Holli Castillo
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Holli’s Character Emotions
What I learned doing this assignment is that the ideas for characters is an evolution, and I don’t have to try to make my first ideas work out, but can change them as I get better ideas.
ASSIGNMENT 1: The Morning Show
Watch the next episode of your Example Show and create an Emotional Profile for two or three main characters in this show.
1. Alex
A. Situational: Hope / Fear- Hopes to keep her job; Fear of being a has-been.
B. Motivation: Want / Need- Wants to be admired; needs self-esteem
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion – insecurity; Public Mask vanity
D. Weaknesses- Impulsive; need to be right; controlling.
E. Triggers- when her ability or integrity is questioned.
F. Coping Mechanism- lashes out.
2. Bradley
A. Situational: Fears she’s not good enough for the big leagues; Hopes she fits in.
B. Motivation: Want to be a “real” journalist; Needs respect
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask
D. Weaknesses- Doesn’t think before she speaks; doesn’t contemplate results of her actions.
E. Triggers – her father
F. Coping Mechanism – gets drunk
ASSIGNMENT 2: (Working Title) The backwoods
1. Lucy
A. Situational: Hope / Fear- Hopes to exonerate Darla quickly and get back to the city; Fears she will get sucked back in to her family and the town.
B. Motivation: Want / Need- Wants to forget about her past; Needs to accept who she is.
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask – Fear of being found to be a fraud; Public Mask- cocky confidence
D. Weaknesses – Takes things personally; worries too much about what others think of her;
E. Triggers – Being talked down to or treated as if she’s not smart.
F. Coping Mechanism -Fights back.
2. Chip
A. Situational: Hope / Fear- Hopes to close out the murder quickly; Fears Lucy will find out the truth.
B. Motivation: Want / Need- Wants his father’s respect; Needs to respect himself
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask- cold or unloved. Public Mask of laidback charming, happy guy with everything
D. Weaknesses – Thinks he’s smarter than he is;
E. Triggers – losing
F. Coping Mechanism -manipulates.
3. Darla
A. Situational: Hope / Fear- – Hopes her sister can find a way to clear her; Fears she’ll have to reveal her activities in order to be cleared.
B. Motivation: Want / Need- Wants to find a husband and settle down; Needs to learn how to take care of herself
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask – lonely; public Mask- slut
D. Weaknesses – Drug addict; pushover;
E. Triggers – when anyone is unhappy with her.
F. Coping Mechanism – Drugs
4. Genesis
A. Situational: Hope / Fear – Hopes Lucy will stay for good/Fears Lucy will figure out the extent of their criminal activity and walk away.
B. Motivation: – Wants to be a crime boss; needs to get her family back.
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask – selfish; bitter; Public Mask overly helpful and kind
D. Weaknesses – narrow minded; selfish;
E. Triggers – not being in control of a situation
F. Coping Mechanism – Manipulates
5. Bianca
A. Situational: Hope / Fear – Hopes Lucy will forgive her for her past wrongs; fears she’ll end up alone.
B. Motivation: Want / Need – Wants a place to fit in; Needs to figure out what she wants out of life.
C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask – Anxiety; Public Mask full of herself
D. Weaknesses – jealousy; insecure;
E. Triggers – When someone gets something she wants.
F. Coping Mechanism – shuts down
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Holli’s Intriguing Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is I have more work to do on my characters. Some of these ideas are placeholders.
ASSIGNMENT 1: the Morning Show
Alex
Hidden agenda to get control of the show
Competition with all of the other anchors.
Secrets: She and her husband are not together.
Mitch
Conspiracies: trying to get someone to work with him to fight the whole Me Too movement.
Secrets: Also slept with Alex
Deception: Slept his way through the interns
Secret Identity: sexual predator
Bradley
Hidden Agenda
Competition with Alex and the other news anchors
Conspiracies: with Alex to fight the boy’s club
Secrets: Brother is a drug addict, family is lower class, she has to take care of them
Deception: goes off script, literally, because she thinks she’s always right.
Wound: the way she grew up, having an abortion at 15, having a bad trashy mom
Corey
Hidden Agenda- to fire Alex or to not fire Alex? It’s hard to tell how he really feels of when he’s working an angle.
Competition With Fred to see which one of them is going to come out on top
Conspiracies: With Fred and With Chip to oust Alex.
Secrets: He wanted Bradley on the show since he met her.
Deception: Working behind the scenes at all times to make the show turn out the way he wants it to; always working an angle, telling people what they want to hear..
Wound: Father left.
Secret Identity- He’s a bit of a cheerleader and puppet master.
Chip Black
Hidden Agenda- to get rid of Alex.
Deception: Working against Alex behind her back but nice to her face.
ASSIGNMENT 2- (Working title) The Backwoods
Character Name: Lucy
Role: big city prosecutor who comes back home to defend her little sister in a murder charge.
Hidden agendas:
Competition: with Trey during court, with her sister for attention
Conspiracies: with rest of the family to hide Darla’s activities
Secrets: Was on the outs with the DA’s Office in the city after guns and drugs went missing on her watch; will do the wrong thing for the right reason.
Deception: she plays the honest and honorable prosecutor but she could never outrun her criminal DNA
Wound: when she was young, her mother’s boyfriend tried to sexually assault her but she hit him with a brick and made him brain damaged.
Secret Identity: Criminal mastermind
Character Name: Trey
Role: Country prosecutor in charge of Darla’s murder case.
Hidden agendas: to take out Lucy when he convicts her sister;
Competition: with Lucy in the courtroom; with the rest of the world for his dad’s attention.
Conspiracies: involved in the murder with other high ranking law enforcement officials.
Secrets:
Deception: Playing the role of the prosecutor but is a bad guy; he and Lucy are not so different.
Wound: His father doesn’t love him.
Secret Identity: Part of the conspiracy that killed the victim cop.
Character Name: Darla
Role: Lucy’s sister being prosecuted for murder
Hidden agendas: to keep everyone from finding out about her habit and the things she does for drugs.
Competition: With Lucy for family’s love
Conspiracies: With the family to get herself out of trouble.
Secrets: has a drug problem and will do anything to get it.
Deception: Sleeps with dealers for drugs,
Wound: Lucy leaving town.
Secret Identity: borderline prostitute and drug addict.
Character Name: Genesis
Role: Lucy’s mother
Hidden agendas: to make Lucy stay;
Competition: with the big criminals because she’s the biggest
Conspiracies: Involved with the people who killed the cop victim.
Secrets: she has a hand in most of the criminal activity in town.
Deception: she looks and acts like Tweety Bird’s grandma but she’s the most ruthless and dangerous out of all of them.
Wound: Being abused as a child.
Secret Identity: Crime boss.
Character Name: Bianca
Role: Lucy’s once enemy now side-kick
Hidden agendas: she is in love with Lucy and wants to have a romantic relationship.
Competition: With Jackson for Lucy’s affection; with Darla for Lucy’s attention.
Conspiracies: with Jackson to drive Lucy out of town ten years ago.
Secrets: she was part of the reason Lucy left town, but she was following Jackson’s orders.
Deception: She doesn’t always give Lucy the right info because she doesn’t want the murder to be solved.
Wound: quitting high school because she was pregnant as a teen.
Secret Identity: Darla’s sometimes hookup for drugs.
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Holli’s Engaging Main Characters Assignment 3
What I learned doing this assignment is that AI kind of thinks like me, but does NOT like morally reprehensible characters.
Part 1:
The Morning Show: Corey Ellison
A. Role in the show:
Network president, boss of everyone except Fred, the other network president.
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Unique purpose:
Corey is newly hired and is trying to shake things up at the Morning Show to improve ratings and draw in a bigger audience. He is a charming manipulator with a unique ability to see five steps ahead of everyone else as well as an uncanny innate ability to fix shit.
C. Intrigue:
He is either amused by or smitten with Bradley. No big secret has been revealed about him yet, but I do wonder about his motivation.
D. Moral Issue:
He seems to have no moral line he won’t cross in the name of improving the show’s ratings.
E. Unpredictable:
Because Alex named Bradley Jackson as the new co-host on the air, he has to maneuver a lot of people– the reporters who thought they were going to get the job, the show producer, the other network president, Alex, and Bradley. He manages to come up with just enough to placate everyone and make them think he is on their side. But since we know he isn’t on anyone’s side but his own, he’s likely to do whatever he needs to for the show, including firing people.
F. Empathetic:
He got screwed because of his own flippancy to Alex. She announced Bradley to take control from Corey after Corey told her she could quit and they ‘bought’ the award she was receiving that night. So he has to find a way to make it work so he doesn’t look like a jackass and so the station doesn’t look jackass adjacent.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Process with my show (working title) The Backwoods
1. Journey of show:
Lucy, a prosecutor, returns to her backwoods home to represent her estranged sister in a murder trial. In trying to exonerate her sister, Lucy uncovers family secrets and the small town’s government corruption. When the show starts, Lucy sees everything in right and wrong, black and white, and believes her sister is guilty. She is estranged from and embarrassed by her family. Through the season she begins to see the grays, until she is breaking the law to free her sister, and finally understanding the value of her family, no matter how shady they may be.
2. Who are the main characters that will sell your show?
1. Lucy- Protagonist
A. Role in the show: Prosecutor who turns defense attorney to save her sister from a murder charge.
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Aggressive prosecutor, she also knows the tricks defense attorneys use in court. Smart and knows the law, can handle herself in court.
C. Intrigue: Lucy wasn’t as good as she seems when she was a prosecutor. She
D. Moral Issue: She must forego playing by the rules and following the law to defeat the corrupt local government in the town she grew up in so she can get her sister set free. She will also have to ignore her family’s constant criminal activity.
E. Unpredictable: When others don’t play by the rules, she changes her game to win.
F. Empathetic: Lucy comes from this horrible family, got out and got educated, and got sucked back in to defend her sister. She can’t turn her back on her sister, but really doesn’t want to be associated with them.
2. Chip – Antagonist
A. Role in the show: Small town assistant district attorney prosecuting Lucy’s sister.
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: He seems a big dumb country boy but he’s really a shark and knows everything going on in the town, including that Lucy’s sister is not guilty.
C. Intrigue: He has sadistic proclivities he keeps well-hidden, but sometimes just can’t stop himself. Because his daddy owns most of the town, he gets away with shit all the time.
D. Moral Issue: He is prosecuting a girl he grew up with, trying to convict her of killing someone he knows she didn’t kill. He’s a bad guy, but he does feel some sense of guilt because of his relationship with Lucy’s sister. (He’s not a psychopath, just bad.)
E. Unpredictable: In his father’s shadow, he sometimes makes poor decisions on purpose, because then his father has to help cover them up. It’s how Trey proves to himself his father loves him.
F. Empathetic: Trey is a horrible person, but he’s funny and seems a little slow, and if he had been raised by a different father he probably would be a great guy. He’s a product of his environment.
3. Sharla – Lucy’s younger sister
A. Role in the show: She’s being prosecuted for killing her cop boyfriend.
B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Sharla’s an easy target. She has low self-esteem and a big heart, and doesn’t like to make waves or cause problems, so she’s easy to victimize.
C. Intrigue: Sharla has a well-hidden drug problem. Sharla resents Lucy for having made it out of the town and away from their mother.
D. Moral Issue: She does bad things to get drugs.
E. Unpredictable: Sharla’s motivation is driven by loyalty, but not always to her family. Her actions seem out of character, because no one else knows who her loyalties are to.
F. Empathetic: She’s a nice girl who is accused of doing something she didn’t do, a crime she could get the death penalty for if convicted.
4. AI’s version:
1. Lucy, the big-city prosecutor protagonist:
A. Role in the show: The determined protagonist striving to clear her sister’s name and unearth the truth behind the murder in the small town.
B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: City legal expertise and tenacity; adept at navigating complex legal systems.
C. Intrigue: Beneath the surface, Lucy is haunted by a dark family secret that connects her to the crime and makes her question her own family’s involvement.
D. Moral Issue: Lucy grapples with bending the rules and compromising her principles to expose the corrupt justice system in her hometown.
E. Unpredictable: Motivated by a mix of loyalty to her sister and a quest for justice, Lucy may take unexpected risks or unconventional approaches to solve the mystery.
F. Empathetic: We care about Lucy because she is fighting not just for justice but also to protect her family, despite the shadows lurking within.
2. Trey, the small-town prosecutor who is prosecuting Sharla:
A. Role in the show: The local prosecutor with a strained history with Lucy, prosecuting Sharla and serving as a foil to Lucy’s outsider perspective.
B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: Deep knowledge of the town and its residents; understands the local dynamics and how justice is often compromised.
C. Intrigue: Trey’s past connection to Lucy’s family is shrouded in mystery, leading to questions about his true motivations and whether he can be trusted.
D. Moral Issue: Trey faces a dilemma between his loyalty to the town and his duty to uphold justice, raising questions about his willingness to overlook certain crimes.
E. Unpredictable: Trey’s actions are unpredictable as his loyalties waver between old alliances and the pursuit of justice, making it unclear whose side he is truly on.
F. Empathetic: Despite his local biases, Trey’s internal conflict and the pressure he faces in the corrupted system humanize him, making the audience empathize with his struggles.
3. Sharla, Lucy’s sister, charged with murder:
A. Role in the show: The accused sister whose innocence becomes the central mystery, driving Lucy’s quest to clear her name.
B. Unique Purpose/Expertise: Holds crucial information about the town’s criminal underbelly due to her connections; she becomes a key source of information.
C. Intrigue: Sharla is not as innocent as she appears; she has her own secrets that, when revealed, will complicate Lucy’s quest for justice.
D. Moral Issue: Sharla grapples with her own moral choices in the past and the consequences they now pose for her and her family.
E. Unpredictable: Sharla’s actions may be driven by a mix of self-preservation and loyalty, making it unclear whether she can be fully trusted.
F. Empathetic: The audience cares about Sharla because her fate is intertwined with Lucy’s, and her past choices add layers of complexity to the unfolding mystery.
This set of Character Basics aims to create a web of intrigue, moral dilemmas, and unpredictable twists, keeping the audience engaged in the unfolding mystery.
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Holli’s 5-Star Model
What I learned doing this assignment is the foil between the characters is what makes their dynamic interesting and makes me want to keep watching the show.
Subject: The Morning Show 5-star Model
Big Picture Hooks:
Big Picture Hooks
A popular news anchor on the biggest morning show in the country gets fired for sexual misconduct and leaves the fate of the show, his co-host, and his own fate up in the air.
The popular co-host may be about to get the ax, will they fire her too?
Scrappy Bradley Jackson is trying to make her way in the profession, will she succeed?
Are Alex and Bradley going to end up as co-anchors and will that work since they don’t really like each other.
Amazing and Intriguing Character
Alex – She’s smart, but also vain, selfish, and self-centered. She’s a fighter.
Bradley Jackson: She’s also smart, but sort of lower class, trying to make it in a field not cut out for people like her. She’s struggling, but determined and empathetic. She can handle her own and does not back down, which makes some people see her as hard to get along with.
Mitch- Everyone has liked him for 15 years and thought of him as a dad character, but he refuses to accept or acknowledge that having sex with underlings is sexual misconduct. He’s not what people thought.
Empathy / Distress
Alex- She is about to lose her job and what she considers her entire life over something her co-host did; she might possibly have been about to be replaced.
Bradley Jackson – she’s the underdog. Alex tries to make her look bad during the first interview but Bradley holds her own. Her brother is an addict and her mother refuses to see it and it has affected her life in a negative way.
Mitch- he truly doesn’t see what he did was wrong. He seems like a nice, funny guy, and now he has nothing. Victim of Me Too Movement or a sex offender?
Layers / Open Loops
Was Alex going to be fired before they fired Mitch?
Is Mitch going to come out of this unscathed and get his life back?
Will Alex be on the show?
Will Bradley Jackson and Alex work together, and if so, will they be adversaries?
Will Alex have to fight to keep her job? What is her fate?
Will Bradley’s family negatively impact her career?
Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
The pilot leaves the fate of the main characters up in the air. If you want to find out what happens to the characters and how they end up, you’ll have to watch it. I will say it was difficult to make myself not watch the next episode, mainly because I wanted to see if Bradley was going to be working with Alex and how that would turn out if they did.
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Holli Castillo
I agree to the terms of this release agreement.
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.
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My name is Holli Castillo.
I have written 6 features and 3 pilots, two of the pilots with writing partners.
I hope to get more organizational skills from this class. I can write a script, but I have difficulty staying on track. I live in my head so much I need some new formulaic schedule to keep me on my path.
Not necessarily unique, etc., but my cat recently died. When I got her back from the vet, I took the opportunity to see if I possibly have the power to bring things back to life. Sadly, I do not. But at least now I know. RIP Brittany.
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I, Holli Castillo, agree to the terms of this 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.
This completes the Group Release Form for the class.
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Holli’s Actor Attractors!
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is I have a lot more work to do on my characters.
Lead Character Name: Lucy Diego
Role: Protagonist
1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?
Lucy catches the criminals the police can’t. She’s pretty and fun and comes off as frivolous, but under the beauty queen veneer she’s smart and cunning. You don’t get to be a beauty queen by being stupid.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?
Everyone thinks she’s a pretty girl with no brain because she always plays the cheerleader and sometimes gets herself into situations because of her big heart, but she’s actually smart, clever, and strategic. And pretty.
3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead could take in the script?
She figures out how to find the top 10 when the police couldn’t; she relies on her pageant sisters, who are also smarter than everyone thinks, when she needs help; she catches the bad guys on her own; she convinces number 10 to help her catch the other nine.
4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?
At the police station, getting in uniform for her first day, she tries to figure out how to put her crown on under her cop hat, maybe something else.
5. What could be this character’s emotional range
Full of hope and inspired to start her new job, kind and empathetic trying to help Number 10 at the police station, competitive when she’s trying to catch the top 10, angry when she realizes the sergeant has it out for her, devastated she’ll lose her job, betrayed by Number 10, hopeless when no one believes her, determined when she has to save 10, triumphant when she comes out on top.
6. What subtext can the actor play?
She conceals how smart she is, hides her background, the fact that she isn’t really planning to help Number 10, answers her boss without lying but without telling the full truth.
7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have?
Her relationship with Number 10, who she admires and needs help from but is also planning on screwing over. Her relationship with her parents, who are old and country not the wealthy aristocrats she pretends they are. Her relationship with her pageant girl friends, who are cutthroat competitive with each other but have her back when it counts.
8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?
She is full of pageant and social grace vocabulary and sayings, peppered with southern expressions from her parents. She never answers a question directly, especially if the answer might be perceived as rude. She’s learned how to bullshit on the pageant circuit and that’s how she deals with people.
9. What could make this character special and unique?
She has a penchant for going overboard, which often gets her in trouble, but she’s also smart enough to dig herself out.
Lead Character Name: Number 10
Role: Buddy-Antagonist
1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?
10 is a tough, streetwise bounty hunter who can keep up with the men in a fight or a race. She is wanted for a murder she didn’t commit, but was roofied so she doesn’t know where she was at the time the victim was killed. She needs someone in her corner, and she’ll take Lucy even though Lucy stands for everything she’s against– or so she thinks.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?
She has to solve the mystery of who killed her date after she left him. She hates to ask for help and she hates women that rely on their looks to get them through life, but Lucy is her only option. She double crosses Lucy and then needs Lucy to save her.
3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead could take in the script?
10 escapes lockup and Lucy twice. She uses her street connections to help Lucy, but has to stay hidden herself because she’s number 10 on the most wanted list.
4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?
Ten tricks Lucy and then defeats her, cuffing her to the handicap bar in the bathroom. No trick is beneath Ten.
5. What could be this character’s emotional range
Desperation disguised by a cool demeanor, elated every time she tricks or outsmarts anyone, but particularly Lucy, fear when she’s captured, gratitude when she’s saved, outwardly confident.
6. What subtext can the actor play?
Cool demeanor but she’s desperate; confident acting and bold but she doesn’t really believe she is going to escape her charges; always has a sarcastic or mean response to hide that she feels she’s less than everyone else and insecure about everything.
7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have?
With Lucy, helping her only until she gets what she wants. She plays fake nice with Lucy but doesn’t start off liking or respecting her. She also has a relationship with the sergeant, who she used to date but split up because she suspected he was involved in criminal activity and didn’t want the drama.
8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?
She talks a tough game, acts like nothing bothers her, snarky responses, bad language, a tough guy type.
9. What could make this character special and unique?
People are afraid of her because of her because of how she carries herself and the mean things she says and does, but she’s actually insecure about everything.
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Holli’s Actor Attractors for The Heat.
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is character choices have to be deliberate. Often, even when I’ve done the work and character traits, etc, the characters try to take over and write themselves, and I really think that’s how some things sometimes go off the rails.
Movie Title: The Heat
Lead Character Name: FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock)
1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?
She’s smarter and better at her job than everyone else, competitive, and thinks she knows better than everyone else.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?
She always one-ups her male counterparts, but her attitude makes the other agents not like her. She always tries to control or diffuse the situations.
3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?
She finds evidence other agents can’t find; she pursues her lead and butts heads with Mullins; she seduces a drug lord in a club to plant a bug in his phone after her first plan to pull the fire alarm fails; she gives an unnecessary tracheotomy;
4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?
She leads the other FBI agents in the execution of a warrant and when the men are ready to give up after finding nothing, she finds hidden evidence, outsmarting the bad guys and her fellow agents.
5. What is this character’s emotional range?
Prudish and uptight, emotions under controls, never curses, to blowing her stack and cursing out the room full of other agents. Fear when she’s about to be tortured, uncomfortable when her messes up.
6. What subtext can the actor play?
She has a tough facade but she’s overcompensating for her insecurity. She was an unpopular nerd in school with no friends and now she’s an unpopular agent with no friends. She tries to conceal that. Uses her job to compensate for her lonliness.
7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?
The relationship between her and Mullins. She starts off feeling superior to Mullins and is always trying to reign Mullins in, but realizes Mullins knows how to handle people and starts to respect her and like her.
8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?
She’s straightforward and condescending, but misses social cues.
9. What makes this character special and unique?
She’s smart and aggressive, but also prudish and not as street savvy as she should be.
10. Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.
Ashburn gives a tracheotomy to a choking customer at a Denny’s and when he bleeds out Mullins saves him by pounding his chest and forcing the pancake out of his throat. The EMT tells Ashburn she could have just pulled the pancake from his mouth.
Second Lead Character Name: Detective Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy)
1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?
She’s balls out crazy. And a cop/detective. She’s tough and vulgar, a combo usually reserved for men. She’slarge and in charge and unapologetic for who she is.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?
She’s a cop with her own rules. She’s super obnoxious and rude but really good at her job.
3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?
She beats up a suspect, she makes over Ashburn so the agent won’t stick out at the club, she crashes into the table when Ashford needs to bug his phone, she saves herself and Ashburn when the bad guys have them at gunpoint, she gets information from a suspect by playing Russian roulette with his genitals. She holds guns on people. A lot.
4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?
She disparages her boss while she’s surveilling a john trying to pick up a hooker, calls his wife on his own phone, arrests him, and then takes down a second perp for being the pimp and selling drugs.
5. What is this character’s emotional range?
Angry and crass, devastated when her brother gets shot and her family is against her, fear when she’s about to be tortured.
6. What subtext can the actor play?
She acts tough and crass and has no filter but she loves her brother who is being dragged back into the criminal life and actually likes Ashburn.
7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?
Her relationship with Ashburn. At first she sees her only as someone standing in her way and stealing her case, but she grows to like her.
8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?
She’s tough and crass with very salty language, she does whatever she wants to catch her criminal.
9. What makes this character special and unique?
She comes off as lower class and not as book smart but more street smart, but manages to get the upper hand over the FBI agent and the criminals.
10. Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.
Instead of calling for backup or alerting her bosses or the FBI she convinces Ashford to go to the hospital with her to save her brother, and after cursing out the doctor races to save her brother.
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Holli’s Genre Conventions
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is to keep moving forward and avoid the perfection syndrome. I don’t have everything figured out yet, and it was keeping me from moving on. I had to adjust my mindset to think of it as filling it blanks or even temporary placeholders so I can keep moving on with the assignments.
Title: Designer Boot (still working on title.)
Concept: Concept: When a former pageant girl turned police rookie is suspended, she sets out to capture the city’s top ten most wanted criminals, and makes a deal with number 10 to help her catch the first nine.
Genre: Comedy
Conventions for Comedy:
Purpose: Laughter-inducing moments
Incongruence: Unconventional pairing of two things, people, or situations in a way that causes laughter.
Mechanics of Comedy: Specific devices used to induce laughter. Setup/Punchling; toppers; running gags; sight and prop humor; comedic situations such as fish out of water, incongruent pairings, hilarious purpose, absurd situation, misinterpretation, etc.
Comedic Protagonist(s): triggers countless amusing situations through their incongruent perspectives, choices, and reactions to event.
Strong Story:
5. List your structure from Lesson 6 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions, like I did above.
Act 1:
Original Opening – Lucy at work being obedient and getting razzed for being the beauty queen rookie.
(Opening adding genre conventions: Locker room at police station. All the lockers are identical, except for one, Lucy’s, decorated with stickers of hearts, flowers, kittens, etc. Lucy fixes her uniform hat in the mirror of her locker, looks around, grabs a tiara from the locker, takes off the hat and puts the tiara on, tries to put the hat over the tiara, doesn’t work. Disappointed, she takes it off, puts it back in the locker, rearranges the hat, primps, holds her gun up Charlie’s Angel’s style, strikes a pose. Interrupted by an officer telling her to report to roll call and makes a joke about where’s her crown. Lucy laughs and waits until he turns around to flip him the bird. She leans in, kisses an article clipping taped inside her locker with a picture of herself being crowned Miss Louisiana Hot Sauce, slams the locker door shut.
Original Inciting Incident – Trying to be nice, Lucy lets the number 10 most wanted escape and is suspended.
(Inciting incident adding genre convention original inciting incidents: Lucy is assigned to booking. A female arrestee asks to use the bathroom, has her period. Lucy takes her to the public restroom in the station instead of the inmate bathroom because it has a tampon machine. The arrested subject is the Number 10 most wanted criminal. Lucy uncuffs her to let her use the bathroom, Number 10 maneuvers it so Lucy ends up cuffed to the handicap bar by the toilet and escapes. Lucy is found by her training officer some time later and is suspended pending an investigation)
Original Turning Point – Lucy pursues number 10 on her own but loses her and causes a melee in the process. Lucy is in even more trouble with the department now. When she explains what she was trying to do, the sergeant agrees to keep her on if she can catch all top 10 before her suspension hearing.
(Turning point adding genre conventions: Lucy finds 10 on her own, but 10 outsmarts her, ending up in a car chase(?) that results in a massive traffic accident. Lucy’s rookie friend handles part of the call and takes her in. When Lucy explains to the sergeant she had a lead on 10, the sergeant jokes that it would take her catching the entire top 10 list to save her job. Gives her the date of her suspension hearing in a month.)
Act 2:
New plan – Lucy goes after the entire top 10 list using available sources.
Plan in action – Using her friend on the force as a source of information and her pageant social media followers, Lucy apprehends and turns in the wrong suspect.
Midpoint Turning Point – Lucy’s suspension hearing gets moved up to one week because of her mistake.
(New plan adding genre conventions: Lucy makes a string board with the top 10 list to go after all of them.
(Plan in action adding genre convictions: Lucy gets her co-rookie friend to give her info from the files on the top 10. She also posts to her pageant social media sites for help. The beauty queens hit the streets in search of a suspect that leads them to a circus. They point her to a guy Lucy believes is one of the top 10, a circus clown. She catches him on her own and brings him in– to find out she has the wrong clown (all clowns look alike.)
(Midpoint Turning Point with genre conventions: Her suspension hearing is moved up to the next week, but it is just a formality. The clown is suing and she’s going to be fired.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – Lucy tracks Ten and offers to help her clear her name if she helps her catch the top nine before her hearing date.
New plan – Lucy catches number 4 through 8 with Ten’s help and finds evidence to clear Ten.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift- The day before the hearing, Ten abandons Lucy and leaves her to find the top 3 on her own, but Ten gets taken by the Sergeant’s henchman.
(Rethink everything with genre convention: Lucy uses the info she has and finds 10 and they make a deal– based on 10’s earlier comments that she was set up, Lucy offers to help 10 clear her name if she helps Lucy catch the other 9. Lucy doesn’t really think 10 is innocent.
(New plan with genre convention: Lucy catches number 9, a street mime, not a circus clown, with 10’s help, turns him in and is warned not to continue pursuing the bad guys.
Lucy ignores the warning and catches numbers 4-8 in one fell swoop at a mob poker game, using hookers to infiltrate. She pays the girls with the money the mobsters were betting with.
Lucy’s co-rookie gives her some information that helps her find evidence to clear 10– the sergeant set 10 up for the murder she’s charged with.
(Turning point, huge failure/major shift, with genre conventions: Lucy gives 10 the evidence and 10 abandons her search for the rest of the list to take the evidence to the FBI to take the sarge down. But 10 is snatched by a henchman.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Lucy is about to take the top 3 down when Ten texts her for help. When no one from the station believes her, Lucy has to give up the top 3 and save Ten on her own, and live streams it, including the confession of the sergeant, who was out to get Lucy from the beginning.
Resolution – Lucy is given her job back but decides the rules don’t work the way they’re supposed to, and instead joins Ten as an apprentice bounty hunter.
(Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict with genre conventions-Lucy purses the top 3 on her own using her social media contacts and 10’s bounty hunter resources, not realizing 10 has been kidnapped. Lucy has the top 3 within her grasp and calls 10’s office for backup. She finds out 10 never made it to the FBI office nor back to her office. 10’s secretary tracks her phone and finds the location.
Lucy calls the station but no one except her co-rookie believes her that number 10 was kidnapped, nor that she has the top 3 ready for apprehension. Lucy can’t wait for the co-rookie, so she leaves the top 3 zip tied (somewhere funny?) for the co-rookie, and goes to the location from 10’s phone. Since she has no gun and no backup, she livestreams the entire thing in case she dies, and gets the sergeant’s confession. With the help of her pageant girls, she saves 10.
Resolution with genre conventions: Lucy is a hero and is offered her job back. She declines, and joins Ten as an apprentice bounty hunter. Her co-rookie arrests the top 1-3 and tries to give Lucy the credit, but she lets him keep the credit since she doesn’t need it. Co-rookie asks her out.
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Holli’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is I am not completely sure of my turning points yet and may need to make them stronger, and I don’t have everything figured out yet, but I’m going to go with the process and figure it out on the way.
1. List Concept, Main Conflict, Old Ways, and New Ways
Concept: When a former pageant girl turned police rookie is suspended, she sets out to capture the city’s top ten most wanted criminals, and makes a deal with number 10 to help her catch the first nine.
Title: Designer Boot (title still in progress)
Main Conflict: To save her job, Lucy hunts down the top ten most wanted.
Lucy’s Old Ways:
Rigid rule follower
Never questions authority
Sees everything is right or wrong, black or white
Completely trusts the law and the justice process
Lucy’s NEW ways:
Questions the entire criminal justice system
Follows her own moral code
Realizes some rules need to be broken and breaks them
Completely trusts her own instincts
External Journey: From a disgraced rookie to bad-ass bounty hunter.
Internal Journey: From being a staunch rule follower who sees everything in absolutes to trusting her own instincts in her new moral code.
Act 1:
Opening – Lucy at work being obedient and getting razzed for being the beauty queen rookie.
Inciting Incident – Following the rules, Lucy lets the number 10 most wanted escape and is suspended.
Turning Point – Lucy pursues number 10 on her own but loses her and causes a melee in the process. Lucy is in even more trouble with the department now. When she explains what she was trying to do, the sergeant agrees to keep her on if she can catch all top 10 before her suspension hearing, believing she can’t do it.
Act 2:
New plan – Lucy goes after the entire top 10 list using available sources.
Plan in action – Using her friend on the force as a source of information and her pageant social media followers, Lucy apprehends and turns in the wrong suspect.
Midpoint Turning Point – Lucy’s suspension hearing gets moved up to one week because of her mistake.
Act 3:
Rethink everything – Lucy tracks Ten and offers to help her clear her name if she helps her catch the top nine before her hearing date.
New plan – Lucy catches number 4 through 8 with Ten’s help and finds evidence to clear Ten.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift- Cleared of her charges the day before the hearing, Ten abandons Lucy and leaves her to find the top 3 on her own, but Ten gets taken by the Sergeant’s henchman.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict – Lucy is about to take the top 3 down when Ten texts her for help. When no one from the station believes her, Lucy has to give up the top 3 and save Ten on her own. Lucy live streams the rescue, including the confession of the sergeant, who was out to get Lucy from the beginning.
Resolution – Lucy is given her job back but decides the rules don’t work the way they’re supposed to, and instead joins Ten’s firm as an apprentice bounty hunter.
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Holli’s Subtext Plot
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is I have several options for subtext and layers but need to decide which one fulfills the comedy concept the best.
Concept: When a former pageant girl turned police rookie is fired, she sets out to capture the city’s top ten most wanted criminals, and makes a deal with number 10 to help her catch the first nine.
The Fish Out of Water
Lucy is a beauty pageant girl who seemingly had no place being a cop or in trying to clear Ten’s name, much less catch the other top nine most-wanted criminals.
Superior Position
The audience will know that Lucy and Number Ten plan to double cross each other.
Competitive Agendas
Lucy and Number Ten are both working toward their own goals, Lucy to prove herself to get her job back and Number Ten to clear his name, but both plan to leave the other hanging high and dry once their own need has been met. They are only working together on the surface. Lucy doesn’t believe Ten is innocent so she plans to turn him in. Ten plans to bail on Lucy as soon as he gets the evidence to prove he was set up.
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Holli’s Transformational Journey
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is this is an evolving process and I don’t have all the answers quite yet, but am not concerned because it’s getting there step by step.
Character Arc for Lucy, Protagonist
Arc Beginning: Suspended rule-following rookie officer
Arc Ending: Apprentice bounty hunter with her own new code
Internal/External Journey.
Internal Journey: From staunch rule-follower who sees things in absolutes to trusting her own instincts in her own new moral code.
External Journey: From being a suspended rookie to an apprentice bounty hunter.
Old Ways at the beginning of the movie and New Ways at the end.
Old Ways: Follows rules
Never questions authority
Sees everything is right or wrong, black or white
Completely trusts the law
New Ways: Questions the entire criminal justice system
Follows her own moral code
Realizes some rules need to be broken and breaks them
Completely trusts her own instincts
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Holli’s intentional lead characters
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, Oscar-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is a buddy can also be the antagonist.
Title: Designer Boot (still experimenting with titles)
Concept: When a former pageant girl turned police rookie is fired, she sets out to capture the city’s top ten most wanted criminals, and makes a deal with number 10 to help her catch the first nine.
Character: Protagonist, Lucy
Lucy’s Logline: Lucy is a pageant-girl turned police rookie trying to catch the city’s top ten most wanted criminals to get her job back.
Unique: After watching Miss Congeniality, Lucy changed her pageant talent from contemporary dance to martial arts.
Character: Antagonist: Chance a/k/a Number Ten
Ten’s Logline: Chance, aka Number Ten, is a bounty hunter and number ten on the list, who uses Lucy to clear him of a murder charge while pretending to help her catch the first nine.
Unique: Ten is a insomniac who takes medication that makes him sleepwalk and doesn’t know what he was doing the night of the murder.
Triangle Character: Sergeant Ruiz
Ruiz’s Logline: Sergeant Ruiz is the boss who fired Lucy and the one who set Number Ten up for murder, and is still out to get them both.
Unique: Ruiz uses his position of power to get away with crimes and has a vendetta against Lucy’s FBI agent father and Number Ten, among others.
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Holli’s Title, Concept, and Character Structure!
My vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to write amazing, resonating, award-winning movies so I am respected in the professional writing world and can quit representing derelicts and perverts for a living.
What I learned doing this assignment is this seems like an easier way to write, and I’m still generating ideas for a title because I’m not sure everyone knows that rookies are called boots in some police departments.
Title: Designer Boot
Concept: To get her job back after being fired for letting a suspect escape, a pageant girl turned police rookie pursues the top 10 most wanted criminals, and makes a deal with number 10 to help her catch the first nine.
Character Structure: Buddy Movie
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My name is Holli Castillo from New Orleans.
I’ve written several scripts and four tv pilots, as well as written and produced several shorts.
I hope to get my head back in the game. I was getting script requests on my last tv pilot and then it kind of puttered out. Then we had a hurricane and everything kind of stopped down here. Or maybe it was just me. Either way, I hope this is the fire I need lit under my ass.
I’m one of a small group of appellate public defenders in Louisiana. You don’t want to need me as your lawyer, because if you do, you’ve already been convicted of a felony, likely a murder, rape, or armed robbery, and you’re probably doing a lengthy stint in prison.
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1. Holli Castillo
2. I agree to the terms of this release form.
GROUP RELEASE FORM
As a member of Writing Incredible Movies, 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, through social media, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, videos, 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.