[Kari Kassir]

So I watched The Handmaid’s Tale. And what I learned during this assignment is that every bit of the pilot is important, whether it’s foreshadowing or character development or world building, everything matters. Or it should matter.

1. Big Picture Hooks — In a world that has somehow been contaminated and is under religious and military rule, women are “chosen” for their ability to procreate and are used as breeding vessels, forced to give up the lives that they knew to become surrogate uteruses for the barren wives of important people.

2. Amazing and Intriguing Character — June/Offred has a rebel spirit but is capable of playing the game to survive, she catches on quickly. She came from a “real life” where she had a husband and a child, and they somehow survived together for a number of years.

3. Empathy/Distress — Offred is treated like a thing rather than a human being, with no choices. Will she get pregnant and fulfill her mission in life? Will she get her daughter back? In the salvaging she was one of the most violent and aggressive, and that has me worried a bit.

4. Layers/Open Loops — What war are they fighting? What happened to the earth? What are the colonies and why are they radioactive? What happens to the children that are conceived and the children of those taken like Hannah? Will Offred be able to escape and find her daughter? What’s going to happen between her and the driver? What’s up with the confession circles? And there’s such a mixed message with the emphasis on pious behavior and sexuality is bad, super right wing conservative religious beliefs, yet there are public killings where they are allowed to take part, kind of like biblical stonings.

5. Inviting Obsession — I want to see the women, the handmaids, rise up and rebel and take back their lives. I want to know how this whole cult-like violent hyper-religious regime was able to take over. How is it that male fertility is preserved in this world? Who’s the Eye in the house? And will Offred get Hannah back?

This is a super dark show where the lines between good and bad are blurred, certainly there is brainwashing going on, and then there is an undercurrent of message for our current state of affairs. Now I’m hooked!

[Kari Kassir]

Hi everyone. I am really late for this party, I’m afraid, but here I am. I live in southern CA, south of Los Angeles and north of San Diego. My “day job” is hospital-based pediatrics but my real and round-the-clock jobs include being a mother, primary caregiver, and eternal student. I aspire to write, rescue animals, incorporate more yoga into my life, and be the best mom I can be.

I have never completed a script, so Marc I am totally in that kindergarten class with you. I have lots of ideas that I shoot down before even putting pen to paper. I am looking for a supportive group, some accountability, and an opportunity to maybe create something I can be proud of.

According to my sons, there are lots of strange things about me. I guess the strangest to me is that I grew up around music and entertainment and ended up in medicine and have been trying to return to my roots ever since.

[Kari Kassir]

I, Kari Kassir, agree to the terms of this release form.

As a member of this group, I agree to the following:

1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the Binge Worthy TV class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, teaching a class, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the Binge Worthy TV 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 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. The easiest solution if you have similar ideas is to either not look at each other’s work or to agree to take your shows in different directions.

If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.

5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.

6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.

This completes the Group Release Form for the Binge Worthy TV class.