[Elizabeth Herald]

Hello everyone. My nom de plume is Eliza Herald. I am glad to be reconnecting here in SWU.

I have written one pilot for a streaming series for the Binge-Worthy Course and I am currently working with another SWU member as a writing partner on another script. Both of this scripts are in need of a re-write.

I have taken several courses with SWU, including a few of the intensives. I put this education on the shelf for a while during COVID to care for my mother and to create an organizational development design model for concerned citizens to activate resiliency in their own Watershed Communities. I am ready to pick it up again.

What I hope to gain from this course is both very simple and oddly complex. SIMPLE: I want the two scripts I have to be in the best possible version for presenting to producers for when I am ready; COMPLEX: My current primary responsibility is as the caregiver for my mother in her end-of-life time, so my own time to write is very precious. I am using this period to prepare for the next phase in my life by gathering the skills and connections to become a professional paid screenwriter. This has been a dream of mine for many years. I am not at all interested in thrashing through the trial-and-error method, and I truly appreciate the well-tested success methodology of SWU. I do not know the time frame for her transition, but I need the skills for that time.

I have worked in media production for 30 years at every level and in many different capacities, however, this work was always in support of other people’s stories. I have mostly worked as a cinematographer, video editor, and scriptwriter for a television series that aired on PBS for 15 years. It is now high time for me to now start telling the stories that are mine to tell.

This is a career choice that is easier on my body than production, and I know I can stay excited about it for as long as I can keep hold of the keen mental capacity of mi cabeza. This course is an excellent chance to turbo-charge the transition after caregiving by adding to my quiver of knowledge and hopefully, wisdom, in getting my stories produced.

Here is a more personal “interesting fact”, while growing up as a ski racer and wild child in the High Sierra mountains (on skis for as long as I have been walking), I was making little ski films as a pre-teen and I got my start in filmmaking working on the early (and first) Extreme Skiing videos.

Since then, I’ve become a lifelong Water Advocate and dedicated Change Agent. I use the skill of storytelling (hopefully now screenwriting) to tell entertaining, well-crafted stories that might help inspire humanity towards reaching critical mass to find and implement the most effective solutions for our species-wide imperative to shift the impending climate crisis. I am leaning into this “LIFE AND LOVE”, so that the present and upcoming generations of youth can thrive within a hospitable planetary atmosphere far into the future.

[Elizabeth Herald]

I, Elizabeth (Herald) Rogers, as a member of this group, I agree to the following:

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.

[Elizabeth Herald]

Lession 3.5

Subject line: Eliza Herald / Speciality — Magical Realism & Dramedy (2nd movie)

What I learned doing this assignment: I saw that this genre is a good fit for me, because some of my favorite films are on the list of top films in this genre. I also learned more nuance around the conventions of the magical realism genre.

Title: The Shape of Water (2017)

Genre: Listed as Suspense, Drama, Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

How it delivered on the genre conventions:
The movie “The Shape of Water” directed by Guillermo del Toro, contains established the magical realism genre immediately in the opening sequence. The movie contains magical elements from start to fini; a humanoid amphibian creature, who is able to communicate with humans, and possesses healing powers. The creature is presented in a realistic manner, which blurs the line between the real and the supernatural.

The story is set in the early 1960s in Baltimore, a real-world location with cultural references throughout. The setting is presented in a realistic manner, which makes the magical elements of the story seem all the more real. The main characters in the movie are ordinary people, confronted with the extraordinary. In addition to the symbolism of Water, there are several other symbolic elements: the dominant culture vs the magical, the misunderstood unknown as an outsider, who is misunderstood and feared by society. The movie also explores themes of love, sacrifice, and the power of human connection, which are presented in a symbolic and metaphorical manner.

Here is the outline of the movie, highlighting the parts that fulfill the genre:

Opening Sequence: shows a 1960-period apartment filled with Water with everything floating. This sets the magical realism genre immediately in a beautiful way.

The movie introduces a mute woman, Elisa Esposito, who is a cleaner at a government lab. She has two friends in her life, her caring neighbor, Giles, and her co-worker, Zelda. She has a very routine, unfulfilling life and feels lonely.

An amphibious creature has been captured by the US Military and is brought from the Amazon River to a tank in the lab for study. Colonel Richard Strickland, the cruel man in charge of the project, shows great disregard for the creature’s welfare or intelligence. Elisa is drawn to whatever is in the tank.

Elisa first encounters the Amphibian Man when she sneaks into the lab to clean. They make meaningful contact and Elisa feels the pain of the creature. She identifies with the creature and realizes that there is a deep affinity between them and befriends him.

Colonel Strickland becomes determined to kill the creature after he bites off Strickland’s fingers. Elisa finds Strickland’s fingers and the doctors reattach them.

Elisa starts bringing her lunch into the lab, including a hard-boiled egg. With her compassionate heart, music, and sign language, she begins to communicate with the Amphibian Man, creating a bond as she teaches him sign language and even getting him to respond in return with a smile.

Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (Dem is the head scientist overseeing the project. As he meets with some Russian KGB, it becomes clear that he is a Soviet spy tasked with studying the creature for his country. He is ordered to kill the amphibian man to sabotage the US efforts. He voices his ethical objection to General Hoit killing such a beautiful creature, he is forced to comply, or else.

Elisa convinces her friend Giles to help her with a plan for the Amphibian Man’s escape. With Zelda and Drhey succeed in getting him out of the facility and into Elisa’s apartment where she keeps him hydrated in the bathtub. The creature eats Gile’s cat, and in the chaos, runs off, scratching Giles. Eliza finds him in the theater and brings him back.

Elisa and the creature are in love, and as their relationship deepens, they share moments of tenderness and passion, as she fills the bathroom with Water (flooding the theater below). Elisa has found true happiness for the first time in her life. The creature miraculously heals Giles.

The Russians shoot Demetri and Colonel Strickland shoots the Russians. He tortures Dimetri to tell him who the creature is and, through Zelda’s husband, Brewster, tracks the Amphibian Man to Elisa’s apartment.

Elisa and the Amphibian Man escape and share a moment of love before they are both shot by Strickland, mortally wounding them. Giles hits Strickland and the creature revives, instantly healing the bullet wounds in his chest. Strickland comes at the creature and the creature slices his throat. Amphibian Man gathers Elisa’s body in his arms and jumps into the sea. He brings her back to life by activating her ‘gills”. He has healed her in ways she never thought possible. The two of them disappear into a watery world together, alive and happy, leaving Giles behind wondering what happened and telling the story.

[Elizabeth Herald]

Lesson 3: Choosing Your Specialty

Subject line: Eliza Herald / Speciality — Magical Realistic Dramedy

What I learned doing this assignment:
I saw that this genre is a good fit for me, because some of my favorite films are on the list of top films in this genre.

1. Tell us your specialty: Magical Realism with Dramedy elements (with a Water theme)

Magical realism blends realistic, ordinary narratives with extraordinary, absurd, or magical elements. Symbols create multiple layers of interpretation, conveying meaning beyond the literal narrative often engaging allegory to explore larger themes and ideas.

2. Here are the two movies in this genre I’m watching for this lesson.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Big Fish (2003)

3. Here are a few of my favorite films in this genre:

The Life of Pi (2012)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Amélie (2001)
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Mary Poppins (1964)

4. As you watch each movie, take notes on how that movie fulfills the key parts of your genre.

1st Film

Genre: Listed as Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Title: Big Fish (2004)

How it delivered on the genre conventions: The film uses the narration of Edward‘s extravagant tall tales for how we find meaning in our everyday lives in what we choose to emphasize and the stories we tell ourselves and others. The film blends comic and dramatic elements with a Paul Bunyon brand of magical realism for a profound exploration of the healing of a dysfunctional father-son relationship. To me, the symbolism of the Water is the continuity of Life and the big fish symbolizes both unpredictable and mysterious elements of an ordinary man’s imaginative life and the father’s deep, unexpressed love for his son.

Here is the outline of the movie, highlighting the parts that fulfill the genre:

Summary: This film tells of a man at the end of his life, Edward Bloom. An unabashed storyteller, more comfortable in his fantasy world than in the ‘real world”, spins fantastical tall tales about his life to everyone and anyone who will listen. His unbelieving, practical journalist son has always believed his father’s stories to be exaggerated fabrications and wants to find the truth of his father’s life before he dies, but comes to reconcile, to see, and to accept his father is just who he is and always has been.

Outline:

1) The film intro opens with Edward narrating an unbelievable ‘big fish’ story at his son, William’s wedding, and of himself as a young man catching a giant uncatchable fish. The fish is clearly representing Edward as a metaphor for his larger-than-life personality.

2) William is fed up with his father always hogging all the attention on his big day. He and his father do not talk in 3 years. The intro ends with Edward telling the story of his far-fetched birth. This event sets the magical realism theme for the rest of the movie.

3) Journalist Will and his French photojournalist wife Josephine, are pregnant with their first child. They leave their life in Paris with the news that Will’s father, Edward Bloom, is being taken off chemotherapy treatment. He is expected to die soon from cancer.

3) When Edward visits the town of Spectre for the first time, it exists outside of time where people live in peace and harmony. It is hidden from the world. These scenes capture the surreal and dreamlike quality that is characteristic of magical realism.

4) Edward goes on and on throughout the second act to tell fantastical stories about his life in the manner of Paul Bunyon, including meeting a witch with a glass eye who foretells his death, befriending a giant, spying in China during World War II, helping Siamese twins escape, and joining a circus run by a werewolf.

5) Edward sees the woman of his dreams and future wife at the circus, toils for 3 indentured years, and battles an old rival for her hand in marriage.

6) Edward tells of how, when he returns to Spectre again for the second time the outside world has come in and the town is dying. He saves the town by buying the entire town.

7) Will comes to realize that his father’s stories are more than just fanciful tales, but rather a reflection of Edward’s larger-than-life personality and his desire to leave a lasting impression on the world. This realization allows Will to reconcile with his father and appreciate him for who he always has been.

8) Edward’s death and his journey to the afterlife are shown in a magical realist way where Will has now become the storyteller guiding his father home.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Elizabeth Herald.

[Elizabeth Herald]

Subject line: Eliza Herald – LinkedIn Profile is Amazing!

What I learned doing this assignment: I appreciate how helpful and motivating it is to have a ready checklist for improving my credibility. I also saw how much I can still do now, even though I am relatively limited on time.

Assignment 2:

1) Tell us the instant improvements you made to your LinkedIn Profile

Updated my profile with current info, including this course

Created a list of producers,

Sought connections with more producers

Began exchanging recommendations and endorsements

Added my resume

2) What is your plan for improving your credibility on LinkedIn over the next 30 days.

Network within my professional connections, focusing on getting work as a screenwriter or scriptwriter

Get more active on Linkedin, build relationships with producers & other writers

Strengthen relationships with SWU Alumni

Continue my writing education

Connected with associates in my field of interest who have the need for a writer

Get more active on Linkedin posting around my area of interest of Screenwriting and Water Advocacy to find interested producers

On Linkedin exchange endorsements and recommendations

[Elizabeth Herald]

Subject line: Eliza Herald – Credibility is Going Up!
What I learned doing this assignment: I learn that while I have been in the media production industry for 30+ years, I still have a long way to go to raise up my credibility as a writer.

Assignment 1: Fill out the Credibility Checklist. BELOW

Tell us the 2 or 3 steps you’ll take in the next 30 days to increase your credibility:

Network within my professional connections, focusing on getting work as a screenwriter or scriptwriter

Get more active on Linkedin, build relationships with producers & other writers

Strengthen relationships with SWU Alumni

Continue my writing education

Connected with associates in my field of interest who have the need for a writer

Get more active on Linkedin posting around my area of interest of Screenwriting and Water Advocacy to find interested producers

On Linkedin exchange endorsements and recommendations

CREDIBILITY CHECKLIST

1. Your Writing Sample / NOT YET, NEED TO REWRITE

‘Recommend’ from Coverage <b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>/ NO

Delivers on the genre in a strong way <b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>/ NOT YET

Delivers on the business decisions <b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>/ NOT YET

2. Screenwriting Accomplishments / NONE

Contest wins

Smaller deals (options, sales, writing assignments)

Larger deals

Movies produced

3. The Google factor / NONE

Google your name. How many items on the first page show you as a professional screenwriter?

Buzz posts, interviews, news reports, etc..

4. Your Network

How many producers are in your network? 22 Producers

How many Connections do you have who are connected to producers? About 256,000 results

5. Education specific to screenwriting

Degree in film or screenwriting / NONE

Master Screenwriter Certificate program at ScreenwritingU / BINGE-WORTHY 5, MSC 14

6. Borrowed Credibility

Represented by an agent or manager / NO

Working with a producer / MET WITH BIG BUDGET PRODUCER, TOLD TO TIGHTEN UP CONCEPT

Connected to a star / NO

Connected to a funding source / NO, BUT MAYBE

7. IMDB CREDITS

Go to [url=”http://imdb.com/”]http://IMDB.com[/url] and search your name. / ELIZABETH ROGERS

What credits show up there for you? 2 credits

Deep End (camera dept, not writing),

Passport to Adventure Travel Series (credited – cinematography),

Passport to Adventure Travel Series (non-credited – director, editor, writer, graphic)

8. Other forms of credibility that are related to screenwriting:

Novels published / NO

Producer or director experience / YES, Assistant Director once

Experience working with agencies, production companies, film festivals, etc.. / YES

Founder & Exec. Director Tahoe International Film Festival

Worked as crew for 30 years for many production companies in many capacities

Over 50 credits not listed in IMDB

ADDITIONAL STEPS

Make a list of possible things you can do to increase your credibility in the future.

Rewrite a kiss-ass Writing Sample

Complete current projects with double the quality

Write more scripts in my specialty genre of Magical Realism

Get Coverage

Enter contests

Send samples and/or scripts to producers, depending on their level of interest

Network within my professional connections to get work as a screenwriter

Get more active on Linkedin, build relationships with producers & other writers

Strengthen relationships with SWU Alumni

Continue my writing education

Connected with associates in my field of interest who have the need for a writer

[Elizabeth Herald]

Subject line: (Eliza’s) Projects and Insights

The two projects I am bringing into this class:
~ I only have one finished script, a pilot for a dystopian magical-realism dramedy 5-season streaming series called “WATER” @ $3 million per episode
~ I am currently co-writing a second script, for a feature film a romantic mystery $5 – $15 million

What I learned from the opening teleconference:
So much! I have to watch it a few times, to fully absorb the potential of the upcoming course. This is precisely the turbo-charge I am looking for. What stood out for me specifically on the first viewing is the concept of coming to audition as the expert in the room. What a fantastic mindset for success! I am also feeling that this may be too much for me because I already have many responsibilities on my daily docket. However, I am determined to get as much out of this course as I can … even if I am posting late, I will try to keep up.

[Elizabeth Herald]

I, Elizabeth Rogers (Eliza Herald) agree to the terms of this agreement.

[Elizabeth Herald]

Hello everyone. My nom de plume is Eliza Herald. I am glad to be reconnecting here in SWU.

I have written one pilot for a streaming series for the Binge-Worthy Course and I am currently working with another SWU member as a writing partner on another script. I have taken several courses with SWU, including one intensive. I put this education on the shelf for a while during COVID to care for my mother and to create an organizational development design model for concerned citizens to activate resiliency in their own Watershed Communities.

What I hope to gain from this course is both very simple and oddly complex. My current primary responsibility is as the caregiver for my mother in her end-of-life time, so my own time to write is very precious. I am using this period to prepare for the next phase in my life by gathering the skills and connections to become a professional paid screenwriter. This has been a dream of mine for many years. I am not at all interested in thrashing through the trial-and-error method, and I truly appreciate the well-tested success methodology of SWU.

I have worked in media production for 30 years at every level and in many different capacities, however, this work was always in support of other people’s stories. I have mostly worked as a cinematographer, video editor, and scriptwriter for a television series that aired on PBS for 15 years. It is now high time for me to now start telling the stories that are mine to tell.

I see the strategy of getting hired to write as a good way to break into the inner core of the industry and build relationships along the way, so I can quickly get my projects successfully marketed and produced. Also, as I am accumulating years on my bones, this is a career choice that is easier on my body than production, and I know I can stay excited about it for as long as I can keep hold of the keen mental capacity of mi cabeza. This course is an excellent chance to turbo-charge the transition after caregiving by adding to my quiver of knowledge and hopefully, wisdom, in getting my stories produced.

One related fact I find interesting is that my pilot is set in post-pandemic system collapse California, and in 2020 I landed in Sacramento airport, returning home from an SWU Career Launch event, precisely as the California stay-at-home order was instituted and declared to the public.
The timing was impeccable.

Here is a more personal “interesting fact”, after growing up as a ski racer and wild child in the High Sierra mountains (on skis for as long as I have been walking), like Ed, I was making little films as a pre-teen, (ski films). From that, I became a lifelong Water Advocate and dedicated Change Agent. I use the skill of storytelling (hopefully now screenwriting) to tell entertaining, well-crafted stories that might help inspire humanity towards reaching critical mass to find and implement the most effective solutions for our species-wide imperative to shift the impending climate crisis towards “LIFE AND LOVE”, so that the present and upcoming generations of youth can thrive within a hospitable planetary atmosphere far into the future.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by  Elizabeth Herald.

[Elizabeth Herald]

Hello Robert! Wonderful to be in this class with you again!
Let’s catch up.