[Bruce Gibeson]

Assignment 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that my two lead characters seem to represent opposite sides of an issue. While it was not apparent to me at the beginning of the assignment, the answers to the questions made this clear.

ASSUMPTION

JOURNEY: The first transgender priest to become fully ordained, successfully remakes the Catholic Church in his own new image.

Characters who sell the show:

Father Joseph and Father Charles

Role
in the Show:

Father Joseph. A 27 year old newly ordained Priest, arrives at his first assignment; learning the ropes under a legendary Parish Priest in Washington, DC.

Father Charles: A 50 year old legendary Parish Priest, who relishes his power position in influence, leading the conservative, affluent Our Lady of Assumption parish in a wealthy suburb of Washington DC.

Unique
Purpose / Expertise:

Joseph: Arrives at a time of crisis in the local archdiocese. A progressive, he is best person, the best Catholic in the parish. Comes at life from a position of purity. He lives the seven heavenly virtues(chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility). That approach to life constantly puts him in conflict with Fr. Charles and the Church.

Charles: Parishioners see him as a man of god. Few see him for what he really is: full of bluster, love of performance, ambitious, upwardly mobile, starstruck, loves the media and being the center of attention.

Intrigue:
What is the secret beneath the surface?

Joseph: Not the first to try, but Fr. Joseph is first transgender person to “pass” as male and go through seminary to become a fully ordained Catholic Priest.

Charles: Closeted gay, fighting the feelings with faith. Wants to move up in the organization.

Moral
Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Is a celibate transgender male priest less worthy than a homosexual male priest who breaks his vow of celibacy?

Joseph: Carries the secret of being transgender, protects it aggressively. Must lie to get through seminary, attain ordination, and protect the secret. Helping, then sabotaging her mentor, Father Charles.

Charles: Doesn’t make choices based on expected religious need or accepted doctrine principles. Loves the country club lifestyle, the power connections. Makes choices based on seven deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, and gluttony).

Unpredictable:
What will they do next?

Joseph: Feels that the end justifies the means. Will do anything to protect the secret and transform the Church.

Charles: Will do anything to protect the church from change. Two-faced when preforming the rituals of weddings, funerals, mass.

Empathetic:
Why do we care?

Joseph: Internal conflict of being born a girl, orphaned, and ridiculed and bullied as transgender feeling emerged. Normalizing the transgender persona.

Charles: Successfully fighting off the homosexual feelings within the church overrun by sexual scandals. Fights the guilt constantly.

[Bruce Gibeson]

What I learned doing this assignment is that this exercise has given me an insight into how these characters will interact.

ASSIGNMENT 2: Three circles of characters for Assumption.

A. Main Characters Circle:

Fr. Joseph: 25 years old. Newly ordained Catholic Priest first assignment is as the parochial vicar for the wealthy parish of Our Lady of Assumption Church in Washington, DC. His secret: Not the first to try, but the first transgender male to “pass” through seminary and become fully ordained.

The Fr. Charles, the pastor: 55 years old. Legendary Parish Priest of Our Lady of Assumption. Closeted gay, fighting his feelings with faith. Full of bluster, love of performance, ambitious, upwardly mobile, star struck, loves the media and being the center of attention.

The Principal of the Assumption School: Janet Stathis 52. Recent hire by the current pastor. She’s neurotic. Worries about how she is perceived the priest, by the Asst. Principal, by the parents. Treats teachers as inferiors.

Asst. Principle: 55. Never feels appreciated. Compulsively overworks, overachieves. Continually crushed by the lack of approval from Fr. Charles and Principal.

School Counselor: 50. the emotional center of the parish. Keeps confidentiality for all. Unofficial therapist for the Priest, the Principal, the Asst. Principal, and most importantly, the new Priest, Fr. Joe.

B. Connected Circle:

The Archdiocese Bishop: Cardinal Schandale, leader of the Catholic old boys club. At the tail end of sexual abuse scandal which will see him called to the Vatican and fired; eventually arrested. Chief confidante to Assumption’s Pastor, Fr. Charles, who will eventually replace him.

The Assistant Superintendent of Catholic Schools. Ken Deturna; 41 years old. Outwardly very Godly; supportive of the the Assumption school staff. Has been embezzling from the Archdiocese for 8 years to fund a secret lifestyle (Luxury Car, Boat, and Row House). Will get caught and threaten Fr. Joe’s secret.

Sister Joan: A leader of spiritual guidance and social justice groups. Great at work, but when not working, questions her faith. Professes her love for a Priest at another parish under different circumstances. Has unrealistic assumptions of married life.

Women of the parish office: busy bodies, gossips, very judgmental; the Greek chorus.

Members of the country club, who are also members of the congregation.

C. Environment Circle:

Members of the congregation. Teachers of the school. Parents of the school. The students of the school. Other priests. Archdiocese staff. Reporters. Members of Congress. Nuns. Sexual Victims. Vatican Cardinals. Vatican Staff. The Pope.

[Bruce Gibeson]

ASSIGNMENT 1: Character Circles for Riverdale

A. Main Characters Circle: Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones

B. Connected Circle: Fred Andrews, Hermione Lodge, Hal Cooper, Alice Cooper, Cheryl Blossom, Geraldine Grundy, Jason Blossom

C. Environment Circle: Josie McCoy, Moose Mason, Reggie Mantle, Kevin Keller, Pop Tate, Melody Valentine, Valerie Brown, Penelope Blossom, Cliff Blossom, Coach Clayton, detectives

[Bruce Gibeson]

Riverdale 5 Star Model

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show?

The death of a young man and the mystery of how it happened lead us into the “shadows and secrets” of growing up in small-town America.

Amazing and Intriguing
Character
What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?

Modeled after the characters in the Archie comic book, Riverdale’s Archie seems to be the one-dimensional, all-American boy, who grew up over the summer. But he’s lying to his father and his football coach. He doesn’t want to work in his father’s business, and he doesn’t want play football. He wants to write songs and play music. We find out he’s had an affair with the high school music teacher over the summer and they were together, on the river when the young man died. They never told anyone they heard a shot.

The narrator is Jughead, who is writing a novel about the boy’s death the last summer. A mysterious commentator who does his work in Pop’s Cafe. He is our “Nick Carraway;” our first-person narrator. He observes the action and reports his findings to the audience.

Betty has problems with her mother and tries to break away from her control. Unrequited love for Archie when a rival appears for Archie’s affection.

Veronica moves into Riverdale from New York City. She misses her lifestyle but does her best to make friends with the others. Recognizes the mean girl leader and puts her in her place.

Cheryl is the twin sister of Jason, the boy who dies, She is also the leader of the mean girls. Love chaos. She and her brother are on the river when she drops a glove in the water. Her brother reaches for it and falls in, panics, and drowns. That’s her story, but Archie and the music teacher may know the truth. She runs the social life at school with the compassion of a political dictator.

Empathy / Distress
What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for
this character?

We feel empathy for Archie because he feels pressured to work in his father’s business and play football, taking over for the dead boy, when he doesn’t want to do either. He wants to write songs. We feel his distress because we sense he knows what happened to Cheryl’s twin brother but can’t reveal it because that will also reveal his affair with his music teacher.

We feel empathy for Betty because she tries to be perfect and be everything for everyone. We are distressed for her because she loves Archie, but that love is not returned. Her mother controls everything in her life.

We feel empathy for Cheryl when her brother dies, but distress for her because she might be the one for killed him. Or maybe she knows who did.

Layers / Open Loops
What questions are created by this first episode that can only
be answered by watching the entire season?

How did Cheryl’s twin die?

Will Betty break away from her mother’s control?

What does Archie and the music teacher know about the death.

Will Archie and the music teacher restart their summer fling?

Is Betty going to be more than a friend to Archie?

Inviting Obsession
How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?

We find out that Jason has been shot. The world of Riverdale has changed. The following Tuesday, the first arrest in Jason’s murder would be made during 5th period. So it must be a student. We must watch to find out which one it is!

[Bruce Gibeson]

Hi Group! My name is Bruce Gibeson. I took the ProSeries in 2018.

I’ve written four feature scripts.

I love the Binge Worthy concept and want to learn the tools and techniques to get there.

Something unique, special, strange or unusual about me? I had a 20 year career as a set decorator, working in television and features; on the road a lot. Scripts used to arrive at the production meeting, before a new episode was shot or prior to the deal memo being signed. Somebody had to write them, right? When my son was born, I switched paths to be home every night.

We left Southern California, moved to Washington DC, and started a video production company producing content for DARPA, the people who created all the technology that rules our world today. (Probably 500 more scripts all 5 minutes or less) I knew Siri when her name was CALO; the “Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes.”

[Bruce Gibeson]

Bruce Gibeson

I agree to the terms of this release form.

GROUP RELEASE FORM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Bruce Gibeson]

Hi Kim!

Yep. It was fun. I had the opportunity to work with some great writers too. I worked two seasons with Stephen Bochco and his crew on Hill Street Blues and his minor league baseball series, Bay City Blues. Then I did the permanent sets for LA Law before leaving for No Way Out. One and a half Stephen King movies, Sleepwalkers and Apt Pupil.

I’m not sure I’m good writing character, but I do try to be pretty detailed about the environments where my characters live. Thanks for the reply!

Good luck!

Bruce