[Bevo Beaven]

BEVO’S BUDGET

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s really fun to start thinking like a producer! It’s like a puzzle — If your story is already trimmed down to the bare bones (characters and locations) there’s little in those two areas to cut; but things like explosions and creatures and creature effects can be replaced with sound and shadowy strangeness. Not sure what building a creature head costs, but I ditched the rest of the body; got rid of other special effects around this creature. Trimming length from 90 minutes to 80 is probably possible.

Learned that it’s easy to add costs back in – do a creature costume plus the head– use expensive creature effects from a high-end creature shop, show more close ups of creature eating and scurrying around, up on the trailer (i.e. add expensive visual effects, etc.). Show more closeups during explosions- make the explosions more spectacular; show burning hulks of both trucks afterward. Build a bigger better tank mockup interior for those scenes, hire a well-known expensive lead female actor (the desired effect is: Sigourney Weaver from Alien meets Jody Foster from Silence of the Lambs to form this kickass lead role—Zoe Saldana would be so fun in this).

STORY COMPONENTS

· 5 CHARACTERS: Beth, Marv, Travis, Chris (v.o. on cell phone), Leah

· 5 LOCATIONS: Marv’s truck (int./ext. Driving, Parked) Travis’s truck (int./ext. Driving, Parked), Travis’s Truck on the side of the road deserted Utah 2-lane highway in the desert at night, Tiny truck stop (exterior only); inside the milk tank

· SPECIAL MAKE UP: Beth’s small abdominal wound, Beth’s and Travis’ faces after fights, Travis’s leg is hit by a sledge hammer

· STUNTS AND FIGHTS: Beth’s 2 fights with Travis on the roadside, Travis slaps Beth twice inside the truck, Beth drags Travis, leans him against the tanker-trailer

· SPECIAL EFFECTS: creature eats Leah, creature scurries up onto Travis’s tanker-trailer

· CREATURE EFFECTS: Creature emerges from Leah’s body, eats Leah

· GUNS: Travis keeps a pistol in his belt but never shoots it

· EXPLOSIONS: Marv’s truck-trailer explodes on the two-lane highway after leaving the tiny truck stop, Travis’s truck-trailer explodes while parked on the roadside (seen from a distance)

· PAGECOUNT: target is 90-100

ASSIGNMENT: DECREASE BUDGET BY 25%

MAIN VARIABLES IN THE PLANNED SCRIPT:

Number of Locations – keep the 5
– same setups can be used for both trucks’ exterior coverage shots approaching
and passing camera; two int. setups for extensive scenes of Beth and
either Marv or Travis while trucks are driving – one in Marv’s one in
Travis’s; there are no int. buildings, one ext. building (the small truck
stop); other locations are side of the road with Travis’s truck at night.
The int. milk tanker will have to be a created set somewhere.
Expensive locations – none
Number of characters – keep the
5 (NOTE: Chris is on a cell phone only, most of the movie is either Marv
with Beth in a truck (Act I) , then he is replaced with Travis and Beth
riding together in Travis’s truck or outside the truck on roadside; then
when Leah enters, it’s Leah and Beth in the tank or side of road with
Travis.
Special effects – use sound
effects and shots of slime hitting the ground instead of full-on visuals
for creature’s birth and eating Leah’s body – it’s at night
Number of pages – targeting 90-100,
cut to 80-90
Crowd scenes – none
Stunts, Chase scenes, and Fight
scenes – instead of showing Leah fighting Travis full-on, show him drag
her, she breaks free, grabs sledge hammer and swings it down toward him
but don’t show it hit him – he could scream instead – it’s all at night
Special sets – creature birth
scene – don’t physically show parts of it emerging from Leah – show her
mangled slimy body after the creature emerges (dummy dressed with slime
and guts?), then sound effects as he eats her; INT. MILK TANK SCENES –
this is pretty integral to the plot; would possibly require a special tank
set found or built – very dark interior of a milk tank – could be any tank,
fill it with water for non closeups for Beth and Leah to be in, talking,
sloshing in the dark. Maybe have to find or create a small tank to shoot
closeups where the liquid filling it looks like milk as Travis fills the
tank at the dairy.
CREATURE – can we show just
fast moving blur, shadows? Sound effects? Maybe create only the creature’s
partial head for a shock close-up during the birth, then it goes down on
Leah’s body for its meal?

SECONDARY VARIABLES IN THE PLANNED SCRIPT:

Rights to music, brands, books,
etc. – none
Explosions and Firearm – pistol
can be a dummy, it’s worn in Travis’ belt, but never fired. EXPLOSIONS: – first
explosion of Marv’s truck is pretty close to the truck stop – could be
just a fireball out there on the road somewhere; second explosion of
Travis’s truck could be from a half mile away from Beth’s POV walking away:
show only a large fireball in the distance behind her, with sound effects.
Kids — shorter work days, tutor
on the set – none
Animals – need a wrangler, more
time to shoot, Humane Society – none
Weather — Rain, snow, wind,
tornados. – none, it’s all set in a dark night
Water and underwater scenes –
none
Night scenes – YES; whole movie
is shot at night but very limited locations and people
Helicopters, aircraft, drone
shots – none
Green screen work – none
Extensive Make-up – one small
abdominal wound on Beth, faces after fights
Archival Footage – none
Anything else dangerous that
increases preparation time and/or Insurance. – nothing

QUADRUPLE BUDGET — what you might add if your budget was quadrupled?

MAIN VARIABLES

Number of Locations – no
Expensive locations – no
Number of characters – no
Special effects – yes
Number of pages – go 90-100,
not 80
Crowd scenes – no
Stunts, Chase scenes, and Fight
scenes – show more, make them more elaborate
Special sets – yes for the tank

SECONDARY VARIABLES

Rights to music, brands, books,
etc. – up to producer
Explosions and Firearm – better,
bigger explosions – there are 2 of them
Kids — shorter work days, tutor
on the set – no
Animals – need a wrangler, more
time to shoot, Humane Society – no
Weather — Rain, snow, wind,
tornados. – no
Water and underwater scenes –
no
Night scenes – yes whole movie
is at night
Helicopters, aircraft, drone
shots – maybe drone shots of the explosions if they are big and impressive
– look good in a dark Utah desert from high above
Green screen work – maybe
Extensive Make-up – do more on Beth’s
wounds, Leah’s creature birth
Archival Footage – no
Anything else dangerous that
increases preparation time and/or Insurance.- no

[Bevo Beaven]

<div>Bevo Beaven writes Great Hope/Fear</div>

What I learned from this assignment: having the specific details to identify and place in the story – all the hope/fear moments – this is a truly effective way to enhance a story/script – again, the story kind of further wrote itself in the process of doing this assignment.

TITLE: BULLFROG

HIGH CONCEPT:

CONCEPT: Beth wakes up in an 18-wheeler driving across the Utah desert at night, middle of nowhere, discovers she’s the guest passenger of a trucker named Marv. She has no idea how she got there, why she’s there, or how she’s going to get home.

CONFLICT: frustration begins at “FADE IN” as she asks Marv questions to try to figure out answers to this disturbing riddle, did he save her or kidnap her? As they drive, she begins testing him.

REASON FOR CONTAINMENT: middle of nowhere, 1:00 a.m. in the Utah desert, two lane road – no one is anywhere – she’s stuck in Marv’s truck with him on a deserted road—destination Bullfrog, Utah; she’s all alone but for the truck driver Marv.

CHARACTERS:

· BETH: 35, persuasive, smart and successful tech industry electronic sales engineer, supposed to be in New Hampshire today to meet her new boss: Chris, SVP of Sales for her new job at a new company in Manchester, NH.

· CHRIS: 30, he and Beth only speak on the phone, and only when cell service is present. But Chris is also a go-getter racing to the top. He’s pissed at her that she’s going to be absent her first day.

· MARV: Beth’s iconic trucker/rescuer, 50-55, he’s consumed plenty of diner food for 30 years of trucking, always smiling, just here to help, but won’t give her a straight answer. He tells her what happened, but she is suspect of his story. Marv’s trailer is full of boxed electronics from Beth’s new company.

· TRAVIS: 37, hot-tempered, trim, built and handsome, but a total male chauvinist whose comments and views frequently verge him into the misogynist lane, ironic because all he can think about is having sex with women and Beth is his current target. He is Beth’s replacement truck driver and she’s stuck alone with him after Marv’s truck explodes. Travis is the antagonist. He knows plenty but hides it all from Beth until she outwits him and gets him to spill the truth. His trailer is a milk tanker.

· LEAH: 38, Travis’s wife since high school, she’s captive inside the milk tanker trailer.

THE INFINITE HOPE/FEAR POSSIBILITIES

ACT I

<img width=”275″ height=”790″ src=”file:///C:/Users/Owner/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png” align=”left” hspace=”12″ vspace=”5″ alt=”Text Box: TYPES OF FEAR
ENVIRONMENT
• TRAPPED/PRISONER
• CLAUSTROPHIC
• DANGEROUS
• RESTRICTING
• NOT LIVABLE
• HIDING OUT
INCOMPATABILITY
• FORCED TO DEAL WITH EACH OTHER
• OPPOSING DESIRES/NEEDS
• MIND GAMES
• PHYCH ISSUES
• TRIGGERING EACH OTHER
UNPREDICTABILITY
• NOT SURE WHO/WHAT THE REAL THREAT IS
• PERSON ON THE EDGE
• COULD ATTACK AT ANY MOMENT
• OUT OF CONTROL SITUATION
ISOLATION
• PSYCH ISSUES
• LOSS OF A COMPANION
• LEFT ALONE
• HELPLESS
INCREASING TENSION
• TICKING CLOCK
• IMPENDING DOOM
• WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?
• WHAT IS THIS CHARACTER AFRAID OF?
• HOW MANY THINGS COULD GO WRONG?
DANGER
• THREAT
• ATTACK
• INJURY
• DESTRUCTION
• DEATH

” v:shapes=”Text_x0020_Box_x0020_2″>TRAPPED/PRISONER: BETH wakes up suddenly to find herself riding as a passenger across the Utah desert in an 18-wheeler. She’s not supposed to be here, she should be in New England meeting her new boss and training in New Hampshire. How did she get here, why, how get back home?

UNPREDICTABILITY/NOT SURE WHO/WHAT THE REAL THREAT IS: Beth is all alone with this male stranger. She is wounded (slightly); how serious is it/she believes she should see a hospital. Who is he? What does he want? Where is he taking her? Who caused that wound? Was it this guy driving the truck?

HOPE: When she awakens MARV is trucking along with country music on, smiling, speaking about growing different varieties of strawberries on the CB radio with some other trucker. He appears harmless and friendly and kind. He explains to Beth why she’s there – he picked her up from the roadside on this dark two-lane in Utah with no town for miles, where her car had crashed – says he rescued her from a guy with a knife who cut her abdomen. She sees she is bleeding slightly. Okay this guy is helping me. He is taking her to Bullfrog, the nearest urgent care or hospital to where they are, they will treat her wound, about a two-hour ride in an 18-wheeler.

TRAPPED/ALONE: she asks Marv if she can use his cell phone to call her boss. He says “sure, but there’s no service till we get to the Shiloh Truck Stop in 40 miles” – she’s captive in this guy’s truck for another 40 miles.

HOPE: after Marv talks about his family, she’s feeling better, she spots a professional photo of a handsome young man about 19 on the dashboard. Beth: “is that your son?” Marv: “oh, no, no, no ma’am. That’s our, well. You might call him our leader.”

UNPREDICTABILITY/HOW MANY THINGS COULD GO WRONG/NOT SURE WHAT THE THREAT IS: Beth: what do you mean your leader? Marv gets a call on the CB. “Yep, we’re headed to Shiloh, Romeo, but you mind your manners, I got a real nice lady passenger with me.”

IMPENDING DOOM: Oh f—, who is this guy he’s talking to and what are they setting up, God!

HOPE: Marv stops at a tiny truck stop called “Shiloh” to go to the bathroom.

IMPENDING DOOM: Beth: wait I know that name – Marv: yep, bloodiest 2-day battle in the Civil War – 23,000 dead and wounded. Beth asks what’s in your trailer. Marv: “illegal aliens, what else.” Then laughs. “You know I’m here to help with you, right?” Then he leaves Beth in the cab to make her phone call. She calls CHRIS back in New Hampshire, her boss. He balls her out for skipping her first day on the new job. At the end of their call there’s a silence and Chris says, “You know I’m here to help with you, right?” She finds what looks like a micro-sized push button electronic thing, a transmitter, beside Marv’s seat.

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN: She takes it—she’s now planning to escape. Beth finds a sledge hammer near the hitch and breaks the lock on Marv’s trailer’s back door, throws open the doors – packed full of boxes of electronics with her new company’s logo. Her abdominal wound hurts, pulls her shirt up, it’s oozing, there’s a small wire poking out. She excruciatingly pulls the wire and pulls out a little metal cube, no idea what it is. WTF! Who put that there? She tosses it into the trailer and shuts the doors.

HOW MANY THINGS COULD GO WRONG: Beth figures she’s got to get the hell out of Marv’s truck, out of his captivity, and just then another truck pulls in to the tiny fueling area. It’s hauling a milk tanker. She sees the driver turn on the fuel to pump and walk inside the tiny truck stop. Carrying the sledge hammer with her, Beth quickly runs over to that truck, stuffs the sledge hammer in a spot on the trailer, climbs up into the cab and hides in the sleeper cab area behind the driver seat.

HOPE: this trucker must be less of a threat than Marv.

ISOLATION/TICKING CLOCK: she’s alone hiding, waiting for the driver to return. Time goes by, she uncovers from hiding and starts searching inside the cab. Seems pretty normal, pack of cigarettes, logbook. She finds some Oui Magazine copies and other naked women magazines, a worn copy of The Joy of Sex. Then she hears the diesel pump click off – truck tank is full. Then the driver exits the tiny building with Marv and the both yell “Fuck Off!” to each other.

TRAPPED/PRISONER/IMPENDING DOOM: no time to escape Beth quickly hides back in the bed area.

The driver-Travis- gets in the cab. Starts it and mutters to himself what an asshole Marv is. Travis gets on the CB and calls Marv some more names.

THREAT/UNPREDICTABILITY/COULD ATTACK AT ANY MOMENT/IMPENDING DOOM: Marv says the girl is gone. Travis: “Well there you go you stupid shit, you shoulda kept her with you. You gotta find her. One of us has to bring her to Bullfrog.”

HOPE: Beth is pissed. She decides she’s going to take the bull by the horns. Beth to Travis: “What do you mean ‘one of us has to bring her to Bullfrog’?” Travis is taken aback when she reveals herself. He turns on the Travis charm. He’s at first very charming in a bad boy naughty male way. Marv comes over the CB: “Aren’t you gonna help me look for her?”

NOT SURE WHO/WHAT THE REAL THREAT IS: Travis: “you lost her, you find her.” Tells Beth as he pulls out of the truck stop, “We gotta get you outa here.” Over the CB Marv calls Travis a f—ing homo. Beth shows Travis the button transmitter: I found this thing in his truck, what does it do? Travis says, “Hell, I don’t know. Push it and find out.” She looks at him for a beat then pushes the button.

OUT OF CONTROL SITUATION, HOW MANY THINGS COULD GO WRONG, DESTRUCTION: Marv and his truck are instantly vaporized into burning hulk of molten metal under a mushroom cloud. Beth is horrified. Travis mutters quietly: “problem solved.” Travis says, After what you just did, if the authorities find you, you’ll be locked up the rest of your life. You’d better stick with me.

HOPE: Travis says, “I’ll take care of you the rest of the way to Bullfrog. We need to get you to a hospital so a professional can treat that wound of yours. I’m just here to help with you. Besides, I ain’t bad company.”

FORCED TO DEAL WITH EACH OTHER, THREAT, UNPREDICTABLE: Beth is scared, more confused than ever. As the miles progress Travis moves out of charming into chauvinist and finally blatant sex references. Beth decides she’s got to step it up or who knows what will happen to her.

ACT II

HOPE: New plan – As they drive, negotiating the difficult two-lane, windy climbing turns, inclines, descents, Beth engages with Travis; she’s scheming, trying for information.

COULD ATTACK AT ANY MOMENT: he’s just focused on sex, talking about it, eyeing her, she gets angrier—has to control it—with every stupid male chauvinist comment he makes.

HOPE: but she is determined, keeps digging, she’s trying to find his one really hot button so she can intentionally make him angry so he’ll slip and give her answers. Obviously it’s sex; she decides she’s going to try to lead him on.

HOW MANY THINGS COULD GO WRONG: a man calls on the CB: Hey Hard-On what’s your 20? I can’t get a response from Marv. Travis: his radio’s broke. Chris on the CB: have you seen that bitch anywhere. Travis: you betcha – I got her with me right here. She’s resting in the sleeper. Chris: Listen carefully, Hard-On — sell don’t mess her up. She’s the star of the show, right? Travis: you got it boss.

Midpoint Turning Point – She comes out from the sleeper cab with his copy of The Joy of Sex.

MIND GAMES: Beth says: “I like trying new things, mix it up. Don’t you have anything more exciting than this?” He gets really excited, starts almost drooling. He reaches under the seat and hands her a copy of the Kama Sutra. She starts looking through the pages.

NOT SURE WHO/WHAT THE THREAT IS: There’s a copy of the exact same headshot of the same 19-year-old young man Marv had; it’s placed inside the book pages. Beth – what the hell. Beth decides to push a button of his. BETH: “Who’s this? Is he your lover?”

PERSON ON THE EDGE, COULD ATTACK AT ANY MOMENT/ATTACK: Travis explodes: I ain’t no f—ing queer, you liberal big city piece of shit. etc. He calls her terrible names, he suddenly strikes her in the face; she at first recoils, he enjoyed hitting her, he calls her more names, slaps her again – still angry. Beth slowly and softly takes his hand. Travis what’s really going on here? Why am I in Utah with you? How did you know I have a wound? I never told you that. TRAVIS: “Don’t ever call me a queer again. And don’t you ever, ever, ever blaspheme the Leader… never.”

HOPE: He finally calms down. Stares at her holding his hand.

THREAT, IMPENDING DOOM: He says: Look when we get down this hill, I’m gonna pull the truck over and you and me, we’re gonna have sex together. You pick a position from that book that you like. If you do that, if you have sex with me without a fight… then I’ll tell you what’s going on. Beth: “you have to tell me something first, something I need to know, then I’ll think about having sex with you, and if what you tell me is good enough, I’ll do something to you, something so naughty, something I know how to do to a man that’ll give you a whole new reason to wake up in the morning.

HOW MANY THINGS COULD GO WRONG: He looks at her with a dead serious, calmness: “He selected you.”

Act III

IMPENDING DOOM/ATTACK: Beth has to rethink everything – Travis suddenly pulls off the road to collect on her end of the bargain to have sex with Beth. She insists on having it outdoors—in the middle of the two-lane road. He tries to rip her shirt off – Beth: no big boy, you first. Take all your clothes off, lie down in the road and close your eyes. He rips off all his clothes, does exactly what she says, she throws her shirt on him. He gets excited, reaches for her, she comes at him out of the shadows with a large rock, he sees her, gets partway up, tries to attack her, but she hits him in the head with the rock and he goes down hard. His head is injured, bleeds. He’s not moving at all. She pulls back an eyelid – eyes are rolled back. She thinks he dead, that she’s killed him. Beth: “shit, I didn’t want you dead.” Tries to find a pulse but she’s too nervous, can’t find one.

HOPE: New plan – Beth figures she’ll bring Travis’s dead body to Bullfrog and explain it to the police. She’ll have to drive the milk tanker truck herself.

HOPE: the threat posed by Travis is behind her now. Turning Point: Major shift – she begins to pull his body out of the road to the side. She gets him out of the road and starts trying to drag Travis to the passenger side door, she’s trying to figure out how she will lift Travis’ body into the cab.

WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG: Just then she hears a faint voice that says “help me” coming from nearby. Again, “can you help me” – a soft woman’s voice coming from the tanker trailer. Beth leaves Travis’ body and climbs up on the top of the tanker, opens the hatch. A young woman is in there – in the tank that’s half full of milk. It’s Leah, Travis’s wife.

ATTACK/INJURY: While Beth leans over to get a better look, she reaches down for her but she’s too high up. She sees her in there, kind of treading water in the milk. Travis climbs quietly up behind Beth and pushes Beth in. She splashes into the half full milk tank. Travis: “f—ing bitch!” “Both of you are f—ing bitches.” Locks down the hatch. It’s pitch black inside.

ACT IV

IMPENDING DOOM/TICKING CLOCK: Final plan – Beth talks to Leah, find’s out Travis put her in the tank – Beth: why? Leah: Because he’s crazy. That’s all I know.

HOPE: Leah has made up her mind after 19 years of marriage she is going to kill him if she can get out of the tank in time.

IMPENDING DOOM: Beth: What do you mean – ‘in time’? Leah: he’s going to stop at the Millar Farm just before Bullfrog and fill up the tank. Beth: he just filled up at Shiloh. No, it’s a dairy. Leah: did you feel that? Beth: what? Something in here with us? Something just brushed up in the area between my legs.

They talk—Leah and Beth agree his weakness is sex. Tells Beth about their romance in high school. “He was always kinda different, but he was, you know, charming and handsome. All the girls wanted him.” Beth: Do you have kids? Leah: Four miscarriages later, we stopped tryin’.

Leah: what about you? You got kids? Nope. I am unable to have kids. Beth reveals her past, says she had her share of flings, no marriages, but I did get pregnant once; I gave it up for adoption. Saddest day of my life. I was only 16. I was scared. And the fuckin’ guy who did it? I never saw him again. He was weird. That birth was why I can’t have kids at all. It was messed up from the start. Almost aborted the baby, doctor’s orders. But I didn’t. Carried him through, I almost died 3 times: on the way to the hospital, in the birthing room and afterward.

Beth tries to talk her out of killing Travis, because she needs to find out what he meant by ‘He selected you’ – for what? And who? Leah has no clue: like I told you… he’s crazy.

IMPENDING DOOM: He pulls onto a dirt road that makes it is extra splashy and bouncy inside the tank, up to the Millar dairy and loads the tank with milk. As he fills it and the milk level gets deeper and deeper, they both flounder around more in the tank. Treading water in an almost full tank of milk gets hard. Beth asks what is another of his weaknesses—a big one. Leah says it’s private. Beth says, you know men like Travis, that act like him, a lot of times all that macho I’ll fuck you right now bullshit is just a cover up. For latent homosexuality. Leah: you’re saying I married a queer. Beth: I wouldn’t put it like that. Leah: naw, he’s not a fag. Beth: okay well tell me why he carries a photo of a handsome young man around with him. Have you seen it? Leah: yeah, they all have one. We’ve got a great big framed one in the livin’ room. Beth: who is he? Leah: it’s like he’s their savior. all the men that come over they all carry one. They kind of worship him. Even Chris.

IMPENDING DOOM

Beth: Chris? Leah – from the main office back east. When they have their little ceremonies, Chris is there on the computer. Beth: what does Chris look like? Leah describes Beth’s boss, the VP of international sales in Manchester, NH. Well, fuck. That’s my new boss. Shit. What has Travis gotten us into? What about you? you’re not into it at all, huh? Is it a cult, devil worship, what the hell are they doing? All I know is Travis told me he’s supposed to deliver someone very special to him. Where is this guy? Leah: he’s in Bullfrog. Well I kind of fucked up Travis’ plan, didn’t I.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Travis pulls the truck over as they crest a hill and see Bullfrog just a few miles away. Now he wants to tell Beth what’s going down. He wants to control her thoughts, her fears, get the best of her. He gets Leah out, then Beth.

IMPENDING DOOM

Travis: I know who you are. I know who you gave birth to. He’s gonna change the world. He’ll change the world in spite of you, you goddam bitch. We all will. Beth: what the fuck are you talking about?

Travis: I’m talking about life after extinction. We have you to thank, Beth. You gave him life. He’s the first one who lived past six months, a year, Beth. He’s your flesh and blood and he’s gonna change your world. Travis tells her, that her son is a hybrid. He pulls out one of the photos. Yeah, him, Beth. He’s your flesh and blood. He’s leading a new species to take over this planet, Beth. We’re going to impregnate all human females of childbearing age and give birth to a totally new species of hybrid humans.

[Bevo Beaven]

Bevo Beaven’s Four Act Structure.

“What I learned doing this assignment is that using a four-act structure lays out the plot points in a very clearly presented sequence of milestones for the whole story.” It’s so much closer than my first pass an assignment or two ago, but there are tweaks to make, and they will be easier now with the specific turning points already there as a roadmap in all four acts.”

Create a first draft of your 4 Act Structure.

1. Tell us the following:

Concept – Beth wakes up in an
18-wheeling driving across the Utah desert at night, middle of nowhere,
being driven by Marv.
Main Conflict – why is she
there? how’d she get there? how can she get home? she’s slightly injured (shallow
cut in abdomen, not life or death) and needs medical attention. Marv says
he’ll take her to nearest hospital
50 miles away in Blanding, Utah – she needs to know who is Marv,
why is she with him? She needs to get back to New Hampshire for first day
of her new job in electronics sales, supposed to be training with VP of sales
Chris. Marv says he found her off the road in her car passed out and a guy
was trying to stab her and he pulled him off and shoved the guy in the
trunk and took her with him in the truck. Sketchy. Beth needs to know what
really happened to her and why she’s in Utah, not New Hampshire.

2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.

Act 1:

Opening – Beth wakes up in Marv’s
truck. Groggy, a million questions.
Inciting Incident – Marv stops at
a tiny truck stop to go to the bathroom, looks back after an interchange
about his cargo and says, “You know I’m here to help you, right?” and when
he leaves Beth in the cab, she finds what looks like a micro-sized push
button transmitter on his seat. Marv wouldn’t answer what he is carrying
so Beth breaks the lock and looks inside the trailer – packed full of
boxes of electronics with her new company’s logo… all exactly the same.
Turning Point – Beth meets
Travis, he’s at first charming in a pretty creepy bad boy male way, as the
minutes progress he cruises in and out of disgusting chauvinist. He’s
fueling his milk tanker truck when Marv comes back to his own 18-wheeler. Beth
shows Travis the button transmitter and asks if he knows what it is for, he
says he has no idea, “just push it.” She does and Marv’s truck blows to smitherines
– huge explosion – just a hulk of burning metal under a mushroom cloud. Beth
is horrified. Travis says I’ll take you rest of the way to Blanding. Her
abdomen is slightly bleeding so she agrees. And there’s no one else
around.

Act 2:

New plan – Beth talks with
Travis, she’s trying for information, he’s just focused on sex, talking
about it, she gets angrier with every stupid comment he makes.
Plan in action – Beth tries to find
his button, wants to make him angry so he’ll possibly slip and give her
answers.
Midpoint Turning Point – he says
he’ll tell her something if she has sex with him. She bites her tongue and
says okay and he tells her she was selected, but for what???

Act 3:

Rethink everything – Travis suddenly
pulls off the road to try to have sex with Beth. She fends him off,
pushing him down, his head hits a large rock. She think’s he dead.
New plan – Beth figures she’ll bring
Travis’s body to Blanding and explain it to the police. No cell service. She’ll
have to drive the milk tanker truck herself.
Turning Point: Major shift – she hears a faint “help me”
coming from the tank while making her plan, trying to drag Travis, figure
out how to lift Travis’ body into the cab. Beth climbs up on the top, opens
the hatch. A young woman is in there – it’s half full of milk. It’s Leah,
Travis’s wife. While Beth leans over and sees her in there, Travis climbs quietly
up and pushes Beth in. Makes a pithy comment to her and locks down the
hatch.

Act 4:

Final plan – Beth talks to
Leah, find’s out Travis put her in the tank, but she doesn’t know why. But
she has made up her mind after 19 years of marriage she is going to kill
him—she knows his weakness. Beth talks her out of it because she needs to
find out what he meant ‘she was
chosen’ and for what. He drives the truck to a dairy and loads the tank
with milk. As it gets deeper they both flounder around. Tread water, hold
on to the side, etc. Beth asks what’s his weakness. Leah tells her.
Climax/Ultimate expression of
the conflict – Travis pulls the truck over as they crest a hill and see
Blanding below them just a few miles away. He wants to tell Beth what’s
going on and he fishes her and Leah out. Explains what’s happening to Leah
and tells Beth something shocking about her past and the son she gave up
for adoption 19 years earlier. Travis: “Don’t you want to meet him?” Beth
gets the advantage over Travis and unhooks the trailer with him tied to
it. She blows up the milk trailer with more of the explosives she found in
the cab. Then drives the tractor into Blanding to a facility Travis told
her about—a huge Amazon-style warehouse complex with signage of her
company on it. She goes inside and find’s out her son’s true identity and
purpose. She destroys the entire complex along with her son (saving the
world as we know it).
Resolution – Beth with one
Secret Service agent. “Give you a ride, ma’am? She just stares. Him: “You
know we’re here to help you, right?”

[Bevo Beaven]

1. Brainstorm potential plot layers.

Surface layer: BETH WAKES UP IN
AN 18 WHEELER BEING DRIVEN ACROSS SOUTHERN UTAH AT NIGHT BY MARV, NO IDEA
HOW SHE GOT THERE, WHY, WHERE SHE’S HEADED – WHO IS THIS TRUCKER? (SOLVE
THE MYSTERY AND GET MEDICAL HELP)
Beneath that: SHE’S TRYING TO
FIGURE OUT THE QUIRKS OF THIS MAN MARV WHO GRACIOUSLY STEPPED IN TO HELP
HER, YEAH HE HELPS HER – SAVED HER FROM ATTACKER (WHICH SHE DOESN’T
REMEMBER), GIVES RIDE TOWARD BLANDING BUT CREEPY TOO, SOMETHING IS OFF –
ONE PIECE AT A TIME BECOMES KNOWN TO HER EVER SO SLOWLY TILL SHE KNOWS SHE
HAS TO TORTURE TRAVIS IF NECESSARY TO GET THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON

How revealed: (1) WHEN SHE
PUSHES THE BUTTON AT THE TRUCK STOP, SUDDENLY MARV AND HIS TRUCK EXPLODE OUTSIDE
THE TRUCK STOP AND TRAVIS OFFERS TO HELP HER GET TO BLANDING – (2) BIG TWIST AT
THE END OF THE STORY WHEN TRAVIS CAN’T RESIST USING HIS POSITION OVER HER TO
BRAG ABOUT HIS POWER. WAY MORE COMING.

2. Brainstorm potential character layers.

· Surface layer: BETH HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT IN A ONE-CAR WRECK, APPARENTLY ATTACKED AND WOUNDED, BUT RESCUED BY MARV AND HIS 18 WHEELER.

· Beneath that: THESE MEN (MARV, CHRIS, TRAVIS) ARE RIDDLES, THEY SAY THEY’RE HERE TO HELP, BUT THEY’LL DO ANYTHING TO TRY TO GET THE BEST OF EACH OTHER TO GET MORE OVERALL POWER, LOOK MORE POWERFUL OR GAIN AN ADVANTAGE OVER ANYONE ELSE.

· How revealed: THE TRUTH COMES OUT AFTER BETH FORCES TRAVIS TO TALK WHILE PULLED OFF THE ROAD THAT NIGHT OUTSIDE OF BLANDING. HE TELLS HER WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON; THEN SHE HAS TO ACT ON IT.

3. Brainstorm potential location layers.

· Surface layer: BEGINS IN MARV’S 18-WHEELER DRIVING ACROSS SOUTHERN UTAH. SHE ASKS MARV WHAT THE CARGO IS.

· Beneath that: THE THINGS INSIDE THE TRUCK ARE CLUES FOR BETH THAT SOMETHING IS AMISS. THEN AFTER MARV’S TRUCK AND MARV BLOWS UP SHE HIDES IN TRAVIS’ 18-WHEELER TANKER TRUCK SLEEPER CAB AND REVEALS HERSELF AFTER SOME MILES OF LISTENING TO HIM ON THE CB RADIO. THEIR INTERACTIONS- HE IS A REAL A-HOLE MISOGYNIST. MORE CLUES.

· How revealed: SIDE OF ROAD MIDWAY THRU ACT III WHEN TRAVIS PULLS OFF TO HAVE SEX WITH HER BUT SHE FIGHTS HIM OFF AND THINKS SHE KILLED HIM (HEAD HIT ROCK). BUT SHE HEARS A FAINT VOICE SAY “HELP ME” – INTRODUCING LEAH. TRAVIS PUSHES BETH INSIDE THE TANK WITH LEAH, AND HE DRIVES TO DAIRY FARM FOR FILL UP. (NOTE: EN ROUTE TO AND AT DAIRY FARM LOCATION IS INT. TANK – NIGHT)

[Bevo Beaven]

BEVO’S CHARACTERS’ JOURNEYS

What I learned doing this assignment—-this process was mind-blowing – is the best way to write as you go and finish a story. The things in the various characters’ stories dictated how the story moved, finished out and the ending.

[Bevo Beaven]

Bevo Beaven’s Character Depth

What I learned doing this assignment is that the more digging you do via these kinds of exercises with individual characters, you do find relationships and conflicts between them and within them, and most exciting: your story is carried by what’s happening with and between the characters. This is not a story that you populate with characters. The characters are driving the story.

[Bevo Beaven]

BEVO BEAVEN’S RIGHT CHARACTERS

What I learned from doing this assignment is that when you are sticking by a goal that your characters have to fit the confined/contained model of creating conflict for the protagonist, new ideas for the story itself, how it unfolds, start flying that you never thought of logically when the story concept first came up. I learned that the story path can be driven by the characters themselves, not by me populating a preset story with generic characters and then trying to fit them and have them say dialog that moves the story forward within their generic character categories – the angry son, the jealous wife, wild daughter, etc. These characters are moving the story and the main character into new directions. That’s how I know they are the right ones. It’s got an unpredictable feel to it.

What makes these characters the right ones for this story is that they are connected to each other before the main character even meets each of them. But this unfolds as the story moves forward. Each of them has a reason to either hate the main character/protagonist, want her to die, or they want her to do something that will enhance their own cause (of course at her expense).

[Bevo Beaven]

DAY 2 ASSIGNMENT – BEVO BEAVEN’S GREAT HOOK

INTERSTATE 60

A. HOW DID THIS PROCESS WORK FOR ME?

Well, it was difficult and a bit tedious, but it worked well. I ran all 6 concepts through the “exchanging components” process and came up with at least one or two better ideas or components for all of the story concepts. I eliminated two afterward – one needed at its core to star two 10-year-olds, so that was out for Covid reasons. The other story just felt too familiar, already been done in one form or another. So that left 4 concepts. I worked on the high concept hooks swapping out locations, people, unique ideas, until I had the new hooks written. Read those to my wife (she has different taste in movies from mine much of the time, but we do happen to like a lot of the same things—Ozark and Yellowstone).

Anyway she said “no” immediately to all my favorite concepts, but she liked one that I was actually kind of neutral to – however, she said she liked it but it felt pretty similar to other things already done in movies and TV series and so I used the “exchanging components” process on it again and came up with a totally new story and hook (using the same main character and a similar situation that happened to the main character in the prior iteration, but the details in the new version verge toward being a unique combination and they work much better to further the tension and mystery aspects of a story written intentionally to be in a contained format). Retitled INTERSTATE 60.

B. WHAT DID I LEARN DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT?

I learned that it really pays dividends to run ideas, concepts or “hooks” by someone you trust. With intense concentration for hours on the page of words describing and developing these concepts, I learned that I can’t trust myself to pick what might be best one, working alone in a vacuum. After a certain point of screen-staring, the words become a commodity. With my wife’s external input I zeroed in on one of the 6 concepts and swapped a couple of the components to made it a much better contained movie concept and a better story. (I do still like the other 5 concepts!)

[Bevo Beaven]

Bevo Beaven’s Guidelines for Eagle Eye

ASSIGNMENT 2 – BEVO BEAVEN

PART ONE: SELECT YOUR PROJECT

WHAT I LEARNED DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT

(Part 1: select which story idea to focus on): it was pretty easy coming up with ideas for what felt like a group of stories that could make cool feature films, but when you put the various ideas into Covid lockdown restraints you are forced to find the best concepts to (1) fit the “contained” rules/protocol, but (2) they also have to fit a kind of story type as well so you don’t bore the audience to death– need to land on a concept that permits miles of freedom to open up the plot without breaking Covid protocol. Will the key character have a crystal clear mission that puts him/her on a pathway toward some very clear goal? (Is it within a big enough plot that will allow almost unlimited opportunities to foist bigger and bigger obstacles and key reversals in his or her way, all the way to the goal—and successfully do that within the Covid protocols? (And therefore in a lower budget way that could be easy for a producer to sell). So I eliminated ideas with children/teenagers, or ideas that just seemed too restrained by a single location or wouldn’t work with limited characters in a single limited location.

————– — ——————– – – – – ——————- – – – ——————- – – –

(Part 2: adjust a produced movie to Covid guidelines)

TITLE: EAGLE EYE

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People – two main characters, 2 main people chasing them, staff of people in HQs, but several dozen others and hundreds of extras

B. Stunts – loaded with stunts, explosions, car crashes, chases on foot and in cars.

C. Extras – hundreds on the streets, in airports, packed security lines, in tour bus, trains (Chicago)

D. Wardrobe – pretty contemporary, nice suits for FBI and DHS, guard and cop uniforms

E. Hair and Make Up – big stars, so yeah.

F. Kids and Animals – small scenes with her young boy on tv screens, voice mail to her, cell phone photos too so that is a good Covid trick to remember.

G. Quarantine – so many people—extras, stunt teams, hair and makeup, extra wranglers, guns being fired, exploding cars and buildings, it would be overwhelming.

H. LOCATIONS: Huge number of locations – on trains, train stations, airports, runways, stores, malls, crowded streets, etc.

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People – keep the principal cast, move scenes inside offices where passersby aren’t needed – use ambient office noise of people out in the central areas working, chattering, phones ringing, etc.

B. Stunts – limit to one big stunt sequence for the climax

C. Extras – if you ditch them all it will change from a blockbuster action flick to boutique thriller with limited running and shooting sequences for emphasis and maybe a big action climax.

D. Wardrobe – need for the big stars

E. Hair and Make Up – need it for the big stars

F. Kids and Animals – for the boy use the cell phone photos and video screen technique (no live shooting till the climax and denouement); no animals

G. Quarantine – well, for climax, need big action sequences – so stunts, hair, makeup – yes.

H. LOCATIONS – Limit to stock outdoor establishing shots showing crowds for reality, or drone aerials, or very long shots of stars walking on crowded street – to make the crowd look more dense than it is—long lens from far away; just pick the main key locations (should be less because we’re deleting most of the action sequences – car chases, crowd scenes in streets, drones chasing them in the car in a crowded tunnel, etc. – since the overreaching computer that sees you everywhere is what they are running from, need to establish that it sees and knows all early on, but could be done in mystery/puzzle/thriller style rather than huge budget full on action sequences as the movie did them in 2007. Big climax action sequences were 1:35 – 1:48 +/- , CROWDS, STUNTS, EXPLOSIONS, DRONES FLYING THRU TUNNEL, ETC.

ALTERNATIVES – use of dark indoor sequences with scary music (mysterious/suspense), two-shots, close on a helicopter taking off in foreground to intro a scene, CUs-finding the clues, etc., still adds to tension as a thriller in the absence of big, wild action sequences all the time. See 1:15 – 1:20 – string of these kinds of lower-key sequences that work for Covid rules.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Bevo Beaven.

[Bevo Beaven]

CONTAINED STORY IDEAS – BEVO BEAVEN – 2/14/2022

1. LAST PASSENGER – (THRILLER/HORROR) It’s 2 a.m. and the last passengers on the bus are TWO 10-YEAR-OLD BOYS running away from home. The boys are hiding, so the bus appears empty when the DRIVER pulls up at a strange place and parks. Several other buses are parked there. Another driver drags a DRUNK 20-SOMETHING FEMALE off his bus. STRANGE PEOPLE come out of a building, stand in a circle around the drunk female and begin chanting. They pull off their human masks and they jump on her like animals and devour her. The boys peep through the bus window, watch this and are terrified – they’re stuck hiding on this bus with human-eating aliens all around.

A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – the BUS, PARKED OVERNIGHT.

B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: TWO TEN YEAR OLD BOYS. They are locked in, can’t get out, but they have to escape or face being eaten by the alien monsters.

C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: they don’t want to be eaten, how do they escape, what will these creatures do next, how long can they stay undetected?

D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: as hiding last passengers, the boys were locked in the bus.

2. DOUBLE THIS – (DRAMA) – A gentle, art-focused, non-competitive young man is forced by his tough hedge fund-owning dad to compete against him in an all-or-nothing stock trading battle, starting on the boy’s 21^st birthday. He has to earn a place in his dad’s firm or be tossed on the street. So the dad signs over a $1 million stock trading account to the son to double in 30 days OR he’s on the street. DAD to SON: “find a mentor–a stock trader– and I want you to live how he lives, eat what he eats, and breathe what he breathes till you’re a money-loving, ruthless, trader like me.” The son sees a homeless man living in A TENT CITY who does very complex math with chalk on the sidewalk. He enlists his help, tells him he has to move into the tent with him. Homeless man takes the laptop and soon he is outtrading AI or any human trader every night. After the 30 days, the million-dollar account is worth $1.2 billion.

A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT – TENT and TENT CITY. You can look up and see the high-rise where the dad’s office is from outside his tent, or look down from the dad’s office and see the tent city.

B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS – the SON, HOMELESS MAN. THE DAD up in the office, BRIEF VISITORS to the tent (DRUG DEALER, WOMAN SELLING SEX, ANOTHER HOMELESS GUY).

C. DIFFICULT SITUATION – for the SON, he’s trapped in a tent/tent city with drug addicts, bums, dirty homeless folks, scary people. HOMELESS MAN GENIUS is trapped with an unwanted, forced roommate, a squatter. No privacy. The SON won’t let him move out of the tent, until the 30 days are up.

D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: DAD’S rules of engagement, son chose the homeless guy to live with.

3. WHEN JOSIE COMES HOME (COMEDY) – TEEN H.S. GIRL finds a large bag of money on the curb – $3 Million in 20s and 100s. A YOUNG, CLEAN CUT, NICELY DRESSED 20-SOMETHING MAFIA GUY comes to the house the next morning after school has started. Mom answers the door invites him in, he calmly discusses the situation, shows her a video of Josie her daughter Josie taking the large bag, explains very politely he wants the bag back. They look for it but it’s nowhere. “Nobody leaves this place till Josie comes home.” Mafia Guy unintentionally collects more people throughout the day– when the MAID shows up for work, POOL BOY comes, teenaged SON comes home early, a Jehovah’s Witness… so HE COLLECTS THEM ALL while they wait for Josie.

A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: JOSIE’S HOME.

B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: TEEN GIRL JOSIE, HER MOM, THE MAID, CUTE POOL BOY, the BROTHER, A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS.

C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: disparate group of individuals stuck in this house with a tough looking, albeit handsome young mafia guy (almost like a trainee – very polite but determined). All these people with keys come in further complicating his goal, except the Jehovah’s Witness who is a young man on a mission literally, football lineman type, but he’s smart, figures out something is amiss. AS THE DAY GOES ON, FIND OUT MANY SECRETS: Pool Boy is having affairs with both the Mom and Josie at the same time—he comes in assuming it’s just him and the mom there—regular appointment. Brother figures it out – wait…so you’re boinking my mom and my sister? Cool dude. Everyone chimes in on all the conversations, all personal matters revealed, help the maid solve her personal problems, etc., ‘till Josie comes home—then the s— hits the fan.

D.REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: He has to hold all these people hostage till Josie comes home (so he can get the $3 million that belongs to the Mafia back to the owner).

4. YOU CAN’T SAY THAT – (DRAMEDY) – Carrying a portable RV toilet and a case of water in plastic bottles, A WOMAN KICKBOXER marches into a radio station talk show studio in a small town where the young arrogant host is on the air, calmly blocks the studio door with a chair and duct tape, and sits across from him. She tells him here’s what’s about to go down: that she’s sick of him cutting off callers, all points of view are good, no censoring, and here’s how we’re gonna do it.” She takes over the studio for 3 days – invites the public to call in – sets off a shitstorm of politically incorrectness and positions all over the book, makes so many people mad.

A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: Small Radio Station building/studio in particular.

B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: KICKBOXER, TALK SHOW HOST, STATION MANAGER, PRODUCER, THREE “INVITED GUESTS” WHO GIVE THEIR VIEW (could be a racist, a far left liberal, a transgender individual, etc.).

C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: The host is stuck in there with this “crazy woman.” Producer stays too but behind the glass – this is talk radio gold; she’s holding the station hostage. Kickboxer = her choice. End of 3 days, she ups and leaves.

D.REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Woman takes over the studio with host and other staff who stay there to try to figure out how to get her out, don’t want to cut power to the station. Ad sales are terrific.

5. UNMARKED INTERSECTION – (MYSTERY/ROMANCE): a young woman wakes up confused, head on the steering wheel. Car is stopped on a freeway ramp intersection way out in the middle of nowhere. She sees a small, cheap motel down the road. She gets a room from an odd male clerk. “Where ya headed?” – “I don’t know, I just need to sleep.” It’s 3:18 a.m. on her bedside clock. Wakes up a 3:41 to the loud sounds of people in the next room having very loud sex. Again at 3:59. She can’t remember anything, goes outside beside her car to smoke. She opens her trunk – there’s a dead body in there.

A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: INSIDE HER CAR, MOTEL, her ROOM.

B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: YOUNG WOMAN, MOTEL CLERK(S), PEOPLE IN THE ROOM NEXT DOOR, the MAN SHE RECRUITS TO HELP HER.

C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: WOMAN is stuck in a 100% unknown situation – she doesn’t remember anything – where she drove from, where she is headed. She’s stuck in this motel room – doesn’t know who she is, why she is there, why she is so tired, why a body is in her trunk, who the body is in her trunk, why the person is dead. She finds a young MAN that she recruits to help her.

D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Total amnesia is a problem; but she’s got a bigger problem (who is the body in the trunk/why is it there/did she do it?). How does she get out of the unknown to figure out the answers?

6. THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR – (THRILLER/MYSTERY): A single MOM with one bored TEENAGER BOY moves into a new town/new neighborhood/new house. The first night the BOY can’t sleep, goes out into the back yard at midnight, walks around in the moonlight, hears something being dragged – sound coming from next door. He peeps through a knothole in the fence: MAN NEXT DOOR is dragging a body to a big hole dug in his back yard. It’s pre-dug awaiting delivery of a pool to be lowered in the next day. BOY sees him push the body into the deep end side of the pool and then go down with a shovel. The BOY sneaks over the fence to go have a look down into the pool hole, sees the body clearly and the man pushing it into a shallow hole down at the bottom of the big hole, then he covers the body with dirt. A car horn blows out front. The man has to ladder out of the hole. The boy has to hide. He hears the man greet another MAN and their conversation: “So you did it?” “Yeah, he’s down in there.” “When’s the pool coming.” “Eight a.m. sharp. They lower it down with a crane. Fill it with water. That’s that. No one will ever see that bastard again.”

A. CONTAINED ENVIRONMENT: BOY’S HOUSE and the HOUSE NEXT DOOR.

B. CONTAINED CHARACTERS: TEENAGER BOY, MOM, MAN NEXT DOOR, GIRLFRIEND.

C. DIFFICULT SITUATION: Teenager Boy knows what the man did – buried a body under his new pool. He meets a girl at school, brings her home. He tells her there’s a body under the pool next door. She says prove it. They go knock on the man’s door. Boy says, “I know what you did… I saw the body under your pool.” MAN: “you shouldn’t have told me that.”

D. REASON FOR THE CONTAINMENT: Man Next Door captures the Boy and his Girlfriend and holds them in his house.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Bevo Beaven.

[Bevo Beaven]

Hello Cheryl, Barbara, Veleka, Linda, Rebecca, Josh, “V”, Robb and Karen. I’m Bevo Beaven, and wow what a great group of experienced writers and entertainment industry pros we have. I have written 2 feature scripts and one 22-minute teleplay. A briefcase full of 30 years’ worth of story ideas on napkins and other scraps lives in my basement. So compared to most all of you I am a beginner at this. Hope to get the skill set to write a contained screenplay pretty quickly – because they are definitely in high demand (join InkTip and look at the script requests that come out weekly – 95% of their producer requests are for completed feature scripts with no more than one or two locations and no more than 2-5 characters). I live in Colorado, play bass for fun, have a terrific wife and two kids (26 and 19) and a wonderful Great Pyrenees named Buddy who likes to hold hands. (It’s wonderful when he comes over and puts his big paw on your hand.)

Good luck to everyone with the class.

Bevo

[Bevo Beaven]

Bevo Beaven – I agree to the confidentiality release form terms. Sorry, forgot to paste them in here:

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.

[Bevo Beaven]

I agree to the terms of this release form.

Signed, Bevo Beaven