

7. INT. ROOM 600 THE COURT – DAY

The trial begins. Top Nazi Goering is ruling the roost.

Beginning: (Twist) The Nazis still act like they rule the world. Will they win in court?

Middle: (Uncomfortable moment) Fuller sums it up – shoot the lot of them.

End: (Suspense) How can Henry get through to them and break the Nazi legend?

8. INT. OFFICE / PRISON / CHAPEL – NIGHT

The first chapel service ends in disaster.

Beginning: (Surprise) Fuller hustles an organ and space for a chapel.

Middle: (Major twist) Fuller is racially insulted and storms out.

End: (Surprise) The Nazis march back to their cells humming a Nazi anthem.

9. THE COURT/CELLS – DAY

The Nazis don’t give a rip about the court or the chaplain.

Beginning: (Surprise) The court shows a film to shame the Nazis – but they lap it up.

Middle: (Uncomfortable moment) The Nazis treat the chaplain with contempt.

End: (Major twist/uncertainty) The US guards believe the chaplain is a Nazi-lover. Is Henry getting it badly wrong?

10. INT. PRISON CORRIDOR ­– DAY / EXT. N/BERG / CONCENTRATION CAMP

The team cracks under pressure.

Beginning: (Surprise) Fuller, now on guard duty, is beaten up by his racist sergeant. But Sam resents Henry’s intervention.

Middle: (Uncomfortable moment) Now Gilbert accuses Henry of being soft on the Nazis.

End: (Mystery) A US soldier is painfully hauling rocks at a concentration camp.

10. EXT. ST LOUIS – DAY / INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY

Goering is trying to turn Henry to win favours. The chaplain fears his love rival, Kent could be making moves on his wife, Alma.

Beginning: (Uncertainty) Alma sells Henry’s car to his best friend, Kent.

Middle: (More interesting setting) Flashback montage. Henry beats Kent to win Alma.

End: (Mislead / Surprise) Goering is sympathetic. He offers Henry his armoured Mercedes instead.

11. INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Goering dismisses a harrowing concentration camp film as propaganda.

Beginning: (Shock) Horror in the court over the concentration camp film.

Middle: (Character reveal) Gilbert studies the Nazis for their reactions.

End: (Surprise / Reveal) Goering dismisses the film as propaganda.

12. INT. CHAPLAIN’S ROOM / CELLS / PRISON CORRIDOR – DAY

Gilbert seethes as he reads defendant Julius Streicher’s anti-Semitic newspaper and confronts him. Fuller mocks the Nazi. Comic relief.

Beginning: (Twist / Character reveal) Streicher rounds on Gilbert.

Middle: (Surprise) Then strips off to exercise in the nude.

End: (Surprise/Humour) Fuller’s snaps a photo mocking the Nazi.

13. INT. PRISON CORRIDOR / HANS FRANK’S CELL – DAY

First Nazi to crack? O’Connor introduces Henry to Hans Frank, who has had an epiphany about the evil he has committed.

Beginning: (Surprise) Nazi Hans Frank has a nightmare of a train full of the dead accusing him, and a change of heart.

Middle: (Uncertainty) Is Frank for real?

End: (Internal dilemma) Henry knows he is getting nowhere. Could Sixtus help?

14. EXT. N/BERG RUINS / ST LOUIS RECRUITMENT LINE – DAY

Sixtus O’Connor takes Henry into Nuremberg to show him why he’s floundering.

Beginning: (More interesting setting) By the river, in the ruins of Nuremberg.

Middle: (Reveal) O’Connor pinpoints Henry’s wound, his humiliation by his Pa in the WW1 recruitment line.

End: (Uncertainty) Can Henry overcome his wound and get tough?

15. INT. BROADCAST BOOTH, ROOM 600 – DAY / NUREMBERG – DAY

Henry meets the court artist, whose painting reveals a deeper truth that could help him confront the Nazis. And they meet a Jewish witness.

Beginning: (Superior position) An artist’s eye reveals truths about the Nazis.

Middle: (Surprise) A girl paints her destroyed former home in Nuremberg – a surprising picture of hope.

End: (Uncomfortable moment) US and German hostility towards a Jewish violinist.

16. EXT. AUSCHWITZ CONCENTRATION CAMP – DAY / INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

An SS guard kills a Jewish conductor for playing the music of Mahler, a Jew. Shia Morontz, the first violinist, appears in court as a witness.

Beginning: (More interesting setting) Auschwitz, playing music by the gas chamber.

Middle: (Major twist) The SS captain kills the conductor for playing Jewish music.

End: (Uncomfortable moment) Henry tries to console the violinist when he turns up as a witness in court, but is rebuffed.

17. INT. HENRY’S ROOM – NIGHT / RECRUITMENT LINE ST LOUIS 1917 – DAY / BROADCAST BOOTH, ROOM 600 – DAY

Tooling up: Letting off steam, playing cards, discussing the Final Solution. Gilbert rounds on Henry and prises open his second wound. The court artist points the way.

Beginning: (More interesting setting). Boisterous game of blackjack to discuss evidence in court.

Middle: (Surprise) Gilbert loses it with Henry exposing his second wound – fear of losing his temper.

End: (Superior position) Laura Knight has finished her painting. It’s a revelation. Somehow Henry must make the Nazis see. But how?

18. INT. THE STORK CLUB, HANUKKAH 1945 – NIGHT

Fuller is pounding the keys and cracking jokes at the Stork Club. His racist sergeant rushes to attack him, but is prevented by a huge Jewish GI.

Beginning: (More interesting setting) Playing piano hot in the Stork Club for a Hanukkah party

Middle: (Surprise) Fuller’s sergeant goes to attack him, Jews prevent him.

End: (Suspense) Will the sergeant get his revenge?

ACT 3

19. EXT/INT. NUREMBERG CAFÉ – DAY / CATTLE CAR 1943 – DAY

Henry persuades the Jewish violinist to tell his story in a café, as patrons storm out.

Beginning: (Uncomfortable moment) Patrons walk out of the café.

Middle: (Shock) Morontz is sent with his family in a cattle car to Auschwitz.

End: (Major shock) Even the Polish children who run beside the train to mock them know these Jews are going to their deaths. So how can the Nazis deny knowing?

20. INT. PALACE OF JUSTICE / KEITEL’S CELL – DAY / EXT. EXERCISE YARD / INT. COURT – DAY

Henry is given a mysterious box, containing evidence that help him confront the defendants. Field Marshal Keitel agrees to testify. But Goering gets to him first.

Beginning: (Intrigue) Henry is given a mysterious box.

Middle: (Surprise) Confronted with fresh evidence, Keitel agrees to testify in court.

End: (Major twist) Goering gets to him and he backs down.

21. EXT. CARINHALL, GOERING’S ESTATE 1943 – DAY / INT. PALACE OF JUSTICE – DAY

Beginning: (More interesting setting) Hunting party at Goering’s estate.

Middle: (Character reveal) Goering shows off his looted art collection.

End: (Major twist) Gilbert cuts off Goering’s influence from the defendants.

22. INT. ROOM 600 – DAY / INT. CELLS – NIGHT / INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Hitler’s Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop, denies knowledge of concentration camps, but Henry confronts him with the truth. And then challenges the head of Hitler Youth.

Beginning: (Reveal) The court shows Ribbentrop must have known.

Middle: (Suspense) Henry confronts him – will he cave?

End: (Reveal) Von Schirach comes clean to Henry and the court.

23. INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT / EXT. PRISON – NIGHT

Fuller and the other guards mischievously torment the Nazi prisoners.

Beginning: (Intrigue) The guards are up to something…

Middle: (Surprise) They’re tormenting the Nazis at night and giggling like schoolgirls.

End: (Black humour) Screams of terror, hoots from the guards.

24. INT. HENRY’S ROOM – NIGHT (MONTAGE DELIRIOUS NIGHTMARES) / INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Henry has delirium and goes down with pneumonia due to massive overwork.

Beginning: (Uncertainty) Is Henry unwell?

Middle: (Internal dilemma) Guilt-ridden nightmares.

End: (Major twist / Reveal) His boys visit him in hospital. They absolve him of his guilt for encouraging them to go to war where they are wounded and almost killed.

25. INT. COL ANDRUS’ OFFICE – DAY / EXT. ST LOUIS STREET – DAY / INT. COL ANDRUS’ OFFICE – DAY

The Colonel plans to send Henry home – but his wife Alma intervenes.

Beginning: (External dilemma) The Colonel plans to send Henry home.

Middle: (Major twist) But the Nazis write to Alma and she allows Henry to stay.

End: (External dilemma) But the Colonel will only let him if he spies on the Nazis.

26. INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

The Auschwitz commandant proudly verifies the industrial scale killing of Jews.

Beginning: (Reveal) The sheer scale of the holocaust.

Middle: (Uncomfortable moment) And the quiet pride they took in it.

End: (Suspense) Will the Nazis finally admit the truth – even to themselves?

27. INT. CHAPLAIN’S OFFICE – DAY / EXT. THE DEATH STEPS, MAUTHAUSEN, 1945 – DAY / EXT. N/BERG PEGNITZ RIVER – DAY

O’Connor’s wound revealed, yielding more evidence that could make the Nazis take responsibility.

Beginning: (Character change) O’Connor on the booze and in meltdown.

Middle: (Reveal) O’Connor’s wound – at the liberation of Mauthausen.

End: (Mystery) O’Connor hands Henry a rosary made by slaves at Mauthausen.

28. EXT. ZEPPELINFIELD, NUREMBERG – DAY / INT. SPEER’S CELL – DAY / INT: FUHRERBUNKER – DAY

At Speer’s monumental Zeppelinfield in Nuremberg, Gilbert presses Henry to pump Speer for information about Nazi wonder weapons. Back in Speer’s cell, Henry does so, then shocks Gilbert by angrily confronting Speer.

Beginning: (More interesting setting) The vast Zeppelinfield, N/Berg, built by defendant Albert Speer.

Middle: (Internal dilemma) Gilbert presses Henry to spy on Speer for information.

End: (Character change) Henry confronts Speer with a steel whip used on his slave labour, shocking both the Nazi and Gilbert.

29. INT. ROOM 600 – DAY / EXT. FUHRERBUNKER – NIGHT / INT. ROOM 600 – DAY / INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY / INT. PRISON CLINIC – DAY / EXT. NUREMBERG – NIGHT

Speer denounces Hitler in court and claims he plotted to assassinate the Fuhrer. Goering calls him a traitor and smuggles a note to the Nazi resistance.

Beginning: (Reveal or Misdirection) Speer denounces Hitler.

Middle: (Surprise) Says he planned to kill him.

End: (Mystery/Suspense) Will the Werwolves strike?

30. EXT / INT BOMB DAMAGED HOUSE, GERMANY – DAY / INT. CHAPLAIN’S OFFICE – DAY / INT. VISITING ROOM – DAY

Henry tries to get through to Goering via his little daughter. He is shocked by German kids during a family visit. Goering tears up over his daughter’s painting.

Beginning: (More interesting location) Henry visits Goering’s wife and daughter in a bombed-out house.

Middle: (Surprise) During family visits, Henry is asked to read a Nazi picture book – full of hatred for the Jews, revealing that even the kids were brainwashed.

End: (Character change/Suspense) Goering sheds tears over his daughter’s painting. Is Henry finally getting through to him?

31. EXT. ALMA’S HOUSE – INT. ALMA’S PARLOUR – DAY / INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – DAY

Build up to the verdict and sentencing. Increasing the stakes.

Beginning: (More interesting location/Suspense) Alma listens to the court broadcast at home. No contrition from the Nazis. Has Henry failed?

Middle: (Suspense) Fuller takes bets on how many to hang. Tension mounts as Sgnt Brannigan bets the house and the clock ticks on.

End: (Suspense) What if Fuller can’t settle his bets?

32. INT. ROOM 600 – DAY / INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT / INT. GYMNASIUM – NIGHT / INT. GOERING’S CELL – NIGHT

Sentencing: 11 Nazis to hang – just as Brannigan bet. Fuller is in deep trouble. As the gallows go up, Goering contacts the Nazi resistance.

Beginning: (External dilemma) Brannigan demands his money.

Middle: (Reveal) Goering can hear the hammering of the gallows going up.

End: (Suspense) Goering contacts the Nazi resistance: ‘Tonight’.

33. EXT. NUREMBERG – NIGHT

Fuller hustles Russian soldiers for cash. They give chase.

Beginning: (More interesting setting) Nuremberg, with the Russian troops.

Middle: (Suspense) Fuller hustles the Ivans – will they wise up to him?

End: (Cliffhanger) They do. Fuller runs. Will they catch him?

ACT 4

34. INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – DAY / EXT. NUREMBERG – DAY

Henry searches for Fuller but finds news that could finally get through to Goering.

Beginning: (Mystery) Where is Fuller?

Middle: (Intrigue/Mystery) What news has Henry found? And how could it help?

End: (Surprise) The SS man is reading the same newspaper.

35. INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY / INT. CARINHALL, GOERING’S ESTATE – DAY / INT. GOERING’S CELL – EVENING

Henry confronts Goering with proof that he got it all wrong.

Beginning: (Major twist) Henry confronts Goering with the truth about his ego.

Middle: (Surprise/Betrayal) Goering was swindled big time by an art forger.

End: (Cliffhanger) But Henry loses his temper. Has he blown it?

36. INT. OTHER CELLS – NIGHT

As the hour of their deaths nears, other Nazis call for the chaplains.

Beginning: (Character changes) Finally getting through as the executions loom.

Middle: (Surprise) Goering commits suicide.

End: (Internal dilemma) Was it Henry’s fault?

37. EXT. JAIL – NIGHT / INT. GYMNASIUM – NIGHT

The executions and the Nazis’ last words.

Beginning: (Character change) Henry walks Ribbentrop to the gymnasium and the waiting gallows. He has found peace.

Middle: (Surprise) The hangings are horribly botched.

End: (Inner conflict) The brutal executions of these men takes a toll on the chaplains.

38. INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT / EXT. NUREMBERG – NIGHT

Brannigan is in hunt of Fuller to demand his payout. He and his cronies confront Sam in Nuremberg. A gun is fired…

Beginning: (Suspense) Will Brannigan find Fuller?

Middle: (More interesting setting) Nuremberg at night.

End: (Cliffhanger) Brannigan confronts Fuller. A shot is fired…

39. EXT. N/BERG RUINS – NIGHT / EXT./INT. CREMATORIUM – NIGHT / EXT. RIVER – NIGHT

A US patrol sees German kids burning an effigy of Goering. Troops take the Nazis’ bodies to be burned and their ashes scattered.

Beginning: (Suspense) A fire near the Palace – the Werwolves?

Middle: (Surprise) Just kids burning an effigy of Goering.

End: (Character change) The Nazis are cremated and their ashes thrown in a river. The Nazi legend has finally been broken.

40. INT. / EXT. MENARD PRISON 1961 – DAY

Resolution. Fuller tells his story to the Parole Board at Menard.

Beginning: (More interesting setting/Surprise) Fuller is still playing the piano in prison as Henry’s assistant, but now as a prisoner.

Middle: (Surprise) Henry dies – heart attack in the prison car park.

End: (Major Twist) Fuller didn’t kill Sgnt Brannigan, because of what Henry did in Dachau.

41. EXT. / INT. GERECKE HOME, ST LOUIS – DAY / INT. NBERG GYM – DAY(FLASHBACK) /

Henry went home, was reunited with Alma and his boys and resumed his prison ministry, sending for Fuller to be his assistant.

Beginning: (Better setting) Henry is reunited with his family. His marriage is saved.

Middle: (Character change) He helps Fuller makes peace with himself.

End: (Major Twists) The Parole Board thinks Fuller poisoned Goering…

He didn’t – but he did persuade the hangman to botch the hangings.

42. INT. MENARD CHAPEL – DAY / EXT. MENARD – DAY / EXT. ST LOUIS STREET AND CHURCH – DAY / INT. LUTHERAN CHURCH – DAY

Prisoners and Sam pay their respects to Henry Gerecke.

Beginning: (Suspense/Mystery) Will Fuller go free? And why does he need it so badly?

Middle: (Reveal) Fuller walks free…

End: (Surprise) And he’s hurrying to church…

43. INT. LUTHERAN CHURCH – DAY

For Henry Gerecke’s memorial service which is packed.

Beginning: (More interesting setting/Intrigue) Crowds pouring into St John’s church.

Middle: (Surprise) Henry’s memorial and the place is packed.

End: (Twist) And Fuller is invited to play the organ – hot!

Thank you!

[Andrew Boyd]

WIM Module 4 Lesson 9 Scene Requirements

15.10.22

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. That this screenplay will confront racism as everybody’s problem and show that there is no human being who doesn’t need mercy.

What I learned from this assignment:

Boiling down a 400-page book into a screenplay is a massive undertaking best carried out scene by scene, layer by layer. Keep going…

ACT 1

Scene Arc: The US military hospital in Munich where Henry and Sam are raising morale as the injured roll in.

Essence: Chaplain and his assistant play that music hot to cheer up the troops.

Conflict: The joy of music v the horror of war. Fuller came to hate the chaplain.

Subtext: There is trouble ahead between them.

Hope/Fear: Hope they can keep their double act going. Fear something is about to go badly wrong.

EXT. BOMB DAMAGED HOSPITAL 1945 – DAY

Establishing shot from above. Chaotic. Broken. Military ambulances everywhere.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDORS – DAY

Wounded and their carers competing to get to chapel, where stamping, clapping and music are reaching out to them.

INT. HOSPITAL CHAPEL – DAY

Chaplain Henry Gerecke and his assistant Sam Fuller are hot-gospelling on the piano and trombone. There’s joy in the room. And pain. Some much needed relief for seriously wounded soldiers.

INT. PRISON 15 YRS LATER – DAY

An older Sam Fuller is telling his story behind bars – how he hated that chaplain.

INT. HOSPITAL CHAPEL 1945 – DAY

Alarm bells. Barked orders. Ambulances arrive with seriously wounded. Chapel over. Back to work. Horrific. Exhausting.

Scene Arc: Assigned to the Nuremberg trial. Neither wants to go. Stakes are raised when Henry hears his sons are wounded and Fuller’s brother is posted missing.

Essence: Call to go to Nuremberg.

Conflict: Torn loyalties.

Subtext: Hidden guilt, played on by the Colonel.

Hope/Fear: Hope Henry can succeed. Fear he could fail and bring down his marriage with it.

INT. DARKENED ROOM – DAY

The Colonel shows Henry and Fuller newsreel of the war, then tells Henry he can either go home or head to Nuremberg to be chaplain to the leading Nazis. If he can get them to renounce Hitler he can break the Nazi legend and spare the next generation another war. To help Henry make up his mind, he’s sending him on a visit to Dachau.

INT. HENRY’S OFFICE – DAY

News comes in that both Henry’s boys have been wounded in the war.

EXT. ST LOUIS PRE-WAR – DAY

Outside a movie theatre – Dawn Patrol. Henry encourages his boys to sign up. His wife Alma says she’ll never forgive him if anything happens to them.

INT. HENRY’S OFFICE – DAY

Fuller bursts in with news his brother is missing in action: killed or captured when he tried to surrender. Henry cares for his sidekick and keeps his own news to himself.

EXT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Fuller gets another message we can’t hear, but we can see it’s bad news.

Scene Arc: Fuller as a boy. His drunken Pa beats him and his brother Joel. Again. So Joel kills their Pa and raises Fuller as a hustler, before signing up to fight.

Essence: Fuller’s wound backstory.

Conflict: Hatred of father figures – now directed at Henry.

Subtext: Will history repeat itself?

Hope/Fear: Hope Fuller can pull it back. Fear he will take revenge.

EXT. RURAL SHACK 10 YRS EARLIER – DAY

Fuller arrives back at his shack to find his older brother Joel bloodied with a gun in his hand.

INT. SHACK, THE DAY BEFORE – NIGHT

Sam Fuller is pounding on the keys of a honky-tonk piano. His Pa, drunk on the floor, comes to and pounds him. Joel tries to stop him. Pa punches him in the face. Joel grabs his Pa’s gun and shoots.

EXT. RURAL SHACK – DAY

Sam and Joel bury their drunken father’s body. They’re orphans now.

EXT. SOUTHERN TOWN – DAY

Big bro Joel teaches Sam to survive. Stealing, hustling, and how to avoid getting lynched by racists.

EXT. RURAL ROAD – DAY

Joel in uniform heads off to fight the war. Sam must sit it out until he’s old enough to join up. Meanwhile, he’s on his own.

Scene Arc: Henry is sent to visit Dachau to firm up his resolve to go to Nuremberg. He and Fuller see the horrors. Fuller tries to kill a Nazi. Henry stops him. Turns out Fuller’s brother was murdered by the SS when he tried to surrender.

Essence: Face to face with the horror of war.

Conflict: Racism taken to its logical limit. Will Fuller shoot?

Subtext: Each man must conquer his own hatred.

Hope/Fear: Hope Fuller puts the gun down. Fear he will kill and be killed and may even kill his boss.

EXT. DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP 1945 – DAY

Utter horror. Gas chambers. Piles of bodies. Fuller, worse for drink, deftly steals a pistol and tries to kill a young Nazi POW. Henry gets in his way. Fuller will have to kill him first. He lowers the gun.

EXT. IN THE JEEP BACK FROM DACHAU – EVENING

Henry guesses Joel has been killed. Fuller explains…

EXT. WERETH, BELGIUM – DAY

…Joel and other black soldiers are racially abused and mutilated as they try to surrender during the Battle of the Bulge.

EXT. IN THE JEEP BACK FROM DACHAU – EVENING

Fuller wants revenge. He doesn’t want to go to Nuremberg. Neither does Henry. But what will his boss decide?

ACT 2

Scene Arc: Fuller waits for Henry in the ruins of Nuremberg. Henry shows kindness to German kids and their father. Fuller shows hatred.

Essence: Revealing character of two protagonists as they begin their assignment.

Conflict: Compassion v vengeance.

Subtext: Reveals Henry as a natural peacemaker. Reveals depth of anger in Fuller.

Hope/Fear: Hope these two can keep it together. Fear they could pull apart.

EXT. NUREMBERG – DAYLIGHT FADING

Ruin and destruction. Fuller greets Henry as he arrives in his Jeep. To Fuller’s fury

Henry gives cigarettes to a crippled ex-SS soldier and his ragged kids who live in the rubble. The kids remind Henry of his boys.

Scene Arc: Setting up in the Palace of Justice. Henry has to keep the Nazis alive until they hang. Introduced to the Catholic chaplain and Jewish psychologist.

Essence: Establishing the hero team.

Conflict: Henry’s conflicting duties – to the military and to the chaplaincy.

Subtext: Tow the line, Henry.

Hope/Fear: Hope to forge a strong team. Fear conflicting agendas will tear them apart.

INT. COLONEL ANDRUS’ OFFICE – DAY

Colonel Andrus tells Henry he is there to ‘keep the Nazis alive ‘till we can hang ‘em.’ No more suicides! Introduces Henry to his roommate, psychologist Gustave Gilbert.

INT. PRISON CELL – NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Gilbert describes the suicides of leading Nazi Robert Ley…

INT. CONCENTRATION CAMP CLINIC (FLASHBACK) – DAY

… and Nazi doctor and euthanasia proponent, Dr Leonard Conti. Gilbert will do whatever it takes to get inside the heads of these Nazis to prevent this ever happening again. Time is short – these men are going to hang.

EXT/INT. PALACE OF JUSTICE – DAY

Chaotic, frantic, war-shattered building site. Gilbert introduces Henry to the Catholic chaplain, Sixtus O’Connor, who shows him round.

Scene Arc: The trial begins. Fuller hustles Henry an organ and a chapel. But at the first service, Fuller is racially insulted and walks out.

Essence: Fuller quits the hero team. The trial is a waste of time – just shoot ‘em all.

Conflict: Goering v the world.

Subtext: Goering and the Nazis – vanity and arrogance. Something is wrong with O’Connor that the Catholic chaplain is concealing.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry will get through to the defendants. Fear that nothing will ever get through to these arrogant Nazis.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Gilbert, O’Connor, Fuller and Henry watch the opening of the trial. To a man, the Nazis plead not guilty. Hermann Goering dominates the dock and shows utter contempt for the court. O’Connor’s back is hurting. He won’t say why.

INT. CHAPLAIN’S ROOM – DAY

Fuller the hustler finds Henry an organ and…

INT. JAILBLOCK – DAY

…knocks two cells together to form a chapel.

INT. PRISON / CHAPEL – NIGHT

As Henry greets his congregation at the door, SS prisoners hurl racial insults at Fuller, who storms out. Goering restores order. After the service, he leads the Germans back to their cells humming a Nazi marching song.

Scene Arc: The Nazis don’t give a rip about the court or Henry.

Essence: Growing rift between Henry and Fuller, Henry and the guards.

Conflict: Open conflict between the court and the Nazis, growing conflict with Henry.

Subtext: These men are monsters – just kill them.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry knows what he’s doing. Fear he’s got it badly wrong.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

The prosecution certainly get it wrong when the show the film, The Nazi Plan. The Germans grin and point to themselves on screen. They love it!

INT. CELLS (VARIOUS) ­– DAY

Henry is treated with indifference and contempt by the Nazis. He offends the guards, including Fuller by appearing too respectful to the prisoners.

Scene Arc: Back home Henry fears his love rival is moving in on his wife. Flashback to how he won over Alma, and became Pa to three boys.

Essence: Nuremberg could cost Henry his marriage.

Conflict: Henry v Kent for Alma’s affections.

Subtext: With Henry away, Alma has chosen Kent.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Alma will stay true. Fear that staying on in Nuremberg will cost Henry his marriage.

INT. HENRY’S HOME IN ST LOUIS – DAY

Henry’s love rival, Kent is moving in on his wife, Alma. He fears the worst because she has sold Henry’s car to him.

EXT. ST LOUIS CHURCH 1920S – DAY

Younger Henry and Kent compete for the affections of good-looking Alma. Henry gets the girl. And they have three fine boys.

Scene Arc: Tensions grow in the team. Fuller is hostile to Henry. Gilbert wants vengeance, and an unidentified figure is hauling rocks at a concentration camp.

Essence: Tensions mount in the hero team.

Conflict: Fuller faces growing hostility from Brannigan. Henry faces growing friction from Fuller and now Gilbert.

Subtext: Racism is not just a Nazi issue. A hidden horror is coming to the surface.

Hope/Fear: Hope they can hold it together. Fear that things are falling apart.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR ­– DAY

Fuller, now exiled to guard duty, has been beaten by his racist sergeant, Brannigan. Henry intervenes but Fuller is hostile.

EXT. NUREMBERG RUINS – DAY

Tensions with the Gilbert grow. He thinks Henry is soft on the Germans, while the intense Jewish psychologist seeks vengeance.

EXT. THE DEATH STEPS, MAUTHAUSEN, 1945 – DAY

A figure is labouring under a huge rock up a stone staircase, as soldiers look on. The figure is dressed in US fatigues.

Scene Arc: Goering dominates the court and is trying to turn Henry.

Essence: Goering dominates the court, the Nazis and the hero team.

Conflict: Goering v the world.

Subtext: Goering is too strong for them.

Hope/Fear: Hope they will find a way through to Goering. Fear they will fail and Goering will be triumphant, and the Nazi legend will live on.

INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY

Goering is working on Henry – trying to turn him, to win favours. He offers Henry his armoured Mercedes as a gift to replace the Chrysler Alma sold to Kent.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Goering, now recovered from drug addiction is back at the peak of his powers. He’s running rings around the prosecutor, Robert Jackson. The prosecution shows a harrowing concentration camp film, which Goering dismisses as propaganda.

Scene Arc: O’Connor and Gilbert confront Jew Baiter Julius Streicher. Fuller pokes fun at the Nazi.

Essence: Mocking the crazy racism of the Nazis.

Conflict: Hero team v Streicher.

Subtext: Gilbert’s Jewish outrage is overwhelming his professionalism. Streicher’s anti-Semitism is insane.

Hope/Fear: Hope O’Connor and Gilbert can overcome their disgust. Fear Streicher is beyond help.

INT. HENRY AND GILBERT’S ROOM – DAY

Gilbert seethes as he reads defendant Julius Streicher’s anti-Semitic newspaper…

INT. JULIUS STREICHER’S CELL – DAY

…and confronts Streicher, who calls him out as a Jew – then strips off to exercise in the nude! Gilbert hurries away.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – DAY

Fuller borrows a Speed Graphic to snap Streicher doing naked star jumps…

INT. SOLDIER’S MESS – DAY

…and pins up the picture on a noticeboard, to howls of laughter.

Scene Arc: O’Connor takes Henry to meet prisoner Hans Frank, who has had an epiphany about the evil he has committed.

Essence: The first Nazi to accept responsibility.

Conflict: Henry can’t believe it.

Subtext: There really is no hope for these men.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Frank has had a change of heart. Fear he is off his head.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – DAY

Henry is floundering. O’Connor takes him to meet Hans Frank in his cell – the Butcher of Warsaw…

INT. PRISON CELL – DAY

…who describes a fearful dream…

EXT. TRAIN – NIGHT

…a train full of the dead, rattling by staring at him.

INT. PRISON CELL – DAY

Frank claims to have had an epiphany and returned to his Catholic faith. Henry is sceptical, but he knows he’s getting nowhere…

Scene Arc: O’Connor takes Henry into Nuremberg to show him why he’s floundering with the Nazis.

Essence: Confronting Henry with his wound.

Conflict: Henry is at war with himself.

Subtext: Tough love is not humiliation.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry will face his wound and overcome it. Fear he will fail.

EXT. NUREMBERG RUINS – DAY

…so the Catholic chaplain takes him out into Nuremberg and shows Henry…

EXT. WW1 RECRUITMENT LINE ST LOUIS 1917 – DAY

…that the problem is the Lutheran chaplain was humiliated years ago and is reluctant to humiliate others. It happened when his German father pulled him out of the WWI recruitment line where he was queuing to fight the Kaiser.

EXT. NUREMBERG RUINS – DAY

Fear of humiliation is the reason Henry is too soft on the Nazis. Now he has to put that aside and get tough.

Scene Arc: Henry meets the court artist, whose painting is gradually revealing the truth about the Nazis. He shows her round Nuremberg.

Essence: How to get the Nazis to take responsibility.

Conflict: Blind eyes cannot see.

Subtext: Art can reveal a deeper truth.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry will learn from Laura. Fear he will never discover how.

INT. BROADCAST BOOTH, ROOM 600 – DAY

Henry meets court artist Laura Knight whose painting of the Nazis in the dock reveals insights that could be useful. The Nazis can’t see what they’ve done. But how can Henry open their eyes and get them to take responsibility?

EXT. NUREMBERG RUINS – DAY

Henry shows Laura round Nuremberg. A young girl is painting the ruins of her former home – as it once was. She doesn’t understand – but she still has hope. Henry is grateful for female companionship. He’s missing his wife.

Scene Arc: Back at the Palace of Justice, MPs and Germans are accosting a Jewish violinist. We see his story in flashback at Auschwitz. Yet the man rebuffs Henry later in court.

Essence: The end of the war didn’t end anti-Semitism.

Conflict: Between the Jewish violinist and the world.

Subtext: Anti-Semitism runs deep and cruel.

Hope/Fear: Fear that the Jewish violinist will reject Henry’s kindness. Hope that Henry can break through to him.

EXT. PALACE OF JUSTICE

Heading back to the Court, Henry intervenes when an MP and some Germans are trying to silence a Jewish violinist.

EXT. AUSCHWITZ CONCENTRATION CAMP 1944 – DAY

An SS guard kills a Jewish conductor for playing the music of Mahler, a Jew. Shia Morontz, first violin in the camp orchestra, can only watch – and then his is forced to play Mozart.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Shia Morontz is in court as a witness. Despite Henry’s earlier kindness, he rebuffs the chaplain when he tries to console him. The Nazis claimed to be Christians too.

Scene Arc: In Henry’s room and back to St Louis in flashback, scene of Henry’s humiliation.

Essence: You have to stand up to bullies. Henry’s wound and the fear of losing his temper.

Conflict: Henry v Gilbert, Henry v Willard, Henry v his own temper.

Subtext: You can stand up to bullies without giving in to hate – theirs or your own.

Hope/Fear: Hope of overcoming his wound. Fear of losing his temper.

INT. HENRY’S ROOM – NIGHT

Letting off steam. Cards and too much booze. Gilbert rounds on Henry and tells him you have to stand up to bullies.

EXT. WW1 RECRUITMENT LINE ST LOUIS 1917 – DAY

Henry takes on the jeering bully Willard and busts his nose. But he is frightened by his own fury. Then the police move in and Pa hauls him away.

Scene Arc: Laura Knight shows Henry her finished painting in the broadcast booth.

Subtext: Art can reveal truth and penetrate denial.

Conflict: Denial v the truth.

Hope/Fear: Hope the truth can be revealed to the Nazis. Fear their blindness is s great that could be impossible.

INT. BROADCAST BOOTH, ROOM 600 – DAY

Laura Knight shows Henry the finished painting. Indifferent, self-obsessed Nazis, surrounded by death and destruction. ‘Make… them… see.’ But how?

Scene Arc: Fuller is cracking jokes and playing a storm in the Stork Club. His racist sergeant tries to bottle him, but is prevented by a Jewish GI.

Essence: Racism in the US military.

Conflict: Fuller v the racist Sgnt Brannigan.

Subtext: Racism is everyone’s problem. To overcome oppression it can help to keep your sense of humour.

Hope/Fear: Fear that Brannigan will get even with Fuller. Hope that Fuller will outsmart him.

INT. THE STORK CLUB, HANUKKAH 1945 – NIGHT

Fuller is pounding the keys and cracking jokes at a Hanukkah party thrown by Jewish GIs, and getting it together with his white girlfriend, Evelyn. The racist Sergeant Brannigan threatens to kill him. Jewish GIs prevent him.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ACT 3

Scene Arc: Into a café in Nuremberg, where Henry persuades the Jewish violinist to tell his story, while patrons storm out.

Essence: The Jewish violinist gives Henry the clue he needs to confront the Nazis.

Conflict: Tensions in the café as patrons walk out.

Subtext: Everybody knew, but they all refuse to see.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry can make them see. Fear that he will fail.

EXT/INT. NUREMBERG CAFÉ – DAY

Henry pursues Morontz who reluctantly tells his story, as the indignant patrons of the café walk out.

INT/EXT. CATTLE CAR 1943 – DAY

Morontz describes being herded into a cattle car with his wife and three small girls and sent to Auschwitz. Polish children run alongside the train yelling the Jews will be turned into soap. Even they knew. Morontz gives Henry the evidence he needs to confront the Nazis. Everybody knew.

Scene Arc: Henry is given evidence by a woman on the prosecution staff that will help him get tough with the defendants. He confronts Keitel in his cell, who agrees to testify. But Goering gets to him first, and Keitel toes the party line in court.

Essence: Rising to the challenge of getting tough. Equipped with evidence for the task.

Conflict: Winning his battle of wits with Keitel, until Goering gets him back on side.

Subtext: Even now, the Fuhrerprinzip prevails. They are still only obeying orders.

Hope/Fear: Hope Keitel will stand up and be a man. Fear that once a yes man, always a yes man.

INT. PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE – DAY

Henry is given a mysterious box by a member of the prosecution staff.

INT. KEITEL’S CELL – DAY

It contains a military paybook and more. Henry uses a mixture of hard evidence and compassion to confront without humiliation. Beginning with Field Marshal Keitel, he forces him out of denial and persuades him to denounce Hitler in court…

EXT. EXERCISE YARD – DAY

…until Goering gets to him.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Under cross examination Keitel toes the party line.

Scene Arc: Hunting party at Goering’s estate, where he later shows off his looted artworks.

Essence: Goering, art thief.

Conflict: Goering and his general.

Subtext: Goering is powerful and manipulative.

Hope/Fear: We hope Goering will admit his crimes. We fear his self-justifications will continue.

EXT. CARINHALL, GOERING’S ESTATE 1943 – DAY

A well-heeled hunting party is returning to Goering’s estate…

INT. CARINHALL – DAY

…where they trail mud over precious carpets while Goering shows off his looted artworks from around the world, including a priceless Vermeer. He silences a German general’s mockery by threatening to send him to Stalingrad.

Scene Arc: Goering eats alone, split off from the other Nazis to break his grip on them – to the relief of several defendants. Henry confronts them in their cells with hard evidence. And they crack.

Essence: Getting Goering out of the way so they can get through to the other Nazis.

Conflict: The court and Henry v Ribbentrop. Henry v Schirach.

Subtext: The truth v denial.

Hope/Fear: Hope that with Goering out of the way the Nazi united front will crack. That Henry’s new tough approach will prevail. Fear of a Goering comeback.

INT. DEFENDANT’S DINING ROOM(S) – DAY

Gilbert cuts off Goering’s influence by separating him from the other Nazis. From now on, Goering must eat on his own – to the relief of several other defendants, Frank, Von Schirach and Speer.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Hitler’s Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop, denies knowing anything about concentration camps, but the court proves his country house overlooked a camp.

INT. RIBBENTROP’S CELL – DAY

Henry confronts him and cuts through the denial.

INT. SCHIRACH’S CELL – DAY

Then Germany’s Pied Piper, Hitler Youth leader Schirach caves in…

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

…and denounces Hitler in court.

Scene Arc: Fuller and the other guards tease the Nazis.

Essence: Fuller and the guards tease the Nazi prisoners. Humorous interlude.

Conflict: The guards v the Nazis.

Subtext: The bullying Nazis behave like terrified schoolboys.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT

Fuller and the other guards find mischievous ways to torment the Nazis, projecting an image of a prisoner being hanged onto the back of his cells in the night, then prodding the prisoner awake.

EXT. PRISON – NIGHT

Screams of terror, hoots from the guards.

Scene Arc: Henry is delirious at night, leading to pneumonia and hospitalisation. His boys come to visit. They are recovering from their war wounds.

Essence: Henry goes down with pneumonia and is freed from guilt towards his boys.

Conflict: Henry v overwork, the bitter cold and his own subconscious.

Subtext: Henry recovers from his guilt wound.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry is not to blame for his sons’ injuries. Fear he may be too ill to continue his mission.

INT. HENRY’S ROOM – NIGHT (MONTAGE DELIRIOUS NIGHTMARES)

Henry’s boys executing the Nazis, being wounded in the war, Alma with Kent, etc.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Henry goes down with pneumonia due to the cold and overwork. Henry’s sons come to see him. They are recovering from their wounds and say they would have signed up to fight whatever Ma and Pa had done.

Scene Arc: The Colonel plans to send Henry home. But the Nazis write to Alma begging her to let him stay. The Colonel relents, but says Henry must spy on the Nazis. Henry bargains by asking for family visits.

Essence: The Colonel threatens to send Henry home – unless he turns spy.

Conflict: Henry v Col Andrus, his duty to the military v his duty to the chaplaincy.

Subtext: The letter from the Nazis to Alma proves Henry is getting through to them.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry can stay and complete his mission. Fear he will be forced to compromise by his colonel.

INT. COL ANDRUS’ OFFICE – DAY

The Colonel plans to send Henry home to his wife against his wishes.

EXT. ST LOUIS STREET – DAY

Alma collects a letter signed by all the leading Nazis begging her to let Henry stay on in Nuremberg.

INT. COL ANDRUS’ OFFICE – DAY

Andrus says for Henry to stay, he must compromise. He will have to spy on the Nazis. Henry bargains by calling for family visits for the prisoners – to keep these condemned men from committing suicide.

Scene Arc: The Auschwitz commander verifies the industrial scale killing of Jews.

Essence: The true horror of the Final Solution revealed.

Conflict: Humanity v the Nazis.

Subtext: Quiet pride at new ways to murder even more. An end to denial.

Hope/Fear: Hope that the truth is finally coming out.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Auschwitz commandant Hoess gives a chilling account of how he stepped up the mechanised murder of Jews under his watch. It’s the death knell for the Nazis.

Scene Arc: O’Connor is drinking. Henry gets alongside him and establishes that he feels guilty over the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp. They go to Nuremberg to talk, where O’Connor gives Henry a rosary made at Mauthausen.

Essence: O’Connor reveals his wound to Henry.

Conflict: O’Connor v his own sense of guilt.

Subtext: Mutual humanity overcomes the denominational divide.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry can help Sixtus O’Connor. Fear that O’Connor could be complicit in murder.

INT. CHAPLAIN’S OFFICE – DAY

Henry consoles O’Connor, who has been drinking again. Henry wants to know why.

EXT. THE DEATH STEPS, MAUTHAUSEN, 1945 – DAY

Catholic chaplain Sixtus O’Connor is hauling a huge granite rock up the death steps at Mauthausen concentration camp. It could easily kill him.

EXT. NUREMBERG PEGNITZ RIVER – DAY

Sobering up, O’Connor describes the liberation of Mauthausen. What he saw and failed to prevent. And the penance he has paid, which has damaged his back. He gives Henry a rosary, made by a slave worker out of granite from the death camp.

Scene Arc: At Speer’s monumental Zeppelinfield in Nuremberg, Gilbert presses Henry to pump Speer for information about Nazi wonder weapons. Back in Speer’s cell, Henry does so, then shocks Gilbert by confronting Speer, who goes on to denounce Hitler in court. Goering calls him a traitor and contacts the Nazi resistance.

Essence: Pressing Henry to spy on Speer.

Conflict: Henry v Speer. Goering v Speer.

Subtext: Tough love prevails. Goering is as entrenched as ever.

Hope/Fear: Hope Goering’s grip can be broken and the Nazi defendants will denounce Hitler. Fear Goering will stage a counter-offensive with the help of the Nazi resistance. Hope Speer is telling the truth. Fear he is lying to save his skin.

EXT. ZEPPELINFIELD, NUREMBERG – DAY

Gilbert shows Henry round Speer’s massive monument at the Nuremberg rally grounds. And presses him to spy on the Nazi about wonder weapons.

INT. SPEER’S CELL – DAY

Henry pumps Speer for information …

INT. SPEER’S CELL – DAY

Henry and Gilbert confront Speer in his cell. The chaplain shows Speer the rosary, made at Mauthausen by one of his slave labourers. Then he shocks Gilbert and Speer by pulling a steel whip out of his briefcase and accusing Speer of knowing full well his guards used these against his female workers. Speer’s self-justifications collapse. Henry finally wins Gilbert’s admiration.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Speer denounces Hitler in court and claims he plotted to assassinate him.

EXT. FUHRERBUNKER – NIGHT

Speer cases the Fuhrerbunker. Security has been tightened. The ventilation shafts where have been raised out of the reach of poison gas. Speer’s plan is a no go.

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Goering screams that Speer is a traitor and vows to have him hanged.

INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY

Goering persuades a guard to take a note to…

INT. PRISON CLINIC – DAY

…a contact in the prison clinic…

EXT. NUREMBERG – NIGHT

…who delivers it to the ex-SS soldier who lives with his boys in the rubble.

Scene Arc: Henry tried to get through to Goering via his daughter. He looks after German kids in his office during a family visit. Goering is moved to tears by his daughter’s painting.

Essence: Henry tries to get through to Goering via his little daughter.

Conflict: Goering v his own denial.

Subtext: The power of art for truth or poisonous propaganda.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry will finally get through to Goering. Fear this last-ditch attempt will fail.

EXT / INT BOMB DAMAGED HOUSE, GERMANY – DAY

Henry delivers groceries to Goering’s wife, Emmy, and a paintbox to his daughter, Edda, and asks her to paint a picture for her father.

INT. CHAPLAIN’S OFFICE – DAY

Henry and Sixtus are overwhelmed with boisterous hungry German kids while their mothers visit the Nazis. One boy gives thanks to the Fuhrer for his food, while Edda Goering asks Henry to read her picture book – a Jew-hating propaganda piece written by Julius Streicher.

INT. VISITING ROOM – DAY

Emmy Goering visits her husband and gives him her daughter’s painting, which moves him to tears.

Scene Arc: Alma listens to a broadcast from the court in St Louis, while Fuller takes bets on how many will hang. Sergeant Brannigan bets the house on 11. Eleven Nazis are sentenced. But Fuller insists on waiting till they hang. Brannigan threatens to kill him. Meanwhile the hangman is erecting scaffolds.

Essence: Tension mounts as we near the execution.

Conflict: Fuller v Brannigan over a wager. Alma v Henry over his apparent failure.

Subtext: Death awaits. A ticking clock.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Fuller will survive. Fear that Fuller could be killed. Hope that the chaplains will get through to the Nazis. Fear that they will fail.

EXT ALMA’S HOUSE – INT. ALMA’S PARLOUR – DAY

The trial is about to end. Alma is listening on the radio with friends. There’s embarrassment when none of the Nazis takes responsibility. But Speer gives a chilling prophecy of ruthless total warfare, driven by technology.

EXT. PALACE OF JUSTICE – NIGHT

Fuller is taking bets on how many Nazis to hang. His racist sergeant stakes the motherlode on 11. If Brannigan is right, how can Fuller pay?

INT. ROOM 600 – DAY

Sentencing: 11 Nazis to hang. Fuller is in deep trouble.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT

Brannigan wants his money. Fuller says they all have to hang first. Brannigan threatens to kill him – but he can’t do it here.

Scene Arc: Execution draws near. Henry confronts Goering in his cell and fails.

Essence: Henry confronts Goering.

Conflict: Tension mounts.

Subtext: Goering’s true colours revealed.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Henry can finally get through to Goering. Growing fear that the chaplain seems doomed to fail.

INT. GYMNASIUM – NIGHT

The hangman is erecting scaffolds…

INT. GOERING’S CELL – NIGHT

…and the hammering and sawing reaches the prisoners’ cells. Henry makes one final huge effort to get through to Goering – but fails. Goering insists on execution by firing squad, rather than hanging a common criminal. Despite sneering at Christ, he demands communion – as an insurance policy. Henry has no choice but to refuse.

Scene Arc: Fuller tries to hustle cash in Nuremberg.

Essence: Fuller is fighting for his life.

Conflict: Fuller v Brannigan, and Fuller on the run from the Russians.

Subtext: Fuller is a marked man.

Hope/Fear: Hope Fuller will survive. Overwhelming fear he will be caught and killed.

EXT. NUREMBERG – NIGHT

Fuller hustles Russian soldiers for cash to give Brannigan. Wise to him, they give chase. Fuller gets away.

ACT 4

Scene Arc: Henry goes to Nuremberg in search of Fuller but finds news that could get through to Goering. The SS man in the rubble has the same paper.

Essence: Henry fails to find Fuller but gets news that could finally persuade Goering.

Conflict: Henry v self-doubt, Fuller v Brannigan, Henry v Goering, the Werwolves v the trial.

Subtext: The resistance have seen the same story – will it shift their resolve?

Hope/Fear: Fear of failure, with both Sam and Goering. Hope of finally getting through to Goering.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – DAY

Fuller is missing. Torn between the needs of the condemned men and his assistant, Henry goes in search of Sam…

EXT. NUREMBERG – DAY

…but fails to find him. Henry picks up a newspaper at a kiosk. What he reads hits him like a thunderclap and gives him hope. He hurries back… passing the ex-SS Nazi sitting as ever, reading his own copy of the same paper.

Scene Arc: Henry confronts Goering with his go-for-broke revelation from the paper that he was swindled by an art forger. Henry loses his temper. He fails and leaves. But he and the Catholic chaplain get through to other Nazis awaiting execution. Then Goering commits suicide.

Essence: Failure with Goering, who commits suicide.

Conflict: Final conflict with Goering.

Subtext: Goering clings on to his vanity to the bitter end.

Hope/Fear: Hope Henry will break through to Goering. Fear Henry’s temper has undermined all his efforts. Hope Henry can get through to the other Nazis.

INT. GOERING’S CELL – DAY

Armed with a fresh revelation, Henry goes-for-broke in confrontation with Goering.

INT. CARINHALL, GOERING’S ESTATE – DAY

Goering is swindled out of a fortune and a chunk of his looted art by a forger.

INT. GOERING’S CELL – EVENING

Goering is shocked and furious at this revelation. Henry loses his temper, and Goering refuses the chaplain’s final offer of help.

INT. OTHER CELLS – NIGHT

But Henry and O’Connor do get through to many of the other Nazis, whose minds are concentrated by their impending executions.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT

A guard hears Goering spluttering. He raises the alarm.

INT. GOERING’S CELL – NIGHT

Goering commits suicide by cyanide capsule.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT

The Catholic chaplain consoles Henry who feels he failed him by losing his temper.

Scene Arc: Walking the other Nazis to the scaffold. The botched executions. Severe stress on the chaplains.

Essence: The Nazis hang, but the executions are botched.

Conflict: The stress is too much for the chaplains.

Subtext: The chaplains finally got through to some of the Nazis. Their work has paid off. But biblical vengeance is exercised on Streicher.

Hope/Fear: Hope that some of the defendants will make their peace. Fear that some have refused and clung on to their Nazi faith.

EXT. JAIL – NIGHT

Henry walks the first condemned man, Ribbentrop, to the gymnasium and the waiting gallows.

INT. GYMNASIUM – NIGHT

One by one the prisoners hang. Ten go to the gallows accompanied by Henry and Sixtus. who feel the strain as the executions are botched by the hangman.

Scene Arc: Brannigan heads into Nuremberg to find Fuller and his cash. Confrontation in an ally. Fuller shoots the sergeant.

Essence: Brannigan goes to kill Fuller.

Conflict: Brannigan v Fuller.

Subtext: Henry has finally got through to Fuller.

Hope/Fear: Fear that Fuller will be killed. Hope he will survive.

INT. PRISON CORRIDOR – NIGHT

Brannigan goes to find Fuller to demand his payout. Another guard tells him only ten men were hanged, so no deal.

EXT. NUREMBERG – NIGHT

Brannigan and two cronies head into Nuremberg to search for Fuller. They trap him in an alley. Brannigan had his white girlfriend beaten and now plans to cut him with a knife. Fuller snatches a gun, just as he did in Dachau, shoots the sergeant and runs.

Scene Arc: US patrol sees German kids burning an effigy of Goering. Troops take the Nazis’ bodies to be burned and their ashes scattered.

Essence: The German resistance gives up the fight. The Nazis are burned and their ashes scattered.

Conflict: US patrol v German kids.

Subtext: Racism is a universal issue. Mercy can overcome hatred. The Nazi legend is broken.

Hope/Fear: Hope for a final end to this conflict.

EXT. NUREMBERG – NIGHT

A US Army patrol on the lookout for Nazi resistance, comes across German kids burning an effigy of Goering. The spirit of the Werwolves and the Nazi legend has finally been broken.

EXT. CREMATORIUM – NIGHT

US soldiers take the bodies of Goering and the others to be burnt…

EXT. GERMAN RIVER – NIGHT

…and their ashes scattered on a river and sent to oblivion.

Scene Arc: Menard prison 15 yrs later. Fuller is playing the piano. A guard says Henry is dead. Fuller tells his story to the Parole Board. He could have killed the Sgnt in Nuremberg – and had good cause – but he spared him.

Essence: Fuller is now at Menard as Henry’s assistant. But Henry dies.

Conflict: Fuller v Parole Board.

Subtext: Everyone needs to receive and to give mercy. Fuller has shown it.

Hope/Fear: Hope that the Parole Board will let Fuller walk free. Fear they won’t.

INT. MENARD PRISON 1961 – DAY

Older Sam Fuller is pounding the piano while prisoners clap and stomp. A guard bursts in. Henry Gerecke is dead…

EXT. MENARD PRISON – DAY

A Chrysler sedan trickles into a wall. Henry has had a heart attack at the wheel.

INT. MENARD SECURE ROOM – DAY

Fuller is telling his story to the Parole Board. They ask about the shooting.

EXT. NUREMBERG 1946 – NIGHT

Fuller confronts Brannigan with a gun, but sees Henry getting in his way at Dachau, so only shoots Brannigan in the ear.

INT. MENARD PRISON – DAY

Fuller explains he was court-martialled, and jailed. Then Henry had him transferred to be his assistant at Menard.

Scene Arc: Henry is reunited with his family, reconciled to Fuller. The Parole Board quiz him about Goering’s suicide. Fuller confesses to getting the hangman to botch the executions to avenge them both.

Essence: Resolution scene. Fuller tries to persuade the Parole Board that what he did was justified.

Conflict: Fuller v Henry – Fuller reconciled to himself, his father and the chaplain.

Subtext: Mercy is one thing, but justice has still been served.

Hope/Fear: Hope that the Fuller will get the Parole Board to see it his way. Fear he will fail. Hope Henry will be reconciled to Alma and reunited with his boys.

EXT/INT. GERECKE HOME, ST LOUIS – DAY

Henry went home, was reunited with Alma and his boys and resumed his prison ministry.

INT. MENARD PRISON – DAY

Henry helped Fuller forgive his father and make peace with himself. Sympathetic to Fuller’s reasons for the shooting, the Parole Board quiz Sam about the rumour he slipped Goering his cyanide. Fuller denies it…

INT. NUREMBERG GYMNASIUM – NIGHT

…but says he told the hangman that the SS had murdered his buddy, too, and the hangman deliberately botched the hangings.

Scene Arc: Fuller and the prisoners pay their respects to Henry. The Parole Board release Sam to attend Henry’s memorial, where he plays the organ.

Essence: Fuller is vindicated. He gets to play the organ at Henry’s memorial – hot.

Conflict: Resolved.

Subtext: Mercy and justice have been served.

Hope/Fear: Hope that Fuller is now a free man – in every sense.

INT. MENARD CHAPEL – DAY

Prisoners and Sam Fuller queue to pay their respects to Henry Gerecke.

EXT. MENARD – DAY

Fuller walks out of Menard a free man…

EXT. ST LOUIS STREET AND CHURCH – DAY

…and follows the crowds heading to church…

INT. LUTHERAN CHURCH – DAY

For Henry Gerecke’s memorial service which is packed. Where he is invited to play the organ – hot!

Thank you!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Intriguing Moments

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. That this screenplay will confront racism as everybody’s problem and show that there is no human being who doesn’t need mercy.

What I learned from this assignment:

The importance of turning drama into intrigue by raising questions rather than stating answers.

Genre: Drama / True Story

Act 1

Mystery: Whose body is being hauled away and buried by Joel and Fuller?

Intrigue: Why does Fuller say he hates Henry?

Mystery: Why does Fuller buck the system and distrust authority?

Covert agenda: Will Fuller follow through on his pledge to kill the Nazis? [Add a line making that pledge.]

Mystery: Why is Fuller willing to risk everything to kill a teenage Nazi POW? What drives him to risk his life for this?

Unsolvable problem: How will Henry overcome his realisation that he could hate enough to kill?

Intrigue: Will both men be able to overcome the anger that could derail them from their task and destroy them?

Unsolvable problem: Fuller has to go to Nuremberg against his will. How will he keep his hustle?

Act 2

Unsolvable problem: Even a brilliant chaplain like Henry is utterly outgunned and out of his depth with these scheming top Nazis.

Unsolvable problem: How can Henry square his military assignment with his calling as a chaplain?

Intrigue: What drives these Nazis? What missteps did these men take to end up here – and what can turn them around?

Intrigue: Can an innocent abroad like Henry break the Nazi legend?

Intrigue: The Nazis have sold their souls. Are they still men – or have they become monsters?

Intrigue / secret: Does the Catholic chaplain have a war wound he’s not letting on to? Why won’t he talk about it?

Covert agenda: Is the Jewish psychologist covering up the truth about the Nazis’ fitness to stand trial because he is determined to see them hang?

Intrigue: Will Goering turn Henry with his charm and manipulation?

Intrigue: Henry chose Nuremberg over his wife. Will he lose Alma to his love rival back home?

Hidden identity: Is Henry as naïve as he seems? Or is he a master at playing the long game?

Intrigue / Covert agenda: Fuller’s hatred of the Nazis is stoked by their racist taunting of him. Will he get revenge? And if so, how?

Intrigue: The Nazis have split Fuller away from Henry. Can that relationship be restored?

Irony: Goering has been weaned off drugs and put on a diet. He’s back at his scheming, manipulative best – and is running rings round the prosecution.

Intrigue / Superior position: Will Goering win? How can he fail?

Intrigue / Superior position: Will Goering persuade Henry and the Allies to keep the war going against the Russians? Should he have succeeded?

Intrigue: What fuels Goering’s colossal vanity?

Intrigue: Why is Henry soft-pedalling on the Nazis? Is he a Nazi sympathiser?

Intrigue: How can Henry get these Nazis to see what they have done and take responsibility for it?

Intrigue: Can Henry overcome his fear of humiliating others and learn how to stand up to these bullies?

Intrigue: Will Sergeant Brannigan make good his vow to get even with Fuller?

Intrigue: Why is Fuller acting like a man with a death wish?

Intrigue: Will Alma disown Henry because his mission in Nuremberg that he set before his marriage is poised to fail?

Act 3

Intrigue: Why is the chaplain so afraid of losing his temper?

Dilemma: Will Henry break his moral code and spy on the Nazis in order to stay in Nuremberg?

Intrigue: Will the chaplain’s new tough line get through to the Nazis, or will it destroy all his good work?

Intrigue: Will Goering’s defences be lowered by his little daughter’s painting?

Covert agenda / Superior position: Will the Werwolves come to Goering’s rescue? Why not?

Unsolvable problem: Will Fuller be able to pay the sergeant back, and will he survive to do so?

Intrigue: How will the Nazis respond to the chaplains’ message as they are led to their deaths? Will their work have made any difference?

Intrigue: Henry and Sixtus come close to heart attacks as they lead these men to the gallows. Will the chaplains survive the ordeal?

Act 4

Intrigue: Where did Goering get his cyanide capsule? [Need to show him being strip searched earlier and the smug expression on his face.]

Intrigue: Why did an experienced hangman botch the executions?

Intrigue: Fuller has lost his bet and can’t pay back his sergeant. Will Brannigan make good his vow to kill him? [Develop Brannigan’s threat.]

Intrigue: Why does Fuller spare Brannigan? [Break this scene into two parts to set up the reveal]

Intrigue: Will Fuller find peace with himself and be released from jail? And why is he demanding to be released immediately?

Intrigue: How will the Parole Board respond to Fuller’s revelation that he got the hangman to botch the executions?

Intrigue: Where are all the key players today?

Thank you!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Emotional Moments

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. That this screenplay will confront racism as everybody’s problem and show that everyone needs to receive mercy.

What I learned from this assignment:

The need to layer in contrasting levels of emotion into the screenplay – to take the audience on a roller-coaster ride.

Act 1

Henry’s wound. Henry Gerecke encouraged his boys to sign up to fight, putting his marriage at risk. Now both have been wounded in the war.

Surprise / self-sacrifice: Instead of going home, Henry stays on in Nuremberg, to serve justice and the Nazi leaders who almost killed his sons.

Horror and disgust 1: The horror of war in the wounds it inflicts on the soldiers in Henry’s care.

Horror and disgust 2: When Henry and his sidekick Sam Fuller visit Dachau concentration camp.

Courage: When Henry puts his life on the line to prevent Fuller committing a murder that would get him killed.

Rage: From Fuller over what the Nazis have done.

Hidden weakness 1: Racism is not just a Nazi problem.

Hidden weakness 2: Anger – Henry is shocked to realise he too wants to kill for revenge.

Fuller’s wound: Fuller’s distrust of father figures, including Henry, goes back to his own alcoholic father.

Act 2

Hatred: Fuller’s unstable fury and desire for revenge are expressed towards a German child.

Bonding: Henry forms bonds with the team of Gustave Gilbert and Sixtus O’Connor, even while his own friendship with Fuller falls apart.

Hidden weakness: Sixtus O’Connor, the catholic chaplain drinks too much. Why?

Outrage: After Nazis hurl racist abuse at Fuller, who walks out on Henry.

Failure: By Henry to get through to the Nazis after risking everything to take this assignment.

Failure: Back home, Henry’s marriage is at risk and his absence is making it worse.

Strain: Henry’s relationship with Gilbert is under pressure over their different approach to the Nazis (seeking mercy v seeking vengeance).

Anger / Hidden weakness: Henry’s anger erupts towards Goering and others, putting the work at risk

Goering’s wound: Goering was abandoned by his parents, humiliated for praising his Jewish ‘godfather’, betrayed by his own politicians.

Hidden weakness: Goering’s hidden weakness is the depths of his vanity.

Hidden weakness: Henry’s reluctance to get tough with the Nazis.

Henry’s wound: Humiliated by his father, afraid to humiliate or get angry with others.

Surprise: The revelation of Henry’s wound by Sixtus O’Connor, the catholic chaplain.

Bonding: Between Henry and Sixtus.

Hatred and foreboding: Of Fuller by his racist Sergeant.

Act 3

Tears: Of compassion for the Jewish witness in the café in Nuremberg.

Anger: As Gilbert falls out with Henry who accuses him of self-righteousness.

Surprise and success: As Henry learns how to confront the Nazis with tough love.

Fear and jeopardy: As Henry goes down with pneumonia through overwork and risks losing all.

Bonding and relief: As his sons visit and dispel Henry’s feelings of guilt.

Bonding: As Henry wins Gilbert back round by puncturing his indignation.

Foreboding: As Fuller enrages his racist sergeant who threatens to kill him.

Foreboding: As Goering makes contact with the Nazi resistance.

Double failure: As Henry’s last-ditch effort to get through to Goering falls on deaf ears and he has to deny him communion.

Foreboding and failure: As Fuller overreaches with his bet on how many Nazis will hang – and his sergeant stakes the house on it.

Act 4

Surprise and intrigue: Henry gets evidence that could turn Goering round at the very last minute.

Stunning failure: But Henry loses his temper. Goering commits suicide and it could be Henry’s fault.

Success: Other Nazis are now responding.

Horror and courage: Henry and Sixtus accompany the surviving Nazis to the scaffold, where the hangings are botched and they die slowly.

Self-sacrifice: Both chaplains are close to collapse.

Intrigue: Why are the hangings botched, when the hangman has plenty of experience?

Fear and jeopardy: Brannigan is coming for Fuller, who needs to repay him and takes even more risks selling black market goods to Russians.

Violence and disgust: Brannigan carries out a racist attack on Fuller. He means to use a knife on him.

Surprise: Fuller turns the tables, grabs a sidearm, just like he did in Dachau and confronts his sergeant, ready to kill him.

Surprise: He doesn’t kill him. He remembers Henry getting in his way at Dachau and only shoots him through the ear.

Surprise: The Nazi resistance have melted away.

Surprise: The SS youth who were supposed to spring Goering from jail are burning his effigy.

Resolution scenes:

Bonding: Henry returns to his wife and his boys. He is reconciled to Fuller.

Surprise: Fuller, now serving time, is Henry’s assistant at Menard.

Surprise: Fuller is reconciled with the memory of his father.

Surprise: Henry dies of a heart attack.

Sadness: at the loss.

Joy: At how many men line up to honour Henry’s memory.

Surprise: Fuller is accused of slipping Goering cyanide.

Surprise: Fuller had sweeter revenge in mind. He instigated the botched hangings to even the score with the Nazis for the murder of his brother.

Surprise: The Parole Board identify with Fuller over the shooting of his sergeant and the botched hangings.

Surprise: They give Fuller parole.

Surprise and joy: Fuller is invited to play the organ at Henry’s memorial – hot.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Reveals

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. That this screenplay will confront racism as everybody’s issue and show that it’s never too late to receive mercy.

What I learned from this assignment:

The need to carefully layer in satisfying setups and payoffs throughout the screenplay.

Genre: Drama / True Story

ACT 1

Challenge to go to Nuremberg to keep the leading Nazis alive until they hang for their crimes – and to break the Nazi legend.

Fuller PJ 1: Fuller is telling his story years later: the odd couple: the hustler and the chaplain working together in a military hospital in Munich as the war comes to an end. For Fuller, it’s play the organ in chapel, or go to jail.

CAT1 Hot playing, wise-cracking, entertaining sidekick of the Chaplain, who hits the keys while his boss jams hot on the trombone. Lights up the room. Sardonic approach to the parole board – older, wiser, but still sassy.

Setup: Hustler.

Payoffs: Act 1, in jail, several times, including later, in Act 1 and 4.

Henry PJ 1: Henry and Fuller working together in post-war Munich. The soldiers love it when Fuller hits the keys of that piano and Henry plays his beloved trombone hot.

CAT1 At the end of Chapel service, with a twinkle in his eye, Henry gives everyone what they want – he plays his trombone hot and loud while Sam pounds the piano. A great rapport with Sam and the patients in his care.

Set-up Friendship.

Payoff: Act 4 Friendship restored.

Setup: Blind eye. Everyone turned a blind eye to the Nazis.

Payoffs (Throughout) WW2 and the Holocaust.

Setup: Henry turning a blind eye to Fuller’s black marketeering.

Payoffs: Act 4 Almost costs Fuller his life.

Henry PJ 2: The war may be ending, but those ambulances keep coming. It’s exhausting. His catchphrase is ‘And this too shall pass.’

CAT2 Exhausted, bloodied, still kindly, still smiling, still hanging in. Treats a patient whose face has been blown off. Almost, but not quite lost for words. Overcoming the horror to put the other man first.

Henry PJ 3: Henry gets news his boys have been seriously wounded in the war.

CAT3 Keeps the pain of the news about his sons to himself. Goes straight into caring for Sam Fuller.

Henry PJ 4: Flashback to home, Henry encourages his boys to sign up. Alma says she’ll never forgive him if anything happens to them.

CAT4 Suddenly aware of his wife’s needs and fears. Instead of hitting back against her unreasonable reaction, he responds with empathy when their son goes off to war. Already beginning shouldering a burden of guilt and apprehension.

Setup Guilt over sending sons to war.

Payoff Act 3? Sons say they would have gone anyway.

Fuller PJ 2: Fuller is told the Nazis murdered his big brother Joel when he tried to surrender. [Could shift to later]

CAT2 The lights go out. Internalises his grief.

Setup Fuller’s desire to kill Nazis if he had the chance.

Payoffs Acts 2 – 4 Tormenting the Nazi prisoners / Accusing of giving Goering his cyanide capsule / Confessing to setting up the hangman to botch the executions.

Fuller PJ 3: Flashback to his home. Joel saw off their alcoholic father and brought Sam up on his own, hustling to survive. Joel signs up to fight, with Sam following in his footsteps.

CAT3 Fear and contempt for his abusive father. Brought up by his big bro to be a hustler to survive and get respect. Steal, shoplifts and always on the run, foreshadowing the incident with Brannigan later.

Setup Fuller’s hatred and distrust of father figures who get in your way.

Payoffs Act 1 Transferred to Henry when he stands in his way at Dachau / Act 4 Ends when he forgives his own father and is reconciled to Henry.

Henry PJ 5: Henry and Fuller are sent to Dachau to witness the aftermath of the Nazi atrocities and prepare him for the assignment to come.

CAT5 When everything he believes about the goodness of God and innate humankindness is undercut. Anger rises and the desire for revenge when he is at his lowest. He, too, wants to kill. This self-realisation hits him hard.

Setup Self-realisation that Henry is capable of murder.

Payoffs Act 2-3 Overcoming that hatred / Being able to empathise with murderers.

Fuller PJ 4: Fuller sets out to kill a Nazi POW in Dachau to avenge the murder of his brother when he tried to surrender. Henry want to kill him too, but prevents Fuller, which sours their relationship.

CAT4 Asks a Nazi to tell him a joke to prove his humanity – showing despite his fury and thirst for revenge, he is still looking for the best in people. Deftly lifts Lt Shaeffer’s pistol like an accomplished pick-pocket. Drunk and pushed to the brink by grief. Can’t understand the German. Out of his depth and drowning when he threatens to kill the SS POW.

Deeper Layers: Henry encouraged his boys to sign up. His wife said she would never forgive them if anything happened. Now he must deal with his guilt and get back home to save his marriage. But he needs to be in Nuremberg.

News of his brother’s murder fuels Fuller’s desire for revenge.

Joel brought Fuller up in place of his alcoholic father. The experience of his father has given Fuller a deep distrust of father figures.

For Henry, Dachau stirs up an anger that has this kindly man contemplating murder. It scares him. It also breaks his resistance to the death penalty.

INCITING INCIDENT: Henry and his assistant Fuller are assigned to Nuremberg for chaplain duties to the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 6: Henry doesn’t want to help the Nazis. He’s seen too many good boys killed for that. His marriage is under strain, and he is overdue to be sent home home. If he chooses to stay, his marriage could well be on the line.

CAT6 Self-sacrifice and self-doubt. He takes the harder road and stays on in Nuremberg. A man who will do the right thing, whatever the cost.

Setup Guilt at staying on in Nuremberg rather than going home to Alma.

Payoff Act 3-4 She tells him to stay on and finish the job / She waits for him and remains faithful.

Fuller PJ 5: Fuller loathes the Nazis, doesn’t want to help them, and would lose his cushy hustle in Munich. Last thing he wants is to go to Nuremberg. But what choice does he have? – it’s Nuremberg or jail.

CAT5 Angry with the chaplain, angry with the world. Nowhere to turn. Forced to go to Nuremberg. Internalises his anger.

TURNING POINT 1: Henry is torn between his duties to God, the military and his marriage. He takes the hard route and chooses to go to Nuremberg. And Fuller, who doesn’t have a choice, has to go with him.

ACT 2

Into Nuremberg, a fish out of water, outgunned and manipulated by the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 7: Into the ruins. A devastated city. Henry revealed as kindly and seemingly naïve. Fuller as bitter. Their genuine friendship under strain.

CAT7 Kind and considerate, even to a former SS soldier. Not a racist bone in his body. He sees the Nazi kids and they remind him of his boys.

Fuller PJ 6: Fuller shows hatred to the ex-SS soldier who watches them in the ruins – and to his children.

CAT6 Loses it when a German kid pretends to shoot him with a stick, revealing the fury and indignation still close the surface. Mad at his boss for playing along and offering to surrender – just like his brother Joel.

Henry PJ 8: The Colonel tells Henry he must prevent the Nazis committing suicide and make them take responsibility for their war crimes.

CAT8 Still searching for the higher and harder ground he chooses to exceed his military brief by staying true to his higher calling as a chaplain, and setting out to find these men who are utterly lost.

Setup Henry needs to break the Nazi legend.

Payoffs Acts 3 – 4, to a measure, he succeeds.

Henry PJ 9: Henry is introduced to his behind-the-scenes team in Nuremberg, a Catholic chaplain concealing a war wound, and a Jewish psychologist with an understandable axe to grind.

CAT9 Disarmingly affable, cheery, joking, yet evaluating and astute. Winning friends by standing with them and seeking common ground. Foreshadowing his approach to the Nazis.

Setup Sixtus’ painful back.

Payoff Act 3, His painful penance at Mauthausen, hauling a rock up the death stairs.

Setup Sixtus O’Connor’s drink problem.

Payoff Act 3, His reason for self-medication revealed – trying to silence memories of Mauthausen.

Goering AJ 1: Pleads not guilty in court, treats the Tribunal with contempt, and dominates other defendants to keep the Nazi legend alive.

AJ1 Centre of attraction. Drawing all eyes. Dominating the other defendants and the courtroom. At this stage, charismatic and powerful, joking, smiling, pointing out the sights, the ringmaster at his own circus. Narrowly escaping death when a knife is thrown. Takes it in his stride with good humour. Clearly courageous and able to laugh at himself.

Fuller PJ 7: Realises Henry didn’t tell about Dachau. So Sam the hustler finds his boss an organ and arranges for two cells to be knocked into a chapel.

CAT7 Realises the chaplain didn’t tell the Colonel about his incident at Dachau. So softens in his attitude and hustles on Henry’s behalf, finding him an organ and two rooms for a chapel.

Fuller PJ 8: Fuller, who’s black, walks out on his boss after SS prisoners hurl racial insults at him while playing the organ. To avoid jail and hold on to his hustle, he opts to guard the leading Nazis – where he can torment them.

CAT8 Fury at racial abuse by the Nazis. Walks out on the chaplain. Takes up guard duty to avoid jail and give him the chance to torment the prisoners.

Setups Racism led to the holocaust.

Payoffs (throughout) Racism is everyone’s problem.

Henry PJ 10: The kindly chaplain is treated with indifference and contempt by the Nazis, while their leader Hermann Goering tries to manipulate Henry to gain influence. Gilbert warns him the US guards think Henry is too pally with the Nazis.

CAT10 A fish out of water. Self-doubt, undermined, played for a fool, but always unreasonably respectful and kind, and still evaluating, still choosing the harder road. He shakes hands with the Nazis, in contravention of orders, and refers to them by their Nazi rank, which has been abolished. Sets himself up for accusations of being a Nazi lover.

Setup Henry believes his marriage at risk from love rival Kent.

Payoff Act 4, Alma stays faithful / Kent revealed as married at Henry’s funeral.

Setup Henry says he is playing the long game, even at risk of his reputation. [Possibly earlier]

Payoff Act 3, The long game pays off in the end.

Goering AJ 2: Goering has recovered from drug addiction thanks to the prison regime, but is back at his scheming best, at the peak of his powers.

CAT 2 Trying to exercise to show how fit he is. More self-deprecating humour. Running rings round the prosecutor. Pinching an interpreter’s bottom in court. Dismissing concentration camp film and other compelling evidence as propaganda. Unwavering in his self-belief.

Henry PJ 11: Tensions with Gilbert grow as Henry pursues mercy while Gilbert seeks vengeance.

CAT11 Not thrown by Gilbert’s accusations. Choosing to hear and evaluate, rather than retaliate. Teachable and secure, despite moments of self-doubt.

Setup Gerecke’s fear of losing his temper. [Possibly earlier, in confrontation with guards.]

Payoff Act 3, Losing his temper with Goering in final confrontation.

Setup Shia Morontz playing violin at Auschwitz, racist murder. [Possibly later]

Payoff Shia Morontz being confronted and moved in Nuremberg by Germans and MP who was only obeying orders.

Deeper Layers: Henry and Fuller have good cause to hate Hitler’s henchmen. To a man they plead not guilty and treat the court with contempt.

Fuller’s friendship with Henry is strained to breaking point – exacerbated by his suspicion towards father figures.

Abandoned by his parents as a child, betrayed by his government during the First War, Goering is driven by his need to keep his and the Nazi legend alive.

Goering AJ 3: Plays Henry and the others to win his sympathy and to try to get the Allies to join forces with Germany against Russia.

CAT 3 Self-justifying, manipulative, scheming, charming. Winning favours from the guards by giving them gifts, including his expensive engraved chronograph.

Setup Goering’s vanity is his fatal flaw.

Payoff Act 3, That vanity kills him when he is devastated at having been fooled by a forger, and commits suicide rather than face the hangman.

Setup Goering says you’ll have to fight the Russians someday.

Payoff War in Ukraine, 70 years later.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: O’Connor reveals to Henry that his humiliation in the WWI recruitment line is holding him back; court artist Laura Knight shows Henry he must break through the Nazis’ denial and make them see; Gilbert shows Henry he must marshal the evidence to confront the Nazis, and Fuller shows him he must get tough.

Henry learns that the only way to break through to these Nazi defendants is to get tough with them: ‘To stand up to bullies.’

Henry PJ 12: Sixtus shows Henry that what’s holding him back is fear of inflicting humiliation on others – due to his father humiliating him in the recruitment line. We see this in flashback.

CAT12 Grateful for the wise counsel offered by Sixtus. Valuing this contribution by a man of another faith. Accepts the revelation of his own weakness and humbly learns from it.

Setup Humiliation at recruitment line (his wound).

Payoffs Fear of humiliating others, Act 3, Overcoming humiliation when it is revealed to him / Ability to get tough with others for their own good.

Fuller PJ 9: Fuller returns to the ordinary world of the hustle in his off-duty hours, pounding the keys and cracking jokes in a GI nightclub, and getting it together with his white girlfriend, Evelyn.

CAT9 Throws himself back into his black-market hustle, entertaining in a GI nightclub, flaunting his white girlfriend, ignoring the protests of his racist sergeant. Cocksure and self-destructive.

Setup Growing hatred of Fuller by his racist sergeant, Brannigan.

Payoff Act 3, Brannigan hospitalises his white girlfriend, tries to cut Fuller.

Fuller PJ 10: Antagonism grows from his racist sergeant Brannigan, who beats him up and is assigned to new duties.

CAT10 Beaten up by his sergeant, yet refusing to complain, furious when Henry has the sergeant reassigned. Foreshadowing his death wish.

Henry PJ 13: Henry gets to know the court artist, who opens his eyes to what he must do. But how?

CAT13 Missing his wife. Drawn to another woman, but recognising that, acts with restraint. Always willing to learn from another, to see things from their point of view.

Deeper Layer Reveal: The catholic chaplain recognises Henry is pulling his punches. Henry was badly humiliated by his German father during World War One. Pa hauled him away from the recruitment line where he was signing up to fight for Uncle Sam against the Kaiser. Henry must overcome his own aversion to humiliation if he is to get tough and confront others.

ACT 3

Henry gets his mojo – learns tough love and confronts the Nazis with evidence of their guilt to shatter their denial.

Henry PJ 14: Jewish witness Shia Morontz gives Henry the lead he needs to break through the Nazi denial.

CAT14 Respectful, kind and compassionate to this Jewish witness. Humble enough to admit he doesn’t have all the answers. Puts his hand on his in a café, comes close to tears, enrages some of the Germans in the café by standing publicly with a Jew.

Henry PJ 15: Gilbert falls out with Henry, accusing him of being naive and self-righteous.

CAT15 Giving Gilbert a hearing, even though he is rude and drunk, believing there is something to be learned in every situation, humbly evaluating the truth of those criticisms. Betraying early signs of overwork by being unable to relax in what should be a friendly card game.

Henry PJ 16: Henry learns to confront without humiliation. He challenges defendant after defendant with hard evidence, forcing them out of denial and towards responsibility.

CAT16 Learning tough love, how to confront without compromise without tipping into humiliation. And, although afraid of losing his temper, managing to keep his temper under control.

Setup Henry’s fear of losing his temper, like his Pa.

Payoff Act 3, Loses temper with Goering / But recognising keeping cool would have changed nothing.

Goering AJ 4: What the Nazis have done is plain to see. Goering’s domination is broken by the weight of visual evidence and testimony. And by being cut off from the other defendants.

AJ4 Narcissistic, self-obsessed, vain, furious at being sidelined in a dining room on his own. Like a toddler sent to the naughty step.

Setup Goering’s boast ‘Call me Meyer’ if the Allies ever bomb Berlin. [Possibly earlier]

Payoff Act 4, Kids burn Goering’s effigy, chanting ‘Meyer, Meyer…’

Setup Goering’s refusal to be hanged.

Payoff Act 3, He takes his own life.

Setup Goering’s art kleptomania, when he shows off his collection at Carinhall.

Payoff Act 3 confrontation, Revelation that he has been duped by a forger.

Fuller PJ 11 Fuller teases and torments the Nazis behind bars. [Need more from Fuller in Act 3]

CAT11 Teases and torments the Nazis behind bars. Getting his fun and his own back at their expense – but child-like and mischievous, never vicious.

Henry PJ 17: Henry goes down with pneumonia due to the cold and overwork. His sons, both recovering from their war wounds come to see him and encourage him in his work.

CAT17 His delirious nightmares betray his insecurity. His joy at seeing his sons reminds us of this father’s great love for his boys. His teachability allows him to be mentored by his sons and to let go of his guilt.

Henry PJ 18: Henry wins Gilbert round, so they can stop trading atrocities.

CAT18 Employing his new tough love to confront Gilbert and win back his friendship. Showing him the picture of the murdered priest at Dachau punctures Gilbert’s self-pity and undermines his accusations.

Fuller PJ 12: Fuller’s wisecracks at the Stork Club stoke up his racist sergeant, who tries to attack him with a broken bottle. [Need to amp up Brannigan’s threats].

CAT12 Increasingly outrageous, his wisecracks at the Stork Club are calculated to provoke his sergeant who tries to attack him with a broken bottle.

Henry PJ 19: The Colonel plans to send Henry home. But the Nazis write to Alma begging for him to stay. She relents and persuades the Colonel to keep him on in Nuremberg. But to stay on, Henry must compromise and spy on the Nazis.

CAT19 Still taking the higher, harder road of risk to self. Still pressing for what he believes to be right.

Deeper Layer: Henry’s sons exonerate him from his sense of guilt of encouraging them to go to war.

His wife now values the work he is doing and lets him stay.

Goering AJ 5: Makes contact with the Nazi resistance to try to stage a breakout. [Or at midpoint?]

CAT5 Pulls a favour from a guard to slip a note to the Nazi resistance. Cold. Dangerous. Two-faced with the guard. All smiles to his face. Coolly self-satisfied when he has gone.

Setup Getting notes to the Werwolves.

Payoff Act 4 Note unread and trampled unfoot at the end.

Henry PJ 20: Henry and the Catholic chaplain arrange family visits to try to get through to the Nazis.

CAT20 Overwhelmed by the German kids and the pro-Nazi poison they have been fed: their prayers to Hitler, their anti-Semitic schoolbooks. Holding on to kindness.

Setup Henry gives Goering’s daughter Edda a paint box. [Earlier?]

Payoff Act 3 – 4 She paints a picture for Pappi, which is the last thing he ever sees.

Turning Point 3 Henry’s confrontation with Goering fails, as does his efforts to reach him via his daughter. Goering’s arrogance is undiminished.

Henry PJ 21: Forced to face his failure and deny Goering communion. [Third or 4^th Act?]

CAT21 Torn by the dilemma that when Goering finally asks for communion, what Henry has been working for all these months, he has to deny him. Revealing that he has finally learned tough love.

Fuller PJ 13: All is lost moment for Fuller, who takes bets on how many Nazis will hang. His racist sergeant stakes his motherlode on 11. Looks like he’s called it right. But how will Fuller pay? Realises he’s running a dreadful risk.

CAT13 Overdoes it with his betting on how many Nazis will hang. For the first time, fearful for the consequences of his recklessness.

ACT 4

Confrontation with Goering, execution of the Nazis, Resolution.

Henry PJ 22: Henry’s last-ditch go-for-broke confrontation with Goering fails. He loses his temper and fears he may have blown it.

CAT22 Fury with Goering. Reprise of his finger-curling desire to kill, swallowed down and internalised in a way that brings him close to collapse.

Goering AJ 6: Final refusal to recognise the truth about himself and accept responsibility.

CAT6 Tearful over his daughter’s painting, but devastated over realising he has been cheated by a forger.

Henry PJ 23: But Henry’s other efforts pay off. He finally gets through to some of the Nazis, who denounce Hitler and take responsibility.

CAT23 Final go-for-broke confrontation with Goering fails. Henry believes it is because he has lost his temper and pushed Goering too hard. Reveals his self-doubt.

Goering AJ 7: Goering commits suicide.

CAT7 Determined and defiant, deceiving the guards about his cyanide capsule. Giving himself his martyr’s death, rather than be hanged as a criminal.

Climax: Henry and the doctor are unable to save Goering, but with the minds concentrated by their imminent execution some Nazis finally accept responsibility and make their peace. Ten Nazis go to the gallows.

Henry PJ 24: Henry accompanies them to the scaffold – almost triggering a heart attack.

CAT24 Almost has a heart attack as he accompanies the men he has served to the scaffold. Paying a huge personal cost to have cared for them for almost a year, and now to see them die. Hugely moved by the final words of those who have responded to his ministry.

Setup The experienced hangman botches the hangings. Why?

Payoff Act 4, Fuller talked woods into botching the hangings to get revenge for the murder of his buddy at Malmedy.

Fuller PJ 14: Only ten Nazis hang, so the Sergeant loses his bet – which means he is coming for Fuller. Amps up his game on the black market.

CAT14 Hustles Russian soldiers to try to get money. Upping the risk. Getting in deeper.

Setup Fuller is reckless over taking bets on the hangings.

Payoff Act 4, Overreaches and almost gets himself killed

Fuller PJ 15: Fuller is confronted by his racist sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg. Brannigan has had Fuller’s white girlfriend beaten and plans to cut Fuller with a knife. Fuller overcomes Sgnt Brannigan and almost kills him. The memory of Henry putting his life on the line at Dachau holds Fuller back from committing murder. He goes on the run.

CAT15 Beaten up by his racist sergeant, who has attacked his white girlfriend and now wants to cut him down to size. Lifts a sidearm, just like he did in Dachau, and confronts the Sergeant. Thinks back to that scene in Dachau, sees the face of his father-figure, Henry Gerecke, telling him not to shoot. Instead, shoots the sergeant in the ear, sparing his life.

Goering AJ 8: The atrocities revealed at the trial have demoralised the Nazi resistance who melt away. Goering’s body is cremated and his effigy burnt in Nuremberg – the Nazi legend is broken.

CAT8 A straw effigy of his bloated body mocked and burned by kids in Nuremberg – the same kids Goering expected to come to his rescue.

Resolution: Henry goes home to be reunited with wife and family. Resumes prison ministry. Fuller court-martialled and jailed. Henry pulls strings to make Fuller his assistant in Menard. Fuller and Henry reconciled. Fuller learns to show mercy. Makes peace with himself. Henry dies. Fuller released to attend his memorial. Completes his story with a where-are-they-now roundup.

Fuller PJ 16: Fuller is transferred to Menard as Henry’s assistant, back at the piano. He learns to give and receive mercy, and is reconciled to Henry and himself.

CAT16 Post-war, back behind bars in Menard with Henry. Still playing the piano hot. Older and wiser, he finally learns to forgive his father and find reconciliation.

Henry PJ 25: Restored to his family, resumes his ministry, hugely popular, thanks to his compassion, humour and hot trombone. Reconciled to Fuller. [Need to develop Henry’s sense of humour.]

CAT25 Joy at being reunited with his family. Resuming a popular prison ministry at Menard. Still funny, still warm, still playing his trombone hot – and finally achieving reconciliation with Fuller.

Fuller PJ 17: To get revenge on the Nazis he tells the hangman they murdered his buddy at Malmedy. So the hangman botches the killings.

CAT17 Flashback. Vindictively gets the hangman to botch the executions, consummating his desire for revenge.

Henry PJ 26: Dies in Resolution scene – heart attack. Honoured in Menard by prisoners, including Sam Fuller.

CAT26 Heart attack at the wheel of his car.

Fuller PJ 18: Fuller completes his account to the parole board. They buy his story, would have done the same to his sergeant. They release him from jail.

CAT18 Persuades the Parole Board to buy his story that the shooting was justified. They see it his way as a racist attack and attempted mutilation. Released.

Fuller PJ 19: Attends Henry’s memorial, where he plays the organ – hot.

CAT19 Plays the organ hot at Henry’s funeral.

Fuller PJ 20: Wrap-up scene with reporter years later, explaining where are they now.

CAT20 Sardonic summing up of where everyone is all these years later. Sassy as ever.

Many thanks!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Character Action Tracks

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. That this screenplay will confront racism as everybody’s issue and show that it’s never too late to receive mercy.

What I learned from this assignment:

To think through going beyond dialogue to action. Picture what does that action/reaction look like? How is it expressed kinetically and shown on screen?

Genre: Drama / True Story

ACT 1: Challenge to go to Nuremberg to keep the leading Nazis alive until they hang for their crimes – and to break the Nazi legend.

Fuller PJ 1: Fuller is telling his story years later: the odd couple: the hustler and the chaplain working together in a military hospital in Munich as the war comes to an end. For Fuller, it’s play the organ in chapel, or go to jail.

CAT 1 Hot playing, wise-cracking, entertaining sidekick of the Chaplain, who hits the keys while his boss jams hot on the trombone. Lights up the room. Sardonic approach to the parole board – older, wiser, but still sassy.

Henry PJ 1: Henry and Fuller working together in post-war Munich. The soldiers love it when Fuller hits the keys of that piano and Henry plays his beloved trombone hot.

CAT 1 At the end of Chapel service, with a twinkle in his eye, Henry gives everyone what they want – he plays his trombone hot and loud while Sam pounds the piano. A great rapport with Sam and the patients in his care.

Henry PJ 2: The war may be ending, but those ambulances keep coming. It’s exhausting. His catchphrase is ‘And this too shall pass.’

CAT 2 Exhausted, bloodied, still kindly, still smiling, still hanging in. Treats a patient whose face has been blown off. Almost, but not quite lost for words. Overcoming the horror to put the other man first.

Henry PJ 3: Henry gets news his boys have been seriously wounded in the war.

CAT 3 Keeps the pain of the news about his sons to himself. Goes straight into caring for Sam Fuller.

Henry PJ 4: Flashback to home, Henry encourages his boys to sign up. Alma says she’ll never forgive him if anything happens to them.

CAT 4 Suddenly aware of his wife’s needs and fears. Instead of hitting back against her unreasonable reaction, he responds with empathy when their son goes off to war. Already beginning shouldering a burden of guilt and apprehension.

Fuller PJ 2: Fuller is told the Nazis murdered his big brother Joel when he tried to surrender. [Could shift to later]

CAT 2 The lights go out. Internalises his grief.

Fuller PJ 3: Flashback to his home. Joel saw off their alcoholic father and brought Sam up on his own, hustling to survive. Joel signs up to fight, with Sam following in his footsteps.

CAT 3 Fear and contempt for his abusive father. Brought up by his big bro to be a hustler to survive and get respect. Steal, shoplifts and always on the run, foreshadowing the incident with Brannigan later.

Henry PJ 5: Henry and Fuller are sent to Dachau to witness the aftermath of the Nazi atrocities and prepare him for the assignment to come.

CAT 5 When everything he believes about the goodness of God and innate humankindness is undercut. Anger rises and the desire for revenge when he is at his lowest. He, too, wants to kill. This self-realisation hits him hard.

Fuller PJ 4: Fuller sets out to kill a Nazi POW in Dachau to avenge the murder of his brother when he tried to surrender. Henry want to kill him too, but prevents Fuller, which sours their relationship.

CAT 4 Asks a Nazi to tell him a joke to prove his humanity – showing despite his fury and thirst for revenge, he is still looking for the best in people. Deftly lifts Lt Shaeffer’s pistol like an accomplished pick-pocket. Drunk and pushed to the brink by grief. Can’t understand the German. Out of his depth and drowning when he threatens to kill the SS POW.

Deeper Layers: Henry encouraged his boys to sign up. His wife said she would never forgive them if anything happened. Now he must deal with his guilt and get back home to save his marriage. But he needs to be in Nuremberg.

News of his brother’s murder fuels Fuller’s desire for revenge.

Joel brought Fuller up in place of his alcoholic father. The experience of his father has given Fuller a deep distrust of father figures.

For Henry, Dachau stirs up an anger that has this kindly man contemplating murder. It scares him. It also breaks his resistance to the death penalty.

INCITING INCIDENT: Henry and his assistant Fuller are assigned to Nuremberg for chaplain duties to the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 6: Henry doesn’t want to help the Nazis. He’s seen too many good boys killed for that. His marriage is under strain, and he is overdue to be sent home home. If he chooses to stay, his marriage could well be on the line.

CAT 6 Self-sacrifice and self-doubt. He takes the harder road and stays on in Nuremberg. A man who will do the right thing, whatever the cost.

Fuller PJ 5: Fuller loathes the Nazis, doesn’t want to help them, and would lose his cushy hustle in Munich. Last thing he wants is to go to Nuremberg. But what choice does he have? – it’s Nuremberg or jail.

CAT 5 Angry with the chaplain, angry with the world. Nowhere to turn. Forced to go to Nuremberg. Internalises his anger.

TURNING POINT 1: Henry is torn between his duties to God, the military and his marriage. He takes the hard route and chooses to go to Nuremberg. And Fuller, who doesn’t have a choice, has to go with him.

ACT 2: Into Nuremberg, a fish out of water, outgunned and manipulated by the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 7: Into the ruins. A devastated city. Henry revealed as kindly and seemingly naïve. Fuller as bitter. Their genuine friendship under strain.

CAT 7 Kind and considerate, even to a former SS soldier. Not a racist bone in his body. He sees the Nazi kids and they remind him of his boys.

Fuller PJ 6: Fuller shows hatred to the ex-SS soldier who watches them in the ruins – and to his children.

CAT 6 Loses it when a German kid pretends to shoot him with a stick, revealing the fury and indignation still close the surface. Mad at his boss for playing along and offering to surrender – just like his brother Joel.

Henry PJ 8: The Colonel tells Henry he must prevent the Nazis committing suicide and make them take responsibility for their war crimes.

CAT 8 Still searching for the higher and harder ground he chooses to exceed his military brief by staying true to his higher calling as a chaplain, and setting out to find these men who are utterly lost.

Henry PJ 9: Henry is introduced to his behind-the-scenes team in Nuremberg, a Catholic chaplain concealing a war wound, and a Jewish psychologist with an understandable axe to grind.

CAT 9 Disarmingly affable, cheery, joking, yet evaluating and astute. Winning friends by standing with them and seeking common ground. Foreshadowing his approach to the Nazis.

Goering AJ 1: Pleads not guilty in court, treats the Tribunal with contempt, and dominates other defendants to keep the Nazi legend alive.

AJ1 Centre of attraction. Drawing all eyes. Dominating the other defendants and the courtroom. At this stage, charismatic and powerful, joking, smiling, pointing out the sights, the ringmaster at his own circus. Narrowly escaping death when a knife is thrown. Takes it in his stride with good humour. Clearly courageous and able to laugh at himself.

Fuller PJ 7: Realises Henry didn’t tell about Dachau. So Sam the hustler finds his boss an organ and arranges for two cells to be knocked into a chapel.

CAT 7 Realises the chaplain didn’t tell the Colonel about his incident at Dachau. So softens in his attitude and hustles on Henry’s behalf, finding him an organ and two rooms for a chapel.

Fuller PJ 8: Fuller, who’s black, walks out on his boss after SS prisoners hurl racial insults at him while playing the organ. To avoid jail and hold on to his hustle, he opts to guard the leading Nazis – where he can torment them.

CAT 8 Fury at racial abuse by the Nazis. Walks out on the chaplain. Takes up guard duty to avoid jail and give him the chance to torment the prisoners.

Henry PJ 10: The kindly chaplain is treated with indifference and contempt by the Nazis, while their leader Hermann Goering tries to manipulate Henry to gain influence. Gilbert warns him the US guards think Henry is too pally with the Nazis.

CAT 10 A fish out of water. Self-doubt, undermined, played for a fool, but always unreasonably respectful and kind, and still evaluating, still choosing the harder road. He shakes hands with the Nazis, in contravention of orders, and refers to them by their Nazi rank, which has been abolished. Sets himself up for accusations of being a Nazi lover.

Goering AJ 2: Goering has recovered from drug addiction thanks to the prison regime, but is back at his scheming best, at the peak of his powers.

CAT 2 Trying to exercise to show how fit he is. More self-deprecating humour. Running rings round the prosecutor. Pinching an interpreter’s bottom in court. Dismissing concentration camp film and other compelling evidence as propaganda. Unwavering in his self-belief.

Henry PJ 11: Tensions with Gilbert grow as Henry pursues mercy while Gilbert seeks vengeance.

CAT 11 Not thrown by Gilbert’s accusations. Choosing to hear and evaluate, rather than retaliate. Teachable and secure, despite moments of self-doubt.

Deeper Layers: Henry and Fuller have good cause to hate Hitler’s henchmen. To a man they plead not guilty and treat the court with contempt.

Fuller’s friendship with Henry is strained to breaking point – exacerbated by his suspicion towards father figures.

Abandoned by his parents as a child, betrayed by his government during the First War, Goering is driven by his need to keep his and the Nazi legend alive.

Goering AJ 3: Plays Henry and the others to win his sympathy and to try to get the Allies to join forces with Germany against Russia.

CAT 3 Self-justifying, manipulative, scheming, charming. Winning favours from the guards by giving them gifts, including his expensive engraved chronograph.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: O’Connor reveals to Henry that his humiliation in the WWI recruitment line is holding him back; court artist Laura Knight shows Henry he must break through the Nazis’ denial and make them see; Gilbert shows Henry he must marshal the evidence to confront the Nazis, and Fuller shows him he must get tough.

Henry learns that the only way to break through to these Nazi defendants is to get tough with them: ‘To stand up to bullies.’

Henry PJ 12: Sixtus shows Henry that what’s holding him back is fear of inflicting humiliation on others – due to his father humiliating him in the recruitment line. We see this in flashback.

CAT 12 Grateful for the wise counsel offered by Sixtus. Valuing this contribution by a man of another faith. Accepts the revelation of his own weakness and humbly learns from it.

Fuller PJ 9: Fuller returns to the ordinary world of the hustle in his off-duty hours, pounding the keys and cracking jokes in a GI nightclub, and getting it together with his white girlfriend, Evelyn.

CAT 9 Throws himself back into his black-market hustle, entertaining in a GI nightclub, flaunting his white girlfriend, ignoring the protests of his racist sergeant. Cocksure and self-destructive.

Fuller PJ 10: Antagonism grows from his racist sergeant Brannigan, who beats him up and is assigned to new duties.

CAT 10 Beaten up by his sergeant, yet refusing to complain, furious when Henry has the sergeant reassigned. Foreshadowing his death wish.

Henry PJ 13: Henry gets to know the court artist, who opens his eyes to what he must do. But how?

CAT 13 Missing his wife. Drawn to another woman, but recognising that, acts with restraint. Always willing to learn from another, to see things from their point of view.

Deeper Layer Reveal: The catholic chaplain recognises Henry is pulling his punches. Henry was badly humiliated by his German father during World War One. Pa hauled him away from the recruitment line where he was signing up to fight for Uncle Sam against the Kaiser. Henry must overcome his own aversion to humiliation if he is to get tough and confront others.

ACT 3: Henry gets his mojo – learns tough love and confronts the Nazis with evidence of their guilt to shatter their denial.

Henry PJ 14: Jewish witness Shia Morontz gives Henry the lead he needs to break through the Nazi denial.

CAT 14 Respectful, kind and compassionate to this Jewish witness. Humble enough to admit he doesn’t have all the answers. Puts his hand on his in a café, comes close to tears, enrages some of the Germans in the café by standing publicly with a Jew.

Henry PJ 15: Gilbert falls out with Henry, accusing him of being naive and self-righteous.

CAT 15 Giving Gilbert a hearing, even though he is rude and drunk, believing there is something to be learned in every situation, humbly evaluating the truth of those criticisms. Betraying early signs of overwork by being unable to relax in what should be a friendly card game.

Henry PJ 16: Henry learns to confront without humiliation. He challenges defendant after defendant with hard evidence, forcing them out of denial and towards responsibility.

CAT 16 Learning tough love, how to confront without compromise without tipping into humiliation. And, although afraid of losing his temper, managing to keep his temper under control.

Goering AJ 4: What the Nazis have done is plain to see. Goering’s domination is broken by the weight of visual evidence and testimony. And by being cut off from the other defendants.

CAT 4 Narcissistic, self-obsessed, vain, furious at being sidelined in a dining room on his own. Like a toddler sent to the naughty step.

Fuller PJ 11 Fuller teases and torments the Nazis behind bars. [Need more from Fuller in Act 3]

CAT 11 Teases and torments the Nazis behind bars. Getting his fun and his own back at their expense – but child-like and mischievous, never vicious.

Henry PJ 17: Henry goes down with pneumonia due to the cold and overwork. His sons, both recovering from their war wounds come to see him and encourage him in his work.

CAT 17 His delirious nightmares betray his insecurity. His joy at seeing his sons reminds us of this father’s great love for his boys. His teachability allows him to be mentored by his sons and to let go of his guilt.

Henry PJ 18: Henry wins Gilbert round, so they can stop trading atrocities.

CAT 18 Employing his new tough love to confront Gilbert and win back his friendship. Showing him the picture of the murdered priest at Dachau punctures Gilbert’s self-pity and undermines his accusations.

Fuller PJ 12: Fuller’s wisecracks at the Stork Club stoke up his racist sergeant, who tries to attack him with a broken bottle. [Need to amp up Brannigan’s threats].

CAT 12 Increasingly outrageous, his wisecracks at the Stork Club are calculated to provoke his sergeant who tries to attack him with a broken bottle.

Henry PJ 19: The Colonel plans to send Henry home. But the Nazis write to Alma begging for him to stay. She relents and persuades the Colonel to keep him on in Nuremberg. But to stay on, Henry must compromise and spy on the Nazis.

CAT 19 Still taking the higher, harder road of risk to self. Still pressing for what he believes to be right.

Deeper Layer: Henry’s sons exonerate him from his sense of guilt of encouraging them to go to war.

His wife now values the work he is doing and lets him stay.

Goering AJ 5: Makes contact with the Nazi resistance to try to stage a breakout. [Or at midpoint?]

CAT 5 Pulls a favour from a guard to slip a note to the Nazi resistance. Cold. Dangerous. Two-faced with the guard. All smiles to his face. Coolly self-satisfied when he has gone.

Henry PJ 20: Henry and the Catholic chaplain arrange family visits to try to get through to the Nazis.

CAT 20 Overwhelmed by the German kids and the pro-Nazi poison they have been fed: their prayers to Hitler, their anti-Semitic schoolbooks. Holding on to kindness.

Turning Point 3 Henry’s confrontation with Goering fails, as does his efforts to reach him via his daughter. Goering’s arrogance is undiminished.

Henry PJ 21: Forced to face his failure and deny Goering communion. [Third or 4^th Act?]

CAT 21 Torn by the dilemma that when Goering finally asks for communion, what Henry has been working for all these months, he has to deny him. Revealing that he has finally learned tough love.

Fuller PJ 13: All is lost moment for Fuller, who takes bets on how many Nazis will hang. His racist sergeant stakes his motherlode on 11. Looks like he’s called it right. But how will Fuller pay? Realises he’s running a dreadful risk.

CAT 13 Overdoes it with his betting on how many Nazis will hang. For the first time, fearful for the consequences of his recklessness.

ACT 4: Confrontation with Goering, execution of the Nazis, Resolution.

Henry PJ 22: Henry’s last-ditch go-for-broke confrontation with Goering fails. He loses his temper and fears he may have blown it.

CAT 22 Fury with Goering. Reprise of his finger-curling desire to kill, swallowed down and internalised in a way that brings him close to collapse.

Goering AJ 6: Final refusal to recognise the truth about himself and accept responsibility.

CAT 6 Tearful over his daughter’s painting, but devastated over realising he has been cheated by a forger.

Henry PJ 23: But Henry’s other efforts pay off. He finally gets through to some of the Nazis, who denounce Hitler and take responsibility.

CAT 23 Final go-for-broke confrontation with Goering fails. Henry believes it is because he has lost his temper and pushed Goering too hard. Reveals his self-doubt.

Goering AJ 7: Goering commits suicide.

CAT 7 Determined and defiant, deceiving the guards about his cyanide capsule. Giving himself his martyr’s death, rather than be hanged as a criminal.

Climax: Henry and the doctor are unable to save Goering, but with the minds concentrated by their imminent execution some Nazis finally accept responsibility and make their peace. Ten Nazis go to the gallows.

Henry PJ 24: Henry accompanies them to the scaffold – almost triggering a heart attack.

CAT 24 Almost has a heart attack as he accompanies the men he has served to the scaffold. Paying a huge personal cost to have cared for them for almost a year, and now to see them die. Hugely moved by the final words of those who have responded to his ministry.

Fuller PJ 14: Only ten Nazis hang, so the Sergeant loses his bet – which means he is coming for Fuller. Amps up his game on the black market.

CAT 14 Hustles Russian soldiers to try to get money. Upping the risk. Getting in deeper.

Fuller PJ 15: Fuller is confronted by his racist sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg. Brannigan has had Fuller’s white girlfriend beaten and plans to cut Fuller with a knife. Fuller overcomes Sgnt Brannigan and almost kills him. The memory of Henry putting his life on the line at Dachau holds Fuller back from committing murder. He goes on the run.

CAT 15 Beaten up by his racist sergeant, who has attacked his white girlfriend and now wants to cut him down to size. Lifts a sidearm, just like he did in Dachau, and confronts the Sergeant. Thinks back to that scene in Dachau, sees the face of his father-figure, Henry Gerecke, telling him not to shoot. Instead, shoots the sergeant in the ear, sparing his life.

Goering AJ 8: The atrocities revealed at the trial have demoralised the Nazi resistance who melt away. Goering’s body is cremated and his effigy burnt in Nuremberg – the Nazi legend is broken.

CAT 8 A straw effigy of his bloated body mocked and burned by kids in Nuremberg – the same kids Goering expected to come to his rescue.

Resolution: Henry goes home to be reunited with wife and family. Resumes prison ministry. Fuller court-martialled and jailed. Henry pulls strings to make Fuller his assistant in Menard. Fuller and Henry reconciled. Fuller learns to show mercy. Makes peace with himself. Henry dies. Fuller released to attend his memorial. Completes his story with a where-are-they-now roundup.

Fuller PJ 16: Fuller is transferred to Menard as Henry’s assistant, back at the piano. He learns to give and receive mercy, and is reconciled to Henry and himself.

CAT 16 Post-war, back behind bars in Menard with Henry. Still playing the piano hot. Older and wiser, he finally learns to forgive his father and find reconciliation.

Henry PJ 25: Restored to his family, resumes his ministry, hugely popular, thanks to his compassion, humour and hot trombone. Reconciled to Fuller. [Need to develop Henry’s sense of humour.]

CAT 25 Joy at being reunited with his family. Resuming a popular prison ministry at Menard. Still funny, still warm, still playing his trombone hot – and finally achieving reconciliation with Fuller.

Fuller PJ 17: To get revenge on the Nazis he tells the hangman they murdered his buddy at Malmedy. So the hangman botches the killings.

CAT 17 Flashback. Vindictively gets the hangman to botch the executions, consummating his desire for revenge.

Henry PJ 26: Dies in Resolution scene – heart attack. Honoured in Menard by prisoners, including Sam Fuller.

CAT 26 Heart attack at the wheel of his car.

Fuller PJ 18: Fuller completes his account to the parole board. They buy his story, would have done the same to his sergeant. They release him from jail.

CAT 18 Persuades the Parole Board to buy his story that the shooting was justified. They see it his way as a racist attack and attempted mutilation. Released.

Fuller PJ 19: Attends Henry’s memorial, where he plays the organ – hot.

CAT 19 Plays the organ hot at Henry’s funeral.

Fuller PJ 20: Wrap-up scene with reporter years later, explaining where are they now.

CAT 20 Sardonic summing up of where everyone is all these years later. Sassy as ever.

Thank you!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s New Outline Beats

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List. That this screenplay will confront racism as everybody’s issue and show that it’s never too late to receive mercy.

What I learned from this assignment:

Working logically from front to back and back to front ensures all the pieces are in place. At its heart, the process is simple project management.

Genre: Drama / True Story

ACT 1: Challenge to go to Nuremberg to keep the leading Nazis alive until they hang for their crimes – and to break the Nazi legend.

Fuller PJ 1: Fuller is telling his story years later: the odd couple: the hustler and the chaplain working together in a military hospital in Munich as the war comes to an end. For Fuller, it’s play the organ in chapel, or go to jail.

Henry PJ 1: Henry and Fuller working together in post-war Munich. The soldiers love it when Fuller hits the keys of that piano and Henry plays his beloved trombone hot.

Henry PJ 2: The war may be ending, but those ambulances keep coming. It’s exhausting. His catchphrase is ‘And this too shall pass.’

Henry PJ 3: Henry gets news his boys have been seriously wounded in the war.

Henry PJ 4: Flashback to home, Henry encourages his boys to sign up. Alma says she’ll never forgive him if anything happens to them.

Fuller PJ 2: Fuller is told the Nazis murdered his big brother Joel when he tried to surrender.

Fuller PJ 3: Flashback to his home. Joel saw off their alcoholic father and brought Sam up on his own, hustling to survive. Joel signs up to fight, with Sam following in his footsteps.

Henry PJ 5: Henry and Fuller are sent to Dachau to witness the aftermath of the Nazi atrocities and prepare him for the assignment to come.

Fuller PJ 4: Fuller sets out to kill a Nazi POW in Dachau to avenge the murder of his brother when he tried to surrender. Henry prevents him, which sours their relationship.

Deeper Layers: Henry encouraged his boys to sign up. His wife said she would never forgive them if anything happened. Now he must deal with his guilt and get back home to save his marriage. But he needs to be in Nuremberg.

News of his brother’s murder fuels Fuller’s desire for revenge.

Joel brought Fuller up in place of his alcoholic father. The experience of his father has given Fuller a deep distrust of father figures.

For Henry, Dachau stirs up an anger that has this kindly man contemplating murder. It scares him. It also breaks his resistance to the death penalty.

INCITING INCIDENT: Henry and his assistant Fuller are assigned to Nuremberg for chaplain duties to the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 6: Henry doesn’t want to help the Nazis. He’s seen too many good boys killed for that. His marriage is under strain, and he is overdue to be sent home home. If he chooses to stay, his marriage could well be on the line.

Fuller PJ 5: Fuller loathes the Nazis, doesn’t want to help them, and would lose his cushy hustle in Munich. Last thing he wants is to go to Nuremberg. But what choice does he have? – it’s Nuremberg or jail.

TURNING POINT 1: Henry is torn between his duties to God, the military and his marriage. He takes the hard route and chooses to go to Nuremberg. And Fuller, who doesn’t have a choice, has to go with him.

ACT 2: Into Nuremberg, a fish out of water, outgunned and manipulated by the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 7: Into the ruins. A devastated city. Henry revealed as kindly and seemingly naïve. Fuller as bitter. Their genuine friendship under strain.

Fuller PJ 6: Fuller shows hatred to the ex-SS soldier who watches them in the ruins – and to his children.

Henry PJ 8: The Colonel tells Henry he must prevent the Nazis committing suicide and make them take responsibility for their war crimes.

Henry PJ 9: Henry is introduced to his behind-the-scenes team in Nuremberg, a Catholic chaplain concealing a war wound, and a Jewish psychologist with an understandable axe to grind.

Goering AJ 1: Pleads not guilty in court, treats the Tribunal with contempt, and dominates other defendants to keep the Nazi legend alive.

Fuller PJ 7: Sam the hustler finds an organ and arranges for two cells to be knocked into a chapel.

Fuller PJ 8: Fuller, who’s black, walks out on his boss after SS prisoners hurl racial insults at him while playing the organ. To avoid jail and hold on to his hustle, he opts to guard the leading Nazis – where he can torment them.

Henry PJ 10: The kindly chaplain is treated with indifference and contempt by the Nazis, while their leader Hermann Goering tries to manipulate Henry to gain influence. Gilbert warns him the US guards think Henry is too pally with the Nazis.

Goering AJ 2: Goering has recovered from drug addiction thanks to the prison regime, but is back at his scheming best, at the peak of his powers.

Henry PJ 11: Tensions with Gilbert grow as Henry pursues mercy while Gilbert seeks vengeance.

Deeper Layers: Henry and Fuller have good cause to hate Hitler’s henchmen. To a man they plead not guilty and treat the court with contempt.

Fuller’s friendship with Henry is strained to breaking point – exacerbated by his suspicion towards father figures.

Abandoned by his parents as a child, betrayed by his government during the First War, Goering is driven by his need to keep his and the Nazi legend alive.

Goering AJ 3: Plays Henry and the others to win his sympathy and to try to get the Allies to join forces with Germany against Russia.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: O’Connor reveals to Henry that his humiliation in the WWI recruitment line is holding him back; court artist Laura Knight shows Henry he must break through the Nazis’ denial and make them see; Gilbert shows Henry he must marshal the evidence to confront the Nazis, and Fuller shows him he must get tough.

Henry learns that the only way to break through to these Nazi defendants is to get tough with them: ‘To stand up to bullies.’

Henry PJ 12: Sixtus shows Henry that what’s holding him back is fear of inflicting humiliation on others – due to his father humiliating him in the recruitment line. We see this in flashback.

Fuller PJ 9: Fuller returns to the ordinary world of the hustle in his off-duty hours, pounding the keys and cracking jokes in a GI nightclub, and getting it together with his white girlfriend, Evelyn.

Fuller PJ 10: Antagonism grows from his racist sergeant Brannigan, who beats him up, is assigned to new duties.

Henry PJ 13: Henry gets to know the court artist, who opens his eyes to what he must do. But how?

Deeper Layer Reveal: The catholic chaplain recognises Henry is pulling his punches. Henry was badly humiliated by his German father during World War One. Pa hauled him away from the recruitment line where he was signing up to fight for Uncle Sam against the Kaiser. Henry must overcome his own aversion to humiliation if he is to get tough and confront others.

ACT 3: Henry gets his mojo – learns tough love and confronts the Nazis with evidence of their guilt to shatter their denial.

Henry PJ 14: Jewish witness Shia Morontz gives Henry the lead he needs to break through the Nazi denial.

Henry PJ 15: Gilbert falls out with Henry, accusing him of being naive and self-righteous.

Henry PJ 16: Henry learns to confront without humiliation. He challenges defendant after defendant with hard evidence, forcing them out of denial and towards responsibility.

Goering AJ 4: What the Nazis have done is plain to see. Goering’s domination is broken by the weight of visual evidence and testimony. And by being cut off from the other defendants.

Fuller PJ 11 Fuller teases and torments the Nazis behind bars.

Henry PJ 17: Henry goes down with pneumonia due to the cold and overwork. His sons, both recovering from their war wounds come to see him and encourage him in his work.

Henry PJ 18: Henry wins Gilbert round, so they can stop trading atrocities.

Fuller PJ 12: Fuller’s wisecracks at the Stork Club stoke up his racist sergeant, who tries to attack him with a broken bottle.

Henry PJ 19: The Colonel plans to send Henry home. But the Nazis write to Alma begging for him to stay. She relents and persuades the Colonel to keep him on in Nuremberg. But to stay on, Henry must compromise and spy on the Nazis.

Deeper Layer: Henry’s sons exonerate him from his sense of guilt of encouraging them to go to war.

His wife now values the work he is doing and lets him stay.

Goering AJ 5: Makes contact with the Nazi resistance to try to stage a breakout.

Henry PJ 20: Henry and the Catholic chaplain arrange family visits to try to get through to the Nazis.

Turning Point 3 Henry’s confrontation with Goering fails, as does his efforts to reach him via his daughter. Goering’s arrogance is undiminished and Henry is forced to deny him communion.

Fuller PJ 13: All is lost moment for Fuller, who takes bets on how many Nazis will hang. His racist sergeant stakes his motherlode on 11. Looks like he’s called it right. But how will Fuller pay?

ACT 4: Confrontation with Goering, execution of the Nazis, Resolution.

Henry PJ 21: Henry’s last-ditch go-for-broke confrontation with Goering fails. He loses his temper and fears he may have blown it.

Goering AJ 6: Final refusal to recognise the truth about himself and accept responsibility.

Henry PJ 22: But Henry’s other efforts pay off. He finally gets through to some of the Nazis, who denounce Hitler and take responsibility.

Goering AJ 7: Goering commits suicide.

Climax: Henry and the doctor are unable to save Goering, but with the minds concentrated by their imminent execution some Nazis finally accept responsibility and make their peace. Ten Nazis go to the gallows.

Henry PJ 23: Henry accompanies them to the scaffold – almost triggering a heart attack.

Fuller PJ 14: Only ten Nazis hang, so the Sergeant loses his bet – which means he is coming for Fuller.

Fuller PJ 15: Fuller is confronted by his racist sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg. Brannigan has had Fuller’s white girlfriend beaten and plans to cut Fuller with a knife. Fuller overcomes Sgnt Brannigan and almost kills him. The memory of Henry putting his life on the line at Dachau holds Fuller back from committing murder. He goes on the run.

Goering AJ 8: The atrocities revealed at the trial have demoralised the Nazi resistance who melt away. Goering’s body is cremated and his effigy burnt in Nuremberg – the Nazi legend is broken.

Resolution: Henry goes home to be reunited with wife and family. Resumes prison ministry. Fuller court-martialled and jailed. Henry pulls strings to make Fuller his assistant in Menard. Fuller and Henry reconciled. Fuller learns to show mercy. Makes peace with himself. Henry dies. Fuller released to attend his memorial. Completes his story with a where-are-they-now roundup.

Fuller PJ 16: Fuller is transferred to Menard as Henry’s assistant, back at the piano. He learns to give and receive mercy, and is reconciled to Henry and himself.

Henry PJ 24: Restored to his family, resumes his ministry, hugely popular, thanks to his compassion, humour and hot trombone. Reconciled to Fuller.

Fuller PJ 17: To get revenge on the Nazis he tells the hangman they murdered his buddy at Malmedy. So the hangman botches the killings.

Henry PJ 25: Dies in Resolution scene – heart attack. Honoured in Menard by prisoners, including Sam Fuller.

Fuller PJ 18: Fuller completes his account to the parole board. They buy his story, would have done the same to his sergeant. They release him from jail.

Fuller PJ 19: Attends Henry’s memorial, where he plays the organ – hot.

Fuller PJ 20: Wrap-up scene with reporter years later, explaining where are they now.

Many thanks!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Beat Sheet Draft 1

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment:

Once again, I have to simplify and reduce this story, shifting much of my existing Act 1 into backstory.

Genre: Drama / True Story

ACT 1: Challenge to go to Nuremberg to keep the leading Nazis alive until they hang for their crimes – and to break the Nazi legend.

Fuller PJ 1: Fuller is telling his story years later: he and Henry Gerecke working together in a military hospital in post-war Munich. The odd couple: the chaplain and the hustler. For Fuller, it’s play the organ in chapel, or go to jail.

Henry PJ 1: Henry and Fuller working together in post-war Munich. The soldiers love it when Fuller hits the keys of that piano and Henry plays his beloved trombone hot.

Henry PJ 2: Henry gets news his boys have been wounded in the war.

Fuller PJ 2: Fuller is told the Nazis murdered his brother Joel when he tried to surrender.

Henry PJ 3: Henry and Fuller are sent to Dachau to witness the aftermath of the Nazi atrocities and prepare him for the assignment to come.

Fuller PJ 3: Fuller sets out to kill a Nazi POW in Dachau to avenge the murder of his brother when he tried to surrender. Henry prevents him, which sours their relationship.

Deeper Layers: Henry encouraged his boys to sign up. His wife said she would never forgive them if anything happened. Now he must deal with his guilt and get back home to save his marriage. But he needs to be in Nuremberg.

News of his brother’s murder fuels Fuller’s desire for revenge.

Joel brought Fuller up in place of his alcoholic father. The experience of his father has given Fuller a deep distrust of father figures.

For Henry, Dachau stirs up an anger that has this kindly man contemplating murder. It scares him. It also breaks his resistance to the death penalty.

INCITING INCIDENT: Henry and his assistant Fuller are assigned to Nuremberg for chaplain duties to the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 4: Henry doesn’t want to help the Nazis. And he’s due to go home. If he stays, his marriage could be on the line. He has a choice.

Fuller PJ 4: Fuller loathes the Nazis, doesn’t want to help them, and would lose his cushy hustle in Munich. Last thing he wants is to go to Nuremberg. But what choice does he have? – it’s Nuremberg or jail.

TURNING POINT 1: Henry is torn between his duties to God, the military and his marriage. He takes the hard route and chooses to go to Nuremberg. And Fuller has to go with him.

ACT 2: Into Nuremberg, a fish out of water, outgunned and manipulated by the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 5: Henry is introduced to his behind-the-scenes team in Nuremberg, a Catholic chaplain concealing a war wound, and a Jewish psychologist with an understandable axe to grind. Together they must prevent the Nazis committing suicide and make them take responsibility for their war crimes.

Goering AJ 1: Pleads not guilty in court, treats the court with contempt, and dominates other defendants to keep the Nazi legend alive.

Fuller PJ 5: Fuller, who’s black, walks out on his boss after SS prisoners hurl racial insults at him while playing the organ in chapel. To avoid jail and hold on to his hustle, he opts to guard the leading Nazis.

Henry PJ 6: The kindly chaplain is treated with indifference and contempt by the Nazis, while their leader Hermann Goering tries to manipulate Henry for favours and to gain influence. The US guards think he’s too pally with the Nazis.

Goering AJ 2: Plays Henry and tries to manipulate him. Wants to get the Allies to join forces with Germany against Russia.

Deeper Layers: Henry and Fuller have good cause to hate Hitler’s henchmen. To a man they plead not guilty and treat the court with contempt.

Fuller’s friendship with Henry is strained to breaking point – exacerbated by his suspicion towards father figures.

Abandoned by his parents as a child, betrayed by his government during the First War, Goering is driven by his need to keep his and the Nazi legend alive.

Goering AJ 3: Goering has recovered from drug addiction thanks to the prison regime, but is back at his scheming best, at the peak of his powers.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: O’Connor shows Henry that his humiliation in the WWI recruitment line is holding him back; court artist Laura Knight shows Henry he must break through the Nazis’ denial and make them see; Gilbert shows Henry he must marshal the evidence and confront the Nazis with it, and Fuller shows him he must get tough.

Henry learns that the only way to break through to these Nazi defendants is to get tough with them: ‘To stand up to bullies.’

Henry PJ 7: Sixtus shows him that what’s holding him back is fear of inflicting humiliation on others – due to his father humiliating him in the recruitment line.

Fuller PJ 6: Fuller returns to the ordinary world of the hustle, signing and cracking jokes in a GI nightclub, and getting it together with his white girlfriend, Evelyn.

Deeper Layer Reveal: The catholic chaplain recognises Henry is pulling his punches for fear of humiliating the prisoners. Henry was badly humiliated by his German father during World War One. Pa hauled him away from the recruitment line where he was signing up to fight for Uncle Sam against the Kaiser. Henry must overcome his own aversion to humiliation to get tough and confront others.

ACT 3: Henry gets his mojo – learns tough love and confronts the Nazis with their guilt to shatter their denial.

Henry PJ 8: Henry is encouraged by court artist Laura Knight to make the Nazis see what they have done. But how?

Henry PJ 9: Jewish witness Shia Morontz gives Henry the lead he needs to break through the Nazi denial.

Henry PJ 10: Henry learns to confront without humiliation. He challenges defendant after defendant with hard evidence, forcing them out of denial and towards responsibility.

Henry PJ 11: Henry and the Catholic chaplain arrange family visits to try to get through to the Nazis.

Henry PJ 12: Henry goes down with pneumonia due to the cold and overwork. His sons, both recovering from their war wounds come to see him and encourage him in his work.

Henry PJ 13: Henry gets Gilbert back on side, so they can stop trading atrocities.

Henry PJ 14: Henry starts to marshal evidence to get the Nazis to see. Gradually, some start coming to their senses.

Henry PJ 15: The Colonel plans to send Henry home. But the Nazis write to Alma begging for him to stay. She relents and persuades the Colonel to keep him on in Nuremberg. But to stay on, Henry must compromise and spy on the Nazis.

Deeper Layer: Henry’s sons exonerate him from his sense of guilt of encouraging them to go to war.

His wife now values the work he is doing and lets him stay.

Fuller PJ 7 Fuller teases and torments the Nazis behind bars.

Fuller PJ 8: His wisecracks earn him the enmity of his racist sergeant, who tries to attack him with a broken bottle.

Goering AJ 4: Goering’s domination is broken by the weight of visual evidence and testimony against the Nazis. And by being cut off from the other defendants.

Goering AJ 5: Makes contact with the Nazi resistance to try to stage a breakout.

Turning Point 3 Henry’s confrontation with Goering fails, as does his efforts to get through to him via his daughter. Goering’s arrogance is undiminished and Henry is forced to deny him communion.

Fuller PJ 9: All is lost moment for Fuller, who takes bets on how many Nazis will hang. His racist sergeant stakes his motherlode on 11. Looks like he’s called it right. But how will Fuller pay?

ACT 4: Confrontation with Goering, execution of the Nazis. Resolution.

Henry PJ 16: Henry’s last-ditch go-for-broke confrontation with Goering fails. He loses his temper and fears he may have blown it.

Goering AJ 6: Final refusal to accept responsibility or recognise the truth about himself; commits suicide rather than face the gallows.

Henry PJ 17: But Henry’s other efforts pay off. He finally gets through to some of the Nazis, who denounce Hitler and make their peace with God.

Climax: Goering commits suicide, while some Nazis finally accept responsibility. Ten Nazis go to the gallows.

Henry PJ 18: Henry accompanies them to the gallows – almost triggering a heart attack.

Fuller PJ 10: Only ten Nazis hang, so the Sergeant loses his bet – which means Fuller had better watch out.

Fuller PJ 11: Fuller is confronted by his racist sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg. Brannigan has had Fuller’s white girlfriend beaten and plans to cut Fuller with a knife. Fuller overcomes Sgnt Brannigan and almost kills him. The memory of Henry putting his life on the line at Dachau holds Fuller back from committing murder. He goes on the run.

Goering AJ 7: The atrocities revealed at the trial have demoralised the Nazi resistance who melt away. Goering’s body is cremated and his effigy burnt in Nuremberg – the Nazi legend is broken.

Resolution: Henry goes home to be reunited with wife and family. Resumes prison ministry. Fuller court-martialled and jailed. Henry pulls strings so Fuller to make Fuller his assistant in Menard. Fuller and Henry reconciled. Fuller learns to show mercy. Makes peace with himself. Henry dies. Fuller released to attend his memorial. Completes his story with a where-are-they-now roundup.

Fuller PJ 12: Fuller is transferred to Menard as Henry’s assistant. He learns to give and receive mercy, and is reconciled to Henry and himself.

Fuller PJ 13: to get revenge on the Nazis he tells the hangman they murdered his buddy at Malmedy. So the hangman botches the killings.

Henry PJ 19: Dies in Resolution scene. Memorial reunites old friends, sees release of Sam Fuller.

Fuller PJ 14: Completes his account to the parole board. Release to attend Henry’s memorial, where he plays the organ – hot.

Many thanks!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Deeper Layer

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment:

How to layer the subtext and intrigue for each major character into the overall outline, in a way that demonstrates the impact each character has on one another and the overall story.

Protagonist Henry Gerecke:

Surface Layer: Lutheran chaplain and US Army captain, tasked with keeping the Nazis alive and breaking the Nazi legend.

Deeper Layers: Overcome personal humiliation manifested in fear of humiliating others in order to learn tough love. He must also overcome fear of losing his temper like his father.

Major Reveal: O’Connor shows Henry that his humiliation in the WWI recruitment line is holding him back; court artist Laura Knight shows Henry he must break through the Nazis’ denial and make them see; Gilbert shows Henry he must marshal the evidence and confront the Nazis with it, and Fuller shows him he must get tough.

Influences Surface Story: Henry changes his approach, overcomes his fear of humiliating others, learns tough love and successfully challenges the Nazis.

Hints: His humiliation is revealed at the recruitment line scene, and the depth of that wound is revealed by Sixtus. His anger and fear of losing control is revealed at Dachau and at times with the guards and the Nazis.

Changes Reality: Henry learns that sometimes the best way to serve another person is to get mad with them. He learns to show tough love. He confronts the Nazis to get them to denounce the Nazi legend and make their peace.

Second Protagonist Samuel Fuller:

Surface Layer: Survive the war and go home; get respect by hustling, making money, gain love and kudos by being a great entertainer.

Deeper Layer: Abandoned by his alcoholic father; suspicious of father figures; raised by his brother, who is murdered by Nazis. Determined to get revenge. Wants to get back home, but has no home to go back to.

Major Reveal: After his brother is murdered by Nazis, he wants to kill a Nazi POW, but Henry, his father figure, stands in his way.

Influences Surface Story: Fuller goes further off the rails after Dachau and his later racial abuse by the Nazis. He rebels against authority figures and breaks the rules.

Hints: Character of a hustler and rule-breaker revealed early on. Hints at what has happened to his brother emerge in his drinking and fury at Dachau and lead up to the major incident with the POW.

Changes Reality: Almost kills his racist sergeant, but in the end, memory of his father figure, Henry, holds him back. Eventually reconciled with Henry, his father, and himself.

Hermann Goering:

Surface Layer: To save his neck at Nuremberg, keep his and the Nazi legend alive, and go down a hero.

Deeper Layer: Abandoned by his father and mother; vain, narcissistic, controlling. A fragile ego and a moral coward who refuses to lay down his self-justifications to face the truth.

Major Reveals: Goering realises he is going to die as a criminal, not as a hero. The one who calls himself ‘the last Renaissance Man’ has been hoodwinked by an art forger. He discovers that he himself is unauthentic.

Influences Surface Story: Goering fights back all the harder to keep his and the Nazi legend alive. He takes centre stage in the courtroom, and dominates the other defendants. When he realises that all is lost he commits suicide so his legend as a hero can live on in his imagination.

Hints: Moments of excessive vanity and narcissism that take Henry’s and Gilbert’s breath away.

Changes Reality: Gilbert cuts Goering out from the other defendants to limit his dominance. The prosecution brings in more visual evidence to cut through his obfuscations. Henry uses Goering’s love for his little daughter to try to get through to him. What that fails, he zeros in on his vanity.

Mentor / Shapeshifter Gustave Gilbert

Surface Layer: Prison psychologist charged with keeping the Nazis alive until we can hang ‘em. And with spying on them.

Deeper Layer: Loathes the Nazis for what they have done to his people. Conflicted in his desire to understand, and so prevent any recurrence, and his desire for revenge.

Major Reveal: Under Henry’s questioning it becomes clear that Gilbert is turning a blind eye to evidence of insanity so every defendant will be forced to stand trial and hopefully hang.

Influences Surface Story: The Nazis all stand trial, even Hess, who to outsiders seems quite mad.

Hints: Gilbert’s silence and inadequate answers to Henry’s questions about their fitness to stand trial. His pre-war opposition to fascism in the USA. His drivenness and fanaticism.

Changes Reality: All the Nazis stand trial, when some, perhaps, should have been considered insane. His wisdom as a psychologist influences Henry, as does his fury and determination to bring them to account.

Mentor Sixtus O’Connor

Surface Layer: Roman Catholic chaplain to the Nazis. Keep them alive until justice is done, minister to their needs

Deeper Layer: Traumatised by what he saw at Mauthausen concentration camp. And possibly by the revenge attacks he may have failed to prevent.

Major Reveal: Carrying a huge rock like a prisoner up the death steps of Mauthausen, finding satisfaction and penance in the pain he inflicts on himself.

Influences Surface Story: A major influence on Henry as a mentor.

Hints: O’Connor has backaches that he won’t talk about. He drinks too much to self-medicate.

Changes Reality: He changes Henry’s approach to the Nazis by revealing the Lutheran chaplain’s fear of humiliation. One of his congregation is the first to acknowledge his responsibility and turn around. That inspires Henry to do the same.

Character Journey Structures:

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<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Main protagonist Henry Gerecke

Beginning: Playing the trombone hot while Fuller hits the keys in an impromptu jam session for patients in hospital. Establishes both protagonists as likeable and liking each other in their Ordinary World in Munich immediately after the war, just before the call to Nuremberg.

Inciting Incident: Outer Journey: Sent by his commander to Nuremberg to be chaplain to the leading Nazis, with the brief: ‘Keep ‘em alive until we can kill ‘em.’ And while you’re at it, break the Nazi legend by getting them to denounce Hitler and take responsibility for their crimes.

Inner Journey: Humiliated on the WWI Army recruitment line by his own father as he tries to sign up to fight the Kaiser. Reluctant to humiliate others and afraid of losing his temper like his father. Has to overcome both.

Turning Point 1: Both Henry’s boys are wounded in the war. And the horror of Dachau concentration camp almost breaks him. Forced to take drastic measures to stop Fuller killing a Nazi. Stretches their relationship to breaking point. And reveals Henry’s fear of losing his temper and so losing control.

Act 2: Trying to get through to the Nazi defendants at Nuremberg to make them admit their guilt. Given the run around by Hermann Goering.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: O’Connor shows Henry that his humiliation in the WWI recruitment line is holding him back; court artist Laura Knight shows Henry he must break through the Nazis’ denial and make them see; Gilbert shows Henry he must marshal the evidence and confront the Nazis with it, and Fuller shows him he must get tough.

Henry learns that the only way to break through to these Nazi defendants is to get tough with them: ‘You have to stand up to bullies.’

Act 3: Overcoming his flaws, Henry changes his approach to one of tough love, confronting the Nazis with hard evidence of their guilt, shattering their denial and justifications, until some break free of Goering’s influence and denounce Hitler in court.

Turning Point 3: Huge failure as Henry launches into a go-for-broke confrontation with Hermann Goering, who commits suicide rather than hang.

Act 4 Climax: Some of the Nazis respond to the Chaplain’s tough love and sheer determination. They go to the gallows having faced up to what they have done and made their peace with God.

Resolution: Henry reunited with wife and family, restored to Sam Fuller before his death. Celebration memorial, with Sam Fuller playing the organ – hot.

Protagonist 2, Sam Fuller, Character Journey Structure

Beginning: Hitting the keys of a piano and playing it hot, while Henry Gerecke sizzles on the trombone in an impromptu jam session to patients in a hospital ward in post-war Munich. Establishes both protagonists as likeable and liking one another in their Ordinary World – the unlikely pairing of the hustler and the chaplain.

Inciting Incident: Outer Journey: Sent with his boss Henry Gerecke to Nuremberg to be assistant to the chaplain to the leading Nazis. All he ever wanted was survive the war and get home.

Inner Journey: Brother Joel becomes a substitute for his alcoholic and abusive father, setting up his hatred of father figures and fury at Joel’s murder by the Nazis. He did his duty by following in Joel’s footsteps and signing up. Now all that’s left is the hustle. And revenge.

Turning Point 1: Fuller is told his brother was murdered by the SS when he tried to surrender in Germany. Tries to take his revenge on an SS POW. Stretches to breaking point his relationship with Henry Gerecke, father figures in general, and all authority.

Act 2: Racially insulted by the Nazis and walks out on the chaplain. Offered a stark choice: guard the leading Nazis or go to jail. He opts for guard duty – as a way of tormenting the Nazis.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Returns to his ordinary world of hustling, singing and cracking jokes in a GI nightclub, which provokes growing antagonism from his racist sergeant, who swears he will kill him.

Act 3: Teasing and tormenting the Nazis, challenging his former boss Henry Gerecke that it’s time to get tough. [Fuller’s position as Sidekick/Mentor is filled by Laura Knight, who shows Henry he must break through their denial to make the Nazis see what they have done.]

Turning Point 3: Loses large amounts of money running a book on how many Nazis will hang. Sergeant Brannigan says Fuller owes him and demands his money.

Act 4 Climax: Confronts his racist sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg. Overcomes him as he did the US guard at Dachau. Almost kills him. The memory of Henry at Dachau putting his life on the line holds him back from committing murder. Goes on the run.

Resolution: Now a prisoner, reunited with Henry when the chaplain searches him out to be his assistant at Menard. Finds reconciliation and peace. Plays organ – hot – at Henry Gerecke’s memorial.

Antagonist Hermann Goering, Character Journey Structure

Beginning: A defiant ‘not guilty’ plea at the Nuremberg war crimes trial.

Inciting Incident: Outer journey: World War One fighter ace and hero, disillusioned by Germany’s collapse. Throws in his lot with Hitler.

Inner journey: Abandoned by father and mother, in his eyes, humiliated at school for admiring his Jewish ‘godfather’ who cuckolded his father. Driven by his need for self-acclaim and adulation as a hero. Blinded to his self-justifications and moral weakness.

Turning Point 1: The war is lost. But Goering tries to revive it by getting the Allies to throw in their lot with Germany against Russia. Even behind bars, he vows to fight on. And he is winning his battle with the defendants and in court.

Act 2: Goering persists with his self-justifications despite every attempt by the court, the chaplain and the psychologist to get him to take responsibility for his crimes against humanity. Instead, he doubles down on keeping the Nazi legend alive.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Goering is losing his grip on both the court and the defendants under the weight of powerful visual evidence of Nazi atrocities. The chaplains are finally persuading the other Nazis to denounce Hitler.

Act 3: Goering fights back. Gets through to the Nazi resistance to try to stage a breakout.

Turning Point 3: Goering plans his exit strategy. Determined to go down in history as a hero, he refuses to hang like a common criminal.

Act 4 Climax: Final confrontation with the chaplain, who faces Goering up to his failure as an art thief and tries to make him acknowledge his flawed sense of judgment and inauthenticity. But Goering resists this head-on assault to his vanity and refuses to surrender.

Resolution: Commits suicide rather than hang as a criminal. His effigy is burnt in Nuremberg – Germany disowns him. The end of the Nazi legend.

Mentor Sixtus O’Connor, Character Journey Structure

Beginning: In Nuremberg charged with keeping the leading Nazis alive until we can kill ‘em, by caring for his congregation. And with breaking the Nazi legend, while he’s at it.

Inciting Incident: Outer Journey: Called to Nuremberg as Catholic chaplain. As above.

Inner Journey: Liberated Mauthausen concentration camp. What he saw almost broke him. As did the retaliation he may have failed to prevent. Feels he has to atone for his guilt by serving tirelessly in Nuremberg. Self-medicates with booze.

Turning Point 1: Gets through to Nazi defendant Hans Frank, who faces up to what he has done.

Act 2: Supporting Henry Gerecke, breaking the rules to get through to the men in his care.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Reveals Henry Gerecke’s flaw to him: his fear of humiliating others, because of the humiliating wound he received from his father. Equips Henry to show tough love.

Act 3: Supports Henry in getting through to the Nazi defendants.

Turning Point 3: Gets through to Hitler Youth Leader Baldur Von Schirach by smuggling his son into prison.

Act 4 Climax: Accompanies the Catholic Nazis to the scaffold. Almost gives him a heart attack.

Resolution: Mission accomplished. But he loses his bet to Henry on the World Series. Attends Gerecke’s memorial service. Gets Sam Fuller to play the organ – hot.

Mentor / Shapeshifter Gustave Gilbert, Character Journey Structure

Beginning: Called to Nuremberg to keep the Nazis alive and to spy on them for military intelligence.

Inciting Incident: Backstory call to Nuremberg.

Turning Point 1: Gilbert wrestles with the professional dilemma of declaring some of the Nazis insane, which will mean they would escape trial and the hanging he is convinced they deserve.

Act 2: Working to understand the Nazis and so prevent a recurrence. Struggling with his roommate, Henry Gerecke, over the question of mercy for these merciless men. Trying to reconcile his professional duties as a psychologist with his personal feelings as a Jew.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Persuading Henry to marshal the evidence against the Nazis in his care and get tough with them.

Act 3: Working to both understand and undermine the Nazis and reduce the influence of Hermann Goering.

Turning Point 3: Persuading Henry to spy on the Nazis as the only way he can remain in Nuremberg and avoid being sent home.

Act 4 Climax: Observes the hanging of the Nazi defendants.

Resolution: Observes the major change in von Ribbentrop that Henry has effected, recognising Henry was playing the long game. Reconciled to himself as both Jew and psychologist.

Many thanks!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Character Structure

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment:

This assignment has helped me to see a little more clearly how I need to streamline the events in the novel I am adapting to suit a screenplay. It also reveals the integral nature of Sam Fuller as an almost co-protagonist to Henry Gerecke. He is young, cool and more attractive to movie-goers. I need to elevate this character.

Protagonist Henry Gerecke, Character Structure

Beginning:

Alternatives:

Playing the trombone hot while Fuller hits the keys in an impromptu jam session to patients on a hospital ward. Establishes both protagonists as likeable and liking each other in their Ordinary World Part 2.

Or, confrontation with Fuller at Dachau, when Fuller, distraught that his brother has been murdered by Nazis, tries to take his revenge on a POW and Henry has to stop him.

Inciting Incident:

Outer Journey: Sent by his commander to Nuremberg to be chaplain to the leading Nazis, with the brief: ‘Keep ‘em alive until we can kill ‘em’ and break the Nazi legend by getting them to denounce Hitler and take responsibility for their crimes.

Inner Journey: Humiliated on the Army recruitment line by his own father as he tries to sign up to fight the Kaiser.

Turning Point 1:

Both Henry’s boys are wounded in the war. And the horror of Dachau concentration camp almost breaks him. Forced to take drastic measures to stop Fuller killing a Nazi. Stretches their relationship to breaking point.

Act 2:

Trying to get through to the Nazi defendants at Nuremberg to make them admit their guilt. Given the run around by Hermann Goering.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:

Henry learns that the only way to break through to these Nazi defendants is to get tough with them: ‘You have to stand up to bullies.’

Act 3:

Confronting the Nazis with hard evidence of their guilt, shattering their denial and justifications, until some break free of Goering’s influence and denounce Hitler in court.

Turning Point 3:

Huge failure as Henry launches into a go-for-broke confrontation with Hermann Goering, who commits suicide rather than hang.

Act 4 Climax:

Many of the Nazis respond to the Chaplain’s tough love and sheer determination. They go the gallows having taken responsibility and made their peace with God.

Resolution:

Henry reunited with wife and family, restored to Sam Fuller before his death. Celebration memorial, with Sam Fuller playing the organ – hot.

Supporting Protagonist Sam Fuller, Character Structure

Beginning:

Alternatives:

Hitting the keys of a piano and playing it hot, while Henry Gerecke sizzles on the trombone in an impromptu jam session to patients on a hospital ward. Establishes both protagonists as likeable and liking one another in their Ordinary World Part 2.

Flash forward to confrontation with Henry Gerecke at Dachau, when Fuller, distraught that his brother has been murdered by Nazis, tries to take his revenge on a captured SS soldier.

Inciting Incident:

Outer Journey: Sent with his boss Henry Gerecke to Nuremberg to be assistant to the chaplain to the leading Nazis.

Inner Journey: Brother Joel becomes a substitute for his alcoholic and abusive father, setting up his hatred of father figures and fury at Joel’s murder.

Turning Point 1:

Fuller is told his brother was murdered by the SS when he tried to surrender in Germany. Tries to take his revenge on an SS POW. Stretches his relationship with Henry Gerecke to breaking point.

Act 2:

Racially insulted by the Nazis and walks out on the chaplain. Offered a stark choice: guard the leading Nazis or go to jail.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:

Returns to his ordinary world of hustling, singing and cracking jokes in a GI nightclub, which provokes growing antagonism from his racist sergeant.

Act 3:

Teasing and tormenting the Nazis, challenging his former boss Henry Gerecke that it’s time to get tough. [Fuller’s position as Sidekick/Mentor is filled by Laura Knight, who shows Henry he must break through their denial to make the Nazis see what they have done.]

Turning Point 3:

Loses a lot of money running a book on how many Nazis will hang.

Act 4 Climax:

Confronts his racist sergeant who claims Fuller owes him money in an alley in Nuremberg and almost kills him. Goes on the run.

Resolution:

Now a prisoner, reunited with Henry when the chaplain searches him out to be his assistant at Menard. Finds reconciliation and peace. Plays organ – hot – at Henry Gerecke’s memorial.

Antagonist Hermann Goering, Character Structure

Beginning:

Alternatives:

A defiant not guilty plea at the Nuremberg war crimes trial.

Inciting Incident:

Outer journey: World War One fighter ace and hero, disillusioned by Germany’s collapse. Throws in his lot with Hitler.

Inner journey: Abandoned by father and mother, in his eyes, humiliated at school for admiring his Jewish ‘godfather’ who cuckolded his father.

Turning Point 1:

The war is lost. But Goering tries to revive it by getting the Allies to throw in their lot with Germany against Russia. Even behind bars, he vows to fight on.

Act 2:

Goering persists with his self-justifications despite every attempt by the court, the chaplain and the psychologist to get him to take responsibility for his crimes against humanity. Instead, he doubles down on keeping the Nazi legend alive.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint:

Goering is losing his grip. The chaplains are finally persuading the other Nazis to denounce Hitler.

Act 3:

Goering fights back. Gets through to the Nazi resistance to try to stage a breakout.

Turning Point 3:

Goering plans his exit strategy. Determined to go down in history as a hero, he refuses to hang like a common criminal.

Act 4 Climax:

Final confrontation with chaplain, who faces Goering up to his failure as an art thief and tries to make him acknowledge his flawed sense of judgment. But Goering resists this head-on assault to his vanity and refuses to surrender.

Resolution:

Commits suicide rather than hang as a criminal. His effigy is burnt in Nuremberg – Germany disowns him. The end of the Nazi legend.

Many thanks!

Andrew

[Andrew Boyd]

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>WIM, Module 3, Lesson 8, Andrew Boyd’s Purpose-Driven Supporting Characters

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment:

In adapting an almost completed book into a screenplay, I have realised just how many scenes and characters will have to be cut to keep this down to length as a film and to within a workable budget. The following is a list of all the supporting characters in the book, excluding extras. I’ve yet to complete that process of cutting back. This has been the most demanding assignment so far, and has certainly taken the longest, but it’s an essential job to do in boiling down a book into a screenplay.

Supporting Characters

Name: Shia Morontz.

Role: Lead violinist at Auschwitz, witness.

Main Purpose: Jewish voice of outrage, demonstrate humanity of these ‘non-humans’. Appears at various times pre-trial, during the trial and post-trial.

Value: Provide key evidence that opens the way for the protagonist to overturn Nazi denial.

Name: Colonel James P Sullivan.

Role: Protagonist’s boss in Munich.

Main Purpose: To order him to Nuremberg.

Value: To confront Protagonist with Nazi atrocities, to challenge his worldview, to harden his attitudes.

Name: Sergeant Brannigan.

Role: Fuller’s NCO.

Main Purpose: Demonstrate racist attitudes in the US military.

Value: To show the racism that underpinned Nazi ideology is a universal problem.

Name: Henry Gerecke (aged 13)

Role: Protagonist as a boy.

Main Purpose: Revealing character in ordinary world.

Value: The child becomes the man. Reveals Henry learning to stand up to bullies.

Name: Hermann Gerecke.

Role: Protagonist’s father.

Main Purpose: Demonstrating German upbringing in Missouri – between two cultures.

Value: Awkward relationship, leading to the wound of humiliation and fear of humiliating others.

Name: Lena Gerecke.

Role: Protagonist’s mother.

Main Purpose: Demonstrating ordinary world.

Value: Pacifier of Hermann, bridge between Protagonist and father.

Name: Kent

Role: Protagonist’s best friend and love rival.

Main Purpose: Love rival for his girl, then his wife.

Value: Substantially ups the stakes for Henry when he decides to stay on in Nuremberg – risks losing his marriage.

Name: Willard (as a kid and as a youth).

Role: Beefy bully.

Main Purpose: To beat the crap out of the Protagonist, and humiliate him in the recruitment line, demonstrate unthinking racism.

Value: To teach Henry you have to stand up to bullies.

Name: Alma Gerecke.

Role: Protagonist’s love interest.

Main Purpose: To raise the stakes. By staying in Nuremberg, the Protagonist puts his marriage at risk.

Value: Add to the Protagonist’s guilt and conflict over responsibilities, to deepen his wound.

Name: Col Burton C Andrus.

Role: US commandant of Nuremberg Prison, martinet, Threshold Guardian.

Main Purpose: ‘Keep these Nazis alive so we can hang ‘em.’ Maintain security. Brings in Protagonist.

Value: Tries to get Henry to spy on his congregation. Comic relief.

Name: Gustave Gilbert.

Role: Jewish psychologist.

Main Purpose: Understand the Nazis and the nature of evil, extract every ounce of understanding from them before they hang, declare them sane so they can stand trial, and spy on them for military intelligence.

Value: Jewish perspective, Mentor and foil for Protagonist. Helps him get tough with the Nazis.

Name: Sixtus O’Connor.

Role: Chaplain to Catholic Nazis in Nuremberg.

Main Purpose: Buddy and Mentor to Protagonist.

Value: Helps Henry to overcome his wound and get tough with the Nazis.

Name: Rudolf Hess.

Role: Deputy Fuhrer, on trial in Nuremberg.

Main Purpose:

Value:

Name: Julius Streicher.

Role: Nazi Jew-baiter number one, on trail.

Main Purpose: Reveals rabid Nazi anti-Semitism.

Value: Reveals criminal types employed by the Nazis, absurd figure providing comic relief.

Name: Joachim Von Ribbentrop

Role: Hitler’s former foreign minister, defendant.

Main Purpose: Authenticity.

Value: One of first Nazis to crack under Protagonist’s interrogation, success story for Henry, both militarily and spiritually.

Name: Baldur Von Schirach.

Role: Former head of Hitler Youth, on trial.

Main Purpose: Reveals systematic poisoning of a generation.

Value: Another success story for Henry Gerecke, who finally gets through to him and persuades him to denounce Hitler.

Name: Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Role: Director of Nazi Reich Main Office, Defendant.

Main Purpose: To lie and plead not guilty.

Value: Reveals Nazi denial and cowardice of bullies.

Name: Chief Justice Sir Geoffrey Lawrence

Role: British chief judge, who leads the trial.

Main Purpose: To see that justice is done and seen to be done.

Value: British fair play.

Name: Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.

Role: Nazi Chief of Armed Forces, defendant.

Main Purpose: Hitler’s yes man. Reveals Nazis’ obsession with blindly obeying orders.

Value: Major success for Protagonist, who manages to turn him by destroying his arguments, and succeeds spiritually as well.

Name: Hans Frank.

Role: ‘Butcher of Warsaw’, Head of Nazi General Government in Poland, Defendant.

Main Purpose: First Nazi to renounce Hitler, declares conversion back to Catholicism to O’Connor.

Value: Major source of encouragement to Protagonist.

Name: Albert Speer.

Role: Hitler’s genius armaments’ minister and architect, defendant, Shapeshifter.

Main Purpose: Success for Protaganist’s get-tough approach, denounces Fuhrer.

Value: May just be trying to save his skin, gives chilling speech about out-of-control technology and future wars.

Name: Fritz Sauckel.

Role: Hitler’s slave procurer.

Main Purpose: Hung out to dry by Speer who benefited from his slave labour.

Value: Demonstrates denial and cowardice. Success for Protagonist in his spiritual agenda.

Name: Robert Jackson. (The Comeback Kid).

Role: Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg.

Main Purpose: Try the Nazis on the overwhelming weight of documentary evidence against them.

Value: Gifted orator, poor at cross-examination. Demonstrates moral authority, and highlights power and manipulative skills of Goering, who runs rings round him in court, underestimates the imperative for the story, and not just the facts, to come out, for the need for witnesses and for visual evidence to capture the imagination.

Name: Dame Laura Knight. (I’m trying to see; A matter of perspective)

Role: Court artist (British).

Main Purpose: To paint the scene in the dock.

Value: To expose the true character of the Nazis, and inspire Henry to help them to see themselves as they really are, to add female appeal to the story.

Background Characters

Name: SS Hauptmann.

Role: Officer in charge of gassing at Auschwitz.

Main Purpose: To murder the orchestra conductor to prove who is in control.

Value: Exemplar of ignorance, arrogance and brutality masquerading as cultural supremacy. Barbarian at the gates.

Name: Lt Schaeffer, MP

Role: Showing Henry and Fuller’s the sights of Dachau, unfolding its full horror. Losing his gun to Fuller who threatens to kill a Nazi.

Main Purpose: To show what the Nazis have done so Henry can decide whether to go to Nuremberg – and overcome his resistance to the death penalty.

Value: Schaeffer, who hates Krauts, is of German descent. Henry points out the irony of his racism. This scene confronts Henry with his own hatred and desire for revenge, which he later must overcome.

Name: Pastor Martin Neimoller.

Role: Lutheran Pastor, sent to Dachau for opposing the Nazis.

Main Purpose: To show there are good Germans, but they did too little, too late.

Value: To highlight the need for principled resistance and self sacrifice, to confront racism against Germans, to encourage Henry in his task.

Name: Private Francis Mancini

Role: Protectionist.

Main Purpose: Helping educate the Protagonist, challenge his worldview.

Value: Reflect the attitudes and questions of the audience, highlights blind eye turned by Germans to atrocities.

Name: Parole Board Chair.

Role: Deciding whether Fuller should be released from Menard.

Main Purpose: To draw out backstory from Fuller.

Value: To reveal Fuller’s character arc.

Name: Two officials on Parole Board

Role: Supporting Parole Board Chair.

Main Purpose: To sympathise with Fuller.

Value: To draw out his backstory and demonstrate his character arc.

Name: Crippled SS veteran.

Role: Watchman for the Werwolves, the German resistance.

Main Purpose: Staging a possible breakout for Hermann Goering.

Value: Bitterness and resentment overturned by the persistent kindness of the Protagonist.

Name: Roy Gerecke

Role: Protagonist’s youngest son.

Main Purpose: To demonstrate Protagonist’s Ordinary World.

Value: Hero worship of boisterous older brothers who will one day go to war.

Name: Hank Gerecke.

Role: Protagonist’s older son who goes to war and is almost killed.

Main Purpose: To demonstrate Protagonist’s Ordinary World.

Value: The Protagonist’s wound – his guilt over encouraging his sons to go to war.

Name: Corky Gerecke.

Role: Protagonist’s middle son who goes to war and is almost killed.

Main Purpose: To demonstrate Protagonist’s Ordinary World.

Value: The Protagonist’s wound – his guilt over encouraging his sons to go to war.

Name: Military Police.

Role: Checking passes.

Main Purpose: Keeping order among the military.

Value: Highlighting tensions below the surface, revealing Fuller as a hustler.

Name: Fritz Gerecke (aged 8)

Role: Protagonist’s kid brother.

Main Purpose: Demonstrating ordinary childhood world of Protagonist.

Value: Revealing childhood character of protagonist. The boy becomes the man.

Name: Nora (aged 4)

Role: Protagonist’s kid sister.

Main Purpose: Demonstrating ordinary childhood world of Protagonist.

Value: Revealing childhood character of protagonist. The boy becomes the man.

Name: Billy Sunday.

Role: Tent evangelist, Mentor and Herald.

Main Purpose: Persuades young Protagonist to become a committed Christian.

Value: Redirects the Protagonist’s life and establishes his values.

Name: Young SS POW

Role: Broken, seeing death, challenges Fuller to kill him.

Main Purpose: To reveal the depth of Fuller’s wound and to highlight him as a potential killer in waiting.

Value: The catalyst in the scene that is the breaking point in the relationship with the Protagonist.

Name: Robert Ley, Nazi Minister for Labour

Role: Reveals moral bankruptcy of Nazis, commits suicide.

Main Purpose: Second Nazi to commit suicide, leading to appointment of chaplains.

Value: Points to Germany’s crisis of faith and racism in suicide note, highlights determination of leading Nazis to escape justice and responsibility.

Name: Dr Ludwig Pflucker.

Role: Elderly German doctor at Nuremberg.

Main Purpose: Medical go-between to Nazi big wigs, pronounces suicides dead.

Value: Possible threat to security.

Name: Lt ‘Tex’ Wheelis

Role: Guard of Nazi leaders, suspected of passing cyanide to Goering.

Main Purpose: Facilitate Goering’s death.

Value: Reveals manipulative side of Goering’s character.

Name: Pte Ricci.

Role: Guard, mischief maker.

Main Purpose: Friend of Sam Fuller.

Value: Articulates Fuller’s everyman philosophy when Fuller is absent, peacemaker, clickbait for female moviegoers.

Name: Rudolf Hess.

Role: Deputy Fuhrer, on trial in Nuremberg.

Main Purpose: Defendant, clearly mad, but pronounced fit to stand trial.

Value: To reveal the narrow grasp on sanity of the Nazis, to highlight Gilbert’s blind spot towards justice.

Name: Alfred Rosenberg.

Role: Hitler’s philosopher, on trial.

Main Purpose: Demonstrate shallowness of Nazi philosophy.

Value: Vain and unrepentant, clinging to his ego to the end.

Name: Admiral Karl Doenitz.

Role: Head of Navy, defendant at Nuremberg.

Main Purpose: Opponent of Goering and Nazi politicians.

Value: To judge Henry Gerecke on his actions rather than his words.

Name: Admiral Erich Raeder.

Role: Extra. Defendant.

Main Purpose: To plead not guilty.

Value: Authenticity.

Name: General Alfred Jodl.

Role: Nazi Chief of Operations Staff, defendant.

Main Purpose: Authenticity.

Name: Walter Funk.

Role: Reichsbank President.

Main Purpose: Authenticity

Value: To show bankers in cahoots with SS over Jewish gold teeth from concentration camps.

Name: Wilhelm Frick.

Role: Nazi apparatchik, drafted Nuremberg race laws. Defendant.

Main Purpose: Authenticity.

Name: Franziska Goering.

Role: Hermann Goering’s mother.

Main Purpose: To reveal the sense of abandonment at the heart of his wound.

Value: To illustrate Goering’s wound.

Name: Hermann von Epenstein.

Role: Goering’s ‘godfather’, Cuckold to Goering’s father, lover of his mother. Jewish.

Main Purpose: To reveal the sense of divided loyalties, conflicted feelings over Jews, upbringing with Teutonic myth and legend.

Value: To illustrate Goering’s wound and conflicted character.

Name: Goering’s head teacher.

Role: Chastises and humiliates young Hermann over his hero-worship of the Jewish Epenstein.

Main Purpose: Humiliate and wound Hermann Goering, over his Jewish ‘godfather’.Value: To illustrate Goering’s wound.

Name: Adolf Hitler

Role: Fuhrer.

Main Purpose: Madman at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Value: To reveal the madness at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Name: Dr Gunter von Rohrscheidt.

Role: Defence Counsel to Rudolf Hess.

Main Purpose: To try to defend Hess on grounds of insanity.

Value: To demonstrate the madness of Hess, and the system that still puts him on trial.

Name: General Roman Andrejovych Rudenko (Hess’s Crackers; An Iron Curtain; The Russian Card).

Role: Furious Russian prosecutor.

Main Purpose: To see every Nazi hang, to insist Hess is fit to stand trail, to introduce in court the Russian film against the Nazis, to deal the death blow in court to Keitel.

Value: To demonstrate the Russians are implacable enemies, for whom justice can only means execution, comic relief.

Name: Dr Douglas Kelley.

Role: Prison psychiatrist, Gilbert’s boss.

Main Purpose: Evaluate the Nazi personalities, clash with Gilbert.

Value: To chillingly reveal that the Nazi psychopaths were nothing special – their personality types could occur anywhere, even the White House.

Name: Emmy Goering.

Role: Hermann Goering’s actress wife.

Main Purpose: To reveal the human side of Hermann Goering.

Value: To show that even psychopaths are men, rather than monsters.

Name: Edda Goering (4 then 7)

Role: Goering’s beloved daughter.

Main Purpose: To reveal the human side of Hermann Goering.

Value: Almost the Protagonist’s last chance to get through to Goering.

Name: James B Donovan.

Role: Robert Jackson’s assistant, OSS.

Main Purpose: In charge of visual evidence.

Value: Understands it is the story that will get these Nazis to swing, not the documents, shows a film on the Nazi Plan, but hasn’t figured on the sheer vanity of the Nazis as they celebrate themselves on screen.

Name: Lt Col. n SS Politzei.

Role: Decent Nazi.

Main Purpose: Play organ in chapel in lieu of Fuller.

Value: Show some Nazis were cultured men, and not all Nazis clung on to their Nazi beliefs after the war.

Name: Man in Homburg, Werwolf.

Role: Points out Judensau to Henry.

Main Purpose: To show that the roots of anti-Semitism go back to Luther and beyond.

Value: Reminder that racism has ancient roots, including in religion, to add menace.

Name: Thomas Dodd

Role: No2 to Chief Prosecutor.

Main Purpose: Convinced visual evidence – storytelling – is more powerful than documentary evidence.

Value: Begins to turn the tide of the trial with his film Nazi Concentration Camps.

Name: Arthur Gaeth. (The Comeback Kid; Tod Durch Den Strang)

Role: Broadcaster.

Main Purpose: Friendly rival to Protagonist, aid to exposition.

Value: Revealing Henry’s attitudes, putting him under pressure to reveal him to think quickly on his feet.

Name: Anna Melville (‘The Reichstag is Burning…’)

Role: On prosecution staff.

Main Purpose: To help Protagonist in his research to undermine Nazi denial.

Value: Female appeal, highlight Henry’s grasp of how to turn this around, hint to Gilbert not to underestimate him.

Name: German POW from US. (America First)

Role: Construction worker.

Main Purpose: To show some Americans supported the Nazis.

Value: To show racism cuts both ways, to highlight Gilbert’s commitment to anti-Semitism and his hot temper under the surface.

Name: Rudolf Hoess [not Hess] (An Earnest Little Man)

Role: Auschwitz Commandant.

Main Purpose: To expose the extent of the mechanised murder at Auschwitz and the quiet pride he took in increasing its efficiency.

Value: To reveal the chilling banality of evil.

Name: Dr Kurt Kaufmann (An Earnest Little Man).

Role: Defence lawyer for Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

Main Purpose: To expose the chilling testimony of Rudolf Hoess.

Value: To reveal the scale of the holocaust and the moral bankruptcy of the technocracy that made it possible.

Name: Col John Harlan Amen (An Earnest Little Man)

Role: US Chief Interrogator.

Main Purpose: Hard man who interrogates Hoess and reveals the extent of the Holocaust.

Value: Breakthrough in Nuremberg – the testimony that clinches the trial.

Name: Baron von Neurath (The Champagne Peddler)

Role: Nazi defendant.

Main Purpose: Authenticity.

Value: To expose the Nazis denial and denounce von Ribbentrop as stupid and shallow.

Name: Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe (The Champagne Peddler)

Role: Chief British Proesecutor.

Main Purpose: Authenticity.

Value: To denounce von Ribbentrop as stupid and shallow.

Name: Waldemar Schacht (Tod Durch Den Strang)

Role: Nazi defendant.

Main Purpose: Convinced of his innocence as a Nazi banker who helped set up the regime, turned opponent who was sent to Dachau.

Value: Authenticity, and to show later that the German people need justice, too.

Name: Hans Fritzsche (Boy Scouts)

Role: Nazi defendant.

Main Purpose: Authenticity.

Name: Sgnt J C Woods (The Collector)

Role: Hangman.

Main Purpose: Hang the Nazis and do a botched job.

Value: Demonstrate callous indifference, lack of empathy by the Allies, imply causing slow and painful deaths at Fuller’s instigation.

Name: Pte Joseph Malta (The Collector)

Role: Hangman’s assistant.

Main Purpose: To assist Woods in the hanging.

Value: To reveal indifference to errors by Woods, to demonstrate a relish for revenge.

Apologies for such a long post! Thank you.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Character Profiles Part 2

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment:

How to present a character profile that will hook in a leading actor or be a magnet to an up-and-coming star seeking their big career break.

High Concept:

Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s top henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a humble US Army chaplain and his two fellow officers win their behind-the-scenes battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

Protagonist: Henry Gerecke

This Character’s Journey:

From kind-hearted but ineffective against these Nazi overlords, and paralysed by past wounds, to a man who learns to combine toughness with compassion to break down their self-defences more effectively than any leading lawyer in Nuremberg.

The Actor Attractors for this character:

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Henry Gerecke is a decent Everyman, tasked with the mission impossible of winning his battle of wills with the world’s worst mass killers. Somehow, he has to get inside their heads and their hearts and turn them around until they denounce everything they believed in and fought for.

He’s a man determined to do the right thing in the face of hostility from his colleagues and at huge personal risk. At stake are his marriage and his health; he’s battling with guilt over sending his sons to war to be wounded in action, and with his own desire for vengeance against the very men he now has to win over, rather than destroy.

Henry is a river that runs deep; often underestimated by his colleagues, who put him down as that frustrating, naive nice guy. But beneath that warmth and affability, Henry Gerecke is as shrewd as he is tough and knows how to play the long game.

But first, he must overcome his inner demons and his reluctance to humiliate other men the way he was humiliated by his own father.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

Gerecke is a fish out of water, propelled by circumstances to be a major figure behind the scenes in the world’s greatest trial, a player whose actions could determine not only the outcome of this trial, but the future peace of the world – literally. He has to get the leading Nazis to denounce Hitler and all he stood for, to break the Nazi legend before they go to the gallows.

He has to hold on to his humanity in the face of the most inhuman crimes and the men the world calls monsters who perpetrated them. He has to understand them, relate to them, win a place in their hearts, confront them and utterly defeat their ideology. But how…?

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the script?

Henry Gerecke has to confront Hitler’s deputy, the cunning and manipulative arch-Nazi Hermann Goering, who has the other defendants firmly in his grip. Gerecke must hold his nose and his nerve and win over this man of colossal vanity who set up the concentration camp system and facilitated the Final Solution condemning millions of Jews.

And even while this battle is raging, he has to find a way of getting through to the others…

4. How can you introduce the role in a way that sells it to an actor?

We first see Gerecke at Dachau concentration camp, confronting his own sidekick, the drunk and broken Sam Fuller, whose brother was tormented and murdered in cold blood by the Nazis as he tried to surrender.

Fuller is pointing a cocked and loaded pistol in the face of the army chaplain and screaming at him to stand aside. Staring down the barrel of that Colt, Gerecke has a choice. He can save his own skin, at the cost of the life of a hated Nazi SS guard. Or he can keep staring into that barrel and talk Fuller into laying down that Colt.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range?

From a warm and folksy friend and father, to cool-headed, courageous and utterly determined. From self-doubt to steely conviction; from affable to aggressive and unrelenting in confrontation. A man of compassion who has to learn how to administer the toughest of tough love.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

An increasingly skilled negotiator, beneath a friendly poker face, who can read between the lines, knows men, and is willing to play the long game. Who is confronted with arrogant, self-obsessed Nazis the world condemns as monsters, who have committed appalling horrors, and yet who are steeped in self-justification: these are the men he has to know, understand and befriend in order to turn them around.

Gerecke is a man who has to hold on to his humanity and self-control, and who must keep a lid on his anger and disgust boiling below the surface.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Gerecke is a father-figure to his sidekick, Sam Fuller, who has come to hate him for standing in his way.

He is roommate to the intense and furious Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert, who loathes the Nazis, works for military intelligence and is trying to persuade Gerecke to cross the line and spy on the Nazis.

8. How was this character’s unique voice presented?

We see his self-control and affability under intense provocation. His honesty and decency emerge in heated arguments with Nazi mass murderers who are bent only on saving their own skins.

His determination to stand up and do the right thing emerges under confrontation with his own colleagues who accuse him of being a Nazi-lover; while his own anger is always threatening to break the surface and overwhelm him.

9. What made this character special and unique?

Henry Gerecke is a real figure. A Lutheran chaplain of German extraction, who cared for prisoners in the US, before being dispatched to Nuremberg to ‘keep Hitler’s henchmen alive until we can kill ‘em’.

He’s a man whose almost boundless compassion is stretched to its very limit in Nuremberg.

He’s a man who has to overcome himself, his past and his wounds, if he is to overcome the barrage of self-justification thrown up by the manipulative Nazis who are trying to save their necks. He is a man on the brink of being overwhelmed, who must, above all, hold on to his humanity.

Role in the Story:

US Army chaplain tasked by the military to keep the Nazis on trial from committing suicide so the court can duly hang them. And, while he’s at it, with turning around these Hitler fanatics to renounce the Fuhrer and break the Nazi legend. Pressured into spying on his congregation for military intelligence, in conflict with his duty as a man of God.

Age range and Description:

Early 50s, balding, kindly, a little plump, everybody’s favourite uncle.

Core Traits:

Affable, kindly, empathetic, shrewder than he looks. Often underestimated.

Motivation:

Want:

To keep the Nazis from committing suicide so they will face justice. To challenge their attitudes so they will denounce Hitler and admit their guilt.

Need:

To spare his boys and his grandchildren the horrors of another war; to overcome his loathing of these psychopaths who started the last two.

Wound:

Humiliated by his father, who prevented him fighting in the First War; reluctant to get tough and risk humiliating others; afraid of losing his temper; guilty over sending his sons to war and at putting his marriage at risk.

Likability:

Loves kids. A non-smoker, he hands out cigarettes to the children of a Nazi soldier in the rubble of Nuremberg, knowing smokes are hard currency in 1945. (He also hands out chocolate).

Relatability:

After seeing the horror of what the Nazis have done at Dachau and the arrogance of the Nazi guard, his instinctive response is to want to kill him. Wouldn’t we all?

Empathy:

This assignment is set to cost him his marriage, his health and his reputation. But Henry soldiers on…

Character Subtext:

Fighting guilt towards his boys for allowing them to go to war and get wounded, guilt towards his wife for encouraging their sons to sign up, then joining up himself and extending his tour keeping him away from home. Along with guilt there is a loathing of all the Nazis stand for, which he must not allow to ferment into hatred for the defendants, if he is to satisfy both his military and spiritual agendas. All of this running as undercurrents beneath the surface. Shrewder than he looks, able to read between the lines, knows men, has learned to hold his nose, and is willing to play the long game.

Character Intrigue:

Going along with the military agenda in order to fulfil the agenda of his higher calling: to save their souls, if they have any left to save… Is he naïve, or is he holding his nerve?

Flaw:

Afraid to go in hard with these men for fear of humiliating them. This arises from his own humiliation by his father. Needs to learn tough love – but how? Reckless to the point of self-destruction in his service. Considered by some to be naïve.

Values:

Integrity, honesty, determination, persistence, service, love for family, striving to see the best in others.

Character Dilemma:

How to be a good father-figure to those in his care, ranging from his boys, to his sidekick to the defendants. How to confront these men without losing the relationship he has so painstakingly built with them. This arises from his reluctance to get tough with others for fear of humiliating them as he was humiliated by his father. Allied to fear of losing his temper like his father. He has divided loyalties – to the differing agendas of the military and the church. And into the mix is his loathing of all the Nazis stood for and whether they can still truly be regarded as human beings.

Antagonist: Hermann Goering

This Character’s Journey:

Nazi ringleader who stages a last-ditch attempt to keep Hitler’s legend living on in Nuremberg. Foil for the Protagonist who tries everything to get him to denounce the Fuhrer and admit responsibility for his crimes. Instead, Goering runs rings round the court and tries to persuade the Allies to side with the Germans in continuing the war against the Russians. Propped up by his vanity which is fatally undermined when the Protagonist reveals the art thief who plundered the whole of Europe was duped by a forger. Finally found guilty and commits suicide rather than be hanged as a common criminal.

The Actor Attractors for this character:

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Goering is a Nazi Hannibal Lecter: highly intelligent, scheming, manipulative – and extremely dangerous. He is running rings around the Nuremberg prosecutors and fighting not only for his life, but so that his own and the Nazi legend will live on.

He is vain, narcissistic, and utterly ruthless. He believes in his cause, and is working to turn the military intelligence operatives who are working to turn him. His aim is to persuade the Allies to join forces with the surviving Nazis to fight the Russians and perpetuate the World War.

He wants to ensure that the rest of Germany ­– including the next generation ­– regard him and the Nazis as their national saviours. If he fails, he will certainly hang ­– an ignominious end for a true hero of the Third Reich.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

His intelligence, his ruthlessness, his arrogance and his vanity – all giftwrapped in the charm and guile that seduced a nation. He is fighting for the life, and the life of the legend he has devoted himself to.

3. What are the most interesting actions the antagonist takes in the script?

Herman Goering dominates the trial and runs rings around the distinguished American prosecutor, Robert Jackson. He overshadows and rallies the dispirited Nazi leaders and is staging his counterattack before a watching world in Room 600, the courtroom for the world’s greatest trial in Nuremberg.

Behind the scenes, Goering is working relentlessly to tighten his grip on the wavering Nazis and manipulate the allied team, who must get him to renounce the Fuhrer and destroy the Nazi legend before he goes to the gallows.

Hermann Goering is a powerful egotist, who is winning his battle of wits. What Goering hasn’t reckoned on is the honesty of a humble US Army chaplain, the determination of a Jewish psychologist – and the unanswerable truth.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?

Herman Goering seeks to dominate the stage at every occasion, from his courtroom battles, to his battles of wits with US officers in his cell in Nuremberg. He plays mind games with everyone – and makes sure he wins.

This monstrous man is portrayed as a complex, fatally flawed human being, whose father figure was the Fuhrer, and who is desperate to hold on to his self-belief in the face of what he sees as cynical victors’ justice.

Goering, the man the world sees as an arch villain, considers himself a hero whose legend must live on – even if it costs him his life.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range?

From avuncular good humour to murderous manipulation: A real-life Hannibal Lecter in a Nazi armband.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

Goering is constantly scheming and manipulating. There is subtext and hidden intent behind everything he says. He is seeking allies and supporters at every turn. He builds his power base with a mixture of menace and the sheer weight of his oversized ego.

His fatal flaw is his vanity, and he is constantly appealing to the ego, vanity and insecurity he fancies he sees in others. He is oblivious to just how narcissistic he truly is.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Goering’s key relationship is with the kind-hearted US chaplain Henry Gerecke, who is as much a shadow figure to Goering as Goering is a shadow figure to him.

Goering knows only too well how to manipulate the ambition of egotists like himself. But how can he get through to and turn this straight-forward, honest, Everyman?

Goering’s other battle of wills is with the angry Jewish psychologist, Gustave Gilbert, who is determined to cut his ego down to size and limit his oppressive influence over the other Nazi leaders on trial.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?

Goering must justify himself to the court and the US military in a way that will win both over. To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat will take every ounce of his oversized ego, his cunning and his undoubted intelligence.

Goering has the advantage of speaking excellent English. In court, he can understand the questions put to him by the prosecution well before the interpreters translate them into German. It gives this brilliant and scheming man twice as long to prepare his rebuttals, justifications and deflections – and unsettle and unnerve his illustrious adversary from US Supreme Court.

9. What could make this character special and unique?

Hermann Goering is a real figure, a decorated hero from World War One, who 20 years later helped lead the charge to conquer most of Europe – and came perilously close to winning the Second World War.

Role in the Story:

Leading Nazi who wants desperately to keep the Nazi legend – and his own place in history ­– alive. Scheming to save himself from the hangman, and striving to draw the Allies into a new world war with Russia, with himself as head of the German forces.

Age range and description:

52 – 53 years old, powerful, imposing, louche, overweight, recovering drug addict, pale blue eyes, perfect teeth, soft hands.

Core Traits:

Powerful, scheming, manipulative, vain, intelligent; a psychopath lacking human empathy, yet prone to tears over art, beauty and his little daughter.

Motivation:

Want:

To live to fight another day, to keep his Nazi co-defendants in line to create a united defence, so the Nazi legend ­– and his own – can live on.­ To extend the war by motivating the Allies to join forces with Germany to defeat the Russians.

Need:

To justify himself as a great leader in the eyes of the world and a defeated Germany.

Wound:

Deserted by his mother and father from birth; humiliated for hero-worshipping his mother’s lover, a Jew; betrayed by Germany’s leaders after the First War. Massive overcompensation for low self-esteem.

Likability:

He is cultured and clever. He’s also a big kid who loves fast cars, showing off and playing games. And there’s a genuine streak of kindness to him, when he offers to give Henry his blue Mercedes (along with a manipulative streak a mile wide).

Relatability:

He refuses to surrender in World War One, but his country’s politicians force him, so he orders his squadron to crash and wreck their fighter planes in an act of defiance.

Empathy:

His dad and mum abandoned him. His country was in utter chaos so he stepped up to lead, because drastic times require drastic measures. As a result he gets shot and addicted to morphine to kill the pain.

Character Subtext:

Manipulating everyone to keep control, turn opponents into allies, maintain his own and the Nazi legend and bolster his sense of self as both hero and Renaissance man. Presenting as charming, clever, and attentive, but in reality, a schemer, chancer and accomplished liar, seeking to bolster his powerbase at every turn.

Character Intrigue:

Trying to save his neck and his reputation by undermining the prosecution case and attempting to win over the chaplain and psychologist to his cause. Every move, every word is to gain favours and get influence.

Flaw:

A narcissist and psychopath with an unbridled ego and a broken moral compass, oblivious to his own flaws, chief of which is vanity. Unwilling to see any other point of view.

Values:

Winning, at any price. Teutonic chivalry, so long as it suits him. Courage, determination, an indominable spirit, love for family, disarmingly attentive, with a manipulative streak of kindness beneath the surface.

Character Dilemma:

A mass murderer who has bludgeoned his conscience to death. Unable to take responsibility, courageous in battle yet a moral coward. Challenged to see beyond his vanity and ego to admit his faults and take responsibility for his actions.

Protagonist’s Sidekick: Sam Fuller

This Character’s Journey:

Hustling entertainer who is rescued from the cooler by the Protagonist and recruited as his Sidekick to play the organ in chapel – which he plays hot. Racially taunted by Nazis and GIs alike. Burning with a desire to take revenge on Germans for the murder of his older brother. Prevented by the Protagonist from murdering a Nazi POW. Falls out with the Protagonist father-figure who keeps on standing in his way. Comes close to killing his racist sergeant who tries to abuse him. Serving time post-war, he is rescued by the Protagonist and recruited once again as his sidekick. Finally reconciled with his father after he learns that every man needs mercy ­– and if we want to get mercy, we have to give it.

The Actor Attractors for this character:

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Fuller is a wisecracking huckster, a barroom piano player, who knocks out the tunes of the day hot and fast. He’s given a stark choice: play hymns on an organ or rot in jail. He opts for playing hymns so he can keep playing the black market.

Fuller is a black 20-something, who’s taken under the wing of the chaplain, Henry Gerecke. Gerecke treats him like his son ­– which means Fuller comes to hate him – almost as much as he hates the racists in US army at the time.

But nothing matches the hatred Fuller has for the Nazis who captured and murdered his brother at the Battle of the Bulge. Fuller, who has a line in near-to-the-knuckle gags, has an axe to grind. He wants his revenge.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

Fuller is a complex and conflicted character, who tries to wisecrack his way out of most situations. He’s a kid with a mischievous sense of humour. He’s the character the audience is most likely to relate to.

But lurking beneath is a fury and a loathing towards the Nazis, and anyone who tries to treat these monsters like human beings. And that includes his boss, Henry Gerecke.

Fuller is man on fire, and those around him are likely to get burned.

When one of the leading Nazis dies, the question is – did Fuller provide the cyanide?

3. What are the most interesting actions Fuller takes in the script?

We begin with a drunk and furious Fuller at Dachau concentration camp. He’s just found out his brother has been murdered by the Nazis when he tried to surrender. And now he’s pointing a gun in the face of his boss, Henry Gerecke, who has stepped in to save the life of a young SS prisoner of war.

Fuller doesn’t care about the rifle pointed at his own head. Right now, it doesn’t matter if he lives or dies. If he has to shoot his boss in order to kill the Nazi, so be it.

Fuller is switched to guard duty outside the cells of the leading Nazis in Nuremberg – where he teases and torments them at every opportunity.

Fuller is subject to racial abuse by both the Nazis and his own bullying Sergeant, who tries to cut him down to size with an army knife in a back alley in Nuremberg. What happens next lands Fuller in Menard.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?

The concentration camp scene is the opener. Fuller is so appalled by the horror at Dachau that he is determined to make a Nazi pay – even if it costs Fuller his life. It’s the scene where his boss, Henry Gerecke, stands in his way – and where Fuller comes to hate him like a father.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

Wisecracking good humour, a kid with talent and an ego to match, to a depressive drunk determined to get revenge. Fuller is a shapeshifter who provides both comic relief and a furious counterpoint to his principled and warm-hearted boss.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

In the scene at Dachau Fuller is clearly driven. We pick that up, but only he knows why. What Fuller knows is that his brother was racially murdered by Nazis after he was captured. As Fuller goes round the concentration camp, he is boiling at what he sees. And his determination builds ­– unseen – to get revenge.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have?

Fuller’s key relationship is with Henry Gerecke, the US Army captain and chaplain who has taken him under his wing. Gerecke is his father figure. The problem is, Fuller’s own father was a dangerous drunk. So Fuller has a problem with father figures and anyone in authority.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?

Samuel Fuller’s voice is crucial to this movie. He’s cool and young with audience appeal and blurts out loud what the audience is thinking. He constantly challenges his boss and other viewpoints. He’s a crucial counterpoint to the protagonist, Henry Gerecke, who is a warm-hearted father figure.

9. What could make this character special and unique?

The wide emotional range demanded of Sam Fuller will challenge any actor. Fuller needs to be played by a talented singer with street appeal, capable of lighting up the screen in every scene he plays. This is a career-launching role.

And he has some of the most powerful scenes in the movie, where he confronts his boss with a gun at Dachau concentration camp and later his murderous sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg.

Fuller is far more than simply a Sidekick to the pPotagonist. The movie can’t work without him. That’s why he’s listed here as a lead character.

Role in the Story:

The voice of everyman; cool, relatable character to create a bridge between the cinema audience and the main, older, more conservative protagonist. A Trickster and foil, to speak the mind of the audience.

Age range and description:

Early- to-mid 20s, black, wiry, singer, piano-player and wisecracking hustler with an infectious grin.

Core Traits:

Cocksure covering insecurity, hustling to survive, but with buried anger and brooding side to his nature.

Motivation:

Want:

To make a buck, have a good time, to get back to the States as quickly as possible.

Need:

Popularity, self-esteem – and revenge.

Wound:

Abused and deserted by his alcoholic father; devastated by the murder of his brother by the SS when he tried to surrender; deep suspicion of authority and father figures.

Likability:

Wisecracking entertainer, who plays hit tunes and hymns on a hot piano, a trickster who bucks the system, speaks his mind and gets into heaps of trouble.

Relatability:

Keeps on saying what the audience thinks. A skinny black guy in a shark tank of racists. Keeps on smiling – mostly.

Empathy:

His alcoholic dad beat him and his brother; raised by his big bro, who was murdered by the Nazis when he tried to surrender – and abused for being black. Now Sam Fuller wants revenge.

Character subtext:

Fuller boils at what he has seen in the concentration camps, and what the Nazis have made his brother go through. Beneath the surface, his determination builds ­to get revenge.

As a hustler, he is always sizing up opportunities, while keeping the man on side so he can play the system and get away with it.

Character Intrigue:

Hiding the truth about what happened to his brother, so he can take his revenge.

Did he slip Goering the cyanide capsule that killed him? Will this mischievous fixer / trickster push things too far? And can he overcome his self-destructive hatred of every father figure?

Flaw:

Overcompensating for a lack of self-esteem by hustling, and winning plaudits as a performer. Fragile ego. Impulsive. Refusing to heed the wisdom of his father-figure. Complex and conflicted.

Values:

Dollars and cents. Self-respect. Standing up to bullies and racists. Looking after number one. Maximising the main chance.

Character Dilemma:

Will his mischievous taunting give way to something darker? A man on fire. Will he burn first or ignite those around him?

Thanks for reading!

[Andrew Boyd]

WIM, Module 3, Lesson 6, Character Profile Part 1

Andrew Boyd’s Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment:

How to construct profiles for characters that impact one another and are truly interdependent.

High Concept:

Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s top henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a humble US Army chaplain and his two fellow officers win their behind-the-scenes battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

Protagonist: Henry Gerecke

This Character’s Journey:

From kind-hearted but ineffective, and paralysed by past wounds, to a man who learns to combine toughness with compassion towards others to break down their self-defences more effectively than any leading lawyer in Nuremberg.

The Actor Attractors for this character:

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Henry Gerecke is a decent Everyman, tasked with the mission impossible of winning his battle of wills with the world’s worst mass killers. Somehow, he has to get inside their heads and their hearts and turn them around so they denounce everything they believe in and have fought for.

He’s a man determined to do the right thing in the face of hostility from his colleagues and at huge personal risk. At stake are his marriage and his health; he’s battling with guilt over sending his sons to war to be wounded in action, and with his own desire for vengeance against the very men he now has to win over, rather than destroy.

Henry is a river that runs deep; often underestimated by his colleagues, who put him down as that frustrating, naive nice guy. But beneath that warmth and affability, Henry Gerecke is as shrewd as he is tough and knows how to play the long game.

But first, he must overcome his inner demons and his reluctance to humiliate other men the way he was humiliated by his own father.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

Gerecke is a fish out of water, propelled by circumstances to be a major figure behind the scenes in the world’s greatest trial, a player whose actions could determine not only the outcome of this trial, but the future peace of the world – literally. He has to get the leading Nazis to denounce Hitler and all he stood for, to break the Nazi legend before they go to the gallows.

He has to hold on to his humanity in the face of the most inhuman crimes against humanity and the men the world calls monsters who perpetrated them. He has to understand them, relate to them, win a place in their hearts, confront them and utterly defeat their ideology. Somehow…

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the script?

Henry Gerecke has to confront Hitler’s deputy, the cunning and manipulative arch-Nazi Hermann Goering, who has the other defendants firmly in his grip. Gerecke must hold his nose and his nerve and win over this man of colossal vanity who set up the concentration camp system and passed the Nuremberg race laws condemning millions of Jews.

And even while this battle is raging, he has to find a way of getting through to the others…

4. How can you introduce the role in a way that sells it to an actor?

We first see Gerecke at Dachau concentration camp, confronting his own sidekick, the drunk and broken Sam Fuller, whose brother was murdered in cold blood by the Nazis.

Fuller is pointing a cocked and loaded pistol in the face of the army chaplain and screaming at him to stand aside. Staring down the barrel of that Colt, Gerecke has a choice. He can save his own skin, at the cost of the life of a hated Nazi SS guard. Or he can keep staring into that barrel and talk Fuller into laying down that Colt.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range?

From a warm and folksy friend and father, to cool-headed, courageous and utterly determined. From self-doubt to steely conviction; from affable to aggressive and unrelenting in confrontation. A man of compassion who has to learn how to administer the toughest of tough love.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

An increasingly skilled negotiator, beneath a friendly poker face, who can read between the lines, knows men, and is willing to play the long game. Who is confronted with arrogant, self-obsessed Nazis the world condemns as monsters, who have committed appalling horrors, and yet who are steeped in self-justification: these are the men he has know, understand and befriend in order to turn them around.

Gerecke is a man who has to hold on to his humanity and self-control, and who must keep a lid on his anger and disgust which is boiling below the surface.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Gerecke is a father-figure to his sidekick, Sam Fuller, who has come to hate him for standing in his way.

He is roommate to the intense and furious Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert, who loathes the Nazis, works for military intelligence and is trying to persuade Gerecke to cross the line and spy on the Nazis.

8. How was this character’s unique voice presented?

We see his self-control and affability under intense provocation. His honesty and decency emerge in heated arguments with Nazi mass murderers who are bent only on saving their own skins.

His determination to stand up and do the right thing emerges under confrontation with his own colleagues who accuse him of being a Nazi-lover; while his own anger is always threatening to break the surface and overwhelm him.

9. What made this character special and unique?

Henry Gerecke is a real figure. A Lutheran chaplain of German extraction, who cared for prisoners in the US, before being dispatched to Nuremberg to ‘keep Hitler’s henchmen alive until we can kill ‘em’.

He’s a man whose almost boundless compassion is stretched to its very limit in Nuremberg.

He’s a man who has to overcome himself, his past and his wounds, if he is to overcome the barrage of self-justification thrown up by the manipulative Nazis who are trying to save their necks. He is a man on the brink of being overwhelmed, who must, above all, hold on to his humanity.

Role in the Story:

US Army chaplain tasked by the military to keep the Nazis on trial from committing suicide so the court can duly hang them. And, while he’s at it, with turning around these Hitler fanatics to renounce the Fuhrer and break the Nazi legend. Pressured into spying on his congregation for military intelligence, in conflict with his duty as a man of God.

Age range and Description:

Early 50s, balding, kindly, a little plump, everybody’s favourite uncle.

Core Traits:

Affable, kindly, empathetic, shrewder than he looks. Often underestimated.

Motivation:

Want:

To keep the Nazis from committing suicide so they will face justice. To challenge their attitudes so they will denounce Hitler and admit their guilt.

Need:

To spare his boys and his grandchildren the horrors of another war; to overcome his loathing of these psychopaths who started the last two.

Wound:

Humiliated by his father, who prevented him fighting in the First War; reluctant to get tough and risk humiliating others; afraid of losing his temper; guilty over sending his sons to war and at putting his marriage at risk.

Likability:

Loves kids. A non-smoker, he hands out cigarettes to the children of a Nazi soldier in the rubble of Nuremberg, knowing smokes are hard currency in 1945. (He also hands out chocolate).

Relatability:

After seeing the horror of what the Nazis have done at Dachau and the arrogance of the Nazi guard, his instinctive response is to want to kill him. Wouldn’t we all?

Empathy: This assignment is set to cost him his marriage, his health and his reputation. But Henry soldiers on…

Antagonist: Hermann Goering

This Character’s Journey:

Nazi ringleader who stages a last-ditch attempt to keep Hitler’s legend living on in Nuremberg. Foil for the protagonist who tries everything to get him to denounce the Fuhrer and admit responsibility for his crimes. Instead, Goering runs rings round the court and tries to persuade the Allies to side with the Germans in fighting the Russians. Propped up by his vanity which is fatally undermined when the protagonist reveals the art thief who plundered the who of Europe was duped by a forger. Finally found guilty, commits suicide rather than be hanged as a common criminal.

The Actor Attractors for this character:

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Goering is a Nazi Hannibal Lecter: highly intelligent, scheming, manipulative – and extremely dangerous. He is running rings around the Nuremberg prosecutors and fighting not only for his life, but so his own and the Nazi legend will live on.

He is vain, narcissistic, and utterly ruthless. He believes in his cause, and is working to turn the military intelligence operatives who are working to turn him. His aim is to persuade the Allies to join forces with the surviving Nazis to fight the Russians and so perpetuate World War Two.

He wants to ensure that the rest of Germany ­– including the next generation ­– sees him and the Nazis as their national saviours. If he fails, he will certainly hang ­– an ignominious end for a true hero of the Third Reich.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

His intelligence, his ruthlessness, his arrogance and his vanity – all giftwrapped in the charm and guile that seduced a nation. He is fighting for the life, and the life of the legend he has devoted himself to.

3. What are the most interesting actions the antagonist takes in the script?

Herman Goering dominates the trial and runs rings around the distinguished American prosecutor, Robert Jackson. He overshadows and rallies the dispirited Nazi leaders and is staging his counterattack before a watching world in Room 600, the courtroom for the world’s greatest trial in Nuremberg.

Behind the scenes, Goering is working relentlessly to tighten his grip on the wavering Nazis, and manipulate the allied team who must get him to renounce the Fuhrer and destroy the Nazi legend before he goes to the gallows.

Hermann Goering is a powerful egotist, who is winning his battle of wits. What Goering hasn’t reckoned on is the honesty of a US Army chaplain, the determination of a Jewish psychologist – and the unanswerable truth.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?

Herman Goering dominates the stage at every occasion, from his courtroom battles, to his battles of wits with US officers in his cell in Nuremberg. He plays mind games with everyone – and makes sure he wins.

This monstrous man is portrayed as a complex, fatally flawed human being, whose father figure was the Fuhrer, and who is desperate to hold on to his self-belief in the face of what he sees as cynical victors’ justice.

Goering, the man the world sees as an arch villain, considers himself a hero whose legend must live on – even if it costs him his life.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range?

From avuncular good humour to murderous manipulation: A real-life Hannibal Lecter in a Nazi armband.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

Goering is constantly scheming and manipulating. There is subtext and hidden intent behind everything he says. He is seeking allies and supporters at every turn. He builds his power base with a mixture of menace and the sheer weight of his oversized ego.

His fatal flaw is his vanity, and he is constantly appealing to the ego, vanity and insecurity he perceives in others. He is oblivious to just how narcissistic he truly is.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Goering’s key relationship is with the kind-hearted US chaplain Henry Gerecke, who is as much a shadow figure to Goering as Goering is a shadow figure to him.

Goering knows only too well how to manipulate the ambition of egotists like himself. But how can he get through to and turn this straight-forward, honest, everyman?

Goering’s other battle of wills is with the angry Jewish psychologist, Gustave Gilbert, who is determined to cut his ego down to size and limit his oppressive influence over the other Nazi leaders on trial.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?

Goering must justify himself to the court and the US military in a way that will win both over. To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat will take every ounce of his oversized ego, his cunning and his undoubted intelligence to succeed.

Goering has the advantage of speaking excellent English. In court, he can understand the questions put to him by the prosecution well before the interpreters translate them into German. It gives this brilliant and scheming man twice as long to prepare his rebuttals, justifications and deflections – and unsettle and unnerve his illustrious adversary from US Supreme Court.

9. What could make this character special and unique?

See above. Hermann Goering is a real figure, a decorated war hero from World War One, who 20 years later helped lead the charge to conquer most of Europe – and came perilously close to winning the Second World War.

Role in the Story: Leading Nazi who wants desperately to keep the Nazi legend – and his own place in history ­– alive. Scheming to save himself from the hangman, and striving to draw the Allies into a new world war with Russia, with himself as head of the German forces.

Age range and description: 52 – 53 years old, powerful, imposing, louche, overweight, recovering drug addict, pale blue eyes, perfect teeth, soft hands.

Core Traits: Powerful, scheming, manipulative, vain, intelligent; a psychopath lacking human empathy, yet prone to tears over art, beauty and his little daughter.

Motivation:

Want: To live to fight another day, to keep his Nazi co-defendants in line to create a united defence, so the Nazi legend ­– and his own – can live on.­ To extend the war by motivating the Allies to join forces with Germany to defeat the Russians.

Need: To justify himself as a great leader in the eyes of the world and a defeated Germany.

Wound: Deserted by his mother and father from birth; humiliated for hero-worshipping his mother’s lover, a Jew; betrayed by Germany’s leaders after the First War. Massive overcompensation for low self-esteem.

Likability:

He is cultured and clever. He’s also a big kid who loves fast cars, showing off and playing games. And there’s a genuine streak of kindness to him, when he offers to give Henry his blue Mercedes (along with a manipulative streak a mile wide).

Relatability:

He refuses to surrender in World War One, but his country’s politicians force him, so he orders his squadron to crash and wreck their fighter planes in an act of defiance.

Empathy:

His dad and mum abandoned him. His country was in utter chaos so he stepped up to lead, because drastic times require drastic measures. As a result he gets shot and addicted to morphine to kill the pain.

Protagonist’s Sidekick: Sam Fuller

This Character’s Journey:

Hustling entertainer who is rescued from the cooler by the Protagonist and recruited as his Sidekick to play the organ in chapel. Racially taunted by Nazis and GIs alike. Burning with a desire to take revenge on Germans for the murder of his older brother. Prevented by the Protagonist from murdering a Nazi POW. Falls out with the Protagonist father-figure who keeps on standing in his way. Comes close to killing his racist sergeant who tries to abuse him. Serving time post-war, he is rescued by the Protagonist and recruited once again as his sidekick. Finally reconciled with his father after he learns that every man needs mercy ­– and if we want to get it, we have to give it.

The Actor Attractors for this character:

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Fuller is a wisecracking huckster, a barroom piano player, who knocks out the tunes of the day hot and fast. He’s given a stark choice: play hymns on an organ or rot in jail. He opts for playing hymns so he can keep playing the black market.

Fuller is a black 20-something, who’s taken under the wing of the chaplain, Henry Gerecke. Gerecke treats him like his son ­– which means Fuller comes to hate him – almost as much as he hates the racists in US army at the time.

But nothing matches the hatred Fuller has for the Nazis who captured and murdered his brother at the Battle of the Bulge. Fuller, who has a line in near-to-the-knuckle gags, has an axe to grind. He wants his revenge.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

Fuller is a complex and conflicted character, who tries to wisecrack his way out of most situations. He’s a kid with a mischievous sense of humour. He’s the character the audience is most likely to relate to.

But beneath all that is a fury and a loathing towards the Nazis, and anyone who tries to treat these monsters like human beings. And that includes his boss, Henry Gerecke.

Fuller is man on fire, and those around him are likely to get burned.

When one of the leading Nazis dies, the question is – did Fuller provide the cyanide?

3. What are the most interesting actions Fuller takes in the script?

We begin with a drunk and furious Fuller at Dachau concentration camp. He’s just found out his brother has been murdered by the Nazis when he tried to surrender. And now he’s pointing a gun in the face of his boss, Henry Gerecke, who has stepped in to save the life of a young SS prisoner of war.

Fuller doesn’t care about the rifle pointed at his own head. Right now, it doesn’t matter if he lives or dies. If he has to shoot his boss in order to kill the Nazi, so be it.

Fuller is switched to guard duty outside the cells of the leading Nazis in Nuremberg – where he teases and torments them at every opportunity.

Fuller is subject to racial abuse by both the Nazis and his own bullying Sergeant, who tries to cut him down to size with an army knife in a back alley in Nuremberg. What happens next lands Fuller in Menard.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?

The concentration camp scene is the opener. Fuller is so appalled by the horror at Dachau that he is determined to make a Nazi pay – even if it costs Fuller his life. It’s the scene where his boss, Henry Gerecke, stands in his way – and where Fuller comes to hate him like a father.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

Wisecracking good humour, a kid with talent and an ego to match, to a depressive drunk determined to get revenge. Fuller is a shapeshifter who provides both comic relief and a furious counterpoint to his principled and warm-hearted boss.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

In the scene in Dachau Fuller is clearly driven. We pick that up, but only he knows why. What Fuller knows is that his brother was racially murdered by Nazis after he was captured. As Fuller goes round the concentration camp, he is boiling at what he sees. And his determination builds ­– unseen – to get revenge.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have?

Fuller’s key relationship is with Henry Gerecke, the US Army captain and chaplain who has taken him under his wing. Gerecke is his father figure. The problem is, Fuller’s own father was a dangerous drunk. So Fuller has a problem with father figures and anyone in authority.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?

Samuel Fuller’s voice is crucial to this movie. He’s cool and young with audience appeal and states out loud what the audience is thinking. He constantly challenges his boss and other viewpoints. He’s a crucial counterpoint to the protagonist, Henry Gerecke, who is a warm-hearted father figure.

9. What could make this character special and unique?

The wide emotional range demanded of Sam Fuller will challenge any actor. Fuller also needs to be played by a talented singer with street appeal, capable of lighting up the screen in every scene he plays.

And he has some of the most powerful scenes in the movie, where he confronts his boss with a gun at Dachau concentration camp and later his murderous sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg.

Fuller is far more than simply a sidekick to the protagonist. The movie can’t work without him. That’s why he’s listed here as a lead character.

Role in the Story: The voice of everyman; cool, relatable character to create a bridge between the cinema audience and the main, older, more conservative protagonist. A Trickster and foil, to speak the mind of the audience.

Age range and description: Early- to-mid 20s, black, wiry, singer, piano-player and wisecracking hustler with an infectious grin.

Core Traits: Cocksure covering insecurity, hustling to survive, but with buried anger and brooding side to his nature.

Motivation:

Want: To make a buck, have a good time, to get back to the States as quickly as possible.

Need: Popularity, self-esteem – and revenge.

Wound: Abused and deserted by his alcoholic father; devastated by the murder of his brother by the SS when he tried to surrender; deep suspicion of authority and father figures.

Likability:

Wisecracking entertainer, who plays hit tunes and hymns on a hot piano, a trickster who bucks the system, speaks his mind and gets into heaps of trouble.

Relatability:

Keeps on saying what the audience thinks. A skinny black guy in a shark tank of racists. Keeps on smiling – mostly.

Empathy:

His alcoholic dad beat him and his brother; raised by his big bro, who was murdered by the Nazis when he tried to surrender – and abused for being black. Now Sam Fuller wants revenge.

Thank you!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Likability/Relatability/Empathy

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment:

How to bring out the common humanity of each character so an audience can connect with them.

Protagonist: Henry Gerecke

Likeability: A non-smoker, he hands out cigarettes to the children of a Nazi soldier in the rubble of Nuremberg, knowing smokes are hard currency in 1945. (He also hands out chocolate).

Relatability: After seeing the arrogant the Nazi guard at Dachau, his involuntary response is to want to kill him. Wouldn’t we all?

Empathy: It could cost him his marriage, his health and his reputation to see this assignment through. But Henry soldiers on…

Anagonist: Hermann Goering

(You want me to make a Nazi leader likeable? You sure…? Actually, we have to show Goering’s humanity, because relating to him as another human being is the only way Henry will ever get through to him.)

Likeability: Goering is cultured and clever. He’s also a big kid who loves fast cars, showing off and playing games. And there’s a genuine streak of kindness to him, when he offers Henry his blue Mercedes (along with a manipulative streak a mile wide).

Relatability: He refuses to surrender in World War One, but his country’s politicians force him, so he gets his squadron to crash and wreck their fighter planes in an act of defiance and protest.

Empathy: His dad and mum abandoned him; his country was in utter chaos so he stepped up to lead, because drastic times need drastic measures. As a result he gets shot and addicted to morphine to kill the pain.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Character Intrigue

(Apologies for this being late.)

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

Explore those hidden agendas so intriguing subtext can be layered in.

Character Name: Henry Gerecke

Role: Protagonist

Hidden agendas: Wants to go beyond his military brief to shows these killers the love and mercy of God

Competition: Gustave Gilbert, psychologist and military intelligence, wants Henry to work as a spy.

Conspiracies: In order to avoid being sent home he has to feed back information on his congregation.

Unspoken Wound: Humiliated by his father, so reluctant to get tough with others and humiliate them.

Secret Identity: Reluctant and occasional spy.

Subtext: Pulls his punches in caring for others – reluctant to go in hard and get tough.

Character Name: Hermann Goering

Role: Leader of the Nazis. Antagonist

Hidden agendas: Get the Allies to resume the war and join the Nazis in fighting the Russians.

Competition: Prosecutor Justice Jackson, the Allied backroom team.

Conspiracies: He is trying to turn the protagonist to support him and his cause, and is working on the guards to do the same. In contact with the shadowy Werwolves, the Nazi resistance.

Secrets: Hidden cyanide capsule.

Deception: Always. Utterly scheming and manipulative.

Unspoken Wound: Abandoned by father and mother, desperate to be loved and admired.

Subtext: Constantly getting under the skin of others to win them over or dominate them.

Character Name: Gustave Gilbert

Role: Psychologist. Mentor, Shapeshifter

Hidden agendas: Loathes the Nazis and wants them to hang – even if they’re not mentally fit to stand trial.

Competition: Chaplains who are pushing mercy rather than vengeance.

Conspiracies: Trying to recruit his colleague to abandon his principles and spy on the Nazis. Conflicted over the sanity of the defendants and their suitability to stand trial – not wanting them to escape justice.

Deception: Working covertly for military intelligence. Burying his scientific findings because the world isn’t ready to hear.

Unspoken Wound: Prevented by war from ever seeing his newborn son. Seething with a sense of injustice.

Secret Identity: Keeping his Jewish identity under wraps.

Subtext: Battling to keep cold fury under wraps. Sublimating his anger into his professionalism.

Character Name: Sam Fuller

Role: Chaplain’s assistant. Protagonist’s Sidekick, Shapeshifter

Hidden agendas: Wants the Nazis dead – could go to any lengths to take his vengeance.

Competition: The protagonist keeps standing in his way like an unwelcome father-figure.

Secrets: Black marketeer and hustler: ‘Just take it – don’t ask…’

Unspoken Wound: Hatred of father and so father figures. Brother murdered by the Nazis.

Subtext: Always on the hustle and trying to hide it, now maybe hustling for revenge. Loathing of father figures, including his boss.

Character Name: Sixtus O’Connor

Role: Catholic Chaplain. Protagonist’s Ally and Mentor

Hidden agendas:

Competition: The rules. Prepared to break them to get through to the men in his care.

Secrets: What really happened when he and his men liberated Mauthausen Concentration Camp?

Deception: Will exceed his brief to pursue his goal.

Unspoken Wound: Experience at Mauthausen almost broke him. Left him physically and emotionally scarred. Drinks too much.

Beneath his jocularity, always in pain, both physically and emotionally. Self-medicating with booze.

Thank you!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Character subtext

WIM2 Module 3, Lesson 3, Character Subtext

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

To write subtext into a character by demonstrating their compensating devices the leave an audience wondering about their wounds.

With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:

Movie Title: Bridge of Spies

Character Name: Rudolf Abel

Subtext Identity: Spying for the Soviet Union against the US

Subtext Trait: Secretive, scheming, with every suspicious activity buried beneath the surface

Subtext Logline: Rudolf Abel is an unprepossessing picture of shabby, middle-aged ordinariness. No-one would cast him a second glance. And that’s the way he wants it, because Abel is a Soviet spy.

Possible Areas of Subtext: Small, secretive gestures and sideways glances, as Abel goes about his assignments in plain sight. Passion, conviction and deep-seated determination to risk his life daily by flying under the radar.

For your own leads, brainstorm these answers:

Character Name: Henry Gerecke, Protagonist

Subtext Identity: Humiliated by his father

Subtext Trait: Overcompensating with kindness to figures he adopts as sons – including his sidekick Fuller and the Nazi defendants.

Subtext Logline: Henry Gerecke is a man of seemingly limitless compassion – yet with a reluctance to confront and get tough, which results in pulling his punches. Unless he can master tough love, he will never rescue those assigned to his care.

Possible Areas of Subtext: Gerecke must overcome his fear of humiliating others instilled in him by his father, if he is to challenge and confront and become a true father figure to those in his care.

Character Name: Hermann Goering, Antagonist

Subtext Identity: Abandonment by father and mother

Subtext Trait: Narcissism, vanity, manipulation, scheming

Subtext Logline: Goering regards the war as his personal vanity project. He must maintain his and the Nazi legend – even if it results in his death

Possible Areas of Subtext: Goering’s refusal to recognise the truth about what he has done, and so take responsibility; his relentless determination to force the other Nazis to ‘keep the faith’; his defiant last stand to defend his reputation and legend in court

Character Name: Samuel Fuller, Sidekick to protagonist, shapeshifter and trickster

Subtext Identity: Abandoned by his alcoholic father

Subtext Trait: Rebel, kicking against authority, especially father figures

Subtext Logline: On the surface, Sam Fuller is a wisecracking, piano-playing hustler. Beneath that, he’s just a kid in search of a father and testing the limits of his father-figure’s love

Possible Areas of Subtext: Kicking hard against his father figure Henry Gerecke who stands in his way, determined to win self-esteem by becoming the centre of attention in his own unique way.

Many thanks, Andrew

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s WIM2 Module 3, Lesson 2, Roles that Sell Actors

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Spielberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

How to develop a role and how to describe that role in a way that will make it compelling to a top actor or a great actor wanting to further their career.

ACTOR ATTRACTOR TEMPLATE

Lead Character Name: Henry Gerecke

Role: Protagonist / US Army Chaplain

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Henry Gerecke is a decent Everyman, tasked with the mission impossible of winning his battle of wills with the world’s worst mass killers. Somehow, he has to get inside their heads and their hearts and turn them around so they denounce everything they believe in and have fought for.
He’s a man determined to do the right thing in the face of hostility from his colleagues and at huge personal risk. At stake are his marriage and his health; he’s battling with guilt over sending his sons to war to be wounded in action, and with his own desire for vengeance against the very men he now has to win over, rather than destroy.
Henry is a river that runs deep; often underestimated by his colleagues, who put him down as that frustrating, naive nice guy. Beneath that warmth affability, Henry Gerecke is as shrewd as he is tough and knows how to play the long game. But first, he must overcome his inner demons and his reluctance to humiliate other men the way he was humiliated by his own father.<div>

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2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

Gerecke is a fish out of water, propelled by circumstances to be a major figure behind the scenes in the world’s greatest trial, a player whose actions could determine not only the outcome of that trial, but the future peace of the world – literally. He has to get the leading Nazis to denounce Hitler and all he stood for, to break the Nazi legend before they go to the gallows.
He has to hold on to his humanity in the face of the most inhuman crimes against humanity and the men the world calls monsters who perpetrated them. He has to understand them, win a place in their hearts, confront them and utterly defeat their ideology. Somehow…</div><div>

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the script?

Henry Gerecke has to confront Hitler’s deputy, the cunning and manipulative arch-Nazi Hermann Goering, who has the other defendants firmly in his grip. Gerecke must hold his nose and his nerve and win over this man of colossal vanity who set up the concentration camp system and passed the Nuremberg race laws condemning millions of Jews. And even while this battle is raging, he has to find a way of getting through to the others…

4. How can you introduce the role in a way that sells it to an actor?

We first see Gerecke at Dachau concentration camp, confronting his own sidekick, the drunk and broken Sam Fuller, whose brother was murdered in cold blood by the Nazis. Fuller is pointing a cocked and loaded pistol in the face of the army chaplain and screaming at him to stand aside. Staring down the barrel of that Colt, Gerecke has a choice: to save his own skin, at the cost of the life of a hated Nazi SS guard. Or he can keep staring into that barrel and talk Fuller into laying down that Colt.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range?

From a warm and folksy friend and father, to cool-headed, courageous and utterly determined. From self-doubt to steely conviction; from affable to aggressive and unrelenting in confrontation. A man of compassion who has to learn how to administer the toughest of tough love.</div><div>

6. What subtext can the actor play?

A skilled negotiator, beneath a friendly poker face, who can read between the lines, knows men, and is willing to play the long game. Who is confronted with arrogant, self-obsessed Nazis the world condemns as monsters, who have committed appalling horrors, and yet who are steeped in self-justification: these are the men he has to know and understand in order to turn them around.

Gerecke is a man who has to hold on to his humanity and self-control, and who must keep a lid on his understandable anger and disgust which is boiling below the surface.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Gerecke is like a father to his sidekick, Sam Fuller, who has come to hate him for standing in his way.
He is roommate to the intense and furious Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert, who loathes the Nazis, works for military intelligence and is trying to persuade Gerecke to cross the line and spy on the Nazis.</div><div>

8. How was this character’s unique voice presented?

We see his self-control and affability under intense provocation. His honesty and decency emerge in heated arguments with Nazi mass murderers who are bent only on saving their own skins.

His determination to stand up and do the right thing emerges under confrontation with his own colleagues who accuse him of being a Nazi-lover; while that anger is always there, threatening to break the surface and overwhelm him.

9. What made this character special and unique?

Henry Gerecke is a real figure. A Lutheran chaplain of German extraction, who cared for prisoners in the US, before being dispatched to Nuremberg to ‘keep Hitler’s henchmen alive until we can kill ‘em’.

He’s a man whose almost boundless compassion is stretched to its very limit in Nuremberg.

He’s a man who has to overcome himself, his past and his wounds, if he is to overcome the barrage of self-justification thrown up by the manipulative Nazis who are trying to save their necks. He is a man on the brink of being overwhelmed, who must, above all, hold on to his humanity.

ACTOR ATTRACTOR TEMPLATE

Lead Character Name: Hermann Goering

Role: Antagonist. Hitler’s Deputy

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Goering is a Nazi Hannibal Lecter: highly intelligent, scheming, manipulative – and extremely dangerous. He is running rings around the Nuremberg prosecutors and fighting not only for his life, but so the Nazi legend will live on.

He is vain, narcissistic, and utterly ruthless. He believes in his cause, and is working to turn the military intelligence operatives who are working to turn him. His aim is to persuade the Allies to join forces with the surviving Nazi leaders and German military to fight the Russians and perpetuate World War Two.

He wants to ensure that the rest of Germany ­– including the next generation ­– sees him and the Nazis as their national saviours. If he fails, he will certainly hang ­– which would be an ignominious end for a true hero of the Third Reich.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

His intelligence, his ruthlessness, his arrogance and his vanity – all giftwrapped in the charm and the guile that seduced a nation. He is fighting for the life, and the life of the legend he has devoted himself to.

3. What are the most interesting actions the antagonist takes in the script?

Herman Goering dominates the trial and runs rings around the distinguished American prosecutor, Robert Jackson. He dominates and rallies the dispirited Nazi leaders and is staging his counterattack before a watching world in Room 600, the courtroom for the world’s greatest trial in Nuremberg.

Behind the scenes, he is working relentlessly to tighten his grip on the wavering Nazis, and manipulate the allied team who must get him to renounce the Fuhrer and destroy the Nazi legend.

Hermann Goering is a powerful egotist, who is winning his battle of wits. What Goering hasn’t reckoned on is the honesty of a US Army chaplain, the determination of a Jewish psychologist – and the unanswerable truth.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?

Herman Goering dominates the stage at every occasion, from his courtroom battles, to his battles of wits with US officers in his cell in Nuremberg. He plays mind games with everyone – and makes sure he wins.

This monstrous man is portrayed as a complex, fatally flawed human being, whose father figure was the Fuhrer, and who is desperate to hold on to his self-belief in the face of what he sees as cynical victors’ justice.

Goering, the man the world sees as an arch villain, considers himself a hero whose legend must live on – even if it costs him his life.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range?

From avuncular good humour to murderous manipulation: A real-life Hannibal Lecter with a Nazi armband.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

Goering is constantly scheming and manipulating. There is subtext to everything he says. He is seeking allies and supporters at every turn. He builds his power base with a mixture of menace and the sheer weight of his oversized ego.

His fatal flaw is his vanity, and he is constantly appealing to the ego, vanity and insecurity of others. He is oblivious to just how narcissistic he truly is.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Goering’s key relationship is with the kind-hearted US chaplain Henry Gerecki, who is as much a shadow figure to Goering as Goering is a shadow figure to him.

Goering knows only too well how to manipulate the ambition of egotists like himself. But how will he get through to and turn this straight-forward, honest, everyman?

Goering’s other battle of wills is with the angry Jewish psychologist, Gustave Gilbert, who is determined to cut his ego down to size and limit his oppressive influence over the other Nazi leaders on trial.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?

Goering must justify himself to the court and the US military in a way that will win both over. To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat will take every ounce of his outsized ego, his cunning and his undoubted intelligence to succeed.

Goering has the advantage of speaking excellent English. In court, he can understand the questions put to him by the prosecution even before the interpreters translate them into German. It gives this brilliant and scheming man twice as long to prepare his rebuttals, justifications and deflections – and unsettle and unnerve his illustrious adversary from US Supreme Court.

9. What could make this character special and unique?

See above. Hermann Goering is a real figure, a decorated war hero from World War One, who 20 years later helped lead the charge to conquer most of Europe – and came perilously close to winning the Second World War.

ACTOR ATTRACTOR TEMPLATE

Lead Character Name: Samuel Fuller

Role: Sidekick and Shapeshifter

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?

Fuller is a wisecracking huckster, a bar-room piano player, who knocks out tunes of the day hot and fast. He’s given a stark choice: play hymns on an organ or stay in jail. He opts for playing hymns so he can keep playing the black market.

Fuller is a black 20-something, who’s taken under the wing of the chaplain, Henry Gerecke. Gerecke treats him like his son ­– which means Fuller comes to hate him – almost as much as he hates the racists in US army at the time.

But nothing matches the hatred Fuller has for the Nazis who captured and murdered his brother at the Battle of the Bulge. Fuller, who has a line in near-to-the-knuckle jokes, has an axe to grind. He wants his revenge.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?

Fuller is a complex and conflicted character, who tries to wisecrack his way out of most situations. He’s a kid with a mischievous sense of humour. He’s the character the audience is most likely to relate to.

But beneath all that is a fury and a loathing towards the Nazis, and anyone who tries to treat these monsters like human beings. And that includes his boss, Henry Gerecke.

Fuller is man on fire, and those around him are likely to get burned.

When one of the leading Nazis dies, the question is – did Fuller provide the cyanide?

3. What are the most interesting actions Fuller takes in the script?

We begin with a drunk and furious Fuller at Dachau concentration camp. He’s just found out his brother has been murdered by the Nazis. And now he’s pointing a gun in the face of his boss, Henry Gerecke, who has stepped in to save the life of a young SS prisoner of war. Fuller doesn’t care about the rifle pointed at his own head. Right now, it doesn’t matter if he lives or dies. If he has to shoot his boss in order to kill the Nazi, so be it.

Fuller is switched to guard duty outside the cells of the leading Nazis in Nuremberg – where he teases and torments them at every opportunity.

Fuller is subject to racial abuse by both the Nazis and his own bullying Sergeant, who tries to cut him down to size with an army knife in a back alley in Nuremberg. What happens next lands Fuller in Menard.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?

The concentration camp scene is the opener. Fuller is so appalled by the horror at Dachau that he is determined to make a Nazi pay – even if it costs Fuller his life. It’s the scene where his boss, Henry Gerecke, stands in his way – and where Fuller comes to hate him like a father.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

Wisecracking good humour, a kid with talent and an ego to match, to a depressive drunk determined to get revenge. Fuller is a shapeshifter who provides both comic relief and a furious counterpoint to his principled and warm-hearted boss.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

In the scene in Dachau Fuller is driven. We pick that up, but only he knows why. He knows, but we don’t that his brother was racially murdered by Nazis after he was captured. As Fuller goes round the concentration camp, he is boiling at what he sees. And his determination builds ­– unseen – to get revenge.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have?

Fuller’s key relationship is with Henry Gerecke, the US Army captain and chaplain who has taken him under his wing. Gerecke is his father figure. The problem is, Fuller’s own father was a dangerous drunk. So Fuller has a problem with father figures and anyone in authority.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?

Samuel Fuller’s voice is crucial to this movie. He’s cool and young with audience appeal and states out loud what the audience is thinking. He constantly challenges his boss and other viewpoints. He’s a crucial counterpoint to the protagonist, Henry Gerecke, who is a warm-hearted father figure.

9. What could make this character special and unique?

The wide emotional range demanded of Sam Fuller will challenge any actor. Fuller also needs to be played by a talented singer with street appeal, capable of lighting up the screen in every scene he plays.

And he has some of the most powerful scenes in the movie, where he confronts his boss with a gun at Dachau concentration camp and later his murderous sergeant in an alley in Nuremberg.

Fuller is far more than simply a sidekick to the protagonist. The movie can’t work without him. That’s why he’s listed here as a lead character.

Many thanks, Andrew

</div></div>

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s WIM2 Actor Attractions for Bridge of Spies

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Steven Speilberg and Mel Gibson will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from doing this assignment:

How the role, particularly the opener to the role, must be so powerful and attractive to a star that they are compelled to play the part – so the movie will boost their reputation and they will boost the movie at the box office.

Movie Title: Bridge of Spies

Lead Character Name: Tom Hanks

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?

It’s irresistibly Tom Hanks. Decent, likeable, a tie-and-cardigan conservative, caught in an impossible bind. A stand-up guy. Doing the right thing. Defending a Soviet spy at the height of Cold War nuclear menace. Knowing full well that the fear and loathing directed towards the Russkies will now be aimed at him. But ‘everyone deserves a defence. Every person matters’ is the theme of this movie that is later restated. Hanks still manages to spin out some subtle laughs along the way: ‘How did you lose your coat?’ asks his CIA handler. ‘Oh, you know, spy stuff..’ An affable man who should never be underestimated. Who, beneath that folksy charm is always in control.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?

Can a decent man keep his chops together and keep doing the right thing when everyone – even his own family – are convinced it’s wrong; wrong, damaging and dangerous to everything they hold dear?

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

He defends a hated Soviet spy who is guilty as hell. All in the name of justice and Doing the Right Thing. And then he employs his unflappable negotiating skills to trade him for Gary Powers. Oh, and unknown American student.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

Smart, suited, calm and reasonable, he is taking control and talking his way out of an impossible situation. With calm conviction he claims the legal and moral high ground, making his case for due process, with an argument that is later restated when it comes to negotiation with the Soviet Union and DDR. This corporate charmer is liked and admired by his colleagues. Until he is invited to step out of his ordinary world in the insurance business to defend a Soviet spy – to defend him. Chosen to represent fairness and the American way. Conservative, decent, decisive – and given a mission impossible that will wreck his reputation. He’ll lose. And everybody will hate him – and his family. And that’s just the first half of the film. Wait till he has to negotiate with the wily Russians for the release of spyplane pilot Gary Powers, without official support or acknowledgement from the US. ‘Powers? He’s the most hated man in America. After Rudolf Abel. And maybe me.’

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

Sincerity, warmth, humour, concern, stress, modesty, courage, unflappability, intelligence, and reassurance to others under fear.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

Abel asks for paper and cigarettes. And he says please. This confirms to Donovan (Hanks) that he is dealing with a human being. And into Act 2, after Abel is inevitably found guilty, Donovan gives him his paper and his cigarettes: the human connection. When Abel asks him if he is curious about his guilt or otherwise, Donovan chuckles: ‘Not really. I always assumed you were an artist.’ How he talks his way out of the grip of East German thugs, followed by his bemusement at Abel’s overacting Russian ‘family’ reveals an unflappable man who is always quietly in control. ‘I’ll tell you your first problem,’ he informs the official he knows is trying to play him: ‘the names of your countries are too long.’

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Soothing the nerves of his long-suffering wife and terrified son, connecting with the Soviet spy as one man to another, then standing up to the CIA spook who wants him to snitch on his client: ‘We need to know – don’t go boy scout on me.’ He puts CIA Charlie down with the Constitution: ‘What makes us both Americans is the rulebook. So… don’t nod at me like that, you son of a bitch.’ And having chewed him up, he tosses a peanut into his mouth and strides off. Donovan’s relationship with the bigoted judge also illuminates the role, as does his wry dependence on that CIA shapeshifter, his opponent turned guardian, and the way he quickly but quietly dispenses with the fiction of Abel’s wife and daughter with Vogel, the nervous ‘lawyer’ for the DDR.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

The insurance man tries to persuade the judge to keep Abel alive – as an insurance policy in America’s back pocket, to trade for an American spy should the day arise. As he later informs the wily Russian official who has taken him for a soft-minded fool: ‘You never know, Abel might want to see the sky again – and decide to trade Russian secrets for small American favours… we have to get off this merry-go-round, sir. The next mistake our countries make could be the last one.’ Warm, reasonable, yet quietly tough.

9. What makes this character special and unique?

He is a warm family man, who is willing to be an outcast to his people, his colleagues and even his family out of fairness and human decency.

10. (Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.)

Hung out to dry in the hallway of the DDR administrative building, Donovan buttonholes a young clerk who speaks English. He combines his folksy charm and quiet forcefulness to get him to sit down and give his boss this message. ‘There is no deal for Abel unless we get Powers and Pryor. D’you understand?… it will not happen unless we get two men. Those two men. Two. Two. If there is no deal, your boss must tell the Soviets. He has to tell the Soviets that they are not getting Rudolf Abel. Oh, and tell him this: so far Abel has been a good soldier, but he thinks he’s going home (cough). If we have to tell him that he’s not going home, that the Soviets don’t even want him, that he’s never going home, well, I imagine his behaviour might change. And who will be held responsible for that? Heh. That’s a long message – did you get it all? You’re a good man.’

Other Lead’s Name: Mark Rylance

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?

This finely nuanced role requires a master of subtlety and understatement to portray this principled spy and man of quiet conviction, this softly spoken Soviet patriot. It won Rylance the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?

Able is an anti-Bond, and way cooler than Bond. Middle aged, shabby, unprepossessing and understated – yet with all the concealed passion, commitment and dedication required of a true enemy of the state.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

He is endlessly unruffled in the face of his fate. He retains his humanity and wry humour and even acts as a mentor to Donovan: ‘Jim, you should be careful. Careful.’

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

Cool as a cucumber, this arch spy is dispassionately painting his own self-portrait. The sideways glance of the face on the canvas sums him up. Without a word, without expression, he answers the phone. His next assignment. He steps out, into the Brooklyn of the 1950s. But he is being tailed. And when the FBI nail him, he emerges from his bathroom in his vest and underpants, takes that sideways glance at their guns and calmly asks if he can fetch his false teeth. And as they tear his room apart, he slips beneath the radar to take control and conceal the evidence.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

Coolness, sincerity, wry humour, unflappability, mastery of fear. ‘I’m not afraid to die, Mr Donovan. Although… it wouldn’t be my first choice.’

6. What subtext can the actor play?

Self-control. Even in the face of fear. Donovan: ‘You don’t seem alarmed.’ Abel: ‘Would it help?’ Then a moment later vulnerability, when he asks for cigarettes – ‘Please?’ And when informed the Russians have disowned him: ‘Well, the boss isn’t always right. But he’s always the boss.’ Always wry. Always calm. Then asked again: ‘Do you never worry?’ ‘Would it help?’ Later he tells Donovan his daughter plays the harp in a Moscow orchestra: a shared humanity. He tells the story of when his family home was overrun by partisans and he witnessed a terrible beating of an unremarkable looking man. This man withstood everything they could throw against him and kept rising to his feet, so the partisans let him live: ‘Standing man.’ Clearly, Abel’s inspiration, as he, like Donovan, is a stand-up guy. And all of that is in the subtext.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

With Donovan. They come to respect one another’s skill, intelligence and humanity.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

With wry, self-effacing humour. See above. ‘What do you think will happen when you get home?’ ‘I think… I’ll have a vodka.’ ‘Yeah, but Rudolf, is there not a possibility…’ ‘That my people are going to shoot me?’ ‘Yes. You’re not worried?’ ‘Would it help?’

9. What makes this character special and unique?

Abel is a spy like no other. Not sinister, not glamorous, not arrogant. A shuffling, shabby, quiet man of conviction, played to perfection by Mark Rylance.

10. (Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.)

See the introductory scene above.

Thank you!

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Assignment 25.8.22 Genre Conventions

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to produce their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

To draw out the emotional resonance for the audience within the Drama genre. This has been very helpful and has helped me further reshape my opener.

Title:

Hitler’s Choirboys

Concept:

Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s top henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a humble US Army chaplain and his two fellow officers win their behind-the-scenes battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

Genre:

Drama / True Story.

List of Drama Conventions:

• PURPOSE: ​To explore stories with emotional and interpersonal high stakes for their characters. <div>

• CHARACTER-DRIVEN JOURNEY: ​We always need to care about the characters in a Drama, and their internal journey drives the film’s events and progression.

• HIGH STAKES COME FROM WITHIN: ​Whether the story’s events are relatively mundane or intense, the struggles, obstacles, and stakes come from within the characters more than from external pressures.

• EMOTIONALLY RESONATES: ​Drama audiences want to feel and be moved by the characters’ emotions and how they experience the events.

• CHALLENGING, EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED SITUATIONS: ​Characters get challenged to their core by the emotional situations and struggles that they run into.

• REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS: ​Drama stories are grounded in reality.

List your structure and improvements. Genre conventions added and highlighted in updated Act structure in italics.

Act 1

Opening: 1945. A US Army captain is staring down the barrel of a Colt 45, pointed at him by a drunk and furious GI – his own sidekick. Location: Dachau concentration camp. Army Chaplain Henry Gerecke is trying to save two lives: that of his sidekick Private Sam Fuller and the SS POW Fuller is determined to kill. Cut to 1961. Fuller is being quizzed behind bars by prison officials on his relationship with Gerecke. ‘He was like a father to me,’ he says. ‘I hated him.’ Gerecke is reckless in his compassion. We care about a man who would take such risks, and we wonder why, and how anyone could come to hate him.

Inciting Incident: Rewind. The war is over. Fuller is boosting his army pay playing the black market and pounding boogie woogie in GI joints in Germany – between playing hymns in chapel. His boss, Army chaplain Henry Gerecke has enough points to go home. But his commanding officer wants to send him to Nuremberg where the leading Nazis are about to stand trial. His assignment: Keep ‘em alive until we can hang ‘em – and get them to denounce the Führer so they don’t die as martyrs and heroes. The reaction of Gerecke and Fuller is ‘You’re kidding.’ Gerecke refuses. He hasn’t seen his wife for two years and fears for his marriage. He needs to head home to rescue that relationship. Two of his sons have been badly wounded in the war, after he encouraged them to sign up. So, he feels guilty and is no fan of the Nazis. And he fears he would be out of his depth with the likes of arch-manipulator Hermann Goering.

Turning Point: So the commander sends Gerecke and Fuller to Dachau concentration camp to see why the stakes are so high. Unless Gerecke can turn Hitler’s henchmen and break the Nazi legend, his boys and his grandkids might well have to fight them again. Gerecke reluctantly agrees to go to Nuremberg as Lutheran chaplain to the surviving top Nazis. Fuller, whose brother has been murdered by the SS, violently objects. But having come close to shooting a prisoner at Dachau – and his boss – it’s Nuremberg or jail. Gerecke sees Fuller as a surrogate son. Both men are caught between a rock and a hard place, which stretches their relationship to breaking point.

Act 2

New Plan: Gerecke is introduced to his behind-the-scenes team in Nuremberg, a Catholic chaplain concealing a war wound, and a Jewish psychologist with an understandable axe to grind. Together they must prevent the Nazis committing suicide and make them take responsibility for their war crimes. Mission impossible. How will they keep it together personally, get it together as a team, and find a way to do that? Each has good cause to hate the Nazis. Compounded when, to a man, Hitler’s henchmen plead not guilty and treat the court with contempt.

Plan in Action: Gerecke works hard to overcome his feelings and get alongside the Nazis to understand them. As a chaplain, he treats them with respect and refuses to spy on them. In return, he gets called a Nazi lover by the prison guards, including his own sidekick. Sam Fuller. Fuller, who’s black, walks out after SS prisoners hurl racial insults at him as he plays the organ in chapel. Hermann Goering considers the chaplain a soft target. The leader of the surviving Nazis is staging a last-ditch attempt to get the Allies to join forces with the defeated Germans to fight the Russians – and so save their Nazi necks. And he’s whipping the other defendants into line. Gerecke is being played and he knows it. His reputation is shot; back in the US his love rival is making moves on his wife, and everything is falling down around his ears. How can he turn it around?

Midpoint Turning Point: The Catholic chaplain recognises his colleague Henry Gerecke is pulling his punches. Gerecke was badly humiliated by his German father during World War One. Pa hauled him out of the recruitment line in St Louis, where he was itching to sign up to fight the Kaiser. That experience has made Gerecke reluctant to humiliate others. He also has a fierce temper which he is afraid of losing. Can he overcome those scars of deep personal humiliation and the fear of his own anger which are holding him back?

Act 3

Rethink Everything: Catholic chaplain Sixtus O’Connor challenges Gerecke to get tough with the prisoners if he’s ever going to get through to them. And Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert helps the chaplain marshal hard evidence that will force the Nazis to admit their guilt. This change of tactics risks letting his anger loose and wrecking everything he’s built over months. He is losing the confidence of his commanding officer. However, the chaplain is playing the long game, and everyone underestimates his grit, wisdom and determination.

New Plan: The showing in court of the Nazi concentration camp film forces the prisoners to confront what they have done and has a major impact on some of them. Gerecke starts marshalling evidence to confront the Nazis and tear down their barriers of denial. But the stress is killing him. He goes down with pneumonia. His commander wants to send him home. Gerecke begs to see it out, at risk to his health and his marriage. As judgment day nears, psychologist Gustave Gilbert splits Goering off from the other defendants to break his grip on them. And finally, due to all their efforts, some of the leading Nazis finally start to denounce Hitler in court and to a watching world.

Turning Point: Huge Failure Although Gerecke is now getting through to some of them, the chaplain’s hard truths have backfired with the top man, Hermann Goering. The former Reichsmarschall now pins his hopes on a prison breakout by the shadowy Werwolves, the Nazi resistance. Gerecke hopes to reach him through his little daughter and arranges a prison visit. That fails. Then the chaplain uncovers new evidence that could break Goering down. But his go-for-broke confrontation goes badly wrong when he loses his temper. The Werwolves never show, and Goering commits suicide in his cell. Gerecke’s mission is a double failure and he blames himself. To make matters worse, Sam Fuller has shot a sergeant in Nuremberg.

Act 4

Climax / Ultimate Expression of the Conflict

With the hour of execution approaching, many of the Nazis respond to the gritty compassion shown by the chaplains. Gerecke’s resolve to treat even the world’s worst mass murderers as human beings rather than monsters is seen to pay off. His true impact on some of the leading Nazis becomes clear as they face the gallows. Success and relief for Gerecke and the Catholic chaplain is mingled with heart-stopping stress, as the executions are brutally botched and some still go to their deaths spitting venom and praising Hitler.

Resolution: 1961. Gerecke’s sidekick, Sam Fuller is concluding his story to the parole board at Menard, where he’s been banged up for shooting that sergeant. He explains how the chaplain he once hated for standing in his way had become a father figure to him. Gerecke took Fuller back as his assistant at Menard after resuming his prison ministry in the US. Mercifully, Gerecke’s marriage and his sons survived the war. Fifteen years later, Gerecke has now passed away and Fuller is seeking parole so he can attend his friend’s memorial in St Louis. His request is granted, and he is invited to play the organ as ever – hot and fast. Reconciliation, redemption, relief.

</div>

[Andrew Boyd]

Andrew Boyd’s Four-Act Transformational Structure

My concept (Updated):

Drama/True story. Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a humble US chaplain and a handful of Army officers win their behind-the-scenes battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

What I have learned from this assignment:

This assignment has challenged me to simplify my original Opener, which could have been a false start. And because I initially followed a five-act structure it has also been necessary to reduce my Midpoint.

Main Conflict:

The surviving top Nazis at the world’s greatest trial are scheming to save their skins and keep the Nazi legend alive. Three US Army officers must win their battle of wills with Hitler’s henchmen, including ringleader Hermann Goering.

Goering hopes to get his hooks into a humble US Army chaplain, tasked with persuading these diehard Nazis to denounce the Führer. If the chaplain fails, future generations will be plunged back into war.

The three US officers working behind the scenes have competing agendas. To succeed, they must lay them aside – and overcome their desire for vengeance.

Old Ways:

Soft hearted

Unwilling to confront

Afraid of his own anger

Pulling his punches

Unable to understand evil in men

New Ways:

Tough-minded while still tender-hearted

Willing to confront to win the person, not just the argument

Transforming raw anger into gritty compassion

Hitting hard to score a knockout

Act 1

Opening: It’s 1961. Sam Fuller, Henry Gerecke’s former sidekick, is being quizzed behind bars by prison officials on his relationship with the US Army chaplain. ‘He was like a father to me,’ he says. ‘I hated him.’ Gerecke, it seems, couldn’t stop getting in his way – even facing him down over a cocked and pointed pistol.

Inciting Incident: 1945. The war is over. Fuller is boosting his army pay playing the black market and pounding boogie woogie in GI joints in Germany – between playing hymns in chapel. His boss, Army chaplain Henry Gerecke has enough points to go home. But his commanding officer plans to send him to Nuremberg where the leading Nazis are about to stand trial. His assignment: Keep ‘em alive until we can hang ‘em – and make ‘em denounce the Führer so they don’t die as martyrs and heroes.

Turning Point: Gerecke refuses. He hasn’t seen his wife for two years and needs to rescue his marriage. Two of his sons have been badly wounded in the war, so he’s no fan of Nazis. And he fears he would be hopelessly out of his depth with the likes of Hermann Goering. So his commander sends Gerecke and Fuller to Dachau concentration camp to see why the stakes are so high. Gerecke reluctantly agrees to go to Nuremberg as Lutheran chaplain to the surviving top Nazis. Fuller, whose brother has been murdered by the SS, violently objects. But having come close to shooting a prisoner at Dachau – and his boss – it’s Nuremberg or jail.

Act 2

New Plan: Gerecke is introduced to his behind-the-scenes team in Nuremberg, a Catholic chaplain concealing a war wound, and a Jewish psychologist with an understandable axe to grind. Together they must prevent the Nazis committing suicide and make them take responsibility for their war crimes. Each has good cause to hate the Nazis. Compounded when, to a man, Hitler’s henchmen plead not guilty and treat the court with contempt.

Plan in Action: Gerecke tries to get alongside the Nazis and understand them. He treats them with respect and refuses to spy on them. The kindly chaplain gets called a Nazi lover by the prison guards, including his own sidekick. Sam Fuller. Fuller, who’s black, walks out after SS prisoners hurl racial insults at him while playing the organ in chapel. Arch manipulator Hermann Goering considers the chaplain a soft target. The Nazi leader is staging a last-ditch attempt to get the Allies to join forces with the defeated Germans to fight the Russians – and so save their Nazi necks. And he’s whipping the other defendants into line. Gerecke is being played and he knows it.

Midpoint Turning Point: The catholic chaplain recognises Gerecke is pulling his punches for fear of humiliating the prisoners. Gerecke was badly humiliated himself by his German father during World War One. Pa hauled him away from the recruitment line in St Louis, where he was signing up to fight for Uncle Sam against the Kaiser.

Act Three

Rethink Everything: Catholic chaplain Sixtus O’Connor challenges Gerecke to get tough with the prisoners if he’s ever going to get through to them. And Jewish psychologist Gustave Gilbert helps the chaplain marshal hard evidence that will force the Nazis to admit their guilt. However, everyone underestimates the Lutheran chaplain’s grit, wisdom and determination.

New Plan: The showing in court of the Nazi concentration camp film has a major impact on some of the prisoners who finally question what they have done. Gerecke marshals evidence to confront the Nazis and tear down their barriers of denial. As judgment day nears, Gustave Gilbert splits Goering off from the other defendants to break his grip on them. And some of the leading Nazis finally start to denounce Hitler in court and to a watching world.

Turning Point: Huge Failure

Although Gerecke is getting through to some of them, the chaplain’s hard truths have backfired with Goering. The former Reichsmarshall now pins his hopes on a prison breakout by the shadowy Werwolves, the Nazi resistance. Henry hopes to reach him through his little daughter and arranges a prison visit. That fails and the chaplain tries a go-for-broke confrontation. It goes badly wrong when he loses his temper. The Werwolves never show, and Goering commits suicide in his cell. Gerecke’s mission is a double failure.

Act Four

Climax / Ultimate Expression of the Conflict

With the hour of execution approaching, many of the Nazis respond to the gritty compassion shown by the chaplains. Gerecke’s resolve to treat even the world’s worst mass murderers as human beings rather than monsters has paid off. His true impact on some of the leading Nazis becomes clear as they face the gallows.

Resolution: 1961. Gerecke’s sidekick, Sam Fuller is concluding his story to the parole board at Menard, where he’s been banged up for shooting a sergeant back in Nuremberg. He explains how the chaplain he once hated for standing in his way had become a father figure to him. Gerecke took Fuller back as his assistant at Menard after resuming his prison ministry in the US. Mercifully, his marriage and his sons survived the war. Fifteen years later, Gerecke has now passed away and Fuller is seeking parole so he can attend his friend’s memorial in St Louis. His request is granted, and he is invited to play the organ as ever – hot and fast.

Thanks folks!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Andrew Boyd.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Folks!

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be such a compelling screenplay that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to make their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

I love subtext! What goes on beneath the surface, under the mask, is the real story, anything else is just noise.

My concept (updated):

Drama/True story. Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a handful of US Army officers behind the scenes win their battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

My Subtext Plots:

Scheme and investigation: The surviving top Nazis at the world’s greatest trial are scheming to save their skins and keep the Nazi legend alive. Three US Army officers behind the scenes must win their battle of wills to persuade Hitler’s henchmen to denounce the Führer.

Competitive agendas: The leading Nazis at Nuremberg are at each other’s throats; Hermann Goering wants to whip them into line so the Nazi legend can live on. Meanwhile, tensions are tearing apart the US Army team in their battle of wills to get these top Nazis to denounce Hitler. Some want justice – while others demand vengeance.

[Andrew Boyd]

Assignment 19.8.22 Transformational Journey

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be so compelling that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to make their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

Keep it simple. Get the beginning and the end and then fill in the blanks. New ideas come when you start to do this.

Arc Beginning: Well-meaning nice guy who pulls his punches, a peacekeeper rather than a peacemaker.

Arc Ending: Determined father-figure adept at tough love, because sometimes you have to win the war to win the man.

Internal Journey: From a man hobbled by personal humiliation to a leader who learns when not to pull his punches.

External Journey: From kindly US Army chaplain to the man who brought Hitler’s henchmen to their knees.

Old Ways:

Soft hearted

Unwilling to confront

Afraid of his own anger

Pulling his punches

Unable to understand evil in men

New Ways:

Tough-minded while still tender-hearted

Willing to confront to win the person, not just the argument

Turning negative anger into positive compassion

Hitting hard to score a knockout

Coming to understand – and overcome – evil in men

[Andrew Boyd]

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be so compelling that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to make their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

The idea of the Triangle character and the value of stating that simply in a single line.

Protagonist: US Army Captain Henry Gerecke who is torn between his duty as a chaplain and his assignment to break the wills of the men in his care.

Antagonist: Deputy Fuhrer and arch-manipulator Hermann Goering, on trial for his life and hell-bent on keeping the Nazi legend alive.

Triangle Character: Jewish psychologist and US intelligence officer Gustave Gilbert who wants to see these Nazis hang and get the chaplain to act as a spy.

What makes these characters unique is that this is a remarkable true story and these were all real and extraordinary people.

[Andrew Boyd]

Module 2 Lesson 1

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be so compelling that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to make their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

That outlining can keep you on track and save you time. And that the industry will want to see an outline before they see the screenplay.

Title:

Hitler’s Choirboys

Concept:

Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial; hell-bent on making the war rage on forever – can a US Army chaplain win his battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

Character Structure:

Protagonist versus Antagonist.

[Andrew Boyd]

Thanks Mary and Lisa! Every success!

[Andrew Boyd]

My Vision:

For Hitler’s Choirboys to be so compelling that Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg will battle it out to make their best WW2 blockbuster since Hacksaw Ridge or Schindler’s List.

What I learned from this assignment is:

The idea of the Triangle character and the value of stating that simply in a single line.

Protagonist: US Army Captain Henry Gerecke who is torn between his duty as a chaplain and his assignment to break the wills of the men in his care.

Antagonist: Deputy Fuhrer and arch-manipulator Hermann Goering, on trial for his life and hell-bent on keeping the Nazi legend alive.

Triangle Character: Jewish psychologist and US intelligence officer Gustave Gilbert who wants to see these Nazis hang and get Henry to act as a spy.

What makes these characters unique is that this is a remarkable true story and these were all real people.

Please note: I’m not sure whether I posted my earlier assignments successfully to the Forum. If not, my apologies. Just in case, here is the concept and title for this:

Concept:

Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial; hell-bent on keeping the war raging on forever – can a US Army chaplain win his battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

Title: Hitler’s Choirboys

Many thanks,

Andrew

[Andrew Boyd]

Thank you for this first class. I really appreciated the emphasis on not aiming for perfection from the start, but encouraging creativity to flow without judgment. <div>

Getting out assignments as quickly as possible is a new idea to me – even as a former university lecturer.

<div>
</div><div>I love the focus on turning negatives to positive. I believe in falling forward – learning one new thing we can do, to do things better the next time.</div><div>
</div><div>And I value the emphasis on offering positive feedback that values and cares for the living, breathing human being we are talking to. </div>

Looking forward to getting to know my colleagues.

Thanks again, Andrew Boyd

</div>

[Andrew Boyd]

My name is Andrew Boyd. I agree to the terms of the confidentiality and release form:

GROUP 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.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Everyone,

I’m Andrew. I’m from England, about 50 miles from London close to the sea. It’s good to be able to join you.

I’ve written a script for a 7-hour mini-series, am working on a novelization of that story, and want to boil it down into a script for a two-hour feature.

I’ve taken lots of ScreenwritingU free classes and have benefited from Hal’s wisdom.

What I intend to do is learn everything from this course so I can develop and complete a truly excellent movie script.

I’m an author and journalist, and have written a number of non-fiction books, including a primer for broadcasters, called Broadcast Journalism.

Favourite movies? Casablanca and The Third Man, but it depends on my mood.

I’ll be joining you from a different time zone, usually one day behind, but I’m looking forward to meeting you.

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi again, Lynn,

I’m running behind but catching up! I realise you posted a while ago, but would you like to exchange pitches?

All the best,

Andrew Boyd

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Lynn,

I’ve just completed the 2nd draft of Hitler’s Choirboys and am ready to exchange. I’d love to see where you’re up to with your screenplay. (Not likely to get to it before Christmas, though…) Have an excellent break!

andrewboydconsultant@btinternet.com

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

That sounds exciting, Lynn! Really amped up the pressure on Ellie in that scene!

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi again, Lynn.

That doesn’t sound like a cliche to me, any more than romance itself and all the fear and hope that go hand in hand with that game are cliched. Sounds more like a context and a useful plot device. And obstacles and complications are all grist to the Act 2 mill.

All the best, Andrew

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Lynn, You’re a marvel. Thanks for that, that’s encouraging. It’s 130ish right now. Hack, hack, hack… Every success to you!

[Andrew Boyd]

Glad it’s going well, Lynn!

[Andrew Boyd]

Keep going Lynn! Great to hear you’re making such good progress! Andrew

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi David,

I’d love to read your outline. Mine is a drama / true story.

Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives; if they go down as heroes, a new generation of Nazis could rise – only three men stand in their way, a couple of US chaplains and a Jewish psychologist. Can they face them up to their crimes?

Would you be interested in an exchange?

Andrew Boyd

My email is andrewboydconsultant@btinternet.com

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by  Andrew Boyd.

[Andrew Boyd]

Love to Lynn, thank you!

andrewboydconsultant@btinternet.com

Look forward to it!

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Rob,

I’d be happy to exchange with you?

Mine is:

Hitler’s Choirboys, a drama based on a true story set during the Nuremberg Trail of the leading Nazis in 1945. Here’s the concept:

Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives; hell-bent on keeping the war raging forever – can a couple of chaplains and a Jewish psychologist win their battle of wills and break the Nazi legend?

What do you think?

Andrew

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Mary,

I can’t paste from Word either. But my workaround (on a Mac) is to paste into TextEdit and from there into the Forum.

My understanding of where to post our assignments is that, for example, Day 6 corresponds to Lesson 6. It could be clearer.

Hope that helps.

Every success,

Andrew Boyd

[Andrew Boyd]

Interesting dystopian idea, Dave. Are you a fellow Brit?

[Andrew Boyd]

I like the sound of this, Chris. It made me smile. There’s lots of potential for comedy in this.