[Erik Rhey]

Erik Rhey’s Character Profile Part 2

Character Profile, Part 2

Traits: Resourceful, inventive, kind, curious

Subtext: Hank hides his fear and ambivalence behind false confidence, pretending to have all the answers.

Flaw: He can be impulsive and selfish.

Values: Loyalty to family, taking care of his “tribe,” honesty and integrity.

Irony: The opposing forces of Hank’s selflessness and selfishness end up serving a greater good than just his family’s.

What makes this the right character for this role?

Instead of an action film–style sci-fi protagonist–Captain Kirk, Han Solo, Dutch Schaefer, Flash Gordon, Hank is molded from the “other type” of sci-fi protagonist, the one who is heady, thrust into a world he doesn’t yet understand (and is often ill-prepared for), but must navigate to survive or achieve his goal.

[Erik Rhey]

Erik’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is that the journeys can vary by genre and that in sci-fi there doesn’t need to be one clear antagonist.

Hank Loria, my protagonist, is an explorer. After an earthquake devastates Los Angeles, he must fulfill the role of hunter/gatherer to provide for his family. He must also navigate the uncertain terrain of his neighbors and others in L.A. to figure out who is friend or foe (or who is out to take advantage of him and take what he has). He is also an explorer when he goes on a quest to find out the truth about the origins of the earthquake.

The Antagonist is first the world around him. He is constantly challenged by weather, lack of resources, sinkholes, falling trees and poles from aftershocks, fires, etc. There is also a shifting antagonist in the people he must cooperate with or protect his family from.

4. The villain in this story is a change agent. It is constantly forcing Hank to decide what he must do, and there is no room for ambivalence.

Supporting Characters

Hank Loria – A cable news “sponsored story” writer, father, and husband newly transplanted to L.A. Hank is outgoing, eager, and inventive but also impulsive.

Lindsay Avalon – Hank’s wife, mother, and interior designer. Lindsay is pragmatic, precise, and resourceful but also secretive.

Rose Loria – Hank and Lindsay’s oldest daughter, 10. Rose is anxious, introspective, and observant.

Franny Loria – Hank and Lindsay’s younger daughter, 6; Franny is precocious, outgoing, and resilient.

Nate Avalon – Divorced younger brother of Lindsay; Nate has a 12-year-old son; Nate is an engineer and consultant with moral and ethical ambiguity.

Mateo Avalon – Nate’s 12-year-old son; big gamer; Mateo is emotionally unstable and falling through the cracks.

Garrett Beam – Off-kilter neighbor and former Marine. Garrett is a jack of all trades but also has a violent streak. He seems well-suited and even seems to enjoy disaster.

The genre of this story is sci-fi.

Hank Loria

Age: 42

Description: Medium height, dark-ginger features, pudgy at the beginning, driven by ideas, can be impulsive, wants to be helpful.

Internal Journey: He wants to be accepted by his family as the leader and provider; he wants to prove to himself his worth in this new world.

External Journey: Lead his family to success and safety, whatever that looks like now.

Motivation: To have his wife and kids be proud of him.

Wound: Self-doubt; he was not trained to be successful in this world.

Mission/Agenda: To both get ahead in the post-earthquake world and get ahead at his job by uncovering the truth.

Secret: Hank has a violent streak that he keeps well hidden; he also has the tendency to be selfish in his selflessness.

[Erik Rhey]

Hank Loria’s Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment are some basic organizational strategies to break down the transformational journey into component pieces, such as “old way” and “new way.”

Who is your Hero and what is their Character Arc that represents a transformation?

Hank Loria

Internal Journey: From feeling “not good enough” and unable to make decisions to being confident and powerful.

External Journey: From the victim of a disaster who is reactive to situations to someone who creates success for himself and his family in this new world.

Hank’s Old Ways

– Obedient, does what he is told

– Doesn’t want to rock the boat

– Often follows because he believes he is not good enough to lead

– Resistant to change

Hank’s New Ways

– Takes charge of a situation

– Learns to not just survive, but to be powerful in the new world

– Realizes he has a gift that can benefit others

– Has a sense of mission that propels him toward his goal of helping others

[Erik Rhey]

Erik Rhey

I agree to the terms of this release form.

[Erik Rhey]

Erik’s Key Business Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is that screenwriters are also part of the business process in terms of budget and potentially marketing the film or series.

Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama

Title: The Lighthouse

Concept: A large energy company partly owned by a conservative U.S. president uses a cutting-edge technology called microwave fracking, which causes a major, devastating earthquake in Los Angeles and subsequent cover-up.

Audience: Male over 25; Women over 25

Budget: TK

Lead Characters: Hank Loria (45, cable news copywriter), Lindsay Avalon (44, Hank’s wife, interior designer), Rose Loria (11, Hank and Lindsay’s oldest daughter), Franny Loria (5, Hank and Lindsay’s younger daughter), Nate Avalon (38, Lindsay’s brother)

Journey/Character Arc: Hank quickly learns how to survive and protect his family in the new world of post-earthquke L.A.; Hank tries to uncover the truth about the earthquake; Lindsay struggles to reconcile the worlds in which she co-exists—the world of her neighborhood and the wealthy world of her work.

Opening/Ending: We open in the post-earthquake world, with the story of the earthquake told in flashback. The first season ends with the roads open and Hank and Lindsay are faced with the option to leave Los Angeles.

To make this script more marketable, I need to both improve the character arcs and have a way to shoot it in a more contained way without extensive graphics work.

[Erik Rhey]

Erik Rhey’s Specialty: Sci-Fi

WHAT I LEARNED

Although being a generalist is okay in the world of journalism, where I come from, you must in this world pick a specialty and work to master it. Screenwriters cannot be handymen. This was a struggle for me because I like multiple genres (historical drama, documentary, comedy, dramedy, sci-fi, etc.). Ultimately I’ve discovered that in my creative work I have always been attracted to sci-fi and the “literature of ideas.”

Since I am interested in writing for TV series, I chose two popular series.

Genre: Sci-Fi

Title: Lost in Space – Netflix

How it delivered on the conventions:

PURPOSE: The series establishes early on the purpose of the crew to explore and colonize other worlds.

FANTASTIC WORLDS: Once they crash on the strange planet, we see how it is different through dramatic wide shots of the landscape as well as clever graphic inserts of strange plant and animal life (in what would normally look like a forest in the Pacific Northwest).

SCIENCE: They bring to life the science with the details of the uniforms, gadgets, and vehicles (such as 3D printed medical devices, rovers, comms devices, etc.).

INCREDIBLE VISUALS: Aside from the landscape, the robot is visually arresting, unlike anything we’ve seen before (the cavernous “face” made of twinkling lights) but references familiar, H.R. Geiger-esque designs from films like Predator and Alien.

SOCIAL COMMENTARY: The commentary here is not overt. The immediate story of the family in peril drives the narrative. The interpersonal relationships of the crew is also a main component of the story.

SUB-GENRE: Drama. The lives, personalities, and struggles of the characters determine the story as they work through a series of obstacles. Will’s relationship with his dad, sibling rivalry, the conniving of Dr. Smith, etc. all add a dramatic (or even melodramatic) element.

Genre: Sci-Fi

Title: Westworld – HBO

How it delivered on the conventions:

PURPOSE: The series premise is that every hedonistic delight of people can afford it is indulged and satiated at Westworld, no matter how banal.

FANTASTIC WORLDS: Behind the scenes in Westworld is where we see the fantastic world come to life. Seeing the scientists and engineers work on the robots, monitor different parts of Westworld, and tweak the robot’s AI and machine-learning capability.

SCIENCE: To me, the main element of the science is pushing the boundaries of AI to far beyond what we can currently achieve. And it is this ambition that unleashes a Pandora’s Box, similar to previous scientific breakthroughs, such as atomic fission.

INCREDIBLE VISUALS: Aside from the dramatic Western landscape, the incredible visuals are in the lab: the “exam rooms,” the deconstructed robots, the Westworld 3D map, etc.

SOCIAL COMMENTARY: The two pieces of social commentary I get from Westworld are: 1. Dolores sums it up multiple times in the series: “These violent delights have violent ends”; 2. The hubris of human invention, creating something you cannot control, a world of Frankenstein’s monsters.

SUB-GENRE: Western. Many of the Western conventions of revenge, a black-hat villain, battling to the death, the landscape as a character, the subjugation of women, show up in Westworld.

[Erik Rhey]

Erik’s LinkedIn Profile is a Work in Progress

What I Learned: Make more of your creative output, not just where you’ve been.

CREDIBILITY CHECKLIST

– My checklist is pretty sparse because I’m retaining my LinkedIn profile for my professional life in media outside of screenwriting.

– I’m not sure how to bridge that divide between what I’m currently doing and where I’d like to be next if I don’t have much in the credibility realm.

– The main point of credibility now is working for a known, respected media outlet doing unscripted short-form documentary development. The challenge is to translate that into being credible and viable in the world of scripted.

– I could use some more endorsements and recommendations.

– I can improve my profile with more work samples and more screenwriting-centric descriptions.

[Erik Rhey]

Hi everyone,

What I learned from Lesson 1

Along with a producer’s overall expectations of you as a writer, it was helpful to hear the specific deliverables as part of these expectations. It may be obvious to a lot of my classmates, but because I’m experienced in publishing but new to screenwriting, it helps to know on a granular level what you are expected to produce or revise: concept/logline, one page, treatment, outline, first draft, final draft, etc. I will also be curious to hear more about negotiating your contract on a project, particularly if you don’t have a manager. But first things first…

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<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>My Finished Script

My “nearly finished” script is a half-hour dramedy series with the working title “Shaky Ground.” It is about a copywriter named Hank Loria who moves to L.A. with his wife and two young daughters. Soon after arriving the thing every Angelino dreads but never talks or thinks about happens: An 8.0 earthquake hits the city along the Puente Hills Thrust fault running through Downtown L.A. Hank and family are now thrust into an urban wilderness where every necessity (food, water, power, etc.) is catch as catch can. Hank, ill-suited to this new world they’re trapped in, must keep his family alive working with insane neighbors while trying to keep his job so they can have enough money to get out eventually. But when Hank finds out the horrible cause of the earthquake, he risks losing everything to find and reveal the truth.

One final note: Something that is important to me in this script, besides nailing the basic elements of character, story, dialogue, etc., is infusing a deep level of detail taken from real-life earthquakes: Northridge, Mexico City, San Francisco, etc. No Dwayne Johnson in a helicopter. No magic sinkholes or fiery apocalypse. Just life in L.A. after the Big One.

To be honest, I don’t have a strong sense of budget, but I’ve been thinking about how to make this series on a smaller budget with a “zoomed-in” style that requires a lower level of graphics and CGI work.

An Idea I’d Like to Work On

First, I very much appreciated Hal’s commentary from a previous call about screenwriters finding success by making good project choices. I’m currently staring at eight loglines wondering which I should take on. I love all the ideas, but they’re not all viable. And many are historical (Old West, World War II, Reconstruction Era), which I’ve been told is a tough sell—getting anyone to read historical is a challenge. Thoughts on that?

So here’s the one I chose: It’s a one-hour drama series with the working title “Land Shark.” An auto mechanic named Odin Reese, hardened by a decade in prison, goes on a treacherous cross-country road trip in a vintage muscle car (a light-blue AMC Javelin) to seek revenge against the friend (Russell) who betrayed him and rose to the top of the big-tech company that invented a teleportation network for the wealthy, which through a plutocratic government, leaves the U.S. Interstate system a crumbling no man’s land.

As with Shaky Ground, I’m thinking through how this could be made on a modest budget without complex graphics work to show a decrepit Interstate System and the Lightway (the teleportation system).

Thanks!

[Erik Rhey]

Hi everyone,

My name is Erik Rhey, and I’m looking forward to this class and getting to know some fellow screenwriters.

I have a journalism degree and an MFA in fiction writing. I’ve published some short stories and written two novels (both unpublished). I’m relatively new to screenwriting, and I’ve written three TV pilots and one TV spec script. My creative work often straddles fiction and non-fiction–real-life stories from past and present. I’ve found a weird career niche for myself, doing writing and development on short-form sponsored documentaries for CNN (also known as branded content).

My strange or unique something: I grew up in rural Central Wisconsin. My hometown, Baraboo, had something called Circus World Museum, which was half Ringling Bros. museum, half active circus. Instead of summer camp, my mother bought us season passes and dropped us off every morning on her way to work. So I lived circus summers, getting to know the performers and animal trainers.

Thanks, and talk soon, everybody!

[Erik Rhey]

Erik Rhey

I agree to the terms of this release form.

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.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by  Erik Rhey. Reason: Pasting the text of the agreement