Dexter Miller
Forum Replies Created
-
(Dexter Miller) – Level 2 Action Emotions
I learned that building surprise, shock, and suspense deepens my character traits
ASSIGNMENT #11
Setup:
Penny is playing with her daughter in the front yard as a car drives by slowly. She’s dressed for work and is getting her few minutes of playtime in before she leaves.
Tragedy:
She hears that her husband is killed and she has a flushed face. She takes a seat and takes in the bad news.
Surprise: Penny gets a call from the CDC while in the lab. We see Penny in the lab with her lab coat and PPE gear on.
Shock: Agents attack her and she kills them all.
Suspense: Hall sets his plan in action and Penny has to stop him.
-
(Dexter Miller) – Level 1 Action Emotions
I learned that showing these imptions build character
ASSIGNMENT #10
Anxiety: Penny gets a call that her husband has died in the lab. She shutters in discomfort. She scampers over to a lab chair and holds her face in herhands.
Fear: Agents and CIA comes to the lab and explain her husbands crises to her. She becomes edgey and shuts down.
Relief: Penny calls her daughter and gets a sigh of relief when she talks about her day.
-
(Dexter Miller)- Favorite Twists!
I learned to create twists to my story.
ASSIGNMENT #9:
Unexpected Support: She reads the card from her husband.
Safety: She reaches out to an old friend who protects her.
Attacked: Agents attack her in the lab.
It Just Got Worse: They kill her husband.
Betrayal: Her friend asks, “if she going back to the office assignment?”
Reversal: Hall calls Penny to have a meeting, and she hangs up on him.
New Threat: More Agents are sent to kill Penny.
Plan Fails: Penny kills her attackers and spoils Hall’s plan.
It Just Got Worse: Hall puts a bounty out for Penny’s head.
Trap: Penny goes to talk to her friend and see’s Hall’s agents beat him up and kidnap her daughter.
Protected: Penny goes to meet Hall in public and shares her findings. He’s stunned and let’s her go in peace.
-
(Dexter Miller)- Favorite Twists!
I learned to create twists to my story.
ASSIGNMENT #9:
Unexpected Support: She reads the card from her husband.
Safety: She reaches out to an old friend who protects her.
Attacked: Agents attack her in the lab.
It Just Got Worse: They kill her husband.
Betrayal: Her friend asks, “if she going back to the office assignment?”
Reversal: Hall calls Penny to have a meeting, she hangs up on him.
New Threat: More Agents are sent to kill Penny.
Plan Fails: Penny kills her attackers and spoil Hall’s plan.
It Just Got Worse: Hall puts a bounty out for Penny’s head.
Trap: Penny goes to talk to her friend and see’s Hall’s agent’s beat up him up and kidnaps her daughter.
Protected: Penny goes to meet Hall in public and shares her findings. He’s stunned and let’s her go in peace.
-
(Dexter Miller) – Likability/Empathy/Justification
I learned to refine my story and get more detailed with the actions of my characters and their mission.
ASSIGNMENT #8:
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
A. She is liked on her job, loved by her family and friends, and heard of her husband’s death.
B. We see her breakdown and cry over the news of her husband’s death.
C. She reactivates her special service badge and is put into the act of being the scientist to find answers.
D. She helps a struggling scientist and they bond.
E. Her husband leaves her a card that has a hand-drawn heart on it for her.
F. Kindness. She shows her daughter the heart as they both smile and reminisce.
G. She starts out on her mission.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>EMPATHY / DISTRESS
A. She is too far away to help save her husband.
B. She was very much in love and is having a very hard time emotionally, crying and screaming.
<div class=””>
C. she is looking at the hand-drawn heart-shaped card from her husband when she is attacked and kills them.
D. She’s attacked again and kills them all as she tries to find answers to her husband’s death.
E. We see her and her daughter looking at the card sobbing together.
F. She’s in a church crying to her Pastor as she holds the card and his picture.
JUSTIFICATION
A. She’s attacked again and kills them as we see her very emotionally charged and upset.
B. Hall is at his office gloating with his pompous ego as Penny calls and sets up a secret meeting.
C. They kidnap her daughter right before the meeting. She is set up to take the fall for experiments gone wrong to make her stop investigating.
D. She finds out her daughter has been kidnapped and she needs to meet with Hall. She finds out another scientist has died from this virus.
E. Penny is going to get her daughter and risk everything by getting caught and or killed.
</div>
-
Dexter Miller: Story Map
ASSIGNMENT:
1. Start with the structure you built-in Lesson 6.
Look through your three tracks (Mission, Villain, and Action) and find the points that could work for this structure.
Opening:
A1: We see a man being shot in the corner of a Chinese lab just outside Wuhan.
V1: Then we see him getting a syringe inserted into his chest. A nurse comes over with the chart in hand and pronounces him dead as she writes… test patient number five on her chart.
A2: The men then take him immediately to the cremation retort and insert him into the blazing fire.
M1: A woman in a secured U.S. lab peering through a microscope at a reddish-blue substance. She snarls in disappointment and leaves.
A3: She gets a call on her cell. She hurries to her car and speeds off.
Inciting Incident:
A4: A TV news reporter reports the death of 5 scientists at a Chinese lab of a mysterious deadly virus. We see coverage of the area and then all of a sudden scientists come running out of the building, some with masks and some not. They’re coughing profusely! Some are slower than others. One scientist drops to the ground… dead!
V2. Penny is contacted by agents.
First Turning Point at end
of Act 1:M2: Penny is on a
plane to China. We see a tarp-covered fabric entrance to the building. Penny is
escorted into the building.M3: She sets up camp and immediately starts to run
tests.M4: After many tests, she notifies her contact of her findings.
A5: She comes
across a folder marked John Doe #5… her dead husband. The file shows,
“Cremated!”V3: Senator Hall has agents posing as scientists surveilling
her every move.M5: She discovers an anomaly in some of her latest tests. Testing
the ashes of the five, patient 5 has a strange blood type. She notices it’s the
same as her husband’s.Mid-Point:
M6: Penny continues to find answers, but gets a call that her daughter has been kidnapped.
V4: Hall has a meeting with Penny and she confides in Hall.
Second Turning Point at end
of Act 2:M7: Penny discovers that
Senator Hall is behind the plot to unleash this virus upon the U.S. and that
her husband’s death was no accident.A6: She scrambles to find out where they’re
holding her daughter and puts her plan in motion to set up Hall and expose his
plan to Congress.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Crisis:
M8: Penny allows herself to get captured to discover the whereabouts of her daughter.
Climax:
V5: Hall is confronted by higher ups and turns the blame on the rouge agent Penny.
Resolution:
A7: Penny’s daughter escapes and gets to a safe place.
M10: Penny takes out her
two captives and gets the test results to Congress just in time for the
congressional hearing.V6: Hall is in his office while the hearing is going on
CCTV.V7: They call Hall to the room and as agents knock on the door they hear a
single gunshot. Hall is slouched back in his chair dead.M11: The virus is unleashed and people all over the world become sick and start to die.
M12: The U.S. shuts down cities across the country as we see other countries do the same and become mask-wearing people to slow the virus.
-
Dexter Miller: Action Structure
I learned to plot a deeper set of actions to further tell the story
ASSIGNMENT #6:
Create the 3-Act structure for your story.
1. Look through your three tracks (Mission, Villain, and Action) and find the points that could work for this structure.
Opening: We see a man being shot in the corner of a Chinese lab just outside Wuhan. Then we see him getting a syringe inserted into his chest. A nurse comes over with the chart in hand and pronounces him dead as she writes… test patient number five on her chart. The men then take him immediately to the cremation retort and insert him into the blazing fire.
A woman in a secured U.S. lab peering through a microscope at a reddish-blue substance. She snarls in disappointment and leaves. She gets a call on her cell. She hurries to her car and speeds off.
Inciting Incident: A TV news reporter reports the death of 5 scientists at a Chinese lab of a mysterious deadly virus. We see coverage of the area and then all of a sudden scientists come running out of the building, some with masks and some not. They’re coughing profusely! Some are slower than others. One scientist drops to the ground… dead! Penny is contacted.
First Turning Point at end of Act 1: Penny is on a plane to China. We see a tarp-covered fabric entrance to the building. Penny is escorted into the building. She sets up camp and immediately starts to run tests. After many tests, she notifies her contact of her findings. She comes across a folder marked John Doe #5… her dead husband. The file shows, “Cremated!” Senator Hall has agents posing as scientists surveilling her every move. She discovers an anomaly in some of her latest tests. Testing the ashes of the five, patient 5 has a strange blood type. She notices it’s the same as her husband’s.
Mid-Point: Penny continues to find answers, but gets a call that her daughter has been kidnapped. She consoles with Hall.
Second Turning Point at end of Act 2: Penny discovers that Senator Hall is behind the plot to unleash this virus upon the U.S. and that her husband’s death was no accident. She scrambles to find out where they’re holding her daughter and puts her plan in motion to set up Hall and expose his plan to Congress.
Crisis: Penny allows herself to get captured to discover the whereabouts of her daughter.
Climax: Hall is confronted by higher ups and turns the blame on the rouge agent Penny.
Resolution: Penny’s daughter escapes and gets to a safe place. Penny takes out her two captives and gets the test results to Congress just in time at the congressional hearing. Hall is in his office while the hearing is going on CCTV. They call Hall to the room and as agents knock on the door they hear a single gunshot. Hall is slouched back in chair dead.
2. Fill in any missing points and tell us the current version of your structure with a sentence or two for each point.
3. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
4. Post your assignment in the forums at http://www.ScreenwritingClasses.com/forums
Subject line: (Your Name’s) Action Structure! (place in first line)
Deadline: 4 Days
-
(Dexter Miller) Action
Track!
I learned to view my
characters in more involved scenes.ASSIGNMENT #5:
Create a rough draft of your Action Track.
1. Answer the Action Questions:
A. Considering the concept from Lesson 1, what action could naturally show up in this movie?
Senator Hall has already set his plan in motion. We see through Hall’s clip shots that his plan hits a small snafu early on then he corrects the situation and goes forward with it not knowing the casualties it will cost. Penny discovers some vials have been tampered with from the very contagious batch.
B. Considering the Mission and Villain Tracks, what action could work for this track?
She searches top to bottom before notifying her superiors, then they call for a full lockdown of the facilities. The missing vials are on their way to Japan to be further tested unbeknownst to her.
C. How can the action start well, build in the 2nd Act, and escalate to a climax in the 3rd Act?
Penny gets news that an outbreak has occurred in Japan with a similar strand of a new deadly virus. She visits Japan to find out she’s too late the virus has been released.
2. Select the types of action you’ll use.
A. Chase/Pursuit: Her husband is being cremated.
Purpose: Penny is called in to investigate. She is a secret agent scientist. She gets news that her husband has passed from an unknown illness. They cremate his body before an autopsy is done and this infuriates Penny. She goes to find out what’s really going on.
B. Fight: She finds two people snooping around the lab.
Purpose: She questions them and they pull out knives as she displays a can of whoop-ass and kills the two with her Jujitsu skills.
C. Shootout: Other agents arrive with automatic guns to destroy the lab.
Purpose: She displays her skills. She locates her knives and guns and takes them all out in a matter of minutes except for one. She eludes him and runs out.
D. Rescue: She is rescued by a lab assistant.
Purpose: She gathers location info on their plans.
E. Escape/Evade: They escape to the ceiling.
Purpose: She listens as she uncovers their plan. She’s getting too close so, they kidnap her daughter.
F. Competition: Penny gets attacked in Australia while investigating their virus strand.
Purpose: She discovers that Hall is behind the virus and intends to release it on the world to depopulate the earth. Hall unleashes a kill order on-site for her. CIA can’t find her as she is back in the U.S. She goes up against the second in her class and takes her out.
G. Dangerous Situations: She has four hours to stop them.
Purpose: Penny searches and gathers locations and finds out she’s too late. The virus has been released at another location.
H. Interrogation: She is brought in and interrogated.
Purpose: She finds out her daughter has been kidnapped. She pleads for them to release her daughter and keep her. She’ll tell them where she hid the other vials.
I. Torture: They show fake pictures of torturing her just to get her to talk.
Purpose: To free her daughter that has already escaped unbeknownst to Penny.
-
(Dexter Miller) Villian Track! Assignment #4
ASSIGNMENT:
1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero?
The Villian is planned to squeeze, scare and manipulate the Government to control the Population and profit from it.
The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?
Willing to Kill the scientists, send agents to destroy all information from the labs, germ warfare kills scientists and the public around the world, kidnaps her daughter at gunpoint, etc…
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?
Has access to the CIA Agents at his disposal, local cops, and computer hackers.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?
Dies from an explosion in his office.
2. Include labels with each step of their plan.
Seige:
Senator Charlie Hall has his plan to become the Speaker of the House by planning a diabolical global virus outbreak to control the population by a man making genetic code virus.
Kills Husband:
The order is sent to test the virus and the husband is killed by the virus, but they cover it up by shooting him.
Plan:
Send the virus to Japan for further testing to make sure it’ll work.
Surprised:
Penny discovers variables in their story. She tests her husband’s blood and the same antibodies are present as with the virus. She sabotages her findings.
Attack:
Hall sends agents to test the virus on the public and all of a sudden a case is dropped and becomes airborne.
Deception:
Penny hears Hall conversate about his plans and she hides from them.
Fake News:
The news is kept in the dark about the virus for several months and then the US President is alerted and disbelieves that such a thing has occurred and does nothing.
Decision:
Hall corners the market on deadly diseases and creates an anti-body to cure the virus for all and sells to the major big pharma manufacturers.
Penny foils the plan alerting the news and Hall is disgraced.
Fitting ending:
Hall is confronted by Penny and found guilty of treason and is killed in his office as a huge explosion occurs as Penny barely escapes.
3. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
Continued inventing ideas for the story.
4. Post your assignment in the forums at http://www.ScreenwritingClasses.com/forums
Subject line: (Your Name’s) Villain Track! (place in first line)
Deadline: 2 Days
-
Assignment #3
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work. Lesson learned: Brainstorming this way helps create a story for the outline.
1. Ask the Mission Track questions to discover your Hero’s mission.
A. What is it about this Hero that will have them go straight into the face of the overwhelming odds? Her special forces training in covert operations bring her in to examine the virus as a scientist. She a 8th degree black belt in Ju-Jitsu. <div>
B. What is the mission that would be an impossible goal? She up against thr CIA and Government.
C. What strong internal and external motivation could drive the hero? Internal: Her husband was killed by the CIA and they have her daughter. External: They will kill her daughter if she exposes them.
D. Imagine that mission playing out across a story. What could naturally happen if this hero went on this mission against this villain? Discovering who has her daughter, Playing Scientist to get closer to the people that have her and killing them all while not breaking her identity. Killing all agents that interfere with her finding her daughter that will conclude to massive injuries or death.
2. Use the Mission Steps to outline the mission.
Clear Mission: To dave her daughter while killing anyone that gets in her way while exposing the truth behind the Covid-19 virus.
Motivation: Her husband is killed in a cover up mission failure. An envelope is dropped off at her doorstep with pictures of her husband’s kill shots. She’s determined to get answers.
Inciting Incident: Her daughter is kidnapped and pictures are sent to her email.
</div><div>
First Action: When the police arrives, CIA comes over afterwards to console her they give off the wrong vibes about questions on what she was working on?
Obstacle: She has to play coye about her mission and go after the information about the virus while secretly looking for the kidnappers.
Escalation: CIA agents watch her and they get too close and she kills them.
Overwhelming Odds: She goes to her Dojo to blow off steam and is attacked be agents and she kills them one by one. Then she escapes and go to her lab for safety.
New Plan: Her daughter escapes and goes in to hiding.
Full out Attack: Her boss corners her with a major deadline that she absolutely has to meet. She mixes up some viles to buy her some time. They discover the mix up. They send agents to kill her as she’s about to announce her findings to the press conference.
Success: As she stammers her words, her daughter walk in and up to the podium. She then turn pages on her speech to tell the truth that it’s all a Government coverup and conspiracy to scare and controll the population. She does a mic drop and walks away from the podium.
3. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work. Lesson learned: Brainstorming this way helps create a story for the outline.
4. Post your assignment in the forums at http://www.ScreenwritingClasses.com/forums
Subject line: (Your Name’s) Hero’s Mission Track (place in first line)
Deadline: 2 Days
==============
Creating this mission will give you a chance to see your Hero in action. Once you have a first draft, let it sit for a few hours. Then come back and improve it.
As we combine it with the other tracks, you’ll see an amazing story emerge that will keep readers and audiences engaged.
</div>
-
ASSIGNMENT #2:
Penny Maze (Hero), Senator Hall – Government (Villian)
I learned a little about creating a story and thinking about some plot points along the way
1. Fill in the blanks and see what shows up.
<strong style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Concept: Penny has the right to let the American people know what the Government has been planning to scare the population into seclusion.
Hero Morally Right: Saves her daughter’s life.<div>
Villain Morally Wrong: Killing and kidnapping.
Hero
A. Unique Skill Set: Highly trained Special Ops goes undercover as highly trained Scientist.
</div>
B. Motivation: To get revenge for being passed up on several promotions because she didn’t take cash to look the other way.
<div>
C. Secret: Her husband was killed by a special team of terrorists that she’s been trying to get vindication.
Villain
A. Unbeatable: The Government special forces try to discredit and humiliate her while she’s trying to expose them.
</div>
B. Plan/Goal: Her daughter is kidnapped and the Organization threatens to kill her if she continues her research.
C. What they lose if Hero survives: She threatens to expose the Organization that is creating the virus which will in turn lose the election, his funding and his exposure lead to his death.
<div>
Impossible Mission
A. Puts Hero in Action: She sets out to discover where the first virus was created and track its effectiveness.</div><div>
B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: She travels to San Francisco experimenting and then is suddenly thrashed into chaos while evading exposing her cover and jail.
C. Destroy the Villain: Penny kidnaps, torture, and kills two terrorists that suspect her intentions.
2. Once you have filled in a quick answer to each, go back and extrapolate (If _____, then how might _____?) to elevate any answers you can.: If Penny is exposed the government will kill her and her daughter to keep their secret.
3. Tell us your improved answers.: If she fails, lives are at stake.
4. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
5. Post your assignment in the forums at http://www.ScreenwritingClasses.com/forums
Subject line: (Your Name’s) Hero and Villain (place in first line)
</div>
-
CONVENTIONS OF ACTION
<strong style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
<strong style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>PURPOSE: To explore the cause of the Covid-19 virus breakout.
DEMAND FOR ACTION: A lone US facility is testing viruses and they package a brand new strand that is highly contagious and extremely dangerous. They ship it to facilities in Japan to run further tests. The contagion gets loose and kills (8) eight scientists in a matter of days.
MISSION: They try to contain the situation, but a vile breaks and they rush to the door to escape and become airborne. Extremely high-level scientists are flown to Japan to get a handle on this virus. Upon further examining the virus, it’s become out of control and the US pulls its people from Japan. The Hero must take down the antagonistic force, defend against overwhelming odds, or escape the unescapable.
ESCALATING ACTION: When the scientists return to the IUS, they become ill and are carriers of the virus unbeknownst to them. Two of them get hospitalized and die a few days after returning to the US. Unknown to the chief scientist, one scientist has the virus and is A-Sympptomatic causing a small outbreak in the lab. Then the virus becomes too great to hide from the news as more and more people become ill and start to die. Through great efforts the world becomes infected and cities all over the world shut down.
HERO: Penny Maze a world-renown scientist in germ warfare and her team are brought in to test and confine this virus.
ANTAGONISTS: The US government’s top disease authority downplays all the hipe of the deadly virus and headlines the news channels that the virus is being contained and is under control.
-
Dexter Miller
“I agree to the terms of this release form.”
Thanks.
-
Hello Everyone–
I’m Dexter M. I’ve written a few TV scripts years ago and want to get back to writing. I want to re-awaken my character writing juices and start writing with passion again. My uniqueness is that I’ve been a Production Accountant for many years and illness has sidelined me, so, this is my continuation in the industry.
I look forward to getting a lot from this class and finally working with the great, Hal Croasman and your team.