[Elaine Lai]

What I learned from doing this assignment is that the situational hope and fear is intimately tied to the motivational want and need. Clarifying these in a word or two will help to identify the engine for the drama of a show, and the actions a character engages in.

Handmaid’s Tale: JUNE

A. Situational: Hope: to survive / Fear: Dying first or being sent to the colonies

B. Motivation: Want: to reunite with her daughter and maybe Luke/ Need: to find power in this system which systemically renders her powerless

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: infidelity / Public Mask: submissive handmaid

D. Weaknesses: powerless, needs control

E. Triggers: violence against women

F. Coping Mechanism: taking charge of her own sexuality by actively pursuing Nick, and joining Mayday

Handmaid’s Tale: EMILY

A. Situational: Hope: to rebel against Gilead and escape / Fear: having her lover killed, being tortured or killed

B. Motivation: Want: to reclaim her life and identity, as a lesbian and a free woman/ Need: to find power and to get June to join Mayday

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: pent up rage about the intense homophobia and forced hetero-rape / Public Mask: submissive handmaid

D. Weaknesses: too overtly rebellious, attracts the attention of the Eyes

E. Triggers: being sexually mutilated as a punishment for having a relationship with a Martha, and then forced back into hetero-sexual rape

F. Coping Mechanism: doubles down in rebellion—in this episode, she takes charge of a car and runs over an Eye; willing to die for her cause

My show: THEODORA, character: THEODORA

A. Situational: Hope: to transcend the ranks of an actress/prostitute / Fear: being brought down by other men and women

B. Motivation: Want: to rise above her born rank and to transform the social world of Constantinople/ Need: to find and lean on those with power

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: anger and pride/ Public Mask: charming, charismatic actress, willing to please and entertain

D. Weaknesses: constant battle between egoic desire (fueled by pride, anger, and revenge) and altruistic desire

E. Triggers: injustice, humiliation, violence against women and children

F. Coping Mechanism: politically manipulative and savvy, knows how to control men

[Elaine Lai]

Intriguing Character Layers

Handmaid’s Tale— JUNE/OFFRED

Role: primary heroine/protagonist who is stealthily figuring out a way out of her predicament as a handmaid

Hidden agendas: to escape

Competition: With Serene/Mrs. Waterford, competing with her for the affections of Mr. Waterford so she can buy more freedom

Conspiracies: Originally with Offglen to get inside information on Mr. Waterford

Secrets: Secretly engaging in scrabble and reading magazines given to her by Mr. Waterford, all of which is against the law in Gilead

Deception: deceiving Mrs. Waterford with her submission

Wound: Is drawn into the power games she is forced to play by pretending to flirt with Mr. Waterford etc. for more leverage; larger wound is the total violent rupture from her previous life and the disenfranchisement of women

Secret Identity: Rebel

Handmaid’s Tale: MOIRA

Role: best friend to June, handmaid turned rebel

Hidden agendas: to escape the Handmaid training

Competition: Aunt Lydia and the other Aunts

Conspiracies: Planned with June the abduction of an Aunt and then an escape with Moira disguised as an Aunt

Secrets: She is a lesbian.

Deception: Tricks Aunt Elizabeth in order to gag her, bind her to a pole, and steal her clothes

Wound: (unclear at this point) possibly sexual trauma

Secret Identity: Rebel

Intriguing Character Layers for my show Theodora

Character Name: THEODORA

Role: Actress turned empress, primary heroine/protagonist of our story

Hidden agendas: Her own political and social ambitions, to be free of Roman law, to find religious meaning in life

Competition: different actresses at the theatre, Madame Helena, and later on in the courts, other men and women who don’t take well to her new position

Conspiracies: With Antonina, to find a way out of the theatre, with Narses, to find a way to pass new laws in Constantinople and also support a rival religious group that the Emperor is opposed to

Secrets: Her life-long love affair with Antonina, the child she bore and had to give up

Deception: lies to Emperor Justinian about hiding a religious leader of the opposing party, sets up Belisarius to be banished from Constantinople when Justinian is sick in order to prevent him from seizing the throne

Wound: suffered immense loss and violence in her early years

Secret Identity: the most powerful politician of Constantinople

Character Name: ANTONINA

Role: best friend to Theodora, becomes a political woman in her own right over time

Hidden Agenda: to escape the life of an actress, later on, to secure financial and political power for her husband and children

Competition: eventually Theodora is her biggest competition

Conspiracies: as a young woman, conspires with Theodora to attain all kinds of privileges and get out of trouble; as an adult, plots against Theodora and Emperor Justinian at some points

Secrets: In love with Theodora, has never liked men

Deception: deceives her husband Belisarius, Justinian, Theodora, and Narses

Wound: Wishes she could live in a world where she could settle down with a woman

Secret identity: radical lesbian feminist for her time

[Elaine Lai]

June in Handmaid’s Tale

Journey: Surviving and trying to escape the prison of being a handmaid in order to reunite with her daughter who was forcefully taken from her

A. Role in the show: the primary heroine through whose eyes and voice we see the ugliest parts of humanity manifest in a violent, dystopic, hypothetical future America

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: to survive the normalized violence and trauma that is everywhere around her

C. Intrigue: the closer June gets to Mr. Waterford, Nick, and Offglen, the more dangerous her situation becomes

D: Moral issue: at the moment, June is moving into dangerously close relations with Nick who may be an Eye

E: Unpredictable: the more June’s real personality comes out, the more she is punished, and the more danger she is in

F. Empathetic: She has undergone hell, both prior to being a handmaid, and after becoming one; she is representative of many contemporary women who value their independence in work and over their bodies, hence, the rights that are stripped from her are the absolute worst nightmares for these same contemporary women

Theodora in my show Theodora

Journey: In Constantinople, Theodora, once a theatre actress and a prostitute, rises to become one of the most influential, and also violent Empresses in the history of the Byzantine Empire.

Main characters: Theodora, Narses, Antonina

Theodora

A. Role: primary heroine through whose eyes we see the ancient world of Constantinople and the challenges faced by women born of a certain class in their dreams of rising higher

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: uses her wit, charm, intelligence, and acting expertise to move through the complicated social circles of the Byzantine empire and to rise in power

C. Intrigue: the more that Theodora rises to power, the more she is positioned in sticky moral situations where the only choice to protect herself involves harming another, a moral dilemma that eats away at her religious sensibilities

D. Moral Issue: to defend her life and her title as Empress, Theodora is forced to engage in inherently violent politics

E. Unpredictable: the more Theodora is pushed to the edge/mistreated by society, the stronger and more resourceful she becomes, but also the more violent her means

F. Empathetic: her childhood backstory and traumas were not her fault; she has true loyalty to friends but has been betrayed by many people in the past; she uses her power also to end child sex slavery, and to create transitional homes for prostitutes hoping to move out of the profession

Narses

A. Role: the court eunuch through whose eyes we see the political intrigue of Constantinople

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: like Theodora, has learned to act submissively for survival, but is most loyal to Theodora; he records her story at her death bed and acts as her eye for any harm that may be coming her way

C. Intrigue: he is most loyal to Theodora because he is in love with her, and goes to great lengths to protect her from impending harm without her ever knowing

D. Moral Issue: keeping his feelings at bay for the sake of propriety and maintaining his status as the most trusted court eunuch

E. Unpredictable: the more he falls in love with Theodora, the more he acts out in a way that causes suspicion in the courts and to Emperor Justinian

F. Empathetic: he was sold into slavery as a child and forced to become a eunuch i.e., castrated against his will

Antonina

A. Role: Theodora’s best friend throughout her life, from their training into the theatre, all the way to Theodora’s years as Empress; her relationship demonstrates the vicissitudes of life-long friendship, the twists and turns it can take

B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: initially, she is the one who teaches Theodora about intimacy and pleasure, and sexual agency as a sex worker; later, she is the only one is brave enough to challenge Theodora about her political decisions

C. Intrigue: she increasingly has her own political goals which she keeps secret from Theodora; she is also conflicted because a part of her has loved and will always love Theodora

D. Moral Issue: must choose between lying to Theodora or protecting her status/her husband Belisarius’s status/post

E. Unpredictable: the more pressure she is put under by her husband and the political power plays of the court, the more she is forced to choose between loyalty to Theodora and survival

F. Empathetic: born to become an actress like Theodora, she had no choice in her profession; experienced instances of sexual violence, but protected others, including Theodora from having to endure the mistreatment she received

[Elaine Lai]

Day 2 assignments

Three Circles of Characters

What I learned from this assignment is that I need to consider the entire arc of the first season in order to clarify which characters are primary, secondary, and tertiary. In other words, think beyond the pilot to the different backstories and intertwining threads from episode to episode, and then build that into the first few episodes.

Assignment 1: Handmaid’s tale

A. Main Characters Circle: June/Offred, Mrs. And Mrs. Waterford, Nick, Offglen

B. Connected Circle: Janine, Moira, Aunt Lydia, Rita

C. Environment Circle: the other handmaids, the Eyes, the men of Gilead, the wives of these men

Assignment 2: Characters for my show Theodora

1. Create the three circles of characters for your show.

A. Main Characters Circle: Theodora, Antonina, Justinian,

B. Connected Circle: Comito, Asima, Anastasia, Madame Helena, Narses, Procopius, Belisarius, Andronicus

C. Environment Circle: other actresses, men of the Blues faction and Greens faction, members of the circus

2. One sentence description of each character

Theodora: a determined, strong heroine, born to serve in the circus as an actress of the theatre/high prostitute, Theodora learns to navigate a number of complicated, and violent social worlds to eventually become one of the most powerful Empresses in Byzantine history

Antonina: Theodora’s best friend from her days training in the theatre who Theodora later uplifts into the palace after she becomes Empress; they have bursts of romance/love throughout Theodora’s adolescence up to her death

Justinian: of humble origins, he became Emperor through a series of unforeseen circumstances, and changed Roman law in order to marry the actress Theodora; throughout their reign together, he relies on her intelligence and sharp instincts to make all major legislative amendments in Constantinople

Comito: Theodora’s older sister who experienced the brunt of the sisters’ childhood trauma, and was the first to enter into the theatre

Asima: Theodora’s mother, resilient, and resourceful; however, after Theodora’s father dies, she makes a few bad choices with the men she consorts with that have deleterious consequences for her daughters

Anastasia/Stasia: Theodora’s younger sister, develops a mind of her own as she grows up, pursues a life in theatre despite Theodora’s wishes against it

Madame Helena: in charge of training the girls at the theatre, and overseeing transactions with men for more “private” forms of entertainment

Narses: The court eunuch, and most trusted friend to Theodora in the palace; he bears witness to all the palace intrigues, and records Theodora’s story before shes dies; is secretly in love with her

Procopius: the court historian who hates Theodora, and plots ways to smear her now both in the here and now, and in posterity

Belisarius: military commander under Emperor Justinian, ends up marrying Theodora’s best friend Antonina; has his own ambitions for power which Theodora becomes increasingly suspicious of

Andronicus: leader of the Blues who saved Theodora, her sisters, and mother from humiliation when she was little; tough masculine exterior hides his own traumas and wounds which are temporarily relieved when he is in Theodora’s company as she grows up

[Elaine Lai]

ASSIGNMENT 1: (Handmaid’s Tale) 5 Star model

What I learned doing this assignment is how effective voiceover, and short scenes of flashbacks can be for establishing an amazing character, creating empathy/distress, and open loops. These devices seem particularly important to this show since it would be unsafe for the main character June to openly display any dissent within the world of Gilead, so her true thoughts and backstory must come through another way. I also learned that what makes this whole world so intriguing is the richly developed backstories (or at this point, invitation to speculate on the backstories) of all the secondary characters: Serena Waterford, Aunt Lydia, Jeanine, Moira, Nick, and Emily

1. Big Picture Hooks

In a dystopic U.S. plagued by a major fertility crisis, June (Offred) is determined to find a way to endure/survive state-sanctioned rape as a handmaid in order to find her daughter who was forcibly taken from her.

2. Amazing and Intriguing Character

Through voiceover, it is revealed that despite June’s pious appearances and perfect decorum in front of the Waterfords and the Eyes, she has a deeply rebellious, fiery character, and is slowly scheming/plotting a way out of her predicament so that she can reunite with her daughter.

3. Empathy / Distress

Through flashbacks, it’s revealed that June was violently separated from her daughter and husband, and forced to become a handmaid against her will. As a handmaid for the Waterfords she is accosted, and degraded by Mrs. Waterford, and habitually raped by Mr. Waterford in a number of disturbingly “normalized” scenes.

4. Layers / Open Loops

Who is the Eye in June’s house? Why hasn’t Nick told the Eyes about June running out in the middle of the night? What happened to June’s friend Moira? Where is June’s daughter Hannah? What other handmaids are secretly rebelling? How will June manage to escape this situation?

5. Inviting Obsession

How is June going to figure out who the Eye is, and steer clear of them? What kind of relationship will develop between June and Nick (dangerous? Romantic?)? What is Serena Waterford’s backstory?

[Elaine Lai]

Hi all, nice to meet you!

1. My name is Elaine Lai

2. I’ve written one feature, two tv pilots, a short, and two stage plays (but never sold anything, just been writing)

3. I hope to understand the different possibilities in tv structure, and revise my pilots so that they will attract managers and agents. My dream is to work in a writer’s room.

4. By day, I’m a PhD student in Buddhism (working on my dissertation now!), and my exposure to religions/spirituality in general, as well as the many years I spent outside of the US has deeply influenced my creative outlook 🙌🏽

[Elaine Lai]

I, Elaine Lai, agree to the terms of this release form.