[Christopher Confer]

Chris’ Character Profiles
My vision for success: When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.
What I learned from this lesson is try to work as fast as possible without being a perfectionist, even though it took a couple of hours to get it done.

Character: Holly
The High Concept: Holly is a professional shoplifter who is now confronted with a retailer’s association that is its own nation with its own jurisdiction and its own draconian laws called Retalia Nation. The penalty for shoplifting in this jurisdiction is death as long as they have video proof of the theft. First time offenders get the death penalty. Any offenders, if caught get the death penalty. She needs to be ever more clever to avoid getting caught or having a member of her crew getting caught. She encourages some of her less favorite crew members to take unnecessary risks in order to probe the security even though that
if caught they will be executed.

Holly’s journey: At the beginning she is a confident thief who steals a whole tray of diamond rings from a store by falsely claiming she is an auditor from the corporate head quarters and tricks the young clerk into releasing the tray of rings. Stealing is a way for her to confront her childhood demons of poverty where her mom told her you can’t have that this month and girls in high school made fun of her for wearing the same blue sweater all winter. She has a really prospering maid business and does not need to steal but loves the adrenaline rush of stomping out her childhood poverty. She is ruthless and sociopathic in this quest. When her daughter’s best friend emulates her and gets caught and executed by Retalia Nation security, she starts to want to go straight. But first she wants an eye for an eye with Rodney the head of security who executed the 17-year-old family friend of Holly’s.

The Actor Attractors for Holly: She is well educated despite her impoverished childhood. She went to a good university and got cultured. She is a ruthless sociopath but creates a rapport with people the is so convincing that most do not suspect how dark her dark side is. She’s so pleasant, knowledgeable and upbeat. She’s a sharp dresser with all of the latest fashions. She can carry conversations with a wide range of people and has a glamourous life. She loves a good joke and can be very funny while calculating to throw a person under the bus. She has great contempt for Rodney, the head of security at Retalia Nation. The death of her best friend’s daughter starts to crack her ruthless shell.

Role in the Story: Protagonist
Age range and Description: She is 37 to 42 years-old, charismatic and sociopathic who dresses to the nines. She is in good physical shape. Works out everyday and eats well.
Core Traits: Ruthless, sociopathic, establishes rapport easily, determined, resourceful, sometimes empathetic, evasive and sneaky.
Motivation; Want/Need: Wants to be compensated for a childhood full of material lack. Beating the system is beating the poverty even though she owns a very prosperous business and does not need to steal. Feels she has to in order to stay ahead.
Wound: Childhood poverty and girls teasing her for wearing the same clothes in the same week.
Likability, Relatability, Empathy: Going above and beyond to take care of squirrels who live in her backyard. Who hasn’t had or heard of an injured pet? Most wouldn’t take the risk of catching rabies but Holly does.
Her family thinks she is irresponsible for taking the risk but you have to admire her courage of risking getting bit.

Character: Rodney
The High Concept: He plays cat and mouse with profession shoplifter, Holly. He’s the antagonist. He gets to execute shoplifters caught on video. He’s got a taste for it as head of Retalia Nation’s security.

Rodney’s Journey: Rodney aims to build his reputation in Retalia Nation to one day earn a top government security role, and catching Holly is a stepping stone in his plan.

Role in the Story: Protagonist
The Actor Attractors for Rodney: He’s overly confident and not as smart as he thinks. He’s jealous because his assistant is better at catching thieves than he is. He’s arrogant. Rodney’s obsession with catching Holly stems from his failure at the FBI Academy (he got kicked out), a fact he hides from colleagues to avoid exposing his weaknesses. His opening scene shows him mentoring his assistant on the monitoring of pupil dilation and patiently showing his protege how to zoom in to see how excited shoplifter’s get compared to regular shoppers. Their eyes get real wide. It seems like he really cares to teach his assistant.

Age range and Description: He’s about 45, balding and about 80 pounds overweight.
Core Traits: Arrogant, Caring, Not as smart as Holly, Not as smart as his assistant, Persistent, Constantly studying new techniques to catch shoplifters, Blood lust to catch and execute shoplifters, to the point of doing an occasional deep-fake with AI just to murder someone “legally”.
Motivation; Want/Need: Likes getting bad guys because in middle school and high school he was bullied and had his locker broken into. The bullies stole things and money from his locker.
Wound: In middle school and high school he was bullied and had his locker broken into and things and money stolen.
Likability: He takes the time to teach the younger man the skills of the trade instead of hazing him into the new position like some bosses do.
Relatability: Everyone has had a mentor who patiently taught them a new skill.
Empathy: Most people have deadlines at work that can detract from training proteges properly, but he takes the time to teach and explain everything to his assistant who he is mentoring.

[Christopher Confer]

The program is success because I have a solid, top drawer screenplay from doing the work. Believing is receiving, hence the present tense verbs not future tense verbs.
Chris' vision: When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.
I learned how smoothly this writing process goes having these wonderfully-sized lessons instead of wandering around aimlessly trying to get stuff "down on paper." Just keep chipping away at it.
Character: Holly
Role: Protagonist

In the opening scene she makes coffee and pours a cup. She goes to her back door wall and opens the sliding glass door. Her squirrel friends are waiting for her to feed them. She lets them take shelled walnuts out of the palm of her hand. She notices one of them is injured with some bite marks from a larger creature, maybe a racoon. She goes to her daughter's room and gets a dollhouse (not the good one but the cardboard one she made out of old boxes, she figures she can always make a new one), and puts it on the deck just outside the sliding glass door in a secure corner. She puts a bunch of walnuts in. The injured squirrel lets her put Neosporin on its wounds. She sets him in the dollhouse with the squirrel family. They all leave after they eat all of the walnuts but in the morning they are in there and the feeding scene repeats.

Likability: Going above and beyond to take care of squirrels who live in her backyard.
Relatability: Who hasn't had or heard of an injured pet? Most wouldn't take the risk of catching rabies but Holly does.
Empathy: Her family thinks she is irresponsible for taking the risk but you have to admire her courage of risking getting bit.

In Rodney's introductory scene he patiently trains his protege. You have to zoom in on their eyes and watch for pupil dilation, he says. 79% percent of shoplifters' eyes dilate when they get stimulated by the hunt for their free stuff. They dilate really big, bigger than an excited customer who is going to make a purchase. And remember, he says, they ain't customers, so we have to bag 'em. He shows him how to zoom in and record the scene. If you catch this one, I'm buying the beers tonight. Rodney's boss pokes his head in the door of the monitor room and says, make sure you have those TPS reports on my desk by 4:30 pm and leaves, then comes back after a few seconds and says or you'll be sitting in the basement with your red stapler. They laugh. Then his protege asks, why was he so intense about that? He needs the reports every day because has to turn a report into his boss at 5 pm. He's damn serious about 4:30 but likes to make fun of the system like in that movie.

Likability: He takes the time to teach the younger man the skills of the trade instead of hazing him into the new position like some bosses do.
Relatability: Everyone has had a mentor who patiently taught them a new skill.
Empathy: Most people have deadlines at work but he takes the time to teach and explain everything to the assistant who he is mentoring.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Christopher Confer. Reason: Forgot to write what I learned
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Christopher Confer. Reason: grammar
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Christopher Confer.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Christopher Confer.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris’ Character Intrigue
My Vision: When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.

Holly (Protagonist):
Hidden Agenda: Holly outwardly claims she runs a legitimate business and acts friendly with others, but she has a secret side of being a shoplifter who makes a lot of money stealing.
Competition: Holly views each successful theft as a win against Rodney, treating their rivalry as a game where she measures her success by how much she can outsmart him.
Conspiracy: Holly builds a network of accomplices, creating a tightly-knit group of loyal thieves, while concealing their association to further evade Retalia Nation’s radar.
Secret: Despite her outward confidence and bravado, Holly fears that her impoverished background will be discovered, and she overcompensates with lavish thefts to maintain her image.
Deception: She regularly deceives her protégés into thinking they are on equal footing, while keeping them in the dark about the real risks of the heists and her actual motives.
Unspoken Wound: The humiliation of growing up poor drives Holly to prove herself by becoming the best thief. Her unspoken wound is a constant source of motivation and shapes her decisions.
Secret Identity: Although Holly poses as a successful and respectable businesswoman, she sees herself as an avenger against the wealthy establishment, justifying her thefts as a form of retribution.

Rodney (Antagonist):
Hidden Agenda: Rodney aims to build his reputation in Retalia Nation to one day earn a top government security role, and catching Holly is a stepping stone in his plan.
Competition: He is in an ongoing competition with his assistant to solve thefts faster, and secretly resents his subordinate’s successes, feeling insecure about his own abilities.
Conspiracy: Rodney tries to build an alliance with other mall security heads to create a united front against thieves, though his real goal is to gain information to use against them.
Secret: Rodney’s obsession with catching Holly stems from his failure at the FBI Academy, a fact he hides from colleagues to avoid exposing his weaknesses.
Deception: He often exaggerates his past accomplishments to his superiors and staff to maintain the image of a competent leader, despite his consistent failures.
Unspoken Wound: The bullying he suffered as a child makes Rodney overly aggressive and authoritarian in his methods, seeking validation through control.
Secret Identity: Rodney sees himself as a crusader against crime and portrays himself as a hero. However, his methods border on obsessive and brutal, revealing his more insecure side.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris’ Character Subtext
My Vision: When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.
What I learned from doing this assignment is again, don’t be a perfectionist and drag it out too long, I can edit it later.

With your example movie, give us the following answers for the character with the most subtext:
Movie Title: RETALIA NATION

For your two leads, brainstorm these answers:
Character Name: Holly (Protagonist)
Subtext Identity: A habitual shoplifter who was poor growing up and compensates for it by stealing even though she owns her own house cleaning business and has plenty of money.
Subtext Trait: Lying, plotting, hiding impoverished childhood, luring and seducing.
Subtext Logline: Holly is a sociopathic shoplifter who is at war with Retalia Nation’s security apparatus and its head of security who steals to cover up a childhood wound and secretly wants to go straight and stop shoplifting.
Possible Areas of Subtext: She manipulates almost everybody, the head of security, Rodney.

Character Name: Rodney (Antagonist)
Subtext Identity: Rodney loves busting people due to bullying he experienced as a child and to prove he’s good enough after flunking out of the FBI Academy.
Subtext Trait: Arrogant, overestimates his abilities and underestimates Holly’s abilities. He does not even know her true identity.
Subtext Logline: He’s the head of Retalia Nation security, who thinks he can catch anyone but is failing at catching one of the most damaging thiefs to the mall that Retalia Nation protects.
Possible Areas of Subtext: Controlling, stupid compared to Holly. Arrogant. Mean to people he is mentoring.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris' ACTOR ATTRACTORS
My Vision:
When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.
What I learned from doing this assignment is that taking a couple hours before editing helped tighten up aspects of the roles I worked on with a fresh mind. It is amazing the little ideas that pop in your head when you have a short break.
RETALIA NATION
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Lead Character Name: Holly Haverstouff
Role: Professional Shoplifter (Protagonist)
1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?
Holly is a cunning sociopath with elegant taste, gregarious and a faux-gracious manipulator who wars with the head of security of Retalia Nation and his minions.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?
She pulls off some major thefts, using disguises and outwits Retalia security over and over. She has an arc of ruthlessness all the way to considering going straight when her best friend's daughter is executed.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the script?
Opening scene where she steals a whole tray of diamond rings from a department store by pretending to be an auditor from corporate headquarters.

4. How was the role introduced in a way that sold it to an actor?
She gets to pull off major thefts while manipulating those who work for her to take a lot of the risks and she is smarter than Rodney, the head of Retalia Nation security at a major mall, humiliating him.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?
From ruthless thief to finally having some legitimate remorse when her best friend's daughter gets executed for shoplifting.

6. What subtext did the actor play?
As a child, she grew up poor and got humiliated by being denied even necessities while kids around her had nice things. As an adult, shoplifting gets her everything she wanted even though she has a really good job as a business owner.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character had?
Cat and mouse with Rodney, she outwits him when he thinks he has her cornered, she sneaks out through a tunnel under the mall that even he does not know exists. It was there before the mall was built. Mentoring her protege who works for her, teaching her the tricks of the trade and showing her how to be a better shoplifter. With her best friend's daughter, who admires her for having nice things, she hints at what she does but feels the girl is too young. She gives her nice gifts, so that the girl always has the latest in fashion.

8. How was this character’s unique voice presented?
Holly is always upbeat, making intelligent conversation, creating rapport with people but under the hood, she is always looking for an angle to manipulate people and steal.

9. What made this character special and unique?
Her upbeat attitude makes people like her along with intelligent conversation and jokes. She's smart and well educated and well dressed. She wears disguises sometimes to dress down to blend in better as a shoplifter. She puts a pebble in her shoe to change her gait so that the mall security system can't recognize her from her gait. She's almost always one step ahead of Rodney and his security team.

Lead Character Name: Rodney Shackels
Role: Head of Retalia Nation Security (Antagonist)

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?
He's arrogant and thinks he can outsmart any shoplifting crew. He's persistent and is right a lot of the time, but not when it matters for catching Holly.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?
He gets up at 3:30 every morning to work out and read the latest techniques on catching shoplifters and other criminals. He wasn't quite good enough to get into the FBI and has a chip on his shoulder.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the script?
He finds a vulnerability in the structure of a back hallway area of the mall and reinforces it with steel plates because it leads to the ceiling over a jewelry store and a bank.

4. How was the role introduced in a way that sold it to an actor?
Rodney is watching the video monitors of the mall and accurately predicting 90% of the time who is going to shoplift. He is baffled when Holly uses a laser to blind his cameras and pull off a theft of a whole tray of diamond rings.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?
Arrogant snob overly confident in his abilities. He kind of has the charisma that some drill sargeants have but it is limited-seems real on the surface but there is nothing there underneath.

6. What subtext did the actor play?
As a child, he was bullied. People stole stuff from him. In high school, some kid would dress and look like him and open his locker when he was not there and take things including money out of his locker. The school never caught who did it.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character had?
He plays cat and mouse with Holly and wants to catch her so badly but he is always two steps behind her.
He tries to mentor his assistant head of security, but the guy does not really respect him.

8. How was this character’s unique voice presented?
He has all of these funny sayings about crime that are stupid because they are so obvious. He works hard but really is no match for Holly.

9. What made this character special and unique?
He's persistent in his work, especially pursuing Holly, but just doesn't quite have the gray matter to catch her even though he has the right tools.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Christopher Confer. Reason: Formatting gets put into one large block of text

[Christopher Confer]

ACTOR ATTRACTORS Template
Movie Title: NIGHTCRAWLER
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Lead Character Name: Lou

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?
He makes a lot of money as a high risk, story grubbing freelance camerman. Very unique movie and role. Can anyone name a similar movie? There is not one.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?
He's determined to make a career for himself after being a petty thief stealing and selling scrap metal.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?
Going into private homes at crime scenes which is probably borderline criminal, in order to get exclusive pictures.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?
Shows him sneaking into a railroad yard to steal fencing and a man's watch. Shows a twisted grit to get what he wants no matter what.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?
Ruthless sociopath to giddy at times.

6. What subtext can the actor play?
A bit of an underdog loser past that motivates him to get ahead. But he is smart, he even says that he is always trying to learn new things.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?
With Nina, he manipulates her into "dating" him with the threat of cutting off her stories.
His employee, Rick, who is the voice of a conscience, who he also manipulates into paying the ultimate price.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?
Kind of as a slick, smart high school dropout who is proud of himself for accomplishing so much albeit through nasty means.

9. What makes this character special and unique?
He will do whatever it takes to get a story and get rid of the competition. He murders his competition.

10. (Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.)
Sabotages the breaks of his main competitor's van and then films the bloody crash scene and using it as part of a story deal with Channel 6.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Christopher Confer. Reason: Formatting was all wrong, the web site's formatting changed all of my formatting into on giant block of hard-to-read text

[Christopher Confer]

Chris' Genre Conventions for RETALIA NATION
My Vision:
When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.

What I learned from doing this assignment is keep moving quickly, it does not have to be perfect.

Tell us the following:
Title: RETALIA NATION
Concept: As retail stores unite into Retalia Nation, imposing death for theft, a cunning thief must innovate or die, transforming shoplifting into a deadly art.
Genre: Crime / Thriller

Make a list of the conventions for your chosen genre, like this:
Conventions of thrillers:
PURPOSE: To thrill your audience with high stakes, plot twists, and suspense that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.
LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS. They face danger at every step — either physically, emotionally, or mentally. The hero needs to either be in danger or there is the implication of future danger.
MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: There's a mystery that must be solved in order to survive. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert Villain’s plan.
Suspense comes from the danger the Hero faces.
HERO: Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful hero
VILLAIN: Dangerous, devious, and unrelenting. Committed to destroy anyone who gets in their way.
MAIN EMOTIONS: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation, uncertainty, and surprise

List your structure from Lesson 5 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions:

Act 1:
Opening: Holly walks out of a department store jewelry department with a whole tray of rings by telling the naive, young employee she is from a security firm and needs to take the tray to the office to verify them. She says it with such authority that the girl believes her.
IMPROVEMENT: Have the store manager come out and talk to the employee at the jewelry counter, nearly scaring off Holly from following through with stealing a whole tray of diamond rings.
Inciting Incident: Her protege is caught and executed under the new Retalia Nation's laws.
IMPROVEMENT: Holly witnesses this in the "trial and execution room" of the mall where only adults are allowed to see the sentences carried out. Her protege is guillotined and it is graphic, causing her nightmares later in the movie.
IMPROVEMENT: There is a mystery person following her around the mall dressed in a well tailored, brown suit. He follows her to the trial and execution room. He pops up later in the story too.
Turning Point: Holly herself narrowly escapes capture during another high-stakes theft.

Act 2:
New plan: Heist the bank that is located in the mall via access to the top of the vault through a panel in a service closet, just cuts through drywall.
IMPROVEMENT: There is a mole in her group creating paranoia and mistrust.
Plan in action: Day of the heist, the mall has reinforced the wall.
IMPROVEMENT: As they discover the reinforced wall, security team members are after them forcing the team to escape via tunnels under the mall that involves evading high-tech security measures like a sonic alarm that causes people to become instantly incontinent but Holly has special ear plugs for that but one of her team does not.
Midpoint Turning Point: Another protege, angry about no bank heist, is caught shoplifting three TVs and almost executed but Holly saves her.
IMPROVEMENT: Holly feels guilty her protege almost got executed. Holly goes over to her protege's house to check on her that night to see how her nerves are.

Act 3:
New plan: Holly decides that to effectively strike a significant blow against Retalia Nation, she needs to infiltrate their inner circle. Her plan involves getting close to a high-ranking official within Retalia who is known for his lavish parties and connections. Holly plans to gather incriminating evidence against this official to blackmail him into sabotaging Retalia’s operations from within.
IMPROVEMENT: Holly notices this official slightly winces when she is talking to him as if he suspects her motives of approaching him.
Turning Point: As Holly begins to execute her plan, she successfully gains the trust of the official and starts to gather the needed evidence. However, just as she is about to leverage this information, she discovers that the official is one step ahead of her. The official reveals that he had been suspicious of her motives from the start and was using her to flush out dissent within his ranks. Holly finds herself surrounded by Retalia security, barely escaping capture.
Major Shift: This betrayal forces Holly to reconsider her lone wolf approach. Realizing she cannot take down Retalia Nation alone, she reaches out to a network of other small-time criminals and former victims of Retalia’s tyranny. This pivot sets up a coalition against Retalia, shifting from a personal vendetta to a collective uprising.
IMPROVEMENT: The mistrust among the thieves causes Holly to work on a plan to create a magic sauce to entice the group to come together as a coherent force. Maybe a bonus that can't be collected until the work of taking down RETALIA NATION is done.

Act 4:
Climax: Holly organizes a major strike, using the information and resources gathered through her alliance. This involves simultaneous attacks on several key facilities to stretch Retalia's defenses thin.
The Final Confrontation: Holly leads a direct attack on the main control center, where she plans not only to disable Retalia's operations but to broadcast the corruption (some of the executed did nothing wrong and were executed just to discourage shoplifting) and tyranny of its leaders to the world. As Holly and her team infiltrate the facility, they encounter heavy resistance.

Turning Point: As they reach the central broadcasting room, Holly confronts the head of Retalia Nation. Amidst a tense standoff, she reveals the evidence of their atrocities, including the execution of her best friend's daughter. The confrontation ends with Holly overpowering the Retalia leader, securing the broadcast to expose the organization's deeds.
IMPROVEMENT: The clock is ticking. Holly must expose the evidence of atrocities before the computer system shuts down and then they cannot broadcast it.

Resolution: Following the successful exposure of Retalia Nation, there's widespread public outrage. Law enforcement and other governmental bodies move in, leading to arrests and dismantling of the organization. Holly's role is acknowledged, but she remains wary of her own legal standing. Holly's Decision: Realizing the cost of her lifestyle, especially the loss of her best friend's daughter,
Holly decides to abandon her life of crime.
IMPROVEMENT: Scene where Holly must face legal consequences, deal with the loss of her friend's daughter, and her moral contemplation about whether her ends justified her means. Perhaps in going totally legit, she ironically opens a company that makes store shelves into vending machines. Every 5 feet of shelves on an aisle is a vending machine-almost like in a Tokyo subway station.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by  Christopher Confer. Reason: I had my lesson 6 properly formatted and the website decided to make it one giant block of text. Not sure why it does that but I don't have time to fix it right now

[Christopher Confer]

Chris' 4 Act Transformational Structure of RETALIA NATION
My Vision:
When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.
What I learned from doing this assignment is it does not have to be perfect. Keep moving forward and enjoy the creative process.

Concept: As retail stores unite into Retalia Nation, imposing death for theft, a cunning thief must innovate or die, transforming shoplifting into a deadly art.

Main Conflict: Cat and mouse game of Holly, the shoplifting queen vs. head of RETALIA NATION security, Rodney (no longer Buck and Buckie but Rodney and Rodey, his assistant).

Old Ways: Initially, Holly is driven by ego and the excitement of outsmarting the system. She's meticulous, bold, and emotionally detached, seeing her criminal activities as a complex game she's destined to win. Her old ways are characterized by thrill-seeking, manipulation, and a disregard for the broader impact of her actions.

New Ways: By the film’s conclusion, Holly adopts a more empathetic and responsible outlook. She becomes aware of the social and personal repercussions of her actions. Opting for a stable job signifies her new approach to life: seeking fulfillment through honest work and valuing community welfare over personal thrill. It will need to be subtle that she is changing to go down this path.

Act 1:
Opening: Holly walks out of a department store jewelry department with a whole tray of rings by telling the naive, young employee she is from a security firm and needs to take the tray to the office to verify them. She says it with such authority that the girl believes her.
Inciting Incident: Her protege is caught and executed under the new Retalia Nation's laws.
Turning Point: Holly herself narrowly escapes capture during another high-stakes theft

Act 2:
New plan: Heist the bank that is located in the mall via access to the top of the vault through a panel in a service closet, just cuts through drywall.
Plan in action: Day of the heist, the mall has reinforced the wall without her knowing. Heist thwarted.
Midpoint Turning Point: Another protege, angry about no bank heist, is almost caught shoplifting three TVs and sentenced to be executed but Holly saves her.

Act 3:
New plan: Holly decides that to effectively strike a significant blow against Retalia Nation, she needs to infiltrate their inner circle. Her plan involves getting close to a high-ranking official within Retalia who is known for his lavish parties and connections. Holly plans to gather incriminating evidence against this official to blackmail him into sabotaging Retalia’s operations from within.
Turning Point: As Holly begins to execute her plan, she successfully gains the trust of the official and starts to gather the needed evidence. However, just as she is about to leverage this information, she discovers that the official is one step ahead of her. The official reveals that he had been suspicious of her motives from the start and was using her to flush out dissent within his ranks. Holly finds herself surrounded by Retalia security and barely escaping capture.
Major Shift: This betrayal forces Holly to reconsider her lone wolf approach. Realizing she cannot take down Retalia Nation alone, she reaches out to a network of other small-time criminals and former victims of Retalia’s tyranny. This pivot sets up a coalition against Retalia, shifting from a personal vendetta to a collective uprising.

Act 4:
Climax: Holly organizes a major strike, using the information and resources gathered through her alliance. This involves simultaneous attacks on several key facilities to stretch Retalia's defenses thin.
The Final Confrontation: Holly leads a direct attack on the main control center, where she plans not only to disable Retalia's operations but to broadcast the corruption (some of the executed did nothing wrong and were executed just to discourage shoplifting) and tyranny of its leaders to the world. As Holly and her team infiltrate the facility, they encounter heavy resistance.
Turning Point: As they reach the central broadcasting room, Holly confronts the head of Retalia Nation. Amidst a tense standoff, she reveals the evidence of their atrocities, including the execution of her best friend's daughter. The confrontation ends with Holly overpowering the Retalia leader, securing the broadcast to expose the organization's deeds.

Resolution: Following the successful exposure of Retalia Nation, there's widespread public outrage. Law enforcement and other governmental bodies move in, leading to arrests and dismantling of the organization. Holly's role is acknowledged, but she remains wary of her own legal standing. Holly's Decision: Realizing the cost of her lifestyle, especially the loss of her best friend's daughter, Holly decides to abandon her life of crime.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by  Christopher Confer. Reason: Formatting was all wrong, the web site's formatting changed all of my formatting into on giant block of hard-to-read text

[Christopher Confer]

Chris' Subtext Plots
My Vision: When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.
What I learned from doing this assignment is that ChatGPT helps expand the possibilities of a story, things I did not consider as subtext plots.

RETALIA NATION
Concept: As retail stores unite into Retalia Nation, imposing death for theft, a cunning thief must innovate or die, transforming shoplifting into a deadly art.
Subtexts:
1. Scheme and Investigation
Holly, the protagonist, secretly plants evidence to implicate competitors within the theft ring, effectively using Retalia Nation’s strict laws to eliminate her competition. Meanwhile, a dedicated investigator starts uncovering discrepancies in the evidence, leading to a game of cat and mouse that exposes corruption within Retalia Nation's own ranks.
2. Layering
As Holly executes her thefts, it’s revealed that her actions are part of a larger, hidden agenda: she’s gathering incriminating evidence against the creators of Retalia Nation. Her final heist aims to steal not just valuable goods but also data that could bring down the federation from within, revealing her as an unexpected whistleblower.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by  Christopher Confer.

[Christopher Confer]

My Vision:

When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.

What I learned from doing this assignment is keep moving quickly, make decisions after giving it thought but don’t get into paralysis of analysis.

RETALIA NATION

Genre: Crime / Intrigue

Protagonist: Holly

Character Arc of Holly

Arc Begins:

At the start of Retalia Nation, Holly is a cunning and thrill-seeking shoplifting ring leader. She orchestrates elaborate thefts, not out of financial necessity but for the adrenaline rush. Holly is adept at manipulating situations and people to succeed in her heists, viewing the world of retail as her playground. She is detached from the consequences of her actions, seeing her activities as a challenging game rather than criminal behavior.

Arc Ends:

By the end of the movie, Holly transforms into a person who recognizes the real-world implications of her actions. She sees the harsh realities of her lifestyle, particularly after the execution of her protege, and the unsustainable nature of her thrill-seeking behavior. Holly decides to abandon her life of crime, opting to seek legitimate employment and contribute positively to society, valuing stability and safety over the thrill of the chase.

Internal/External Journey

Internal Journey:

Holly’s internal journey involves a growing realization of the moral and personal costs of her lifestyle. Initially, she enjoys the rush and ignores the risks, but as the story progresses, the stakes become too high. The turning point is the execution of her protege, which acts as a wake-up call, leading her to question her values and the kind of life she wants to lead.

External Journey:

Externally, Holly starts as a successful thief, always one step ahead of security. However, her actions lead to increased security measures and the establishment of Retalia Nation. Her protege’s capture and execution are direct results of her actions, pushing her towards a final heist that ultimately convinces her to quit. Her journey from a feared criminal to a potential employee looking for normalcy highlights her external transformation.

Old Ways/New Ways

Old Ways:

Holly is driven by ego and the excitement of outsmarting the system. She’s meticulous, bold, and emotionally detached, seeing her criminal activities as a complex game she’s destined to win. Her old ways are characterized by thrill-seeking, manipulation, and a disregard for the broader impact of her actions.

New Ways:

By the film’s conclusion, Holly adopts a more empathetic and responsible outlook. She becomes aware of the social and personal repercussions of her actions. Opting for a stable job signifies her new approach to life: seeking fulfillment through honest work and valuing community welfare over personal thrill. At least, she is considering it after she finally realizes how this cat and mouse game steals most of the joy out of her life.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris’ Intentional Lead Characters

My Vision:

When people watch the trailer for my movie, they have to watch the movie.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that ChatGPT helps immensely to enrich my characters’ attributes.

HOLLY, THE PROTAGONIST

Logline: Holly embodies the spirit of rebellion against the oppressive measures of Retalia Nation. Her journey from a thrill-seeker to someone contemplating legitimate work reflects a deep internal conflict and character growth, providing the narrative arc with a rich exploration of personal transformation.

Uniqueness: Holly’s blend of intelligence, deviousness, and resourcefulness sets her apart. Unlike typical criminals driven by financial gain, Holly engages in shoplifting for the thrill and challenge, even crafting elaborate costumes and diversions. This thrill-seeking aspect adds a layer of complexity to her character, as her motivations are not rooted in necessity but in adrenaline.

BUCK, THE ANTAGONIST

Logline: As the chief enforcer, Buck represents the oppressive system Holly fights against. His intense dedication to his role adds tension and stakes to the narrative, making every encounter with Holly a critical clash of ideals and wills.

Uniqueness: Buck’s relentless nature and hound-like pursuit make him a formidable antagonist. His singular focus on catching shoplifters and his no-nonsense approach to security enforcement position him as a symbol of Retalia Nation’s authoritarian stance.

BUCKIE, THE TRIANGLE CHARACTER

Logline: Buckie is the wild card who influences both the protagonist’s and antagonist’s paths. His actions serve as a catalyst for significant plot developments, including escalating the risk for Holly and complicating Buck’s mission. His eventual downfall is a pivotal moment that impacts the dynamics between Holly and Buck.

Uniqueness: Buckie’s duplicity provides an interesting dynamic to the story. On the surface, he supports Buck’s mission, but secretly he assists Holly, thus betraying his boss for personal gain. This double life adds layers of intrigue and suspense, as his true intentions could be exposed at any moment.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer’s Title, Concept, and Character Structure!

Vision:

I want to be one of the best writers in the industry. When people watch the trailer, they have to watch the movie. I want people to say he writes ingenious stories, where the hell did he come up with that idea? I want my writing life to be satisfying, not grueling.

What I learned doing this assignment is keep at it daily and AI is such a helpful assistant that saves time.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Title: RETALIA NATION

Concept: As retail stores unite into the Retalia Nation with its own jurisdiction and laws, shoplifting now carries the death penalty. A cunning thief must innovate or die, transforming shoplifting into a deadly art.

Character Structure Protagonist / Antagonist: Shoplifting ring leader matches wits against the head of Retalia Nation’s security.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 4 Lesson 2 Deeper Layer

Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned doing this assignment is…Think of it as a more localized FISA court with real teeth

Surface Layer: A judge trying to create order in his city through unusual sentences like rotary cell phones in exchange for smart phones for people convicted of distracted driving.

Deeper Layer: He ends up joining his colleague’s star chamber in order to help really clean up the streets.

Major Reveal: When his colleague Judge Jason around the midpoint tells Judge Ken about the Star Chamber

Influences Surface Story: TBD

Hints: TBD

Changes Reality: They stop subversive spies using the star chamber. “Think of it as a more localized FISA court with real teeth, Judge Jason tells Judge Ken.

The rest of the structure to the characters to the script. Try to get to the point as we’ve done in the Iron Man example above:

Beginning: Kendo workout between Judge Ken and Judge Jason is pretty intense / would be bloody without the pads.

Inciting Incident: Judge Ken witnesses one of the bad guys cut off 4 lanes of traffic on-purpose, Burlyman is laughing while causing traffic mayhem which causes the mom and boy to get hit by a pallet.

(Judge Ken sentences a defendant to one year on a rotary cell phone, showing that he is flexible to non-traditional punishment.)

Turning Point 1: The boy dies from the injuries given to him by Burlyman.

Act 2: They try to find out who is Burlyman’s boss.

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: The boy’s mother is murdered in the hospital to get rid of the potential witness.

Act 3: Burlyman and Kirill kidnap Judge Jason’s wife.

Turning Point 3: They free Judge Jason’s wife but are followed back to the courthouse on a Saturday where they go to get weapons and are attacked and taken hostage back to Kirill’s mansion

Act 4 Climax: Judge Jason’s wife frees Judge Ken and Judge Jason at Kirill’s mansion by crashing a flying car through the massive door wall to Kirill’s indoor pool.

Resolution: Judge Jason fights Kirill and kills him. Judge Ken fights Burlyman and kills him.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 4 Lesson 1 Character Journey in ROTARY PHONE STAR CHAMBER

Judge Ken’s Protagonist Character Journey

Opening: Judge Ken witnesses Burlyman cut off four lanes of traffic, causing a boy and his mother to be injured by a flying pallet that flew off a pallet carrying pickup truck.

Turning Point 1: Boy dies in hospital from his injuries

Act 2 Investigate Burlyman and Kirill and any leads

Turning Point 2: Mom is murdered by Kirill’s men shortly after boy dies to get rid of a potential witness

Act 3 Investigate and go after Kirill and Burlyman

Turning Point 3 Judge Jason’s wife is kidnapped by Kirill

Act 4 Judge Ken and Judge Jason free Judge Jason’s wife but are captured and tortured themselves

Kirill and company use giant wasps the size of a human hand to torture them. They are saved by an epi-pen at the last minute.

Judge Jason’s wife frees them by crashing a flying car into the door wall of the pool area where they are being tortured.

Judge Ken kills Burlyman.

———————————————————————————————

Burlyman’s Antagonist Character Journey

Opening: Burlyman cuts off four lanes of traffic causing pallet truck’s pallets to injure the boy and his mom. He enjoys it.

TP1: Boy dies at the end of Act 1.

Act 2 Ratchets up in that the boy has died and the judges have to pursue the Russian spies.

TP2: The mom is murdered and Burlyman sends a fake kidnapping text that Judge Jason’s daughter is kidnapped.

Act 3 Burlyman is used to attack the Judges on a Saturday at the courthouse.

TP3: Burlyman and Kirill kidnap Jason’s wife.

Act 4 Kirill and Burlyman take Judge Jason and Judge Ken hostage as they free Judge Jason’s wife. Burlyman tortures Judge Ken and Jason with the giant wasps.

[Christopher Confer]

BW Module 1 Lesson 5 Depth of Emotions

Lynn and Jack’s Character Emotions

What I learned about doing this assignment is…the puzzle is coming together but it’s still in development.

ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show is Breaking Bad

Watch the next episode of your Example Show and create an Emotional Profile for two or three main characters in this show.

Walter

A. Situational: Hope / Fear

Make the 2 million to leave behind before he dies.

B. Motivation: Want / Need

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

Never, so far, letting on that he is selling illegal drugs.

D. Weaknesses: Hides that he has a second cell phone, getting caught with the second cell phone, gets kidnapped by Tuco

E. Triggers: Perception that he is not / has not provided for the family enough

F. Coping Mechanism: Lie

Skyler

A. Situational: Hope / Fear

Be a mom, take care of family / Losing Walt to cancer and to his evasiveness

B. Motivation: Want / Need

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

D. Weaknesses

E. Triggers

Walt not letting her in emotionally

F. Coping Mechanism

Leaves the home to go “out” with no explanation just like Walt has been doing to her. Complains to her sister.

Jesse

A. Situational: Hope / Fear

Make a lot of money from meth

B. Motivation: Want / Need

To be respected by Walt and not viewed as a burnout slacker.

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

Dread of contempt / Moves forward in order to keep moving forward

D. Weaknesses

Does not think strategically too much of the time

E. Triggers

Disrespect

F. Coping Mechanism

Smoking meth, smoking weed

ASSIGNMENT 2: “2rue Love” competing bars with lie detector theme

1. For each of your main characters, brainstorm an Emotional Profile, filling in the following:

Lynn

A. Situational: Hope / Fear

Make more money than Jack

B. Motivation: Want / Need

Grow a business better than she was allowed to in the corporate world.

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

Angst over feeling of being held back. Hides it and pretends everything is ok.

D. Weaknesses

Greed, lying

E. Triggers

Heavy handed boss, heavy handed husband who can be too critical

F. Coping Mechanism

Drinking, smoking marijuana, shopping

Jack

A. Situational: Hope / Fear

Make more money than Lynn and not get arrested for breaking the law in doing so.

B. Motivation: Want / Need

Make more money than Lynn / Have lots of money

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

Pretends grace under pressure

D. Weaknesses

Punches walls when no one is around, so not so graceful under pressure

E. Triggers

Coming in second place. It’s like getting an F. First or nothing which is nuts because combined with Lynn they make over 450,000 per year. Who cares who makes more? Jack does.

F. Coping Mechanism

Work harder, cheat, do illegal things to make more money in his bar, lift weights

Sean

A. Situational: Hope / Fear

Run his speakeasy without getting caught, getting arrested for running his speakeasy.

B. Motivation: Want / Need

Make money, lots of it as a teenager.

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

Pretends grace under pressure

D. Weaknesses

He’s in ninth grade, he’s a kid.

E. Triggers

Accusation that he doesn’t have what it takes; that his business skills are poor when actually they are not.

F. Coping Mechanism

Smoking weed, having a robot do roles that call for a heavy or an adult regarding running his speakeasy for his high school mates.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer’s Intriguing Character Layers

BW Module 1 Lesson 4 Layers of Character Intrigue

What I learned doing this assignment is that…later in the series they get caught breaking the law and have to sell their bars and flee to Brazil. They sell to a main character called Repo-woman who wants to get out of the dangerous car repossession business.

ASSIGNMENT 1:

1. Think about your Example Show. Make a list of the places you’ve already seen Character Intrigue in the previous episodes.

2. Watch the next episode and see how Character Intrigue is being used to create the need to see more episodes.

Breaking Bad

Character Intrigue:

Walt keeping secret that he has Stage 3A lung cancer from his family and Jesse.

Walt keeping secret that he has been cooking meth from his wife, son and brother-in-law.

Walt keeping secret that he stole the chemistry equipment and Hugo gets blamed and arrested for it and loses his job.

Lies to Skyler that he got the check from Elliott…

Since he lied about Elliott and Gretchen giving him a check for chemo, how is he going to pay for it? Will he start cooking again?

Yes, he and Jesse start cooking again. How will that go? How will that evolve? You feel compelled to watch the next scene, the next

episode to find out what happens next. It provokes curiosity.

ASSIGNMENT 2

1. For your Inner Circle characters, fill in any of the Intrigue items that apply.

Lynn and Jack own competing bars on the same cute suburban main street. They left their high paying corporate jobs in order to run their bars. They have a sick competitive nature to see who can make the most money, who can run their business better than their spouse. As the show evolves, there are pretty much no rules for making profit. At some point in the story arc, they both get in trouble with the law and sell their bars and flee the country.

Character Name: Lynn

Role: Owner of 2rue Lies Bar

Hidden agendas: Buys liquor with no tax stamp on it.

Competition: Must make more money than her husband Jack

Conspiracies: With Lynn to make money illegally selling to minors, no tax stamp liquor, failure to pull building permits.

Secrets: Breaks the law to earn more money

Deception: Didn’t tell Jack about no tax stamp liquor.

Wound: Didn’t have food sometimes as a child because her parents struggled financially at times. Didn’t get promoted to VP of Marketing lead to opening her bar.

Secret Identity: In later episodes, they go to Brazil to avoid prosecution.

Character Name: Jack

Role: Owner of Lie to Me Bar

Hidden agendas: Sells to minors

Competition: Must make more money than his wife Lynn

Conspiracies: With Lynn to make money illegally selling to minors, no tax stamp liquor, failure to pull building permits.

Secrets: Breaks the law to earn more money

Deception: Didn’t tell Lynn about selling to minors, building the Avoid DUI hotel across the parking lot.

Wound: Hyper competitive, his dad was always hassling him to do better but it was never enough, he never let Jack cross a finish line.

Secret Identity: In later episodes, they go to Brazil to avoid prosecution.

Character Name: Repo-woman

Role: Buys their bars when they flee to Brazil later in the story in order to get out of the dangerous car repossession business.

Hidden agendas: Mold the bars into her own image despite the agreements she has with Lynn and Jack

Competition: TBD

Conspiracies: TBD

Secrets: She hates the lie detector gimmick that both bars have and wants to put an end to it.

Deception: She promised not to phase out the lie detector gimmick.

Wound: Men used to out compete her in the repo business until she and her employees starting using exo-skeleton suits to be very effective repo-ing cars.

Secret Identity: TBD

Character Name: Sean

Role: Son of Lynn and Jack is 14. Comes into his own a couple seasons in when his parents go on the lamb and flee to Brazil as a speakeasy owner that caters to his high school clientel.

Hidden agenda: runs a speakeasy for his high school friends and his wallet.

Competition: With a friend who sells knives for extra money, almost runs his mouth one night while drinking.

Conspiracies: With his parents to make money selling alcohol illegally.

Secrets: Running illegal bar/speakeasy. Maybe Sean kills Repo-Woman when his parents are on the lamb but decides not to because they get a residual from her for running their former bars.

Deception: Hides in order to not have his illegal bar business revealed.

Wound: Stayed behind when his parents fled to Brazil. Became an emancipated minor

because his parents are criminals.

Secret Identity: Speakeasy owner at 14 years-old.

[Christopher Confer]

Binge Worthy Module 1 Lesson 3

Engaging Main Characters That Sell Your Show

ASSIGNMENT 1:

Watch the next episode of your Example Show to see any places the lead characters might fit this model.

Tell us the name and Engaging Profile answers for at least one character from your example show.

Breaking Bad

Walter White, Walt

Role: Protagonist chemistry teacher turned meth cooker

Intrigue: Has stage 3 lung cancer and wants to earn money for his family for after he is gone.

Has superior meth cooking chemistry skills. Purist product on the market.

Moral issue: It’s against the law to cook meth and sell it. It is against the law to murder people. It’s bad to help people poison themselves with illegal drugs. He’s making his fortune on the shoulders of addicts and the competition that he has to kill.

Unpredictable: Burns asshole’s car up by arcing the windshield wiper across the car battery which causes an immediate fire.

Empathetic: Walt is pretty sick with the cough that causes him to spit up blood. You empathize with that and his goal to leave some wealth behind.

ASSIGNMENT 2:

What I learned doing this assignment is that to make the characters intriguing, it helps to have at least one of them have an intense moral flexibility which keeps the action interesting.

Now, do the process with your show.

1. Tell us the journey of your show.

Married couple who open competing bars in the same downtown of a nice suburb.

2. Who are the main characters that will sell your show?

Lynn and Jack leave the corporate world to start these competing bars. They are hyper competitive and want to beat each other to see who can make the most money.

3. Answer these questions for each of those characters.

Unique: Jack opens Japanese style tiny room hotel across the parking lot from his bar to help people avoid driving home drunk. Lynn believes this is not fair because they only supposed to run one business, a hotel equals two businesses. He believes it doesn’t, it touches into the parking lot of the bar and is part of the bar in that sense but it is just the edge of the parking lot.

Intrigue: Will Lynn or Jack break the law to grow their bars? Will they buy liquor with no tax stamps on it? Will they sell to minors? Will they allow smoking or only on the roof where there is a vent which is good because it is outdoors. Will they cook the books a little? Cook them a lot which sets up a conflict with tax authorities. Maybe get a fine. Maybe sleep with an agent to avoid a fine.

Maybe this prompts one of them to want a lie detector on their spouse.

Moral Issue: Law breaker, illegal liquor. Selling to minors. Win at any cost as the journey evolves.

Unpredictable: have Jack do some construction work on his bar that Lynn did not know he knew how to do. Will he pull permit or view it as an annoyance which foreshadows cutting corners on no tax stamp liquor on selling to minors etc.

Empathetic: Lynn works hard to make her bar have a homey ambience. So does Jack. Maybe one lost their corporate job and the other couldn’t stand it anymore. Anyhow they both saved up a million and put it into the bars.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 3 Lesson 8 Purpose Driven Supporting Characters

Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned doing this assignment is that each day of writing moves the ball down the field.

Supporting Characters in Rotary Phone Star Chamber

Support 1:

Name: Emily

Role: Judge Ken’s administrative assistant

Main purpose: Her legal problem of 5000 Rice Suave coffee mugs that should say Rico Suave. She and her husband were trying to sell mugs in an online business that say Rico Suave, but the mug company made a mistake.

Value: To show Ken’s helpful side, he wants to help her sue the mug company if she can’t resolve it. That he cares about his employee’s life/business.

Support 2:

Name: Zappa

Role: Neighbor high school aged kid who helps Judge Ken make the rotary cell phones.

Main purpose: Show off Zappa’s skills of being able to crank out lots of rotary cell phones.

Value: To show Ken’s helpful side, wants the next generation to achieve great things and the high school kid who is on his school’s robotics club helps Judge Ken soldering the rotary cell phones.

Support 3:

Name: Judge Jason’s daughter who did not get killed by a distracted driver.

Role: Oldest daughter who is in middle school, eighth grade.

Main purpose: She makes Judge Jason vulnerable to Kirill.

Value: To give Jason another reason to fight the evil that is being done to civilized society.

Support 4:

Name: Judge Jason’s wife, Alyssa

Role: Jason’s wife

Main purpose: She makes him vulnerable to bad guy Kirill to harm his family and further gives Judge Jason a reason to fight the bad guys.

Value: To give Jason another reason to fight evil that is being done to civilized society. She helps Judge Jason fight Kirill.

Support 5:

Name: Kirill, the Russian spy sent here unofficially as an illegal spy runner/control agent.

Role: Protagonist, lead bad guy.

Main purpose: Judge Ken and Judge Jason must fight and stop him.

Value: Does evil, subversive activities against America that the Judges must stop because no one else is doing anything about it. He is here to create subversion by making Manchurian type candidates who are Americans that he kidnaps and programs to cause all sorts of trouble.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 3 Lesson 7 Character Profiles Assignment 2

What I learned doing this assignment is…each day develops the story a little bit farther. It’s the consistency of doing the work, whether I want to or not, that evolves the story towards its goal.

Judge Ken

A. The High Concept.

Two district court judges form a star chamber to make their city more civilized by removing bad guys.

B. This character’s journey.

From loving the law to violating it in order to do good by illegally taking out the bad guys.

C. The Actor Attractors for this character.

-He creates a new way of sentencing for distracted driving of texting and driving by sentencing defendants to one year of rotary cell phone in lieu of their smartphone.

-Martial artist Tae Kwon Do and Kendo

Character Subtext:

-Wants revenge for his wife’s death.

-He doesn’t want to get caught doing the star chamber, fears loss of status, loss of job and it betrays his love for the law.

Character Intrigue:

-Will he join the star chamber?

-He likes to be a little sneaky, like surprising defendants with a year of no smart phone replaced with a year on a rotary cell phone, very humiliating but not as bad as the death or injury they caused other people.

Flaw:

-People pleaser sometimes.

-Also touch of control freak.

Values:

-Likes well ordered society, that’s the beauty of the American institutions. Loves the law because it helps provide order in civil society.

Dilemma:

-A judge who feels compelled to break the law for the greater good later in the arc of his journey.

———————————————————————————–

Judge Jason

A. The High Concept.

Two district court judges form a star chamber to make their city more civilized by removing bad guys.

B. This character’s journey.

Violating the law in order to do good and convince his colleague and friend to join and taking out bad guys.

C. The Actor Attractors for this character.

Ass kicking, martial artist. Brains and brawn character who gets results.

Character Subtext:

-Wants revenge for his daughter’s death at the hands of a distracted driver.

-He was bullied as a kid and this can make him quick to anger sometimes, particularly if he feels cornered. Hates bullies.

Character Intrigue:

-Star Chamber, will it succeed?

-Judge Jason on the other hand is very practical and wants to convince Judge Ken at the proper time, that results are what matter. Needs to get Judge Ken to come over to the gray dark side of results.

Flaw:

-Likes kicking ass a little too much. A bit of a masochist?

Values:

-Free society needs rules and people who care about following the rules. He has seen too much crime go unpunished.

Dilemma:

-Breaking the law with the star chamber for the greater good of protecting society.

[Christopher Confer]

Binge Worthy Module 1, Lesson 2 Assignment 2

What I learned doing this assignment is my main characters are going to be hyper competitive. It reminds me of that really old song lyric from my grandparent’s era “Anything you can do, I can do better” in which George Burns and his wife Gracie would sing while competing with each other.

A. Main Characters Circle:

Competing Bar owners husband Jason Macher and wife Charlotte Macher

B. Connected Circle:

Managers of their bars, Lie Detector Expert, patrons, Repo-Woman

C. Environment Circle:

Repo-Woman’s employees, patrons, city officials, business people and politicians

Give us a one sentence description of each of the Main Characters:

A couple set up competing bars in a pleasant middle class suburb in which they have a gimmick of the patrons being able to use a lie detector to be able to determine the intent possible love interests have toward each other. It’s very entertaining and more fun than trivia night.

Charlotte is a competitive businesswoman who left the corporate world to run a competing bar with/against her husband, Jason. Creative problem solver.

Jason is a competitive businessman who left the corporate world to run a competing bar with/against his wife, Charlotte. Also a creative problem solver.

The competition gets pretty crazy over who’s bar makes the most money, who has the best ideas to bring in customers, etc.

[Christopher Confer]

Binge Worthy Module 1 Lesson 2

ASSIGNMENT 1:

Watch the next episode of your Example Show to see how the characters fit into these three circles:

A. Main Characters Circle: Walt, Jesse, Skylar, Hank

B. Connected Circle: Walt Jr., Skylar’s sister, Crazy 8, Jesse’s parents and little brother.

C. Environment Circle: Store clerk, Home Depot employee, Hooker at motel with meth teeth

[Christopher Confer]

Rotary Phone Star Chamber

Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned doing this assignment is that some days I don’t feel like writing but I do it anyways. A while back I bought a white board. If the assignment looks too big sometimes, I take one piece of it like Motivation Want and Need, for example, and just do that one thing on the white board and then take a picture of it and move on to the next of the six character profiles. Then I use the pictures to fill in the character profile items. I end up writing it a couple of times which burns it into my memory better.

2. With each of your lead characters, first tell us the following:

Judge Ken

A. The High Concept.

Two district court judges form a star chamber to make their city more civilized by removing bad guys

B. This character’s journey.

Judge Ken:

From loving the law to violating it in order to do good by illegally taking out the bad guys.

C. The Actor Attractors for this character.

Judge Ken:

He creates a new way of sentencing for distracted driving of texting and driving by sentencing defendants to one year of rotary cell phone in lieu of their smartphone.

3. Brainstorm the first 6 parts of the profile for each of your lead characters.

Role in the Story: Judge Ken, Protagonist

Age range and Description:

-Around 37 years, first generation Korean American, average height

Core Traits:

-Loves the law

-Smart, smart lawyer, smart judge

-Creative, created the Rotary Phone sentencing/punishment

-Vengeful

-Martial artist practices Tae Kwon Do and Kendo

Motivation Want/Need:

-Want: To protect his city and country.

-Need: To avenge his wife’s death by distracted driver

Wound:

-Mourning loss of his wife, painting partner, life partner, best friend. Hard to face since she died senselessly just driving to a painting site with Ken.

Likability, Relatability, Empathy:

-Likeability: Well liked, funny, creative especially with his rotary phone sentencing. Has martial arts skill.

-Relatability: There to protect the public, city, country.

-Empathy: Lost his wife to a distracted driver.

———————————————————————————————

Judge Jason

2. With each of your lead characters, first tell us the following:

Judge Jason

A. The High Concept.

Two district court judges form a star chamber to make their city more civilized by removing bad guys.

B. This character’s journey.

Violating the law in order to do good and convince his colleague and friend to join and taking out bad guys.

C. The Actor Attractors for this character.

3. Brainstorm the first 6 parts of the profile for each of your lead characters.

Role in the Story: Judge Jason, Protagonist

Age range and Description: Around 43 years

Core Traits:

-Ass kicker

-Brave

-Vengeful

-Martial artist practices Kendo

Motivation Want/Need:

-Want: To protect his city and country from the bad guys

-Need: To avenge his daughter’s death by distracted driver

Wound:

-Lost his daughter to a drunken, distracted driver.

Likability, Relatability, Empathy:

-Likeability: Ass kicker for a good cause. Creative problem solver, he created the star chamber to protect his city from criminals.

-Relatability: There to protect the public, city, country.

-Empathy: Lost his daughter to a distracted driver.

[Christopher Confer]

Breaking Bad 5 Star Model

What I learned doing this assignment is that I am going to have a lot more detail than a 2 hour feature film. It’s kind of like putting a novel or two into a forty to sixty hour series. Breaking Bad has 62 episodes, so the writers have lots of space to expound on the story whereas a feature film has to keep it pithy. I guess the feature film is a form that I have a bias towards since I grew up on them but series that are binge worthy are a totally different animal.

Big Picture Hooks

A chemistry teacher turned drug dealer

Intriguing Character

How will this underpaid chemistry teacher evolve into a meth dealer and will he succeed in earning the kind of money he wants to leave behind for his family?

He is proud of making the best product due to his chemistry skills.

Empathy / Distress

Suffering from cancer, wanting to leave wealth for his family after he’s gone, getting even with the couple who screwed him out of an invention when they were all younger.

Layers / Open Loops

His brother-in-law the DEA cop, the cartel rep. who owns the chicken restaurant chain, Saul his attorney, his marriage, his son, the greedy chemistry company lady.

Inviting Obsession

The love making scene at the end of the pilot transitions right into episode 2, brilliant, you can’t click off because you want to know what happens next and especially if you contrast this scene with the earlier scene where his wife is watching the end of her eBay offering while giving him birthday sex. Why the difference? It is because Walt feels empowered selling his illicit product because it makes a lot of money. He’s no longer a weak high school teacher making a low salary. He has empowered himself-morals aside-he has empowered himself. The audience then wants to know how this plays out.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer

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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.

[Christopher Confer]

Hi everyone,

I’m Chris Confer from Birmingham, Michigan

I’ve written one script and have a full outline of the second one that I am writing.

I hope to write an excellent binger and sell it but first get the skills to do it, here.

A couple of you from the WIM class (hello all) saw this story already about a professor that I had at Michigan State. I had a course once with Jim Cash (Top Gun) on popular culture that he taught in his home. Michigan State University gave him a lot of leeway to do that as he was a local celebrity for having co-written Top Gun and several other scripts with Jack Epps Jr. His office was so large that it fit all 22 of his students pretty comfortably. It was really more of a giant family room with a Wurlitzer jukebox on one side and his desk on the other with couches in between. You should have seen his desk, it was about 15 feet long and he casually held court from behind it for the semester. It was a worthwhile course. The funny thing is that movies did not come up too often in the conversation. He did mention that was not real happy with how the Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) character was cast. He wanted her to be stronger and more independent. He said the choice of nylons with the seamline on the back undermined his intent for the characater. He also told us he had this little trick of not having to lend out movies to people because they often would not be returned. These were the days of VHS tape in the early 1990s. He would say, yeah, I don’t have it on VHS, I prefer Betamax because the picture quality is better. It was kind of funny. He was a producer at a local PBS station in East Lansing / Lansing before he got his break. He loved sports and everything popular culture. The course mainly focused on the 1950s and 1960s and we used a book called Populuxe.

[Christopher Confer]

Module 4 Lesson 5 Audience Connection to Characters

Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

Brainstorm one or more ways you can present your Protagonist through each of these:

Likeability: Judge Ken chases Burlyman down and confronts him after Burlyman causes a traffic collision on purpose.

Relatability: We have all been cut off by distracted drivers and can relate when Judge Ken tells him off.

Empathy: He has a flashback to the day when they were t-boned on the passenger side and he watched his wife die in the car.

Likability: Sense of humor because rotary phone sentences are funny.

Relatability: Rotary phone sentences are cathartic and we want him to recover.

Empathy: Lost his wife to a distracted driver, carries some of her art with him: has it in a card form and on his phone. They used to paint together on Friday nights. He talks about how she loved to challenge him if his paintings were not so good, not in a mean way but hey you could have done a little better in this section of the painting.

Just to get the experience, give us one or more ways that your Antagonist could be presented through each of these:

Likability: Kirill is charming, evil, well trained at causing mayhem and subversion.

Relatability: A spy on foreign soil, eventhough he’s a bad guy in the movie, we can relate to being ordered by one’s government to do a job that sucks like being a spy.

Empathy: The star chamber is going to get him, so his time is short. Since he’s a bad guy, not sure there will be too much empathy here.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 3 Lesson 4: Intrigue

Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned from doing this exercise…sometimes I am too close to what I am writing and can’t see the forest for the trees. When I started this assignment I was thinking I need to create intrigue. Then I looked at the story after a 24 hour break and the intrigue was right there in my face.

Character Name: Judge Ken

Role: Protagonist District Court Judge

Hidden agendas: Star Chamber

Conspiracies: With Judge Jason on the star chamber

Secrets: Gave a Cuban-American a break on sentencing because he suffered under communism. Gave him only 2 days on the rotary phone.

Need to avenge wife’s death who died by a distracted driver.

Unspoken Wound: Has to do bad to do good. Doesn’t want to break the law but feels he must for the greater good. For him it’s a wound because he loves the law.

Also, he was always trying to please his parents growing up by overachieving.

Secret Identity: Star chamber member

How it might show up in my movie:

Scene where they are meeting at Ken’s first Star Chamber meeting and pronouncing sentences and it is obvious he is uncomfortable, sweating a lot.

Short scene in which he calls the Cuban-American into his chambers with their attorney to let him know normally he gives one year on a rotary phone but since he escaped Cuba, he’s only giving him 48 hours of rotary phone.

——————————————-

Character Name: Judge Jason

Role: Protagonist District Court Judge

Hidden agendas: Star Chamber

Conspiracies: With Judge Ken on the star chamber

Secrets: Need to avenge daughter’s death who died by a distracted driver.

Unspoken Wound: Bullied as a kid.

Secret Identity: Star chamber member

How it might show up in my movie:

Quip to his bailiff how he hates bullies. One defendant complains. He retorts: you’re lucky we don’t send you to Guantanamo.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 3 Lesson 3: Subtext

Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned from doing this exercise…Judge Ken loves the law but ends up breaking it for a greater good of protecting the country. Judge Jason was bullied as a kid and is always looking for opportunities for justice.

Movie Title: Rotary Phone Star Chamber

Character Name: Judge Ken

Subtext Identity: A judge who is angry at the decay of civil behavior in society giving out rotary cell phone sentences.

Subtext Trait: Tends to be a little controlling but not a dictator, is a parent pleaser, is a people pleaser, perfectionist. The reward is a job well done.

Subtext Logline: Ken is a judge, who adored the law when he was in law school and still does but has to break it in order to defend his city and country.

Possible Areas of Subtext: Use the law for good, for example, when he offers to help his admin take on a small claims court battle, this pleaser attitude helps motivate him to join the star chamber. Vengeance for his wife’s death.

Character Name: Judge Jason

Subtext Identity: A judge bullied as a kid, hates bullies, perfectionist, a bit of a one-upsman.

Subtext Trait: Ass kicker, hates subversion, hates Russians, maybe a touch paranoid

Subtext Logline: Jason is a judge who wanted to do good as a judge, to stop bullies in society, less idealistic than Judge Ken about the law but wants results none-the-less. He loves a good fight especially to correct injustices.

Possible Areas of Subtext: Trying to bring everyone who deserves it, to justice, man of action, no patience for the niceties of the law when the country and his city are in jeopardy. Vengeance for his daughter’s death. He’s spiritual about his daughter’s death, people’s bodies die but their spirit lives on he believes but wants justice in this life too.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 3 Lesson 2 Roles That Sell Actors

Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that this template helped me organize the details about the character and there is some fun material here to work with.

Movie Title: Rotary Phone Star Chamber

LEAD CHARACTER NAME: Judge Ken

1. Why would an actor want to be known for this role?

-Cool good guy who breaks the law to save his city from Russian spies.

-To play Judge Ken who is a Korean American attorney who made it all the way to a judgeship and made his parents and professors proud. Now is faced with betraying his legal education and traditions to save his city from Russian spies in an extra-judiciary manner.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?

– Event though he’s a judge who supposed to follow the law, he has to break it to protect society. He doesn’t do it lightly, but it is interesting. He has really cool technology that he gets his hands on or develops himself. He has an

electrical / mechanical engineering dual degree as an undergrad and then went to law school. Puts up drones that surveil uninterruptedly so the bad guys can be monitored including rotary phone offenders.

-The arc of his journey is intense, he doesn’t want to risk his status, betray the traditions he was sworn to uphold but there is a greater crisis that has to be solved.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

-Creates a novel way of sentencing for texting and driving: confiscate their smart phone and issue the offender a rotary cell phone.

-Gets tired of fist/kick fight and shoots Burlyman with his .22 caliber umbrella.

-Makes Kirill fall in the pool by cutting diving block. Rides in Judge Ken’s flying car.

-Drives an electric 1975 Eldorado. In bed with his hot neighbor watching a movie

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

-Kendo match

-Issues creative / novel and some say harsh Rotary Phone sentences.

-Drives an electric hybrid 1975 Eldorado that he made.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

-Calm straight faced judge to killing bad guys. Slightly dry sense of humor that serves him well, diffuses situations or provokes if you are on the receiving end.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

-Vengeance. To avenge his wife’s death, to avenge the boy hit by the pallet. He might not always realize it but he is looking for ways to avenge his wife’s death and the boy’s death.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

-With his colleague, Judge Jason, with the neighbor kid who helped him build the phones, with his wife but she has passed away.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

-He’s soft spoken when he needs to be in his love for the law and love for his country and city but when push comes to shove his Tae Kwon Do and engineering background make him a weapon to hunt down Kirill and Burlyman.

9. What makes this character special and unique?

-He is a first generation American and loves his country because you can make it big in America which he did. His parents constantly pointed this out to him growing up.

10. Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.

In Act 1 he hands down a rotary phone sentence to a texting and driving defendant and because their posse in the gallery is so disruptive, he give the posse the same rotary cell phone sentence (or they can go to jail for contempt of court). He makes a comment to them that they “have no idea how good you have it in the USA and should show some respect for the freedom that you have. You pull this in other countries and you might get 5 to 10 years and / or be caned.”

LEAD CHARACTER NAME: Judge Jason

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?

-He’s an intelligent bad ass who is a judge and runs a star chamber. He’s a good guy even though he breaks the law. He does it to protect the country and his city because no one else is.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?

-He takes initiative to start the star chamber. He’s physically fit and practices the martial art of kendo and has skills from his Force Recon days in the Marines.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

-Beats up bad guys, executes bad guys, kills spies without a bunch of bureaucratic red tape.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

-Kendo workout with Judge Ken, he is in great physical shape and his skills for fighting.

-Great courage: founded the star chamber.

-Has a flying car

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

-That is the beauty of this character, his range is very focused, not overly emotional which enables him to get results.

-Though he does want vengeance for the daughter he lost to a person who was texting and driving.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

-He’s often sizing up what kind of physical opponent a person he is talking to would be. Comes from his military training.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

-Buddy with his fellow Judge, Judge Ken. Has active hobby with his wife of the flying car.

-Super protective of his living daughter as she is the only child he has left after the death of his first child, his other daughter.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

-He’s a man’s man. Not too cocky but you would not want to mess with him. Gets thing done. Grass does not grow under his feet.

9. What makes this character special and unique?

-Not afraid of much due to his military training, physically strong and capable. Has fighting skills.

-Does things in a calm, soft spoken manner but beware if you cross him.

10. Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.

In Act 4, the bad guy Kirill has fallen in the pool because the swimming block pole was cut 3/4 of the way through so that when Kirill leans on it breaks and he falls in.

Judge Jason says to him, “You’re all wet” very calmly and Kirill explodes into a rage. They exchange blows, and as Kirill is about to deliver a kick to Judge Jason, he slips in his own puddle of water enabling Judge Jason to change his delivery and stomp Kirill while he is down.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 3 Lesson 1 Lead Characters That Attract Actors

Vision: To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that Shane Black created a unique character in the Riggs character, who because he is a little crazy, can explore a range of emotions from depressed and suicidal to happy to be hunting bad guys and get really aggressive.

Movie Title: Lethal Weapon (1987)

Lead Character Name: Martin Riggs

Actor notoriety – Wants to be known for this part.

-Funny, cool good guy who’s a bit crazy and takes big risks because he’s not afraid to die.

Character that is most interesting in movie.

-Even though he’s a bit crazy, he’s got a warm personality and gets results, knows how to fight, can handle a gun and has skills from being in the Phoenix Project in Vietnam. (The Phoenix Project was an intense counter-insurgency program in which spec-ops teams would dress in indigenous garb and drop into Viet Cong controlled areas at 3 am to kill or disappear Viet Cong leaders and teams). No wonder Riggs has skills.

-Takes most interesting actions in the story.

-Christmas tree lot cocaine bust. Brings the suicide jumper down by handcuffing him and making him jump. Overcomes being tortured by electric shock.

-Shoots bad guys in the desert rescue scene. Kills Mr. Joshua in a fist fight.

Outstanding Introduction.

-Drinks Coors for breakfast while smoking a cigarette.

-Almost suicide seen in which he mourns the loss of his wife.

-Then the gun scene in the police department where he erroneously subdues his new partner.

-Makes fun of the department shrink by making a face at her with one eye closed and one open.

Range of emotions the actor can play.

-Depressed and suicidal to extremely motivated pursuing bad guys who went rogue in the CIA who are running a drug ring in LA.

-Also, several comedy scenes like the 100 dollar bill to buy 100k in coke. Does a great Three Stooges impression before arresting/killing most of them.

Subtext the actor can play.

-Free to take unnecessary risks because he barely cares about living due to the loss of his wife.

Relationships that are interesting.

-Buddy with straight man Danny Glover, friends with Murtaugh’s family. He becomes like a protective uncle.

Unique Voice expressed through dialogue and action.

-Takes action: aggressively arrests the coke dealers at the Christmas Tree lot, aggressively gets the suicide guy off of the roof, aggressively kills the pimp who tried to kill his partner Roger, aggressively shoots at the helicopter used to kill Hunsecker, aggressively snaps the neck of his torturer and then aggressively deals with Mr. Joshua at the end.

Something truly special about this character.

Under all that aggression he’s a likeable character who has a sense of humor.

[Christopher Confer]

Just noticed something: where I put straight man Murtaugh (Danny Glover), in the comedic sense in which Martin Riggs makes jokes like a lot of old-timers are using those referring to his police revolver. Or when he brings him a cup of coffee in bed and Murtaugh is pissed off by the intrusion into his personal space of his bedroom. The movie is rich with jokes at Roger Murtaugh’s expense.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 2 Lesson 6 Build In The Genre Conventions

My Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned doing this assignment is that I write too slowly and overthink the story. Just keep Jackson Pollocking it and fix it later. I need to remember that I’m still in the draft stage of this creation.

Title: Rotary Cell Phone Star Chamber

Concept: What if two judges fed up with crime, implement their own private court (star chamber) to punish a Russian gang that is deliberately causing subversion on the streets of LA. Two physically fit judges kick ass and take names in order to protect their city.

Genre: Action

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

Purpose: To excite your audience with an Adrenaline-stirring, fast-paced, big-event story.

Demand for Action: There is a problem or goal that the only solution is a high level of action (Intense fighting, running, escaping, and/or competing). Plot,

character, and situations are all designed to demand Action!

Mission: There is a stated or implied mission. The Hero must take down the antagonistic force, defend against overwhelming odds, or escape the inescapable.

Escalating Action: Overcoming the problem requires greater and greater heights of action (and involving higher stakes) as the story progresses.

Hero: Highly capable and skilled. Often, they bring a unique skill or talent to the fight that has them stand out from other heroes in the genre.

Antagonist: Clearly evil, corrupt, malicious; necessitating decisive and expedient action to deal with them.

ACT 1

Opening: Judge Ken drops off some research materials to Judge Jason. Sees the Star Chamber, well can’t see in the room but hears them talking. In the outer room where Judge Ken briefly talks to Judge Jason, we see a shinai on the wall and a katana.

Next morning they are in kendo gear sparring intensely with bamboo shinais in their shared personal gym between their two judge’s chambers. They finish their workout and Judge Ken mentions that he is going to get a smoothie and his dry cleaning. Judge Jason says he will have to show Ken his flying car later on.

We see Judge Ken witness Burlyman deliberately cut off a truck over stacked with pallets after he picks up his dry cleaning.

Inciting Incident: Mother and boy are injured by flying pallet by a deliberately caused car accident (chain reaction).

We see Judge Jason give out a 364 day county jail sentence for driving while texting.

We see Judge Ken give out a Rotary Cell Phone sentence for driving while texting and contempt of court.

ACT 2

Boy dies in hospital. Mom is murdered by Kirill’s gang to get rid of witness of Burlyman’s crime. But irony is she didn’t even see it, only saw the pallet flying at her.

Judge Ken is so angry. Why did they have to kill the mom. Why? So unnecessary.

Reaction: Find the gang and kill them. That’s what Jason wants and Ken is leaning that way even more.

They chase the two killers into the hospital parking lot. Burlyman gets away. They wound the other one. But Jason puts a beacon on the car is it gets away.

They make him talk. Ken bends the guy’s hand back until he talks. He tells them about Kirill. Jason shoots him in the forehead. They are near the edge of the parking lot.

There is a homeless person’s tent on the sidewalk a few feet away. A homeless guy looks out of his tent and says, “Are you killing all of the homeless people?” Jason and Ken say,

He’s not homeless. And no, we’re not.”

Turning Point/Midpoint: They have killed one of Kirill’s men and the fight is on, no turning back.

Ken is now committed to getting Kirill and his gang. He helped kill one of Kirill’s men.

ACT 3

Kirill fake kidnaps Judge Jason’s daughter just to mess with Jason’s mind. Kirill sends him a text with a pic that is edited to look like she is tied up and held hostage. They are all set to go get Kirill but he thinks to call his daughter and finds out she is fine and at home.

New plan: check databases they have access to and find out all they can about Kirill. They find out he is a suspected Russian spy.

Turning Point: Kirill kidnaps Judge Jason’s wife. This is for real, no fakery this time. All is lost for Judge Jason and Judge Ken.

ACT 4

New Plan: They free Judge Jason’s wife but they get caught.

The elevated starting block pole is cut 3/4 way through while Kirill leaves the room for a minute. He thinks they are handcuffed but Jason is not and cuts the elevated starting block pole.

Kirill leans on the starting block and falls in the pool when the pole breaks.

Climax: Judge Jason’s wife frees them by crashing the flying car into the door wall of Kirill’s pool. She smashes his security guys into the wall.

Kirill and Jason fight, Jason kills Kirill by sticking his finger deep into one of his eyes and then impales him on the starting block pole.

Ken fights Burlyman in a nasty drawn out fist fight. Ken uses a piece of a steel picture frame as a sword and wounds Burlyman but Burlyman knocks it out of his hand. He then picks up his .22 caliber umbrella and shoots Burlyman.

Resolution: Kirill and Burlyman are dead, they have removed the subversive spies from their city.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 2 Lesson Five 4 Act Transformational Structure

Rotary Phone Star Chamber

What I learned doing this assignment is daily persistence of writing moves the ball down the field. If I only do 1% of the goal per day, that’s 365% by the end of the year. And it does not have to be perfect yet. It will be in a few months but not yet.

1. List Concept, Main Conflict, Old Ways, and New Ways

What if two judges fed up with crime, implement their own private court (star chamber) to punish a Russian gang that is deliberately causing subversion on the streets of LA.

Two physically fit judges kick ass and take names in order to protect their city.

Judge Ken’s Old Ways:

-Afraid to join Judge Jason’s star chamber

-Ignorant of the star chamber’s effectiveness

-Accepted the dominance of the “weak current system” (as these characters see it, it’s fiction, it should not be taken as non-fiction!).

Judge Ken’s New Ways:

-Fight Kirill and Burlyman for the cause of cleaning up their hometown and avenging the loss of their family members.

-Courage over fear of losing job and status.

-Counter the subversive Russians.

2. Act 1: 25 to 30 pages — Set up and see Old Ways.

Opening: Morning workout in Judge Ken’s and Judge Jason’s gym/dojo room that is in a large office between their chambers. They are pummeling each other pretty good in kendo gear.

After their sparring, Judge Ken tunes out as he tunes into a memory of a Maui vacation where his wife paints a beautiful watercolor of the beach; and then recalls the scene of a texting driver t-boning her. He’s in the passenger seat and watches her die.

Inciting Incident: Burlyman causing a traffic accident that injures a mother and her son with flying pallets as they exit a Numok Learning Center on a busy avenue.

He watches Judge Jason give a defendant 364 days in county jail for texting and driving. His 10th arrest for it.

Judge Ken gives a year sentence on a Rotary Cell Phone to the defendant and her crew because they became so unruly in his court room.

Notice how strong that Turning Point is. He’s angry and doing something about it. The journey down the path of fighting evil of Kirill and Burlyman is on.

Judge Ken gives a texting-while-driving defendant one year of rotary cell phone. Her unruly friends in the gallery also get rotary cell phones (or they could take a contempt of court charge and go to jail because they are so out of control).

Turning Point One: The Pallet Kid dies

3. Act 2- Challenge the Old Ways.

They go to the hospital to comfort the mom. Yes it is out of line for them to get involved in a case but it’s personal because he witnessed it. (It’s odd because he did not stop his car when he witnesses it earlier but chased Burlyman down, he needed to confront Burlyman. After they comfort the mom.

“Can I join your club now, Sir Jason?” He asks Judge Jason. Some of Kirill’s guys have been hanging around the waiting room and hear them talking.

“I want to be effective and rotary phones just is not enough for what we need to do” Ken says. “I don’t think you are quite there yet because you still give a shit what people will think if you get caught.”

They go down the hall to see the mom and the boy has just passed away. Ken is visibly angry. She asks them to avenge his death. As they are leaving, Judge Ken asks Judge Jason again, “Can I join your effectiveness club now?”

Judge Jason: “Welcome aboard.”

One of Kirill’s men kill the mom because she is a witness to the car wreck, she saw Burlyman release the drones and cut off the pallet truck.

The next day Judge Jason calls and sends Ken a video of guy totaling his sports car in a traffic jam at high speed. Judge Ken watches it a stop light. A little farther down the road a car is turning left in a turn around and then changes their mind at the last minute and cuts him off. He’s angry pounds the dashboard and breaks something and takes a Lisinopril pill to lower his blood pressure. “Come over to the dark side and get some results with us.”

Judge Jason says on the phone call. “We’ll talk later in person,” Judge Ken says.

4. Act 3: 20 to 30 pages — With Midpoint change, Profound moments that give us new ways.

Kirill calls Judge Jason and says his men overheard him at the hospital and that he has his daughter. Judge Jason and Judge Ken prepare to go after him and on the way to the meet, he calls his daughter to find out that she has not been kidnapped but that a picture of a double has been. WTF?

Judge Jason gets a call from his wife who has been kidnapped by Kirill. Kirill is toying with him and really does have his wife.

5. Act 4: 25 pages — Test the change in this character! Prove New Ways!

Judge Ken Goes after Kirill and Burlyman with Judge Jason.

Judge Jason fights Kirill and kills him.

Judge Ken fights Burlyman and gets tired of the fighting and just shoots him in the eye with his .22 caliber umbrella.

[Christopher Confer]

Lesson 4: What’s Beneath the Surface?

My Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that I don’t think my buddy story would fit into one of the seven sub-text plots. Maybe the closest of the seven is the cover-up.

Judge Ken and Judge Jason are fighting against light punishment that they perceive is going on in the justice system. They fight against it with their star chamber and Ken’s journey reveals the following:

On The Surface: Judge Ken must avenge his wife’s death and try to make society more civil again in Rotary Phone Star Chamber.

Beneath The Surface, Judge Ken is dealing with:

The profound loss of his wife.

The fear he might not avenge her death.

He believes the law is rigged to be lenient on people who hurt innocent people.

The fear that scumbags never learn and won’t stop hurting innocent people.

The fear of joining the Star Chamber will cause him to lose his job as a judge.

The fear of joining the Star Chamber will cause him to lose his status in society.

Breaking through his legal training that it is wrong to go extra-judiciary.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer’s Transformational Journey of Judge Ken

VISION:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that these steps helped me solidify what my character wants and is doing from the beginning to end of the story.

Arc Beginning: Only willing to confiscate smart phones and sentence violators with rotary cell phones. (One week after jotting down ideas for this screenplay last August, a woman put her invention of a rotary cell phone on YouTube. https://youtu.be/PfdUudG6sms ).

Arc Ending: All in, kicking ass and taking names as a star chamber member.

Internal Journey: Wanting to do more for justice but afraid to go extra-judiciary.

External Journey: From Rotary Cell Phone sentences to star chamber punishment of criminals.

Old Ways:

-Afraid to join Judge Jason’s star chamber

-Ignorant of the star chamber’s effectiveness

-Accepted the dominance of the “weak current system” (as these characters see it, it’s fiction, it should not be taken as non-fiction!).

New Ways:

-Fight Kirill and Burlyman for the cause of cleaning up their hometown and avenging the loss of their family members.

-Courage over fear of losing job and status.

-Counter the subversive Russians.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 2 Lesson 2 Intentional Lead Characters

Chris Confer’s Exciting Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned doing this assignment is…just keep writing every day consistently and in a disciplined manner-IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT-keep getting paint on the canvas. Later I will fine tune it into the masterpiece but first there has to be a base. This is the advantage of painting with words: you can change it later. Real painting is not that forgiving.

Protagonist Character: Judge Ken

Logline: Judge Ken until he lost his wife to a distracted driver who was texting while driving, was a bit of a purist on the law. He has started giving out sentences for distracted driving of taking away peoples’ smart phones and making them use a rotary cell phone for six months to a year or longer. He feels society is decaying and wants to do something about it to avenge his wife’s death.

Unique: He is second generation Korean America, went to law school, made his parents proud. Black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Protagonist Character: Judge Jason

Logline: Judge Jason lost a daughter to a distracted driver. He got so fed up with a lack of justice that he started a star chamber.

Unique: He grew up poor and is very street smart. A middle school teacher saw something in him and helped guide him to college instead gang life. He too went to law school and made his mentor proud.

Antagonist Character: Burlyman

Logline: Burlyman is a programmed robot of a human, programmed by Kirill through torture.

Unique: He goes out and causes all sorts of traffic accidents, deaths. Should I have him be a total robot or a brawler? Brawler is better for drama. Maybe one of his sidekicks could be programmed as a total robot but he is programmed as a brawler model.

Antagonist Character: Kirill

Logline: Kirill is a Russian spy sent here to commit subversion. He has no official cover and is here illegally.

Unique: He programs innocent Americans to cause mayhem especially in traffic situations. Someone on his side decided traffic mayhem causes economic harm and made a plan of it. Really bizarre.

[Christopher Confer]

WIM Module 2 Lesson 2 Intentional Lead Characters

Chris Confer’s Exciting Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned doing this assignment is…just keep writing every day consistently and in a disciplined manner-IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT-keep getting paint on the canvas. Later I will fine tune it into the masterpiece but first there has to be a base. This is the advantage of painting with words: you can change it later. Real painting is not that forgiving.

Protagonist Character: Judge Ken

Logline: Judge Ken until he lost his wife to a distracted driver who was texting while driving, was a bit of a purist on the law. He has started giving out sentences for distracted driving of taking away peoples’ smart phones and making them use a rotary cell phone for six months to a year or longer. He feels society is decaying and wants to do something about it to avenge his wife’s death.

Unique: He is second generation Korean America, went to law school, made his parents proud. Black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Protagonist Character: Judge Jason

Logline: Judge Jason lost a daughter to a distracted driver. He got so fed up with a lack of justice that he started a star chamber.

Unique: He grew up poor and is very street smart. A middle school teacher saw something in him and helped guide him to college instead gang life. He too went to law school and made his mentor proud.

Antagonist Character: Burlyman

Logline: Burlyman is a programmed robot of a human, programmed by Kirill through torture.

Unique: He goes out and causes all sorts of traffic accidents, deaths. Should I have him be a total robot or a brawler? Brawler is better for drama. Maybe one of his sidekicks could be programmed as a total robot but he is programmed as a brawler model.

Antagonist Character: Kirill

Logline: Kirill is a Russian spy sent here to commit subversion. He has no official cover and is here illegally.

Unique: He programs innocent Americans to cause mayhem especially in traffic situations. Someone on his side decided traffic mayhem causes economic harm and made a plan of it. Really bizarre.

[Christopher Confer]

Module 2 Lesson 1: Great Outlines Make Great Scripts!

Chris Confer’s Exciting Vision:

To write and sell excellent, original, enticing screenplays in order to take audiences on cinematic adventures that satisfy their need for great stories.

What I learned from doing this assignment is…that the first nine assignments helped keep the story focused and the story selection focused which is now shaping into to something strong.

Title: Rotary Phone Star Chamber

Concept: What if two judges fed up with crime, implement their own private court to punish a Russian gang that is deliberately causing subversion on the streets of LA.

Two physically fit judges kick ass and take names in order to protect their city.

Character Structure: Buddy

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer

I agree to the terms of this release form.

[Christopher Confer]

Hi everyone,

I’m Chris Confer from Birmingham, Michigan

I’ve written one script and have a full outline of the second one that I am writing.

I hope to write an excellent script and sell it but first get the skills to do it, here.

I had a course once with Jim Cash (Top Gun) on popular culture that he taught in his home. Michigan State University gave him a lot of leeway to do that as he was a local celebrity for having co-written Top Gun and several other scripts with Jack Epps Jr. His office was so large that it fit all 22 of his students pretty comfortably. It was really more of a giant family room with a Wurlitzer jukebox on one side and his desk on the other with couches in between. You should have seen his desk, it was about 15 feet long and he casually held court from behind it for the semester. It was a worthwhile course. The funny thing is that movies did not come up too often in the conversation. He did mention that was not real happy with how the Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) character was cast. He wanted her to be stronger and more independent. He said the choice of nylons with the seamline on the back undermined his intent for the characater. He also told us he had this little trick of not having to lend out movies to people because they often would not be returned. These were the days of VHS tape in the early 1990s. He would say, yeah, I don’t have it on VHS, I prefer Betamax because the picture quality is better. It was kind of funny. He was a producer at a local PBS station in East Lansing / Lansing before he got his break. He loved sports and everything popular culture. The course mainly focused on the 1950s and 1960s and we used a book called Populuxe.

We will have some good experiences in this course and I look forward to sharing in everyone’s insights.

[Christopher Confer]

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

Create the 3-Act structure for your story.

1. Look through your three tracks (Mission, Villain, and Action) and find the points that could work for this structure.

1. Opening: Judge Ken and Judge Jason have a personal gym between their chambers in the circuit court building in which they beat each other with Shinais while fully dressed in Kendo gear. After their kendo workout, they pump some iron and cool down on their tread mills. Judge Ken has to run an errand to the grocery store before court starts that day.

2. Inciting Incident: Judge Ken driving to the grocery store he witnesses Burlyman cutoff a pickup truck carrying pallets, making it go off the road and pallets go flying into a boy and his mother while they are leaving a skills learning center for math.

3. First Turning Point at end of Act 1: The boy dying at the hospital and his mom asking the judges to avenge her son’s death. He was only 11.

4. Mid-Point: Bad guys come after Judge Jason and Judge Ken by trying ram them with a garbage truck after their henchmen see them talking to the mom at the hospital.

5. Second Turning Point at end of Act 2: Kirill, the SBU ringleader kidnaps Judge Jason’s wife.

6. Crisis: Rescue Judge Jason’s wife but they get tortured in the sensory deprivation tank at Kirill’s compound. Judge Jason says, “I’ve these tanks before in the service. Pretend they broke you and us when we come out of here and it will be easier to take them.”

7. Climax: They brake free or are rescued by Judge Jason’s wife who crashes a flying car into Kirill’s compound /mansion taking out a chunk of his little army because the idiots were all eating dinner in the same room.

8. Resolution: Judge Jason kills Kirill with a microwave weapon and Judge Ken fights Burlyman in a hand-to-hand fight and then ultimately with his .22 caliber umbrella.

2. Fill in any missing points and tell us the current version of your structure with a sentence or two for each point. I can’t think of any missing points yet.

[Christopher Confer]

The Action Track

What I learned doing this assignment:

Create a rough draft of your Action Track.

1. Answer the Action Questions:

A. Considering the concept from Lesson 1, what action could naturally show up in this movie?

Road rage encounter and threats, fist fights, escalating into guns and shooting; and later a tank a microwave weapon (Havana Syndrome).

B. Considering the Mission and Villain Tracks, what action could work for this track? DISCOVERY, CHASES, HOSTAGE TAKING/KIDNAPPING, FIGHT, SHOOTOUT, RESCUE,

ESCAPE/EVADE, DANGEROUS SITUATIONS, INTERROGATIONS, TORTURE

C. How can the action start well, build in the 2nd Act, and escalate to a climax in the 3rd Act?

Ken confronts Burlyman after he cuts off a pallet carrying pickup truck

DISCOVERY: Judge Ken witnesses reckless driving incident that severely injures a boy walking out of a learning center.

Purpose: Creates interest in why he gets so upset about reckless driving because his wife got killed by someone texting and driving.

CHASES: down the reckless driver, Burlyman, that caused the boy harm and confronts him.

Purpose: shows that Judge Ken is not afraid of a fight/confrontaion.

DISCOVERY: Judge Ken gives out rotary phone sentences in which offenders have to turn in their smartphones for rotary cell phones. Also Judge Ken gives out long sentences of 364 days, the max for county jail which is unheard of in today’s world.

Purpose: to show he is serious about avenging his wife’s death and do something about societal decay and deliver justice.

HOSPITAL SCENE in which Kirill’s people are monitoring the status of the boy and they see the mother of the boy talking to Judge Ken and Judge Jason: “Get the bastard who did this to my son.”

Purpose: escalates the action into Act 2.

CHASE: A car tries to hit Ken and Jason driving back from the hospital and they chase but the car gets away by an insane evasion down an arroyo.

Purpose: escalate the action and show the bad guys are fight them because they stumbled into the bad guys’ subversion operation.

KIDNAP: Kirill kidnaps Judge Jason’s wife.

Purpose: Draws Judge Jason and Ken to have to rescue her and shows the immorality of Kirill.

RESCUE: Judge Jason and Judge Ken go to save Judge Jason’s wife from Kirill and his Lilputins.

Purpose: To get Jason’s wife back and correct the injustice or at least set up the need for fighting injustice of Kirill’s actions in Act 3.

ESCAPE: Kirill gets away with Burlyman

Pupose: The evil prevails temporarily until Jason and Ken can counter-attack.

COUNTER-ATTACK: Judge Ken and Judge Jason somehow get a mini tank or an M1 and attack Kirill’s compound but are thwarted when Kirill’s men blow up the tank tracks.

Purpose: To kick ass and take names but it has a minor set back, they haven’t slain Goliath yet.

FINAL SCENE: Judge Jason kills Kirill with a microwave weapon and Judge Ken kills Burlyman with his .22 cal umbrella after a long hand to hand battle.

Purpose: To finally kick ass and send Kirill into the after life and Burlyman too. To give the audience satisfaction of the good guys winning and justice accomplished.

2. Select the types of action you’ll use.

A. Chase/Pursuit X

B. Fight X

C. Shootout X

D. Rescue X

E. Escape/Evade X

F. Competition

G. Dangerous Situations X

H. Interrogation X

I. Torture X

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer’s Villain Track

What I learned doing this assignment is:

1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.

A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero?

The Villain’s plan is already in place as Ukranian SBU agents impersonating Russian SVU agents causing subversion in the US running Manchurian candidates to cause mayhem. Their current focus is causing traffic accidents, fatal ones. They use sensory deprivation tanks and other torture to program people that they kidnap to turn into unknowing subversives.

B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?

Send gang of assassins, send single assassin, harm their family, harm their pet, kidnap a family member, use microwave weapons (Havana syndrome).

C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?

The Villain, Kirill is backed by a foreign intelligence agency and are waging a propaganda war against Russia, their enemy.

Unfortunately, a US city is their killing ground/ mayhem ground.

D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?

Judge Ken uses the Tae Kwon Do he learned since he was 2 years old to kill Burlyman in a hand to hand fight, but gets tired of being tired from the fisticuffs and picks up his special umbrella and shoots Burlyman. “Don’t bring a fist to a gun fight.” Too corny, maybe.

Judge Jason uses a microwave weapon to take out Kirill and 20 other guys one by one.

2. Include labels with each step of their plan.

Develop your own set of labels, but make sure you clearly show decisions, plans, and actions your Villain takes.

Pallet incident

(Sentencing some scumbags to 364 days in county jail: Kirill sees it on local news)

(Sentencing scumbags to turn in their smart phone for a rotary cell phone: Kirill sees it on local news or in the LA Times)

Hospital scene: boy injured by pallet dies and Kirill gets word the judges were at the hospital

Dog poisoning warning

Kirill kidnaps Judge Jason’s wife.

Judge Ken and Jason go to their weapons stash in their chambers at the courthouse on a weekend (they hears doors close down the hall and know the bad guys are coming after them).

Kirill and Burlyman attack them in the courthouse and the fight spills into the empty courtroom and out onto the room and the bad guys get away after say a scaffolding falls and one of the good guys gets stuck in a new solar panel wrap being applied to the building’s skin. Judge Jason has to pull it off of Judge Ken’s arm and a lot of skin peels off.

Tank Incident at Kirill’s compound

Counter attack of Kirill’s compound

Final Ending Mano-a-mano Ken ; and Jason Nuke (microwave weapon)

[Christopher Confer]

Confer’s Hero Mission Track

What I learned doing this assignment is:

1. Ask the Mission Track questions to discover your Hero’s mission.

A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds:

Judge Ken wants revenge and to set things right, he wants justice for the reckless people who drove their car into his wife and senselessly killed her.

B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal?

To fight the SVU sponsored gang of subversives that is causing mayhem in his town.

C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero? Nothing to lose since his wife was taken from him, very dangerous and unpredictable since he has nothing to lose. Not much scares him any more. Just wants revenge and to set things right.

D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain?

Judge Ken and Judge Jason pay scumbags visits and dish out warnings, beatings and sometimes executions. (At one point Ken says maybe we should job this out and take the risk off ourselves. But what about doing our own work and not being cowards to hire it out?)

2. Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.

Clear Mission: Judge Ken wants revenge and to set things right, he wants justice for the reckless people who drove their car into his wife and senselessly killed her and are killing other people.

Motivation: He wants justice for the reckless people who drove their car into his wife and who are subverting society intentionally.

Inciting Incident: He witnesses a boy get injured by a reckless driver when a pallet flies off of a moving vehicle and strike the boy down.

First Action: Handing out harsh sentences including Rotary phone sentences that require that offenders turn in their smart phones for a dumb Rotary cell phone. (These really exist, check Youtube. A woman invented one.)

Obstacle: He’s not ready to join the star chamber yet, afraid of getting caught, that it is wrong (contrary to what he was taught and illegal) and could lose his status as a judge.

Escalation: The boy who was hit by the pallet dies and Kirill the Russian SVU guy is monitoring the hospital for such an event and his henchmen notice the two judges talking to the boy’s mom. They send a warning by feeding poison to his dog. Call him on the phone and mock him. The dog lives, but barely.

Overwhelming Odds: Judge Jason and Judge Ken and the Star Chamber now are aware of this gang of Russian intelligence people they are up against.

New Plan: Ken finally goes full on in with Judge Jason into the Star Chamber, they need a force multiplier against the SVU boys. Jason is already running the Star Chamber and Ken now sees its “virtues” and effectiveness.

Full out Attack: Maybe with a mini tank or a full size tank, but then Kirill’s guys blow up the tread and the tank becomes useless just as they are starting to win.

Success: They fight hand to hand after they crawl out of the disabled tank and Judge Jason uses a microwave weapon he finds on-premise of Kirill’s property against Kirill while Ken kills Burlyman (the driver of the pickup that cut off the pallet truck) mano a mano. After the climax scene, Judge Ken says “This looks like the beginning of a beautiful judgeship.” “Fuck off!” Judge Jason says as he pushes his face away, chidingly.

[Christopher Confer]

What I learned doing this assignment is:

Concept: Grieving the loss of his wife to a distracted driver, a judge joins a star chamber of fellow judges and prosecutors to exact real justice and stop a subversive foreign gang that is harming his city.

Hero Morally Right: Judge Ken is trying to avenge his wife’s death and stop a Ukranian gang posing as Russian SVU agents doing subversive acts in his city.

Villain Morally Wrong: Kirill poses as Russian gang leader but is actually Ukranian SBU and not Russian SVU; running US citizens via hypnosis to cause traffic deaths and other possible mayhem.

Hero: Judge Ken (and Judge Jason)

A. Unique Skill Set: As a judge he has the power to sentence offenders and as a star chamber judge he can exact a more precise justice with his Tae Kwon Do skills and cross-bow skills.

B. Motivation: To avenge his wife’s death, stop societal decay and impede a foreign gang messing up his city.

C. Secret or Wound: Devastated by careless actions of scumbag people who drive and cause mayhem with almost no repercussions.

Villain:

A. Unbeatable: Works in secret so that almost no one knows he exists, almost no one knows his secret weapon of hypnosis to run Manchurian candidates.

B. Plan/Goal: Destablize US society via subversion in order to have his enemy Russia blamed for the subversion.

C. What they lose if Hero survives: He will be exposed and not make his enemy look bad. His enemy, Russia, won’t get blamed for the subversion. Kirill will cause his country to lose the propaganda war if he fails.

Impossible Mission:

A. Puts Hero in Action: He and Judge Jason run their star chamber and at first go after individual LilPutin Manchurian candidates and expand it to Kirill once they discover it. One of the “candidate’s” spouse are not subject to the brainwashing and tell Judge Ken and Judge Jason how she was programmed along with her husband.

B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: They are not just doing extra-judiciary star chamber activities, they are fighting a foreign intelligence agency’s gang operating on US soil.

C. Destroy the Villain: They punish offenders one by one at first but then kill Kirill the SBU ring leader.

[Christopher Confer]

What I learned doing this assignment is:

Concept: Grieving the loss of his wife to a distracted driver, a judge joins a star chamber of fellow judges and prosecutors to exact real justice and stop a subversive foreign gang that is harming his city.

Conventions

• Hero: Judge Ken kicks ass and takes names with his fellow Judge Ken

• Demand For Action: Do or die as the gang of foreign government subversives brings the fight to him and his friend and colleague Judge Jason

• Mission: Stop gang leader named Kirill and his LilPutins

• Antagonist: Kirill, the SVR (KGB) controller and his sidekick Burlyman

• Escalating Action: At first he doles out harsh sentences and rotary cell phone and takes away defendants’ cell phones to distracted driving offenders, but then Judge Ken’s colleague, Judge Jason, asks him to join his star chamber that is fighting foreign subversive gangs that are deliberately causing mayhem on our streets.

[Christopher Confer]

Correction to the first bullet point should say kick ass and take names with his fellow Judge Jason.

[Christopher Confer]

I, Chris Confer, 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.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Christopher Confer]

Hi everyone,

I’m Chris Confer from Birmingham, Michigan

I’ve written one script and have a full outline of the second one that I am writing.

Last summer this idea popped in my head about an albino python that can morph through wall and blends into the snow terrorizing people at a ski resort.

I am a computer programmer working in integration software such as Dell Boomi and IBM Sterling Integrator.

I had a course once with Jim Cash (Top Gun) on popular culture that he taught in his home. Michigan State University gave him a lot of leeway to do that as he was a local celebrity for having co-written Top Gun and several other scripts with Jack Epps Jr. His office was so large that it fit all 22 of his students pretty comfortably. It was really more of a giant family room with a Wurlitzer jukebox on one side and his desk on the other with couches in between. You should have seen his desk, it was about 15 feet long and he casually held court from behind it for the semester. It was a worthwhile course. The funny thing is that movies did not come up too often in the conversation. He did mention that was not real happy with how the Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) character was cast. He wanted her to be stronger and more independent. He said the choice of nylons with the seamline on the back undermined his intent for the characater. He also told us he had this little trick of not having to lend out movies to people because they often would not be returned. These were the days of VHS tape in the early 1990s. He would say, yeah, I don’t have it on VHS, I prefer Betamax because the picture quality is better. It was kind of funny. He was a producer at a local PBS station in East Lansing / Lansing before he got his break. He loved sports and everything popular culture. The course mainly focused on the 1950s and 1960s and we used a book called Populuxe.

We will have some good experiences in this course and I look forward to sharing in everyone’s insights.

[Christopher Confer]

To make sure I am not losing my mind, this course starts on May 1st, is that correct?

Thanks,

Chris

[Christopher Confer]

Day 9 Part 2 Shifting Belief Systems

Old Ways / Challenge

What I learned doing this assignment…

Old Ways:

Judge Ken has a fear of being overturned if he hands out too harsh sentences.

He has a fear of getting caught if he joins the star chamber.

He also has a fear of loss of social standing if he gets caught being in the star chamber.

Challenges to the Old Ways:

Judge Jason encourages him to join the star chamber in order to get things done-do something about the injustices that aren’t being solved by the court. “We get things done, we get results.”

They both have had family members killed or physically injured by selfish, careless distracted drivers.

This should incentivize Ken to come over to the light-dark side. It’s light because they solve the

injustices and dark because it’s illegal.

[Christopher Confer]

Lesson 2: Crafting Your Monster!

What I learned doing this assignment is…

1. Tell us what or who your monster is.

My monster is a 30 foot albino snake that terrorizes a neighborhood in the winter because it blends into the snow and can morph through objects.

2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:

Their Terror: Blends into the white snow and morphs through objects like walls of houses and garages and sheds.

Their Mystery: The victoms don’t see it coming. How can such a beast exist in the cold of winter?

Their Fear Provoking Appearance: It’s size at 30 feet with teeth and red eyes.

Their Rules: At this point in development of the Albino snake, it just appears out of nowhere in peoples houses and makes meals out of people after stunning them with venom and constricting them or just eats some people outright.

Mythology: Maybe it’s from off-world with its ability to morph through objects.

[Christopher Confer]

Day 9 Old Ways

What I learned from this assigment. Chris needs to learn shorthand for taking notes.

• Assumption of guilt

• Just want this over

• Not caring

• Prejudice

• Not looking beneath the surface

• Assuming the evidence is not questionable

• Assuming the witnesses were accurate

• Assuming the Defense Attorney did his job

• Assuming the case is completely logical

Juror Number 3 was the most adamant juror that the boy was guilty. This had to do with his bias against what he felt was betrayal by his own son and the falling out they had. He believes many young people are bad eggs.

Juror Number 4 The stock broker was all matter of fact that he commited the murder. Kind of robotic in his groupthink.

Juror Number 6 was in a hurry to go to a baseball game. The defendant is going to be executed and he has a ballgame as his priority.

Juror 12 at the beginning voted guilty and was not really paying too much attention and showing people his marketing campaign for Rice Puffs cereal.

Juror Number 8 simply raises question after question that cast doubt on The Accused’s guilt. For example, that the switch blade was unique, one-of-a-kind and he pulls one out just like it that he bought at a pawn shop. Then he counted how many seconds it took to walk an approximated number of steps and it did not match what the prosecutor alleged. Nice touch he gets Juror Number 3’s suit coat out of the closet and helps him put it on. Really drives home the humanity in Henry Fonda’s character.

At every re-vote, more and more jurors come over to his side that this was not an open-and-shut case. It does beg the question then, who did it? But that is not the point of the movie. Reasonable doubt is.

[Christopher Confer]

Good one Christopher in number 4.

Chris Confer

[Christopher Confer]

Hi everyone,

I’m Chris Confer from Birmingham, Michigan

I’ve written one script and have a full outline of the second one that I am writing.

Last summer this idea popped in my head about an albino python that can morph through wall and blends into the snow terrorizing people at a ski resort.

I am a computer programmer working in integration software such as Dell Boomi and IBM Sterling Integrator.

I had a course once with Jim Cash (Top Gun) on popular culture that he taught in his home. Michigan State University gave him a lot of leeway to do that as he was a local celebrity for having co-written Top Gun and several other scripts with Jack Epps Jr. His office was so large that it fit all 22 of his students pretty comfortably. It was really more of a giant family room with a Wurlitzer jukebox on one side and his desk on the other with couches in between. You should have seen his desk, it was about 15 feet long and he casually held court from behind it for the semester. It was a worthwhile course. The funny thing is that movies did not come up too often in the conversation. He did mention that was not real happy with how the Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) character was cast. He wanted her to be stronger and more independent. He said the choice of nylons with the seamline on the back undermined his intent for the characater. He also told us he had this little trick of not having to lend out movies to people because they often would not be returned. These were the days of VHS tape in the early 1990s. He would say, yeah, I don’t have it on VHS, I prefer Betamax because the picture quality is better. It was kind of funny. He was a producer at a local PBS station in East Lansing / Lansing before he got his break. He loved sports and everything popular culture. The course mainly focused on the 1950s and 1960s and we used a book called Populuxe.

We will have some good experiences in this course and I look forward to sharing in everyone’s insights.

+1

[Christopher Confer]

Assignment One Horror Concept and Conventions

What I learned doing this assignment is…

I picked on older horror movie to watch and analyze called Grizzly (1977). By the way, there is a Grizzly 2: Revenge with Charlie Sheen, George Clooney and Laura Dern and it is really bad. What intrigued me about this movie is that is a bit of a Jaws copycat but nowhere as good as Jaws and more horror than Jaws as Jaws has a bit more thriller aspect to it. This movie cost 750,000 dollars to make in 1977 which would be 3.9 million dollars in 2023. That is definitely low cost.

Grizzly / Concept: A smart Grizzly has come down from more remote Grizzly territory and is hunting campers in a national forest for no reason.

Terrorize The Characters: Girls attacked while packing up their campsite, arm goes flying off. A park ranger, Gail is showering under a waterfall and it kills her there, just see blood going down the river. Woman attacked in her tent near a crowd of people. Posse guy narrowly escapes the bear by jumping in the river and outswimming it with the current. Bear tips over a watchtower and kills Tom, if the fall didn’t him. Mom and son killed for no reason. Scotty the bear expert gets tracked by the bear and killed violently. Helicopter pilot gets mauled and killed by the bear. Finally, Kelly shoots a bazooka at the bear and the predator is dead.

Isolation: National forest, pretty isolated.

Death: Lots of death as listed above.

Monster/Villain: Huge grizzly bear.

High Tension: You never know when it will appear and attack.

Departure from Reality: The odds of it happening are low and it’s not everyday the audience will go camping in a National Forest.

Moral Statement: At the beginning of the movie the helicopter pilot is flying some senators in to the forest and says more legislation is needed to cordon off areas in order to prevent too many people from destroying the natural beauty.

Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film?

Not sure if it is great but it only cost 3.9 million dollars in today’s money. It’s pretty good. The bear, the apex predator, killing for no reason other than maybe it is a “psychotic” intelligent bear is scary.

With your concept, fill in each of these Conventions for your story.

Concept: A thirty foot albino python with red eyes handles cold winter no problem and lives in a forest that is surrounded by an upper middle class Detroit suburb

Terrorize the Characters: It blends into the snow and can morph through walls. They never know when it is coming.

Isolation:The woods are pretty isolated and since neighbors often don’t know each other the houses around it can have an isolated feeling despite being in a metro area.

Death: Yes. Maybe first will be a tomboy who likes plowing the snow off oh her parents’ driveway.

Monster/Villain: Thirty foot white constrictor that blends into the snow.

High Tension: It can morph through walls and other objects.

Departure from Reality: Yes, no such thing as snake that can endure icy conditions and morph through walls.

Moral Statement: To be determined. Maybe: know your neighbors in order to be able to mount a combined defense.

Originally I was going to have this set at a ski resort in Montana which would cost a fortune to film.

[Christopher Confer]

Rotary Phone LilPutins

Lesson 8 Designing a Profound Ending

What I learned doing this assignment…

Many pieces can be in flux. It’s a work in progress. I’ve been playing around with the title the last couple of days. And frankly, I’m not sure that I’m not too happy right now with the payoff. Maybe I’m just tired from working all day coding or maybe my payoff sucks. That’s the beauty of it. It is not yet fixed in stone. Or more likely I need a better genre/story than an action adventure to really nail the Profound method.

A. Vigilante justice works, this is the profound truth. It goes against American Ideals of letting our well contructed institutions deal with crime. But the framers of our system did not envision a society pretty far gone. In this environment, vigilante justice works. Also, there are foreign provocateurs creating subversion in America and Judge Jason and Judge Ken put an end to it.

B. The change is that Judge Ken has found a way (misguided as it is) to avenge his wife’s death by joining the star chamber and creating real justice.

C. The Payoff, will Judge Ken find a way to mete out real justice? He does by joining Judge Jason’s star chamber. [Not feeling it here, just not working, does it need more temerity on Ken’s part at the beginning?]

-Judge Jason kills LilPutin ring leader, Kirill and Judge Ken kills Burlyman.

-Jason’s other child who was murdered by Kirill’s programmed zombie drivers – To – Killing Kirill at an oil refinery: poof he shoots gasoline tank near Kirill.

D. Judge Ken witnesseing Burlyman cut off a truck causing pallet as a missile incident to Killing BM at the courthouse where he shoots BM center mass with an RPG out on the roof.

E. Parting Image/Line as they stare at pieces of Burlyman all over the roof.

Judge Jason: “I told you the star chamber’s methods work.”

Judge Ken: “Yeah, but you didn’t tell me how well. That would have been good to know then.”

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer – I agree with the terms of this release form.

[Christopher Confer]

Lesson 7 Audience Connection

What I learned doing this assignment is…

In my movie, Rotary Phone LilPutins, I am going to intentionally create a connection with the audience with the Judge Ken character.

A. Relatability

In Rotary Phone LilPutins Judge Ken wants to avenge his wife’s death but he doesn’t know how. He feels pushed around because if his sentences are too harsh they just get overturned on appeal. He also gets easily angered by reckless drivers that are so common place, which is triggered often by his daily commute. There’s a scene in the first five minutes in which a pick up truck cuts over four lanes to make a right turn and in the process cuts off another pickup overstacked with pallets. One of the pallets hits a boy as he and his mother are coming out of a Kumon learning center. (The boy later dies of his injuries). Judge Ken is so enraged while witnessing this in front of him. A few more seconds-and he-would have been cut off. He catches up with the driver of the pickup and cusses him out. I lovingly call this driver Burlyman (thinking someone like Gerard Butler, perfect for this role, if you’ve seen Den of Thieves). They exchange words but when he sees Judge Ken has a gun on the dashboard, he flees. There is another scene in the first thirty minutes where Judge Ken is driving home from work and a kid totals his souped-up car in a traffic jam by letting a large gap evovle between him and the next car and then on one of the iterations of doing this, he fails to stop in time and rear ends the car in front of him: smashing in the front of his car about eighteen inches. It is totalled. Judge Ken is in the lane next to him and just laughs and says you deserve all that you get here. Then a minute later he’s off of the freeway and a driver ducks in to make a left turn on a divided avenue and at the last second changes their mind and pops back into his lane. He has to jam on the brakes, his coffee goes flying making a mess, leaking on a hardcover book he has on the passenger side floor. He’s pissed now and they just drive off like nothing happened.

B. Intrigue

We see Judge Ken soldering rotary phone parts together and his neighbor kid, named Zappa, comes over who is in high school to help him with this task. The boy asks him what are they for. He says he can’t tell him yet but watch the news in a couple days. They boy is going to make sixty of these for him for the first batch that is needed.

C. Empathy

He’s down in the basement doing some laundry and sees a picture of them in Lake Louise that his wife liked to have on the wall while folding laundry-he flies into a fit of rage and punches the freezer and leaves a nice dent in it and two of his knuckles are bleeing.

D. Likeability

He gives Zappa some food because his single mom is unemployed and having a hard time findind a new job. He gives him a big bag of rice, a pack of steaks from Costco, avacados and potatoes. Enough to last them for a while. Zappa is uncomfortable, so Judge Ken says it’s your bonus pay for helping me with the phones saving him face. Judge Ken offers to help his secretary with a legal matter. She and her husband were trying to start an online coffee mug business in which the cups are to say “Rico Suave” but the company that made them screwed up and sent them 2500 mugs that say “Rice Suave” on them. They refused to give her a refund or new cups. He helps Judge Jason’s daughter with a homework question where she has writers block on an essay. He draws five ovals on piece of paper and puts a topic in each one, trying to ferret out of her what she would put in there. It works and she’s on her way to getting it written. She gets a little mad and says you’re doing it all wrong and writes in her five topics for each paragraph.

[Christopher Confer]

Assignment 6 Transformational STRUCTURE

THE BASIC MMM

MM #1 – Pages 1 – 15 – Our hero’s status quo, his ordinary world, ends with an inciting incident or “call to adventure,” introducing the story’s main tension:

Angry about wife’s death, gets easily pissed off by reckless drivers. Sees boy severely injured by a flying pallet(who later dies).

Change Agent: Judge Jason

Transformational Character: Judge Ken

Old Ways: Following the rules of the system, afraid of being overturned on appeals but does fiddle around with the Rotary Phone sentences.

The Vision: Inflict vigilante Justice on the offenders via the star chamber.

Challenge: Judge Jason already running a star chamber.

Weaknesses: Fear of the unknown. Not willing take the huge risk of the star chamber.

Turning Point: Call to Adventure.

MM #2 – Pages 15 – 30 – Our hero’s denial of the call, and his gradually being “locked into” the conflict brought on by this call:

The boy dies and he is ready to do something about it especially after the boy’s mother asks him to avenge his death.

Old ways: Anger and not doing enough about wife’s murder and the boy’s death.

Challenge: Judge Jason is taking care of vigilante business with the star chamber.

Weaknesses: Fear of getting caught, goes against everything he was taught about the law not having judge, jury and executioner in one role.

Turning Point: Locked in.

MM #3 – Pages 30 – 45 – Our hero’s first attempts to solve his problem, the first things that anyone with this problem would try, appealing to outside authority to help him. Ends when all these avenues are shut to our hero.

Can’t issue harsh sentences because cases get overturned on appeal.

Change Agent: Judge Jason expounds on the benefits of having alternate means of justice and it works.

Vision: The star chamber team is meting out justice.

Old Ways: Wimpy, ineffective legal procudures which are a joke to Jason and now Ken.

New Ways: Jason nudges Ken on to joining the star chamber.

Challenge: They bond over polaroid mug shot card club of the most insidious offenders and throw darts at the lucky winners.

Weaknesses: Could get caught. Maybe a double agent is on the star chamber.

Turning Point: Standard ways fail.

MM #4 – Pages 45 — 60 – Our hero spawns a bigger plan. He prepares for it, gathers what materials and allies he may need, then puts the plan into action — only to have it go horribly wrong, usually due to certain vital information the hero lacked about the forces of antagonism allied against him.

Joins Judge Jason’s star chamber. No before he joins Judge Jason’s star chamber what does he do? Rotary Phones and 364 day sentences but then Appeals Court rule Rotary Phones are cruel and unusual punishment.

Vision: Extacting justice via the star chamber.

Old Ways: Ken still a little nervous about getting caught and that it is wrong.

New Ways: Judge Jason keeps showing him the benefits of cleaning up the streets personally.

Turning Point: Plan backfires.

MIDPOINT: After cleaning a few bad drivers off the streets, the LilPutins seem to know their next moves. There’s a Judas in their ranks.

Old Ways: Ken chickens out on a star chamber raid he agreed to go on.

Challenge: Judge Jason gets shot because a LilPutin is waiting for him. Luckily it’s only the top of his ear lobe that gets skimmed but a lot of blood.

Weaknesses: Underestimated the fear in Judge Ken and the traitor or betrayer.

MM #5 – Pages 60 — 75 – Having created his plan to solve his problem WITHOUT changing, our hero is confronted by his need to change, eyes now open to his own weaknesses, driven by the antagonist to change or die. He retreats to lick his wounds.

More Rotary Phones and more 364 day sentences.

Turning Point: The decision to change.

Old Ways: Judge Ken apprehensive

Challenge: After seeing the benefits of what the star chamber is achieving he’s still a little skeptical.

Challenge: Might get caught and lose job and position.

Weaknesses: Underestimated the problem that LilPutins have penetrated the star chamber.

MM #6

– Pages 75 – 90 – Our hero spawns a new plan, but now he’s ready to change. He puts this plan into action…and is very nearly destroyed by it. And then…a revelation.

Joins the Star Chamber but then they are betrayed by a prosecutor working for LilPutin Kirill.

Turning Point: The ultimate failure.

Vision: Team is working together. Star Chamber has Ken now helping on raids.

Old Ways: Fear of getting caught and overturned.

New Ways: Kicking ass and taking names.

Betraying Character: Star chamber member leaks info on an upcoming raid and Jason gets shot.

Challenge: Not sure how bad the leak is and how much danger they are in.

Weaknesses: Fear of physical violence and getting caught and losing position in society as a judge.

MM #7 – Pages 90 – 105 – The revelation allows our hero to see victory, and he rejoins the battle with a new fervor, finally turning the tables on his antagonist and arriving at apparent victory. And then the tables turn one more time!

The star chamber deals with the traitor but almost get killed in the process, then go for MM8

Turning Point: Apparent victory.

Old Ways: Fear of taking vigilante action

New Way: Comfortable going on raids and exacting justice.

Challenge: Could get killed or caught.

Weaknesses: Not sure if this be will viable to keep going.

MM #8 – Pages 105 – 120 – The hero puts down the antagonist’s last attempt to defeat him, wraps up his story and any sub-plots, and moves into the new world he and his story have created.

They raid LilPutin’s mansion and kill him.

Turning Point: New status quo.

New Way: They have a united attitude of getting the really bad drivers reeducated/ off the road and taking care of their LilPutin handlers.

Profound Truth: Like in the movie the Punisher, “In certain extreme situations, law is inadequate, in order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue…Natural Justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive. It’s an emotional response. No, not vengeance, punishment.”

[Christopher Confer]

Ashley, what a great conflict. I will love to see where this goes. And a pretty unique period of history. Does she have to lean more toward her people or her lover, it will be hard to make it a perfect balancing act. Nice.

Chris

[Christopher Confer]

Chris’ Three Gradients

What I learned from this assigment. Save in text editor first. I had to rewrite this because I lost the whole thing when I scrolled down in the form and it disappeared into a black hole. Should have followed my own advice but was in a hurry. Ugh. Anyhow what I learned is this is a work in progress and I can move pieces around, assign characters to opposite roles of where I thought they fit before I started this course and that it is coming together much better than before I had this knowledge of applying these tools. Fun isn’t the word, it almost is but the word is more acurately “satisfying” because it is a lot of fun work. (Al Green just came on, on Spotify in the background. Great note to finish on!)

My transformational journey logline:

When a reckless driver murders Judge Ken’s wife by texting and driving he is enraged and wants to exact “real” justice beyond what he can do in his court room which he

finds out is already being done by his fellow Judge Jason’s star chamber.

Judge Ken’s Emotional Gradient:

The Desired Change Gradient

Excitement.

Action: Doles out 364 day county jail sentences and Rotary Phone sentences.

Challenge: Might get overturned in appeals court and might be censured by a judicial review board.

Weakness: Too harsh of sentences.

Doubt.

Action: Expresses his concern of being cesured to Judge Jason

Challenge: He’s not ready for the star chamber team.

Weakness: Won’t be able to exact “real” justice because he’s not ready.

Hope.

Action: Joins the star chamber.

Challenge: It’s physically dangerous. Could get mauled by dogs, shot by other people in the house’s they raid.

Weakness: It’s too heavy handed. Might get caught and lose his job and position.

Discouragement.

Action: Judge Jason and Judge Ken find out one of the star chamber members is betraying them to LilPutin and his team for money.

Challenge: They might get killed by LilPutin and his people. Maybe one of their team does.

Weakness: Could lose the battle for “real” justice.

Courage.

Action: Raid LilPutin’s mansion.

Challenge: The fight is difficult and bloody.

Weakness: Fear that they might die or get maimed and lose the battle for justice.

Triumph.

Action: Judge Ken and Judge Jason all the star chamber members kill LilPutins at his mansion. They do their own work. They don’t job it out to contractors.

No challenge and no weakness, it’s Triumph!

[Christopher Confer]

Watch and analyze DEAD POETS SOCIETY. February 28 2023 Assignment 4B

What is the change this movie is about?

The boys learning to think for themselves and seize the day. The change is the old conformist way of thinking to looking at life in a non-conformist way.

What is the Transformational Journey of this movie? Lead characters: Neil, Todd and Knox evolving. Neil standing up to his dad and doing the role of Puc in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Todd coming out of his shy shell and handling things with confidence. Knox going after Chris despite that she has a boyfriend. It’s about perseverance unto the sucking the marrow out of life.

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 right character because he has lived long enough to know that thinking for themselves rather being a robotic conformist yields better results in life.

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

Neil, Todd and Knox are the Transformable Characters. They all went from fearful about some area of life to handling that area in the new way, confidently.

What is the Oppression?

The oppression is the rote, quasi-dictatorial Helton Academy administration. Why quasi? It is not mandatory that the students attend the academy but they are at the mercy of the rules of conformity of the institution which are strict.

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

Mr. Keating offers a better view of the world than the other classes which are just rote memorization assembly lines for conformist thinking.

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:

Neil afraid of his dad to being defiant and doing the play in order to grow.

Todd afraid of life to boldly being the first to stand on his desk in front of the headmaster at the end.

Knox afraid of approaching Chris to courageously going after her and getting the date to the play.

Charlie Dalton was daring at the beginning and becomes even more daring, but I don’t think you can classify that as a profound of a journey that Neil, Todd and Knox go on. Dalton is

like a junior change agent-he already had a penchant for disregarding the old way.

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

Neil is afraid to defy his dad at the beginning, then he starts pondering doing the play. Then he does the play. And then, he does the play despite his father forbidding it.

Todd is oh so scared at the beginning. When the other boys ask him to do things, he says no, he has to study. Then we get a YAWP out of him at Mr. Keating’s prompting when he had to do a YAWP in lieu of not writing his poem.

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

The play presents Neil with a way to grow, the old way of doing every edict that his father demands is out, he does the play anyways. The “new way” has arrived for Neil despite it costing him everything.

Mr. Keating makes Todd do the YAWP. This is the “new way”. The “old way” of being shy and self-concious is beginning to fade. He attends the Dead Poets Society meetings despite his fear of doing so. This is the “new way”.

Knox would have just given up on a girl like Chris in the past like when he hung up the phone when she answered. But he persists, even gets a bloody nose at the party for it. In the end, she goes to the Midsummer Night‘s Dream play with him. His persistence is seizing the day and he gets the date with her to the play that Neil is in.

What are the most profound moments of the movie?

Carpe Diem ghost voice that Mr Keating does in the lobby of the school at the beginning.

Tearing out the introduction of the poetry book.

They restart the Dead Poets Society which has been dormant for seventeen years.

They all stand on their desks at the end to salute and thank Mr. Keating.

What are the most profound lines of the movie?

“Ca r pe Di em” Keating in his ghost voice.

“YAWP!”

“Oh Captain, my Captain!”

How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?

Keating unorthodoxly encourages the boys to seize the day in the lobby early in the film. This changes the way they think. In the end, this cannot be removed from their hearts because it became part of them. No heavy handed school administrator can deprogram this out of them.

Keating also has them stand on his desk earlier in the film and at the end they stand on their desks in defiance of the headmaster, Mr. Nolan, who is now teaching the English class.

This also illustrates that they are free thinkers now and the threats from the headmaster are not getting through: he can’t make their hearts go back to the old way.

What is the Profound Truth of this movie?

Don’t let life pass you by, get on the path of independent thinking which is what America is all about. Ame Rica, Aim Rich. Aim to have rich experiences. Suck the marrow out of life.

[Christopher Confer]

What I learned doing this assignment is that my outline for my screenplay, Rotary Phone…

…so far has Judge Ken taking the lead doling out sentences and punishment but I think now after thinking about it in terms of THE CHANGE AGENT,

THE TRANSFORMABLE CHARACTERS, THE OPPRESSION and THE BETRAYING CHARACTER, my story was kind of half-baked regarding its structure.

The Tranformational Logline: A liberal circuit court judge is pushed too far by his wife’s death due to a texting driver and a justice system that fails to deliver justice. It’s only a matter of time until he joins his fellow judge’s star chamber to even the score.

CHANGE AGENT: Judge Jason (someone like Jason Statham)

Now, I think it would be better to have Judge Jason as the one who is taking the lead, doling out sentences and punishment along with a couple of prosecutors who have a star chamber already running. I now realize in Act 1, I was just writing iterations of Judge Ken getting angry and getting even by doling out sentences and vigilante justice. But it had no gradient of change. Just the same 3 or 4 scenes over and over. It will be more effective to have a bad-ass like Judge Jason already doing this. He’s more credible which sets up the opportunity for Ken to go over the new way, the dark side of vigilante justice.

TRANSFORMABLE CHARACTER: Judge Ken (someone like Ken Jeong)

The star chamber, and especially Judge Jason, are waiting for Judge Ken to be pushed far enough by the oppression of a system that doesn’t work. A system that just slaps the hand of his wife’s murderers, albeit vehicular manslaughter, it’s still murder due to preventable negligent driving. He doesn’t want his verdicts overturned on appeal and that is what has happened to harsh sentences for texting and driving that some of his colleagues have issued. Judge Ken is pretty liberal but the system and what happened to his wife are eating him up inside. He will be able to settle the score of his wife’s death and get asshole drivers off the road once he is motivated incrementally to joining the star chamber.

THE OPPRESSION: Failing justice system and lack of care in society in general as it manifests with texting drivers.

THE BETRAYING CHARACTER: One of the prosecutors who is a member of the star chamber will get cold feet and betray the group perhaps under pressure of being caught.

[Christopher Confer]

The Transformational Journey for Rotary Phone’s Judge Ken by Chris Confer

What I learned doing this assignment is I might be working in the wrong genre with my script called Rotary Phone to make it form to the Profound Model. It might be possible to make it work which is why I am on this screenwriting journey.

Problem State: Judge Ken is a revenge seeking circuit court judge handing out bizarre sentences with rotary cell phones and doing vigilante justice to boot with Judge Jason.

Old Ways:

-Angry about his wife’s death by a distracted texting driver. Very angry.

-Vengeful

-Wanting to correct society’s decline somehow.

-Creative solution rotary cell phones with no screens.

New Ways:

-Starting to think star chamber / vigilante justice is wrong.

-Compassion for the Mayhem Candidates because they are victims of brainwashing by the SVR(KGB).

-Might betray his friend Judge Jason to correct his vigilantism.

-Starting to love life again instead of being angry and vengeful all the time.

[Christopher Confer]

Hi everyone,

I’m Chris Confer from Birmingham, Michigan

I’ve written one script and have a full outline of the second one that I am writing.

I hope to get really good at the Gradient of Change and the Profound Model in general.

I am a computer programmer working in integration software such as Dell Boomi and IBM Sterling Integrator.

I had a course once with Jim Cash (Top Gun) on popular culture that he taught in his home. Michigan State University gave him a lot of leeway to do that as he was a local celebrity for having co-written Top Gun and several other scripts with Jack Epps Jr. His office was so large that it fit all 22 of his students pretty comfortably. It was really more of a giant family room with a Wurlitzer jukebox on one side and his desk on the other with couches in between. You should have seen his desk, it was about 15 feet long and he casually held court from behind it for the semester. It was a worthwhile course. The funny thing is that movies did not come up too often in the conversation. He did mention that was not real happy with how the Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) character was cast. He wanted her to be stronger and more independent. He said the choice of nylons with the seamline on the back undermined his intent for the characater. He also told us he had this little trick of not having to lend out movies to people because they often would not be returned. These were the days of VHS tape in the early 1990s. He would say, yeah, I don’t have it on VHS, I prefer Betamax because the picture quality is better. It was kind of funny. He was a producer at a local PBS station in East Lansing / Lansing before he got his break. He loved sports and everything popular culture. The course mainly focused on the 1950s and 1960s and we used a book called Populuxe.

We will have some good experiences in this course and I look forward to sharing in everyone’s insights.

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is…

“In a world…” where one symptom of societal decay is dangerous drivers who text and drive. My screenplay’s transformational character is a state district court judge who lost his wife to a car crash caused by a person texting and driving. The screenplay is called Rotary Phone because Judge Ken sentences offenders to many months of using a rotary cell phone. No screens to distract these offenders. They must turn in their smart phones for a rotary phone as punishment. He and a fellow judge, who also lost a child to someone driving recklessly while on their smart phone, team up to run their own star chamber and go out take care of business personally on some crazy drivers who need extra correction.

1. What is your profound truth?

Judge Ken and Judge Jason fight texting and driving(societal decay) both from the bench and personally.

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?

Judge Ken discovers that a group posing as the SVR(KGB) is doing subversive programming of these Mayhem Candidates and decides that he maybe has dealt too harshly with the victims of this bad driving programming. To be determined how much he evolves in this view without destroying the movie.

3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?

That offenders have to use rotary cell phones as punishment and they kick a lot of ass. There is a scene near the climax when they raid the LilPutins SVR den in which there is a life size diorama of Uncle Sam pinned down like Gulliver with a hundred LilPutins launching tiny hypersonic missiles over Uncle Sam Gulliver that carry the little rope to the other side of the giant and stake the rope into the ground. I throw a couple of surveillance blimps howvering around this diorama for a good measure.

Btw, a couple weeks after I started writing this script in late August of 2022, I stumbled across a Youtube video in which a woman invented a rotary cell phone.

Here is the URL: https://youtu.be/uV1C-41tq64

[Christopher Confer]

Chris Confer’s Analysis of Groundhog Day

We are looking at this movie from the perspective of the change that occurs for the lead character and the audience.

What is the CHANGE this movie is about? What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?

ANSWER: A cynical narcissist becomes a loving, caring person who can be in a relationship with the woman he loves.

Lead characters:

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

ANSWER: Rita is the Change Agent, his love for her makes him want to be a nicer person with a good attitude.

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

ANSWER: Phil is the Transformable Charater. He’s perfect for this profound journey because the movie starts out with him being sarcastic and narcisistic. He has little regard for other people and their concerns.

What is the Oppression?

ANSWER: The Oppression is Phil’s self centered attitude which really is what the metaphor of living the same day over and over-of treating others with contempt and disregard-is about.

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

ANSWER: There are glimpses of him becoming human with a joyful attitude that slowly simmer into that. It slowly builds throughout the movie. But not too fast because there is that scene where he punches Ned Ryerson just when it seemed like he was beginning to change.

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:

ANSWER: The old way, he treats everyone like crap. The new way, he is happy and very glad to be with Rita.

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

ANSWER: Makes fun of her in the TV station set then by the end is very happy to be with her for the rest of his life.

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

ANSWER: The main thing is the Rita is so pleasant and cheeful and this melts through his self centered cynicism.

What are the most profound moments of the movie?

ANSWER a: The lyrics to I Got You Babe seem like nothing at first but these two lines foreshadow how he ends up with Rita:

“Then put your little hand in mine

There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb”

This is profound because a seemingly insignificant song from the early 1970s is on the clock radio every day at 6 a.m. with the theme of lovers which is where the film ends up.

ANSWER b: Smashing the alarm clock foreshadows that the old way is on its way out of his life. Snow man scenes in the park. Helping the old ladies change their flat tire.

ANSWER c: Driving off the cliff in the quarry. Having nine lives. Keeps coming back to life. What does this mean? It’s never too late to change is what it means.

What are the most profound lines of the movie?

ANSWER: “Do you want to throw up here or in the car?” “Both.” Shows his contempt and cynicism toward people and couldn’t give a care at all for “the hicks” or their property with the slight exception that he does not let the drunk guy fall and injure himself.

And, Rita, “Where did you get that?” Phil, “At the Snowman shop.” This indicates, along with making a snowman, that he is lightening up against the cold background (constant winter setting) of his old way of doing things.

How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?

ANSWER: At the beginning he’s disrespecting her in the studio and on the van ride to Puncxsatawny; and every morning at the news events.

At the end he is sharing sweet pillow talk with her and reading poetry to her.

What is the Profound Truth of this movie?

ANSWER: There is hope for a curmudgeon like Phil. Love prevails. It’s never too late to change and if you do you get a quality person like Rita.

[Christopher Confer]

I, Christopher Confer, 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.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Christopher Confer]

I, Christopher Confer, 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.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Christopher Confer]

Have you seen this? Everyone should see this. I have never posted an off-topic subject here, but everyone needs to see Terrence Howard’s speech to the Oxford Union Society. You’ll dislike me for the loss of an hour but it really is not a loss. Life expanding info on the Flower of Life and math. And he is an actor, so maybe it is not too far off topic. Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca1vIYmGyYA

[Christopher Confer]

Really good stuff! I’d pay to see this movie.

[Christopher Confer]

Actually, Spacey’s and DeVito’s characters share that ruthless ethic of doing anything to get the story / make a buck.

[Christopher Confer]

That’s right. Danny DeVito’s character has a similar ruthless ethics. Good catch.

[Christopher Confer]

Lenore,

This story goes deep, can’t wait to see how it evolves. Interesting how much WW2 changed the world map and it’s effect on individual lives.

Chris

[Christopher Confer]

Hi Lloyd,

I posted that one in the wrong area. Eden corrected me. Sorry for any confusion.

Kind regards,

Chris Confer

[Christopher Confer]

Thanks Eden, I will move it over there. Sorry about your mom.

Chris

[Christopher Confer]

Nice, there is so much to explore in that triangle and the mom’s dead. Can’t wait to see.

[Christopher Confer]

Thanks Eden

[Christopher Confer]

Hi Cassie,

I once met this guy who was an editor for some famous TV shows and told him I wrote a script and thought it sucked too. You know what he said? At least you had the courage to do it, most people don’t. The next one will be better. He was right. He wrote this really awesome non-fiction book about his experiences in Japan when he was given a choice by a judge between jail for drag racing or the army. He took the army.

Keep throwing paint on the canvas and see what sticks. We can edit later. What grade do you teach and did you get your Masters in Ed?

Good to meet you. Looking forward to learning a lot in this class and improving.

[Christopher Confer]

Hi Cassie,

Their own bar? Cool. Yes, I am a Michigan State alumnus. My brother-in-law lived in Houston for about 6 years working for NASA. He is a packaging major from MSU. Yup, they have a major in it, go figure. He packaged M&Ms to send into orbit for the astronauts. He said he ran into an ex-president once at the local supermarket. Surreal experience with secret service on the ends of the aisle the prez was on. I’ll have to ask him what neighborhood he lived in. He said the restaurants are over-the-top in Houston, tons of great choices. What is the bar, I’ll have to go when I am in Houston. Only ever been to Texas once, in Dallas.

Looking forward to working with everyone.

[Christopher Confer]

Bob,

I meant to tell you that I started watching this video. I like the novel way of bringing Shakespeare to young people. Who knows what doors that could open to creating our next great actors. So many possibilities. It was about 1 am and I had to stop before my face landed in the keyboard from a long day. A couple days after that the layoffs hit at the day job and I had to put writing on hold for a couple weeks while I looked for a job. I have a second interview in a couple of hours. It was a good learning experience to be in this class with you and everyone else. Hope our paths cross in the future.

Kind regards,

Chris Confer

P.S. not sure if you saw my little blurb about a class I had with the co-writer of Top Gun (1986) in our introductions, but it’s a pretty cool story regarding one of the last two classes I had to take at Michigan State to complete my Bachelor’s degree. I’ll paste it here to make it easy:

I had a course once with Jim Cash (Top Gun) on popular culture that he taught in his home. Michigan State University gave him a lot of leeway to do that as he was a local celebrity for having co-written Top Gun and several other scripts with Jack Epps Jr. His office was so large that it fit all 22 of his students pretty comfortably. It was really more of a giant family room with a Wurlitzer jukebox on one side and his desk on the other with couches in between. You should have seen his desk, it was about 15 feet long and he casually held court from behind it for the semester. It was a worthwhile course. The funny thing is that movies did not come up too often in the conversation. He did mention that was not real happy with how the Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) character was cast. He wanted her to be stronger and more independent. He said the choice of nylons with the seamline on the back undermined his intent for the character. He also told us he had this little trick of not having to lend out movies to people because they often would not be returned. These were the days of VHS tape in the early 1990s. He would say, yeah, I don’t have it on VHS, I prefer Betamax because the picture quality is better. It was kind of funny. He was a producer at a local PBS station in East Lansing / Lansing before he got his break. He loved sports and everything popular culture. The course mainly focused on the 1950s and 1960s and we used a book called Populuxe.

[Christopher Confer]

Bob, thanks for standing on a wall for the rest of us! I was probably only in kindergarten at the time but much appreciated, if words can even convey my gratitude. On another point, like Karen Silkwood type of whistleblowing?

[Christopher Confer]

Joan, you make this look so easy. I guess my notes from last night’s watching of this movie need to be better. Having trouble remembering some scenes/steps/progressions. Thanks for this really concise and thorough recanting of these items. Makes me want to learn shorthand, so that I don’t have to stop and start the movie over and over to make my notes.

Chris

[Christopher Confer]

Jon, this is scary stuff. Love it. The five day deadline really cranks up the pressure and fear of the inevitable. I’d pay money to see it.

[Christopher Confer]

Bob, your story is really tight. I wonder if any of the folks in Stratford Ontario would bite on this or are they purists who would only put on the original Shakespeare? I don’t know much about plays but this is good stuff here. I’d pay money to see this play.

[Christopher Confer]

Thanks Joan. Eons ago when I was a freshman at Michigan State, that burning bed story happened about 10 miles away from East Lansing-the one that got made into a TV movie staring Farah Fawcett. It was in the news constantly and everyone was thinking, well he got what he deserved. I think she still got convicted, my memory is a little fuzzy on that. Just checked it, she got acquited, thank God. And then there’s commentator more recently in the media who plays Independence Day (Reba McEntire) as bumper music as if it’s a Fourth of July song. Yeah, it happens on the Fourth of July as a metaphor but it is not about the country’s liberation from England but the abusive husband in the song. OMG. Anyhow, I find your story interesting.

[Christopher Confer]

Thanks Bob!

[Christopher Confer]

I don’t know if it still exists but remember we are dealing with fiction which requires suspension of disbelief. Michael Douglas was in a 1983 film called Star Chamber which has some interesting aspects but it takes 40 minutes to get moving.

[Christopher Confer]

Good one Christopher in number 4!

Chris Confer

[Christopher Confer]

Liz and Bob,

I was rereading the forum from last week to get some inspiration for Assignment 6 and kind of do a self check to see if I am learning this material-it’s pretty deep-you both reminded me of another romcom which has a curmudgeon who transforms in a similar manner, kind of a slow simmer, which is Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets. If that isn’t a run on sentence, I’ll ask ChatGPT to write me one. Anyhow, a lot of similarities between those two films.

Chris

[Christopher Confer]

Bob, I just type mine into notepad or notepad++ and then copy and paste. Then I fix the spacing in the forum form. For what it’s worth.

Word has mark up language that messes it all up.

[Christopher Confer]

Interesting world you have chosen and a play! Looking forward to see how this evolves.

[Christopher Confer]

Thanks Bob. Yeah, was thinking like a hundred LilPutins, all look the same, maybe dressed slightly different but yeah like Gulliver’s Travels satirizing many contemporary issues like war (do humans ever learn this does not really solve anything unless you’re attacked and he feels attacked) and ridiculously blaming the Russians for everything in order to provoke them and do a slight of hand away from what the west has done in its own countries and towards them.

[Christopher Confer]

Hi Marilynne, oh, hadn’t thought about it in that way. Could be. Thanks for the insight.

I work with a guy who has the same last name as you but he puts an accent on the first e eventhough I think he has lived here in the US for generations.