[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo – Thriller Map Version 1

What I learned: I have had this idea outlined for many years. I knew that I was missing motivations and the timing was off. It wasn’t suspenseful. This process has given me a roadmap on how to develop it. Definitely worth the time. I now see this a screen series. Here is the outline to the Pilot episode.

Macondo Pilot Episode

INT Cartagena Airport Day

Chuck arrives at Cartagena airport amide a tumult. He is met by Art from the Consulate. While waiting for his bag, Chuck surreptitiously calls a number. There is no answer. He calls again in five minutes.

Chuck:

I have a message from Washington. Can we meet tonight?

Voice (with accent):

Yes 6:30 pm at the Mar Azul in the port.

Chuck turns around and sees somebody is looking his way. He looks again and the person is gone.

A mysterious woman dressed in a flowing white dress and a white hat comes up to Chuck,

Carmen:

Chuck. Welcome to Cartagena.

Chuck:

Thank you. (As she walks by). Hello. What is your name?

As the mysterious woman comes over, Art tells him:

Chuck:

Who was that woman?

Art:

She is one of the many cartel leaders. They call her ‘La Telarana’ the Spider Web woman because she ensnares men in her web. We have your luggage. The Consul, Max, is having a dinner tonight and the Mayor is the guest of honor. I’ll pick you up at the hotel.

Chuck:

I am already meeting someone for dinner this evening. Do I have to attend?

Art:

This is a must. Reschedule your dinner

INT: Consulate Day

Chuck arrives at the Consulate and meets Max. Max is disdainful of the junior officer who just arrived from the National Security Council.

Max: This isn’t the White House son. This is the real world of the Foreign Service. Colombia is a dangerous place.

Chuck:

I realize that, and I am ready to get my hands dirty.

Max:

You know last week new secure communications equipment arrived and this week you show up. Any connection?

Chuck:

I am finishing up some work with my old boss at the National security Council. The Ambassador will read you in.

Max:

Hmm… We’ll see. Since you are ready to get your hands dirty, you are coming with me to see the real Foreign Service.

EXT CEMETERY Day

Chuck and Max are at the municipal cemetery.

Max:

This is supposed to be the body of an American accused of embezzlement. I think he faked his death

Chuck

Why do you think that? We have a death certificate and picture of the body.

Max

Gut Instinct

The coffin comes out and it is opened. Inside is the body of a shriveled black man. Chuck gets a whiff of the decay and throws up.

Max

You’d better toughen up, boy. It’s your case now – figure out what happened.

INT CONSULATE Day

Chuck begins to write up the report on the American who faked his death. He calls the line he called before and leaves a message that he will be late. Chuck quietly goes into the communications vault and makes a call to the White House. He asks for Elinor, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Latin America. She is not there but he leaves a message that he has arrived. Chuck opens an envelope and pulls out contract.

INT CONSUL’S HOUSE Night

Chuck arrives at the Consul’s house. He is instructed on how to interact with the guests including the Mayor of Cartagena. When the guests arrive, the Mayor spends a lot of time talking with Chuck because of his former affiliation with the White House. Max is annoyed. Later a shouting match erupts between Max and the Mayor. Chuck steps in to break it up but ends up on the wrong-end of the Mayor’s punch. Chuck is knocked out.

INT/EXT Port Night

Chuck regains consciousness and realizes he has to get to the meeting. The Hotel general manager twists a cabbie’s arm to take him to the meeting in the port. Chuck talks his way into the port, despite lack of Colombian identification. When he arrives, the cabbie dumps him at the door of the Mar Azul bar. Chuck is dragged into the back facing down a gun. He is thrown into the room and sees Pancho as well as Carmen – La Telarana.

CHUCK

I’m Chuck Forsythe. Elinor at the White House sends her regards.

PANCHO

Mucho Gusto. I’d like to present to you my wife Carmen.

Chuck is confused, trying to figure out how Carmen fits into the picture. She smiles at Chuck.

CARMEN

We already met at the airport.

PANCHO

So now give us the bank account number. We need the money to buy the guns so we can begin the uprising against General Pinochet

CHUCK

There has been a change of plans. The US will arrange for the shipment of arms to you, here in Colombia. You will be responsible for getting them to your supports in Chile. Attached is a contract between you and the US government. Read it over. When you sign it, I will let you Washington know and we can begin the process of setting up the shipments

PANCHO

This is not what I was told. This is unacceptable.

He pulls out a gun and aims it at Chuck. Chuck’s eyes widen in fear. Carmen walks between Pancho and Chuck.

CARMEN

Pancho, think. You can’t just shoot an American diplomat. Think some more. This makes things easier for you. You don’t have to set up buying the guns. They will send it to us. It really is better for us. For the cause.

Pancho nods. He puts down the gun. He and Carmen begin reading the document. Both pepper Chuck with questions about the details of the agreement. As the sun comes up, they agree.

EXT CONSULATE Day

Chuck arrives exhausted at the hotel just in time to change clothes. He goes with Art to open up the Consulate. As they pull up, the local police Jeeps pull up and the police shoot tear gas at the crowds lined up to get visas. Art shouts at the Police Sergeant who is giving orders.

ART

You can’t do this. This is a diplomatic building protected by international law.

POLICE SERGEANT

We heard that there was crowd here who was threatening the Consulate. Your Consul attacked our Mayor last night and our Colombian citizens are angry.

ART

These are your citizens lined up to get a visa to get out of this god-forsaken country. Let them be.

At that moment, the Mayor drives up and gets out of the vehicle.

ART

Senor Mayor, please tell your police to leave. This is an attack by you on the United States.

The Mayor waves the police away.

MAYOR

I apologize for the misunderstanding.

He looks over at Chuck and notices Chuck has a black eye from the punch that the mayor threw at the dinner.

MAYOR

I apologize for hitting you last night. You were not my intended target. I admire anyone willing to take a punch to protect their boss. Let me make this up to you by inviting you to my ranch this weekend.

The Mayor gets back in the car and drives away.

END OF PILOT EPISODE

I. Turning Point 1: Chuck quickly solves the mystery of who was in the coffin, The Mayor is now Chuck’s biggest fan. At the same time, Chuck starts planning out how the arms shipments will arrive, which entails numerous clandestine meetings. Max is both jealous and suspicious of Chuck.

· Villains Plan 1: Max gets a local police contact to surveil Chuck.

· Twist 5 Chuck tracks down the missing American fugitive who was supposed to be in the coffin. When he solves that, he figures out that a Colombian a gang was killing locals to sell their rare blood to types to the US.

II. Turning Point 2: Chuck is in charge of issuing visas but notices irregularities.

Chuck tries to figure out what is causing the problem.

· Villains Plan 2: Max suggests one of the Colombian employees might be behind the missing visas.

· Twist 6: Chuck is called by Immigration in Miami that several Colombians were arrested in the US with visas issued under Chuck’s name and both were part of Carmen’s network. Chuck doesn’t remember issuing them and finds no record of them.

III. Turning Point 3: Chuck notices the irregularities continue, but only on days he is out of town. Chuck gets word that several Colombians were arrested in the US and both were part of Carmen’s network.

· Villains Plan 3: Max sends out Chuck on prison visits.

· Life Threatening 2: Chuck finds himself in harm’s way in each visit

· Mystery 7: How/Why is Carmen involved with Max?

· Twist 7: Chuck tests his phone communications and finds what he says is going directly to Max. Chuck then gives out false information in his phone calls.

IV. Turning Point 3: A friend tells Chuck about a rumor that Max is selling visas. Carmen confirms the rumor and turns over the information to the security officer in the Embassy. Max also finds out what Chuck’s secret mission is about.

· Villains Plan 4: Max warns Chuck about associating with the friends. Max threatens to write up Chuck for insubordination.

· Life Threatening 3: Since the information was leaked, Chuck worries about his safety.

· Mystery 8: Why did Carmen betray Max?

· Twist 8: The officer in charge of the investigation leaks information to Max, because they are both part of the old-boys club.

V. Climax: The final arms shipment is due. Max sends Chuck out on a prison visit and gives the information to the rival cartel. Chuck’s bodyguard finds out about the trap and refuses to go further. Chuck returns and confronts Max. Max reveals how he and Carmen were lovers in the past. Bitter about Carmen’s betrayal, Max tells Chuck that Carmen is going to steal the last arms shipment for her cartel.

· Villains Plan 5: Max sends Chuck on a suicide mission.

· Life Threatening 4: Chuck is about to walk into an ambush. For the first time, he disobeys an order.

· Villains Plan 6: When Chuck returns, Max betrays Carmen

· Life Threatening 5: Chuck goes to the landing strip and, after a fire fight. destroys the incoming arms shipment.

· Twist 9: Washington pulls the plug on the arms smuggling operation and does a cover-up to limit any political exposure.

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo misdirects when appropriate

What I learned is that misdirection is an element in the thrillers that I like. It has to be done subtly and I need to be conscious of this when I do my script.

Look through your Thriller Map for a few opportunities to add in misdirection.

A. Clue Misdirection.

– Max – deliberately leaves
forges Chuck’s name on visa applications.

– Carmen tells Chuck that her
drug processing lab is at the original landing strip when in fact she
moved most of it.

B. Character Misdirection.

-Carmen comes off as supporting
the guerilla movement, when she only wants to grow her cartel.

-The senior security officer comes
off as a ‘by-the-book’ investigator when in fact he is driven by his cynicism
and anger

C. Dialogue Misdirection.

I don’t have a good one for
this. I will make a note and look for opportunities in the script

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo Gives Great Clues

What I Learned from this: Sequencing the clues is tricky. My question is how to keep up the suspenseful pace without giving away too much.

Mystery 1: What is Chuck’s real mission?

· Overt: Chuck makes secretive calls in the airport terminal. We hear him ask for a fictitious person. We know Chuck has an ulterior motive.

· Over: Chuck has a document in the diplomatic pouch addressed to him ‘eyes only.’ Chuck opens it at gets out a code.

· Covert Max wonders aloud why secure communications equipment has recently arrived.

· Overt: Chuck makes a secure call to Washington and just confirms he has arrived. We now know that Chuck is involved with some kind of plan involving Washington.

· Covert: Chuck finally meets up with Pancho. Chuck is surprised to see Carmen there but Pancho assures Chuck that she is part of the plan. With the special code, Pancho confirms the money transfer. We then learn the real mission

Mystery 2: What is going on with the visas?

· Covert: Chuck hears rumor about predecessor leaving suddenly

· Overt: Chuck has discrepancy at end of week

· Covert: Chuck sees local employee acting suspiciously

· Covert: Chuck sees Max entering a building with Max

· Overt: Max suggests local employee was involved. Chuck investigates, it is not her.

· Overt: Chuck gets tip from a friend. It begins to make sense, but Chuck can’t believe Max is the culprit.

· Covert: Carmen makes comment about Max. The inference provides the missing piece to the puzzle.

Mystery 3: What is Carmen’s end-objective?

· Covert: Carmen makes comments to Max at first meeting about arms shipment

· Covert: Carmen is seen talking with the pilot

· Overt: Chuck finds out from junior security officer about the relationship between Max and Carmen.

· Overt: Max tells Chuck about the plans to divert the flight. Chuck rushes to the landing strip to destroy the plane and the arms.

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo Trust/Distrust

What I Learned from this: This has helped me clarify character motivations in MIS plot sequencing.

Chuck/Max (Hero/Villain)

· Trust: Chuck thinks that Max is a tough boss but Chuck does not doubt his basic honesty. Chuck follows Max’ diversionary tactics.

· Distrust: Chuck realizes that Max is spying on him.

· Distrust: Chuck gets tip on visa selling. This is confirmed by Carmen.

Chuck/Carmen (Hero/Red Herring)

· Trust: Chuck gives Carmen benefit of the doubt since she is Pancho’s husband and part of the arms supply operation

· Distrust: Chuck hears increasing rumors that Carmen is expanding her drug smuggling operations. Several of the guns show up are seized by the government.

· Trust: Carmen confirms that Max is selling visas.

· Distrust: Chuck deduces that Carmen is going to divert the last arms shipment.

Chuck /Security Officer (Trusted but Shouldn’t Be)

· Trust: Chuck follows procedures and brings names/accusations to Security Officer. The investigation is supposed to be private.

· Distrust: The security officer identifies with Max as part of the ‘good old boys’ and gives Max all of the details of the investigation.

Chuck/Mike (Not trusted but should be)

· Distrust: Mike is an acquaintance from college who is now a CIA officer. Mike has caused problems for Chuck in the past and Chuck is very wary of him.

· Trust: Mike is made part of the arms supply operation. Chuck works well with him.

· Distrust: Mike withholds information from Chuck. Chuck thinks that Mike is trying to take over the operation.

· Trust: For the final shipment, Mike comes through with logistical support and ends up saving Chuck’s life.

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo’s Thriller Plot

What I Learned is: Sequencing the events with the Villain (Max) is relatively straightforward. Weaving in the Red Herring (Carmen) makes the outline process more complicated, but it keeps focus on the main direction of the story.

I. Opening: Chuck arrives at Cartagena airport. He surreptitiously calls a number and tries to set up a meeting. Somebody is surveilling Chuck, but Chuck doesn’t notice.

· Mystery 1: Who is he calling?

· Mystery 2: Who is watching Chuck?

II. Inciting Incident 1: Chuck has first meeting with Max.

Max complains about next secure communications equipment being put in and then Chuck showing up. Max asks Chuck is there is a connection. Chuck says he is continuing some work with his old boss at the National security Council and to check with the Ambassador. Max is suspicious and intimidates Chuck by taking him on a visit to a cemetery to disinter a dead American. Chuck becomes sick at the sight/smell of the decaying body, but the body is definitely not that of a dead American.

· Mystery 3: What is Chuck’s mission?

· Mystery 4: Who was the dead person and where is the real American?

III. Inciting Incident 2: Chuck meets Carmen.

Chuck finally sets up a time to meet with the person he was calling. It turns out to be Pancho, who runs a guerilla group aimed at overthrowing the Chilean dictator. To get to the meeting, Chuck has to get into the port area after hours and is held at gunpoint until Pancho verifies Chuck is the contact. Pancho takes him to the back room and introduces his wife Carmen, “La Telarana”, the notorious Chilean drug smuggler.

· Mystery 5: Why is Pancho so suspicious?

· Mystery 6: Why is Carmen involved in the arms smuggling mission?

· Life Threatening 1: Chuck getting to the port at gunpoint.

IV. Turning Point 1: Chuck quickly solves the mystery of who was in the coffin, catching a US fugitive faking his death as well as cracking a Colombians trafficking ring. At the same time, Chuck starts planning out how the arms shipments will arrive, which entails numerous clandestine meetings. Max is both jealous and suspicious of Chuck.

· Villains Plan 1: Max gets a contact in the local police to surveille Chuck.

V. Turning Point 2: Chuck is in charge of issuing visas but notices irregularities.

Chuck tries to figure out what is causing the problem.

· Villains Plan 2: Max suggests one of the Colombian employees might be behind the missing visas.

VI. Turning Point 3: Chuck notices the irregularities continue, but only on days he is out of town. Chuck gets word that several Colombians were arrested in the US and both were part of Carmen’s network.

· Villains Plan 3: Max sends out Chuck on prison visits.

· Life Threatening 2: Chuck finds himself in harm’s way in each visit

· Mystery 7: How/Why is Carmen involved with Max?

VII. Turning Point 3: A friend tells Chuck about a rumor that Max is selling visas. Carmen confirms the rumor and turns over the information to the security officer in the Embassy. Max also finds out what Chuck’s secret mission is about.

· Villains Plan 4: Max warns Chuck about associating with the friends. Max threatens to write up Chuck for insubordination.

· Life Threatening 3: Since the information was leaked, Chuck worries about his safety.

· Mystery 8: Why did Carmen betray Max?

VIII. Climax: The final arms shipment is due. Max sends Chuck out on a prison visit and gives the information to the rival cartel. Chuck’s bodyguard finds out about the trap and refuses to go further. Chuck returns and confronts Max. Max reveals how he and Carmen were lovers in the past. Bitter about Carmen’s betrayal, Max tells Chuck that Carmen is going to steal the last arms shipment for her cartel.

· Villains Plan 5: Max sends Chuck on a suicide mission.

· Life Threatening 4: Chuck is about to walk into an ambush. For the first time, he disobeys an order and returns home.

· Villains Plan 6: When Chuck returns, Max betrays Carmen, knowing that Chuck would likely try to stop Carmen.

· Life Threatening 5: Chuck goes to the landing strip and, after a fire fight. destroys the incoming arms shipment.

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo – Mystery Sequence

What I learned from this: I did not have Carmen’s (La Telaraña) motivations worked out. This lesson forced me to answer the question of why she betrayed Mas, Ignacio and Chuck. Once I figured out the why, the plot changed and became more focused.

Villain (Max) – Visa selling ring.

How many ways can he cover that secret?

o Max blames mechanical errors – Chuck asks why so many?

o Max blames low-level employees – Chuck finds it is not true and continues to dig for answers.

o Max warns Chuck away from friends – Chuck gets information from Carmen and confirmed by his friends. Chuck passes it to security.

o Max gets security chief to cover up – Chuck forces an investigation with high level contacts.

o Max sends Chuck unescorted into rival cartel land. Chuck aborts the trip and heads back to confront Max.

Red Herring (Carmen – La Telaraña) – Selling Drugs for Guns

o Max tries to reignite previous relationship with Carmen. Carmen turns him down but encourages Max to have an affair with Alejandra who works in Carmen’s drug smuggling ring.

o Carmen seduces police chief to get smuggling through airport.

o Carmen realizes that Chuck controls the guns and tries to seduce him. He turns him down, so she goes to Plan B – to be a source of information.

o Carmen seduces Chuck’s friend JP, making it more difficult for Chuck to cut her out of the arms smuggling plan.

o Carmen sets up a plan with the aircraft pilot to steal the gun shipment. Chuck is unaware.

o Carmen lets Chuck know about Max’s visa selling ring. Chuck is then focused on the battle with this boss.

o Chuck finally realizes that she is after the guns. With the help of others, the plane is shot down and her plan is foiled.

Hero (Chuck) – Supporting a Revolution

o Chuck arrives and faces a series of mishaps that almost stop him from meeting his contact Ignacio, the revolutionary.

o Chuck sets up contact with Washington but keeps his boss Max in the dark. Max receives a message that Chuck is on a secret mission, but Max thinks Chuck is trying to investigate his visa selling ring.

o Chuck tries to keep a low profile, but he is the best officer in the Consulate and solves a number of high-profile cases. Chuck becomes the Golden Boy both in Washington and Colombia. This makes keeping the secret about the arms deliveries more complicated.

o Chuck starts the delivery of the guns to Ignacio. There are many setbacks, but because of Chuck’s perseverance the first two shipments go well. Max still thinks Chuck is investigating him.

o Chuck finds out about Max’s visa selling ring because of a tip from Carmen. He then shifts his focus away from Carmen to Max. He give the information so security and security double-crosses him. Max now understands what Chuck’s secret mission is all about.

o The following day is the arms last shipment, Chuck learns from Ignacio that Carmen is going to steal the guns. Chuck gets his CIA friend to go to the landing strip and shoot down the plane. Chuck blows up his mission and his career to prevent a major US domestic and an international scandal.

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo’s Villain Has a Great Plan

What I Learned from This…. I have been trying for years to concisely nail down the backstory and motivation of the boss, Max. This exercise helped me clarify why Max was selling the visas and to sequence Max’s actions.

What
is the end goal?

Max, on his last tour as a US diplomat, wants to retire with a lot of money, a new life and a new wife. The reality is that he has only a modest pension to live on, a start-home house in Virginia and an alcoholic wife.

How
can the Villain accomplish that in a devious way?

Max arranges with a cartel leader to sell visas. Shortly after that, he rekindles a relationship with Carmen (La Telaraña), a lover from years before and now the leader of a small cartel. He then also begins selling visas to her.

How
can they cover it up?

Each visa is numbered by a machine and the visas are issued during the working hours by the junior-most American officer. Max comes in after hours stamps a visa for a narco-trafficker. The junior officer can’t reconcile the discrepancy and Max can blame him for not controlling the work. Max blackmailed one junior officer (JO) to look the other way, but he was transferred. Along comes Chuck who can’t be bought off.

Sequence
it to make it as intriguing as possible.

· Max was already making money with visa selling scheme with the conspiracy with the previous JO. Max starts off slowly with Chuck, the new JO.

· Max continues with the sales. When Chuck notices the discrepancy, Max blames it on a spoiled (misprint) visa.

· Max talks about the money that could be made to find out if Chuck could be corrupted. Chuck misreads the cues and focuses on his mission.

· When the pattern of missing visas continues, Max suggests it might be the fault of one of the Colombian employees. Chuck investigates but rules it out.

· Max starts rumors that Chuck is skimming off cash from visas fees. Chuck realizes that Max can bring him down.

· Chuck becomes friends with a couple who give him information which uncovers the plot. Max finds out that Chuck knows the couple and Chuck warns him away from the

· Chuck gives the info to the security office who then leaks it to Max. Max then plots to get rid of Chuck by sending him on business to the heart of the rival cartel. That leads to the final confrontation scenes.

[Christopher Lynch]

Chris Lynch – Silence of the Lambs Stacking Suspense

1. Silence of the Lambs is a great example of the MIS format. There

2. The first part of the film develops the Clarice – Lecter story. In this section, the intrigue is focused on why Crawford chose to send Clarice. Crawford does admit that sending her in with no info advanced his goal of getting Lecter to drop information about Buffalo Bill.

3. The suspense is mostly psychological. We know that Lecter can’t get to Clarice, but he skillfully manipulates her by going into her family history. She shows genuine fear. The takeaway – playing on underlying fears can be as powerful as an action scene.

4. The shift in focus from Hannibal to Buffalo Bill is deftly done. The scenes in Memphis build the suspense. We know that Hannibal will escape but we wait to see how. We have the dramatic escape and suddenly the focus shifts to Buffalo Bill. We don’t hear about a manhunt for Lecter.

5. The hunt for Buffalo Bill after Lecter escapes is a classic police investigation. The big misdirect of the movie leads Crawford to Chicago and when the house search turns up nothing, Crawford realizes that Clarice is in trouble. This built up the tension.

6. Clarice searching the house for Buffalo Bill carefully ratchets up the tension. I remember the first time I saw the night vision goggle scene: it was terrifying, and it has remained so. The brilliant stroke is putting the scene through the eyes of the madman, not the hero.

7. This movie has withstood the test of time (unlike Basic Instinct). It is really an excellent psychological thriller.

[Christopher Lynch]

Chris Lynch Basic Instinct Stacking Suspense

What I Learned from This:

1) Every scene led to a gradual reveal. Most scenes had elements of MIS.

2) There were many deliberate misdirects and red herrings.

3) The movie is an homage to Hitchcock (San Francisco, car chases, face close-ups, music). My impression seeing Basic Instinct again after many years is that the tension in the movie is being built on surprise twists, not from a development of the plot. Many of the plot reveals have a ‘deus ex-machina’ feel, which rarely occurs in Hitchcock.

4) I agree with Maggie Tsavaris that the reveal of Beth’s psychopathic personality would have been better made earlier in the movie. There are two Beths – before and after. I didn’t see the links between one and the other.

5) The ending scenes left lots of questions about Beth and her life from Berkeley to San Francisco. I found myself thinking about those after the ending, not about Nick and Catherine.

6) When Basic Instinct was released, everyone (critics and public) focused on the sex scenes which made it a box-office hit. (Sharon Stone later said she was tricked into the leg crossing/uncrossing scene in the police station interview.) The scenes for the time were graphic and prolonged. (Remember at the time, there was no Porn-Hub and ‘regular’ people could see sex scenes that were normally only seen in ‘Adult Theaters.”

7) The film also relied on the audience buying into a number of gay/lesbian stereotypes that were accepted in 1991 (that was still the mid-point of the AIDS crisis). At the time, Gay/Lesbian = danger, perversion, damaged personalities.

8) If you strip out the sex, (in my view) Basic Instinct has a plot built on a series of twists randomly stacked one on the other. A well-written episode of Law & Order SVU tells psycho-sexual stories with a logical plot progression. I don’t think Basic Instinct has aged well as a thriller.

[Christopher Lynch]

My name is Chris Lynch. I currently live in Southern California. I’ve written two feature scripts and five small-screen limited series scripts.

I was a previously a US Foreign Service Officer (US diplomat) and I was stationed in Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Spain and Germany. My last post was as US Consul General in Hamburg, Germany. I also had a stint in the White House and dealt with sensitive intelligence issues throughout my career. My scripts are works of fiction, but I add details that bring authenticity to the story.

I think that I have great content and timing for my scripts, but I need to add the edginess of the spy thriller to my work (especially for the TV series that I am working on).

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo-World and Characters

What I Learned from this Lesson: I have mapped out the plot (the story) but trying to assign motives to the characters is forcing me to rethink their roles.

1) CONCEPT AND BIG MIS OF THE STORY

Big Mystery: Who is trying to
sabotage the mission – Chuck’s boss, the cartels or the US government?
Big Intrigue: Why is the boss
behaving so suspiciously? Is he trying to prevent the bribery from being
discovered? Setting up Chuck as a fall-guy? Doing the dirty work of the
rival cartel?
Big Suspense: Can he keep the
mission secret while trying to carry it out? He is ambitious, so if he
blows it, his career is gone. If his boss or the cartels find out, Chuck
could lose his life.

2) World: This is Colombia before Pablo Escobar consolidated power – lawless and violent. The story is told from inside a remote US Consulate where the focus is on the Americans who were involved with the drug smuggling. Chuck has to pretend to be part of this world while carrying out the geo-political games of his bosses back at the White House.

3) Characters

a. Hero: Chuck

i. Mystery: His real mission – to arm a Chilean guerilla group, not be a Junior Officer at a small Consulate

ii. Intrigue: Chuck must survive Max’s attempts to keep Chuck from discovering the truth of Max’s illegal activities

iii. Suspense: Can Chuck carry out the mission while keeping it secret from Max?

b. Red Herring: La Telaraña – Woman head of a cartel

i. Mystery: What is her end-game – fomenting a revolution in Chile or becoming the drug king (queen) pin in Colombia

ii. Intrigue: She has a series of intricate games to manipulate the men around her into giving her power and fame.

iii. Suspense: Can she gain control over the weapons shipment?

c. Villain: Max

i. Mystery: What is Max trying to conceal – his affairs or his ties to the Cartel?

ii. Intrigue: Max’s involvement with the visa-selling ring which helps the rival cartels get drug smugglers into the US.

iii. Suspense: Can connections to the ‘old-boy network’ in the US government deflect suspicion away from himself?

[Christopher Lynch]

Macondo Big MIS

What I learned from this assignment: My script is for a thriller, but my previous logline *that I have labored over for years) didn’t convey it. Asking these questions crystalized my vision – I may change the logline again but now I know that I am writing, and selling, a thriller.

Logline: Macondo – Newbie US diplomat Chuck Forsythe arrives in Colombia to carry out a secret mission but his corrupt boss pulls Chuck into a war between rival drug cartels. Chuck has to stay alive while figuring out how to complete the mission.

Big Mystery: Who is trying to
sabotage the mission – his boss, the cartels or the US government? <div>

Big Intrigue: Why is the boss
behaving so suspiciously? Is he trying to prevent his accepting bribes from being
discovered? Is he setting up Chuck as a fall-guy? Is he doing the dirty work of the
rival cartel?

Big Suspense: Can Chuck keep the
mission secret while trying to carry it out? He is ambitious, so if he
blows it, his career is gone. If his boss or the cartels find out, Chuck
could lose his life.

</div>

[Christopher Lynch]

Hunt for Red October : Thriller Conventions

Christopher Lynch

What I Learned from this Assignment:

Unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
Jack Ryan
Dangerous <div>

Villain: Soviet
Military Hierarchy

High stakes: Can the US get the
secrets of the new Soviet sub that could be a first strike weapon.

Life and death situations: Ramius
kills Putin (no, not the real life one. Both Putins are KGB agents however);
Cook tries to kill Ramius and Ryan

This movie is thrilling
because? It takes the viewer on a journey to unwrap plot secrets with lots
of high stakes twists and turns.

3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?

Big Mystery: What is the
intention of the Soviet submarine – provocation or defection?
Big Intrigue: On the sub – who is
with or against Ramius
Big Suspense: How can the US
get the sub but fool the Soviets into believing that the Soviet sub was
sunk?</div><div>

4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? Two great lead actors, short well-defined scenes. The screenplay leaves many breadcrumbs for the viewer to follow but has an unexpected ending.

</div>

[Christopher Lynch]

Chris Lynch – I agree to the terms of the release form.