[Karen Sinclair]

1. Karen Sinclair

2. I agree to the terms of this release form.

3. I agree to the entire text set out in the original email.

[Karen Sinclair]

I finished my entire story, all four acts, which I’m thrilled about. Life took me physically out of action for the past week but my mind never stopped working.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 4 BEGINS

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

I needed to write the entire 4th Act and then go back and work it over for the key scenes.

ASSIGNMENT 21

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be alone.

ACT 4

Reaction to 3rd Act Turning Point
(ACT 4 – Scene 1)

INT. HOSPTIAL – DAY

Sadie catches herself being unappreciative and thanks Randy and the team for stepping up. She describes it as a lost opportunity to gain the account but a learning opportunity for the team. She has clearly resigned herself to not winning the account.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie thanks him for stepping up.

MIDDLE: She tells him to please thank the team as well.

END: On the bright side, she comments that it was a good practice session for the team, clearly resigned to having lost the account.

—————————————————————————————-

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Adam walks into Sadie’s hospital room and tells her that Will got the forensics back on the kid’s cellphone. The kid had received $500 up front through a video game portal. The $500 was 50% payment for the kid to Facetime Live the entire thing. He didn’t know Sadie was being taken hostage. He thought he was just taking some video for a gamer friend who said he would be using it as footage for a new video game.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Adam walks through the door to Sadie’s hospital room. He hands Sadie a gym bag full of clean clothes as she requested.

Randy steps aside but stays in the room as he doesn’t really know the whole story of what happened the day before.

Adam tells Sadie that the forensics are back on the kid’s cellphone. The kid used Facetime Live to film the entire event and it is recorded. He tells her she can watch it, but he wouldn’t recommend it.

MIDDLE: The kid thought that all he was doing was recording some footage for a video gamer friend to use in a video game he was creating. He thought Sadie was in on it.

Sadie is shocked as to why someone would want to do that and why they would think she was in on it. And what does he mean he thought he was innocently and passively videotaping me for a friend. He was sending threats to my cellphone…constantly.

END: Adam tells her that it wasn’t the kid that was sending her the threats. All he was doing was filming through Facetime Live. The flashlight she thought she saw was just the light on the phone, pointing in her direction.

—————————————————————————————-

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie now asks, if it wasn’t he kid threatening me, and the kids and you, who was doing the threatening and why?

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie is confused. If the kid wasn’t threatening her and the kids and Adam, who was? All the Kid did was Facetime Live.

MIDDLE: Adam said the Kid gave the police the gamer’s alias. He was paid through the game, by cash being dropped into his game account, so they never met face to face.

END: The Kid feels terrible and is cooperating fully with the police. They’ve still got his cellphone and all his credentials. The game they were playing seemed locked down as it relates to privacy. It might be a tough nut to crack.

—————————————————————————————-

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S FINISH ACT 3

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

Keep writing…

100% agree with Megan Schemenauer’s comment.

ASSIGNMENT 20

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be alone.

ACT 1

Inciting Incident

In New York City, Sadie breaks up with her longtime boyfriend which has been a long time coming. She accepts a proposal from her company’s CEO that she move to Vancouver, BC, and establish a branch of the advertising agency. A partnership could be in the offering if she is successful in Vancouver.

Turning Point

Sadie settles into her new work life in Vancouver. On a personal front, she thinks she has met the love of her life. As is her habit, Sadie goes for an afternoon run immediately preceding a major presentation and is taken hostage by a caller through her cellphone.

ACT 2

Reaction to the Turning Point in Act 1 (ACT 2 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie is trapped and knows she must do something. She makes several obvious attempts to test the caller and see how trapped she really might be. Everything is up to her. Her old ways have her needing to figure this out to free herself.

Protagonist Takes on A Plan and Executes It (ACT 2 – Key Scene 2)

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her. She decides she needs to contact the caller directly and negotiate her freedom.

Not Only Does Their Plan Fail But… (ACT 2 – Key Scene 3)

Hearing nothing back from the caller, Sadie feels desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality. (ACT 2 – Key Scene 4)

Sadie drags herself up onto her feet. She slowly moves from a trudging walk to a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog. Sadie realizes she has her iPod Touch that she uses to listen to music. Could this be her way out of this mess?

Act 3 includes these Key Scenes:

Key Scene
1: React/Rethink the new reality revealed by Midpoint
Key Scene 2: Makes a new plan.
Key Scene
3: Things start going well, until…
Key Scene
4: Turning Point – Protagonist faces their lowest low.

ACT 3

Reaction/Rethink (ACT 3 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie realizes that she is going to have to trust someone outside of herself, that being Adam, to get her out of this situation.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie makes it through the intersection and pulls the iPod up to her face. She tells Adam she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being held hostage running.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie makes it through another intersection. She can still see the motorcycle rider with the flashlight. She pulls the iPod up to her face. When she sees Adam she becomes emotional again. He stops her right away.

MIDDLE: Slowly, Sadie tells Adam that she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being made to keep running by a guy on a motorcycle tracking her from a block to her west. She feels like she has been taken hostage by the caller.

END: Sadie tells Adam that the caller is threatening to hurt him and the kids if she stops running. She tells him the caller sent pictures and video of him and the kids.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she has just disclosed. He understands literally what she said but is not sure as to the why.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she said.

MIDDLE: Adam asks Sadie why anyone would want to do something like this. If the caller were taking her hostage wouldn’t he be making some kind of demand, for payment.

END: Adam confirms with Sadie that the caller is moving right along side her, just a block west. He asks her if she can describe the caller at all. She replies they are wearing all black, with a helmet and shining a flashlight in her direction.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie approaches another intersection. She accelerates to a run and again conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie tells Adam to hold on.

MIDDLE: She approaches another intersection; she moves from a walk to a run and conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

END: When Sadie exits the intersection, she slows down and tells Adam she is back.

———————————————————————————

Makes a New Plan (ACT 3 – Key Scene 2)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie tells Adam that he must warn Hannah to take the kids somewhere safe.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: When Sadie exits the intersection, she picks up the iPod and tells Adam he needs to get Hannah and the kids somewhere safe but expresses concern that they are being watched.

MIDDLE: Adam tells Sadie he is going to take a minute to call Hannah and make sure everything is alright, but he doesn’t want her to disconnect.

END: Adam comes back to Sadie and tells her he talked to Hannah but wants her to hang tight for another minute. He will be right back.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

Adam calls his police officer friend Will at home.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam reaches Will at home. He is a police officer but is currently not on a shift.

MIDDLE: Adam warns Will that what he is about to tell him sounds over the top, but he needs him to listen. He fills Will in and asks for his help.

END: Adam gives Hannah’s address to Will and asks him to go stay with Hannah and the kids to make sure they are kept safe.

———————————————————————————

INT. WILL’s HOME– NIGHT

Will hangs up from Adam, grabs his gun belt, throws on a jacket, and heads out the door.

INT. WILL’s HOME– NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will stands up from the sofa, reaches for the remote and turns off the television.

MIDDLE: Will makes a call to an on-duty police officer in the area, provides Hannah’s address and tells her to pick up her and the kids and take them to the station.

END: Will jumps in his car and heads to Adam’s house.

———————————————————————————

Things start going well, until… (ACT 3 – Key Scene 3)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

Sadie is now feeling weak, a bit dizzy and nauseous from dehydration. Adam flips back over to Facetime, but Sadie has disconnected.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie is now feeling weak, dizzy, and nauseous from dehydration. She also feels confused as to where she is at and what is happening.

MIDDLE: Sadie notices a bright light coming up behind her.

END: The caller, on a motorcycle, is right behind her on the sidewalk. They rev their motor to let her know they are there. She keeps running. The caller veers off the sidewalk, drives up the street and turns right at the next intersection, returning to their position for surveillance.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

Adam hears a honk outside. He sees his friend Will stopped out front with the car running. He can see Will running toward the door.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam paces in his office trying to re-connect with Sadie. She doesn’t respond.

MIDDLE: He hears a honk outside. It is Will’s car, still running, and Will is running toward the front door.

END: Adam grabs a jacket and bursts through the front door and runs down the walk. He and Will jump into the car and it pulls away.

———————————————————————————

INT. CAR – NIGHT

Adam asks Will where Hannah and the kids are, and Will tells him they are safe. Will asks Adam if he knows where Sadie was Facetiming from. Adam says he does not know. Will asks if he has Sadie on ‘Find My Phone’ which he does. They quickly locate the vicinity of where Sadie is running.

INT. CAR – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam asks Will where Hannah and the kids are. Will tells Adam he had them picked up and taken to the police station downtown. Will then asks Adam if he knows where Sadie was Facetiming from.

MIDDLE: Adam curses as he did not have a chance to ask Sadie her location before he lost her. He tries to connect again from the car. She doesn’t answer.

END: Will asks if Adam has Sadie listed in his ‘Find My Phone’ app. Adam jumps to the app and confirms YES, he has her work phone. Will pulls a U-turn and squeals off in the general direction of Sadie’s work phone as indicated by the App.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

Will and Adam determine they are close to Sadie’s location. They can also see from the App that she has stopped moving. They slow down and start to look around. They see two people and some movement on the sidewalk. It is Sadie and the caller. Adam tends to Sadie and Will takes down the caller.

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will and Adam approach the general vicinity of Sadie’s phone per the location finder on the Find My Phone App. They know they are close because the App indicates that Sadie stopped moving a few minutes ago.

MIDDLE: They spot a heap on the sidewalk and a person standing over the heap. Will quickly skids over to the side of the road. The heap on the ground is Sadie. The person standing over Sadie climbs back onto the motorcycle and takes off. Adam runs to Sadie’s side. Will speeds after the motorcycle.

END: Adam pulls Sadie up to a seated position and hugs her. She is still unconscious but is breathing. He calls 911 on his phone.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

Will reaches the motorcycle, bumps him from behind and sends the caller flying into a hedge. He confronts the caller and sees that he is just a kid.

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will catches up to the motorcycle. He bumps the caller from behind and sends them flying face-first into a hedge. Will flips the caller over and rips off their helmet. They are a 17-19-year-old kid. He gets him up onto his feet, checks the kid’s pockets for a weapon, zip ties his hands behind his back and throws him into the back of his car. He surveys the ground around the bike and finds a cellphone.

MIDDLE: Will reads the kids his Miranda rights and asks him if he understands. Then Will proceeds to ask him what he was trying to do. The kid doesn’t know anything. All he knows is that he was offered $1,000, $500 up front and $500 at the end, to follow the girl and Facetime her live as he went until he was told to stop.

END: The kid didn’t have any idea who hired him. He was told it was part of a film being shot that required the real live action footage.

———————————————————————————

EXT. AMBULANCE – NIGHT

Will pulls in behind an ambulance. Sadie is conscious and on a gurney being loaded into the ambulance. She is hooked up to an IV to administer quick hydration. Adam goes along holding Sadie’s hand. Will fills Adam in that he has the young kid from the motorcycle but still has no answers about what was going on.

EXT. AMBULANCE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will pulls in behind an ambulance with its lights flashing. Sadie is conscious and on a gurney being loaded, along with an IV pole, into the ambulance. Adam is holding her hand as he jumps up into the ambulance.

MIDDLE: Will tells Adam he has the kid from the Motorcycle, but he is no closer to having any answers. He tells them he found his cellphone on the ground and turned the whole scene over to the on-duty officer.

END: Adam tells Will that Sadie will be ok.

———————————————————————————

Turning Point 3 – Protagonist faces their lowest low (ACT 3 – Key Scene 4)

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Sadie finally connects with Randy. He is ecstatic to know that she is ok.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie calls Randy. He answers as he is walking into her hospital room. He puts his phone away.

MIDDLE: Randy tells Sadie that he is relieved that she is ok.

END: Sadie quickly dispenses with the pleasantries and tells him she will call the client later today and re-schedule the presentation. Randy tells her they delivered the presentation.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Sadie is speechless hearing that Randy and the team delivered the presentation without her.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

BEGINNING: With silence on the hospital side of the call, Randy says, ‘Hello? Sadie are you there?’

MIDDLE: Sadie repeats back to Randy what he told her but as a question, ‘You delivered the presentation?’

END: Randy corrects her to say that ‘He and the team delivered the presentation.’ He told her they all took a role. He thought it went well.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Sadie asks Randy why he would do that…without her. For the first time in the call Randy realizes that Sadie is not happy. Instead, Sadie feels angry to have ‘lost the opportunity to win the client’ and depressed that the team could think they should go ahead without her.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie asks Randy why he would think he should do that, deliver the presentation without her.

MIDDLE: Randy corrects her to say that ‘He and the team delivered the presentation.’ He told her they all took a role.

Randy explains it was never his intention to deliver the presentation without her. He kept thinking that she would show up ready to go.

The client also told him they were at the end of the process, and they would be picking an agency the next day to make the timeline for the coveted Grey Cup commercials time slots.

END: He thought it went well. He had a video of the presentation that Kandace took. He would have it sent over to her on an iPad right away.

———————————————————————————

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 3 TURNING POINT

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

Sadie is learning to trust Adam on the relationship side, something she has never done before, but she is feeling insecure on the career side because her team knew they needed to step up and save the day with the client presentation. Her securities and insecurities have flipped.

It appears that Sadie would have been happier if her firm simply lost the account. At least that was her expectation. She needs to come to grips with a new reality, that she may have created herself a team that is terrific and knows what they are doing. That is a different kind of ‘credit’ than she is used to receiving.

ASSIGNMENT 19

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be alone.

ACT 1

Inciting Incident

In New York City, Sadie breaks up with her longtime boyfriend which has been a long time coming. She accepts a proposal from her company’s CEO that she move to Vancouver, BC, and establish a branch of the advertising agency. A partnership could be in the offering if she is successful in Vancouver.

Turning Point

Sadie settles into her new work life in Vancouver. On a personal front, she thinks she has met the love of her life. As is her habit, Sadie goes for an afternoon run immediately preceding a major presentation and is taken hostage by a caller through her cellphone.

ACT 2

Reaction to the Turning Point in Act 1 (ACT 2 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie is trapped and knows she must do something. She makes several obvious attempts to test the caller and see how trapped she really might be. Everything is up to her. Her old ways have her needing to figure this out to free herself.

Protagonist Takes on A Plan and Executes It (ACT 2 – Key Scene 2)

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her. She decides she needs to contact the caller directly and negotiate her freedom.

Not Only Does Their Plan Fail But… (ACT 2 – Key Scene 3)

Hearing nothing back from the caller, Sadie feels desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality. (ACT 2 – Key Scene 4)

Sadie drags herself up onto her feet. She slowly moves from a trudging walk to a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog. Sadie realizes she has her iPod Touch that she uses to listen to music. Could this be her way out of this mess?

Act 3 includes these Key Scenes:

Key Scene
1: React/Rethink the new reality revealed by Midpoint
Key Scene 2: Makes a new plan.
Key Scene
3: Things start going well, until…
Key Scene
4: Turning Point – Protagonist faces their lowest low.

ACT 3

Reaction/Rethink (ACT 3 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie realizes that she is going to have to trust someone outside of herself, that being Adam, to get her out of this situation.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie makes it through the intersection and pulls the iPod up to her face. She tells Adam she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being held hostage running.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie makes it through another intersection. She can still see the motorcycle rider with the flashlight. She pulls the iPod up to her face. When she sees Adam become emotional again. He stops her right away.

MIDDLE: Slowly, Sadie tells Adam that she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being made to keep running by a guy on a motorcycle tracking her from a block to her west. She feels like she has been taken hostage by the caller.

END: Sadie tells Adam that the caller is threatening to hurt him and the kids if she stops running. She tells him the caller sent pictures and video of him and the kids.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she has just disclosed. He understands literally what she said but is not sure as to the why.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she said.

MIDDLE: Adam asks Sadie why anyone would want to do something like this. If the caller were taking her hostage wouldn’t he be making some kind of demand, for payment.

END: Adam confirms with Sadie that the caller is moving right along side her, just a block west. He asks her if she can describe the caller at all. She replies they are wearing all black, with a helmet and shining a flashlight in her direction.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie approaches another intersection. She accelerates to a run and again conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie tells Adam to hold on.

MIDDLE: She approaches another intersection; she moves from a walk to a run and conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

END: When Sadie exits the intersection, she slows down and tells Adam she is back.

———————————————————————————

Makes a New Plan (ACT 3 – Key Scene 2)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie tells Adam that he must warn Hannah to take the kids somewhere safe.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: When Sadie exits the intersection, she picks up the iPod and tells Adam he needs to get Hannah and the kids somewhere safe but expresses concern that they are being watched.

MIDDLE: Adam tells Sadie he is going to take a minute to call Hannah and make sure everything is alright, but he doesn’t want her to disconnect.

END: Adam comes back to Sadie and tells her he talked to Hannah but wants her to hang tight for another minute. He will be right back.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

Adam calls his police officer friend Will at home.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam reaches Will at home. He is a police officer but is currently not on a shift.

MIDDLE: Adam warns Will that what he is about to tell him sounds over the top, but he needs him to listen. He fills Will in and asks for his help.

END: Adam gives Hannah’s address to Will and asks him to go stay with Hannah and the kids to make sure they are kept safe.

———————————————————————————

INT. WILL’s HOME– NIGHT

Will hangs up from Adam, grabs his gun belt, throws on a jacket, and heads out the door.

INT. WILL’s HOME– NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will stands up from the sofa, reaches for the remote and turns off the television.

MIDDLE: Will makes a call to an on-duty police officer in the area, provides Hannah’s address and tells her to pick up her and the kids and take them to the station.

END: Will jumps in his car and heads to Adam’s house.

———————————————————————————

Things start going well, until… (ACT 3 – Key Scene 3)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

Sadie is now feeling weak, a bit dizzy and nauseous from dehydration. Adam flips back over to Facetime, but Sadie has disconnected.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie is now feeling weak, dizzy, and nauseous from dehydration. She also feels confused as to where she is at and what is happening.

MIDDLE: Sadie notices a bright light coming up behind her.

END: The caller, on a motorcycle, is right behind her on the sidewalk. They rev their motor and lunge at Sadie as if to say, get going or I’ll run you over. She keeps running. The caller veers off the sidewalk, drives up the street and turns right at the next intersection, returning to his position for surveillance.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

Adam hears a honk out front of his house. He sees his friend Will stopped out front with the car running. He can see Will running toward the door.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam paces in his office trying to re-connect with Sadie. She doesn’t respond.

MIDDLE: He hears a honk out front of his house. It is Will’s car, still running, and Will is running toward the front door.

END: Adam grabs a jacket and bursts through the front door and runs down the walk. He and Will jump into the car and it pulls away.

———————————————————————————

INT. CAR – NIGHT

Adam asks Will where Hannah and the kids are, and Will tells him they are safe. Will asks Adam if he knows where Sadie was Facetiming from. Adam says he does not know. Will asks if he has Sadie on ‘Find My Phone’ which he does. They quickly locate the vicinity of where Sadie is running.

INT. CAR – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam asks Will where Hannah and the kids are. Will tells Adam he had them picked up and taken to the police station downtown. Will then asks Adam if he knows where Sadie was Facetiming from.

MIDDLE: Adam curses as he did not have a chance to ask Sadie her location before he lost her. He tries to connect again from the car, but she doesn’t answer.

END: Will asks if Adam has Sadie listed in his ‘Find My Phone’ app. Adam jumps to the app and confirms YES, he has her work phone. Will pulls a U-turn and squeals off in the general direction of Sadie’s work phone as indicated by the App.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

Will and Adam determine they are close to Sadie’s location. They can also see from the App that she has stopped moving. They slow down and start to look around. They see two people and some movement on the sidewalk. It is Sadie and the caller. Adam tends to Sadie and Will takes down the caller.

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will and Adam approach the general vicinity of Sadie’s phone per the location finder on the Find My Phone App. They know they are close because the App indicates that Sadie stopped moving a few minutes ago.

MIDDLE: They spot a heap on the sidewalk and a person standing over the heap. Will quickly skids over to the side of the road. The heap on the ground is Sadie. The person standing over Sadie climbs back onto the motorcycle and takes off. Adam runs to Sadie’s side. Will speeds after the motorcycle.

END: Adam pulls Sadie up to a seated position and hugs her. She is still unconscious but is breathing. He calls 911 on his phone.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

Will reaches the motorcycle, bumps him from behind and sends the caller flying into a hedge. He confronts the caller and sees that he is just a kid.

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will catches up to the motorcycle. He bumps the caller from behind and sends them flying face-first into a hedge. Will flips the caller over and rips off their helmet. They are a 17-19-year-old kid. He gets him up onto his feet, checks the kid’s pockets for a weapon, zip ties his hands behind his back and throws him into the back of his car. He surveys the ground around the bike and finds a cellphone.

MIDDLE: Will reads the kids his Miranda rights and then proceeds to ask him what he was trying to do. The kid doesn’t know anything. All he knows is that he was offered $1,000, $500 up front and $500 at the end, to follow the girl and Facetime her live as he went until he was told to stop.

END: The kid didn’t have any idea who hired him. He was told it was part of a film being shot that required the real live action footage.

———————————————————————————

EXT. AMBULANCE – NIGHT

Will pulls in behind an ambulance. Sadie is conscious and on a gurney being loaded into the ambulance. She is hooked up to an IV to administer quick hydration. Adam goes along holding Sadie’s hand. Will fills Adam in that he has the young kid from the motorcycle but still has no answers about what was going on.

EXT. AMBULANCE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will pulls in behind an ambulance with its lights flashing. Sadie is conscious and on a gurney being loaded, along with an IV pole, into the ambulance. Adam is holding her hand as he jumps up into the ambulance.

MIDDLE: Will tells Adam he has the kid from the Motorcycle, but he is no closer to having any answers. He tells them he found his cellphone on the ground and turned the whole scene over to the on-duty officer.

END: Adam tells Will that Sadie will be ok.

———————————————————————————

Turning Point 3 – Protagonist faces their lowest low (ACT 3 – Key Scene 4)

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Sadie finally connects with Randy. He is ecstatic to know that she is ok.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie calls Randy.

MIDDLE: Randy is so happy to hear from Sadie. He just got off the phone with Adam but is happy to hear her voice. He tells her she sounds good.

END: Sadie quickly dispenses with the pleasantries and tells him she will call the client later today and re-schedule the presentation. Randy tells her they delivered the presentation.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Sadie is speechless hearing that Randy and the team delivered the presentation without her.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

BEGINNING: With silence on the hospital side of the call, Randy says, ‘Hello? Sadie are you there?’

MIDDLE: Sadie repeats back to Randy what he told her but as a question, ‘You delivered the presentation?’

END: Randy corrects her to say that ‘He and the team delivered the presentation.’ He told her they all took a role. He thought it went well.

———————————————————————————

<b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

Sadie asks Randy why he would do that…without her. For the first time in the call Randy realizes that Sadie is not happy. Instead, Sadie feels angry to have ‘lost the opportunity to win the client’ and depressed that the team could think they should go ahead without her.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie asks Randy why he would think he should do that, deliver the presentation without her.

MIDDLE: Randy corrects her to say that ‘He and the team delivered the presentation.’ He told her they all took a role.

Randy explains it was never his intention to deliver the presentation without her. He kept thinking that she would show up ready to go.

The client also told him they were at the end of the process, and they would be picking an agency the next day to make the timeline for the coveted Grey Cup commercials time slots.

END: He thought it went well. He had a video of the presentation that Kandace took. He would have it sent over to her on an iPad right away.

———————————————————————————

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 3 MIDDLE SCENES

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

I learned that I didn’t really have Act 3 substance. The formula of using the beats and outline exposed that I needed a whole lot more in the third act. The formula made filling in the third act easier than it otherwise would have been.

I also agree with what Rita Roberts said which was…” What I learned: It works better for me to just keep writing in order. I think these two scenes reflect the Scene 2 and 3 goals. Plus, it feels better to have several Act 3 scenes first draft finished rather than just writing the four main ones and having to fill in the rest on one day”.

ASSIGNMENT 18

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be alone.

ACT 1

Inciting Incident

In New York City, Sadie breaks up with her longtime boyfriend which has been a long time coming. She accepts a proposal from her company’s CEO that she move to Vancouver, BC, and establish a branch of the advertising agency. A partnership could be in the offering if she is successful in Vancouver.

Turning Point

Sadie settles into her new work life in Vancouver. On a personal front, she thinks she has met the love of her life. As is her habit, Sadie goes for an afternoon run immediately preceding a major presentation and is taken hostage by a caller through her cellphone.

ACT 2

Reaction to the Turning Point in Act 1 (ACT 2 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie is trapped and knows she must do something. She makes several obvious attempts to test the caller and see how trapped she really might be. Everything is up to her. Her old ways have her needing to figure this out to free herself.

Protagonist Takes on A Plan and Executes It (ACT 2 – Key Scene 2)

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her. She decides she needs to contact the caller directly and negotiate her freedom.

Not Only Does Their Plan Fail But… (ACT 2 – Key Scene 3)

Hearing nothing back from the caller, Sadie feels desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality. (ACT 2 – Key Scene 4)

Sadie drags herself up onto her feet. She slowly moves from a trudging walk to a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog. Sadie realizes she has her iPod Touch that she uses to listen to music. Could this be her way out of this mess?

Act 3 includes these Key Scenes:

Key Scene
1: React/Rethink the new reality revealed by Midpoint
Key Scene 2: Makes a new plan.
Key Scene
3: Things start going well, until…
Key Scene
4: Turning Point – Protagonist faces their lowest low.

ACT 3

Reaction/Rethink (ACT 3 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie realizes that she is going to have to trust someone outside of herself, that being Adam, to get her out of this situation.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie makes it through the intersection and pulls the iPod up to her face. She tells Adam she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being held hostage running.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie makes it through another intersection. She can still see the motorcycle rider with the flashlight. She pulls the iPod up to her face. When she sees Adam become emotional again. He stops her right away.

MIDDLE: Slowly, Sadie tells Adam that she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being made to keep running by a guy on a motorcycle tracking her from a block to her west. She feels like she has been taken hostage by the caller.

END: Sadie tells Adam that the caller is threatening to hurt him and the kids if she stops running. She tells him the caller sent pictures and video of him and the kids.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she has just disclosed. He understands literally what she said but is not sure as to the why.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she said.

MIDDLE: Adam asks Sadie why anyone would want to do something like this. If the caller were taking her hostage wouldn’t he be making some kind of demand, for payment.

END: Adam confirms with Sadie that the caller is moving right along side her, just a block west. He asks her if she can describe the caller at all. She replies they are wearing all black, with a helmet and shining a flashlight in her direction.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie approaches another intersection. She accelerates to a run and again conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie tells Adam to hold on.

MIDDLE: She approaches another intersection; she moves from a walk to a run and conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

END: When Sadie exits the intersection, she slows down and tells Adam she is back.

———————————————————————————

Makes a New Plan (ACT 3 – Key Scene 2)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie tells Adam that he must warn Hannah to take the kids somewhere safe.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: When Sadie exits the intersection, she picks up the iPod and tells Adam he needs to get Hannah and the kids somewhere safe but expresses concern that they are being watched.

MIDDLE: Adam tells Sadie he is going to take a minute to call Hannah and make sure everything is alright, but he doesn’t want her to disconnect.

END: Adam comes back to Sadie and tells her he talked to Hannah but wants her to hang tight for another minute. He will be right back.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

Adam calls his police officer friend Will at home.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam reaches Will at home. He is a police officer but is currently not on a shift.

MIDDLE: Adam warns Will that what he is about to tell him sounds over the top, but he needs him to listen. He fills Will in and asks for his help.

END: Adam gives Hannah’s address to Will and asks him to go stay with Hannah and the kids to make sure they are kept safe.

———————————————————————————

INT. WILL’s HOME– NIGHT

Will hangs up from Adam, grabs his gun belt, throws on a jacket, and heads out the door.

INT. WILL’s HOME– NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will stands up from the sofa, reaches for the remote and turns off the television.

MIDDLE: Will makes a call to an on-duty police officer in the area, provides Hannah’s address and tells her to pick up her and the kids and take them to the station.

END: Will jumps in his car and heads to Adam’s house.

———————————————————————————

Things start going well, until… (ACT 3 – Key Scene 3)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

Sadie is now feeling weak, a bit dizzy and nauseous from dehydration. Adam flips back over to Facetime, but Sadie has disconnected.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie is now feeling weak, dizzy, and nauseous from dehydration. She also feels confused as to where she is at and what is happening.

MIDDLE: Sadie notices a bright light coming up behind her.

END: The caller, on a motorcycle, is right behind her on the sidewalk. They rev their motor and lunge at Sadie as if to say, get going or I’ll run you over. She keeps running. The caller veers off the sidewalk, drives up the street and turns right at the next intersection, returning to his position for surveillance.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

Adam hears a honk out front of his house. He sees his friend Will stopped out front with the car running. He can see Will running toward the door.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam paces in his office trying to re-connect with Sadie. She doesn’t respond.

MIDDLE: He hears a honk out front of his house. It is Will’s car, still running, and Will is running toward the front door.

END: Adam grabs a jacket and bursts through the front door and runs down the walk. He and Will jump into the car and it pulls away.

———————————————————————————

INT. CAR – NIGHT

Adam asks Will where Hannah and the kids are, and Will tells him they are safe. Will asks Adam if he knows where Sadie was Facetiming from. Adam says he does not know. Will asks if he has Sadie on ‘Find My Phone’ which he does. They quickly locate the vicinity of where Sadie is running.

INT. CAR – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam asks Will where Hannah and the kids are. Will tells Adam he had them picked up and taken to the police station downtown. Will then asks Adam if he knows where Sadie was Facetiming from.

MIDDLE: Adam curses as he did not have a chance to ask Sadie her location before he lost her. He tries to connect again from the car, but she doesn’t answer.

END: Will asks if Adam has Sadie listed in his ‘Find My Phone’ app. Adam jumps to the app and confirms YES, he has her work phone. Will pulls a U-turn and squeals off in the general direction of Sadie’s work phone as indicated by the App.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

Will and Adam determine they are close to Sadie’s location. They can also see from the App that she has stopped moving. They slow down and start to look around. They see two people and some movement on the sidewalk. It is Sadie and the caller. Adam tends to Sadie and Will takes down the caller.

EXT. STREET – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Will and Adam approach the general vicinity of Sadie’s phone per the location finder on the Find My Phone App. They know they are close because the App indicates that Sadie stopped moving a few minutes ago.

MIDDLE: They spot a heap on the sidewalk and a person standing over the heap. Will quickly skids over to the side of the road. The heap on the ground is Sadie. The person standing over Sadie climbs back onto the motorcycle and takes off. Adam runs to Sadie’s side. Will speeds after the motorcycle.

END: Adam pulls Sadie up to a seated position and hugs her. She is still unconscious but is breathing. He calls 911 on his phone.

———————————————————————————

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 3 BEGINS

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

Sadie’s Reaction and Rethink leads to a new plan in Act 3 which is to enlist someone outside of herself to help her. This has never been her style. I’m noticing more and more to listen to my characters. They are telling me where the story needs to go.

ASSIGNMENT 17

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be alone.

ACT 1

Inciting Incident

In New York City, Sadie breaks up with her longtime boyfriend which has been a long time coming. She accepts a proposal from her company’s CEO that she move to Vancouver, BC, and establish a branch of the advertising agency. A partnership could be in the offering if she is successful in Vancouver.

Turning Point

Sadie settles into her new work life in Vancouver. On a personal front, she thinks she has met the love of her life. As is her habit, Sadie goes for an afternoon run immediately preceding a major presentation and is taken hostage by a caller through her cellphone.

ACT 2

Reaction to the Turning Point in Act 1 (ACT 2 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie is trapped and knows she must do something. She makes several obvious attempts to test the caller and see how trapped she really might be. Everything is up to her. Her old ways have her needing to figure this out to free herself.

Protagonist Takes on A Plan and Executes It (ACT 2 – Key Scene 2)

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her. She decides she needs to contact the caller directly and negotiate her freedom.

Not Only Does Their Plan Fail But… (ACT 2 – Key Scene 3)

Hearing nothing back from the caller, Sadie feels desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality. (ACT 2 – Key Scene 4)

Sadie drags herself up onto her feet. She slowly moves from a trudging walk to a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog. Sadie realizes she has her iPod Touch that she uses to listen to music. Could this be her way out of this mess?

ACT 3

Act 3 includes these Key Scenes:

Key Scene 1: React/Rethink the new reality revealed by Midpoint
Key Scene 2: Makes a new
plan.
Key Scene 3: Things start
going well, until…
Key Scene 4: Turning Point –
Protagonist faces their lowest low.<div>

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Reaction/Rethink (ACT 3 – Key Scene 1)

Sadie realizes that she is going to have to trust someone outside of herself, that being Adam, to get her out of this situation.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie makes it through the intersection and pulls the iPod up to her face. She tells Adam she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being held hostage running.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie makes it through another intersection. She can still see the motorcycle rider with the flashlight. She pulls the iPod up to her face. When she sees Adam become emotional again. He stops her right away.

MIDDLE: Slowly, Sadie tells Adam that she doesn’t know what is going on or why, but she is being made to keep running by a guy on a motorcycle tracking her from a block to her west. She feels like she has been taken hostage by the caller.

END: Sadie tells Adam that the caller is threatening to hurt him and the kids if she stops running. She tells him the caller sent pictures and video of him and the kids.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she has just disclosed. He understands literally what she said but is not sure as to the why.

INT. HOME OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: When Sadie stops talking, Adam takes a beat to process what she said.

MIDDLE: Adam asks Sadie why anyone would want to do something like this. If the caller were taking her hostage wouldn’t he be making some kind of demand, for payment.

END: Adam confirms with Sadie that the caller is moving right along side her, just a block west. He asks her if she can describe the caller at all. She replies they are wearing all black, with a helmet and shining a flashlight in her direction.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie approaches another intersection. She accelerates to a run and again conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie tells Adam to hold on.

MIDDLE: She approaches another intersection; she moves from a walk to a run and conceals her cellphone by her thigh.

END: When Sadie exits the intersection, she slows down and tells Adam she is back.

———————————————————————————

</div>

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S FINISH ACT 2

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned doing this assignment is that, for me, it is not necessary to match each day with each day’s assignment. I was driving myself crazy trying to do that.

Instead, I try to be caught up at the end of the week, just before the live session, on all the assignments for the week and I try to write something every day.

Somedays I might write for 4-5 hours and the next day a half hour or not at all due to a schedule that includes babysitting grandchildren and taking care of my 90- and 91-year-old parents.

For example, for this assignment, Finish Act 2, I wrote to the end of Act 3. Now I will go back and make sure that my Key Scene’s for Act 2 make sense, per this week’s assignments.

ASSIGNMENT 16

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be alone.

Act 1

Inciting Incident

In New York City, Sadie breaks up with her longtime boyfriend which has been a long time coming. She accepts a proposal from her company’s CEO that she move to Vancouver, BC, and establish a branch of the advertising agency. A partnership could be in the offering if she is successful in Vancouver.

Turning Point 1

Sadie settles into her new work life in Vancouver. On a personal front, she thinks she has met the love of her life. As is her habit, Sadie goes for an afternoon run immediately preceding a major presentation and is taken hostage by a caller through her cellphone.

Act 2

Reaction to the Turning Point in Act 1 (Key Scene 1)

Sadie is trapped but knows she must do something. She makes several obvious attempts to test the caller and see how trapped she really might be. Everything is up to her. Her old ways have her needing to figure this out to free herself.

ACT 2

EXT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie keeps running. She decides she must do something.

EXT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie keeps running but realizes she must do something. She decides to test the caller by jumping up onto the sidewalk and running among walkers.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives no reaction. She slows to a walk.

END: Her phone vibrates with a text, RUN!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie returns to running on the road where there are less obstacles and distractions. She is deep in thought about what to do.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie jumps back to the road, wanting to avoid obstacles and distractions so she can concentrate on what she needs to do.

MIDDLE: Every time she passes an intersection she looks to her right and sees the motorcycle with a light shining in her direction.

END: The motorcycle is moving in sync with afternoon traffic. Sadie decides she will outrun it.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie sprints full out. When she crosses at the next intersection she doesn’t see the motorcycle.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to sprint, all out for a block.

MIDDLE: Just as she arrives at the intersection the light turns green. She crosses the street looking to the right and doesn’t see the motorcycle.

END: She slows to a walk momentarily to catch her breath.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie reaches the end of the intersection and repeats the sprint.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie sprints, all out for another block.

MIDDLE: At the next intersection, the light turns red but there are no cars crossing at that moment. She moves through the intersection, looking to the right and again, doesn’t see the motorcycle.

END: She thinks she may be in the clear.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

As Sadie walks the next block she dials 911 on her cellphone.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: While walking, Sadie dials 911 on her cellphone.

MIDDLE: Her cellphone makes a funny sounds. A digitally enhanced voice breaks in…

END: NICE TRY! RUN!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie starts to run again. She tries unsuccessfully to engage a couple pushing a baby carriage to help her.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to run again.

MIDDLE: She runs up beside a couple pushing a baby carriage. She is out of breath from her earlier sprints but tell them that she is being held hostage and implores them to call the police.

END: The couple looks around, over their shoulder, to see who Sadie is talking to. When they realize it is them, they suddenly turn right, around a corner, without saying a word.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie calls after the couple. They don’t look back. The caller texts her again and attaches two short video clips of her stepchildren and her husband.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: As the couple moves away from her, they head west, straight toward the caller. Sadie yells at the couple. They ignore her and speed up.

MIDDLE: The caller turns the flashlight off before the couple has a chance to notice them.

END: Shortly thereafter, Sadie receives a text. It includes a short video of her stepchildren playing at the park with their mother, followed by a video of Adam walking back from the mailbox to their house.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie continues running. It starts to rain. She looks to her right at every intersection. The person on the motorbike is still tracking her and shining a flashlight at her to let her know they are there.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie continues running. It starts to rain.

MIDDLE: She looks to her right at every intersection and sees the person on the motorcycle still tracking her.

END: The flashlight continues to shine in her direction. The rain makes the light look more sinister.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

Sadie has been running for over two hours and needs to urinate. She has been holding it for a while.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie has been running for over two hours. She starts to squirm as now she really needs to urinate. It is raining which gives her cover to just let the urine flow. She is already wet from head to toe.

MIDDLE: The urine runs down her legs and into her new shoes. Sadie is in agony as it hits a blister that has formed and popped.

END: Sadie clenches her teeth as she runs. She looks down. The inside of the left toe of her shoe is turning red with blood.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

Another hour passes.. The rain is really coming down. Sadie is thirsty but has no water. This was supposed to be a short run.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: Out of habit, Sadie reaches down to her waist, a place where her water bottle would usually be. She didn’t bring it for this run as it was supposed to be a short one.

MIDDLE: She holds both hands up to the rain capturing a tablespoon of water from the skies.

END: She drinks the water from her hands, licks them and then holds them out again.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie sucks the water out of her ponytail.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie pulls her ponytail around and puts it in her mouth.

MIDDLE: She squeezes her ponytail from the top and sucks the water out of her hair.

END: She flips it back.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

It is starting to get dark, and the rain is really coming down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen out, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess. Sadie decides to flag down a car. Her attempt is thwarted when a motorcycle pulls up behind her and revs its motor.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: It is now starting to get dark, and the rain is pounding down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen out, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess.

MIDDLE: A car pulls up beside Sadie and they start to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage them, a motorcycle pulls up behind her, revs its engine and honks its horn.

END: She blows the car off, they roll up the window and continue. The motorcycle passes her and speeds off. She realizes that they weren’t the caller but just an impatient motorcyclist trying to get home and out of the rain. The sidewalks are now deserted so she hops back up and continues running.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Not able to see well in the dark, Sadie’s tired legs hit a raised panel of concrete in the sidewalk, and she takes a tumble. She can see that the raised edge of the panel is painted red, warning of the hazard. The paint was not obvious in the dark.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Darkness is all around.

MIDDLE: Sadie’s tired legs and feet hit a raised piece of raised concrete on the sidewalk. She takes a tumble and bangs up her knees, her elbow and her forehead which is now bleeding like a son-of-gun. She wipes her forehead with her shirt. She now looks like something out of a zombie movie.

END: Her phone vibrates. She pulls it out of her pocket. It reads, WHERE ARE YOU?

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

Sadie once again drags herself to her feet.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie drags herself to her feet.

MIDDLE: She is steps away from the intersection.

END: When she reaches the intersection she can see the motorcycle stopped, waiting with the ominous light shining in her direction. The caller revs the engine and they both start moving.

———————————————————————————

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – NIGHT

Back at the office, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. They try to call her, but her phone goes direct to voice mail. They decide to head over to the client’s office and set up.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie’s team has everything loaded into their van. They are standing in a huddle discussing what they should do about their missing boss.

MIDDLE: Randy assures the group that Sadie will be there as he is dialing her cellphone. The call goes directly to voice mail. Randy leaves a message telling Sadie that he and the others are taking everything to the client’s office to set up and be ready when she gets there.

END: The gang picks up their purses and jackets and heads to the van. Randy tells everyone, as they are walking out, not to say anything to the client about Sadie’s whereabouts. He is sure she will show up.

———————————————————————————

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

As the gang is exiting the bullpen, Randy receives a call from the client telling him they are running a half hour late. If they could plan for an hour past their original time that would be great. The client will use the extra half hour to get something to eat and have something for his team as well.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: As the gang is exiting the bullpen, Randy receives a call on his cellphone. He puts his coat and briefcase down and pulls his phone out of his pocket. Randy answers his phone.

MIDDLE: It is the client telling Randy that they are a little backed up from the presentations that had been running all day. He advises they are a half hour behind but if Randy’s team can push their timeslot out an hour, that would give the client and his team a chance to get something to eat. He promises he’ll have something for Randy’s team to eat as well.

END: Randy agrees and is relieved. His team will carry on and set up as soon as the last team finishes. That way they will have an additional half hour to strategize what they will do if Sadie doesn’t show up. Randy is now starting to get worried. He calls her one more time. The call doesn’t go through. This is not like his boss.

———————————————————————————

Protagonist Takes on A Plan and Executes It (Key Scene 2)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her. She decides she needs to contact the caller directly and negotiate her freedom.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie checks the time on her phone realizing she is going to miss her presentation. She decides she needs to contact the caller directly and negotiate her freedom. The rain is making it difficult for her fingers to text. She flips over to her recent phone calls and sees a number that she doesn’t recognize.

MIDDLE: Sadie hits the number. It starts to ring but goes directly to a voice mail with a standard response instructing her to leave a message. She leaves a message threatening that she is just about to call the caller’s bluff and stop running.

END: She puts her phone back in her leg pocket and keeps running.

———————————————————————————

EXT. VAN – NIGHT

Randy decides to take a few extra minutes to drive the van over to where he knows Sadie likes to go for a short run. He wonders if maybe she is injured or something.

EXT. VAN – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Randy takes a sudden turn with the van, deciding to quickly drive the route he knows Sadie takes when she’s going on a short run.

MIDDLE: The gang asks him what he’s doing, and he lies saying that he saw an alert on his phone about a roadblock. He drives the path and then cuts back to the main route.

END: Sadie is no where to be seen on this short route.

———————————————————————————

Not Only Does Their Plan Fail But… (Key Scene 3)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

Hearing nothing back from the caller, Sadie feels desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Receiving no response from the caller, and feeling desperate, Sadie decides she must do something drastic. She sees a cab coming up beside her. As it passes, she speeds up, bangs on the window and when the cab slows, she opens the door and jumps in the back seat with a couple who are dressed to the nines and heading for a night out on the town.

MIDDLE: The couple recoils at Sadie’s condition. Her phone starts to emit an ear-piercing sound that she can’t get to stop. She fumbles with her phone and drops it on the floor. While she is bent over retrieving it, the cabbie stops the cab, jumps out and runs around to the back passenger door. He pulls Sadie out and slams the door, runs back around, jumps in, and takes off.

END: Sadie crumbles to the ground with her cellphone in her hand. It vibrates. She takes the call and a digital voice yells, STAND UP AND RUN!

———————————————————————————

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie drags herself up onto her feet. She slowly moves from a trudging walk to a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog. Sadie realizes she has her iPod Touch that she uses to listen to music. Could this be her way out of this mess?

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie drags herself onto her hands and knees. She grabs a tree and pulls herself up onto her feet.

MIDDLE: Sadie puts one soggy foot in front of another as she moves from a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog. She resigns herself to the fact that she will miss her presentation. And she knows that no one will believe her, ‘the dog ate my homework’ story.

END: Sadie feels something dangling and banging against her leg. She grabs a cord and realizes it is her iPod touch that she uses to listen to music. It was in her sleeve cuff but fell out when she was pulled out of the cab. The earphones are around her neck. Sadie immediately wonders how she might be able to use her iPod to get a message to Adam.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

In between intersections, Sadie opens the Facetime on her iPod touch and plugs in Adam’s phone number. It rings and Adam picks it up right away.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: As Sadie runs between intersections, she slows down enough that she hopes the caller will not notice. She opens Facetime on her iPod and plugs in Adam’s phone number. He picks it up right away.

MIDDLE: Sadie starts crying and talking, trying to tell Adam what she is going through and how she doesn’t know what to do. She breaks down and is hysterical. Adam yells at her to stop screaming, catch her breath and slow down.

END: Sadie takes a beat and then realizes she is coming to an intersection. She hides the iPod in her hand and puts her hand down alongside her leg.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S TURNING POINT 2 – MIDPOINT – EVERYTHING CHANGES

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned doing this assignment is the first half of my screenplay is much more developed than my second half. I’ve got a lot of work to do on the second half, everything after the midpoint, to get it to the 20% first draft stage.

ASSIGNMENT 15

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be a loner.

Act 1

Inciting Incident

In New York City, Sadie breaks up with her longtime boyfriend. It has been a long time coming. She accepts a proposal from her company’s CEO that she move to Vancouver, BC, and establish a branch of the advertising agency. A partnership could be in the offering if she is successful in Vancouver.

Turning Point 1

Sadie settles into her new work life in Vancouver, and she meets the love of her life. She goes out for an afternoon run immediately preceding a major presentation and is taken hostage by a caller using her cellphone.

Act 2

Reaction to the Turning Point in Act 1 (Key Scene 1)

Sadie is trapped but knows she must do something. She makes several obvious attempts to test the caller and see how trapped she really might be. Everything is up to her. Her old ways have her needing to figure this all out to free herself.

EXT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie keeps running. She decides she must do something.

EXT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie keeps running but realizes she must do something. She decides to test the caller by jumping up onto the sidewalk and running among walkers.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives no reaction to her jump to the sidewalk. She slows to a walk.

END: Her phone vibrates with a text, RUN!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (MOMENTS LATER)

Sadie sprints full out. When she crosses at the intersection she doesn’t see the motor bike.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to sprint, all out for a block.

MIDDLE: Just as she arrives at the intersection the light turns green. She crosses the street looking to the right and doesn’t see the motorcycle.

END: She thinks she may be in the clear, so she slows to a walk again.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

As Sadie walks she dials 911 on her cellphone.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: While walking, Sadie dials 911 on her cellphone.

MIDDLE: Her cellphone makes a funny sounds. A digitally enhanced voice chimes in…

END: NICE TRY!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie starts to run again. She tries unsuccessfully to engage a couple pushing a baby carriage to help her.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to run again.

MIDDLE: She runs up beside a couple pushing a baby carriage. She is out of breath from her earlier sprint but tries to tell them that she is being held hostage and implores them to call the police.

END: The couple looks around, over their shoulder, to see who Sadie is talking to. When they realize it is them, they suddenly turn right, around a corner, without saying a word.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie calls after the couple. They don’t look back. The caller texts her again and attaches two short video clips of her stepchildren and her husband.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: As the couple moves away from her, they head right, straight toward the caller on the motorcycle with the flashlight. Sadie yells at the couple. They ignore her and speed up.

MIDDLE: The caller turns the flashlight off before the couple has a chance to notice them.

END: Shortly thereafter, Sadie receives a text. It includes a short video of her stepchildren playing at the park with them mother, followed by a video of Adam walking back from the mailbox to their house.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

Sadie continues running. It starts to rain. She looks to her right at every intersection. The person on the motorbike is still tracking her and shining a flashlight at her to let her know they are there.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie continues running. It starts to rain.

MIDDLE: She looks to her right at every intersection and sees the person on the motorcycle still tracking her.

END: The flashlight continues to shine in her direction. The rain makes the light look more sinister.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie has been running for over two hours and needs to urinate. She has been holding it for a while.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie has been running for over two hours. She starts to squirm as now she really needs to urinate. It is raining which gives her cover to just let the urine flow. She is already wet from head to toe.

MIDDLE: The urine runs down her legs and into her new shoes. Sadie is in agony as it hits a blister that has formed and popped.

END: Sadie clenches her teeth as she runs. She looks down. The inside of the left toe of her shoe is turning red with blood.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

It is an hour later, starting to get dark and the rain is really coming down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess. Sadie decides to flag down a car. Her attempt is thwarted when a motorcycle pulls up behind her and revs its motor.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: It is an hour later, starting to get dark and the rain is pounding down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess. The sidewalks are deserted. She gets strange looks from cars coming up beside her.

MIDDLE: A car pulls up beside Sadie and they start to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage them, a motorcycle pulls up behind her and revs its engine.

END: She blows them off, they roll up the window and continue. The motorcycle passes her and speeds off. She realizes that they probably weren’t the caller but just an impatient motorcyclist trying to get home and out of the rain. She continues running around and through puddles.

———————————————————————————

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN

Back at the office, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. They try to call her, but her phone goes direct to voice mail. They decide to head over to the client’s office and set up.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN

BEGINNING: Sadie’s team has everything loaded into their van. They are standing in a huddle discussing what they should do about their missing boss.

MIDDLE: Randy assures the group that Sadie will be there as he is dialing her cellphone. The call goes directly to voice mail. Randy leaves a message telling Sadie that he and the others are taking everything to the client’s office to set up and be ready when she gets there.

END: The gang picks up their purses and jackets and heads to the van. Randy tells everyone, as they are walking out, not to say anything to the client about Sadie’s whereabouts. He is sure she will show up.

———————————————————————————

Protagonist Takes on A Plan and Executes It (Key Scene 2)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie checks the time on her phone realizing she is going to miss her presentation. She decides she needs to contact the caller and negotiate her freedom. The rain is making it difficult for her fingers to text. She flips over to her recent phone calls and sees a number that she doesn’t recognize.

MIDDLE: Sadie hits the number. It starts to ring but goes directly to a voice mail with a standard response instructing her to leave a message. She leaves a message threatening that she is just about to call the caller’s bluff and stop running.

END: She puts her phone back in her leg pocket and keeps running.

———————————————————————————

EXT. VAN – NIGHT

Randy decides to drive the van over to where he knows Sadie likes to go for a short run. He wonders if maybe she is injured or something.

EXT. VAN – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Randy takes a sudden turn with the van, deciding to quickly drive the route he knows Sadie takes when she’s going on a short run.

MIDDLE: The gang asks him what he’s doing, and he lies saying that he saw an alert on his phone about a roadblock. He drives the path and then cuts back to the main route.

END: Sadie is no where to be seen on this short route. She has been running for over three hours.

———————————————————————————

Not Only Does Their Plan Fail But… (Key Scene 3)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Hearing nothing back from the caller, Sadie feels desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Receiving no response to her message to the caller, and feeling desperate, Sadie decides she must do something. She sees a cab coming up beside her. As it passes, she speeds up, bangs on the window and when the cab slows, she opens the door and jumps in the back seat with a couple who are dressed to the nines and heading for a night out on the town.

MIDDLE: The couple recoils at Sadie’s condition. Her phones starts to emit an ear-piercing sound that she can’t stop. She fumbles with her phone and drops it on the floor. While she is bent over retrieving it, the cabbie stops the cab, jumps out and runs around to the back passenger door. He pulls Sadie out and slams the door, runs back around, jumps in, and takes off.

END: Sadie crumbles to the ground with her cellphone in her hand. It vibrates. She takes the call and a digital voice yells, STAND UP AND RUN!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie drags herself up onto her feet. She slowly moves from a trudging walk to a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie drags herself onto her hands and knees. She grabs a tree and pulls herself up onto her feet.

MIDDLE: Sadie puts one soggy foot in front of another as she moves from a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog. She resigns herself to the fact that she will miss her presentation. And she knows that no one will believe her, ‘the dog ate my homework’ story.

END: Sadie feels something dangling and banging against her leg. She grabs a cord and realizes it is her iPod touch that she uses to listen to music. It was in her sleeve cuff but fell out when she was pulled out of the cab. The earphones are around her neck. Sadie immediately wonders how she might be able to use her iPod to get a message to Adam.

———————————————————————————

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

In between intersections, Sadie opens the Facetime on her iPod touch and plugs in Adam’s phone number. It rings and Adam picks it up right away. He asks her what is going on and tells her that he and everyone else she knows has been trying to get in touch with her.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: As Sadie runs between intersections, she slows down enough that she hopes the caller will not notice. She opens Facetime on her iPod and plugs in Adam’s phone number. He picks it up right away.

MIDDLE: Sadie starts crying and talking, trying to tell Adam what she is going through and how she doesn’t know what to do. She finally breaks down and is hysterical. Adam yells at her to stop screaming, catch her breath and slow down.

END: Sadie takes a beat and then realizes she is coming to an intersection. She hides the iPod in her hand and puts her hand down alongside her leg. Adam calls out wondering where she has gone.

———————————————————————————

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 2 MIDDLE SCENES

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned doing this assignment is just to keep going.

ASSIGNMENT 14

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be a loner.

Act 1

Inciting Incident

In New York City, Sadie breaks up with her longtime boyfriend. It has been a long time coming. She accepts a proposal from her company’s CEO that she move to Vancouver, BC, and establish a branch of the advertising agency. A partnership could be in the offering if she is successful in Vancouver.

Turning Point

Sadie settles into her new work life in Vancouver, and she meets the love of her life. She goes out for an afternoon run immediately preceding a major presentation and is taken hostage by a caller using her cellphone.

Act 2

Reaction to the Turning Point in Act 1 (Key Scene 1)

Sadie is trapped but knows she must do something. She makes several obvious attempts to test the caller and see how trapped she really might be. Everything is up to her. Her old ways have her needing to figure this all out to free herself.

EXT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie keeps running. She decides she must do something.

EXT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie keeps running but realizes she must do something. She decides to test the caller by jumping up onto the sidewalk and running among walkers.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives no reaction to her jump to the sidewalk. She slows to a walk.

END: Her phone vibrates with a text, RUN!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (MOMENTS LATER)

Sadie sprints full out. When she crosses at the intersection she doesn’t see the motor bike.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to sprint, all out for a block.

MIDDLE: Just as she arrives at the intersection the light turns green. She crosses the street looking to the right and doesn’t see the motorcycle.

END: She thinks she may be in the clear, so she slows to a walk again.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

As Sadie walks she dials 911 on her cellphone.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: While walking, Sadie dials 911 on her cellphone.

MIDDLE: Her cellphone makes a funny sounds. A digitally enhanced voice chimes in…

END: NICE TRY!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie starts to run again. She tries unsuccessfully to engage a couple pushing a baby carriage to help her.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to run again.

MIDDLE: She runs up beside a couple pushing a baby carriage. She is out of breath from her earlier sprint but tries to tell them that she is being held hostage and implores them to call the police.

END: The couple looks around, over their shoulder, to see who Sadie is talking to. When they realize it is them, they suddenly turn right, around a corner, without saying a word.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie calls after the couple. They don’t look back. The caller texts her again and attaches two short video clips of her stepchildren and her husband.

<br clear=”all”>

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: As the couple moves away from her, they head right, straight toward the caller on the motorcycle with the flashlight. Sadie yells at the couple. They ignore her and speed up.

MIDDLE: The caller turns the flashlight off before the couple has a chance to notice them.

END: Shortly thereafter, Sadie receives a text. It includes a short video of her stepchildren playing at the park with them mother, followed by a video of Adam walking back from the mailbox to their house.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

Sadie continues running. It starts to rain. She looks to her right at every intersection. The person on the motorbike is still tracking her and shining a flashlight at her to let her know they are there.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie continues running. It starts to rain.

MIDDLE: She looks to her right at every intersection and sees the person on the motorcycle still tracking her.

END: The flashlight continues to shine in her direction. The rain makes the light look more sinister.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie has been running for over two hours and needs to urinate. She has been holding it for a while.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie has been running for over two hours. She starts to squirm as now she really needs to urinate. It is raining which gives her cover to just let the urine flow. She is already wet from head to toe.

MIDDLE: The urine runs down her legs and into her new shoes. Sadie is in agony as it hits a blister that has formed and popped.

END: Sadie clenches her teeth as she runs. She looks down. The inside of the left toe of her shoe is turning red with blood.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

It is an hour later, starting to get dark and the rain is really coming down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess. Sadie decides to flag down a car. Her attempt is thwarted when a motorcycle pulls up behind her and revs its motor.

<br clear=”all”>

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: It is an hour later, starting to get dark and the rain is pounding down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess. The sidewalks are deserted. She gets strange looks from cars coming up beside her.

MIDDLE: A car pulls up beside Sadie and they start to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage them, a motorcycle pulls up behind her and revs its engine.

END: She blows them off, they roll up the window and continue. The motorcycle passes her and speeds off. She realizes that they probably weren’t the caller but just an impatient motorcyclist trying to get home and out of the rain. She continues running around and through puddles.

———————————————————————————

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN

Back at the office, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. They try to call her, but her phone goes direct to voice mail. They decide to head over to the client’s office and set up.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN

BEGINNING: Sadie’s team has everything loaded into their van. They are standing in a huddle discussing what they should do about their missing boss.

MIDDLE: Randy assures the group that Sadie will be there as he is dialing her cellphone. The call goes directly to voice mail. Randy leaves a message telling Sadie that he and the others are taking everything to the client’s office to set up and be ready when she gets there.

END: The gang picks up their purses and jackets and heads to the van. Randy tells everyone, as they are walking out, not to say anything to the client about Sadie’s whereabouts. He is sure she will show up.

———————————————————————————

Protagonist Takes on A Plan and Executes It (Key Scene 2)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie checks the time on her phone realizing she is going to miss her presentation. She decides she needs to contact the caller and negotiate her freedom. The rain is making it difficult for her fingers to text. She flips over to her recent phone calls and sees a number that she doesn’t recognize.

MIDDLE: Sadie hits the number. It starts to ring but goes directly to a voice mail with a standard response instructing her to leave a message. She leaves a message threatening that she is just about to call the caller’s bluff and stop running.

END: She puts her phone back in her leg pocket and keeps running.

———————————————————————————

EXT. VAN – NIGHT

Randy decides to drive the van over to where he knows Sadie likes to go for a short run. He wonders if maybe she is injured or something.

EXT. VAN – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Randy takes a sudden turn with the van, deciding to quickly drive the route he knows Sadie takes when she’s going on a short run.

MIDDLE: The gang asks him what he’s doing, and he lies saying that he saw an alert on his phone about a roadblock. He drives the path and then cuts back to the main route.

END: Sadie is no where to be seen on this short route. She has been running for over three hours.

———————————————————————————

Not Only Does Their Plan Fail But… (Key Scene 3)

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Hearing nothing back from the caller, Sadie feels desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Receiving no response to her message to the caller, and feeling desperate, Sadie decides she must do something. She sees a cab coming up beside her. As it passes, she speeds up, bangs on the window and when the cab slows, she opens the door and jumps in the back seat with a couple who are dressed to the nines and heading for a night out on the town.

MIDDLE: The couple recoils at Sadie’s condition. Her phones starts to emit an ear-piercing sound that she can’t stop. She fumbles with her phone and drops it on the floor. While she is bent over retrieving it, the cabbie stops the cab, jumps out and runs around to the back passenger door. He pulls Sadie out and slams the door, runs back around, jumps in, and takes off.

END: Sadie crumbles to the ground with her cellphone in her hand. It vibrates. She takes the call and a digital voice yells, STAND UP AND RUN!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie drags herself up onto her feet. She slowly moves from a trudging walk to a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie drags herself onto her hands and knees. She grabs a tree and pulls herself up onto her feet.

MIDDLE: Sadie puts one soggy foot in front of another as she moves from a bent-over, slow foot-dragging jog to an upright jog.

END: She resigns herself to the fact that she will miss her presentation. And she knows that no one will believe her, ‘the dog ate my homework’ story.

———————————————————————————

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 2 REACTION TO TURNING POINT 1

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of setups. I can see that I will have to do additional passes in the future just dealing with setups. Some of the scenes feel a bit abrupt.

I was also working 3-4 days behind this past week but just kept going. When I finish this assignment, I’m still 3 weeks behind. I’m not stressing as much now about being behind as I was in the beginning. I don’t know if that’s a good thing?

ASSIGNMENT 13

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be a loner.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie keeps running. She decides she must do something.

EXT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie keeps running but realizes she must do something. She decides to test the caller by jumping up onto the sidewalk and running among walkers.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives no reaction to her jump to the sidewalk. She slows to a walk.

END: Her phone vibrates with a text, RUN!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (MOMENTS LATER)

Sadie sprints full out. When she crosses at the intersection she doesn’t see the motor bike.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (MOMENTS LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to sprint, all out for a block.

MIDDLE: Just as she arrives at the intersection the light turns green. She crosses the street looking to the right and doesn’t see the motorcycle.

END: She thinks she may have outsmarted the caller, so she slows to a walk again.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

As Sadie walks she dials 911 on her cellphone.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: While walking, Sadie dials 911 on her cellphone.

MIDDLE: Her cellphone makes a funny sounds. A digitally enhanced voice chimes in…

END: NICE TRY!

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie starts to run again.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: Sadie starts to run again.

MIDDLE: She runs up beside a couple pushing a baby carriage. She is out of breath from her earlier sprint but tries to tell them that she is being held hostage and implores them to call the police.

END: They look around to see who Sadie is talking to. When they realize it is them, they suddenly turn a corner, right, without saying a word.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Sadie calls after the couple. They don’t look back. The caller texts her again and attaches a couple of short video clips of her stepchildren and her husband.

EXT. STREETS – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

BEGINNING: As the couple moves away from her, they head right, straight toward the caller on the motorcycle with the flashlight. Sadie yells at the couple. They ignore her and speed up.

MIDDLE: The caller turns the flashlight off before the couple has a chance to notice them.

END: Shortly thereafter, Sadie receives a text. It includes a short video of her stepchildren playing at the park with them mother, followed by a video of Adam walking back from the mailbox to their house.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

Sadie continues running. It starts to rain. She looks to her right at every intersection. The person on the motorbike is still tracking her and shining a flashlight at her to let her know they are there.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK (LATER)

BEGINNING: Sadie continues running. It starts to rain.

MIDDLE: She looks to her right at every intersection and sees the person on the motorcycle still tracking her.

END: The flashlight continues to shine in her direction. The rain makes the light look more sinister.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (Turning Point 2)

Sadie has been running for over two hours and needs to urinate. She has been holding it for a while.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie has been running for over two hours. She starts to squirm as now she really needs to urinate. It is raining which gives her cover to just let the urine flow. She is already wet from head to toe.

MIDDLE: The urine runs down her legs and into her new shoes. Sadie is in agony as it hits a blister that has formed and popped.

END: Sadie clenches her teeth as she runs. She looks down. The inside of the left toe of her shoe is turning red with blood.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (LATER)

It is an hour later, almost totally dark and the rain is really coming down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT (LATER)

BEGINNING: It is an hour later, almost dark and the rain is pounding down. Sadie’s bangs are flat against her forehead, her ponytail has fallen, and her feet are bloody. She is a mess. The sidewalks are deserted. She gets strange looks from cars coming up beside her.

MIDDLE: A car pulls up beside Sadie and they start to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage them, a motorcycle pulls up behind her and revs its engine.

END: She blows them off, they roll up the window and continue. The motorcycle passes her and speeds off. She realizes that they probably weren’t the caller but just an impatient motorcyclist trying to get home and out of the rain.

———————————————————————————

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN

Back at the office, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. They try to call her, but her phone goes direct to voice mail. They decide to head over to the client’s office and set up.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN

BEGINNING: Sadie’s team is in a huddle discussing what they should do about their missing boss.

MIDDLE: Randy assures the group that Sadie will be there as he is dialing her cellphone. The call goes directly to voice mail. Randy leaves a message telling Sadie that he is concerned and that he and the others are taking everything to the client’s office to set up and be ready when she gets there.

END: The gang picks up purses and jackets and heads to the client. Randy tells everyone, as they are walking out, not to say anything to the client about Sadie’s whereabouts. She will show up.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She sees no evidence that anyone has tried to get in contact with her.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie checks the time on her phone realizing she is going to miss her presentation. She starts to worry about her employees and what they must be thinking about her absence. She hasn’t received any calls from anyone, not even Adam.

MIDDLE: The old Sadie would be thinking only about the business loss of missing the presentation. The new Sadie is thinking about how worried Adam and her co-workers must be.

END: She puts her phone back in her leg pocket and keeps running.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Randy decides to drive the van over to where he knows Sadie likes to go for a short run. He wonders if maybe she is injured or something.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Randy takes a sudden turn with the van, deciding to quickly drive the route he knows Sadie takes when she’s going on a short run.

MIDDLE: The gang asks him what he’s doing and he lies saying that he saw an alert on his phone about a road block. He drives the path and then cuts back to the main route.

END: Sadie is no where to be seen on this short route. She has been running for over three hours.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

Sadie is starting to feel desperate. She decides she is going to jump in a car, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. Her plan backfires and she gets booted from the cab.

EXT. STREETS – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Feeling desperate, Sadie decides she must do something. She sees a cab coming up beside her. As it passes, she speeds up, bangs on the window and when the cab slows, she opens the door and jumps in the back seat with a couple dressed to the nines and heading out on the town.

MIDDLE: The couple recoil at Sadie’s condition. Her phones starts to emit an ear-piercing sound that she can’t stop. The cabbie stops the cab, jumps out and runs around to the back passenger door. He pulls Sadie out and slams the door, runs back around, jumps in and takes off.

END: Sadie crumbles to the ground. Her cellphone vibrates. She takes the call and a digital voice yells, STAND UP AND RUN!

———————————————————————————

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S FINISHING ACT 1

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

I’m a little lost on writing format at this stage. In the assignment it states:

1. Outline any other scenes left to write in Act 1 (or use Placeholder) – I have done this

2. Write a 20% draft of those scenes – for this part I carried on with the Beg, Mid, End format but included almost no dialogue. I see others including dialogue. Should I be?

The BEATS and OUTLINE below are similar to Assignment 11 because I had gone to the end of Act 1 in that assignment due to speed writing (love it) and momentum. In my final review of Act 1 I made a few changes.

ASSIGNMENT 12

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Theme

Sadie has never had to think about anyone but herself. Because of that, she places very little value on relationships and family. She is confident as it relates to her skills in her career but insecure as a partner and family member. Can the right person make the difference in her life or is she destined to be a loner.

———————————————————————————

EXT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING (Introduction of Protagonist)

SADIE runs through Central Park looking like a pro and listening to music when she receives a phone call from her supposed-to-be ex-boyfriend THOMAS.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING (Introduction of Protagonist)

BEGINNING: Sadie runs on a trail through central park, decked out in the latest running gear, wearing a set of bone conduction headphones, and listening to her favourite running music from an iTouch in her sleeve cuff. She ducks and weaves between other parkgoers using the trail.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives a call from her supposed-to-be ex-boyfriend THOMAS.

END: She plugs an earbud and hanging microphone into her ear and answers.

———————————————————————————

INT. TOWNHOUSE FAMILY ROOM – MORNING (Introduction of Antagonist)

Thomas sits on a sofa playing a video game. He stops his game to tell Sadie he is not accepting that they are done and tells her that she cannot make a unilateral decision to end their relationship. They need to talk.

INT. TOWNHOUSE FAMILY ROOM – MORNING

BEGINNING: Thomas sits on a sofa in the family room of Sadie’s Townhouse, with a remote control on his lap and a video game frozen on Sadie’s TV. He proceeds to tell Sadie that after two years together, she cannot unilaterally cut things off with no discussion.

MIDDLE: He tells Sadie they need to talk.

END: He reactivates his game.

———————————————————————————

PLACEHOLDER: I would like there to be a scene that alternates between Sadie running and an avatar running on a close-up of the video game Thomas is playing. The theme being, they are both running.

———————————————————————————

EXT. CENTRAL PARK – CONTINUOUS

Sadie tells Thomas they have come to this point way too many times before. There is nothing left to talk about, and she would like for him to be gone when she gets home. She yanks the earbud out of her ear.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK – CONTINUOUS

BEGINNING: Sadie tells Thomas they have come to this point way too many times and that there is nothing left to talk about.

MIDDLE: She lets him know that she should have ended it sooner, but she has been too busy at work, and she let things slide. She tells him that letting it slide was her fault. She reiterates that she wants him gone when she gets home, yanks the earbud from her ear and ends the call. Sadie receives a call back from Thomas, but she ignores it.

END: The phone vibrates again. Sadie ignores it again, at first, and then realizes it is her work phone. She hurries to take the call from a phone in her running tights leg pocket. There is a voicemail from SHEILA, the Executive Assistant for her company’s CEO MITCHELL BAKKEN advising Sadie that Mitchell would like to see her right away as soon as she gets into the office.

———————————————————————————

EXT. CENTRAL PARK – MOMENTS LATER

Sadie approaches the building where she works. She runs up the staircase. The double glass doors automatically open as she nears, and she disappears into the building.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK – MOMENTS LATER

BEGINNING: Sadie takes a sharp turn to head back towards her office building.

MIDDLE: Stopping at the foot of the steps to her building, she catches a final breath and runs up the steps to the front doors.

END: Sadie disappears through the sliding glass doors of the building.

———————————————————————————

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – MORNING

Sadie arrives at work through automatic glass doors. She drops her items with a young lady standing at a nearby desk, who takes the items and hands her a clipboard. She proceeds to the CEO’s office.

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie, now coiffed and fully dressed in business attire, bursts through the automatic doors into the office bullpen removing her jacket as she goes. She hands her jacket and her purse to a young lady standing at a nearby desk who receives the items, says good morning, and hands Sadie a clipboard and pen. Sadie does not respond and keeps moving toward the CEO’s corner office.

MIDDLE: As she approaches the glass door she can see that her direct boss, OLIVER NAM, is in the CEO’s office as well.

END: Sadie stops at the door, straightens her blazer, touches the tight bun on the top of her head, tucks the clipboard under her arm and peaks her head in the door first, and then enters.

———————————————————————————

INT. CEO’S OFFICE – MORNING

Mitchell, the CEO of New York’s Global Advertising Management Executives (GAME) offers Sadie an opportunity to start a new branch office in Vancouver, BC.

INT. CEO’S OFFICE – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie enters the CEO’s office. Mitchell and Oliver are standing, Mitchell behind his chair with his hands resting on the back of the chair and Oliver leaning on the end of the CEO’s desk with his arms folded across his chest. Mitchell motions to a chair and for her to take a seat. Sadie opts to stand behind the guest seat with her clipboard resting on the back of the chair.

MIDDLE: Mitchell tells Sadie that he would like her to take on a big project for the agency, one of opening a branch on the West Coast of Canada, in Vancouver, BC. He assures her that with her work ethic she is the best person for the job. She will need to find a location and hire her own staff. Oliver nods in agreement, tells her that he does not know how he will replace her.

END: Sadie asks if she can think about it over the weekend. Mitchell agrees and advises her that a potential partnership could be hinging on her decision.

While Mitchell is talking Sadie’s personal phone vibrates in her pocket.

———————————————————————————

INT. HALLWAY – MORNING

Just as Sadie is leaving the CEO’s office, she retrieves a text message from Thomas advising her that he will have dinner ready when she gets home so that they can sit down and talk.

INT. HALLWAY- MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie stops suddenly in the hallway outside the CEO’s door to retrieve a text from Thomas that was delivered while she was in the meeting.

MIDDLE: Thomas tells her he will make dinner so that they can sit down and talk. Sadie slides the clipboard under her arm freeing up both arms to type.

END: She tells Thomas they are done. She sends him a message that says simply, ‘GET OUT.’

———————————————————————————

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DUSK

Sadie shuts down the office to begin her run home.

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – DUSK

BEGINNING: Always the last to leave, Sadie thrashes about outside her office, closing blinds, flicking off lights, pulling doors shut and locking doors.

MIDDLE: Sadie picks up her backpack, flips it onto her back, looks down at her phone and sees no further messages from Thomas.

END: Sadie walks to the elevator in the hallway, pushes the button, places her hand up on the door and rests her head on her arm. The door opens. She jolts upright, walks in, turns around and leans against the back wall as the doors slowly close.

———————————————————————————

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie bursts out of the building through the automatic glass doors on the main floor and heads out running into the city.

EXT. STREETS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie bursts out of the building through the automatic glass doors on the main floor and heads out running into the city.

MIDDLE: She ducks and weaves between cars, both parked and moving, not waiting for crossing lights, distracted and eager to get home. Cars honk as they avoid her.

END: She leaves the street and heads toward a crowded sidewalk.

———————————————————————————

EXT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

Sadie runs recklessly, down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening to get home quickly.

EXT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie hops onto a sidewalk and off the busy street.

MIDDLE: Sadie runs recklessly, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike as she demonstrates total disregard for bystanders.

END: She hops off the sidewalk and turns the corner to her street.

———————————————————————————

EXT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

Feeling the pressure build, Sadie starts to sprint at full speed down her street to the foot of the steps of her townhouse.

EXT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie slowly picks up speed until she is at a full out sprint down her street.

MIDDLE: She runs up the sidewalk to the foot of the steps of her townhouse, stops abruptly, and bends over, out of breath. Catching her breath, she glances up to see a shadowy figure moving about her kitchen.

END: Sadie rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and bursts through the door throwing her pack in the corner. She can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously about it being over.

———————————————————————————

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

Sadie confronts Thomas. She tells him this is it; they are done.

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie storms into the kitchen confronting Thomas who is playing a video game through the doorway on the TV in the adjoining family room. The table has two place settings, a couple of beers and condiments for spaghetti and meat sauce. She yells, this is it, they are done. He still does not seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

MIDDLE: To prove they are done Sadie yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The boiling water splashes up on the window behind the sink and the glass cracks. The noodles end up in the sink.

Thomas, with a controller in one hand, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce with an oven mitt threatening to throw it in his direction if he does not leave right now.

END: He finally gets the message and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

———————————————————————————

EXT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

Thomas returns.

EXT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: An hour later, Thomas pulls in behind a huge white van marked LOCKSMITH.

MIDDLE: The van doesn’t register with Thomas until he sees the locksmith working on Sadie’s front door.

END: As Thomas starts up the sidewalk, he sees a half dozen clear plastic bags piled up on the stoop., bags that contain his belongings.

———————————————————————————

EXT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Thomas engages a locksmith changing the locks to Sadie’s Townhouse. He has also been paid to deliver Thomas’ belongings to his apartment.

EXT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Thomas walks to the stoop. The locksmith asks him if the containers are his to which he affirms they are. He tells him the lady who lives here gave him five $100 dollar bills to deliver the bags to his apartment address.

MIDDLE: Thomas says he will take them and starts loading his car. The locksmith helps him, all the while consoling him about the obvious breakup.

END: The locksmith rings Sadie’s doorbell to let her know he is done, but no one answers. He slips an invoice for the job through the slot and is about to follow up with the five $100 bills. Instead, he hesitates. The bills go in his pocket.

———————————————————————————

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Sadie sits on the floor with her back against the inside of the front door sobbing. It is finally over.

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie hears Thomas’ car pull away. She looks through the peep hole to confirm he is gone.

MIDDLE: She turns her back to the inside of her front door and slides down to the floor.

END: Sadie puts her head in her hands and sobs.

———————————————————————————

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning, that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC.

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC.

MIDDLE: He tells her that during the following week’s marketing conference in Whistler, BC., her appointment will be announced. He then suggests that she stay in Vancouver for a few days after the conference to do a location assessment for the new office. He will hook her up with a young man named RANDY who will help her out. He comes highly recommended, and she may want to consider hiring him as her assistant.

END: Sadie sees the Vancouver project as a way of breaking from Thomas and having a fresh start.

———————————————————————————

INT. BULLPEN – DAY

From her office, Sadie spots Thomas talking to her assistant Sheila.

INT. BULLPEN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie walks through the Bullpen towards her office.

MIDDLE: She sees Thomas chatting with Sheila, Sadie’s assistant.

END: She enters her office and drops a folder on her desk labelled ‘New Office Project, LOCATION: Vancouver, BC.’

———————————————————————————

INT. SADIE’S OFFICE – DAY

Sadie tries to ignore Thomas and focuses on the folder in front of her.

INT. SADIE’S OFFICE – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie sits at her desk, pulls the project folder in front of her, opens it and pretends to focus on its contents. Thomas follows her in and asks if she wants to go downstairs and grab breakfast at the diner. She closes the folder and does not reply. Sheila appears with two cups of coffee. Sadie takes one of the cups and tells Sheila they won’t need the other one. Sheila looks confused but complies.

MIDDLE: Thomas motions to the folder and asks if Sadie is planning a move. Sadie still does not reply. Thomas reaches down, grabs the tab on the folder to open it. Sadie slams it down and tells Thomas that she prefers not to make a scene but if he does not leave her office immediately, she WILL call security.

END: Thomas leaves Sadie’s office. She quickly closes her door. Thomas doesn’t leave the bullpen right away. He continues to stop and talk to almost everyone on his way out. She realizes that, over the years, he has really inserted himself into her life.

———————————————————————————

EXT. MOUNTAIN – DAY

Sadie is lined up with a bunch of other conference attendees taking a ski lesson provided by the host city. She is partnered with a guy from one of the exhibition booths.

EXT. MOUNTAIN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie awkwardly shuffles on her skis into a lineup of students ready for a ski lesson provided by the host city of the conference. She is partnered up with a guy from one of the exhibition booths. His name is ADAM.

MIDDLE: They make small talking discovering that neither of them has ever skied before. Someone at the end of the line falls and the entire lineup of new skiers fall like dominoes. Sadie lands on Adam. She is embarrassed and apologizes while realizing that she cannot stand up. An instructor moves along the line pulling skiers to their feet.

END: The instructor tells the group, ‘Ok, our first lesson will be how to get up when you fall.’ Everyone laughs.

———————————————————————————

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

Sadie sits at a table with a vacant seat beside her. Mitchell sits down and again thank Sadie for taking on the challenge of the Vancouver, BC., office. Sadie thanks him for the opportunity and asks if TRISH, his wife, is here. He advises her that she won’t likely be coming to any more conferences as they have separated.

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie sits at a table with a vacant seat beside her. Mitchell sits down and again thanks Sadie for taking on the challenge of the Vancouver, BC., office. She thanks him for the opportunity and asks if his wife TRISH is here at the conference.

MIDDLE: Mitchell advises Sadie that Trish will not be attending any more conferences as they have split up. He says she refuses to continue ranking second to the agency.

END: Sadie is saddened and expresses to Mitchell that she will miss spending time with her at these events.

———————————————————————————

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

Adam approaches the table just as Mitchell is standing up. He sits down beside Sadie and sets two drinks on the table in front of them.

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam approaches a table with a couple of drinks. He sees Mitchell sitting in his seat but also notices that he is starting to stand up. Once Mitchell bids adieu, Adam sets one down in front of Sadie and sits with the other one beside her. A speaker, the MC, at the front of the room taps his microphone to get everyone’s attention. He announces that this is the section of the night called ‘Movers and Shakers’, where we give you an update of who is moving where and when.

MIDDLE: The MC invites the group to thank the chef and her staff for the meal. The group claps vigorously. He then proceeds to make announcements of all the movements there have been over the past year and shortly to come. They get to Sadie when the speaker announces that SE Hilliard will be re-locating to Vancouver, BC, to open a branch of GAME, aka Global Advertising Management Executives. He asks the group to give her a hand.

END: Adam claps particularly vigorously.

———————————————————————————

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY – NIGHT

Sadie and Adam linger awkwardly at her hotel room door thanking each other for a great evening. They decide to spend a little more time together.

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie and Adam stop at the door to Sadie’s hotel room. They stand awkwardly and start to thank each other for a great evening.

MIDDLE: Adam tells Sadie he hopes to have a chance to see her again when she moves to Vancouver. Sadie assures him she would love that. He says he doesn’t want the night to end.

END: Sadie opens the door behind her back and slowly moves her and Adam into her room.

———————————————————————————

EXT. BUILDING STEPS – DAY

Sadie and Randy come out of a building in downtown Vancouver. She offers him the job of being her executive assistant and they shake hands.

EXT. BUILDING STEPS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie and Randy exit the building and stand on the top of the steps. Sadie motions to the beautiful scenery which is a renowned seawall that is just across the street. She comments that the location couldn’t be more perfect.

MIDDLE: Randy agrees and confirms that this is the right choice for the agency. He informs her that, coincidentally, he lives in an apartment just down the street.

END: Sadie takes the opportunity to offer Randy a job as her executive assistant to which he accepts, and they shake hands.

———————————————————————————

MONTAGE – VARIOUS

INT. AGENCY OFFICE – DAY

People coming and going, painting, hanging up pictures, moving desks into place, and hanging up the company signage on the front glass window.

INT. RESTAURANT – DAY

Sadie and Adam enjoy lunch in his favourite restaurant.

INT. BOARDROOM – DAY

Sadie doing a presentation to her team in a board room with Randy by her side flipping slides on the computer.

EXT. SEAWALL – DUSK

Sadie and Adam running along the seawall in one direction.

EXT. SEAWALL – DAY

Sadie and Adam are running along the seawall in the other direction with his two children riding their bikes alongside them.

INT. ADAM’S HOME OFFICE – DAY

Adam reclines back in his chair Facetiming with Sadie on his computer monitor.

INT. AGENCY – DAY

Sadie cuts the ribbon on the opening of the Vancouver office. Mitchell is there to shake her hand.

EXT. PARK – DAY

Sadie and Adam pose for a wedding photo in a park with his two children standing beside them.

END OF MONTAGE

———————————————————————————

INT. BULLPEN/BOARDROOM – DAY

Sadie walks through the bullpen telling her team members it’s time for the mock presentation in the boardroom. She reminds them how important the account is and shows signs of her micro-managing nature.

INT. BULLPEN/BOARDROOM – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie walks through the bullpen corralling her team into the boardroom for a mock presentation in preparation for the real presentation she is scheduled to give in a week. She thanks them for their contributions and lets them all know how important this account is and how it will be a real boon for the agency.

MIDDLE: The boardroom is all set up. Each member has done their part. Randy is at the computer ready to run the slides for Sadie. CANDACE, a technology whiz, dims the lights.

END: Randy starts the slide show.

———————————————————————————

INT. BOARDROOM/BULLPEN – DAY

Sadie finishes the presentation and asks the group for comments. They praise her delivery. This is where she excels. Sadie suggests they go around the table and ask each member for their comment or suggestions for improvement. Every suggestion is explained away by Sadie with a reason she has it the way it is. She is very confident in what she has done, and it shows.

INT. BOARDROOM/BULLPEN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie finishes the presentation and asks the group for comments. They praise her delivery. This is where she excels.

MIDDLE: Sadie suggests they go around the table and ask each member for their comment or suggestions for improvement. Every suggestion is explained away by Sadie with a reason she has it the way it is. She is very confident in what she has done, and it shows.

END: The group disburses back into the bullpen. Candace is looking discouraged at having her tech ideas rebuffed.

———————————————————————————

INT. OFFICE – DAY

Sadie calls Adam to tell him she won’t be home for dinner as she is putting the finishing touches on her presentation. She doesn’t realize she will miss Ada’s fifth birthday. She doesn’t change her mind.

INT. LOCATION – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie calls Adam to let him know she will not be home for dinner. She is putting the finishing touches on her big presentation.

MIDDLE: Adam reminds her that he is hosting Ada’s fifth birthday at dinner to which Sadie apologizes but does not offer to try and make it.

END: Adam tells her he will invite Ada’s mom, his ex-wife HANNAH to fill the empty seat at dinner.

———————————————————————————

INT. BAR – NIGHT

After Ada’s birthday party and dinner, Hannah takes the kids home to get ready for school the next day. Adam goes to meet a friend at a bar.

INT. BAR – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam enters the bar and joins a friend, WILL, at his table. They greet each other with a dude’s handshake. Adam sits down. WILL asks him how married life is treating him.

MIDDLE: Adam shares with Will that he knew Sadie would be busy opening a new agency, but he wasn’t quite prepared for how much time she puts into that project as compared to the amount of time she puts into their family and being a new Stepmom to a couple of young children. Will, being a good friend, listens intently. He offers an opinion that maybe once she’s got this big presentation under her belt she’ll settle in a bit.

END: Adam suggests that they drop that topic and shoot some pool.

———————————————————————————

INT. OFFICE – AFTERNOON

Sadie receives a phone call in the afternoon. It is Adam telling her she forgot to pick up the kids from school. Hannah couldn’t do it and Adam was busy with a client as well. Sadie had agreed to pick up the kids.

INT. OFFICE – AFTERNOON

BEGINNING: Sadie sits staring at her computer screen when her phone vibrates. It is Adam. She answers.

MIDDLE: Adam asks Sadie if she is supposed to be somewhere. Sadie suddenly remembers she was supposed to pick up the kids from school. She jumps up and assures Adam she is on her way.

END: Adam tells Sadie it does not work that way. He tells Sadie the school called Hannah and Hannah called Adam who had to cut off his meeting with his client go get them. He advised Sadie that her name was ‘mud’ for the moment. He tells her she will need to call Hannah and apologize and then apologize to the kids.

———————————————————————————

INT. FAMILY ROOM – NIGHT

Sadie and Adam have a conversation about the missed pickup. He tells her that stopping by to talk to Hannah in person was a nice touch as was reading the kids two bedtime stories instead of one. He brings up the idea of a honeymoon which they haven’t yet had.

INT. FAMILY ROOM – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie and Adam have a conversation about the day’s activities, specifically forgetting to pick up the kids from school. Sadie makes amens by stopping by in-person to apologize to Hannah and assures her it won’t happen again. She reads the kids two bedtime stories instead of one complete with animated voices. She has never read them bedtime stories before.

MIDDLE: Adam thanks Sadie for her efforts to smooth the waters and suggests that it is time for them to think about finally going on a honeymoon.

END: Sadie agrees but asks Adam if that discussion can wait until she has finished the big presentation she is preparing. Adam agrees.

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PLACEHOLDER: need to include a few scenes where Sadie and the two kids interact. When they are together they all get along. But often, Sadie lets them down by not being able to attend sporting events or school activities.

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INT. OFFICE – NIGHT

Thomas calls Sadie at her office. He just wants to ask her how she is doing. He tells her he went for a beer with VJ KILMER the other day who told him that he and Sadie would be competing for business in the big presentation.

INT. OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie’s cellphone rings while she sits at her desk at work still preparing for her big presentation. It is Thomas who has just called to say hello and ask her how she is doing. She responds that things are going well and she’s just preparing for a big presentation so she can’t talk long.

MIDDLE: Thomas tells her he knows about the presentation because he had a beer last night with VJ KILMER, Sadie’s competition from a New York advertising agency.

END: Even though Sadie knows that Thomas made a few friends in the industry when they were together, this association makes her a little bit nervous. She tells him she has to go, and they end the call.

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INT. BULLPEN – DAY

The big day has arrived, the day of the presentation. Sadie is talking to her team in the bullpen, giving them instructions for getting set up in the client’s boardroom. She is dressed in her running gear.

INT. BULLPEN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie stands in the bullpen talking to Randy about making sure that everyone knows what they must do to get set up in the client’s boardroom. She is dressed in her running gear and lets him know that she will be going out for a quick run and will join him in the boardroom for a run through in an hour and a half.

MIDDLE: Randy assures her that everything is ready to go. He wants to bring the team along for the presentation, but he is pretty sure that if he asks, Sadie will say no, so he doesn’t ask.

END: Sadie heads out for her run. Randy rallies the troupe.

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INT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie heads out of the building into the streets of Vancouver. Barely out the door, her cellphone vibrates. She plugs her earphone/microphone piece in. It is Mitchell calling from New York to wish her good luck and remind her that a potential partnership is riding on things going well.

INT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie bursts through the front doors of her building and runs down the steps. She has barely stepped out onto the street when her cellphone vibrates in her leg pocket. She pulls up the earpiece and hanging microphone and answers. It is Mitchell, her New York City CEO.

MIDDLE: Mitchell knows that Sadie always goes for a run before a big presentation but jokingly asks her if she is out running. She laughs and responds ‘of course’. He wishes her good luck and asks her if she feels ready. She responds ‘absolutely’.

END: Mitchell wishes her luck again and casually reminds her what is potentially riding on this presentation to which Sadie responds, ‘no pressure.’ He laughs and signs off.

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EXT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie makes her way out of the downtown core and into a section of the city that is not quite so busy. Her music is playing, and she is in the zone. Suddenly, her phone vibrates again. Her first thought is that it is Mitchell calling back with something he forgot to say. It is not Mitchell. It is a stranger telling her she needs to KEEP RUNNING.

EXT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie winds her way through cars, bikes, buses, and people, she finally makes it to a part of downtown that is not quite so congested. Her music is playing through her bone-conducting headphones, and she is in the zone.

MIDDLE: Her phone vibrates on her leg. Thinking it is probably Mitchell with some forgotten item from the last call, she grabs her phone out of her tights leg pocket and sees that it is not Mitchell. It is an UNKNOWN CALLER.

END: The text reads HAVE I GOT YOUR ATTENTION?

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INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

Sadie turns off her music and tries to focus on what is going on. A second text tells her if she doesn’t keep running her family will be hurt.

INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

BEGINNING: Sadie stops running and turns off her music. She looks at the text.

MIDDLE: The caller says she needs to KEEP RUNNING. They text again, ‘HAVE I GOT YOUR ATTENTION?’ ‘IF YES, RAISE YOUR ARM’. Sadie is frozen.

END: In all capitals comes a text that says IF YOU LOVE YOUR FAMILY…START RUNNING. And a photo of Ada and Wilf pops up on her phone followed by a photo of Adam.

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INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

Sadie starts running.

INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

BEGINNING: Sadie slowly starts running. As she goes, she types WHO IS THIS?

MIDDLE: The caller tells her to look to her right when she crosses through the next intersection. When she does, she sees someone on a motor bike shining a flashlight in her direction. They say, THAT’S WHO!

END: The caller texts a FACE SCREAMIG IN FEAR emoji followed by a CRYING emoji.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 1 TURNING POINT

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned doing this assignment is how possible it is that the final draft will look nothing like the first draft. Hal mentioned that he once asked a writer how many of the scenes in their first draft survived to the last draft and the answer was ‘one’. I wondered how that could possibly be. I am now starting to understand how that could be. I have made quite a few changes in my original thoughts already. Hopefully they are for the good of the script. LOL

I don’t think I’ve presented my Scene Beats and Scene Outline correctly but I’m leaving it as is for now in the spirit of saving time.

ASSIGNMENT 11

Main Concept

Thomas is bitter and wants to teach Sadie a lesson as a reaction to her dumping him. And he wants to save her new husband from suffering the same fate. Sadie goes for a run to get in the right frame of mind to make one of the most important pitches of her life. While running, by cellphone text, Sadie is threatened that if she stops running, something terrible will happen to her and her family, including her new husband’s children.

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OPENING SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING (Introduction of Protagonist)

SADIE runs through Central Park looking like a pro and listening to music when she receives a phone call from her supposed-to-be ex-boyfriend THOMAS.

INT. TOWNHOUSE FAMILY ROOM – MORNING (Introduction of Antagonist)

Thomas sits on a couch playing video games. He stops his game to tell Sadie he is not accepting that they are done and tells her that she cannot make a unilateral decision to end it. He will make dinner and they will talk.

PLACEHOLDER: I would like there to be a scene that alternates between Sadie running and running that is happening on a close-up of the TV showing Thomas’ video game action.

INTERCUT – PHONE CONVERSATION

Sadie tells Thomas they have been through this way too many times before. There is nothing to talk about and she would like for him to be gone when she gets home. She yanks the earbud out of her ear.

Thomas calls Sadie back and she ignores the call. The phone vibrates again. Sadie ignores it at first and then realizes it is her work phone vibrating. A voicemail advises Sadie that the big boss wants to see her as soon as she arrives.

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING

Sadie approaches the building where she works. She runs up the staircase. The double glass doors automatically open as she nears, and she disappears into the building.

OPENING SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie runs on a trail through central park, decked out in the latest running gear, wearing a set of bone conduction headphones, and listening to her favourite running music from an iTouch in her sleeve cuff. She ducks and weaves between other parkgoers using the trail.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives a call from her supposed-to-be ex-boyfriend THOMAS.

END: She plugs an earbud and hanging microphone into her ear and answers.

INT. TOWNHOUSE FAMILY ROOM – MORNING

BEGINNING: Thomas sits on a sofa in the family room of Sadie’s Townhouse, with a remote control on his lap and a video game frozen on Sadie’s TV. He proceeds to tell Sadie that after two years together, she cannot unilaterally cut things off with no discussion.

MIDDLE: He tells Sadie he will make dinner for when she arrives home and they will talk.

END: He reactivates his game.

INTERCUT – PHONE CONVERSATION

BEGINNING: Sadie tells Thomas they’ve been through this way too many times and that there is nothing left to talk about.

MIDDLE: She lets him know that she should have ended it sooner, but she has been too busy at work, and she let things slide. She tells him that was her fault. She reiterates that she wants him gone when she gets home, yanks the earbud from her ear and ends the call.

END: Sadie receives a call back from Thomas, but she ignores it.

The phone vibrates again. Sadie ignores it again, at first, and then realizes it is her work phone. She hurries to take the call from a phone in her running tights leg pocket. There is a voicemail from SHEILA, the Executive Assistant for her company’s CEO MITCHELL BAKKEN advising Sadie that Mitchell would like to see her right away as soon as she gets into the office.

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie takes a sharp turn to head back towards her office building.

MIDDLE: Stopping at the foot of the steps to her building, she catches a final breath and runs up the steps to the front doors.

END: Sadie disappears through the sliding glass doors of the building.

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SECOND SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – MORNING

Sadie arrives at work through automatic glass doors. She drops her items with a young lady standing at a nearby desk, who takes the items and hands her a clipboard. She proceeds to the CEO’s office.

SECOND SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie, now coiffed and fully dressed in business attire, bursts through the automatic doors into the office bullpen removing her jacket as she goes. She hands her jacket and her purse to a young lady standing at a nearby desk who receives the items, says good morning, and hands Sadie a clipboard and pen. Sadie does not respond and keeps moving toward the CEO’s corner office.

MIDDLE: As she approaches the glass door she can see that her direct boss, OLIVER NAM, is in the CEO’s office as well.

END: Sadie stops at the door, straightens her blazer, touches the tight bun on the top of her head, tucks the clipboard under her arm and peaks her head in the door to say good morning.

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THIRD SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. CEO’S OFFICE – MORNING

Mitchell, the CEO of New York’s Global Advertising Management Executives (GAME) offers Sadie an opportunity to start a new branch office in Vancouver, BC.

THIRD SCENE OUTLINE

INT. CEO’S OFFICE – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie enters the CEO’s office. Mitchell and Oliver are standing, Mitchell behind his chair with his hands resting on the back of the chair and Oliver leaning on the end of the CEO’s desk with his arms folded across his chest. Mitchell motions to a chair and for her to take a seat. Sadie opts to stand behind the guest seat with her clipboard resting on the back of the chair.

MIDDLE: Mitchell tells Sadie that he would like her to take on a big project for the agency, one of opening a branch on the West Coast of Canada, in Vancouver, BC. He assures her that with her work ethic she is the best person for the job. She will need to find a location and hire her own staff. Oliver nods in agreement, tells her that he does not know how he will replace her and lets her know that he hopes she will still be able to assist with the New York agency during the transition.

END: Sadie asks if she can think about it over the weekend. Mitchell agrees and advises her that a potential partnership could be hinging on her decision.

While Mitchell is talking Sadie’s personal phone vibrates in her pocket.

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FOURTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. HALLWAY – MORNING

Just as Sadie is leaving the CEO’s office, she retrieves a text message from Thomas advising her that he will have dinner ready when she gets home so that they can sit down and talk.

FIFTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. HALLWAY- MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie stops suddenly in the hallway outside the CEO’s door to retrieve a text from Thomas that was delivered while she was in the meeting.

MIDDLE: Thomas tells her he’ll make dinner so that they can sit down and talk. Sadie slides the clipboard under her arm freeing up both arms to type.

END: She tells Thomas they are done. She sends him a message that says simply, ‘GET OUT’.

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FIFTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DUSK

Sadie shuts down the office to begin her run home.

FIFTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – DUSK

BEGINNING: Always the last to leave, Sadie thrashes about outside her office, closing blinds, flicking off lights, pulling doors shut and locking doors.

MIDDLE: Sadie picks up her backpack, flips it onto her back, looks down at her phone and sees no further messages from Thomas.

END: Sadie walks to the elevator in the hallway, pushes the button, places her hand up on the door and rests her head on her arm. The door opens. She jolts upright, walks in, turns around and leans against the back wall as the doors slowly close.

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SIXTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie bursts out of the building through the automatic glass doors on the main floor and heads out running into the city.

SIXTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. STREETS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie bursts out of the building through the automatic glass doors on the main floor and heads out running into the city.

MIDDLE: She ducks and weaves between cars, both parked and moving, not waiting for crossing lights, distracted and eager to get home. Cars honk as they avoid her.

END: She leaves the street and heads toward a crowded sidewalk.

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SEVENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

Sadie runs recklessly, down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening to get home quickly.

SEVENTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie hops onto a sidewalk and off the busy street.

MIDDLE: Sadie runs recklessly, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike as she demonstrates total disregard for bystanders.

END: She hops off the sidewalk and turns the corner to her street.

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EIGHTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

Feeling the pressure build, Sadie starts to sprint at full speed down her street to the foot of the steps of her townhouse.

EIGHTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie slowly picks up speed until she is at a full out sprint down her street.

MIDDLE: She runs up the sidewalk to the foot of the steps of her townhouse, stops abruptly, and bends over, out of breath. Catching her breath, she glances up to see a shadowy figure moving about her kitchen.

END: Sadie rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and bursts through the door throwing her pack in the corner. She can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously about it being over.

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NINTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

Sadie confronts Thomas. She tells him this is it; they are done.

NINTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie storms into the kitchen confronting Thomas who is playing a video game through the doorway on the TV in the adjoining family room. The table has two place settings, a couple of beers and condiments for spaghetti and meat sauce. She yells, this is it, they are done. He still doesn’t seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

MIDDLE: To prove they are done Sadie yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The boiling water splashes up on the window behind the sink and the glass cracks. The noodles end up in the sink.

Thomas, with a controller in one hand, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce with an oven mitt threatening to throw it in his direction if he does not leave right now.

END: He finally gets the message and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

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TENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

Thomas returns.

TENTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: An hour later, Thomas pulls in behind a huge white van marked LOCKSMITH.

MIDDLE: The van doesn’t really register with Thomas until he sees the locksmith working on Sadie’s front door. There are a half dozen black plastic bags piled up on the stoop.

END: As Thomas starts up the sidewalk, it occurs to him that the bags contain his belongings.

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ELEVENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Thomas engages a locksmith changing the locks to Sadie’s Townhouse. He has also been paid to deliver Thomas’ belongings to his apartment.

ELEVENTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Thomas walks to the stoop. The locksmith asks him if the containers are his to which he affirms they are. He tells him the lady who lives here gave him five $100 dollar bills to deliver the bags to his apartment address.

MIDDLE: Thomas says he will take them and starts loading his car. The locksmith helps him, all the while consoling him about the obvious breakup.

END: The locksmith rings Sadie’s doorbell to let her know he is done, but no one answers. He slips an invoice for the job through the slot and is about to follow up with the five $100 bills. Instead, he hesitates and returns only three. Two bills go in his pocket for his trouble.

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TWELTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Sadie sits on the floor with her back against the inside of the front door sobbing. It is finally over.

TWELTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie hears Thomas’ car pull away. She looks through the peep hole to confirm he is gone.

MIDDLE: She turns her back to the inside of her front door and slides down to the floor.

END: Sadie puts her head in her hands and sobs.

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THIRTEENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning, that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC.

THIRTEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC.

MIDDLE: He tells her that during the following week’s marketing conference in Whistler, BC., her appointment will be announced. He then suggests that she stay in Vancouver for a few days after the conference to do a location assessment for the new office. He will hook her up with a young man named RANDY who will help her out. He comes highly recommended, and she may want to consider hiring him as her assistant.

END: Sadie sees the Vancouver project as a way of breaking from Thomas and having a fresh start.

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INT. BULLPEN – DAY

From her office, Sadie spots Thomas talking to her assistant Sheila.

FOURTEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. BULLPEN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie walks through the Bullpen towards her office.

MIDDLE: She sees Thomas chatting with Sheila, Sadie’s assistant.

END: She enters her office and drops a folder on her desk labelled ‘New Office Project, LOCATION: Vancouver, BC’.

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FIFTEENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. SADIE’S OFFICE – DAY

Sadie tries to ignore Thomas and focuses on the folder in front of her.

FIFTEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. SADIE’S OFFICE – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie sits at her desk, pulls the project folder in front of her, opens it and pretends to focus on its contents. Thomas follows her in and asks if she wants to go downstairs and grab breakfast at the diner. She closes the folder and does not reply. Sheila appears with two cups of coffee. Sadie takes one of the cups and tells Sheila they won’t need the other one. Sheila looks confused but complies.

MIDDLE: Thomas motions to the folder and asks if Sadie is planning a move. Sadie still does not reply. Thomas reaches down, grabs the tab on the folder to open it. Sadie slams it down and tells Thomas that she prefers not to make a scene but if he does not leave her office immediately, she WILL call security.

END: Thomas leaves Sadie’s office. She quickly closes and locks her door. Thomas doesn’t leave the bullpen right away. He continues to stop and talk to almost everyone on his way out. She realizes that, over the years, he has really inserted himself into her life.

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SIXTEENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. MOUNTAIN – DAY

Sadie is lined up with a bunch of other conference attendees taking a ski lesson provided by the host city. She is partnered with a guy from one of the exhibition booths.

SIXTEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. MOUNTAIN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie awkwardly shuffles on her skis into a lineup of students ready for a ski lesson provided by the host city of the conference. She is partnered up with a guy from one of the exhibition booths. His name is ADAM.

MIDDLE: They make small talking discovering that neither of them has ever skied before. Someone at the end of the line falls and the entire lineup of new skiers fall like dominoes. Sadie lands on Adam. She is embarrassed and profusely apologizes while realizing that she cannot stand up. An instructor moves along the line pulling collapsed skiers up onto their feet.

END: The instructor tells the group, ‘Ok, our first lesson will be how to get up when you fall.’ Everyone laughed.

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SEVENTEENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

Sadie sits at a table with a vacant seat beside her. Mitchell sits down and again thank Sadie for taking on the challenge of the Vancouver, BC., office. Sadie thanks him for the opportunity and asks if TRISH his wife is here. He advises her that she won’t likely be coming to any more conferences as they have separated.

SEVENTEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie sits at a table with a vacant seat beside her. Mitchell sits down and again thanks Sadie for taking on the challenge of the Vancouver, BC., office. She thanks him for the opportunity and asks if his wife TRISH is here at the conference.

MIDDLE: Mitchell advises Sadie that Trish will not likely be attending any more conferences as they have split up. He says she refuses to continue ranking second to the agency.

END: Sadie is saddened and expresses to Mitchell that she will miss spending time with her at these events.

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EIGHTEENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

Adam approaches the table just as Mitchell is standing up. He sits down beside Sadie and sets two drinks on the table in front of them.

EIGHTEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. BANQUET ROOM – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam approaches a table with a couple of drinks. He sees Mitchell sitting in his seat but also notices that he is starting to stand up. Once Mitchell bids adieu, Adam sets one down in front of Sadie and sits with the other one beside her. A speaker, the MC, at the front of the room taps his microphone to get everyone’s attention. He announces that this is the section of the night called ‘Movers and Shakers’, where we give you an update of who is moving where and when.

MIDDLE: The MC invites the group to thank the chef and her staff for the lovely meal. The group claps vigorously. He then proceeds to make announcements of all the movements there have been over the past year and shortly to come. They get to Sadie when the speaker announces that SE Hilliard will be re-locating to Vancouver, BC to open a branch of GAME, aka Global Advertising Management Executives. He asks the group to give her a hand.

END: Adam claps particularly vigorously.

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NINETEENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY – NIGHT

Sadie and Adam linger awkwardly at her hotel room door thanking each other for a great evening. They decide to spend a little more time together.

NINETEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie and Adam stop at the door to Sadie’s hotel room. They stand awkwardly and start to thank each other for a great evening.

MIDDLE: Adam tells Sadie he hopes to have a chance to see her again when she moves to Vancouver. Sadie assures him she would love that. He says he doesn’t want the night to end.

END: Sadie opens the door behind her back and slowly moves her and Adam into her room.

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TWENTIETH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. BUILDING STEPS – DAY

Sadie and Randy come out of a building in downtown Vancouver. She offers him the job of being her executive assistant and they shake hands.

TWENTIETH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. BUILDING STEPS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie and Randy exit the building and stand on the top of the steps. Sadie motions to the beautiful scenery which is a renowned seawall that is just across the street. She comments that the location couldn’t be more perfect.

MIDDLE: Randy agrees and confirms that this is the right choice for the agency. He informs her that, coincidentally, he lives in an apartment just down the street.

END: Sadie takes the opportunity to offer Randy a job as her executive assistant to which he accepts, and they shake hands.

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TWENTY-FIRST SCENE BEAT SHEET

MONTAGE – VARIOUS

INT. AGENCY OFFICE – DAY

People coming and going, painting, hanging up pictures, moving desks into place, and hanging up the company signage on the front glass window.

INT. RESTAURANT – DAY

Sadie and Adam enjoy lunch in his favourite restaurant.

INT. BOARDROOM – DAY

Sadie doing a presentation to her team in a board room with Randy by her side flipping slides on the computer.

OUT. SEAWALL – DUSK

Sadie and Adam are running along the seawall in one direction.

OUT. SEAWALL – DAY

Sadie and Adam are running with his two children riding their bikes alongside them.

INT. ADAM’S HOME OFFICE – DAY

Adam reclines back in his chair Facetiming with Sadie on his computer monitor.

INT. AGENCY – DAY

Sadie cuts the ribbon on the opening of the Vancouver office. Mitchell is there to shake her hand.

OUT. PARK – DAY

Sadie and Adam pose for a wedding photo in a park with his two children standing beside them.

END OF MONTAGE

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TWENTY-SECOND SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. BULLPEN/BOARDROOM – DAY

Sadie walks through the bullpen telling her team members its time for the mock presentation in the boardroom. She reminds them how important the account is and shows signs of her micro-managing nature.

TWENTY-SECOND SCENE OUTLINE

INT. BULLPEN/BOARDROOM – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie walks through the bullpen corralling her team into the boardroom for a mock presentation in preparation for the real presentation she is scheduled to give in a week. She thanks them for their contributions and lets them all know how important this account is and how it will be a real boon for the agency.

MIDDLE: The boardroom is all set up. Each member has done their part. Randy is at the computer ready to run the slides for Sadie. CANDACE, a technology whiz, dims the lights.

END: Randy starts the slide show.

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TWENTY-THIRD SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. BOARDROOM/BULLPEN – DAY

Sadie finishes the presentation and asks the group for comments. They praise her delivery. This is where she excels. Sadie suggests they go around the table and ask each member for their comment or suggestions for improvement. Every suggestion is explained away by Sadie with a reason she has it the way it is. She was very confident in what she had done, and it showed.

TWENTY-THIRD SCENE OUTLINE

INT. BOARDROOM/BULLPEN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie finishes the presentation and asks the group for comments. They praise her delivery. This is where she excels.

MIDDLE: Sadie suggests they go around the table and ask each member for their comment or suggestions for improvement. Every suggestion is explained away by Sadie with a reason she has it the way it is. She was very confident in what she had done, and it showed.

END: The group disburse back into the bullpen looking discouraged at having their ideas rebuffed.

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TWENTY-FOURTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE – DAY

Sadie calls Adam to tell him she won’t be home for dinner as she is putting the finishing touches on her presentation. She will miss Ada’s fifth birthday.

TWENTY-FOURTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. LOCATION – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie calls Adam to let him know she will not be home for dinner. She is putting the finishing touches on her big presentation.

MIDDLE: Adam reminds her that he is hosting Ada’s fifth birthday at dinner to which Sadie apologizes but does not offer to try and make it.

END: Adam tells her he will invite Ada’s mom, his ex-wife HANNAH to fill the empty seat at dinner.

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TWENTY-FIFTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. BAR – NIGHT

After Ada’s birthday party and dinner, Hannah takes the kids home to get ready for school the next day. Adam goes to meet a friend at a bar.

TWENTY-FIFTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. BAR – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Adam enters the bar and joins a friend, WILL, at his table. They greet each other with a dude’s handshake. Adam sits down. WILL asks him how married life is treating him.

MIDDLE: Adam shares with Will that he knew Sadie would be busy opening a new agency, but he wasn’t quite prepared for the amount of time she put into that project as compared to the amount of time she put into their family and being a new Stepmom to a couple of young children. Will, being a good friend, listens intently. He offers an opinion that maybe once she’s got this big presentation under her belt she’ll settle in a bit.

END: Adam nods in apprehensive agreement and suggests that they leave that topic and shoot some pool.

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TWENTY-SIXTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE – AFTERNOON

Sadie receives a phone call in the afternoon that she forgot to pick up the kids from school. Hannah couldn’t do it and Adam was busy with a client as well. Sadie agreed to pick up the kids.

TWENTY-SIXTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE – AFTERNOON

BEGINNING: Sadie sits staring at her computer screen when her phone vibrates. It is Adam. She answers.

MIDDLE: Adam asks Sadie if she is supposed to be somewhere. Sadie suddenly remembers she was supposed to pick up the kids from school. She jumps up and assures Adam she is on her way.

END: Adam tells Sadie it doesn’t work that way. He tells Sadie the school called Hannah and Hannah called Adam who had to cut his meeting with his client short to go get them. He advised Sadie that her name was ‘mud’ for the moment. He tells her she will need to call Hannah and apologize and then apologize to the kids.

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TWENTY-SEVENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. FAMILY ROOM – NIGHT

Sadie and Adam have a conversation about the missed pickup. He tells her that stopping by to talk to Hannah in person was a nice touch as was reading the kids two bedtime stories instead of one. He brings up the idea of a honeymoon which they haven’t yet had.

TWENTY-SEVENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. FAMILY ROOM – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie and Adam have a conversation about the days activities, specifically forgetting to pick up the kids from school. Sadie made amens by stopping by in-person to apologize to Hannah and assure her it won’t happen again and by reading the kids two bedtime stories complete with animated voices.

MIDDLE: Adam thanks Sadie for her efforts to smooth the waters and suggests that it is time for them to think about finally going on a honeymoon.

END: Sadie agrees but asks Adam if this discussion can wait until she has finished the big presentation she is preparing for before they talk about it more. Adam agrees.

PLACEHOLDER: need to include a few scenes where Sadie and the two kids interact. When they are together they all get along. But often, Sadie lets them down by not being able to attend sporting events or school activities.

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TWENTY-EIGHTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE – NIGHT

Thomas calls Sadie at her office. He just wants to ask her how she is doing. The call seems harmless. He tells her he went for a beer with VJ KILMER the other day who told him that he and Sadie would be competing for business in the big presentation.

TWENTY-EIGHTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie’s cellphone rings while she sits at her desk at work still preparing for her big presentation. It is Thomas who has just called to say hello and ask her how she is doing. She responds that things are going well and she’s just preparing for a big presentation so she can’t talk long.

MIDDLE: Thomas tells her he knows about the presentation because he had a beer last night with VJ KILMER, Sadie’s competition from a New York advertising agency.

END: Even though Sadie knows that Thomas made a few friends in the industry when they were together, this association makes her a little bit nervous. She tells him she has to go and they end the call.

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TWENTY-NINETH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. BULLPEN – DAY

The big day has arrived, the day of the presentation. Sadie is talking to her team in the bullpen, giving them instructions for getting set up in the client’s boardroom. She is dressed in her running gear.

TWENTY-NINETH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. BULLPEN – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie stands in the bullpen talking to Randy about making sure that everyone knows what they must do to get set up in the client’s boardroom. She is dressed in her running gear and lets him know that she will be going out for a quick run and will join him in the boardroom for a run through in an hour and a half.

MIDDLE: Randy assures her that everything is ready to go. He wants to bring the team along for the presentation but he is pretty sure that if he asks, Sadie will say no, so he doesn’t ask.

END: Sadie heads out for her run. Randy rallies the troups.

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THIRTIETH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie heads out of the building into the streets of Vancouver. Barely out the door, her cellphone vibrates. She plugs her earphone/microphone piece in. It is Mitchell calling from New York to wish her good luck and remind her that a potential partnership is riding on things going well.

THIRTIETH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie bursts through the front doors of her building and runs down the steps. She has barely stepped out onto the street when her cellphone vibrates in her leg pocket. She pulls up the earpiece and hanging microphone and answers. It is Mitchell, her New York City CEO.

MIDDLE: Mitchell knows that Sadie always goes for a run before a big presentation but jokingly asks her if she is out running. She laughs and responds ‘of course’. He wishes her good luck and asks her if she feels ready. She responds ‘absolutely’.

END: Mitchell wishes her luck again and casually reminds her what is potentially riding on this presentation to which Sadie responds, ‘no pressure’. He laughs and signs off.

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THIRTY-FIRST SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. STREETS – DAY

Sadie makes her way out of the downtown core and into a section of the city that is not quite so busy. Her music is playing, and she is in the zone. Suddenly, her phone vibrates again. Her first thought is that it is Mitchell calling back with something he forgot earlier. It is not Mitchell. It is a stranger telling her she needs to ‘keep running’.

THIRTY-FIRST SCENE OUTLINE

INT. STREETS – DAY

BEGINNING: Sadie winds her way through cars, bikes, buses, and people, she finally makes it to a part of downtown that is not quite so congested. Her music is playing through her bone-conducting headphones, and she is in the zone.

MIDDLE: Her phone vibrates on her leg. Thinking it is probably Mitchell with some forgotten item from the last call, she grabs her phone out of her tights leg pocket and sees that it is not Mitchell. It is an unknown caller.

END: The caller is listed as PRIVATE and the first text reads ‘Have I Got Your Attention?’

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INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

Sadie turns off her music and tries to focus on what is going on. A text tells her she needs to keep running. If she doesn’t keep running her family will be hurt.

INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

BEGINNING: Sadie stops running and turns off her music. She looks at the text.

MIDDLE: The caller says she needs to CONTINUE RUNNING. They text again, ‘HAVE I GOT YOUR ATTENTION?’ ‘IF YES, RAISE YOUR ARM’. Sadie is frozen.

END: In all capitals comes a text that says IF YOU LOVE YOUR FAMILY…START RUNNING. And a photo of Ada and Wilf pops up on her phone followed by a photo of Adam.

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INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

Sadie starts running.

INT. STREETS – DAY [CONTINUOUS]

BEGINNING: Sadie slowly starts running. As she goes, she types WHO IS THIS?

MIDDLE: The caller tells her to look to her right when she crosses through the next intersection. When she does, she sees someone on a motor bike shining a flashlight in her direction. They say, THAT’S WHO!

END: The caller texts a FACE SCREAMIG IN FEAR emoji followed by a CRYING emoji.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 1 INCITING INCIDENT

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned doing this assignment is that I still have a lot of work to do on these scenes to make them more exciting. But keeping with the speed writing rules I am forging ahead.

I also realize that what we are doing is creating something to critique, following that old adage that ‘It is easier to critique than create!’ (LOL) We create first so that we can critique in later drafts and make it better.

ASSIGNMENT 10

Main Concept

Thomas is bitter and wants to teach Sadie a lesson as a reaction to her dumping him. And he wants to save her new husband from suffering the same fate. Sadie goes for a run to get in the right frame of mind to make one of the most important pitches of her life. While running, by cellphone text, Sadie is threatened that if she stops running, something terrible will happen to her and her family, including her new husband’s children.

Old Ways

· Single, self-reliant, and selfish

· Small fish in big pond (ad exec in NYC agency)

· Fear of abandonment

· Self-centered and self-absorbed

· Be the best at all costs, micro manager

New Ways

· Married with children, a dog and unconditional love all around

· Big fish in small pond (ad owner in Vancouver agency)

· No fear of abandonment

· Team oriented and empathetic

· Lead the best team!

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OPENING SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING (Introduction of Protagonist)

SADIE runs through Central Park looking like a pro and listening to music when she receives a phone call from her supposed-to-be ex-boyfriend THOMAS.

INT. TOWNHOUSE FAMILY ROOM – MORNING (Introduction of Antagonist)

Thomas sits on the couch playing video games. He stops his game to tell Sadie he is not accepting that they are done and tells her that she cannot make a unilateral decision to end it. He will make dinner and they will talk.

PLACEHOLDER: I would like there to be a scene that alternates between Sadie running and running that is happening on a close-up of the TV showing Thomas’ video game action.

INTERCUT – PHONE CONVERSATION

Sadie tells Thomas they have been through this too many times before. There is nothing to talk about and she would like for him to be gone when she gets home. She yanks the earbud out of her ear.

Thomas calls Sadie back and she ignores the call. The phone vibrates again. Sadie ignores it at first and then realizes it is her work phone vibrating. A voicemail advises Sadie that the big boss wants to see her as soon as she arrives.

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING

Sadie approaches the building where she works. She runs up the staircase. The double glass doors automatically open as she nears, and she disappears into the building.

OPENING SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING (Introduction of Protagonist)

BEGINNING: Sadie runs on a trail through central park, decked out in the latest running gear, wearing a set of bone conduction headphones, and listening to her favourite running music from an iTouch in her sleeve cuff. She ducks and weaves between other people using the trail.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives a call from her supposed-to-be ex-boyfriend THOMAS.

END: She plugs an earbud and hanging microphone into her ear and answers.

INT. TOWNHOUSE FAMILY ROOM – MORNING (Introduction of Antagonist)

BEGINNING: Thomas sits on a sofa in the family room of Sadie’s Townhouse, with a remote control on his lap and a video game frozen on Sadie’s TV. He proceeds to tell Sadie that after two years together, she cannot just unilaterally cut things off with no discussion.

MIDDLE: He tells Sadie he will make dinner and when she arrives home they will talk.

END: He reactivates his game.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>INTERCUT – PHONE CONVERSATION

BEGINNING: Sadie tells Thomas they’ve been through this too many times and that there is nothing left to talk about.

MIDDLE: She lets him know that she should have ended it sooner, but she has been too busy at work, and she let things slide. She tells him that was her fault. She reiterates that she wants him gone when she gets home, yanks the earbud from her ear and ends the call.

END: Sadie receives a call back from Thomas, but she ignores it.

The phone vibrates again. Sadie ignores it again, at first, and then realizes it is her work phone. She hurries to take the call from a phone in her running tights leg pocket. There is a voicemail from SHEILA, the Executive Assistant for her company’s CEO MITCHELL BAKKEN advising Sadie that Mitchell would like to see her right away as soon as she gets into the office.

OUT. CENTRAL PARK – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie takes a sharp turn to head back towards her office building.

MIDDLE: Stopping at the foot of the steps to her building, she catches a final breath and runs up the steps to the front doors.

END: Sadie disappears through the sliding glass doors of the building.

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SECOND SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – MORNING

Sadie arrives at work through automatic glass doors. She drops her items with a young lady standing at a nearby desk, who takes the items and hands her a clipboard. She proceeds to the CEO’s office.

SECOND SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie, now coiffed and fully dressed in business attire, bursts through the automatic doors into the office bullpen removing her jacket as she goes. She hands her jacket and her purse to a young lady standing at a nearby desk who receives the items, says good morning, and hands Sadie a clipboard and pen. Sadie does not respond and keeps moving toward the CEO’s corner office.

MIDDLE: As she approaches the glass door she can see that her direct boss, OLIVER NAM, is in the CEO’s office as well.

END: Sadie stops at the door, straightens her blazer, touches the tight bun on the top of her head, tucks the clipboard under her arm and peaks her head in the door to say good morning.

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THIRD SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. CEO’S OFFICE – MORNING

The CEO of New York’s Global Advertising Group offers Sadie an opportunity to start a new branch office in Vancouver, BC.

THIRD SCENE OUTLINE

INT. CEO’S OFFICE – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie enters the CEO’s office. Mitchell and Oliver are standing, Mitchell behind his chair with his hands resting on the back of the chair and Oliver leaning on the end of the CEO’s desk with his arms folded across his chest. Mitchell motions to a chair and for her to take a seat. Sadie opts to stand behind the guest seat with her clipboard resting on the back of the chair.

MIDDLE: Mitchell tells Sadie that he would like her to take on a big project for the agency, one of opening a branch on the West Coast of Canada, in Vancouver, BC. He assures her that with her work ethic she is the best person for the job. She will need to find a location and hire her own staff. Oliver nods in agreement, tells her that he does not know how he will replace her and lets her know that he hopes she will still be able to assist with the New York agency during the transition.

END: Sadie asks if she can think about it over the weekend. Mitchell agrees and advises her that a potential partnership could be hinging on her decision.

While Mitchell is talking Sadie’s personal phone vibrates in her pocket.

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FOURTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. HALLWAY – MORNING

Just as Sadie is leaving the CEO’s office, she retrieves a text message from Thomas advising her that he will have dinner ready when she gets home so that they can sit down and talk.

FIFTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. HALLWAY- MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie stops suddenly in the hallway outside the CEO’s door to retrieve a text from Thomas that was delivered while she was in the meeting.

MIDDLE: Thomas tells her he’ll make dinner so that they can sit down and talk. Sadie slides the clipboard under her arm freeing up both arms to type.

END: She tells Thomas they are done by sending him a message that says simply, ‘GET OUT’.

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FIFTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DUSK

Sadie closes the office to begin her run home.

FIFTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN/HALLWAY – DUSK

BEGINNING: The last to leave, Sadie thrashes about outside of her office, closing blinds, flicking off lights, pulling doors shut and locking doors.

MIDDLE: Sadie picks up her backpack, flips it onto her back, looks down at her phone and sees no further messages from Thomas.

END: Sadie walks to the elevator in the hallway, pushes the button, places her hand up on the door and rests her head on her arm. The door opens. She jolts upright, walks in, turns around and leans against the back wall as the doors slowly close.

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SIXTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie bursts out of the building through the automatic glass doors on the main floor and heads out running into the city.

SIXTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. STREETS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie bursts out of the building through the automatic glass doors on the main floor and heads out running into the city.

MIDDLE: She ducks and weaves between cars, both parked and moving, not waiting for crossing lights, distracted and eager to get home. Cars honk as they avoid her.

END: She leaves the street and heads toward a crowded sidewalk.

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SEVENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

Sadie runs recklessly, down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening in an effort to get home quickly.

SEVENTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie hops onto a sidewalk and off the busy street.

MIDDLE: Sadie runs recklessly, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike as she demonstrates total disregard for bystanders.

END: She hops off the sidewalk and turns the corner to her street.

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EIGHTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

Feeling the pressure build, Sadie starts to sprint at full speed down her street to the foot of the steps of her townhouse.

EIGHTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie slowly picks up speed until she is at a full out sprint down her street.

MIDDLE: She runs up the sidewalk to the foot of the steps of her townhouse, stops abruptly, and bends over, out of breath. Catching her breath, she glances up to see a shadowy figure moving about her kitchen.

END: Sadie rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and bursts through the door throwing her pack in the corner. She can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously about it being over.

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NINTH SCENE BEAT SHEET (Introduction of Antagonist)

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

Sadie confronts Thomas. She tells him this is it; they are done.

NINTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie storms into the kitchen confronting Thomas who is playing a video game through the doorway on the TV in the adjoining family room. The table has two place settings, a couple of beers and condiments for spaghetti and meat sauce. She yells, this is it, they are done. He still doesn’t seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

MIDDLE: To prove they are done Sadie yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The boiling water splashes up on the window behind the sink and the glass cracks. The noodles end up in the sink.

Thomas, with a controller in one hand, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce with an oven mitt threatening to throw it in his direction if he does not leave right now.

END: He finally gets the message and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

TENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

Thomas returns.

TENTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: An hour later, Thomas pull in behind a huge white van marked LOCKSMITH.

MIDDLE: The van doesn’t really register with Thomas until he sees the locksmith working on Sadie’s front door. There are a half dozen black plastic bags piled up on the stoop.

END: As Thomas starts up the sidewalk, it occurs to him that the bags contain his belongings.

ELEVENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Thomas encounters a locksmith changing the locks to Sadie’s Townhouse. He has also been paid to deliver Thomas’ belongings to his apartment.

ELEVENTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Thomas walks to the stoop. The locksmith asks him if the containers are his to which he affirms they are. He tells him the lady who lives here gave him five $100 dollar bills to deliver the bags to his apartment address.

MIDDLE: Thomas says he will take them and starts loading his car. The locksmith helps him, all the while consoling him about the obvious breakup.

END: The locksmith rings Sadie’s doorbell to let her know he is done, but no one answers. He slips an invoice for the job through the slot and is about to follow up with the five $100 bills. Instead, he hesitates and returns only three. Two bills go in his pocket for his trouble.

TWELTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Sadie sits on the floor with her back against the inside of the front door sobbing. It is finally over.

TWELTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

BEGINNING: Sadie hears Thomas’ car pull away. She looks through the peep hole to confirm he is gone.

MIDDLE: She turns her back to the inside of her front door and slides down to the floor.

END: Sadie puts her head in her hands and sobs.

THIRTEENTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning, that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC.

THIRTEENTH SCENE OUTLINE

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

BEGINNING: Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC.

MIDDLE: He tells her that during the following week’s marketing conference in Whistler, BC., he will be announcing her appointment. He then suggests that she stay in Vancouver for a few days after the conference to do a location assessment for the new office. He will hook her up with a young man named RANDY who will help her out. He comes highly recommended, and she may want to consider hiring him as her assistant.

END: Sadie sees the Vancouver project as a way of breaking from Thomas and having a fresh start.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ACT 1 OPENING SCENES (Character Introductions)

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned doing this assignment is that having organizing principles or a prescribed structure, such as a BEAT SHEET followed by a SCENE OUTLINE can really contribute to speedier writing. I like it.

Sometimes a scene can be quite small which can feel insignificant. I’m not sure what that means in the long run but trust I will figure it out.

ASSIGNMENT 9

OPENING SCENE BEAT SHEET (Introduction of Protagonist)

INT. OFFICE/HALLWAY – DUSK

The CEO of New York’s Harder Global Advertising Group offers Sadie an opportunity to start a new branch office in Vancouver, BC. As she is leaving the CEO’s office Sadie receives a text from a supposed-to-be ex-boyfriend telling her ‘Dinner is almost ready’.

OPENING SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE/HALLWAY – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie’s head is spinning over an offer from the CEO of Harder Global Advertising Group to start a new branch office in Vancouver, BC. It would Sadie’s dream job to be in charge have all that control.

MIDDLE: Sadie receives a text from THOMAS, her long-time boyfriend, who she broke up with that morning, telling her that dinner is almost ready.

END: Sadie crushes her empty paper coffee cup against her leg and slams it into the garbage can in the hall.

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SECOND SCENE BEAT SHEET

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DUSK

Sadie paces back and forth while processing the fact that she is not in control of the situation at home. She responds to Thomas’ text.

SECOND SCENE OUTLINE

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie ran to work this morning so now she is dressed to run home. The last to leave, she thrashes about outside of her office, flicking off lights, pulling doors shut and locking doors.

MIDDLE: Sadie picks up her backpack, flips it onto her back, looks down at her phone and the message from Thomas about dinner and types back ‘GET OUT!’

END: Sadie walks to the elevator door and slams it with her hand. The door opens, she walks in, turns around and leans against the back wall as the doors slowly close.

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THIRD SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie bursts out of the elevator on the main floor and heads out running into the city.

THIRD SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. STREETS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie runs out of the elevator on the main floor and out through the revolving front doors.

MIDDLE: She ducks and weaves between cars, both parked and moving, not waiting for crossing lights but eager to get home.

END: She leaves the road and heads toward a crowded sidewalk.

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FOURTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

Sadie runs recklessly, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike as she demonstrates total disregard for bystanders.

FOURTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie hops onto a sidewalk and off the busy street.

MIDDLE: Sadie runs recklessly, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike as she demonstrates total disregard for bystanders.

END: She hops off the sidewalk and turns the corner to her street.

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FIFTH SCENE BEAT SHEET

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

Feeling the pressure build, Sadie starts to sprint at full speed down her street to the foot of the steps of her townhouse.

FIFTH SCENE OUTLINE

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie slowly picks up speed until she is at a full out sprint down her street.

MIDDLE: She runs up the sidewalk to the foot of the steps of her townhouse, stops abruptly, and bends over, out of breath. Catching her breath, she glances up to see a shadowy figure moving about her kitchen.

END: Sadie rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and bursts through the door throwing her pack in the corner. She can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously about it being over.

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SIX SCENE BEAT SHEET (Introduction of Antagonist)

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

Sadie storms into the kitchen and confronts Thomas. He is playing a video game through the doorway on the TV in the adjoining family room. The table has two place settings, a couple of beers and condiments for spaghetti and meat sauce. She yells this is it, they are done.

SIX SCENE OUTLINE

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

BEGINNING: Sadie storms into the kitchen confronting Thomas who is playing a video game through the doorway on the TV in the adjoining family room. The table has two place settings, a couple of beers and condiments for spaghetti and meat sauce. She yells, this is it, they are done. He still doesn’t seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

MIDDLE: To prove they are done Sadie yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The boiling water splashes up on the window behind the sink and the glass cracks.

Thomas, with a controller in one hand, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce and an oven mitt threatening to throw it in his direction if he doesn’t leave right now.

END: He finally gets the message and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S ADD THEME AND ANTAGONIST JOURNEY

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

This assignment made me realize I needed to (and still need) to put a little more meat on the bones without giving it away that Thomas is the ultimate hostage taker in Vancouver.

Theme insertions are marked ‘Theme:’

ASSIGNMENT 8

1. Listen to the Empowerment Audio

https://30dayscript.s3.amazonaws.com/Empowerment+Audio.m4a

ANTAGONIST BEAT SHEET

Keep in mind that your Antagonist will operate in ONE of these three versions:

A. Have a plan in motion before the movie started. They were already in action on their plan and the Protagonist stepped into it, often without knowing.

B. Ongoing back and forth with the Protagonist — Attack/Counter Attack.

*C. Plan beneath the plan: This one looks like Attack/Counterattack, but there is something deeper going on under the surface as the Antagonist carries out a covert plan of attack.*

• Thomas texts Sadie that dinner is almost ready totally ignoring her directive to be gone by the time she gets home.
• Thomas sits at Sadie’s Townhouse while she’s at work, playing video games and playing househusband.
• Thomas is unceremoniously kicked out of Sadie’s townhouse and her life.
• Thomas shows up at Sadie’s work the next day and mingles with her co-workers who have no idea they have broken up.
• Thomas stays in touch with Sadie and tries to convert their past relationship into a friendship with the ulterior motive of getting back together.
• Thomas goes for a beer with one of Sadie’s competitors whom he met through Sadie.

2. Act 1: 25 to
30 pages
Set up and see Old Ways.

INT. OFFICE – DUSK

OPENING: Set us up for the journey that starts with the Inciting Incident.

TE 1: CEO pitches Sadie an opportunity to open a Vancouver branch of the advertising agency

SADIE is just finishing up a meeting with MITCHELL BAKKEN, the CEO of GH Group. She’s walking toward the door as he’s encouraging her to seriously think about heading up the project to establish a new branch of GH Harder in Vancouver BC. As she is about to step out his door he follows up with, “It could be your ticket to partnership”. Theme: He reinforces the control she’ll have being at the helm of her own branch as a partner.

INT. HALLWAY – DUSK

She closes the door to the Mitchell’s office and her phone chirps. It is a text from THOMAS, her longtime boyfriend, who she just broke up with, telling her that dinner is almost ready. She looks angry as she crumples her paper coffee cup and slams it into the garbage in the hall.

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DUSK

TE 2: Sadie ‘runs’ home to finally break up with Thomas and throw him out

Sadie is thrashing around slamming and locking doors. Everyone else has gone home for the day. She is in her running gear with a small backpack carrying her identification, credit cards and her work clothes. Sadie gave her longtime boyfriend Thomas a directive to be out of her townhouse by the time she got home from work. She looks down at the text on her phone about dinner being ready and sends him a text back saying, ‘Get Out!’.

OUT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie bursts out of the elevator on the main floor and heads out into the city. Her anger is fueled by the stress and anxiety of a breakup that has been a long time coming. Thomas refuses to accept that it is over even though Sadie assures him that it is.

Sadie is used to being in control, over everything, and the fact that Thomas is not responding to the breakup is driving her to the brink.

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

Sadie runs recklessly down the street, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike. She demonstrates total disregard for bystanders.

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

As she enters her own street she starts to sprint.

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – DUSK

When she reaches the bottom of the steps to her townhouse she stops abruptly, leans over trying to catch her breath.

She looks up to see a shadow moving around her kitchen. She rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and burst through the door throwing her pack into a corner. Instantly upon entry she can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously.

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

Sadie storms into the kitchen and confronts Thomas standing in the middle of the kitchen playing a video game on the TV in the adjoining family room. The table has two place settings, a couple of beers and condiments for spaghetti and meat sauce. She yells at him that this is it. They are done.

He still doesn’t seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

She is done talking and to prove it, she yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The window behind the sink and the glass cracks from the heat.

Thomas, with a controller in one hand, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce and an oven mitt. She threatens to throw it in his direction if he doesn’t leave right now.

<i class=””>He finally gets the message and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

An hour later, Sadie has loaded everything of Thomas’ into black plastic bags and put them on the front porch.

OUT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

Around the same time, Thomas returns by car and pulls in behind a locksmith who is just finishing up changing the locks.

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Thomas walks to the stoop. The locksmith asks Thomas if the containers are his to which he affirms they are. He tells him the lady who lives here gave him five $100 dollar bills to deliver the bags to his apartment address.

Thomas says he will take them and starts loading his car. The locksmith helps him, all the while consoling him about the obvious breakup.

The locksmith rings Sadie’s doorbell to let her know he is done, but no one answers. He slips an invoice for the job through the slot and is about to follow up with the five $100 bills. Instead, he hesitates and returns only three. Two bills go in his pocket for his trouble.

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Sadie sits on the floor with her back against the inside of the front door sobbing. It is finally over.

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC. She sees it as a way of breaking from Thomas and having a fresh start. He tells her that during the following week’s marketing conference in Whistler, BC., he will be announcing her appointment. He then suggests that she stay in Vancouver for a few days after the conference to do a location assessment for the new office. He will hook her up with a young man named RANDY who will help her out. He comes highly recommended, and she may want to consider hiring him as her assistant.

Theme: Sadie asks Mitchell if Trish will be going as she often spends time with her on these junkets. Mitchell tells her that she won’t be going, maybe not to anything anymore, to which Sadie is taken aback. Trish has mentioned that she wasn’t a fan of their lifestyle and its stressors. Sounds like she’d finally had enough.

INT. OFFICE – DAY

Upon returning to her office Sadie spots Thomas talking to her assistant SHEILA. He knows and is comfortable with all of Sadie’s co-workers and is looking particularly flirty with Sheila. She never talks about her personal life at work so employees at GH Group are unaware of hers and Thomas’ current status. Sadie walks right by Thomas without saying a word, goes into her office and sits down at her desk. She drops a folder on her desk labelled New Office Project, Vancouver, BC.

Thomas follows her in. He acts as if nothing is wrong between them. He asks her if she wants to go downstairs and grab breakfast at the diner. Sadie tells Thomas she needs him to leave. He suggests he could get something and bring it up. She tells him once again to leave. Sheila comes in with two cups of coffee just how they each like them. Sadie takes a coffee from Sheila and puts it on her desk and tells her to take the other one away. Sheila looks confused but complies. Thomas motions to the folder and asks if Sadie is planning a move. She does not say anything. After a few seconds she warns him that she is not beyond making a scene and if he doesn’t leave, she will call security. Thomas lifts the cover of the Vancouver project folder. Sadie slams it down. Thomas finally leaves Sadie’s office. She closes and locks her office door. But Thomas doesn’t leave the office. He continues to stop and talk to almost everyone on his way out.

OUT. MOUNTAIN – DAY

While at the conference, Sadie participates in a ski lesson provided by the conference. Theme: Normally she’d go with Trish but instead, she is partnered with a guy from one of the Exhibition booths. His name is ADAM and they are really hitting it off.

INT. BANQUET ROOM – DUSK

They sit together at dinner. During dinner, there is a segment called ‘Movers and Shakers’ during which announcements are made of people moving from one agency to another or going out on their own. Mitchell announces that Sadie will be opening a branch ‘right here in beautiful Vancouver, BC’. She bashfully looks at her new acquaintance who smiles as he wonders if their relationship might have a chance.

OUT. DOWNTOWN – DAY

Sadie and Randy come out of a building in downtown Vancouver. They are discussing the location as a positive choice. It is right across the street from the Seawall, a renowned running path, and beautifully inspirational in its sights and sounds. It is expensive but that would never deter her. Afterall, she comes from New York.

Theme: Sadie particularly likes the location as she has decided to hire Randy as her assistant, and he lives within walking distance. She plans to find an apartment within walking distance as well. That way she can spend more time building the agency.

TE 3: Two Start-ups in Vancouver; Sadie and Adam get married and the Agency is opened.

MONTAGE

A montage of activity shows a back and forth between

· starting up the agency,

· dating Adam,

to

· day to day happenings in the agency, winning accounts, high fives

· runs with Adam, candlelit dinners, Adam in his accounting office at home facetiming Sadie

to

· cutting the ribbon with the whole new work team behind her and

· a wedding photo with her, Adam, and his two children.

INT. AGENCY – DAY

TE 4: Sadie dives into her work in her new Vancouver office preparing for an important New Client Presentation. Her team starts to see her micro manager ways and wonder if they will be able to tolerate it.

PLACEHOLDER: Introductions to Sadie’s team members and development of their personalities needs to be included here.

Back in the office, Sadie works with Randy her young executive assistant and the rest of her team to put together a big presentation. She will be competing for business against a known competitor VJ KILMER of Sinclair Media Group (SMG) which she relishes. VJ is a fearsome competitor.

Theme: Sadie mentors Randy and tells him how hard he’ll have to work to get to where she is at. She also tells him that he’s good at what he does and has a bright future. He might have to ‘forgo having a life’ for a few years, but it will be worth it.

Her team suggests ways they can be more involved, use more flashy technology and help Sadie with the volume of preparation that is required. She rebuffs them and tells them just to get her what she asks for, run it through Randy and she’ll take it from there. One of Sadie’s team decides to create the flashy piece that she thinks will give the presentation a boost. She hopes to convince her to use it.

Sadie’s team at work show signs of dissatisfaction. While Sadie pays them well enough, she doesn’t let them do what she hired them to do. Theme: Randy trusts Sadie’s mentoring but even he is starting to question her methods.

INT. OFFICE – DAY

TE 5: Sadie slips into habits of her Old Ways and Adam notices.

Theme: During this busy time at work, Sadie shows signs of her old ways, calling Adam on a Saturday to let him know he won’t be home for dinner even though it is a birthday dinner for his oldest Ada who is turning five. Adam invites his ex-wife and ADA’S mother, HANNAH, over for the birthday party not wanting Ada to feel any pain over Sadie’s absence. In a picture after the fact, Sadie sees Hannah, the ex, at the party, and feels a pang of pain but quickly shakes it off.

Sunday is a repeat of Saturday showing Sadie at work and going for a run at lunch.

OUT. STREETS – DAY

She runs home to say hello to Adam.

INT. TOWNHOUSE – DAY

Sadie tells Adam she won’t be home for dinner, and then heads back to work.

PLACEHOLDER: How does Adam deal with the news that Sadie, once again, won’t be home for dinner? Adam is alone with his kids the entire weekend which he is used to but not how he thought things would be.

INT. TOWNHOUSE – DUSK

Even through Adam is disappointed, he decides to be supportive and bring Sadie dinner which she enjoys.

INT. BAR – NIGHT

Theme: On his way home, he meets a guy friend at a bar for a drink. The friend asks where Sadie is on a Sunday night and Adam acts embarrassed that she is at work.

Sadie continues to be self-absorbed in work while Adam takes care of the home front. He has been doing it for a while so not much is different, but he is beginning to ask himself, ‘Is this how it should be?’

INT. OFFICE – AFTERNOON

Theme: Adam asks Sadie if she can pick up the kids from school one Friday afternoon due to a special work meeting he can’t get out of. She agrees and then forgets to pick them up. The ex-wife is livid.

Adam brings up the idea of finally booking a honeymoon. He thinks it would do them good. Sadie is in no frame of mind to talk about it right now but promises she will after the presentation is done.

PLACEHOLDER: need to include a few scenes where Sadie and the two kids interact. When they are together they all get along. But more often than not, Sadie lets them down by not being able to attend sporting events or school activities.

INT. OFFICE – DAY

TE 6: Thomas reminds Sadie that he is still in her life both overtly, as friends, and covertly, through a mutual friend VJ Kilmer, one of Sadie’s competitors in the advertising business.

Thomas stays in contact with Sadie as friends. In the beginning, Sadie is ok with it. As time goes on, she starts to become more uncomfortable as she realizes Thomas still holds out hope for a reconciliation.

PLACEHOLDER: Thomas playing video games while he talks to Sadie.

Thomas also stays in touch with VJ Kilmer from the competition in New York. They got to know each other from local New York City events where Sadie introduced them. He is getting information from VJ about what Sadie is up to because she knows they still talk.

PLACEHOLDER: Thomas having a beer with VJ Kilmer after work.

INCITING INCIDENT: Sadie heads out for a run to get in the right frame of mind for her presentation. She is taken hostage through her cellphone, while running. She is told, Do Not Stop Running!
This is the call to go on the journey. It creates the opportunity to live outside the box and take on the New Ways.

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DAY

The big day has arrived. The presentation is tonight, and Sadie has got Randy and his team pulling it all together.

OUT. STREETS – DAY

She goes for a run to get in the right frame of mind, something she always does.

Head office in New York, Mitchell Bakken, calls to let Sadie know how important the presentation is for the firm. Pressure Sadie doesn’t need.

While she is running, she receives a text on her phone warning her not to stop running, to run where she is told and to reply that she understands by raising her arm in the air. It goes further to say that if she stops running or goes in a different direction, she, her husband, and his children will be killed. She is not to answer any texts or phone calls other than from the mysterious caller.

Is it possible that she has been taken hostage while running?

TURNING POINT: Lock in the journey. There is no going back from here.

Sadie doesn’t know what is happening and she doesn’t know whether to take the threat seriously.

She keeps running and thinking.

3. Act 2: 20 to
30 pages
Challenge the Old Ways.

Reaction: They are now outside the box. It is uncomfortable, maybe unbearable. But the Hero can’t go back. They must move forward in some way.

Sadie knows she must do something.

The Plan: They struggle, flail, and try the first plan that comes to mind…which will quickly fail.

She decides to test the instructions. Surely nothing will happen, and she’ll do directly to the police.

· She slows to a walk and receives a text that says, ‘RUN’.

· She starts to turn around and reverse course. A text warns her to ‘Stay on Course’.

· She dials 911 and the digitally enhanced voice that answers taunts her with, ‘Nice Try’.

The Hostage Taker realizes she is testing the instructions and tells her as much in a text saying, ‘Don’t Test Me!’. Sadie receives pictures of Adam and the children doing what they do daily. The Hostage Taker tells her to cross the road so that she is running with traffic instead of against it.

OUT. INTERSECTION – DAY

As she runs through intersections she notices a block to her right, there is a figure on a motorbike mirroring her. As she sees them, they shine a flashlight in her direction. It must be the Hostage Taker.

OUT. STREET – DAY

She keeps running.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality.

It has been over two hours of running and Sadie is out of water. She has had to urinate for awhile but has been holding it. It starts to lightly rain which gives her cover to let it go. The urine runs down her legs. She wore new running shoes for this run as it wasn’t going to be a long one. Blisters have formed and as the urine runs onto her feet, she moans in excruciating pain. The blood soaks to the outside of her shoes.

An hour later and it is now pouring rain. Sadie’s hair is falling in her face, and she looks a mess. She is starting to get strange looks from people along the sidewalks and cars that drive up beside her at intersections. One car pulls up beside her and starts to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage in conversation, a motor bike pulls up behind her and revs its engine. She blows them off in the car and they carry on. The motor bike passes her. It was not the hostage taker, just an impatient rider.

TE 7: Sadie realizes she is going to miss her presentation

Another hour passes, the sky is starting to dim. Theme: She looks at the time on her phone and realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She can’t imagine what her employees are doing without her there to direct them.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – AFTERNOON

Back at her office, as it closer to her presentation time, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. Theme: Because she is so self-reliant and dependable, they tell themselves that she will be there for the presentation. They mustn’t let the potential client know anything is wrong. Sadie would kill them! They head over to the client’s office to set everything up.

PLACEHOLDER: Need to further develop this scene of her team deciding how they should react to Sadie’s absence. Show the anxiety growing.

OUT. STREET – DAY

Sadie is starting to question whether the Hostage Taker will follow through on their threats. Maybe they are bluffing. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. As traffic slows, she jumps in a cab that already has a passenger. Her phone starts to emit an ear-piercing sound. The cabbie pulls over and kicks her out.

4. Act 3: 20 to
30 pages
With Midpoint change, Profound moments
that give us new ways.

New Plan: Now, the hero creates a new plan and pursues it. With that, they embrace the need to change.

TE 8: Sadie has an idea. She will use her iPod Facetime App to warn Adam and the kids to get to safety.

Sadie realizes that she has an iPod Touch in her sleeve cuff playing music through a set of bone conducting earphones. Maybe the Hostage Taker doesn’t know about the iPod. While Sadie doesn’t know a lot about technology, she does know how to use the Facetime App which she has on her iPod from a time in her life where she didn’t have it on her phone.

In between intersections, Sadie realizes she has a short opportunity to use Facetime to contact with Adam. The message that comes through to Adam looks different than normal, but he answers it. He is shocked to see Sadie’s condition and immediately asks her what in the hell is going on.

OUT. INTERSECTION/STREET – DAY

Sadie comes to an intersection and puts the iPod down by her leg as she runs through it.

Back to Adam, she quickly tells him what is going on. She can’t explain why but believes that he and the kids are in danger. She tells him to grab the kids Hannah (their mother) and get to the police station on the corner of (such and such TBD). She tells Adam where she is and the direction she is headed. He starts to question her, and she shuts him down hysterically directing him to trust her and just do it.

She comes to another intersection and puts the iPod down. She glances to her right and doesn’t see the motorcycle. When she pulls the iPod up, Adam is gone.

She doesn’t know where the Hostage Taker has gone. This is unnerving to her. It is also unnerving that it is getting dark, and she is barely putting one foot in front of the other. She also has not had any water except for what she drank out of the palm of her hand when it rained.

Turning Point: The “All is lost” or “lowest of the lows” moment where everything has failed.

Theme: At this point, her presentation is the last thing on her mind. This episode has sent a jolt through her body about what is important. She just hopes that Adam can get the children to safety. She no longer cares about herself.

5. Act 4: 25 pages
Test the change in this character!
Prove New Ways!

Resolution: The change has been made or tested. We now see the new status quo of the Hero.

TE 9: Sadie risks looking for information on her phone about who has kidnapped her. She realizes it is Thomas. She runs into a Starbucks who call the police. The police notify NYPD to pick up Thomas Kruger for questioning.

Sadie picks up her phone. It is down to 3% battery power. She takes a chance and taps on the information button behind the last text she received. It discloses a phone number, a New York number that she doesn’t recognize. She dials the number and a man answers in a normal voice. She recognizes the voice. It is Thomas. Before she says anything, her phone dies.

INT. STARBUCKS – NIGHT

Sadie runs into a Starbucks, tells them she’s been kidnapped and escaped, and asks to use their phone. Looking as she does, Starbucks staff does not question her. They sit her down in a chair, a customer gives her their jacket, they get her a cup of water and an employee calls the police.

As sirens converge on the Starbucks, a police officer comes through the door with Adam, Hannah, and the kids right behind her. They all gather in a huddle and Sadie starts sobbing out of relief.

INT. VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICE – NIGHT

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) contacts New York Police Department (NYPD) and within hours they arrest Thomas John Kruger for kidnapping.

INT. VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY

The motorcycle rider was a video game friend Thomas met online who he offered $500 to if he would ride alongside Sadie and Facetime Live her at each intersection while narrating what was happening. Thomas watched the Facetime Live and reacted to what he saw in real time. The Gamer was brought in for questioning but let go without charges as he didn’t really know what or why he was doing what he was doing. He simply wanted the $500.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – DAY

TE 10: Randy and the team fill Sadie in on what happened at the client’s office re the presentation.

Theme: Back at the ad agency client’s boardroom, Randy introduced himself and conversed with the client long enough to buy a 20-minute window so that the team could get ready to deliver the presentation. Randy had no choice but to trust the entire time and use them all for all of their strengths. They knew better than to say their boss was running late. The employee with the flashy tech ideas incorporated the ideas and the presentation was stunning. They got the job.

Theme: Sadie was so proud of her team and that they rose to the occasion. She started to realize that she could rely on her team, that it wasn’t all up to her, and that it was a lot less pressure to share the load. She vowed to change her ways. She even enrolled Adam in the company as their business expert. The company did well, grew exponentially, and Sadie became a partner. (Not sure if I’m going to have her become a Partner or hang up her own shingle as Owner).

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S BEAT SHEET AND HIGH SPEED WRITING

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

I like that it is starting to feel more like a script. By adding these components in a high-speed fashion, gaps in writing become more evident. Placeholders put your mind at ease for further elaboration.

ASSIGNMENT 7

1. Listen to the Empowerment Audio

<b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>2. Act 1: 25 to
30 pages

Set up and see Old Ways.

INT. OFFICE – DUSK

OPENING: Set us up for the journey that starts with the Inciting Incident.

TE 1: CEO pitches Sadie an opportunity to open a Vancouver branch of the advertising agency

SADIE is just finishing up a meeting with MITCHELL BAKKEN, the CEO of GH Group. She’s walking toward the door as he’s encouraging her to seriously think about heading up the project to establish a new branch of GH Harder in Vancouver BC. As she is about to step out his door he follows up with, “It could be your ticket to partnership”.

INT. HALLWAY – DUSK

She closes the door to the Mitchell’s office and her phone chirps. It is a text from THOMAS, her longtime boyfriend, who she just broke up with, telling her that dinner is almost ready. She looks angry as she crumples her paper coffee cup and slams it into the garbage in the hall.

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DUSK

TE 2: Sadie runs home to finally break up with Thomas and throw him out

Sadie is thrashing around slamming and locking doors. Everyone else has gone home for the day. She is in her running gear with a small backpack carrying her identification, credit cards and her work clothes. Sadie gave her longtime boyfriend Thomas a directive to be out of her townhouse by the time she got home from work. She looks down at the text on her phone about dinner being ready and sent him a text back saying, ‘Get Out!’.

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OUT. STREETS – DUSK

Sadie bursts out of the elevator on the main floor and heads out into the city. Her anger is fueled by the stress and anger of a breakup that has been a long time coming. Thomas refuses to accept that it is over even though Sadie assures him that it is.

Sadie is used to being in control, over everything, and the fact that Thomas is not responding to the breakup is driving her to the brink.

OUT. SIDEWALKS – DUSK

Sadie runs recklessly down the street, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike.

OUT. SADIE’S STREET – DUSK

As she enters her street she starts to sprint.

OUT. TOWNHOUSE – DUSK

When she reaches the bottom of the steps to her townhouse she stops abruptly, leans over trying to catch her breath.

She looks up to see a shadow moving around her kitchen. She rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and burst through the door throwing her pack into a corner. Instantly upon entry she can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously.

INT. TOWNHOUSE KITCHEN – DUSK

Sadie storms into the kitchen and confronts Thomas in the middle of setting the table for, what looks like a romantic dinner. She yells at him that this is it. They are done.

He still doesn’t seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

She is done talking and to prove it, she yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The window behind the sink and the glass cracks from the heat.

Thomas, with his hands up, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce and an oven mitt. She threatens to throw it on him if he doesn’t leave right now.

He finally gets it and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

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OUT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

An hour later, Thomas returns by car. Sadie has loaded everything of Thomas’ into Rubbermaid tubs and put them on the front porch. There is a locksmith truck parked in front and the LOCKSMITH is just finishing up changing the locks.

The locksmith asks Thomas if the containers are his to which he affirms they are. He tells him the lady who lives here gave him five $100 dollar bills to deliver the bins to his apartment address.

OUT. TOWNSHOUSE STREETSIDE – NIGHT

Thomas says he will take them and starts loading his car. The locksmith helps him, all the while consoling him about the obvious breakup.

The locksmith rings Sadie’s doorbell to let her know he is done, but no one answers. He slips an invoice for the job through the slot and is about to follow up with the five $100 bills. Instead, he hesitates and returns only three. Two bills go in his pocket for his trouble.

INT. TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT

Sadie sits on the floor with her back against the inside of the front door sobbing. It is finally over.

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE CEO OFFICE – MORNING

Sadie tells the CEO, on Friday morning that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC. She sees it as a way of breaking from Thomas and having a fresh start. He tells her that during the following week’s marketing conference in Whistler, BC., he will be announcing her appointment.

OUT. MOUNTAIN – DAY

While at the conference, Sadie participates in a ski lesson provided by the conference. She is partnered with a guy from one of the Exhibition booths. His name is ADAM and they are really hitting it off.

INT. BANQUET ROOM – DUSK

They sit together at dinner. During dinner, there is a segment called ‘Movers and Shakers’ during which announcements are made of people moving from one agency to another or going out on their own. The Mitchell announces that Sadie will be opening a branch ‘right here in beautiful Vancouver, BC’. She bashfully looks at her new acquaintance who smiles as he realizes that their relationship might have a chance.

TE 3: Start ups in Vancouver, Sadie and Adam get married and the Agency is opened.

MONTAGE

A montage of activity shows a back and forth between

· starting up the agency,

· dating Adam,

to

· day to day happenings in the agency, winning accounts, high fives

· runs with Adam, candlelit dinners, Adam in his accounting office at home facetiming Sadie

to

· cutting the ribbon with the whole new work team behind her and

· a wedding photo with her, Adam, and his two children.

INT. AGENCY – DAY

TE 4: Sadie dives into her work in her new Vancouver office preparing for an important New Client Presentation. Her team starts to see her micro manager ways and wonder if they will be able to tolerate it.

PLACEHOLDER: Introductions to Sadie’s team members and development of their personalities needs to be included here.

Back in the office, Sadie works with RANDY her young executive assistant and the rest of her team to put together a big presentation. She will be competing for business against a known competitor VJ KILMER of Sinclair Media Group (SMG) which she relishes. VJ is a fearsome competitor.

Her team suggests ways they can be more involved, use more flashy technology and help Sadie with the volume of preparation that is required. She rebuffs them and tells them just to get her what she asks for and she’ll take it from there. One of Sadie’s team decides to create the flashy piece that she thinks will give the presentation a boost. She hopes to convince her to use it.

Sadie’s team at work show signs of dissatisfaction. While Sadie pays them well enough, she doesn’t let them do what she hired them to do. Randy tries to placate them, but it is even grating on him.

INT. OFFICE – DAY

TE 5: Sadie slips into habits of her Old Ways and Adam notices.

During this busy time at work, Sadie shows signs of her old ways, calling Adam on a Saturday to let him know he won’t be home for dinner even though it is a birthday dinner for his oldest Ada who is turning five. Adam invites his ex-wife and ADA’S mother, HANNAH, over for the birthday party not wanting Ada to feel any pain over Sadie’s absence. In a picture after the fact, Sadie sees Hannah, the ex, at the party, and feels a pang of pain but quickly shakes it off.

Sunday is a repeat of Saturday showing Sadie at work and going for a run at lunch.

OUT. STREETS – DAY

She runs home to say hello to Adam.

INT. TOWNHOUSE – DAY

Sadie tells Adam she won’t be home for dinner, and then heads back to work.

PLACEHOLDER: How does Adam deal with the news that Sadie, once again, won’t be home for dinner? Adam is alone with his kids the entire weekend which he is used to but not how he thought things would be.

INT. TOWNHOUSE – DUSK

Even through Adam is disappointed, he decides to be supportive and bring Sadie dinner which she enjoys.

INT. BAR – NIGHT

On his way home he meets a guy friend at a bar for a drink. The friend asks where Sadie is on a Sunday night and Adam acts embarrassed that she is at work.

Sadie continues to be self-absorbed in work while Adam takes care of the home front. He has been doing it for a while so not much is different, but he is beginning to ask himself, ‘Is this how it should be?’

INT. OFFICE – AFTERNOON

Adam asks Sadie if she can pick up the kids from school one Friday afternoon due to a special work meeting he can’t get out of. She agrees and then forgets to pick them up. The ex-wife is livid.

Adam brings up the idea of finally booking a honeymoon. He thinks it would do them good. Sadie is in no frame of mind to talk about it right now but promises she will after the presentation is done.

INT. OFFICE – DAY

TE 6: Thomas reminds Sadie that he is still in her life both overtly, as friends, and covertly, through a mutual friend VJ Kilmer, one of Sadie’s competitors in the advertising business.

Thomas stays in contact with Sadie as friends. In the beginning, Sadie is ok with it. As time goes on, she starts to become more uncomfortable as she realizes Thomas still holds out hope for a reconciliation.

PLACEHOLDER: Thomas playing video games while he talks to Sadie.

Thomas also stays in touch with VJ Kilmer from the competition in New York. They got to know each other from local New York City events where Sadie introduced them. He is getting information from VJ about what Sadie is up to because she knows they still talk.

PLACEHOLDER: Thomas having a beer with VJ Kilmer after work.

INCITING INCIDENT: Sadie heads out for a run to get in the right frame of mind for her presentation. She is taken hostage through her cellphone, while running. She is told, Do Not Stop Running!
This is the call to go on the journey. It creates the opportunity to live outside the box and take on the New Ways.

INT. OFFICE BULLPEN – DAY

The big day has arrived. The presentation is tonight, and Sadie has got her team pulling it all together.

OUT. STREETS – DAY

She goes for a run to get in the right frame of mind, something she always does.

Head office in New York, Mitchell Bakken, calls to let Sadie know how important the presentation is for the firm. Pressure Sadie doesn’t need.

While she is running, she receives a text on her phone warning her not to stop running, to run where she is told and to reply that she understands by raising her arm in the air. It goes further to say that if she stops running or goes in a different direction, she, her husband, and his children will be killed. She is not to answer any texts or phone calls other than from the mysterious caller.

Is it possible that she has been taken hostage while running?

TURNING POINT: Lock in the journey. There is no going back from here.

Sadie doesn’t know what is happening and she doesn’t know whether to take this threat seriously.

She keeps running and thinking.

3. Act 2: 20 to
30 pages
Challenge the Old Ways.

Reaction: They are now outside the box. It is uncomfortable, maybe unbearable. But the Hero can’t go back. They must move forward in some way.

Sadie knows she must do something.

The Plan: They struggle, flail, and try the first plan that comes to mind…which will quickly fail.

She decides to test the instructions. Surely nothing will happen, and she’ll do directly to the police.

· She slows to a walk and receives a text that says, ‘RUN’.

· She starts to turn around and reverse course. A text warns her to ‘Stay on Course’.

· She dials 911 and the digitally enhanced voice that answers taunts her with, ‘Nice Try’.

The Hostage Taker realizes she is testing the instructions and tells her as much in a text saying, ‘Don’t Test Me!’. Sadie receives pictures of Adam and the children doing what they do daily. The Hostage Taker tells her to cross the road so that she is running with traffic instead of against it.

OUT. INTERSECTION – DAY

As she runs through intersections she notices a block to her right, there is a figure on a motorbike mirroring her. As she sees them, they shine a flashlight in her direction. It must be the Hostage Taker.

OUT. STREET – DAY

She keeps running.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality.

It has been over two hours of running and Sadie is out of water. She has had to urinate for awhile but has been holding it. It starts to lightly rain which gives her cover to let it go. The urine runs down her legs. She wore new running shoes for this run as it wasn’t going to be a long one. Blisters have formed and as the urine runs onto her feet, she moans in excruciating pain. The blood soaks to the outside of her shoes.

An hour later and it is now pouring rain. Sadie’s hair is falling in her face, and she looks a mess. She is starting to get strange looks from people along the sidewalks and cars that drive up beside her at intersections. One car pulls up beside her and starts to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage in conversation, a motor bike pulls up behind her and revs its engine. She blows them off in the car and they carry on. The motor bike passes her. It was not the hostage taker, just an impatient rider.

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TE 7: Sadie realizes she is going to miss her presentation

Another hour passes, the sky is starting to dim. She realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She can’t imagine what her employees are doing without her there to direct them.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – AFTERNOON

Back at her office, as it closer to her presentation time, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. Because she is so self-reliant and dependable, they tell themselves that she will be there for the presentation. They mustn’t let the potential client know anything is wrong. Sadie would kill them! They head over to the client’s office to set everything up.

PLACEHOLDER: Need to further develop this scene of her team deciding how they should react to Sadie’s absence. Show the anxiety growing.

OUT. STREET – DAY

Sadie is starting to question whether the Hostage Taker will follow through on their threats. Maybe they are bluffing. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. At an intersection, she jumps in a cab that already has a passenger. Her phone starts to emit an ear-piercing sound. The cabbie pulls over and kicks her out.

4. Act 3: 20 to
30 pages
With Midpoint change, Profound moments
that give us new ways.

New Plan: Now, the hero creates a new plan and pursues it. With that, they embrace the need to change.

TE 8: Sadie has an idea. She will use her iPod Facetime App to warn Adam and the kids to get to safety.

Sadie realizes that she has an iPod Touch in her sleeve cuff playing music through a set of bone conducting earphones. Maybe the Hostage Taker doesn’t know about the iPod. While Sadie doesn’t know a lot about technology, she does know how to use the Facetime App which she has on her iPod from a time in her life where she didn’t have it on her phone.

In between intersections, Sadie realizes she has a short opportunity to use Facetime to contact with Adam. The message that comes through to Adam looks different than normal, but he answers it. He is shocked to see Sadie’s condition and immediately asks her what in the hell is going on.

OUT. INTERSECTION/STREET – DAY

Sadie comes to an intersection and puts the iPod down by her leg as she runs through it.

Back to Adam, she quickly tells him what is going on. She can’t explain why but believes that he and the kids are in danger. She tells him to grab the kids Hannah (their mother) and get to the police station on the corner of (such and such TBD). She tells Adam where she is and the direction she is headed. He starts to question her, and she shuts him down hysterically directing him to trust her and just do it.

She comes to another intersection and puts the iPod down. She glances to her right and doesn’t see the motorcycle. When she pulls the iPod up, Adam is gone.

She doesn’t know where the Hostage Taker has gone. This is unnerving to her. It is also unnerving that it is getting dark, and she is barely putting one foot in front of the other. She also has not had any water except for what she drank out of the palm of her hand when it rained.

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Turning Point: The “All is lost” or “lowest of the lows” moment where everything has failed.

At this point, her presentation is the last thing on her mind. This episode has sent a jolt through her body about what is important. She just hopes that Adam can get the children to safety. She no longer cares about herself.

5. Act 4: 25 pages
Test the change in this character!
Prove New Ways!

Resolution: The change has been made or tested. We now see the new status quo of the Hero.

TE 9: Sadie risks looking for information on her phone about who has kidnapped her. She realizes it is Thomas. She runs into a Starbucks who call the police. The police notify NYPD to pick up Thomas Kruger for questioning.

Sadie picks up her phone. It is down to 3% battery power. She takes a chance and taps on the information button behind the last text she received. It discloses a phone number, a New York number that she doesn’t recognize. She dials the number and a man answers in a normal voice. She recognizes the voice. It is Thomas. Before she says anything, her phone dies.

INT. STARBUCKS – NIGHT

Sadie runs into a Starbucks, tells them she’s been kidnapped and escaped, and asks to use their phone. Looking as she does, Starbucks staff does not question her. They sit her down in a chair, a customer gives her their jacket, they get her a cup of water and an employee calls the police.

As sirens converge on the Starbucks, a police officer comes through the door with Adam, Hannah, and the kids right behind her. They all gather in a huddle and Sadie starts sobbing out of relief.

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INT. VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICE – NIGHT

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) contacts New York Police Department (NYPD) and within hours they arrest Thomas John Kruger for kidnapping.

INT. VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY

The motorcycle rider was a video game friend Thomas met online who he offered $500 to if he would ride alongside Sadie and Facetime Live her at each intersection while narrating what was happening. Thomas watched the Facetime Live and reacted to what he saw in real time. The Gamer was brought in for questioning but let go without charges as he didn’t really know what or why he was doing what he was doing. He simply wanted the $500.

INT. AGENCY BULLPEN – DAY

TE 10: Randy and the team fill Sadie in on what happened at the client’s office re the presentation.

Back at the ad agency client’s boardroom, Randy introduced himself and conversed with the client long enough to buy a 20-minute window so that the team could get ready to deliver the presentation. They knew better than to say their boss was running late. The employee with the flashy tech ideas incorporated the ideas and the presentation was stunning. They got the job.

Sadie was so incredibly happy that her team rose to the occasion. She started to realize that she could rely on her team, that it wasn’t all up to her, and that it was a lot less pressure to share the load. She vowed to change her ways. She even enrolled Adam in the company as their business expert. The company did well, grew exponentially, and Sadie became a partner. (Not sure if I’m going to have her become a Partner or hang up her own shingle as Owner).

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S TRANSFORMATIONAL EVENTS

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned by doing this assignment is it is the value of ‘layering’. Layering is another way of compartmentalizing or chunking it down. Works to minimize ‘overwhelm’.

The Transformational Events exercise is also necessary to make sure that the character is developing. An audience won’t care about ‘Transactional Events’ if they result in very little change in Old and New ways. That’s when they fall asleep or turn the channel.

ASSIGNMENT 6

1. Listen to the Empowerment Audio

https://30dayscript.s3.amazonaws.com/Empowerment+Audio.m4a

2. Start with the Character Arc and the list of Old Ways and New Ways.

Sadie is a single, self-reliant, 35-year-old ad exec from New York City trying to make a name for herself in Vancouver, BC, where, if successful, she will make partner. The ad agency she works for is world renowned, and she has developed a reputation of being the go-to executive in the New York branch because of her creativity, work ethic and dogged determination.

In Vancouver, she is starting a life with a new husband, his two children and a labradoodle. Having resigned herself to a single life that certainly did not include children or pets, Sadie struggles to be a great wife, loving mother and kick-ass ad exec who knows what she wants and will do just about anything to get it. Can she have it all? And at what cost?

Sadie’s arc takes her from:

· single, no children, no pets, self-reliant, go-it-alone, married to her job, knows what she wants and how to get it, and a win at all costs mentality.

to…

· married, two stepchildren, labradoodle, team-reliant, committed to her job, knows what she wants and how to get it, with a healthy balance between winning at work and winning at home.

Old Ways

· Single, self-reliant, and self-absorbed

· Small fish in big pond (ad exec in NYC agency)

· Fear of abandonment

· Self-centered and selfish

· Be the best at all costs

New Ways

· Married with children, a dog and unconditional love all around

· Big fish in small pond (ad owner in Vancouver agency)

· No fear of abandonment

· Team oriented and empathetic

· Lead the best team!

3. Make a list of 6 – 8 changes or steps that need to happen for that character to go from who they are in the beginning (Old Ways) to who they are in the ending (New Ways).

1. Sadie accepts an opportunity to start a new ad agency in Vancouver, BC

2. Sadie breaks off her long-term relationship with Thomas.

3. Sadie meets Adam at a conference in Whistler BC and lives in Vancouver, they marry

4. Before an important presentation, Sadie gets taken hostage while running

5. Sadie values keeping her family safe and makes decisions accordingly

6. Sadie doesn’t think about her work presentation while her team saves the day

7. Sadie is successful in her relationship with her new husband and instant family

8. Sadie’s becomes partner because of the great job her team did with her presentation

4. Sequence the steps from easiest to most difficult. This will imply the journey the character takes.

Easiest

· Sadie accepts an opportunity to start a new ad agency in Vancouver, BC
(Sadie is in her comfort zone with her work, regardless of where it is.)

· Sadie values keeping her family safe and makes decisions accordingly
(Sadie’s love for Adam kicks in and she values his family which he loves as well)

· Sadie doesn’t think about her work presentation while her team saves the day
(Not much Sadie can do about this so it is easy in that regard)

· Sadie is successful in her relationship with her new husband and instant family
(Sadie’s reaction to the inciting incident and her family’s support is a major shift)

· Sadie’s becomes partner because of the great job her team did with her presentation
(Sadie learned she had a team that she just needed to mentor and then get out of their way)

Most Difficult

· Sadie breaks off her long-term relationship with Thomas.
(This step should be easy but because of Sadie’s inattention in the past, it is difficult)

· Sadie meets Adam at a conference in Whistler BC and lives in Vancouver, they marry
(Sadie has a lot of fear when engaging in any relationship, based on past experience)

· Before an important presentation, Sadie gets taken hostage while running
(Sadie doesn’t know what is going on and feels totally out of control, which she hates)

5. Brainstorm dramatic events or tests that could cause those changes for the character.

Sadie and Adam agree they won’t have a honeymoon right after their wedding as they are both busy with work. Eventually, Adam is anxious to get away while Sadie keeps pushing it out.

Sadie knows she needs to hire the best of the best to be successful in this new adventure. Her inability to empower them and get out of their way means she risks losing them.

Thomas stays in contact with Sadie as friends. In the beginning, Sadie is ok with it. As time goes on she starts to become more uncomfortable as she realizes Thomas still holds out hope for a reconciliation.

Thomas stays in touch with VJ Kilmer from the competition in New York. They got to know each other from local New York City events where Sadie introduced them. He is getting information from VJ about Sadie because he knows they still talk.

Adam asks Sadie if she can pick up the kids from school one Friday afternoon due to a special work meeting he couldn’t get out of. She agrees and then forgets to pick them up. The ex-wife is livid.

Sadie slips into some of her bad habits of letting work overtake all other priorities. Adam is starting to feel it.

Sadie practices her presentation to her employees. They make suggestions for improvement, but she is totally closed to them.

Head office in New York, Mitchell Bakken, lets Sadie know how important the upcoming presentation is for the firm. Pressure Sadie doesn’t need.

6. Add these transformational events to your four-act structure.

2. Act 1: 25 to
30 pages
Set up and see Old Ways.

OPENING: Set us up for the journey that starts with the Inciting Incident.

Sadie is just finishing up a meeting with the CEO of GH Group. She’s walking toward the door as he’s encouraging her to seriously think about heading up the project to establish a new branch of GH Harder in Vancouver BC. As she is about to step out his door he follows up with, “It could be your ticket to partnership”. She closes the door and her phone chirps. It is a text from Thomas telling her that dinner is almost ready. She looks angry as she crumples her paper coffee cup and slams it into the garbage in the hall.

Sadie is thrashing around slamming and locking doors. Everyone else has gone home for the day. She is in her running gear with a small backpack carrying her identification, credit cards and her work clothes. Sadie gave her longtime boyfriend Thomas a directive to be out of her townhouse by the time she got home from work. She looks down at the text on her phone about dinner being ready and sent him a text back saying, ‘Get Out!’.

Sadie bursts out of the elevator on the main floor and heads out into the city. She is running off the stress and anger over a breakup which has been a long time coming. Thomas refuses to accept that it is over even though Sadie assures him that it is.

Sadie is used to being in control, over everything, and the fact that Thomas is not responding to the breakup is driving her to the brink. She runs recklessly down the street, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike.

As she enters her street she starts to sprint. When she reaches the bottom of the steps to her townhouse she stops abruptly, leans over trying to catch her breath. She looks up to see a shadow moving around her kitchen. She rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and burst through the door throwing her pack into a corner. Instantly upon entry she can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously.

Sadie storms into the kitchen and confronts Thomas in the middle of setting the table for, what looks like a romantic dinner. She yells at him that this is it. They are done.

He still doesn’t seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

She is done talking and to prove it, she yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The window behind the sink and the glass cracks from the heat.

Thomas, with his hands up, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce and an oven mitt. She threatens to throw it on him if he doesn’t leave right now.

He finally gets it and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

Four hours later, Thomas returns by car. Sadie has loaded everything of Thomas’ into Rubbermaid tubs and put them on the front porch. There is a locksmith truck parked in front and the locksmith is just finishing up changing the locks.

The locksmith asks Thomas if the containers are his to which he affirms they are. He tells him the lady who lives here gave him five $100 dollar bills to deliver the bins to his apartment address.

Thomas said he would take them and started loading his car. The locksmith helps him, all the while consoling him about the obvious breakup.

The locksmith rings Sadie’s doorbell to let her know he is done, but no one answers. He slips an invoice for the job through the slot and is about to follow up with the five $100 bills. Instead, he hesitates and returns only three. Two bills go in his pocket for his trouble.

Sadie sits on the floor with her back against the inside of the front door sobbing. It is finally over.

Sadie tells the CEO, Mitchell Bakken, on Friday morning that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC. She sees it as a way of breaking from Thomas and having a fresh start. He tells Sadie that during the following week’s marketing conference in Whistler, BC., he will be announcing her appointment.

While at the conference, Sadie participates in a ski lesson provided by the conference. She meets a guy from an Exhibition booth. They are really hitting it off and they sit together at dinner. During dinner, there is a segment called ‘Movers and Shakers’ during which announcements are made of people moving from one agency to another or going out on their own. The CEO of GH Group announces that Sadie will be opening a branch ‘right here in beautiful Vancouver, BC’. She bashfully looks at her new acquaintance who smiles as he realizes that their relationship might have a chance.

A montage of activity shows a back and forth between

· starting up the agency,

· dating Adam,

to

· day to day happenings in the agency, winning accounts, high fives

· runs with Adam, candlelit dinners, Adam in his accounting office at home facetiming Sadie

to

· cutting the ribbon with the whole new work team behind her and

· a wedding photo with her, Adam, and his two children.

Back in the office, Sadie works with Randy her young executive assistant and the rest of her team to put together a big presentation. She will be competing for business against a known competitor VJ Kilmer of Sinclair Media Group (SMG) which she relishes. VJ is a fearsome competitor.

Her team suggests ways they can be more involved, use more flashy technology and help Sadie with the volume of preparation that is required. She rebuffs them and tells them just to get her what she asks for and she’ll take it from there. One of Sadie’s team decides to create the flashy piece that she thinks will give the presentation a boost. She hopes to convince her to use it.

Sadie’s team at work show signs of dissatisfaction. While Sadie pays them well enough, she doesn’t let them do what she hired them to do. Randy tries to placate them but it is even grating on him.

During this busy time at work, Sadie shows signs of her old ways, calling Adam on a Saturday to let him know he won’t be home for dinner even though it is a birthday dinner for his oldest Ada who is turning five. Adam invites his ex-wife and Ada’s mother over for the birthday party not wanting Ada to feel any pain over Sadie’s absence. In a picture after the fact, Sadie sees Hannah, the ex, at the party, and feels a pang of pain but quickly shakes it off.

Sunday is a repeat of Saturday showing Sadie at work and going for a run at lunch. She runs home to say hello to Adam, tell him she won’t be home for dinner, and then heads back to work. He decides to bring her dinner which she enjoys. On his way home he meets a guy friend at a bar for a drink. The friend asks where Sadie is on a Sunday night and Adam acts embarrassed that she is at work.

Sadie continues to be self-absorbed in work while Adam takes care of the home front. He has been doing it for a while so not much is different, but he is beginning to ask himself, ‘Is this how it should be?’

Adam asks Sadie if she can pick up the kids from school one Friday afternoon due to a special work meeting he can’t get out of. She agrees and then forgets to pick them up. The ex-wife is livid.

Adam brings up the idea of finally booking a honeymoon. He thinks it would do them good. Sadie is in no frame of mind to talk about it right now but promises she will after the presentation is done.

Thomas stays in contact with Sadie as friends. In the beginning, Sadie is ok with it. As time goes on, she starts to become more uncomfortable as she realizes Thomas still holds out hope for a reconciliation.

Thomas also stays in touch with VJ Kilmer from the competition in New York. They got to know each other from local New York City events where Sadie introduced them. He is getting information from VJ about what Sadie is up to because she knows they still talk.

INCITING INCIDENT: This is the call to go on the journey. It creates the opportunity to live outside the box and take on the New Ways.

The big day has arrived. The presentation is tonight, and Sadie has got her team pulling it all together while she goes for a run to get in the right frame of mind. This is something she always does.

Head office in New York, Mitchell Bakken, lets Sadie know how important the presentation is for the firm. Pressure Sadie doesn’t need.

While she is running, she receives a text on her phone warning her not to stop running, to run where she is told and to reply that she understands by raising her arm in the air. It goes further to say that if she stops running or goes in a different direction, she, her husband, and his children will be killed. She is not to answer any texts or phone calls other than from the mysterious caller.

Is it possible that she has been taken hostage while running?

TURNING POINT: Lock in the journey. There is no going back from here.

Sadie doesn’t know what is happening and she doesn’t know whether to take this threat seriously.

She keeps running and thinking.

3. Act 2: 20 to
30 pages
Challenge the Old Ways.

Reaction: They are now outside the box. It is uncomfortable, maybe unbearable. But the Hero can’t go back. They must move forward in some way.

Sadie knows she must do something.

The Plan: They struggle, flail, and try the first plan that comes to mind…which will quickly fail.

She decides to test the instructions. Surely nothing will happen, and she’ll do directly to the police.

· She slows to a walk and receives a text that says, ‘RUN’.

· She starts to turn around and reverse course. A text warns her to ‘Stay on Course’.

· She dials 911 and the digitally enhanced voice that answers taunts her with, ‘Nice Try’.

The Hostage Taker realizes she is testing the instructions and tells her as much in a text saying, ‘Don’t Test Me!’. Sadie receives pictures of Adam and the children doing what they do daily. The Hostage Taker tells her to cross the road so that she is running with traffic instead of against it.

As she runs through intersections she notices a block to her right, there is a figure on a motorbike mirroring her. As she sees them, they shine a flashlight in her direction. It must be the Hostage Taker.

She keeps running.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality.

It has been over two hours of running and Sadie is out of water. She has had to urinate for awhile but has been holding it. It starts to lightly rain which gives her cover to let it go. The urine runs down her legs. She wore new running shoes for this run as it wasn’t going to be a long one. Blisters have formed and as the urine runs onto her feet, she moans in excruciating pain. The blood soaks to the outside of her shoes.

An hour later and it is now pouring rain. Sadie’s hair is falling in her face, and she looks a mess. She is starting to get strange looks from people along the sidewalks and cars that drive up beside her at intersections. One car pulls up beside her and starts to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage in conversation, a motor bike pulls up behind her and revs its engine. She blows them off in the car and they carry on. The motor bike passes her. It was not the hostage taker, just an impatient rider.

Another hour passes, the sky is starting to dim. She realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She can’t imagine what her employees are doing without her there to direct them.

Back at her office, as it closer to her presentation time, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. Because she is so self-reliant and dependable, they tell themselves that she will be there for the presentation. They mustn’t let the potential client know anything is wrong. Sadie would kill them! They head over to the client’s office to set everything up.

Sadie is starting to question whether the Hostage Taker will follow through on their threats. Maybe they are bluffing. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. At an intersection, she jumps in a cab that already has a passenger. Her phone starts to emit an ear-piercing sound. The cabbie pulls over and kicks her out.

4. Act 3: 20 to
30 pages
With Midpoint change, Profound moments
that give us new ways.

New Plan: Now, the hero creates a new plan and pursues it. With that, they embrace the need to change.

Sadie realizes that she has an iPod Touch in her sleeve cuff playing music through a set of bone conducting earphones. Maybe the Hostage Taker doesn’t know about the iPod. While Sadie doesn’t know a lot about technology, she does know how to use the Facetime App which she has on her iPod from a time in her life where she didn’t have it on her phone.

In between intersections, Sadie realizes she has a short opportunity to use Facetime to contact with Adam. The message that comes through to Adam looks different than normal, but he answers it. He is shocked to see Sadie’s condition and immediately asks her what in the hell is going on.

Sadie comes to an intersection and puts the iPod down by her leg as she runs through it.

Back to Adam, she quickly tells him what is going on. She can’t explain why but believes that he and the kids are in danger. She tells him to grab the kids Hannah (their mother) and get to the police station on the corner of (such and such TBD). She tells Adam where she is and the direction she is headed. He starts to question her, and she shuts him down hysterically directing him to trust her and just do it.

She comes to another intersection and puts the iPod down. She glances to her right and doesn’t see the motorcycle. When she pulls the iPod up, Adam is gone.

She doesn’t know where the Hostage Taker has gone. This is unnerving to her. It is also unnerving that it is getting dark, and she is barely putting one foot in front of the other. She also has not had any water except for what she drank out of the palm of her hand when it rained.

Turning Point: The “All is lost” or “lowest of the lows” moment where everything has failed.

At this point, her presentation is the last thing on her mind. This episode has sent a jolt through her body about what is important. She just hopes that Adam can get the children to safety. She no longer cares about herself.

5. Act 4: 25 pages
Test the change in this character!
Prove New Ways!

Resolution: The change has been made or tested. We now see the new status quo of the Hero.

Sadie picks up her phone. It is down to 3% battery power. She takes a chance and taps on the information button behind the last text she received. It discloses a phone number, a New York number that she doesn’t recognize. She dials the number and a man answers in a normal voice. She recognizes the voice. It is Thomas. Before she says anything, her phone dies.

Sadie runs into a Starbucks, tells them she’s been kidnapped and escaped, and asks to use their phone. Looking as she does, Starbucks staff does not question her. They sit her down in a chair, a customer gives her their jacket, they get her a cup of water and an employee calls the police.

As sirens converge on the Starbucks, a police officer comes through the door with Adam, Hannah, and the kids right behind her. They all gather in a huddle and Sadie starts sobbing out of relief.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) contacts New York Police Department (NYPD) and within hours they arrest Thomas John Kruger for kidnapping.

The motorcycle rider was a video game friend Thomas met online who he offered $500 to if he would ride alongside Sadie and Facetime Live her at each intersection while narrating what was happening. Thomas watched the Facetime Live and reacted to what he saw in real time. The Gamer was brought in for questioning but let go without charges as he didn’t really know what or why he was doing what he was doing. He simply wanted the $500.

Back at the ad agency client’s boardroom, Randy introduced himself and conversed with the client long enough to buy a 20-minute window so that the team could get ready to deliver the presentation. They knew better than to say their boss was running late. The employee with the flashy tech ideas incorporated the ideas and the presentation was stunning. They got the job.

Sadie was so incredibly happy that her team rose to the occasion. She started to realize that she could rely on her team, that it wasn’t all up to her, and that is was a lot less pressure to share the load. She vowed to change her ways. She even enrolled Adam in the company as their business expert. The company did well, grew exponentially, and Sadie became a partner. (not sure if I’m going to have her become a Partner or hang up her own shingle as Owner).

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S 4-ACT TRANSFORMATIONAL STRUCTURE

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned by doing this assignment is that compartmentalizing the story, or ‘chunking it down’ is a good way to keep it all from becoming overwhelming. I didn’t complete the 4 Acts in a linear fashion. I completed Act 1, then Act 4, then Acts 2 and 3. The 4 Act method is a very satisfying way of looking at it.

ASSIGNMENT 5

1. List Concept, Main
Conflict, Old Ways, and New Ways

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cellphone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Main Concept

Thomas is bitter and wants to teach Sadie a lesson as a reaction to her dumping him. And he wants to save her new husband from suffering the same fate. Sadie goes for a run to get in the right frame of mind to make one of the most important pitches of her life. While running, by cellphone text, Sadie is threatened that if she stops running, something terrible will happen to her and her family, including her new husband’s children.

Old Ways

· Single, self-reliant, and selfish

· Small fish in big pond (ad exec in NYC agency)

· Fear of abandonment

· Self-centered and self-absorbed

· Be the best at all costs, micro manager

New Ways

· Married with children, a dog and unconditional love all around

· Big fish in small pond (ad owner in Vancouver agency)

· No fear of abandonment

· Team oriented and empathetic

· Lead the best team!

2. Act 1: 25 to
30 pages
Set up and see Old Ways.

OPENING: Set us up for the journey that starts with the Inciting Incident.

Sadie is just finishing up a meeting with the CEO of GH Group. She’s walking toward the door as he’s encouraging her to seriously think about heading up the project to establish a new branch of GH Harder in Vancouver BC. As she is about to step out his door he follows up with, “It could be your ticket to partnership”. She closes the door and her phone chirps. It is a text from Thomas telling her that dinner is almost ready. She looks angry as she crumples her paper coffee cup and slams it into the garbage in the hall.

Sadie is thrashing around slamming and locking doors. Everyone else has gone home for the day. She is in her running gear with a small backpack carrying her identification, credit cards and her work clothes. Sadie gave her longtime boyfriend Thomas a directive to be out of her townhouse by the time she got home from work. She looks down at the text on her phone about dinner being ready and sent him a text back saying, ‘Get Out!’.

Sadie bursts out of the elevator on the main floor and heads out into the city. She is running off the stress and anger over a breakup which has been a long time coming. Thomas refuses to accept that it is over even though Sadie assures him that it is.

Sadie is used to being in control, over everything, and the fact that Thomas is not responding to the breakup is driving her to the brink. She runs recklessly down the street, shoulder-bumping people as she heads down a busy sidewalk on a Thursday evening. Her backpack knocks someone off their bike.

As she enters her street she starts to sprint. When she reaches the bottom of the steps to her townhouse she stops abruptly, leans over trying to catch her breath. She looks up to see a shadow moving around her kitchen. She rips her backpack off her back, stomps up the stairs and burst through the door throwing her pack into a corner. Instantly upon entry she can smell something cooking; evidence that Thomas is still not taking her seriously.

Sadie storms into the kitchen and confronts Thomas in the middle of setting the table for, what looks like a romantic dinner. She yells at him that this is it. They are done.

He still doesn’t seem to get it and suggests they sit down for a meal and talk.

She is done talking and to prove it, she yanks the garbage can out from under the sink and dumps everything on the table into the can. She walks over to the island and clears all contents to the can as well. Sadie grabs a pot of hot water with spaghetti noodles from the stove. She tells him she is done being held hostage by him in her own house. She throws the boiling water against the back of the sink. The window behind the sink and the glass cracks from the heat.

Thomas, with his hands up, takes a step towards her.

Sadie picks up the pot of simmering spaghetti sauce and an oven mitt. She threatens to throw it on him if he doesn’t leave right now.

He finally gets it and snaps, yelling obscenities as he storms out and slams the door, taking nothing and creating yet another reason for returning.

Four hours later, Thomas returns by car. Sadie has loaded everything of Thomas’ into Rubbermaid tubs and put them on the front porch. There is a locksmith truck parked in front and the locksmith is just finishing up changing the locks.

The locksmith asks Thomas if the containers are his to which he affirms they are. He tells him the lady who lives here gave him five $100 dollar bills to deliver the bins to his apartment address.

Thomas said he would take them and started loading his car. The locksmith helps him, all the while consoling him about the obvious breakup.

The locksmith rings Sadie’s doorbell to let her know he is done, but no one answers. He slips an invoice for the job through the slot and is about to follow up with the five $100 bills. Instead, he hesitates and returns only three. Two bills go in his pocket for his trouble.

Sadie sits on the floor with her back against the inside of the front door sobbing. It is finally over.

Sadie tells the CEO, Mitchell Bakken, on Friday morning that she will accept the project of opening the new office in Vancouver, BC. She sees it as a way of breaking from Thomas and having a fresh start. He tells Sadie that during the following week’s marketing conference in Whistler, BC., he will be announcing her appointment.

While at the conference, Sadie participates in a ski lesson provided by the conference. She meets a guy from an Exhibition booth. They are really hitting it off and they sit together at dinner. During dinner, there is a segment called ‘Movers and Shakers’ during which announcements are made of people moving from one agency to another or going out on their own. The CEO of GH Group announces that Sadie will be opening a branch ‘right here in beautiful Vancouver, BC’. She bashfully looks at her new acquaintance who smiles as he realizes that their relationship might have a chance.

A montage of activity shows a back and forth between

· starting up the agency,

· dating Adam,

to

· day to day happenings in the agency, winning accounts, high fives

· runs with Adam, candlelit dinners, Adam in his accounting office at home facetiming Sadie

to

· cutting the ribbon with the whole new work team behind her and

· a wedding photo with her, Adam, and his two children.

Back in the office, Sadie works with Randy her young executive assistant and the rest of her team to put together a big presentation. She will be competing for business against a known competitor VJ Kilmer of Sinclair Media Group (SMG) which she relishes. VJ is a fearsome competitor. Her team suggests ways they can be more involved, use more flashy technology and help Sadie with the volume of preparation that is required. She rebuffs them and tells them just to get her what she asks for and she’ll take it from there. One of Sadie’s team decides to create the flashy piece that she thinks will give the presentation a boost. She hopes to convince her to use it.

During this busy time at work, Sadie shows signs of her old ways, calling Adam on a Saturday to let him know he won’t be home for dinner even though it is a birthday dinner for his oldest Ada who is turning five. Adam invites his ex-wife and Ada’s mother over for the birthday party not wanting Ada to feel any pain over Sadie’s absence. In a picture after the fact, Sadie sees Hannah, the ex, at the party, and feels a pang of pain but quickly shakes it off.

Sunday is a repeat of Saturday showing Sadie at work and going for a run at lunch. She runs home to say hello to Adam, tell him she won’t be home for dinner, and then heads back to work. He decides to bring her dinner which she enjoys. On his way home he meets a guy friend at a bar for a drink. The friend asks where Sadie is on a Sunday night and Adam acts embarrassed that she is at work.

Sadie continues to be self-absorbed in work while Adam takes care of the home front. He has been doing it for a while so not much is different, but he is beginning to ask himself, ‘Is this how it should be?’

INCITING INCIDENT: This is the call to go on the journey. It creates the opportunity to live outside the box and take on the New Ways.

The big day has arrived. The presentation is tonight, and Sadie has got her team pulling it all together while she goes for a run to get in the right frame of mind. This is something she always does.

While she is running, she receives a text on her phone warning her not to stop running, to run where she is told and to reply that she understands by raising her arm in the air. It goes further to say that if she stops running or goes in a different direction, she, her husband, and his children will be killed. She is not to answer any texts or phone calls other than from the mysterious caller.

Is it possible that she has been taken hostage while running?

TURNING POINT: Lock in the journey. There is no going back from here.

Sadie doesn’t know what is happening and she doesn’t know whether to take this threat seriously.

She keeps running and thinking.

3. Act 2: 20 to
30 pages
Challenge the Old Ways.

Reaction: They are now outside the box. It is uncomfortable, maybe unbearable. But the Hero can’t go back. They must move forward in some way.

Sadie knows she must do something.

The Plan: They struggle, flail, and try the first plan that comes to mind…which will quickly fail.

She decides to test the instructions. Surely nothing will happen, and she’ll do directly to the police.

· She slows to a walk and receives a text that says, ‘RUN’.

· She starts to turn around and reverse course. A text warns her to ‘Stay on Course’.

· She dials 911 and the digitally enhanced voice that answers taunts her with, ‘Nice Try’.

The Hostage Taker realizes she is testing the instructions and tells her as much in a text saying, ‘Don’t Test Me!’. Sadie receives pictures of Adam and the children doing what they do daily. The Hostage Taker tells her to cross the road so that she is running with traffic instead of against it.

As she runs through intersections she notices a block to her right, there is a figure on a motorbike mirroring her. As she sees them, they shine a flashlight in her direction. It must be the Hostage Taker.

She keeps running.

Turning Point 2: MIDPOINT: The journey is still moving in the same direction, but the meaning has changed in a big way that shifts reality.

It has been over two hours of running and Sadie is out of water. She has had to urinate for awhile but has been holding it. It starts to lightly rain which gives her cover to let it go. The urine runs down her legs. She wore new running shoes for this run as it wasn’t going to be a long one. Blisters have formed and as the urine runs onto her feet, she moans in excruciating pain. The blood soaks to the outside of her shoes.

An hour later and it is now pouring rain. Sadie’s hair is falling in her face, and she looks a mess. She is starting to get strange looks from people along the sidewalks and cars that drive up beside her at intersections. One car pulls up beside her and starts to roll down the passenger window. Just as Sadie is about to engage in conversation, a motor bike pulls up behind her and revs its engine. She blows them off in the car and they carry on. The motor bike passes her. It was not the hostage taker, just an impatient rider.

Another hour passes, the sky is starting to dim. She realizes she is going to miss her presentation. She can’t imagine what her employees are doing without her there to direct them.

Back at her office, as it closer to her presentation time, Sadie’s team is concerned. They have everything ready and loaded in the van. The only thing missing is Sadie. Because she is so self-reliant and dependable, they tell themselves that she will be there for the presentation. They mustn’t let the potential client know anything is wrong. Sadie would kill them! They head over to the client’s office to set everything up.

Sadie is starting to question whether the Hostage Taker will follow through on their threats. Maybe they are bluffing. She decides she is going to jump in a cab, borrow the cabbie’s phone and call the police. At an intersection, she jumps in a cab that already has a passenger. Her phone starts to emit an ear-piercing sound. The cabbie pulls over and kicks her out.

4. Act 3: 20 to
30 pages
With Midpoint change, Profound moments
that give us new ways.

New Plan: Now, the hero creates a new plan and pursues it. With that, they embrace the need to change.

Sadie realizes that she has an iPod Touch in her sleeve cuff playing music through a set of bone conducting earphones. Maybe the Hostage Taker doesn’t know about the iPod. While Sadie doesn’t know a lot about technology, she does know how to use the Facetime App which she has on her iPod from a time in her life where she didn’t have it on her phone.

In between intersections, Sadie realizes she has a short opportunity to use Facetime to contact with Adam. The message that comes through to Adam looks different than normal, but he answers it. He is shocked to see Sadie’s condition and immediately asks her what in the hell is going on.

Sadie comes to an intersection and puts the iPod down by her leg as she runs through it.

Back to Adam, she quickly tells him what is going on. She can’t explain why but believes that he and the kids are in danger. She tells him to grab the kids Hannah (their mother) and get to the police station on the corner of (such and such TBD). She tells Adam where she is and the direction she is headed. He starts to question her, and she shuts him down hysterically directing him to trust her and just do it.

She comes to another intersection and puts the iPod down. She glances to her right and doesn’t see the motorcycle. When she pulls the iPod up, Adam is gone.

She doesn’t know where the Hostage Taker has gone. This is unnerving to her. It is also unnerving that it is getting dark, and she is barely putting one foot in front of the other. She also has not had any water except for what she drank out of the palm of her hand when it rained.

Turning Point: The “All is lost” or “lowest of the lows” moment where everything has failed.

At this point, her presentation is the last thing on her mind. This episode has sent a jolt through her body about what is important. She just hopes that Adam can get the children to safety. She no longer cares about herself.

5. Act 4: 25 pages
Test the change in this character!
Prove New Ways!

Resolution: The change has been made or tested. We now see the new status quo of the Hero.

Sadie picks up her phone. It is down to 3% battery power. She takes a chance and taps on the information button behind the last text she received. It discloses a phone number, a New York number that she doesn’t recognize. She dials the number and a man answers in a normal voice. She recognizes the voice. It is Thomas. Before she says anything, her phone dies.

Sadie runs into a Starbucks, tells them she’s been kidnapped and escaped, and asks to use their phone. Looking as she does, Starbucks staff does not question her. They sit her down in a chair, a customer gives her their jacket, they get her a cup of water and an employee calls the police.

As sirens converge on the Starbucks, a police officer comes through the door with Adam, Hannah, and the kids right behind her. They all gather in a huddle and Sadie starts sobbing out of relief.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) contacts New York Police Department (NYPD) and within hours they arrest Thomas John Kruger for kidnapping.

The motorcycle rider was a video game friend Thomas met online who he offered $500 to if he would ride alongside Sadie and Facetime Live her at each intersection while narrating what was happening. Thomas watched the Facetime Live and reacted to what he saw in real time. The Gamer was brought in for questioning but let go without charges as he didn’t really know what or why he was doing what he was doing. He simply wanted the $500.

Back at the ad agency client’s boardroom, Randy introduced himself and conversed with the client long enough to buy a 20-minute window so that the team could get ready to deliver the presentation. They knew better than to say their boss was running late. The employee with the flashy tech ideas incorporated the ideas and the presentation was stunning. They got the job.

Sadie was so incredibly happy that her team rose to the occasion. She started to realize that she could rely on her team, that it wasn’t all up to her, and that is was a lot less pressure to share the load. She vowed to change her ways. She even enrolled Adam in the company as their business expert. The company did well, grew exponentially, and Sadie became a partner. (not sure if I’m going to have her become a Partner or hang up her own shingle as Owner).

[Karen Sinclair]

KAREN SINCLAIR’S CHARACTER INTERVIEWS

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

What I learned by doing this assignment is that my characters have a lot to tell me!
They were bursting at the seems to talk.

I wrote so much that I felt like I should go through and edit it down but didn’t want to spend the time it would take, at least not at this point.

ASSIGNMENT

Interviewing Your Characters

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST

1. Tell me about yourself.

My name is Sadie Elaine Hilliard. I go by SE at my job so that judgements aren’t made right out of the gates about my abilities in a male dominated industry.

I’m 35 and have been working in advertising for ten years. After attending Columbia Business School in New York, I started out as an intern and then got a job as an assistant to the advertising executive, Oliver Nam, in the New York City branch of Harder Global Advertising Group (HG Group). Oliver has been a great mentor.

For me, advertising and marketing were a natural fit. When combined with my work ethic, the powers that be thought they’d take a chance on me. I’ve had to work at 120% to get where I’m at but at least they gave me an opportunity and I don’t mind hard work.

I have never been super successful on the personal front. My job takes so much of my attention that it doesn’t leave a lot for a partner, which is sad. I had resigned myself to a life where I would be married to my job.

You’re talking in the past about your relationship, has anything changed for you personally?

I don’t know if you believe in synchronicity but on a work trip to Whistler, BC, I met a guy from Vancouver, ‘The One’. Seriously, I couldn’t believe it. In fact, I started subconsciously sabotaging the relationship immediately just so that I could feel in control. But this guy, Adam, kept me coming back.

But what about living in New York and Adam living in Vancouver?

That’s where the synchronicity comes in. Just before the conference, the CEO of GH Group, Mitchell Bakken, asked me if I would be interested in spearheading the opening of a Vancouver office. He suggested a successful opening could be my chance at making partner. I was thinking about it when, at the conference, this guy kept kidnapping my attention. If you believe things happen for a reason, the universe was sending me a sign. He was a sponsor of the conference and, as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), had an Exhibition Booth to drum up business. I kept running into him every day. We first bumped into each other on the ski hill.

2. Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?

My work ethic, and creative abilities, are what prompted my boss to think of me for this new agency project. Meeting Adam simply ‘sealed the deal’. We are now married, something neither of us saw coming, lol. But it has been amazing. He is an accountant who works from home. He has his own interests, gives me my space, and understands what I’m trying to accomplish in my job. It is simply too good to be true.

3. You are up against. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?

Moving from a big city like New York City to Vancouver will be quite a culture shock, no doubt about it. But if I’m not willing to take a chance on ‘me’ now, in both my work and my love life, then when?

4. To survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?

The work part of this project in Vancouver is my comfort zone. I’m stoked to be taking on the challenge and have total confidence I will be successful, even in a new city. I know how to sell the agency. I’m super competitive and I know who my competition is. I look forward to getting started. Recruiting a team is my first step. I’m well on my way.

The relationship part makes me the most nervous. With my brutal history, I feel like I’m waiting for a shoe to drop. But it doesn’t.

Another aspect of the relationship that makes me nervous is that Adam has two children, a girl (5) and a boy (3). They live with their mother during the week and spend weekends with their dad. Talk about instant family. For me, kids are totally out of my comfort zone.

5. What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?

I didn’t have many friends in New York City outside of my acquaintances through my job. I’ll still be in touch with them. My personal relationship had run its course, so I’m not leaving much behind in that regard. I will miss the hustle and bustle of the big city and the feeling of living in the centre of the universe. And I must admit, I will have to get used to being part of a family. I’ve had it easy so far being responsible for only me, myself and I.

6. What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?

My fears, insecurities and wounds all relate to my relationship with men. Since my dad was a raging alcoholic, I never had a relationship with him. My mom and I moved out on our own when I was only two. The thought of having children myself is fraught with fears and guilt that I experienced as a child without a father and the burden that it created for my mother.

7. What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?

For my career, I know my competition in the advertising world very well, regardless of where they are located. JV Kilmer and I used to compete for jobs in New York City. Whether I’m in New York or Vancouver shouldn’t make a difference. The world is a small place. I love the competition. GH Group is currently a global organization. Finally having a branch in Vancouver is simply a natural evolution.

For my personal life, a fresh start is what I needed which is how I see this move from New York to Vancouver. I am my own antagonist. I’ll have to work on that. So far, things seem to be going well.

8. What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?

I’ve got a huge ego. I know it. ‘Never let them see you sweat’ is my life motto.

I love to be the centre of attention at work. I have a hard time being a team player. I’ve always felt that my success is because of me, and my team is just there to get me whatever I need. I am a micro manager. I know all the leadership courses say I should empower my team by giving them responsibilities and credit for successes. But if I want to be a partner in this agency, I need to be the only one my boss in New York is seeing as successful. And, if you want something done right, you must do it yourself, right?

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST

1. Tell me about yourself.

My name is Thomas John Kruger and I’m 28 years old. I graduated from Tulsa Tech in Oklahoma with a certificate in Information Technology specializing in Enterprise Networking, Security and Automation.

I always wanted to work in New York City, so I took a job handling a company’s back-end technology. From time to time, I manned the sales desk and found out that I had a knack for it. Eventually the company hired a replacement for the back end, and I went on the road as a full time sales person. I am no longer working for the company. Because of disruption in my personal life, I took my eye off the ball at work, and they fired me.

In my personal life, I just came out of a long-term relationship. MY partner’s name was Sadie. I thought she was the one and I still think there could be hope but I really don’t know what happened. It felt like I was the one doing all the giving, but I thought it was just because she was a bit of a workaholic. We had discussions about it on more than one occasion. I tried to give her space but seemingly out of nowhere, she broke it off. Now she has moved to Vancouver and has gotten married, leaving me behind in her dust. After almost eight years, you’d think I’d get a little more consideration.

2. Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

I feel like I know Sadie well. I can use what I know about her to inflict some harm. She thinks she can just discard me like trash. Also, I can use technology to my advantage. She is useless when it comes to technology. She doesn’t even know the power she holds in her hand through her phone. I can still track her whereabouts through ‘Find My Phone’. She won’t suspect. If she can make a call, send a text, and use Google Maps, to her, it is a miracle.

3. Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?

Sadie needs to know that she cannot treat people like trash; use them up and throw them out. She needs a wake-up call. And her new husband needs to know who he married. One day it will be HIS turn to be tossed aside. I will spare him that outcome.

4. What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?

After giving and giving for all those years, sticking in the relationship, I’m bitter. She is oblivious to everyone except herself. It will feel so good to take her down and ruin her relationship.

5. What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?

I’ve really got nothing more to lose and I love the idea of using what I know about technology to inflict harm, especially on someone so oblivious. It will be enjoyable!

6. What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?

I have ways, using technology, to teach Sadie a lesson. She won’t know what hit her.

I was really looking forward to being a househusband. Sadie made enough money that I really didn’t have to work and that was my ultimate dream. Also, I love playing video games. It would be another dream to use my technology smarts to work from home in the video game industry.

7. Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?

I was willing to give everything up for her. She couldn’t see it and didn’t appreciate it.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

I got to know my antagonist better. I have a pretty good idea who my protagonist is but am just getting to know my antagonist. Still more to flesh out on both, for sure.

PART 2

WHAT DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? (PROTAGONIST – Sadie Elaine Hilliard)

Because Sadie is a confident, self-reliant, and determined character and especially because she is experiencing success in a male-dominated career, observers want to see what she is going to achieve next. Whether it be at work or running, Sadie knows what she wants and goes for it.

TRAITS:

· Ambitious

· Competitive

· Stubborn

· Motivated

SUBTEXT:

Sadie doesn’t know how to unplug from work. Part of her doesn’t even want to. So when she is not at work she is still working in her head. When she is hiding or not saying something she comes across as always distracted.

FLAW:

Sadie is a workaholic. She believes people in her orbit are there to make her look good.

VALUES:

· Success

· Competence

· Love and Family

· Health

Sadie values being successful at work, which she knows how to achieve.
She also values being in a loving and committed relationship, which she does not know how to achieve.

IRONY:

Internal: Sadie believes that her most important goal in life is to be successful at work. If she can be successful at work, the other parts of her life that she values, like having loving relationships, will simply fall into place.

External: Sadie surrounds herself with a team of top-notch ad agency personnel. They make her look good, which Sadie believes is their goal.

WHAT MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE?

Sadie possesses the characteristics and traits to help her be successful in a male-dominated world. She knows it. She is good at it. And she goes for it. She also wants a loving relationship and a family but has no idea how to have it.

WHAT DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? (ANTAGONIST – Thomas Kruger)

Thomas is the consummate salesman but can seem a bit neurotic when things are not going well. When he is experiencing success, he is a pleasure to be around. He is transactional in his interactions with others which can appear very social when a situation calls for him to be social. In his natural state he is an introvert and prefers to be alone.

TRAITS:

· Indecisive

· Selfish

· Transactional

· Vengeful

SUBTEXT:

Thomas was never sure that he was in love with Sadie. He simply acted in the way he thought a loving partner should act. Everything he says or does is designed to give Sadie what he thinks she needs so that he can stay in the relationship and be taken care of.

FLAW:

In his relationship with Sadie, Thomas feels he has done all the giving and can’t understand her rejecting him. He is extremely needy.

VALUES:

· Security

· Wealth

· Stature

· Honor

IRONY:

Internal: Thomas believes that he is doing all the giving in his relationship with Sadie. The irony is that it comes across as ‘needy’ to Sadie and she breaks off the relationship.

WHAT MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE?

Thomas’s transactional nature is a perfect fit as Sadie is always so preoccupied with work that she doesn’t recognize it as such. This is also an Irony. <br clear=”all”>

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Karen Sinclair.

[Karen Sinclair]

Karen Sinclair’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

‘The Devil’s in the Details’
The degree to which I felt a scatter-brained when I started this assignment is the degree to which I now feel more organized for having done it. This assignment was really a ‘roadmap’ to move the story along. I look forward to further unpacking my journey.

Who Are We Travelling With?

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cell phone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop.

Protagonist

FIGHTER – a capable Warrior who can rise to the challenge of the conflict.

Sadie Elaine Hilliard (aka SE Hillard) is an ambitious woman in a male dominated field. She is a fighter when it comes to her career but has resigned herself to a life of being single and self-reliant when it comes to her personal life. She will fight for the prize in her career. Will she fight for the prize that is her family?

Antagonist

VILLAIN – an expression of the Hero’s fears. The one who will challenge the Hero to their core

Thomas Kruger, Sadie’s previous boyfriend and scorned lover, quietly takes revenge when he tries to blow up her career and her new family.

Other Characters

Supporting Characters

Personal

· Adam Pullman (37) is Sadie’s new husband. He is a stay-at-home Dad and a CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) who also works from home.

· Ada (5) and Wilf (3) Pullman are Adam’s children from a previous marriage.

· Cassie (4) is their labradoodle.

Vancouver branch of Harder Global Advertising Group

· Randy Stewart (25) is Sadie’s Executive Assistant at HG Group. He came extremely highly recommended.

Competitor Ad Agency, Sinclair Media Group (SMG), head office also in New York City

· VJ Kilmer is the Executive in the competing Ad Agency, Sinclair Media Group (SMG)

Minor Characters

Personal

· Hannah Pullman (36), Adam’s ex-wife and the mother of his children.

New York City branch of Harder Global Advertising Group

· Oliver Nam (52) is Sadie’s boss and a partner in the New York City branch of Harder Global Advertising Group (known informally as HG Group).

· Mitchell Bakken (62) is the CEO of New York City branch of HG Group.

Background Characters

Personal

· Neighbors and playdates

· Friends of Sadie and Adam

Vancouver branch of Harder Global Advertising Group

· Other team members at HG Group

Other

· Vancouver Police Department (VPD)

· Ambulance

· Cellphone company

· Running acquaintances

· Maintenance in Vancouver Ad Agency building

Genre

Thriller: The Protagonist (Sadie) steps into a trap at the beginning (taken hostage running) and has no idea what she is up against; the Antagonist set this scheme in motion before the story began. Often, that Antagonist won’t be revealed until the midpoint of the script and can only be defeated by the Protagonist’s persistence and skill.

Role in the Story (PROTAGONIST)

The protagonist of the story is Sadie Elaine Hillard, who goes by SE at work. SE is a Senior Executive at a high-powered New York City advertising agency. She is the only female at the firm who has achieved a level of success equal to her male counterparts which requires operating at 120% constantly.

Because of the energy Sadie puts into her job she has thus far been unlucky in love. She has resigned herself to being a single, successful Ad Executive in New York City.

Sadie has never had a relationship with her father. She watched her mother singlehandedly meet her need by forgoing an education and working multiple jobs. Sadie learned to rely only on herself.

At a company retreat in Whistler, BC, Sadie runs into Adam who turns her world upside down. Completely unprepared for love, she finds it staring at her from behind ski goggles atop one of the highest and most beautiful mountains in the world.

After several months of a long distance relationship, Adam asks Sadie to marry him and relocate to Vancouver, BC where he is father to two young children from a previous marriage. Sadie (SE) convinces her boss to give her an opportunity to set up and run a branch of HG Global in Vancouver. Should she be successful, she will earn what she considers the ultimate prize of Partnership.

Age Range and Description

Sadie (SE) is 35 years of age. She goes by SE at work to discourage prejudice by gender in a male dominated industry. She is 5 feet 10 inches tall with a slim, athletic build and has dark brown hair that can easily be pulled into a ponytail when running and a tight bun at work. She wears dark rimmed progressive prescription glasses allowing her to see far away and close.

Internal Journey – A mind and emotions change.

Sadie is single, with no children and no pets, self-reliant, go-it-alone, and married to her job. Past relationships fizzled out due to her commitment to her job over all else. Having just married who she considers to be ‘The One’ she is nervous about her ability to nurture the relationship and worries he will leave her just like others have done. She learns how to be a loving wife and mother who is unconditionally in love with her family who love her back.

Sadie goes from a relationship based on fear of being abandoned to one of no fear, immersed in total reciprocal love and commitment.

External Journey – An action and experience change.

Sadie operates with a win-at-all-costs mentality which is great for the client but not so great for the team that surrounds her and supports her. With a goal of making the Vancouver branch successful and making partner, Sadie surrounds herself with the best and then proceeds to smother them and take all the team’s wins for herself. Over time she learns that to have it all, she needs to share herself, her skills and ultimately any successes with her team.

Sadie goes from a selfish, credit hogging executive to a proud ad agency ‘owner’ surrounded and supported by an amazing team.

Motivation

Initially, Sadie’s want, and need is to be outstanding in her field. She is not going to have her mother’s life. And she has learned that the only person she can count on is herself. In a surprising encounter at a company retreat, Sadie meets Adam and in a very short period of time starts to believe that maybe she could be lucky in love. Or will she once again blow it?

Wound

Sadie’s deep-seated wound is that her father abandoned her and her mother. For this reason, she is unable to trust men and as a result, all of her past relationships have failed. Will her new relationship with Adam suffer that same fate?

Mission/Agenda

When Sadie meets and falls deeply in love with Adam she has to make a decision that he is worth the risk of relocating to Vancouver, BC to be with him (which is where his two children from a previous marriage live). The security blanket she takes with her is the opportunity to open and run a branch of her advertising agency in Vancouver, BC. If she lands the big account that everyone is vying for, she will become the first female partner in the history of the company.

Secret

Sadie’s last long-term relationship did not end well. In an unusual turn of events, she ended it because her partner become emotionally dependent on her, and she felt smothered. He relied on her for his own happiness. The pressure was too much. Sadie needed someone who was confident, had interests separate and apart from hers and allowed her the freedom to be who she wanted and needed to be.

Unbeknownst to Adam, Sadie agreed with her ex that they could still be friends.

What makes them special?

Sadie is a long-distance runner. Running is like her own personal clothesline where, if she is getting regular runs in every day her clothesline is taught and tight and other things in her life go well. If, for some reason, her clothesline is slack or worse yet, lying on the ground, everything else in her life starts to fall apart. Poor eating habits, interrupted sleep and a short fuse are just some of the symptoms. For these reasons, Sadie prioritizes running above many other things in her life. Running is her happy place. Rarely a day goes by where she doesn’t go for a run, be it five kilometers or 42 kilometers (a marathon).

Role in the Story (ANTAGONIST)

The antagonist of the story is Thomas Kruger, Sadie’s previous boyfriend.

Thomas is a salesperson for a Technology company. He is great at making decisions for other people but not so great at making decisions for himself. Thomas’ climb in the world of technology sales somewhat mirrored Sadie’s success in advertising. Consistently beating last month’s sales quota was a lot to live up to. While this kind of pressure inspired Sadie, it immobilized Thomas. He saw Sadie’s success as a potential off-ramp for him. It was not beneath him to become a kept man.

Thomas met Sadie at a 10K charity run. He was quite a bit younger than Sadie but the age difference didn’t bother him at all.

Thomas’ relationship with Sadie morphed into an unhealthy dependency where he relied on her to satisfy all his needs. While he gave her the space she needed to do her job, in return, he demanded her full attention to his needs when she was home. Eventually, Thomas’ demands overwhelmed Sadie and she ended the relationship. He couldn’t figure out where he’d gone wrong. In his mind, he was doing all the giving.

Thomas tried to convince Sadie in to reconcile several times, but Sadie rejected this idea.

As a desperate attempt to hang on, Thomas worked to transform the relationship to a friendship so that over time, he could win her back. Sadie was ok with maintaining a friendship. She didn’t see Thomas that often anyway. What she didn’t know was that he was almost stalking her.

Age Range and Description

Thomas is 28 years of age. He has blonde hair, green eyes, a slim build and stands six feet tall. He has a tattoo of his mother’s name on his arm.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Internal Journey – A mind and emotions change.

Thomas goes from a relationship based on an unhealthy dependency to relationship based on desperation and ultimately revenge.

External Journey – An action and experience change.

Thomas goes from a decent salesperson to an unemployed salesperson in prison.

Motivation

Thomas’ motivation is to get Sadie back or seek revenge on her for rejecting him.

Wound

Thomas’ wound is that he simply cannot understand why he is being rejected. He only ever sees the world in terms of how it impacts him. He cannot see the other person’s perspective.

Mission/Agenda

Thomas’ mission or agenda starts with a desire to get Sadie back. When he realizes that isn’t going to happen, his agenda becomes revenge. He wants to blow up Sadie’s job and her new life.

Secret

Thomas’ secret is that he is tracking Sadie. He knows how she operates, how she likes to go for a run to get in state, and how she works with blinders on when she has an important project at work. Through his ongoing friendship with her and through his knowledge of technology, he is developing a plan to take her down.

What makes them special?

Thomas is unique in that he simply cannot see the world from another person’s perspective. He is purely ‘transactional’ and has learned over time what he needs to say and do to get by in life. Everything he does is to get a desired reaction from the other person regardless of what might be going on in their world. He lives in an ‘if this, then that’ world which is part of why he gravitated to technology early on in life.

[Karen Sinclair]

Karen Sinclair’s Transformational Journey

Title

RUN

Genre

Psychological Thriller

Concept

Ad Exec Sadie Hilliard goes out for a noontime run to get in the right state of mind to make a presentation to her agency’s most significant client. While running, she receives a call on her cell phone threatening the lives of her and her family if she should stop running.

Who is my hero and what is their Character Arc that represents a transformation?

Sadie is a single, self-reliant, 35-year-old ad exec from New York City trying to make a name for herself in Vancouver, BC, where, if successful, she will make partner. The ad agency she works for is world renowned, and she has developed a reputation of being the go-to executive in the New York branch because of her creativity, work ethic and dogged determination.

In Vancouver, she is starting a life with a new husband, his two children and a labradoodle. Having resigned herself to a existence that certainly did not include children or pets, Sadie struggles to be a great wife, loving mother and kick-ass ad exec who knows what she wants and will do just about anything to get it. Can she have it all? And at what cost?

Sadie’s arc takes her from:

Single, no children, no pets, self-reliant, go-it-alone, married to her job, knows what she wants and how to get it, and a win at all costs mentality

to…

Married, two stepchildren, labradoodle, team-reliant, committed to her job, knows what she wants and how to get it, with a healthy balance between winning at work and winning at home.

Internal Journey – A mind and emotions change.

Sadie is single, with no children and no pets, self-reliant, go-it-alone, and married to her job. Past relationships fizzled out due to her commitment to her job over all else. Having just married who she considers to be ‘The One’ she is nervous about her ability to nurture the relationship and worries he will leave her just like others have done. She learns how to be a true partner, wife and mother who is unconditionally in love with her family who love her back.

Sadie goes from a relationship based on fear of being abandoned to one of no fear, immersed in reciprocal love and commitment.

External Journey – An action and experience change.

Sadie operates with a win-at-all-costs mentality which is great for the client but not so great for the team that surrounds her and supports her. With a goal of making the Vancouver branch successful and making partner, Sadie surrounds herself with the best and then proceeds to smother them and take all the team’s wins for herself. Over time she learns that to have it all, she needs to be vulnerable, share herself, her skills and ultimately any successes with her team.

Sadie goes from a selfish, credit hogging executive to a proud ad agency ‘owner’ surrounded and supported by an amazing team.

What are the Old Ways and New Ways?

Old Ways

· Single, self-reliant and selfish

· Small fish in big pond (ad exec in NYC agency)

· Fear of abandonment

· Self-centered and selfish

· Be the best at all costs

New Ways

· Married with children, a dog and unconditional love all around

· Big fish in small pond (ad owner in Vancouver agency)

· No fear of abandonment

· Team oriented and empathetic

· Lead the best team!

What I learned doing this assignment is…?

I learned the value of describing the beginning and the end of a journey. I hadn’t clearly defined the end prior to this assignment and in fact, I changed the ending quite significantly as I got to know my own lead character better.

[Karen Sinclair]

Karen Sinclair

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.

[Karen Sinclair]

My name is Karen Sinclair. I live in Chilliwack, which is just outside of Vancouver, BC.

After consuming all the screenwriting books I could get my hands on, I completed a script using Movie Magic Screenwriter.

I retired during the pandemic and hope to re-ignite my love of storytelling in the form of a screenplay.
I also hope to validate the self-learning I did in the early 2000’s.

Before retiring I was a Chartered Professional Accountant in local government for 30 years. I also teach group fitness (Step, Spin and Strength) at our local YMCA.

[Karen Sinclair]

Karen Sinclair

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.

[Karen Sinclair]

My name is Karen Sinclair. I live in Chilliwack, which is just outside of Vancouver, BC.

After consuming all the screenwriting books I could get my hands on, I completed a script in 2003 (using Movie Magic Screenwriter).

I retired during the pandemic and hope to re-ignite my love of storytelling in the form of a screenplay.
I also hope to validate the self-learning I did in the early 2000’s.

Before retiring I was a Chartered Professional Accountant in local government for 30 years. I also teach group fitness (Step, Spin and Strength) at our local YMCA.