Donald Morgan
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Don’s Villain Track!
What I learned doing this assignment is that the hero’s story is intensified by confronting and overcoming a villain who seems far superior and who’s willing to commit unspeakable acts of evil to achieve their own goals.
VERSION 2 PLAN: The Villain spent a lot of time preparing a complex plan that was designed to achieve an impossible goal and thwart any opposition. The Hero then wandered into that plan, not knowing what he or she was getting into.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot.
The Sheriff recognizes the immense amount of money and power he can gain from stealing America’s newest weapon and selling it to the highest foreign bidder.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?
He can use all assets and powers of his department for his own purposes without restraint.
He has access to all of the law enforcement data bases and information that could be used against him. Once he discovers Zach’s identity of Zach, he can also use those resources to exploit Zach’s background and counter his skills.
His deputies can use violence and even murder with total abandon to serve him.
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?
He has virtually total control of the entire county with dozens of deputies and agents acting on his behalf and under his power.
His organization has amassed vast amounts of money to deal with any problem.
The extent of his corruption and power reaches even to the State Government.
He already has insiders working on the Army base where the weapon was tested who provide all of the information he needs to carry out his plan.
He has no reason to fear being arrested, let alone ever being prosecuted.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?
He dies a horrible death caused by the very weapon he stole and tried to sell.
Pre-Planned Villain Track: The Sheriff planned to hijack a secret Army weapon, which is partly successful except that one of his senior deputies chickens out and moves the weapon to an old factory building.
1. SEARCH: The theft of the Army weapon results in a combined FBI/State Police search all along the original route of travel, but the Sheriff has anticipated every action and volunteers his department to actually help find the missing weapon.
2. DILEMMA: The Sheriff discovers Zach has returned home after being discharged by the Army, and while he wants him to leave, the senior deputy who is Zach’s brother has already confessed to Zach that he helped steal the weapon.
3. DECISION: Unable to find the weapon hidden by his senior deputy, the Sheriff viciously interrogates him.
4. MISTAKE: The interrogation goes too far, resulting in the senior deputy dying before telling where the weapon was hidden.
5. DECISION: Realizing Zach will not leave until his brother’s killer is found and the weapon recovered, the Sheriff sends a SWAT team to murder Zach.
6. SEARCH: Zach kills the entire SWAT team and escapes, and the Sheriff calls upon every deputy and informant to find Zach and kill him.
7. CAPTURE: Zach is discovered where the weapon was hidden by his brother, and the Sheriff captures him.
8. TWIST: A team of Chinese commandos who are also after the stolen weapon arrive and attack all of the Americans, including Zach and the Sheriff.
9. ESCAPE: Zach uses his military skills to eliminate the Chinese commandos and escapes with the Sheriff as his prisoner.
10. TWIST: Zach’s CID Commander has been colluding all along with the Sheriff and turns on Zach.
11. FITTING ENDING: Fighting hand to hand, Zach kills his Commander and then turns the weapon on the Sheriff, which kills the Sheriff.
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Don’s Hero’s Mission Track
What I learned doing this assignment is the hero’s mission is what ties together all of the action in a way that engages the audience and carries their interest to the very end.
Clear Mission: Recover a highly secret stolen Army weapon and get revenge for the murder of his brother.
· Motivation: Zach is an Army CID agent who is wrongfully discharged to keep him from discovering the truth behind a series of violent thefts of highly advanced weapons.
· Inciting Incident: A highly secret Army weapon is highjacked by a team of corrupt police working for a ruthless Sheriff.
· First Action: Zach returns to his childhood town and discovers his brother is involved in the theft of the Army’s newest weapon he’s trying to recover. Zach’s brother claims he realized the highjacking was not a simple heist, and decided to hide the weapon where the Sheriff couldn’t find it.
· Obstacle: Unable to rely upon his usual Army support system and resources, Zach finds himself completely alone and ill prepared in facing the Sheriff and his force of corrupt police.
· Escalation: The Sheriff suspects Zach isn’t who he seems and orders his men to murder Zach and his brother to keep the theft of the Army’s weapon a secret.
· Overwhelming Odds: On the way to where his brother hid the weapon, the Sheriff’s best SWAT team ambushes Zach and his brother. Zach kills the entire SWAT team, but his brother dies in the gun battle. Zach barely escapes with his life as the Sheriff arrives with another SWAT team.
· Apparent Defeat: The Sheriff and his men track Zach throughout the night and capture him only after a battle where Zach uses a variety of improvised weapons to kill several more of his attackers. After hours of endless interrogation and beatings, Zach passes out after giving the Sheriff false information.
· Twist: A team of Chinese commandos arrive and attack the Sheriff’s men and kill everyone except Zach, who they believe knows where the secret Army weapon is hidden.
· New Plan: Zach is again savagely beaten and interrogated, but this time by the Chinese commandos. Zach feigns capitulation and agrees to lead the Chinese to where he’s hidden the weapon.
· Escape: Zach leads the Chinese to an abandoned mine where he’s convinced them the weapon is hidden, but he’s familiar with the mine and entraps the Chinese in a tunnel collapse as he escapes through a hidden mine shaft.
· Full out Attack: Zach reaches where the stolen weapon is hidden, but is quickly surrounded by not only the Sheriff with his remaining men, but also the Chinese commandos who have dug themselves out of the tunnel collapse. Unbeknownst to his attackers, Zach knows how to activate and use the Army weapon, and he turns it on his attackers.
· Success: Zach knows activation of the weapon sets off a tracking beacon, which is picked up by an orbiting military satellite. With only the Sheriff and the lead Chinese commando left alive, Zach awaits the arrival of an Army rescue force to retrieve the stolen weapon and arrest his opponents.
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Don’s Hero and Villain
What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of the hero having unique skills or capabilities that are not immediately obvious but are revealed as they confront the powerful and resilient villain.
Concept: A disgraced Army Ranger is left to fend for himself while trying to get justice for his murdered brother.
Hero Morally Right: His brother refused to continue paying protection money and was murdered by the Sheriff’s thugs.
Villain Morally Wrong: The Sheriff uses the authority of the law to control the county and viciously shuts down any opposition.
Hero: Zach Collins: Undercover Army CID Agent
A. Unique Skill Set: A highly trained warrior who has been pushed to the edge where he no longer knows how to fight, but only to kill.
B. Motivation: Revenge.
C. Secret or Wound: Zach’s discharge is a cover for his assignment as an Army CID agent investigating the disappearance of a shipment of highly advanced Army weapons that had traveled through the county.
Villain: Sheriff Arthur Goldman
A. Unbeatable: Has all of the resources to control ruthlessly dominate the entire county, as well as having corrupted any State and Federal officials daring to interfere.
B. Plan/Goal: Use the stolen Army weapons to expand his power far beyond the single county he now controls or sell to the highest foreign bidder.
C. What they lose if Hero survives: His entire empire collapses and he will end up facing the death sentence.
Impossible Mission: Zach must avenge his brother by eliminating the Sheriff and recovering the stolen Army weapons before anyone figures out how they work.
A. Puts Hero in Action: Zach takes on the Sheriff’s entire criminal organization.
B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Fighting and killing not only the Sheriff and his corrupt deputies, but the special team of fixers working for the Governor.
C. Destroy the Villain: Unbeknownst to his superiors, Zach is one of only a handful of soldiers who knows how the stolen weapons actually work, which he plans to use on the Sheriff and his corrupt deputies.
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.
3. Tell us your improved answers.
Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Fighting and killing not only the Sheriff and his corrupt deputies, but also the special team of fixers working for the Governor, and a group of Chinese spies intent on capturing the Army weapons and smuggling them out of the country.
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Hi, my name is Don. I’ve written more than a dozen feature screenplays, and several more for TV. I want to improve my craft writing for the action genre. As for something unique, I spent part of my career as a Federal agent working arson and explosives cases in Arkansas and Louisiana, and I was a technical advisor for two episodes of ‘The Shield.’
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Don’s Conventions
What I learned is to use the conventions and then brainstorm and build upon them to create a unique and compelling action story that fully engages the audience.
High Concept: A disgraced Army Ranger is left to fend for himself while trying to get justice for his murdered brother.
Hero: A wrongfully discharged Army Ranger who’s returned to his home town.
Demand for Action: The Ranger’s younger brother is murdered right in front of him.
Mission: Get justice for his murdered brother.
Antagonist: Corrupt local sheriff runs the county with an iron fist.
Escalating Action: He realizes there are no friends or allies willing to help find his brother’s killer.
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1. Donald Morgan
2. “I agree to the terms of this release form.”