[Beverley]

Beverley Wood Delivers Irony

What I learned doing this assignment is that there are many ways to deliver irony.

Five Ways to deliver irony:

When Matt finds out Lauren’s dead and he’s shattered, an envelope comes through the letter slot, informing him that this is his lucky day! (ala publisher’s clearing house sweepstakes)

All he wants is to have her back, but when she appears, he won’t believe she’s there and he wastes a great deal of time he could be spending with her.

He tries to show her how they can have a normal life going out in public – but it backfires on him and shows the opposite.

He wants to go with her because he wants to keep her close and she can’t live with that guilt, so she goes inside her urn and ghosts him again.

When he finally lets her go (spills her ashes), it both breaks his heart and mends it.

[Beverley]

Day 12 Assignment 2

Beverley Wood’s delivers insight through conflict

What I learned from doing this assignment is that it’s impactful to deliver insight through conflict and many things can create conflict, loved that list. I am also starting to think differently about the purpose of conflict and action – this is very good thank you.

My five for I Know You’re Out There Somewhere

Matt refuses to believe she is real and turns on his heels and leaves when they argue about it and she tries to present evidence (3X) and she realizes this is going to be harder than she ever thought.

She gets him to close his eyes in one argument and remember the special times, his insight is that it’s not the big things, it’s the small things.

Lauren and Matt argue again about the necessity of her leaving and when he deflects the conversation to his butterflies, which will emerge from their cocoons on the full moon (which is when she has to leave), she realizes its soon, very soon…

He tells her during another scene that if she can’t stay, he will go with her. She realizes what he means (will take his own life) and cannot live with that so goes back to her urn, forever

He argues with kim when he tells her that he wants to go with Lauren but she walks him through Lauren’s journey and he knows he is trapped and has no choice.

He drinks mushroom tea (set up earlier) sees god, and understands why she has to leave.

[Beverley]

Day 12 Assignment 2

Beverley Wood’s turns insight into action

What I learned from doing this assignment is that it’s impactful to deliver insight through action

My five for I Know You’re Out There Somewhere

Kim takes him to see a “Drying of the Tears” Lakota ceremony and he gets it.

Matt takes Lauren’s ashes/ghost to the café and lake and realizes this isn’t sustainable and they can’t be doing this.

Whenever Kim stops to smell the roses, Matt waches (3X) progressively more intently.

Matt reads books on dealing with grief and death and starts to understand.

He drinks mushroom tea and sees god and understands why she must go.

He sets her free, spills her ashes, only to understand that he can keep her forever now.

When Johnny (Kim’s brother) visits in the last scene, he has the largest insight of all – and realizes Kim was a spirit guide there to escort Lauren.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s Seabiscuit analysis

What I learned doing this assignment is that you can build tension by holding onto moments (longer than I generally do!) and that sweet moments can be held longer too and profound moments aren’t always in dialogue sometimes they are in action (or inaction).

Profound moments in the movie and what they meant to me:

“We never know how high we are until we are called to rise” quoted by Red early in the movie was the theme of the movie being stated in the first five pages and it made me understand greatness would follow.

The moment, after the son of Howard dies, and they close the doors to the stable which now holds the cars and it goes dark, just like Howard’s world has.

Two fathers paralleled, one on the train, one in a rich house, both lost their sons : doesn’t matter how much money you have.

When Red still read the classics, even when being beaten half to death in the ring – showed his spirit

Trainer first: “You don’t throw a whole life away just because it’s banged up a little”… people and animals deserve a second chance.

The trainer sees how the horse fights, then how Red fights and the penny drops for him.

“He just needs to learn to be a horse again” which is what they all needed…to learn to be who they are again.

“I’d rather have you strong than thin” someone cares again.

Then those stable doors open again and let in the light, the cars are out, horse is in.

When he almost throws the books away, but doesn’t. He’s still hurting…

Every time he calls the horse “Pops”, he’s speaking to his absent father (I’m kinda surprised he didn’t come back…)

The Depression itself was a living metaphor

When the crowds come out for the race and they are lined up cheering and Red speaks to the horse, Holy Cow, look at that, this is for you… he sees himself in the kids lined up at the rail.

“Sometimes all somebody needs is a second chance” – stating the movie’s theme again

“It’s not in his feet George, it’s right here (heart)” Most profound like of the whole movie for me. Nothing counts but what is in your heart.

“That’s okay Pops, I’ll come to you” after they were both injured… this is perhaps where he realized that his father was also injured… and forgives him?

Then, oh yeah, maybe THIS is the most profound, when Howard says it back to the trainer: “You don’t throw a whole life away because it’s banged up a bit”.

“I think it’s better to break a man’s leg than his heart”. There’s that heart again, the most important piece of anyone.

When the wife is playing the sons game and Howard is watching and she says, “I can’t get the ball to stay in the hole no matter what I do”… nothing is going to bring back their son.

Brilliant movie, thanks for the assignment.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s Living Metaphors

What I learned from doing this assignment is that I don’t think I have enough challenges that don’t work and maybe I have to understand this part better.

Old Ways and 5 challenges that should have worked, but didn’t:

Old Way – he refuses to believe in spirits

Challenges that don’t work:

Lauren physically appears in front of him.

Lauren recalls things about their old life.

Kim relates how her grandfather’s spirit came back.

When Lauren finally convinces him that she has to go, he decides he’ll go with her.

Old Ways and Challenges – 5 living metaphors

He won’t live in the now – Kim is always stopping to smell the flowers.

He refuses to let Lauren go – Kim takes him to a sacred native ceremony for letting the spirit go.

He doesn’t believe in an afterlife – but when he drinks mushroom tea, he sees God.

He won’t believe in life after death – in his greenhouse, he has caterpillar cocoons and then chrysalis and then fully formed butterflies – illustrating their metamorphosis.

The moon cycle moves with the butterfly metamorphosis and Lauren’s departure.

After he spills her ashes and the butterflies all hatch, a single butterfly lands on his hand, and he knows now it is Lauren.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s Counter Examples

I learned from this lesson that Questioning and relaying Counter Examples are tools to effectively introduce gradients of change from the old to the new ways.

Five Examples of Using Questioning to Challenge the Old Ways:

1. The supermarket checkout girl questions Matt’s old ways of eating nothing but cheese and bread (he is too consumed by his search for Lauren to care what he eats).

2. Lauren constantly questions why he doesn’t believe in her during the first act. “You can see me and touch me, why can’t you believe in me?”

3. Lauren questions his old ways of viewing death as “nothing” by asking if he ever did LSD back in the day.

4. Kim constantly questions his beliefs about death.

5. James (the shrink) questions his withdrawal and hermit behaviour from a psychological point of view.

Five Counter Examples of Relating Personal Experience to Challenge the Old Ways

1. Kim explains to Matt how she created a sacred corner for her grandfather when he died, which helped her feel close to him.

2. Kim takes him to a sacred ‘releasing of the spirit’ ceremony to challenge his old way of thinking you die, and then nothing happens.

3. Kim gives him very graphic examples of what will happen to Lauren if he doesn’t let her go.

4. James explains how Complicated Grief Syndrome can cause people to go to great lengths to deny death.

5. Lauren tells him how she thought about him when she was trapped in the urn when he was looking for her, and that she wanted him to succeed in finding her.

[Beverley]

Assignment 2 – Beverley Wood’s Old Ways Challenge Chart

What I learned doing this assignment is I need to work on my challenges.

Old Ways, Matt.

As a scientist believes nothing until proven 100%. Empirical evidence only.

When his long-lost love appears to him as a ghost. He won’t believe she is real; he thinks she is in his head (Complicated Grief Disorder) and he wants her to be back so badly, he’s imagining her.

Challenge: Lauren constantly questions how he cannot believe she’s real, she’s there, she speaks, he can touch her… it’s not until she provides absolute empirical evidence in the form of his flowers all being tended and properly deadheaded by someone (her).

Kim constantly questions him about why he thinks the way he does, and she sets the example through the entire film of someone who firmly believes in, and has intimate knowledge of, the spirit world.

Old Ways, Matt.

He’s selfish and now that she’s back, he’s not going to let her go.

Challenge: Kim questions him extensively; takes him to a sacred releasing the spirit ceremony; Lauren crawls inside her urn and won’t come out, he experiences her loss once again; he finally sees god (so to speak) of his own volition (drinks mushroom tea experience) and understands.

By the end of the movie, he believes not only in ghosts but in people coming back to say hi as a butterfly.

And by the end of the movie, he wants her to go, having experienced the beauty himself.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s 12 Angry Men Analysis

What I learned doing this assignment is that they really knew how to write movies back then (well, I guess I was reminded), and this is a most brilliant movie that I had no idea about – it’s perfect to illustrate old ways, new ways, to illustrate how you can have the whole movie in one room, talking heads, yet be as riveting (more) than an action movie. Brilliant movie, I appreciate the introduction, and I learned so many things from it I couldn’t begin to list them all.

Old ways and challenges

They may not be in order, apologies – I filled front AND back of the sheet in small handwriting and didn’t have enough room!

Even the opening, the judge was super bored with the process and not engaged, setting us up for the jury.

When one juror, who is class prejudiced and thinks only criminals come from slums and they all lie, says he believes the woman witness, Henry Ford challenges that by throwing his own beliefs back at him, “She’s one of them too, so how can you believe her?”

They are more interested in telling their own stories and getting to the ballgame, have no desire to see “justice” done, just want out of there quickly and are victims of groupthink. With the old man talking about how the old man witness may have just wanted attention and someone to listen to him, he’s clearly reflecting his own emotions and experiences. He IS that old man, so he gets it now.

They are presumptuous about predetermined outcomes, and they don’t think about the evidence. They are not open to new evidence or perspectives. But each of them has their own prejudices because of something inside them… one juror actually says, “He’s a common ignorant slob; he don’t even speak good English”

Their prejudice isn’t always shown in negative comments, at one point the most prejudiced of the jurors says “all the fine watchmakers come from Europe” but later berates him as an immigrant.

Henry Ford is basically a defence attorney making his case to the jury but in the jury room. And while it’s all dialogue (mostly), he is SHOWING the other jurors how, in his perspective, the boy could be innocent by showing them their OWN flaws. At one point later in the movie, he quotes Jack Warden back to himself to dispute something that Jack Warden had just stated unequivocally.

Such an incredible movie. I have notes all over the place. Thank you again.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s Profound Ending

What I learned doing this assignment is that my image system is strong and can be part of a profound ending.

1. What is your Profound Truth, and how will it be delivered powerfully in your ending?

That love doesn’t die with death, and death is a new beginning – he sets her spirit free in the greenhouse, and the butterflies all hatch. Then, two of them appear, and he knows it is his two dead friends.

2. How do your lead characters (Change Agent and Transformable Characters) come to an end in a way that represents the completed change?

When he started, he thought her ghost was a figment of his imagination and grief – by the end, he knows she is the butterfly who follows him.

3. What are the setup/payoffs that complete in the end of this movie, giving it deep meaning?

We watch the butterflies from the cocoon stage and when they go through their metamorphosis from caterpillar to monarch, he goes through his metamorphosis from nonbeliever to believer and Lauren transforms from a “trapped in an urn ghost” to a butterfly spirit.

4. How are you designing it to have us see an inevitable ending and then making it surprising when it happens?

The surprise is in the last scene, when he figures out that his mail lady, Kim, who was his helper and led him to this moment, was, in fact, a spirit guide, come to fetch Lauren and help her transition to her new life.

5. What is the Parting Image/Line that leaves us with the Profound Truth in our minds?

Matt and his old BFF (Kim’s brother) are walking to the pub with two butterflies trailing them.

[Beverley]

😀Beverley Wood’s connection with the Audience

What I learned doing this assignment is that my Obi-Wan character (helper), Kim, doesn’t have enough depth in these four things, and she needs them.

Tell us which characters you are going to INTENTIONALLY create a connection with the audience.

All three, hopefully, Matt, Lauren and Kim

1. With each character, tell us how you’ll use each of the four ways of connecting with the audience in the first 30 minutes of the movie. A. Relatability B. Intrigue C. Empathy D. Likability

Matt:

A: he is searching for his lost love, and when he finds her, he finds out that she is dead, and he is grief-stricken. Many of us have suffered the death of someone close, be it a parent, sibling, significant other, grandparent, or friend.

B: Will he finally believe she is real? We find out at the Act 1 turning point

C: He struggles to understand how she can be there when she’s dead; he searches out a shrink for advice. Many of us have been to a therapist, and many more of us have things we just don’t believe in.

D: He loves Lauren very much and has searched for her for a long time, he’s obviously devoted to her and would do anything for her… he’s curious about her, we can sense he wants to believe but is having a hard time taming his empirical mind.

Lauren:

A: For the first 30 minutes, she’s exasperated that things are out of her control and Matt won’t believe her. We’ve all been there.

B: Can she make Matt believe her? What will she do if he doesn’t?

C: We have all struggled to get someone to believe in us or believe our assertions. And she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place; we’ve all been there.

D: She’s funny, she’s flip, she doesn’t sit around whining, she takes action, but she’s also kind. I think she’s very likable.

I need to go back and establish all of this for the Kim (helper/Obi-Wan character)

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s Transformational Structure

What I learned doing this assignment is that I’m not sure I quite get the Gradients yet and should maybe take that lesson again.

Title: I Know You’re Out There Somewhere

Tell us your Transformational Logline.

An obsessive scientist learns to fully believe in and embrace something he cannot prove, opening his mind to a new way of thinking.

Change Agent: Kim and Lauren

Transformational Character(s): Matt

List your Mini-Movie structure (or whatever structure you’ve chosen) for your story.

Act 1 (MMM 1 & 2): After five years in Africa, Matt returns home to obsessively search for Lauren, his long-lost love. They promised they would get married when they were done chasing their dreams, her at art school in Paris, and he did research in the jungle. But she’s disappeared from the face of the earth.

He wakes up every morning and plays their song, and spends his day trying to find her. His new mail lady, Kim, keeps bringing him back the letters he sends, now marked: “not at this address.” She is sympathetic and is one of his change agents.

He finds Lauren’s sister with Kim’s help and she tells him that Lauren is already dead, she died in a car accident four years ago. The urn is in her sister’s closet. When the sister decides to surprise Matt with Lauren’s ashes, Lauren is delighted. She’s been trapped in this urn for four years, waiting to say goodbye to Matt. Her sister (surprise!) sends him the ashes and he has no idea what to do with them. Kim suggests he make a sacred corner for them in the greenhouse.

Lauren’s ghost appears to him in his greenhouse when he sets up the urn with his in-process monarch butterfly sanctuary (hatching ground). He doesn’t believe in ghosts and thinks she’s all in his mind. He talks to her on the advice of his shrink, believing he is speaking to his own subconscious mind. But when he speaks to Kim, she believes in ghosts and tells Lakota stories of the circle of life and spirit guides.

When Lauren uses empirical evidence to prove she’s real, he believes her. He’s delighted to have her back.

Act 2a (MMM 3&4): Lots of fun and games, including visits with the shrink, but now Matt’s reserved with him and listening more to Kim, who is advising him on ghosts and all things spiritual (and Native).

Lauren reveals that she must leave at the next new moon, but he ignores her. He speaks with Kim about the problem, and she takes him to observe a Lakota “Drying of the Tears” ceremony, where the spirit is set free. It starts to resonate with him. I clearly need more in here, which would correspond to segment 4.

At the midpoint, Matt and Lauren make love in the greenhouse.

Act 2b (MMM 5&^): Matt immediately wants things to be planned out and permanent – where do we go from here? She reminds him that she has to leave by the next full moon, and he doesn’t like that. He refuses to help her, then tries to convince her to stay by bringing her art supplies so she can paint again, cooking her gourmet meals, takes her to restaurants and the park. She still insists she must go.

Then, he says he’ll go with her, deciding to end his life if she can’t stay with him. She loses it, goes back into her urn and won’t come out. Matt has his dark night of the soul and sees God (the universe) through the magic of mushrooms (set up in act i). He comes around and understands why he must assist her transition.

Act 3 (MMM 7 & 8):

He convinces her to come out of the urn because he gets it now and they still have time, he doesn’t want to waste it. She does, and he makes a nice dinner in the greenhouse, and he is willing to let her go – and when she knows he truly gets it, she proposes to him.

He gets rings and groceries, and they each write their own vows. His shrink drops by unexpectedly before dinner, after Matt told him in Act II that he considering “assisted death”, but Matt convinces him that everything is fine. The very last thing Matt wants right now is for the shrink to see that Lauren is actually real. That would be another can of worms.

They get married among the bright flowers and chrysalis-stage monarchs (hundreds of them, whose metamorphosis we have followed throughout the story) and share a romantic dinner and night under the stars.

In the morning, fearing he won’t have the courage to say goodbye if he waits any longer, Matt goes to get the urn for Lauren, but when he turns around, she’s already gone, but it’s okay, because he will now be able to keep her alive in his heart forever He hesitates before moving to a colourful bed of flowers and almost-monarchs and spills her ashes. They sparkle in the sunlight. And as he does, hundreds of butterflies break out of their transparent cocoons, and fly out the door, with one remaining on his hand but eventually leaving.

Kim left his mail in the box for the first time she’d been his mail person. When he is reunited with Kim’s brother, his old best friend, the brother reveals that Kim died in the same car accident with Lauren. He realizes Kim was here to guide Lauren. And Matt. Two butterflies follow Matt and his friend to the pub.

[Beverley]

Beverley (with an E) Wood’s Three Gradient

What I learned from doing this assignment is the change needs to be based on a gradual structure. And this adds another layer.

I Know You’re Out There Somewhere (Matt – forced change)

Emotion = Denial

Action: He is a scientist, and he doesn’t believe in ghosts. He ignores her and tells himself she is in his head and he needs a good shrink. So, he calls his buddy.

Challenge/Weakness: His long-lost love is back, but she is only in his head. His weakness is his empirical thinking.

E= Anger

A: Once he believes in her, he becomes angry when she reveals that he needs his help to leave again and storms out. He is angry at himself for wasting years running away from the problem. He’s angry at the world.

C/W: He needs to make her stay, she can’t leave. W – he is only thinking of himself. It’s all about him.

E = Bargaining

A: He keeps asking Kim (his Obi-Wan) why his lover can’t stay; he hides his new belief from the shrink, and he takes her out of places and hopes to tempt her to stay.

C/W: He thinks he just needs to make her want to stay, and it’s not an issue with the universe. W – as usual, he thinks he knows everything.

E=Depression

A: He reads books about death; He takes out a bag of memorabilia from when they were together and goes through it.

C/W: Rock and a hard place – if he doesn’t let her go, she’ll go back in the urn forever, if he lets her go, he’ll never see her again. It’s still all about him.

E=Acceptance

A: He drinks mushroom tea (this isn’t explicit, but I think it has to be?) and sees God (the universe) for himself. And he understands. He explains it to her, he cooks her favourite dinner, and they get married in the greenhouse with all the chrysalis monarch butterflies. The next morning, he spreads her ashes, and her soul leaves. The butterflies all hatch. Later, she comes back to him as a butterfly (along with a very cool twist).

C/W: I maybe got this part wrong, but the challenge for him overall is to be able to let her go and keep her, and he does that.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by  Beverley.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood lesson 4B

Sorry my name keeps coming up as Jana, it was an error, my name is Beverley with an E (to distinguish from Beverley A.

What I learned from watching this movie:

The gradient in this movie is perfectly paced and really helped – I need to focus on slower changes spread throughout my script.

1. What is the change this movie is about? What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?

The change is going from followers to leaders. From obeying the rules that don’t make sense, to trying to change them. And the change is from being conditioned to fall in line, to thinking for yourself. Which IS, after all, what university is supposed to be about.

Lead characters:

2. Who is the Change Agent (the one causing the change) and what makes this the right character to cause the change?

Mr. Keating is the agent of change and he is the right one because he has been through this transformational journey himself and his truth and calling is to teach it to others.

3. Who is the Transformable Character (the one who makes the change) and what makes them the right character to deliver this profound journey?

All the boys change but I think Todd probably represents the transformation as the outsider who gets inducted into their little group after some cajoling by Neil. I am not sure why he is the right character to deliver this journey? Possibly because he is the most likely to be like most of us, the audience. Not a trust fund baby with swagger and confidence, which the rest of them seem to be and seem to have, so he starts knowing none of them – which helps us get to know them as he does and follows along? Maybe?

4. What is the Oppression?

Conformity, in the form of the school and its rules. And the point at which Neil kills himself, interestingly, is when his father threatens the ultimate oppression: military school.

5. How are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with this story?

Hmmm…further on Todd as the transformable one, the fact that he isn’t from an uber wealthy family and has to try to fit in while still keeping his eye on the ball (he’s at an important school, with a goal to succeed)… we can identify most easily with him, I think and we see the journey as WE would (through his eyes) if we were in this situation. Also, he’s not weak like Meeks and Cameron, but he’s not daring like Charlie or Neil… he’s average and easy to identify with.

6. Looking at the character(s) who are changed the most, what is the profound journey? From “old ways” to “new way of being.” Identify their old way: Identify their new way at the conclusion:

Todd came in kind of shy, and happy to conform, seemed grateful to be there. In the end, he leads the charge (Captain, my Captain). He goes from basically someone who blends in, doesn’t make waves, to someone who stand up for what he believes in.

Knox came in thinking he wasn’t capable (of attracting the cool cheerleader) and in the end, was confident and daring and thought on his feet with her, he really thinks for himself… pushes himself. But all I could think was “Will Gardener”. LOL.

Neil cow-towed to his father 100% (although false to what he believed – he felt the “act” he put on for his father was fine as it allowed him to get most of what he wanted). When push came to shove, he broke out of his mold, and fought for what he believed in. But he couldn’t quite get over the mountain. But it would be a story about Dead Poets without a tragedy. But I did not see this coming. Really brilliant.

7. What is the gradient the change? What steps did the Transformational Character go through as they were changing?

With every lesson the boys have more fun and even resurrect the DPS. Todd writes Seize the Day and adopts that phrase. The boys marching, first in unison, then at Mr. Keating’s direction, to their own beat. They find the book, start the club, have fun with poetry. Knox makes up a poem and reads it to Chris in a display of bravery. She rebuffs him but he’s happy because “I did it” (seized the day). Todd and Neil bond over a desk set.

8. How is the “old way” challenged? What beliefs are challenged that cause a main character to shift their perspective…and make the change?

The old ways are challenged as the boys learn how to think instead of what to think – Mr. Keating leads them by showing them, not telling them. He uses sports and team building, challenges their conformity marching, showing them the new way.

9. What are the most profound moments of the movie?

The dead poets book appears, seemingly out of nowhere. The images of them walking to the cave with their hoods up, repeated in the winter later, when the mood has gone colder after Neil dies. When they put Mr. Keating on their shoulders and carry him in victory. When one of them plays the saxophone in the cave. When Knox phones Chris. When Knox says Carpe, or Carpe Diem (several times, probably 30. When Todd jumps on the desk at the end, and they all get up. Even the losers/traitors. When Neil puts his crown of thorns in the window…we know he is channelling the dead poets. And the end, when Mr. Keating looks at them just before leaving…we KNOW he has taught them something they will never forget (Seize the Day) – and his want was satisfied.

10. What are the most profound lines of the movie?

So many! Oh Captain, my Captain. Carpe Diem. If you listen real close, you can hear them whispering their legacy to you. Words and ideas can change the world. First time in my whole life, I’m gonna do it. Dead Poet’s Honour…what’s that?… My word.

11. How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?

Mr. Keating gets what he wanted. The boys are thinking for themselves. The Oh Captain, my Captain, the Seize the Day, the brilliant lines that run through this movie.
12. What is the Profound Truth of this movie?

You must stand up for what you believe in, no matter what it costs you.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s Main Characters: Matt (scientist), Kim (mail lady), Lauren (long-lost love)

(I Know You’re Out There Somewhere)

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

What I learned doing this assignment is that I have to bump up my betraying character.

Tell us your transformational journey logline.

An obsessive scientist learns to fully believe in, and embrace, something he cannot prove, opening his mind to a new way of thinking.

Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role. Also, include: – Their vision: – Their past experience that fits that vision:

The primary change agent is Matt’s mail lady – he doesn’t believe there is anything after death, and she shares Native American wisdom about death being part of a circle to enlighten him. She’s right for the part because she’s not only native, but she’s a guide (ala Clarence) who has arrived as an escort for his long-lost love to finally cross over.
But his long-lost love also influences his change, in a lesser way. (She describes her experiences to him, but he is able to listen because o the mail lady.) For the most part, his long lost love is his opponent, because her ‘want’ is directly opposite of his.

Tell us who you think might be your Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that character or characters fit the role.

Matt’s an OCD butterfly scientist who needs hard evidence to believe anything. I think a lot of us at least wonder what happens after death, and few of us believe anything firm and set – allowing us to learn along with Matt. And many of us (at least of a certain age) have experienced the death of a loved one – a soulmate, a mother, father, sibling, best friend. So we know the pain he feels.

Tell us who or what you think might be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression works in your story.

The oppression is death. And, to an extent, Matt’s own belief that when you die, you are worm food. Because that’s all that’s been proven. So, death, and his flaw, which is a rigid mind. Death is always there, looking over their shoulders, the clock ticking to when she must go. In the first act, though, it’s more his own refusal to believe in ghosts, even though he sees her.

Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.

I guess my betraying character is James, the shrink friend, who also does not believe in ghosts. But clearly, after watching DPS, I need to ramp him up somewhat.

[Beverley]

Beverley Wood’s transformational journey

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

What I learned is that I need to give Matt my lead character more physical representations of his character, show more OCD behaviour (things must be exact in their placement, etc) so at the end, I can show more loosening of those ways. Also, my logline really doesn’t talk about his transformation. Does it have to? I think I suck big time at loglines. Maybe I need that class LOL.

Tell us your logline for the transformational journey.

When his long-lost love returns to a lonely butterfly scientist to ask for his help, he thinks his prayers are answered. There’s only one problem – she’s a ghost, and the help she needs is to say goodbye forever.

Tell us what you see as the Old Ways.

He’s a scientist, and he is very empirical in his thinking. X – Y = Z. No question. Everything is science-based and well-calculated and explained. He is almost obsessive in his tidiness. He lives in an insular world, surrounded by his flowers and caterpillars in the greenhouse while he searches for his long-lost love, whom he lost track of when he took a research assignment in the jungle five years ago (when they broke up). He can’t let go of the past. He eats take-out food and never cooks. He doesn’t, for a second, believe in ghosts or any afterworld. Dead is dead. Worms and you are gone.

Tell us what you see as the New Ways.

He cooks. His fridge is full. I need to show him being no longer as OCD. He believes not only in ghosts and the afterlife but believes Lauren (his long-lost love) will now be with him always, even though she has transitioned, with his help. He will never be able to “see” her again but he will “know” that she is there. His mind is open, and he understands that not everything can be seen and proven, nor does it have to be if you can feel it. He steps back out into the real world and starts socializing again with his old friends.

[Beverley]

I think this is the right place. Sorry if I am mistaken!

Beverley Wood’s First Three Decisions:
Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
I’m on my fifth rewrite (although admittedly at least one was more of an ‘edit’) and have discovered that I believe I know the profound truth of my story. I started this course expecting to work on a new story I am doing but my head kept coming back to this one (I Know You’re Out There Somewhere). The audio analysis of The Matrix was awesome and really taught me a lot, I’ve got plans.
What is your profound truth?
Love never dies because death is not the end.
What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
I want people to stop fearing death, for themselves or their loved ones. Even just a little bit. I know it’s a tall order.
What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Metaphor

[Beverley]

Reflections on Groundhog Day
Beverley Wood
1. The change: From a selfish narcissist who is dismissive and disdainful to an authentic, caring human being
2. Change agent: Interesting question, normally it is a person. In this case, I think it’s the universe trying to tell him
something, plus himself. Once attracted to Rita, he realizes that he needs to change.
The oppression: waking up every day and it’s the same day.
3. What causes us to connect? He’s jaded and selfish, but he is funny and a little self-deprecating, which gives him potential, I think.
4. The old way was him, stuck in his life, doing the same thing every day in his job, wishing for more. Afraid of being passed by perhaps. His new way is one of service to others and of allowing himself to love someone other than himself and finding happiness as a result.
5. Gradient – midpoint, she calls him out on his flaw, then he tries to kill himself. And I wrote down (not sure exactly why) that in death, there are no more chances for him to make up for his bad behavior. When he starts to fall in love with Rita, he realizes he was a jerk. He first gives money to the guy on the corner… he leans into poetry, he takes piano lessons trying to make himself better, the more good deeds he does, the better he feels and he starts to realize how his life can be.
6. How are the old ways challenged? The old ways are challenged by him feeling good about the new ways. Also challenged in his face when Rita calls him on the selfish PR that he is.
7. Most profound moments When they wake up together and it’s the next day. And when he gave that homeless person money, his first act of selflessness. The moment he realizes he was a jerk and he loved her
8. Most profound lines – oops I forgot to write these down but will do better next time.
9. How does ending payoff the setups – The choice of “I got you babe” was interesting, because in the end, he’s got her, babe.
10. Profound Truth: No man is an island, you need other people, you need to love and be loved, you can’t do this alone.

[Beverley]

Hello! I'm Beverley and I live on Vancouver Island. I wrote my first script 38 years ago (ack) but have gone in spurts since then. I only have written maybe 6 or 7 scripts and lately have been doing tv show proposals.

I did sell one script (finally) to that Christmas channel, starts production August 6. I hope to understand all my characters on a deeper level after this class. I've got one (I Know You're Out There Somewhere) in rewrite at the moment (i'm on about version 6) and another I've outlined and have just started, working title Pecos Sun… and have three TV pitches out with two different producers. I gave myself 18 months to see if I could do it and all this has happened since then (end of 2024) is the deadline.

There are lots of strange things about me. I'll just give you one… when I was living on a boat in downtown Vancouver and dealing blackjack for a living, I would get off shift at the downtown casino at 4am, walk across the railway tracks down to the docks and cry myself to sleep because I was taking everyone's money.
I'm happy to be here and happy to meet everyone! My notes on Groundhog day may be slow coming, I hadn't seen it in decades so maybe need to watch yet again! LOL.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by  Beverley.
• This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by  Beverley.