[Jan Ostegard]

Jan O’s Character Interviews

I’m learning that starting each lesson listening to the empowerment audio helps me get out of my brain and into my creative space. It cuts through any anxiety and imposter syndrome giving me space to just enjoy the process. The first time I did the audio I couldn’t think of a single moment where I felt empowered. Now I’ve been able to think of a few different moments. I’m hoping to include that feeling into my protagonist’s profile and character arc as well.

Share with us what you discovered about the characters:

Emily’s profile mostly stayed the same with exception to additions based on how she changes once she’s at the cabin (like how her mission is different for her life moving forward vs just surviving the weekend). She was really easy to interview. One discovery I had was that her fear isn’t in dying, but rather in living. So the ghost doesn’t have the same power over her as he has over most people staying on that land. I knew that she wasn’t afraid to die, but didn’t realize that her fear is actually living. Maybe in the end she’ll be able to help him and his fellow ghosts move on. I hadn’t thought about that since it’s a horror script. But maybe she can help at least some of the ghosts have peace. Her strength is empathy so maybe she connects with the ghosts in a different way than most do (instead of just out of fear).

The Ghost’s profile also mostly stayed the same, but I was able to add some depth to him. I’ve only thought of him as just a ghost. Working through each lesson is giving me so much insight into who he was as a person when he was alive. And the interview helped me figure out more about his motives for haunting this space. I even gave him a name today to make him feel more like a person while interviewing him. So he’s no longer “Ghost” his name is Colonel Elias Thorn. That was probably my biggest breakthrough in the interviews. Just realizing that he was a person at one point not just this evil ghost randomly haunting people at the place he died. And I also realized that he’s still doing what he was commanded to do in guarding the hill that the cabin is on. So even though he’s very scary and violent he still thinks that he’s on the battlefield in war. The people he haunts are basically just the “enemy”. He wasn’t a good person when he was alive, but maybe he’s a product of his environment just like Emily. They could be two sides of the same coin.

[Jan Ostegard]

Jan O’s Character Profile Part 2

I learned that I never thought about a character being the right person for a role. That really changed my perspective on character work.

Emily:
* Role in the story: Protagonist. She’s had a tough life and is recovering from a mental breakdown. Everyone loves her and wants to support her through her healing journey by celebrating her big birthday.
* Age range and Description: Female. Turning 50. Disheveled. She looks on the outside like she feels on the inside. However, even under the weight of her depression she still has a spark in her eyes.
* Internal Journey: From feeling anxious and depressed to finding confidence, strength and hope.
* External Journey: From being too scared to make any decisions to literally taking control of the situation and fighting for survival.
* Motivation: Her husband and kids. She wants to get better so she can finally enjoy life with them.
* Wound: She lost her parents at an early age and was raised by a violent and narcissistic relative who didn’t want her.
* Mission/Agenda: To get through the weekend without having another breakdown. She’s still unstable and is not comfortable being around people yet.
* Secret: She sees ghosts. Everyone thinks her mental health issues are related to her past, but ever since her parents died she has been able to see and communicate with ghosts. It weighs on her.
* What makes them special? She’s an empath. She truly cares about those around her even after everything that she’s been through in life.
* What draws us to this character? She is an underdog and is currently feeling pretty beat up in life. We want to root for her because all of us have been down and out at some point in life.
* Traits: Empathetic. Emotionally fragile. Hyperaware. Kind.
* Subtext: Deflects anytime she’s questioned on how she’s doing. She knows that everyone else knows that she’s struggling, but she still puts on a brave face.
* Flaw: She can’t trust her own thoughts.
* Values: Love. Friendship. Loyalty.
* Irony: She struggles with self-doubt, but is the first to believe in others’ abilities. She’s the weakest both emotionally and physically, but she’s the only one who is able to stand up to the ghost.
* What makes this the right character for this role? Her past grief and abuse makes her susceptible to ghosts haunting her, however she’s also a survivor so she has the built in tools from growing up in dysfunction.

Ghost:
* Role in the story: Antagonist. A vengeful spirit hellbent on destruction.
* Age range and Description: Ageless but died in his 20s. A dark figure always lurking in the shadows.
* Internal Journey: He’s used to easily scaring people away, but has never met a human who could fight back until now. That enrages him beyond his control.
* External Journey: Comfortable in his “living” space, but is forced to the basement by the guests not willing to leave.
* Motivation: Protecting his space.
* Wound: He’s trapped where he died a very violent death.
* Mission/Agenda: Forcing guests to leave or die.
* Secret: He died as a commander during the Civil War and is still considered a leader among his fellow ghosts haunting the property.
* What makes them special? He can physically hurt humans. So he can scare them by haunting the space or kill them.
* What draws us to this character? He’s always in the shadows so we’re constantly doing a double take to see if he’s real. Like when you try to look past the characters on the screen to see what’s behind him. Our curiosity draws us to him.
* Traits: Ruthless. Manipulative. Volatile. Cruel.
* Subtext: Since he died during the war he is obsessed with his unfinished mission/goal. He confuses (or uses) guests as his adversaries.
* Flaw: He still thinks that he’s in charge so he doesn’t expect anyone to fight back.
* Values: Power over others.
* Irony: He’s basically a narcissist at his core. He ends up trying to haunt Emily who was raised by an abusive narcissist so she knows how to handle him once she stops being afraid of him.
* What makes this the right character for this role? He was the commander of his unit so he still feels like he’s running the place. When he scares people away it feeds into his old human ego. The more people he scares the more powerful he becomes.

[Jan Ostegard]

Jan O’s Character Profiles Part 1

This assignment helped me to think about the characters’ backgrounds and motivation in order to bring some much needed depth to each role.

Protagonist:
Emily is a runner who will become a fighter. She avoids confrontation and when things get tough she normally bails. Being trapped in the haunted cabin forces her to face her fears (both past and present) and then decide if she wants to live or die.

Antagonist:
The Ghost is a vicious predator and will do everything in his power to destroy anyone who invades his space. He feeds off of his victims’ fear and pain. He is unrelenting when terrorizing the cabin guests to the point of retreat or death.

What other characters might be necessary?
• Supporting characters: Emily’s husband, their son, her best friend, her ex-husband and their daughter.
• Minor roles: Additional friends and plus-ones.
• Background characters: The owner of the cabin.

Pick your genre: Horror

Fill in whatever answers come to you about your lead character profiles:

Emily:
• Role in the story: Protagonist. She’s had a tough life and is recovering from a mental breakdown. Everyone loves her and wants to support her through her healing journey by celebrating her big birthday.
• Age range and Description: Female. Turning 50. Disheveled. She looks on the outside like she feels on the inside. However, even under the weight of her depression she still has a spark in her eyes.
• Internal Journey: From feeling anxious and depressed to finding confidence, strength and hope.
• External Journey: From being too scared to make any decisions to literally taking control of the situation and fighting for survival.
• Motivation: Her husband and kids. She wants to get better so she can finally enjoy life with them.
• Wound: She lost her parents at an early age and was raised by a violent and narcissistic relative who didn’t want her.
• Mission/Agenda: To get through the weekend without having another breakdown. She’s still unstable and is not comfortable being around people yet.
• Secret: She sees ghosts. Everyone thinks her mental health issues are related to her past, but ever since her parents died she has been able to see and communicate with ghosts. It weighs on her.
• What makes them special? She’s an empath. She truly cares about those around her even after everything that she’s been through in life.

The Ghost:
• Role in the story: Antagonist. A vengeful spirit hellbent on destruction.
• Age range and Description: Ageless but died in his 20s. A dark figure always lurking in the shadows.
• Internal Journey: He’s used to easily scaring people away, but has never met a human who could fight back until now. That enrages him beyond his control.
• External Journey: Comfortable in his “living” space, but is forced to the basement by the guests not willing to leave.
• Motivation: Protecting his space.
• Wound: He’s trapped where he died a very violent death.
• Mission/Agenda: Forcing guests to leave or die.
• Secret: He died as a commander during the Civil War and is still considered a leader among his fellow ghosts haunting the property.
• What makes them special? He can physically hurt humans. So he can scare them by haunting the space or kill them.

[Jan Ostegard]

Jan O’s Transformational Journey

What I learned from this assignment is there are two transitional journeys. It was really hard to separate them into internal and external.

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

Emily. While still recovering from a mental breakdown she spends her 50th birthday weekend in a secluded cabin with old friends. There she is forced to face old wounds and confront a vengeful spirit that is terrorizing the group.

Internal Journey: From feeling anxious and depressed to finding confidence, strength and hope.

External Journey: From being too scared to make any decisions (for fear of making the wrong one) to literally taking control of the situation and fighting for her and her friends’ survival.

Old Ways:
* Stuck on auto-pilot.
* Always relying on others to lift her up.
* Hates confrontation and never rocks the boat.
* Scared of everything. Stuck on freeze mode.

New Ways:
* Faces both her past and present head-on.
* Takes control of the situation to try and save everyone.
* Puts a spotlight on all of the elephants in the room.
* Even though she’s still scared she switches to fight mode.

[Jan Ostegard]

Jan Ostegard.
I agree to the terms of this release form.
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.
This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Jan Ostegard]

Hi, my name is Jan.
I’ve started countless scripts, but I’ve only finished a few.
I want to learn how to write a draft from beginning to end efficiently. It usually takes me a year to complete a first draft (hence the countless unfinished scripts).
Something unique, special, strange or unusual about me? I don’t know if this is special, but it is very “me.” I lived in China for three years while my husband worked on a project in Shanghai. I struggled to learn Mandarin. I eventually found out that I had been saying the word “nap,” thinking that I was saying “water.” It’s the same word but uses a different tone. So, for two years, I kept asking everyone for a nap. Which is pretty ironic, seeing that I’ve had Chronic Fatigue since I was 17.
I’m really looking forward to this class and learning how to write a first draft in 30 days.

[Jan Ostegard]

Jan Ostegard.
I agree to the terms of this release form.

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.
This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by  Jan Ostegard.