David Quinn
Forum Replies Created
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David Quinn’s Project and Market
Nightvision. Dark Fantasy. Obsessed with violence and tortured by her past, Blythe stalks monsters only she can see.
The most attractive facet is my supremely badass – but fully dimensional – main character; the tension between Blythe’s wounded past and obsessive, deadly night hunting offer an actor a unique opportunity to become indelible on the screen.
With my manager I want to attach the actor who recognizes in Blythe the perfect next step up the ladder in her career.
What I learned today is that if I get this right, I won’t have to leave messages for my manager, he will leave messages for me.
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Nightvision
One Hour Dark Fantasy
Blythe has lost control – a wounded wanderer, she tortures herself with fragmented memories of her lover Ian, burned alive in his home many years ago.
But Blythe has an uncanny ability. Blythe alone sees creatures… masquerading as women. You and I see beautiful women, Blythe sees monsters – powerful visions she never asked for and doesn’t understand. She’s obsessed with following them by night through their urban underworld.
And doesn’t know why.
Till the night she stalks and seduces one in the bathroom of an underground club – and long-buried memories intrude, shocking her: Ian surrounded and trapped in his home by these creatures, sentenced to death for sins against the sisterhood. As she slays the siren, Blythe is promised that she too is on the creatures kill list.
Blythe must become the deadliest hunter of hunters – but answer to her she has denied to answer could save her, or destroy her.
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Module 2, Lesson 5 Work
Subject line: Quinn’s Episode Descriptions
What I learned doing this assignment is that this gets easier with practice, as promised. I was slow at first! I also see that there a places where I need to have even more clarity about my layers to elevate intrigue and engagement.
Episode 1: Nightvision
Hook/Intrigue: You and I see beautiful women, Blythe sees monsters – a power she doesn’t understand – and driven by revenge, kills them.
Main Character journey: Tortured by fragmented memories of the death of her lover, Blythe stalks, seduces and murders a beautiful human woman in an underground Boston after hours club
Mystery: Only she can see this creature hiding among the human herd. And in her memories of her lover’s death, he was stalked and trapped by a pack of the “sisterhood.”
Major Challenge/Conflict: Confused, distracted by PTSD. Risk of getting caught or killed by night citizens or her prey.
Action/Reaction: In a bathroom stall, in seduction and tease, Blythe detects hints this woman knows her, remembers her – and could be playing her in order to kill her. Blythe considers abandoning this kill, but her target attacks her, revealing that the sisterhood has declared that Blythe must die. Shocked and reeling from the pain of seeing her lover in her memory, Blythe kills ruthlessly, “For Ian.”
Cliffhanger: Stealing the woman’s phone, Blythe traces past travel to an eerie abandoned farm outside the city. Here she will hunt other sister creatures…. But she finds an adolescent girl, so scared she can hardly speak, who begs Blythe to take her home “before the broken aunties come back…”
Episode 2: Broken Aunties
Hook/Intrigue: Certain that she’s discovered an infestation of hidden creatures, Blythe convinces the girl, Bea, to wait in her car, safe. “But who will keep you safe?” Bea taunts, locked inside, dangling Blythe’s stolen car keys.
Main Character journey: The girl possesses a power to manipulate Broken Aunties, animated corpses who “come back,” erupting from cold earth to attack Blythe before she can break into her car.
Mystery: Facing the child puppeting the attacking creatures, Blythe confronts disturbing denied feelings of her youthful attraction to Ian when she was just a little older than this girl. He groomed her. Controlled her. Manipulated her.
Major Challenge/Conflict: Blythe must put the Aunties down. Can she kill a child?
Action/Reaction: Blythe detects that the girl favors one corpse puppet, auto starts her car with her phone, driving it remotely toward the favorite. Bea screams, “Mama!” The car pulps Mama’s corpse.
Cliffhanger: Insane with grief, Bea attempts to control as she controlled the creatures. Blythe struggles to resist.
Episode 3: Burn For Love
Hook/Intrigue: Rage at having her car stolen and her body manipulated, Blythe snaps Beas neck, freeing herself and the last remaining Aunties. What now? (MORE)
Main Character journey: Heading into Boston forces Blythe to remember days with lover Ian, Remembered love with Ian seems idyllic at first…
Mystery: But we perceive clues that the days of their affair took place in a world that looks like Boston a century ago, how?
Major Challenge/Conflict: Memories now disturb, given that Blythe is now is convinced Ian manipulated her, groomed her, possibly even others. And her flashback turns tragic, as creatures trap Ian and burn his estate.
Action/Reaction: When her car is stolen for the second time in one night, Blythe murders the human thieves brutally by incinerating them in her car…
Cliffhanger: …and is spied by an old enemy, Alice James, creature-hunter shaman.
Episode 4: Dyre Beastes
Hook/Intrigue: Back in Beacon Hill, Blythe hunts twin sisters, the Dyre Beastes, sirens who lure victims to follow them into alleys and dark corners of the colonial streets with eerie songs. (MORE?)
Main Character journey: what else can I discover about this?
Mystery: Blythe feels like she has met them before – or so it seems in half-missing, fragmented memory. Also, as Blythe stalks the beasts, Alice James stalks her. (MORE? Clues about Ian’s death, something the beasts know that Blythe does not?)
Major Challenge/Conflict: Sensing something wrong (Alice James) Blythe is distracted and almost overpowered by the beasts.
Action/Reaction: Alice James has to intercede, seemingly coming to Blythe’s rescue. They obviously have history.
Cliffhanger: The weird sisters terminated, Blythe enrolls Alice James in her war.
(Note for rewrite: Alice James will be revealed in this episode to be competitor creature killer / former mentee and in the next episode to be Blythe’s former lover)
Episode 5: Slaughterhouse
Hook/Intrigue: Slaughterhouse, a Combat Zone urban legend armed with sharp spines that extrude from her skin, passes as a beloved club performer in one of the last underground clubs left in the once infamous neighborhood.
Main Character journey: Alice James has stalked Slaughterhouse, using her sensitivity to trace her; Blythe and Alice James make a good hunting team, eluding and distracting human interference and tracing their victim in tandem. (If it looks like they have done this before, they have.)
Mystery: Alice James and Blythe have moments where they seem intimate, more than just mentor and protégé. Also, clues about Ian’s death?
Major Challenge/Conflict: We see how Alice James was mentored by Blythe as they work together to take down their prey.
Action/Reaction: But Slaughterhouse’s fans are cultish, and they interfere in the fight. It’s a mess and AJ is loathe to hurt human bystanders. (Blythe no qualms.)
Cliffhanger: Slaughterhouse dead, Blythe wishes she still had a car. Alice James takes her to her home in a cab and invites her to share her bed. “You don’t think I’m over you, do you?”
Episode 6: Mindworm
Hook/Intrigue: Teasing glimpses of Harpy – a creature who has huge black wings and talons — and Mindworm – a woman no bigger than a child who looks impossible old and resembles a human worm, with tiny vestigial arms and legs. Harpy wants to attack their enemies now… but Mindworm urges caution – “allow me to exhaust them first, I don’t want anything to happen to you, my love.”
Main Character journey: Waking up together the next evening, Alice James is amorous – she missed Blythe – but Blythe is guarded and cold and won’t acknowledge any feeling.
Mystery: abruptly, Blythe returns the affection, acknowledging she has needed this. Out of character. Shocks both women. Shocked at herself, Blythe pulls away – what is happening to her?
Major Challenge/Conflict: Ambush! Mindworm torments Blythe from a distance, stirring up her fear or abandonment and loss of control/weakness.
Action/Reaction: Once this distracts AJ and Blythe, Harpy carries Mindworm to safety, then attacks; Blythe struggles to control herself and is wounded.
Cliffhanger: Harpy flies into the sky with Alice James, prepared to drop her into the bay from a deadly height while Blythe is still hallucinating about Ian manipulating her, mentally unable to fight. Alice James stabs Harpy and Alice James falls into the bay!
Episode 7: Betrayed
Hook/Intrigue: Witness creatures conspiring to attack – they await a signal from the “witch woman.” (AJ)
Main Character journey: Blythe dives into the bay to save an unconscious Alice James, how will she save her and get away before they are caught by police or killed by creatures?
Mystery: “You are too late. I already did it…” Alice James moans, recovering. What did she do? Who were those creatures in the beginning?
Major Challenge/Conflict: Blythe ultimately slays the Harpy, forcing the Mindworm to feel the pain of the death of her love. Law enforcement approach by land and water, causing Blythe and AJ to hide in colonial tunnels under the streets of Beacon Hill. (Ian showed her these – his escape route; there is continued touching on him because it has to make sense when Blythe discovers he is alive in the end of the next episode.)
Action/Reaction: the pack of creatures from the hook scene attack Blythe in her hiding place.
Cliffhanger: Overpowered by the creatures, Blythe is kidnapped. Blythe suspects Alice James when the creatures allow her to leave alive.
Episode 8: To the End of the Night
Hook/Intrigue: Alice James betrayed Blythe, she is surrounded by creatures who want to fulfill that “declaration of death” (Ep 5)
Main Character journey: The terrible answer to one of the mysteries that has tormented Blythe will rip the floor out from under Blythe’s feet – and will she survive the cruel end the sisters plan for her?
Mystery: Why has Blythe been obsessed with Ian?
Major Challenge/Conflict: In the fight of her existence, Blythe kills the sisters who would kill her…
Action/Reaction: …but can she survive what she learns from them?
Cliffhanger: Ian is alive, the creatures never killed him; he hid from Blythe and continued his experiments, while manipulating creatures against Blythe. Truth flips Blythe’s world upside down and she’s enraged resolved to have her revenge on creatures, Alice James and Ian!
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Module 2, Lesson 4: David Quinns Episodes
What I learned doing this assignment is that it takes effort to be precise with the layering… but it feels like it will really pay off with obsession, FUN.THE CHEAT SHEET
1. Beginning……………………………………………………………………….Season End/Cliffhanger
Question A: What is the Beginning of the season and the End of the season?
Blythe kills creatures of the night masquerading as human – for revenge. They killed her lover, Ian. Blythe is ruthless, angry, traumatized – and for reasons we don’t understand yet, only she can see the creatures hiding among the human herd.
Question B: What possible cliffhanger could be in that last scene of the season, thus demanding that we watch the next season?
A major answer rips the floor out from under Blythe’s feet: Alice James betrayed Blythe, for Ian – who is alive, the creatures never killed him; he hid from Blythe and continued his experiments, while manipulating creatures against Blythe.
2. Season 1 Mystery Set up…………………………………..………………Season 1 Mystery Solved
Question A: What is the mystery?
Why does Blythe keep remembering her lover, Ian? (PTSD) What caused the “sisterhood” to transform? Why do they want to kill Blythe?
Question B: How could the mystery be set up? What parts will be left out that must be solved?
Blythe has obsessive memories – like pieces of a complex puzzle. Early on, she relives a memory that is vivid, mysterious, painful. At a private girls school, the students sneak into a pool at night for a vicious game of sharks, the water war game. This was what the creatures once were – students at Ian’s school.
Through the season, the questions simmer: Why does Blythe keep remembering her lover, Ian? (PTSD) What caused the “sisterhood” to transform? Why do they want to kill Blythe?
Question C: What it the ultimate solution that the characters must work to discover?
Ian is alive, in hiding, and manipulating everyone – how does this awareness change everything Blythe knows, feels and does?
3. Journey begins……………………………………………………….Journey peaks, but continues.
Question A: Where does the Lead Character journey begin and end for this season?
Blythe begins wounded and obsessed with righteous revenge – and ends knowing she has been betrayed and misled, which confuses and torments her.
Question B: Think about where this character goes in future seasons. That might give you an idea also.
Ultimately, she will face painful truths, but accept herself and claim her own agency and peace.
4. ……Layer….…Layer………Layer………Layer………Layer………Layer………Layer……Layer
Question A: What layers have you already discovered in your BW Framework?
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
How many will Blythe kill? What collateral damage? And when she finally faces Ian, what?
Alice James revealed as Blythe’s former lover
Blythe hides empathy for the sisters she huntsSisters conspire with Alice James to try Blythe for her crimes
Does Blythe have a hidden plan/scheme, too?
Betrayals– Ian manipulates Blythe’s sister creatures, manipulates her; Alice James betrays Blythe
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Secrets – Ian, Alice James, Blythe – all wounded; all hide need to be loved ; Ian nurses failure’s shame
Blythe surrenders to ruthlessness – collides with her own humanity and its loss
Character intrigue – Ian’s manipulations endanger Blythe; would he let her be destroyed? Ian / Blythe – Adversarial love, fight for dominance
Hidden relationships and conspiracies – Blythe attempts to use Alice James / risks her own downfall
Hidden Character history – Ian and Blythe both need love; Blythe hides secret empathy
Question B: Are there any other layers that you could think of?
Ever since they used to compete at sharks midnights in the school pool, Blythe was always the last to be caught and killed, brought to the surface and forced to breathe. In the final layer, Blythe will make peace with her place with the sisterhood and lead them to something new.
5. Make a list of the Major Story Lines.
Question A: What main characters have story lines that affect everyone else?
Blythe, Ian, Alice James
Question B: What are the most important story lines of this show?
Can Blythe (and creatures) stay hidden?
Will Blythe understand her obsessive need to kill creatures?
Will creatures kill her?
Will Blythe discover Ian’s alive? Will she confront / kill him?
Will Alice James betray Blythe?
Will Blythe’s internal (sick love) conflict be her downfall?
When Blythe is forced to accept – she and ALL monstrous sister creatures were caused by a sexually transmitted virus seeded by Ian, what will she do?
Will Ian’s final experiment succeed?
2. Turn those answers into a list of 8 to 13 Episodes with one sentence explanations. Add bullets for each episode.
Episode 1: Blythe stalks, plays at seducing and ultimately kills a creature of the night masquerading as a human woman.
· Blythe almost flees as she detects hints that this woman knows what Blythe is doing, knows who she is…
· But as the seduction reaches its conclusion, Blythe kills her ruthlessly, “For Ian.”
· Mystery: Blythe hears references to “the farm” and burns to check it out.
· Killing doesn’t soothe her anger and obsessive memories, PTSD.
· And for reasons we don’t understand yet, only she can see the creatures hiding among the human herd. Why?
Episode 2: At the farm, Blythe looks for a hidden pack of creatures, but finds only one insane recluse, who puts up a much – and her child.
· Blythe fights and kills woman, finds…. No one else but a child.
· Facing the child, Blythe confronts her own buried human feelings avenging her murdered lover, and remembers disturbing things about her origin
· There is a clue here that she has to follow up – what is it? Alice James?
· Blythe is followed by a couple of young thugs, who steal her car
Episode 3: Heading into Boston forces Blythe to remember her days with lover Ian… we perceive clues that the days of their affair were a century ago, something Blythe seems to ignore.
· Blythe uses her car’s systems to trap them and burn them alive before they can complete their 911 call… she hopes
· Remembered love with Ian…. Idyllic…
· Turns tragic, as creatures trap him and burn him alive in his home
· Blythe flees the burning farm to Boston
Episode 4: Back in Beacon Hill, Blythe hunts twin sisters, the Dyre Beastes, who she feels like she has
met before, but discovers it is another one of her missing, fragmented memories.
· Hunting Alice James, who will be revealed in the episode to be both competitor creature killer and former lover / mentee,
· Blythe crosses paths with the Dyre Beaste sisters, singing sirens who lure victims to follow them into alleys and dark corners of the colonial streets
· Clues about Ian’s death
· Dispatching the weird sisters, Blythe is too distracted that she too has been hunted tonight, by Alice James!
Episode 5: Blythe and Alice James team up to stalk and kill a Combat Zone urban legend — a killer armed with spines that grow from her skin
· Blythe and Alice James are a good hunting team, avoiding human interference and tracing their victim
· woman passes as a club performer in one of the last underground clubs left in the once infamous neightborhood,
· And its obvious that they are, or were, more than a hunting team, we see how Alice James was mentored by Blythe
· and they were lovers
· Clues about Ian’s death lead them on a new mission – to hunt the Harpy and the Mindworm
Episode 6: Blythe’s mechanic ally, Franco, has another car for her and she and Alice James arm themselves a enter what’s immediately the worst battle situation so far.
· The friendship with Franco really irritates Alice James, who practically threatens him
· The high flying Harpy has deadly talons…
· And the Mindworm has the ability to confuse them and make them hallucinate.
· Clues in the hallucinations – Ian and Alice James conspiring
· Cliffhanger – ?
Episode 7: Blythe and Alice James survive the assault on the Harpy and the Mindworm but l
· Blythe forces Harpy to kill Mindworm – which makes her suicide
· Clues about Ian
· Blythe learns that Alice James has betrayed her
· Surrounded by creatures, Blythe is captured.
Episode 8: Blythe learns that Ian lives and it changes everything.
· A major answer rips the floor out from under Blythe’s feet: Alice James betrayed Blythe, and she is surrounded by creatures
· Ian is alive, the creatures never killed him; hid from Blythe and continued his experiments, while manipulating creatures against Blythe
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Quinn’s Five SeasonsWhat I learned doing this assignment is how open I am to discovering “unknown middle arcs” as my source material stretched, fun!
Brainstorm to find the arc of the entire journey:
Start Season One
Haunted by emotional wounds from her dimly remembered past, Blythe hunts exotic monsters masquerading as women, obsessed with revenging the death of her lover, Ian.
End Season Five
Blythe leads a team of allied “sister” creatures to destroy Ian’s final plan, execute Ian and use his science to reclaim their lost humanity and embrace death by natural causes.
Season 1: A Game of Sharks
A. High Concept or major hook of the season. Blythe kills creatures of the night masquerading as human and stalking Boston; she is ruthless, angry, traumatized – and for reasons we don’t understand yet, only she can see the creatures hiding among the human herd
B. Big Picture Arc/Journey: Blythe confronts her own human feelings avenging her murdered lover
C. Main Conflict: Blythe kills creatures, and even partners with Alice James, her former lover, to outsmart and destroy creatures before they destroy her
D. Mystery/Open Loops: Why does Blythe keep remembering her lover, Ian? (PTSD) What caused the “sisterhood” to transform? Why do they want to kill Blythe? For all these questions, can Blythe live with the answers if she finds them?
E. Cliffhanger: A major answer rips the floor out from under Blythe’s feet: Alice James betrayed Blythe, for Ian – who is alive, the creatures never killed him; he hid from Blythe and continued his experiments, while manipulating creatures against Blythe.
Season 2: The Hundred Year Hunt
A. High Concept or major hook of the season. Ian’s manipulating creatures against Blythe opens a bigger arena for the fight – one hundred years of urban hunting.
B. Big Picture Arc/Journey: Blythe Avenges Herself Over One Hundred Years of an Urban Night Life Dominated by Shapeshifting Killers How has Blythe lived so long?
C. Main Conflict: Blythe kills creatures in different decades / cities – some survive
D. Mystery/Open Loops: How has Blythe lived so long? Are the survivors following Blythe through the decades, flirting with teaming up? What caused the “sisterhood” to transform? Why do they want to kill Blythe? For all these questions, can Blythe live with the answers if she finds them?
E. Cliffhanger: In the present day, the survivors have covertly joined together to capture Bythe – she is taken prisoner just after she discovers where Ian is hiding!
Season 3: The Trial
A. High Concept or major hook of the season. Captured, enraged, humiliated Blythe stands trial, aware that Ian is watching. Survivors of the sisterhood accuse her. Where?
B. Big Picture Arc/Journey: Blythe stands trial and her biggest mysteries are exposed and solved – her new truth is the worst she could imagine
C. Main Conflict: As the trial goes, episodes are evidence. Ian interferes, and his drama of wanting to be a hero plays out.
D. Mystery/Open Loops: What caused the “sisterhood” to transform? Why do they want to kill Blythe? For all these questions, can Blythe live with the answers if she finds them?
E. Cliffhanger: Major layer exposed – Blythe was the first creature; all creatures were transformed when they had sex with Ian over the last century.
Season 4: Damned Angels
A. High Concept or major hook of the season. For the first time, Blythe now allies herself with a group of rebel creatures who also want to kill Ian.
B. Big Picture Arc/Journey: Calling herself a “lucifer,” Blythe and “rogue angels” take the war to “god.” (Ian)
C. Main Conflict: Angels hunt Ian. Blythe no longer pretends to be human, or even alive. (Yet she feels more powerful in herself and her resolve than ever!)
D. Mystery/Open Loops: What is Ian’s final solution he obsesses over?
E. Cliffhanger: Blythe leads a team of allied “sister” creatures to destroy Ian’s final plan, which he claims has already been triggered and cannot be stopped! (The virus has been mutated to be airborn. Earth will be nothing but creatures.)
Season 5: Darkness, Mine
A. High Concept or major hook of the season. Blythe leads a team of allied “sister” creatures to destroy Ian’s final plan.
B. Big Picture Arc/Journey: Blythe has accepted her dark existence, empowering her to destroy Ian
C. Main Conflict: Can Blythe set aside her old sick love for him that’s been driving her for 100 years?
D. Mystery/Open Loops: Can Blythe set aside her old sick love for him that’s been driving her for 100 years?
E. Cliffhanger/Resolution: Blythe executes Ian. With the help of Alice James and the creatures, she uses his science to reclaim their lost humanity (how?) the last thing we see is Blythe saying farewell, looking forward to embrace darkness and death by natural causes.
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Subject line: David Quinn’s Character Descriptions
What I learned doing this assignment: once again, the exercises show me that I know my characters and my story but it takes work to focus unraveling what makes them intriguing.
Blythe
· A ruthless night hunter kills creatures obsessively – unknown to her, she was the first of these creatures.
· Only Blythe can see the creatures as they really are, hiding among night society.
· Blythe believes she kills for revenge, for killing her lover Ian – but the creatures know the truth, he is still alive, and he covertly manipulates them to disrupt Blythe’s agenda.
· Blythe hides her fear of weakness / losing control; willing to expose rage but not pain. Blythe copes through violence and denial
· Ironically, only in killing does Blythe confront her own human empathy and aloneness.
· Blythe is unpredictable; How far will she go to kill sisters? What collateral damage? What will she do when she finally faces Ian?
· with both of her former lovers, Alice James and Ian, Blythe needs love / partnership / she hides behind a mask: human who needs / trusts no one
· Blythe sets herself up for betrayal with both Alice James and Ian – and betrayal is her very worst trigger
START: A lonely woman nursing emotional wounds from her dimly remembered past hunts exotic monsters masquerading as women. She obsesses, on a mission of revenge for the death of her lover, Ian.
MIDDLE: She stalks and battles monsters – they even team up against her and nearly destroy her – still haunted by mysteries: why can she alone see the creatures? How can they exist? Why can’t she stop thinking about her lover? Blythe insists that she doesn’t care about other people – but her war protects them, nonetheless. Ironically, Blythe feels more alive than ever drenched in the blood of the “sisters.” But Blythe can’t avoid entangling in the lives of humans of the night life, including an urban shaman named Alice James, her former lover.
ENDING: Betrayed by Alice James in a moment of intimate weakness, Blythe is exposed to a pack of creatures in an organized attack using information about her they could not know, because only Ian knew it! Captured, tortured and forced to “stand trial,” Blythe confronts a painful truth: Ian is alive. He hid from her – and manipulates the creatures and Alice James to defeat her. Overwhelmed, Blythe becomes more ruthless than ever, stepping up the slaughter, but when she finally confronts Ian she has to face another wrenching truth – Ian created the creatures when he made love to them. Blythe was the first to be transformed by his experimental virus. And his work has only just begun.
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David Quinn’s Intriguing Concept and World
What I learned doing this assignment is that this discipline has elevated the layers and intrigue… but I still seek the title that distills the concept into two words!
1. Present your Concept.
Title: Blythe: Nightvision (CHANGE Title to Distill Concept into Two Words!)
Format/Genre: Dark Fantasy
By: David Quinn
Concept
A. Obsessed with violence, struggling with memory loss, Blythe alone sees hidden monsters…
B. Strange, powerful shape-shifters that hunt the human herd…
C. Sucked into their underworld, she hunts them ruthlessly till she is forced to collide with the realization that she is one of them, and…
D. An old wound: the man who created all the creatures, including Blythe herself, through a sexually transmitted genetic virus…
E. He’s still alive, one hundred years later, and has just begun the final phase his nightmare experiment
World
Unique Sub-World: 100 years of urban night life dominated by exotic, shapeshifting killers
Previously unexplored: A sisterhood of sexy night stalkers hunt the human herd; Blythe is the only one who sees the sisters as they really are
The unknown: Blythe is obsessed with the shape-shifting creatures – she’s still traumatized by blurred, incomplete memories of them killing her former lover Ian long ago – and she alone has the vision, power and ruthlessness to kill them before they kill her
The unseen: Blythe uncovers the truth – her lover is alive, and hiding, manipulating her, the creatures and a human shaman, Alice James, in the deadly game
Unheard of Dangers: No one knows how many creatures there are – they are everywhere, in every shape and form and ability. Alice James – another lover of Blythe from another time – betrays Blythe, secretly and Ian’s could still be alive
Reason to explore it: Blythe may kill creatures… but what will she do when her war on them forces her to confront the truth: Ian seeded their transformation of all the creatures through a sexually transmitted virus, Blythe was the first, and his work continues
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Accidentally posted this in Lesson 12 Assignments yesterday, when it goes here… sorry.
Completed my BWF!
What I learned doing this assignment was an exercise at getting to know (and work through) my own resistance. In both the concept and open layers sections, even though I had assignment text to work with, I continuously had to set aside doubt. There’s more than one way to get it done! Write now, fix later!
I also still don’t have a title that distills my concept as well as “Breaking Bad,” but I declare myself open to letting my creativity find this for me… thx
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What I learned doing this assignment was an exercise at getting to know (and work through) my own resistance. In both the concept and open layers sections, even though I had assignment text to work with, I continuously had to set aside doubt. There’s more than one way to get it done! Write now, fix later!
I also still don’t have a title that distills my concept as well as “Breaking Bad,” but I declare myself open to letting my creativity find this for me… thx
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Subject line: DQ’S Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is heightened awareness of irony.
Jessica Jones’ Irony
· Thanks to Kilgrave’s interference, Jones rescue of Hope ironically leads to the death of Hope’s parents and Hope’s own incarceration.
· Kilgrave forces Jessica to murder, ironically allowing her to break his control.
· Kilgrave wrecks Jessica’s life because he says he loves her. (Kilgrave enslaves and destroys many innocents because he is desperate for love and connection.)
Blythe’s Irony <Still hoping I come up with a title to replace “Blythe: Nightvision” that is as succinct and ironic and hook-encapsuling as “Breaking Bad.”>
1. This monster slayer is also the first of her breed of monsters.
2. These creatures hide – and hunt humanity – in plain sight.
3. Blythe’s mask — needs love and partnership / masks as a human who needs / trusts no one
4. Blythe behaves like an inhuman predator but her doomed love for her Creator Ian ironically stirs within her human frailty and emotion…. Empathy for the sisters she hunts and obsessive attraction to her Creator.
5. Similarly, Blythe claims no ties/relationship to any being, human or monster, but she does care deeply to be loved and respected (and protective) to small but important selection of characters.
6. Manipulated by her adversary/lover/creator Ian, Blythe functions as his most powerful weapon against her own agenda.
7. Ian’s pioneering strategy to use genetics to improve the human being condemn him to a life as a mass murderer/rapist/psychopath.
8. Ian’s manipulations put Blythe in constant jeopardy yet he cannot kill her.
9. Ian, Blythe and Alice James all hide fear of pain, weakness and losing control under powerful rage-driven destruction.
10. As teenagers, the women at Ian’s academy played clandestine games of “shark” in the pool after midnight – these nights, they play the same hunting game on a deadlier scale.
11. Both of Blythe’s most dangerous adversaries were first intimate with her as lovers.
Select the best character C and situational S
· This monster slayer is also the first of her breed of monsters. C
· These creatures hide – and hunt humanity – in plain sight. S
· Blythe’s mask — needs love and partnership / masks as a human who needs / trusts no one C
· Blythe behaves like an inhuman predator but her doomed love for her Creator Ian ironically stirs within her human frailty and emotion…. Empathy for the sisters she hunts and obsessive attraction to her Creator. S
· Similarly, Blythe claims no ties/relationship to any being, human or monster, but she does care deeply to be loved and respected (and protective) to small but important selection of characters. C
· Manipulated by her adversary/lover/creator Ian, Blythe functions as his most powerful weapon against her own agenda. S
· Ian’s pioneering strategy to use genetics to improve the human being condemn him to a life as a mass murderer/rapist/psychopath. C
· Ian’s manipulations put Blythe in constant jeopardy yet he cannot kill her. C
· Ian, Blythe and Alice James all hide fear of pain, weakness and losing control under powerful rage-driven destruction. C
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Lesson 10 Assignment David Quinn’s Plot/Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is a technique to consciously uncover more layers than present themselves in the plot/character idea stage; at first this assignment made my brain feel very cloudy, but the exercise became fun when I gave in to the “anything goes” nature of the discovery.
Jessica Jones Plot/Character Layers
· Plot Surface: Jessica Jones’ nemesis / rapist Kilgrave, the man with powers to make any person follow his commands is believed to be dead…
· Layer 2: But he’s alive.
· Layer 3: Kilgrave reveals how his parents forced him to become what he is
· Layer 4: Jessica drugs / imprisons /tortures him to make him confess
· Layer 5: But Jeri helps him
· Layer 6: Jessica switches, trying to cure him with his father’s science
· Layer 7: But Kilgrave escapes
· Layer 8: not under the enthrallment of Kilgrave, Jessica snaps his neck, killing him.
· Character Surface: Jessica suffers from PTSD and is tormented by a voice in her head
· Layer 2: It’s Kilgrave – he has controlled her — he will control her again if she confronts him
· Layer 3: What’s more, Kilgrave forced Jessica to kill Reva, Luke’s wife.
· Layer 4: Because he caused her to kill, she now has partial immunity to his power
· Layer 5: Kilgrave insists he controls Jessica, but she is able to tell Trish she loves her when he tries to make Jessica tell him she loves him – she’s actually free!
Blythe Plot/Character Layers
Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Mystery revealed – How far will she go to kill her sisters? What collateral damage is she willing to allow? And what will she do when she finally faces Ian?
Thought the story was one thing, but it is another –
Major shift in Meaning – Alice James revealed to be Blythe’s former lover
Hidden history – Blythe hides a secret empathy for the sisters that she hunts
Hidden plan – The sisters conspire with Alice James to capture Blythe and hold her on trial to defend her life and war Major scheme revealed – Does Blythe have a hidden plan/scheme, too?
Major betrayal– Ian not only manipulates Blythe’s sister creatures, he also manipulates her; Alice James betrays Blythe
Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Secret identity – Ian, Alice James, Blythe – all live with wounds; all are motivated by hidden needs to be loved and accepted; Ian ego driven, fear of powerlessness, need to control; nurses the wound that is his failed experiment
Blythe surrenders to the ruthless killer inside her – and in doing so, collides with her own humanity, something she insisted she let die a hundred years ago
Character intrigue – Ian’s manipulations constantly put Blythe in jeopardy; would he let her be destroyed? Ian and Blythe – Adversarial love, ie fight for dominance; willing to manipulate everyone in Blythe’s life to try to control her
Hidden relationships and conspiracies – Blythe attempts to use Alice James and it is almost her death
Hidden Character history – Ian wants to be loved; Blythe hides a secret empathy for the sisters that she hunts; Blythe also wants the love and unique relationship she thought she had with Ian, even though he has proven that was a lie; Ian denies his experiment was transgressive yet does not want to lose Blythe, despite his resistance of her campaign to kill his creatures
AND DON’T FORGET THE MYSTERIES AND OPEN LOOPS ALREADY UNCOVERED:
Shocking Event, Mystery 1: Blythe hunts the sisterhood. Monsters who can pass as human women. They hunt her, too. She’s obsessed with memories of her lover Ian Wright, whom the creatures killed.
Secret: Ian is alive.
Investigation: separately, audience, creatures and Blythe piece together:
WHO: Ian Wright, not dead but hiding
WHAT: after he had sex with Elizabeth (infection) but before her transformation, revealing that Blythe was not his only lover (victim)
WHEN: 100 years ago
WHERE: His Beacon Hill Townhouse, now a colonial museum
WHY: Ian considers the sisterhood a failure and he is still working on perfecting humanity (we don’t quite know how, yet.)
HOW: Fire witnessed by Blythe, set by other sisters
Withheld till late season one:
Escaped via network of Revolutionary war tunnels under the neighborhood, continued work in Paris, the sisters who burned his home were manipulated to do it by Ian himself
Alice James, whom Blythe mentored in hunting creatures (and her former lover, mystery 3) has known all along that Ian is still working
Cover up, Mystery 2: Who made the creatures? There are many many theories.
Secret: Blythe’s powers – as well as those of her monstrous sister creatures – have a horrific origin…, a sexually transmitted virus from pioneering virologist Ian Wright.
Investigation:
WHO: Blythe is lured / surrounded by new, more deadly creatures, who are conspiring with her former lover, Alice James, to put her on trial and terminate her
WHAT: Ian’s close to testing a second phase of the experiment that will be global. The virus is now air-borne.
WHY: Ian considers the sisterhood a failure and he is still working on perfecting humanity
Withheld:
Now that she knows he is alive, will Blythe kill Ian herself? (Assuming she can defeat and escape the Trial.)
Big Picture Open Loops
How will Blythe’s strategy change when she discovers (good plan gone wrong? Previous solutions cause new problems)
How will Blythe recover from the defeat suffered when Ian changes the game?
How will Blythe react to competition (her sisters, Alice James) in her war against the creatures and Ian?
Can Blythe stay hidden amongst night society? Will humans discover Blythe and stop her war? Imprison or even kill her?
Blythe amplifies the danger she’s exposed to when the takes a chance to destroy several creatures at once and is put on a mock trial by them
Relationship with Alice James – how does the secret come out and how does it change them?
Relationship with Franco – can blythe resist the temptation or will she break his heart and soul as she did his father’s?
(Think of New relationship?/Conflict inside relationship that comes to the surface?
Will Blythe kill all the creatures? Can she bring herself to kill Ian? Will Ian kill her?
How will Blythe deal with Internal conflicts? (addictive love, need to be loved, need to shut down her feelings with violence against herself as well as others?)
Possible sequence of reveals…
Plot Surface: Blythe hunts creatures only she can see – ironically calls them her sisters, not yet knowing how true that is. Blythe is obsessed with revenge and her memories of Ian Wright, her lover killed by the creatures
Layer 1: Ian is alive – not dead but hiding. Ian considers his “life’s work” (mystery) a failure and attempts to continue “perfecting humanity” (mystery)
Layer 2: As Blythe continues to hunt – now with intensity fired by her discovery of Ian’s fate — Ian manipulates the sisters and Blythe, behind the scenes, to threaten and torture her – Blythe enrolls Alice James, a human huntress, to aid her cause
Layer 3: Alice James revealed to be Blythe’s former lover – she is playing with and against both Blythe and Ian
Layer 4: Blythe is lured / captured by new, more deadly creatures, they put her on trial on pain of death
Layer 5: During the trial, Blythe is forced to remember what she could not remember til now – something the sisters all know and find sick glee in forcing her to accept – she and ALL monstrous sister creatures – have a horrific origin… a sexually transmitted virus seeded by Ian
Layer 6: Blythe escapes with her life, but no peace – will she kill Ian if she catches him? Will he kill her now that she knows?
Character Surface: Blythe is haunted by memory of her lover Ian and her amnesia around how she came to have her powers of vision and inhuman strength
Layer 1: When Blythe learns that Ian is alive, she steps up her war, inflamed that he has hidden from her; Blythe surrenders to the ruthless killer inside her – and in doing so, collides with her own humanity, something she insisted she let die a hundred years ago
Layer 2: Ian’s manipulations constantly put Blythe in jeopardy; would he let her be destroyed? Ian and Blythe – Adversarial love, ie fight for dominance; willing to manipulate everyone in Blythe’s life to try to control her
Layer 3: Blythe attempts to use Alice James and it is almost her death, as it leads to her being caught and put on trial by her sisters…
Layer 4: who force her to confront her primal crisis – the origin of the sisterhood.
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Lesson 9: DQ’s Big Picture Open Loops
What I learned doing this assignment is to try ANY open loop that I can imagine, then keep the ones that invite obsession. This assignment was a significant elevation of the source material I started with so far.
Jessica Jones Big Picture open loopsWill Kilgrave kill all his parents? (Can his father “cure” him?)
Will Kilgrave kill all of Jessica’s friends?
Will Jessica kill Kilgrave?
Will Trish and Malcolm put themselves in harms way?
Will Trish and or Malcolm succumb to drug addiction?
Will Jeri betray Jessica?
Will Jessica and Trish break up?
Will Jessica and Luke get together?
What does the organization running Simpson have to do with Jessica and Kilgrave?
Blythe Big Picture Open Loops
How will Blythe’s strategy change when she discovers (good plan gone wrong? Previous solutions cause new problems)
How will Blythe recover from the defeat suffered when Ian changes the game?
How will Blythe react to competition (her sisters, Alice James) in her war against the creatures and Ian?
Can Blythe stay hidden amongst night society? Will humans discover Blythe and stop her war? Imprison or even kill her?
Blythe amplifies the danger she’s exposed to when the takes a chance to destroy several creatures at once and is put on a mock trial by them
Relationship with Alice James – how does the secret come out and how does it change them?
Relationship with Franco – can blythe resist the temptation or will she break his heart and soul as she did his father’s?
(Think of New relationship?/Conflict inside relationship that comes to the surface?
Will Blythe kill all the creatures? Can she bring herself to kill Ian? Will Ian kill her?
How will Blythe deal with Internal conflicts? (addictive love, need to be loved, need to shut down her feelings with violence against herself as well as others?)
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Homework 8
David Quinn’s Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment is simple / powerful. Till now, my project had only one and a half mysteries, and they were unraveled at a pace that could be corrected!
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Jessica Jones Mysteries
From the pilot we’re fully immersed in the shocking event Kilgrave mystery: Jessica is obviously “walking wounded,” but who or what traumatized her, and how?
Plus, we are introduced to a suite of “over time” powers mysteries dealing with the buried secrets of the origins of Jessica, KIlgrave…. And others?
ASSIGNMENT 2:
Blythe
Shocking Event, Mystery 1: Blythe hunts the sisterhood. Monsters who can pass as human women. They hunt her, too. She’s obsessed with memories of her lover Ian Wright, whom the creatures killed.
Secret: Ian is alive.
Investigation: separately, audience, creatures and Blythe piece together:
WHO: Ian Wright, not dead but hiding
WHAT: after he had sex with Elizabeth (infection) but before her transformation, revealing that Blythe was not his only lover (victim)
WHEN: 100 years ago
WHERE: His Beacon Hill Townhouse, now a colonial museum
WHY: Ian considers the sisterhood a failure and he is still working on perfecting humanity (we don’t quite know how, yet.)
HOW: Fire witnessed by Blythe, set by other sisters
Withheld till late season one:
Escaped via network of Revolutionary war tunnels under the neighborhood, continued work in Paris, the sisters who burned his home were manipulated to do it by Ian himself
Alice James, whom Blythe mentored in hunting creatures (and her former lover, mystery 3) has known all along that Ian is still working
Cover up, Mystery 2: Who made the creatures? There are many many theories.
Secret: Blythe’s powers – as well as those of her monstrous sister creatures – have a horrific origin…, a sexually transmitted virus from pioneering virologist Ian Wright.
Investigation:
WHO: Blythe is lured / surrounded by new, more deadly creatures, who are conspiring with her former lover, Alice James, to put her on trial and terminate her
WHAT: Ian’s close to testing a second phase of the experiment that will be global. The virus is now air-borne.
WHY: Ian considers the sisterhood a failure and he is still working on perfecting humanity
Withheld:
Now that she knows he is alive, will Blythe kill Ian herself? (Assuming she can defeat and escape the Trial.)
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Lesson 7: David Quinn’s Empathy/Distress
What I learned doing this assignment is that some empathy/distress comes with the first idea for the character, but I can always find more to keep the invitation to obsession hot.
1. Jessica Jones – Big Picture Empathy/Distress
A. Undeserved misfortune: orphaned, injured, amnesia and PTSD, paranoia and confusion
B. External Character conflicts: Kilgrave’s direct and indirect (Hope, Malcolm, His parents, Simpson, her neighbors) manipulations / attacks
C. Plot intruding on life: In addition to straightforward obstacles caused by Kilgrave’s interference, Jessica briefly pursues a risky plot of her own when she toys with the idea of using Kilgrave’s power for good, but the stress of this insecure situation makes her sabotage him and ups the threat level.
D. Moral dilemmas: Kilgrave forced Jessica to murder – over and over, she wonders, will he do it again – or will she do it again herself
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: every character controlled by Kilgrave elevates the empathy: violation and doing what they would never do. Jessica tries to have herself arrested and put into supermax to avoid Kilgrave killing everyone she knows. This fails, but pumps the empathy / distress.
2. Blythe: Nightvision – Big Picture Empathy/Distress
A. Undeserved misfortune, pain, sorrow, wound: victim of her lover’s sexually transmitted viral assault, stillborn pregnancy and transformation into something more and less than human, hated by all the other creatures because she was the first; she is alone, unique, outside humanity and the sisterhood and this is also a wound she endures
B. External Character conflicts: Ian’s covert manipulation of the other creatures to challenge her, threaten her, distract her from him; interference from human witnesses, law enforcement, criminals
C. Plot intruding on life: In addition to straightforward obstacles caused by Blythe’s war on her sisters, she gets sucked into human obstacles – she seems to be a magnet for them (Bette Noir, Franco, Alice James)
D. Moral dilemmas: Blythe hunts and kills her sister creatures – will she also kill her love, as she swears is her only purpose left in her existence? And she struggles with her empathy for her sisters, all Ian’s victims. (Lighter version: she defends the lives of a few human allies, despite denying that she does so.)
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: what if Blythe is forced to save a sister she hunted to kill? What would force her to do this? How would that elevate the empathy/distress after?
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David Quinn’s Relationship Map
What I learned doing this assignment: I had fun! I re-affirmed intentionally respecting this creative process, looking beyond the way I have written for three decades, ie “accepting the first or second right idea.”
How do I add the relationship maps? I have them as both pdf and jpg but I cannot import them here
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D. Quinn’s Character Emotions What I learned doing this assignment is to go broader trying out strong internal struggles.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Jessica
A. Situational: Hope: Destroy Kilgrave / Fear: Kilgrave will enslave her & friends<div>
B. Motivation: Want: Revenge / Need: to be a hero
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: Wants to be loved / Public Mask: Needs / trusts no one
D. Weaknesses: Rage, compulsion, fear of losing herself
E. Triggers: Betrayal, Abandonment
F. Coping Mechanism: Alcohol, violence
Kilgrave
A. Situational: Hope: to find love / Fear: he’s not enough</div><div>
B. Motivation: Want: Power / Need: to feel loved and respected
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: fears he will never be loved, fears he is inferior / Public Mask: dominates, manipulates, superiority mask
D. Weaknesses: Rage, fear of being alone
E. Triggers: Betrayal, abandonment
F. Coping Mechanism: Manipulation, assault
ASSIGNMENT 2:
Blythe
A. Situational: Hope: destroy all creatures / Fear: they will destroy her first</div><div>
B. Motivation: Want: to be the only creature to survive / Need: Ian’s love and respect – all for her and only her
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: needs love and partnership / Public Mask: masks as a human who needs / trusts no one
D. Weaknesses: anger, obsession, shame, fear of failure, or looking weak
E. Triggers: betrayal, lies, demonstrations of love and care
F. Coping Mechanism: violence, denial
Ian
A. Situational: Hope: discover a way to improve human performance / survival through silence / Fear: unleash terrors that will destroy humanity </div><div>
B. Motivation: Want: to be a hero / Need: to be loved
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: worthless / Public Mask: genius / expert
D. Weaknesses: ego driven, fear of powerlessness, need to control; nurses the wound that is his failed experiment
E. Triggers: disloyalty, disrespect
F. Coping Mechanism: manipulation, covert aggression, hides from the human world
Brooklyn AKA Gus
A. Situational: Hope: to use his head to survive the Realm Forsaken / Fear: he does not deserve it</div><div>
B. Motivation: Want: to outsmart those who would kill him / Need: adventure and freedom to be himself
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: powerlessness / Public Mask: he doesn’t care about anyone
D. Weaknesses: fear of failure, fear of looking stupid or weak, fear of admitting that he really wants to be with Jane and live an adventurous life as a leader
E. Triggers: being bullied, challenges to his competence
F. Coping Mechanism: hiding his true feelings and desires, obscuring feelings behind humor
Jane
A. Situational: Hope: to be a good companion, as she was trained / Fear: that she will fail as both a partner to Brooklyn and as his wise advisor / secret weapon </div>
B. Motivation: Want: to do whatever it takes to help Brooklyn become King / Need: to write her own story as queen, to change the Realm to be more accepting of her race, “The People,” simian headed humans
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: fears she does not deserve to succeed / Public Mask: being clever and desirable
D. Weaknesses: fears that she is a slave to her desire, dreads abandonment
E. Triggers: intolerance, injustice, having her opinion or judgement challenged
F. Coping Mechanism: with friends, being cute; with adversaries, she gets fiercely violent
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David Quinn’s Intriguing Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is that I need to constantly “restart” myself — I found myself falling back on old habits of sensing my way toward the character intrigue, but nudged myself to keep using our approach (ie, step outside the box and permit creativity, if there is nothing there, put something there) which has been liberating.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Character Intrigue in Jessica Jones:
Character Name: JJ
Role: Wounded Failed Hero<div>
Hidden agendas: despite her trauma, and her denial that she is a hero, she behaves as if she wants to be a hero with everyone in her life – Luke, Hope, Trish, Malcolm…. even dabbles with “saving” kilgrave
Competition: with Kilgrave for control of their adversarial “couple” relationship; with Hogarth and Simpson for control of her crusade to stop Kilgrave
Conspiracies: Secrets: she enjoyed herself and sometimes chose Kilgrave, something she eventually admits when she realizes his manipulation of her was not complete
Deception: hides her true motives from everyone, including police
Wound: trauma of her childhood accident and assault on her mind and body by KIlgrave
Secret Identity: Hero
Character Name: Kilgrave
Role: Traumatized Victim</div><div>
Hidden agendas: wants his parents to love him?
Competition: against the whole world for control of Jessica’s attention and response
Conspiracies: attempts to control Hope and Malcolm to get close to Jessica, attempts to force Hogarth into owing him her allegiance
Secrets:
Deception: hides in plain sight
Wound: His parents traumatized him, even though it extended his life – but it imprisoned him in the role of the manipulating sociopath
Secret Identity: Sociopath
Character Name: Hogarth
Role: mercenary lawyer, ally for hire</div><div>
Hidden agendas: manipulates – or tries to – everyone close to her
Competition: everyone
Conspiracies: attempts to use kilgrave and almost gets killed for it
Secrets: faithful only to herself
Deception: faithful only to herself
Wound:
Secret Identity:
Character Name: Trish
Role: Friend</div><div>
Hidden agendas: wants to be a hero, not a spoiled rich former child star
Competition:
Conspiracies:
Secrets: addicted to trouble and risk but hides it
Deception: willing to take on much more danger and risk than expected
Wound: survived abusive addict stage mother
Secret Identity: Savior
ASSIGNMENT 2
Blythe: Nightvision
Character Name: Blythe
Role: Assassin of monsters – one of their hidden sisterhood, herself</div><div>
Hidden agendas: Desires the Allegiance / Love of the creator of the creatures despite her vow to destroy him for revenge
Competition: with the sisterhood and any other adversary in the night (all creatures compete for Ian’s favor)
Conspiracies: covertly triggers internal warfare between creatures to divide and conquer
Secrets: Wants Ian all to herself, must hide her fear of weakness and fear of losing control; willing to expose her own rage but not her own pain
Deception: Passes as human but only uses them (vampire ish)
Wound: loved Ian, who raped her and transformed her, and her sisters
Secret Identity: human heart
Character Name: Ian
Role: Devil</div><div>
Hidden agendas: manipulates legions of clandestine monsters to do his bidding
Competition: hunters both human and inhuman
Conspiracies: triggers internal war between creature sisters to foil Blythe’s agenda of revenge
Secrets: did he ever care, did he ever love, or is he a sociopath? Did he really believe his virus would make humans augmented hunters, or was he playing god?
Deception: hides from the world
Wound: must face the fact that his experiment was a failure
Secret Identity: Failure?
Brooklyn The Barbarian
Character Name: Brooklyn/Gus
Role: smart but socially subterrean law student, boy who would become the reluctant king</div><div>
Hidden agendas: despite internal protests that he does not belong here, wants no part in this, just wants to be left alone… he has never felt so alive
Competition: everyone – law students, professors and Flatbush locals; fantastic creatures, pirates, mercenaries, courtesans, barbarians, wizards, demons and monsters in the Realm
Conspiracies: ditto
Secrets: if he actually declares that he will be king, or that he wants to be a couple with Jane, he might fail – and that scares Gus shitless
Deception: lived a life of acting like he doesn’t care, head down, as invisible as possible; also, how far will he go in this savage world outside the law
Wound: if he actually declares that he will be king, he might fail – his stubbornness is an even more dangerous weakness
Secret Identity: king, creator of his own unique life and legend
Character Name: Jane
Role: companion and advisor</div>
Hidden agendas: resents being a companion and advisor
Competition: everyone and everybody – even Gus
Conspiracies: manipulates indirectly
Secrets: – secretly wants to change the world, secretly lusts to lose herself in her relationship
Deception: loudly insists that she is a free woman, fears that she is a slave to her desires
Wound: struggles heroically with romantic relationships where she will lose her individuality, her dignity, her independence, her truth
Secret Identity: queen, creator of her own unique life and legend
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Subject line: David Quinn’s Engaging Main Characters
What I learned doing this assignment is the value of this step – I had levels, but not truly multiple levels – I need to let a quiet development mind do more work here as I continue…
Jessica Jones engages on multiple levels
A. Role in the show: Traumatized, failed superhero Jessica finds the courage and focus to neutralize the supervillain who controlled and manipulated her, becoming hero
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Expert investigator and practically invulnerable – if she can manage to resist the mind-control Kilgrave abuses
C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? Jessica claims she is no hero and she just wants to get drunk and be alone, but she has a secret: she cares deeply about the people around her and believes only she can protect them
D. Moral Issue: Moral boundaries are something she crosses all the time, but will she kill? And would she be justified removing Kilgrave from his sick play?
E. Unpredictable: Jessica is not in control of herself and with Kilgrave stalking her, it could get much worse; she could become his greatest weapon
F. Empathetic: Undeserved trauma – empathy. Also, when we see how committed JJ is to saving people, despite what she says she wants, we see the hero in her
Blythe: Nightvision
<Note: I would like to find a new title for this that distills the high concept as succinctly and poetically as “Breaking Bad”>
Journey: Blythe surrenders to the ruthless killer inside her – and in doing so, collides with her own humanity, something she insisted she let die a hundred years ago
Main characters: Blythe, Ian
Blythe:
A. Role in the show: Ruthless creature killer – first of the sisterhood of creatures, herself
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: The deadliest hunter amongst an underworld culture of hidden hunters
C. Intrigue: As an emotionally wounded survivor of Ian’s assault, she’s not the inhuman cold killer she pretends; her vital lie? she feels empathy for her survivor sisters and an obsessive attraction to their creator
D. Moral Issue: In any other story, she would be the monster, not the protagonist
E. Unpredictable: How far will she go to kill her sisters? What collateral damage is she willing to allow? And what will she do when she finally faces Ian?
F. Empathetic: As ruthless as she is, Blythe will never be as bad as Ian, who transformed all the sister creatures against their will and continues to manipulate them
Ian:
A. Role in the show: Created the creatures of the virus to improve the human predator; manipulating the sisters of the hidden subculture of creatures passing as humans a century later
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Brilliant psychopath
C. Intrigue: Does Ian understand that Blythe may not be able to kill her lover?
D. Moral Issue: unmistakably the villain, the instigator; but does he have empathy for Blythe, if not her sisters? How does this play out?
E. Unpredictable: His manipulations constantly put Blythe in jeopardy; would he let her be destroyed?
F. Empathetic: Why do we care?
Brooklyn the Barbarian
Journey: Gus AKA Brooklyn
Main characters: Gus, Jane
Gus:
A. Role in the show: a smart, pre-law student – who prides himself on not getting involved – matures to become a King in a violent alternate reality
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: despite his 18 years of hiding in plain sight in his earthly life, Gus seems uniquely qualified to be a survivor, and even a leader, in the Realm Forsaken
C. Intrigue: what is his secret desire or need? What lies does he tell others? What lies does he tell himself? And how did he disappear from Brooklyn one night and wake up in the Realm? (And what do we learn about him from the world of his classmates and professors – and even a girlfriend – he left behind?)
D. Moral Issue: In a kill or be killed world, what’s good? Is he with Jane now? what would his girlfriend back in Brooklyn call that?
E. Unpredictable: How far will he go?
F. Empathetic: Gus never asked for this destiny, but he’s wrestling it with intelligence, bravery and cunning; Gus also lets Jane into his life as a true partner in his adventure, something we see he could not allow in his Brooklyn past; becoming a decent man is a more admirable goal than getting into law school
Jane:
A. Role in the show: Jane becomes a true partner on the Hero’s Journey – she is his lover, champion, muse, coach and critic; in the moment, this makes her both a solution and a problem
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: smart, strategic, with boundless energy
C. Intrigue: Jane hates being thought of as the girlfriend, like she is his property; how did she get this way? What made her? She has an awakening coming when she sees she was raised to “fix” her man instead of take care of herself.
D. Moral Issue: ???
E. Unpredictable: Mercurial, dynamic, chaotic – given to flying into violent rage
F. Empathetic: generosity — she helps Gus survive and solve his problems, we care about her happiness, too
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David Quinn’s Three Circles of Characters
What I learned doing this assignment is that I can ALWAYS get more creative with the kinds of characters that will complement the protagonists journey. I am not done.
I am still playing with two ideas for my project. Blythe: Nightvision is a true new concept created in our model based on “source material,” a published comic book series I created and scripted. Brooklyn the Barbarian is a new concept straight from the dirt.
#1:
Jessica Jones:
A. Main Characters Circle: Jessica, Kilgrave, Hogarth, Trish
B. Connected Circle: Hope, Luke, Malcolm, Twin Neighbors?
C. Environment Circle: Alias Investigations Clients and Cases, Police, Detectives, Prostitutes, Lawyers, Social Workers, Bar/Restaurant/Hotel Staff and Patrons, Hell’s Kitchen / NYC Bystanders
#2:
Blythe: Nightvision
Dark Fantasy/Urban Gothic. Serial. “Two Pros Go to War”
A culture of monsters seeded by a sexually transmitted virus hides within, and hunts the human herd: Blythe, first to be infected and transformed, is unwavering in her obsession: uniquely able to perceive the monsters as they truly are, she slays them all to revenge herself on Ian, the pioneering virologist who began the plague a hundred years ago.
A. Main Characters Circle:
Blythe: creature killer, creature, emotionally wounded survivor of an assault – lives a vital lie, she feels empathy for her survivor sisters and an unhealthy attraction to their creator<div>
Ian: brilliant psychopath, father of the virus, manipulator of all his creatures, including Blythe
<div>
Alice James – human shaman with spirituality/magic than gives her limited insight to the sub-world of creatures – mercurial, allies with both Blythe and Ian
Franco – human mechanic obsessed with his client Blythe, as his father Franco was
B. Connected Circle:
Braals, Harpies, Rifters, Wraiths, Despoilers, Infant Incubi and Succubi, etc. Creatures – all of Blythe’s sisters (Ian’s lovers) around the world and across the ten decades, such as Eve, creature who uses her power to beguile 1960s Hollywood </div><div>
Humans entangled in Blythe’s life / war ie Franco the human mechanic obsessed with his client, Blythe, his father Vincenzo, who was a victim to the same attraction in 1950s Rome, Bette Noir, club kid and wannabe vampire circa 1990
C. Environment Circle:
“Night shift” Humans – bars, clubs, hospitals, law enforcement, criminals – create possibilities to make each one complementary to Blythe, that is, designed to be a specific challenge to her war or her vital lie
Brooklyn the Barbarian
Action/Comedy. Serial. “A Leader Journeys into an Uncharted World”
Yesterday, Gustavo “Gus” Silva just wanted to finish his first year at Brooklyn College with passing grades. His motto’s always been, “Leave me out of it.”
This morning, he woke up in a prehistoric sword & sorcery world naked between two strange young women, one who has a monkey head. And then the dinosaur-riding monkey guard attacked “usurper to the throne!”
A. Main Characters Circle:
Gus: 21<sup>st</sup> boy reluctantly becomes a man, some say even the leader he was destined to be, in The Realm Forsaken, an absurd – and absurdly violent – barbaric alternate reality.</div><div>
Jane: strategic smarts, endless energy, and the cutest little monkey pout in the Realm – just don’t call her a “girlfriend.”
Sanguine: Blood drinking assassin. Exterminates anyone the King fears. Paid for volume.
Captain “We, the People,” (Dinosaur-riding Monkey Headed Warriors)
B. Connected Circle:
King Con: Large and In Charge – nothing goes down in the Realm unless Con gets his Cut.</div><div>
Vinny A: Back in Brooklyn, covering for Gus, missing his boy.
C. Environment Circle:
“Realm Dwellers – all manner of exotic, ruthless bastards, not to be trusted.</div>
Flatbush Dwellers – diverse humans from Brooklyn, students, professors, locals, cops, gangs, not to be trusted.
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Good to work with you all…
David Quinn
I’ve written three scripts, one produced (Faust: Love of the Damned, Lions Gate, 2000) I’ve created properties for comics since 1987. (Faust is one of them and it was also optioned for animated television by SONY.) Before that, I also wrote for theater.
What do I hope to get out of the class? I find it always makes me more creative to get out of my daily routine and explore new techniques — I will take what I learn to my comics, my TV adaptations and my new TV projects.
What’s unique about me? For a couple of decades, I balanced creative work with corporate communications for global companies like Citi and JP Morgan. The pragmatic practice of getting paid to communicate for people who are not comfortable with communication taught me a lot about the power of story.
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Jessica Jones 5 Star Model
What I learned doing this assignment is how emotionally (sometimes even viscerally) powerful it is when the layers and open loops are unwound / revealed on an escalating basis; exploring some new techniques also reinforced just how powerful our creativity can be if we let it relax and speak to us in the moments when we are not actively trying to write. (I’m talking about how we have to write now, and fix later, after the solution comes while hiking or washing the dishes!)
• Big Picture Hooks
Wounded (PTSD) protagonist must do whatever it takes to rid the world of the villain that made her.
Superhero / crime hybrid makes for a compelling, gritty protagonist and world. Mystery of the Voice is scary and compelling. (Also, Jessica is a good example of the darker side of the superhero popular since the 1980s.)
• Amazing and Intriguing Character
Hard drinking freelance PI confirmed in thinking the worst of people GRADUALLY reveals secrets: she is inhumanly strong, invulnerable, and in pain, emotionally. We’re on her side even though she’s bitchy. Also, instead of flying high like a celebrity (ie Avengers), she does dirty work in a dirty neighborhood amongst other addicts, failures of society and criminals. Well drawn complementary cast: Luke, Hogarth, Malcolm, Trish, the Voice.
• Empathy / Distress
She works hard for her money and we want her to succeed – at least survive, pay her rent and solve her mystery. She’s often antisocial and trumpets her cynicism, but dead honest – but once it is revealed that she is in danger from an old adversary…
We don’t have to like her, because we care about her journey’s success, in the day to day gig, and in her strange obsession with her adversary and his manipulations.
• Layers / Open Loops
Mysteries: Is she a hero, in other words, did she ever try to be like wonder woman, instead of a cynical drunk freelancer? She insists she is not which suggests a hidden yearning to be one. How did she get her powers? Who is the voice speaking to her in her mind or memory? What secrets are there in Luke’s Trishes and Hogarths pasts and how do they effect Jessica?
• Inviting Obsession
. What made her this way – both the powers and the darkness and hard won cynicism? Who is the voice? What’s the secret of how he can control and manipulate minds? Is there a clue in her comparison love to being conned… this sinks in and makes you feel her obsession with shitty love? The only time we see her show fear is when she remembers or encounters him (restaurant scene) “He’s back.”
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AGREE 1. David Quinn
2. 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.