[David]

David Chai's Plot and Character Layers

What I learned is layers are necessary to deepen the plot mystery and intrigue as well as deepen the characters to a whole other level.

Succession.

Plot Surface: About the Roy family, which owns the biggest media company in the world Waystar Roy.
• Layer 1: Logan promised Kendall would be the heir, but now changes his mind.
• Layer 2: Kendall leads a coup against his father, dividing the family loyalties.
• Layer 3: They find out the company finances are in shambles. The picture of power is a front. The company is more fragile and precarious. Kendall has to make dangerous deals to save the company.
• Layer 4: The kids all secretly hate their father and actively work against him.
• Etc.
Character Surface: Logan Roy is the powerful head of the Roy family and the medie empire.
• Layer 1: He has failing health and dementia onsetting.
• Layer 2: He's unable to relinquish power even breaking his own promise to his son.
• Layer 3: He conspires with Marcia to put her in control over his own biological children.
• Layer 4: He's made questionable decisions, but ultimately doesn't trust anyone but himself to keep his company.
• Etc.

[David]

David Chai's Big Picture Open Loops

What I learned is there are many open loops to keep you guessing and glued to the series to find out the answers.

Succession

Big Picture Hooks

Who will run Waystar Roy?
Will Logan Roy recover from his stroke?
Can Kendall usurp his father and family?
Can Waystar Roy stay with the Roy family?
Will this family stay together?

Small Picture Open Loops
Will Shiv and Tom get married?
Will Greg get a job at the company?
Will Kendall and Riva reconcile?
Will Marcia be accepted by the family?
Will Logan reconcile with his brother?

[David]

David Chai's Show Mysteries

What I learned is mysteries keep the viewing coming back for closure.

Succession Season 1 Ep 8

• A. Shocking Event: Pilot episode shocking event was Logan having a stroke.
• B. Secret: Kendall wants to take over the company and enlists other members of the family to do so.
• C. Investigation: Logan needs to work out who is against him and wants to remove him from the company.
• Who: Kendall meets with Sandy and Stewy.
• What: Realizes Sandy (the arch nemesis of Logan) put money behind Stewy. But Kendall counter offers to join forces and do a hostile takeover of his dad's company.
• Where: He owns part of Waystar and wants to buy out Kendall in the club.
• When: Coming up.
• Why: Kendall wants to be top dog.
• and How: They would force the issue with their combined voting shares.
• Part Withheld: Don’t know if Kendall can go against his family despite his assurances.

• A. Cover up: Why is the family so dysfunctional?
• B. Secret: We start to see cracks in the history of the relationship.
• C. Reveals: Rom was locked in a cage and treated like a dog when he was little by Kendall. And it was part of some weird power play encouraged by their dad.
• Who: Kendall
• What: locked him up in a cage
• Where: in a laundry room in his mother's home in Cheltenham.
• When: when he was 4 years old.
• Why: Part of a dog fighting game. The loser gets put away.
• and How: Locked up in a cage.
Part Withheld: Rom enjoyed it, but Kendall enjoyed it too being top dog at the expense of his brother.

[David]

David Chai's Show Empathy/Distress

What I learned doing this course is large amounts of empathy and distress push the characters into extreme emotional places that keep the viewer hooked to what will happen next.

Succession Ep7

Talk about huge Empathy Distress in this series and this episode.

The family has fallen apart because of a coup where half the board tried to vote out the father and head of the company Logan. This caused Logan to fire his heir son, Kendall and half the board members.

But the company is in Turmoil because of the family split being in the news.

So Logan tries to do a therapy session 'for the press' and invites all the family.

Shiv, his daughter is being courted to help the political campaign of Logan's worst enemy.
Logan prints rumors of his son, Kendall being back on drugs and it leads him into a relapse.

Shiv is on the fence about going to war with her father, but his anger and emotional arrows send her into his enemy's arms.

Logan can't apologize sincerely to his family. He is unable to avoid emotionally hurting them.

[David]

David Chai's Show Relationship Map

What I learned doing this assignment is you need to build a complex relationship map to have intriguing and emotional plotlines running through a bingeworthy series.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZy2LwDi_qwRWd6W5cyVFFmrCo8cl0DP/view?usp=share_link

[David]

David Chai's Character Emotions

What I learned doing this assignment is how complicated and 3 dimensional you can make your characters by building an emotional profile.

SUCCESSION

KENDALL ROY

• A. Situational: Hope / Fear – Hopes to inherit the company / Fears his dad will stay on.
• B. Motivation: Want / Need – Wants to be the man / Needs validation from his dad.
• C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask – Deeply insecure / Wants to be perceived as someone in control.
• D. Weaknesses – Is not really sure of himself. Prone to emotional decisions. Still loves his ex-wife, even as she doesn't want to be married to him.
• E. Triggers – Loss of control.
• F. Coping Mechanism – Drug addiction.

LOGAN ROY

• A. Situational: Hope / Fear – hopes his son and children can be trusted to take over his company / fears his son and children will destroy his company.
• B. Motivation: Want / Need – Wants to stay in control. / needs to learn to be supportive as a father.
• C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask – Fears losing control / presents a public mask of a mogul still in full control.
• D. Weaknesses – body is failing, his mental capacity is wavering.
• E. Triggers – Any sign of weakness from his children makes him angry.
• F. Coping Mechanism – Anger and emotional abuse of his children.

TOM WEBGAMS

• A. Situational: Hope / Fear – hopes to marry Shiv and also to become a trusted member of the family / fears his humble beginnings will mean he is never truly accepted.
• B. Motivation: Want / Need – wants to be accepted / needs to find his own confidence.
• C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask – insecurity / pretends to be part of the high born family even if he isn't.
• D. Weaknesses – insecure, can be unfiltered.
• E. Triggers – anyone who brings up his humble background.
• F. Coping Mechanism – sarcastic and biting humor.

[David]

David Chai's Intriguing Character Layers

What I learned doing this is the more things going on beneath the surface, the more intriguing the character is.

Succession.

• Character Name: Logan Roy
• Role: Head of the Roy corporation.
• Hidden agendas: Wants to make sure his wife has more voting rights.
• Competition: his own children. Other companies that want to take them down.
• Conspiracies: Conspires with his wife, who is not the children's mother to give her more power over the company.
• Secrets: Has borrowed $3.5 Bn against the company trust.
• Deception: hid financial problems from his children. Also hid cover ups.
• Wound: Believes his son wants to take over his empire and will run it into the ground.
Secret Identity: Losing his mental and physical capacity.

[David]

David Chai's Engaging Main Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is it's vital to have complex characters to make your series engaging, and likability is not high on the list of priorities.

SUCESSION

Kendall Roy.

• A. Role in the show: heir apparent son of the media mogul of Roy enterprises, which is a proxy for Disney / Fox Corp.
• B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: He's persistent and tries, even if he has serious failings as a son and a businessman. Not really an expert at anything, but he does try hard.
• C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? He's despised by his father and his wife wants to divorce him.
• D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? He is wiling to backstab his own family to get ahead.
• E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? He is impulsive and somewhat delusional, but in his effort to please his dad, and be like his dad, he can ignore reason and logic and make emotional choices.
F. Empathetic: Why do we care? We want to see him earn the respect of his father and his family, or, go down in flames trying.

[David]

David Chai's Three Circles of Characters.

What I learned doing this exercise is how even though the world is populated with many characters, the main character circle is squarely the main focus of the series.

Succession

A. Main Characters Circle:
Kendall Roy
Logan Roy
Roman Roy
Siobhan Roy

B. Connected Circle:
Connor Roy
Greg Hirsch
Tom Wambsgans
Marcia Roy
Frank Vernon
Lawrence Yee
Gerri Kellman
Willa Ferreyra
Greg's mother.

C. Environment Circle:
Board Members, Hospital workers, Doormen, chefs, maids, drivers, helicopter pilots, security, bodyguards, press, employees, theme park employees.

[David]

Succession 5 Star Model

What I learned is that there is a whole lot crammed into a pilot episode of a hit show. Many layers and introductions to unpack. But the important thing is to build up the big hooks and intriguing characters by showing the distress / empathy situations and layers between each other.

Teaser – bed snoring. Old man gets up disorientated. Pees on the carpet. Nurse calls him. He doesn't know where he is. This is Logan Roy.

City street. Mr. Roy in car with headphones. Arrives at office.

Title Sequence for Succession. Old vintage family film footage contrasted with modern New York.

Board room. Mr. Roy comes in to the meeting. Looks like they are ditching the meeting. Not letting him buy the company. Calls him Daddy's boy. This isn't going to work out.
Do you wanna call your dad? No.

Dad calls him and asks if he closed. Mr Roy wishes his dad happy birthday.

Poor Guy smoking in car. Watches TV Waystar Royco. He's working as a dress up mascot in a theme park. Kid beats him up and try to ride on him. He pukes out of his eyes.

Bedroom. Greg, calls him mom. He's fired after lying about smoking weed. She tells him to get to New York to his great uncle's birthday.

Mr. Roy's office. Guy comes in to burn sage in his office. Kendall his brother congratulates him on his imminent promotion.

Old home. Man goes out for a walk.

Street. Son in Law is trying to get a gift for the rich dad.

Office. They are discussing how to salvage the deal. His dad goes into the office. With paperwork for a trust. Mr. Roy signs the paper. Dad tells him its his call. Dad leaves.

Family gathering. Tom talks about owning water rights. Global Tom and sister comes in.

Street. Roy senior walks past press with security guards.

Greg shows up. Gets accosted by guards first.

In the apartment they are hiding for the not really surprising birthday surprise.

Elevator, Greg tells his sob story about throwing up and getting fired from the theme park.

Romulus (Logan's son).
Siobhan or Shiv (Logan's youngest and daughter).
Kendall shows up to the birthday party but is distracted trying to salvage the deal on his phone.
Connor is the other brother to Kendall has the ranch.

Kendall's ex-wife and kids show up. His ex-wife makes a joke about coke over the ipad.

Greg tries asking Logan for the favor to get him hired back to the theme park, and Logan says no problem as long its his brother who asks him directly, then he will do it. Obviously their relationship is fractured so that will be challenging.

Logan hands out contracts for the trust to his kids. He wants to give his board vote to his wife if he dies, giving 2 votes to his wife Marcia and the kids are not happy about it. Kendall saying Marcia has his "…dad's dick in some super-max pussy grip…".

Logan announces he is staying as boss for a few more years instead of giving succession to Kendall.

Connor's out and refuses to sign.

Dad brings up the rehab. Then brings up that sometimes it is a big dick competition.
They get into a big debate. Dad asks if he's crying.

Kendall throws a tantrum in the bathroom. Breaks things and screams into a towel. Comes to his senses and starts to tidy up.

Lunch. Everyone has a toast. Logan says he wants to play the game. No mention of what it is. It's all mysterious.

Greg tries talking to dad in the car again.

They arrive at the heliport and fly into the air.
Siobhan shakes her head as she looks overs the trust contract Logan wanted them to sign.

Dad asks Romulus if he wants back in. Romulus says he quit because he was denied by Frank. He had a lot of ideas but was shut down.

They arrive at a baseball field and play baseball.

Kendall strategizes with his sister and brother. But they don't want to play ball with him.
Kendall makes a call to bring bad press on the family as he leaves by helicopter.
Romulus bets a million dollar check on a kid, but he loses.

Kendall leaves by helicopter and is back in the office to give Lawrence a new offer. Looks like he's got the win by taking the competition off the table and offering way higher than anyone thought. Looks like its about to be closed.

Baseball. They give non-disclosure to the family watching. Logan offers an offer to his long term friend / lawyer for light duties.

In the Helicopter. Frank's out of the picture. The kids aren't convinced. Dad has a heart attack. They head to a hospital. Dad just had a brain hemorrhage.

Kendall's deal may not be as good as he thinks as Lawrence breaks the news of Logan's condition to Kendall.

Kids are all worried at the hospital.

They give the rich watch to the poor kids family that played baseball.

Ends with headlines of chaos over the Roy's family medical condition.

• Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show? Who is going to inherit the company.
Will Logan survive? Will the family tear itself apart?

• Amazing and Intriguing Character
Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
Logan Roy: Faced with losing his mental capacity and also body is sick.
Kendall Roy: Doesn't have the respect of his father or his family. Willing to sell out his own family for his personal gain. Cares about his appearance.
Roman Roy: Quit the company because of Frank.
Greg Hirsch: Entry level loser with drug addiction issues.
Tom Wambsgans: Straight up asshole. But funny.
Shiv Roy: Snide sister, who is intelligent and conniving.
Frank Vernon: Loyal friend of Logan and COO who gets ousted in episode 1.
Lawrence Yee: Antagonistic entrepreneur who is

• Empathy / Distress
Ask this: What situations causes us to feel both empathy and distress for these characters?
Logan Roy: faced with mortality.
Kendall Roy: Faces disapproval scrutiny of his work colleagues, rivals, and family.
Greg Hirsch: Humiliated by kids and fired by the theme park.

• Layers / Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?
Who is going to inherit the company?
How are the family members going to plot and scheme against each other?

• Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
The pilot ends with Logan Roy in the hospital and the fate of the company in turmoil. Who is going to inherit the company? And how are they going to tear themselves apart in the process?

[David]

1. My Name is David Chai. I’m a writer, director, showrunner.
2. I have written 11 feature scripts. 2 which I also Directed – "Midnight Driver" which is currently on Tubi and Youtube. And "Your Vote Matters" which is coming out in October. I was also the Showrunner, Writer, and Director on the 10 episode cop series "A Good Cop" which was shown on the NTD Network.
3. What you hope to get out of the class? I hope to get more insights into TV writing and how to use the new AI tools.
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you? I was born in Brunei which is a tiny little country on the island of Borneo.

[David]

David Chai, I agree to the terms of this 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.