[Keema Mingo]

Subject Line: Keema Mingo: Show Empathy/Distress

What I learned doing this assignment is empathy and distress are created on purpose and these situations we put our characters in causes the audience to care for them and worry about them

Assignment 1:
1. The affair between Olivia and the President and being found out
2. The strained relationship between Mellie and the President
3. Billy doing underhanded dealings to win and cover things up
4. Cyrus causes strife between people to keep control of situations
5. The reporter being killed because he pieced the puzzle together about the Amanda Tanner scheme and his death revealing who Quinn really is

Assignment 2:

A. Undeserved misfortune: The Mayor and her family become enemy number one when she can’t deliver on the promises she ran on because some council members are working against her. The Dad is personally attacked because he dumps the Old Mayor because his daughter is sworn into office. The City Manager suffers public ridicule and isolation when she struggles to get the city out of its financial bind. The Cousin is constantly targeted by vultures who only want to be around him because he is connected to the Mayor.

B. External Character conflicts: The Mayor is attacked politically by the Old Mayor who wants his job back. The Dad is attacked personally and financially because the Old Mayor feels discarded by the Dad. The Mayor and City Manager are at odds as to how to spend and allocate local funds. Some council members leverage the Mayor’s inexperience against her and set up her up to take the fall on specific policies that are passed.

C. Plot intruding on life: Mayor’s drive to right the wrong done to black land owners causes her to make decisions that risks her own family’s wealth. The Dad’s desperate actions to protect his family’s lineage drives a wedge between him and his wife

D. Moral dilemmas: The Mayor either turns a blind eye to scandalous dealings that are happening in office in order to position policies to benefit black land owners who were done dirty by wealth tycoons and politiciansE. Forced decisions they’d never make: The Mayor makes deals with the opposing side with the goal of helping her plight.

[Keema Mingo]

Keema Mingo: Show Relationship Map

“What I learned doing this assignment is that people interact with each other on a variety of levels and their relationships are motivated by many factors”

<font color=”#000000″>CLASS </font>ASSIGNMENT 1:

President: Olivia / Cyrus / Mellie

Surface: his campaign manager / his right hand man / spouse

Common Ground: to help him win the Presidency / to help him win the Presidency / she wants to get into the White House

Conflict: they are attracted to each other / he wants to control the President / they secretly hate each other

History: tumultuous today because of the affair and her leaving him / his dirty work gets ouy of hand / she takes liberties to help him

Subtext: they still love each other / he doesn’t respect the President / she wants her own place in politics

Relationship Arc: she worked for him, lovers to enemies who love each other / supporter and watch dog to protect him / she has her own life now that she is the President’s wife

<font size=”2″ style=””><font color=”#000000″ style=””>CLASS </font>ASSIGNMENT 2:</font>

Mayor: Dad / City Manager / Assistant

Surface: loyal daughter’ guided by father / coworkers / boss; campaign manager

Common Ground: driven, goal oriented, family finances first / want to get the city in a better financial place / focused on her 1st term as mayor

Conflict: policies strategies, property, difference of opinion / policies, money / loyalty, goals, privacy

History: dad dominates and mayor is expected to be obedient / new coworkers, unfamiliar, lack of trust / sees cousin as subordinate, is wealthier than cousin

Subtext: mayor is controlled and molded by dad, feels trapped, mayor resents dad for her choices and lack of individualism / power, struggle, both women have something to prove / cousin competes with mayor, has own goals, mayor holds cousin back from progress

Relationship Arc: loyal daughter, adversary of dad / power struggle, competitor to teammate looking to dominate / mayor is boss, becomes roadblock to cousin’s new career

Dad: Old Mayor / Mayor / Wife

Surface: colleagues, business / protective, father who guides her / leader of family, spouse

Common Ground: make money in real estate / focused on family finances, growing business / protecting family assets

Conflict: dad is entering politics to influence policy, doesn’t need Old Mayor anymore / she wants to do business the right way, wants to avenge theft of land from black families / she isn’t ok with daughter being forced into dirty politics

History: did business deals, helped each other / had had a heavy influence on daughter / she supporter her husband no matter what

Subtext: Old Mayor is jealous, wants revenge, feels thrown away; dad doesn’t trust Old Mayor / daughter resents him for his controlling way so he is worried he is losing his grip on her / solid marriage to secrets and lies

Relationship Arc: comrades to enemies / guide and controller to competitor / loyal spouse to lack of trust and resentment

City Manager: Mayor / Council / Developer

Surface: coworkers / leads council / community partners

Common Ground: fix city’s financial problems / help manager the city more efficiently / use money properly to make city better and help it grow

Conflict: don’t agree on how many should be allocated / council has selfish ambitions, she has overall goals / amount of money given to developers for city changes and construction

History: new relationship, not sure if they can trust each other / councilman voted for her, expects loyalty, she is by the book / new relationship, she is suspicious because they are too friendly

Subtext: she thinks the mayor is too new and incompetent / she believes council is doing back door deals, suspicious / she wants to stop money from being given to a particular developer

Relationship Arc: competitors to comrades / working together to undermining each other / supporters to suspicious

[Keema Mingo]

Assignment 1: Example Show: Scandal

Olivia<font size=”2″ color=”#000000″>
</font>

A. Situational: Hope: solve her client’s problems / Fear: losing a case

B. Motivation: Want: protect her client / Need: to know the truth

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: wants to be loved / Public Mask: poised and strong hero

D. Weaknesses: allowing the president to manipulate her emotionally

E. Triggers: being questioned and doubted

F. Coping Mechanism: constantly strategizing next move, impulsive, won’t take time to regroup

Cyrus

A. Situational: Hope: get an upper hand / Fear: he will be undermined

B. Motivation: Want: power over people and things / Need: control

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: rage / Public Mask: strategizer

D. Weaknesses: he is puts the office over people

E. Triggers: anyone getting in the way of the overall goal

F. Coping Mechanism: retreats then attacks

Assignment 2: Your Show

What I learned in this assignment is that in order to create characters with depth and layers, you have to understand so many different parts of their being. These things drive their actions, reactions, motivations, wants and needs.

1. For each of your main characters, brainstorm an Emotional Profile, filling in the following:

The Mayor

A. Situational: Hope: avenge those black people whose land was stolen / Fear: getting caught

B. Motivation: Want: help people / Need: create her own persona

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: resentment / Public Mask: hero

D. Weaknesses: inexperience in politics/tunnel visioned

E. Triggers: being questioned and doubted

F. Coping Mechanism: constantly strategizing next move, impulsive, won’t take time to regroup

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Her Father

A. Situational: Hope: use politics to expand family’s empire Fear: he will lose everything like his father did

B. Motivation: Want: power in politics / Need: secure his fortune

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: fear, rage / Public Mask: confident leader

D. Weaknesses: hurts people he cares about

E. Triggers: disobedience

F. Coping Mechanism: retreats then attacks

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The City Manager

A. Situational: Hope: fix the city’s bad financial status Fear: people are working against her

B. Motivation: Want: follow the letter of the law / Need: build relationships

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: inadequate / Public Mask: organized/detailedD. Weaknesses: prideful

E. Triggers: being lied to

F. Coping Mechanism: obsesses over details

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The Assistant

A. Situational: Hope: find some dirt on the new mayor that will get her ousted bc she supports the old mayor / Fear: betraying the old mayor

B. Motivation: Want: to be liked / Need: seen a valuable

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: weak / Public Mask: team player

D. Weaknesses: loyal to a fault (to old regimes)

E. Triggers: being overlookedF. Coping Mechanism: blackmail

Old Mayor

A. Situational: Hope: show the new mayor’s incompetence and regain power / Fear: the city is changing to the point where he can’t get back in power

B. Motivation: Want: keep things the same / Need: control

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: insatiable greed / Public Mask: keeper of tradition

D. Weaknesses: stuck in the past

E. Triggers: not getting their way

F. Coping Mechanism: sabotage

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Council Person

A. Situational: Hope: manipulate the new mayor into doing their bidding / Fear: they will lose the support and money of local, powerful business people

B. Motivation: Want: keep their actions hidden / Need: seen as powerful

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: selfish / Public Mask: public servant

D. Weaknesses: poor decision maker

E. Triggers: being doubted / laughed at

F. Coping Mechanism: blames others

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Cousin

A. Situational: Hope: to leverage this position for upward mobility / Fear: won’t be taken seriously/can’t get out of her shadow bc he is related to the mayor

B. Motivation: Want: attention / Need: acceptance

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion: jealousy / Public Mask: supporter

D. Weaknesses: uses people

E. Triggers: being micromanaged

F. Coping Mechanism: distract

[Keema Mingo]

<font size=”2″>ASSIGNMENT 1:</font>

1. Think about your Example Show. Make a list of the places you’ve already seen Character Intrigue in the previous episodes.

Role: Olivia Pope: political fixer<div>

Hidden agendas: publicly humiliate the President for having an affair

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Competition: She competing with Cyrus and the President
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Conspiracies: to help Amanda reveal her secrets about the President
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Secrets: She slept with the President. Her team doesn’t know, just Cyrus.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Deception: keeping the secret about her affair with the President. She is now fighting for the woman the President slept with and is lying about how far she will go to protect her client and defame the President
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Wound: Betrayed by the President bc he slept with an Aide
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Secret Identity: Mistress which requires dishonesty and the lies will hurt her integrity with her team and clients

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Role: Cyrus Beam
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Hidden agendas: manipulate the President into thinking Olivia is against him so he can get the President to forget about her
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Competition: He is competing with Olivia and her team
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Conspiracies: He and the President want to discredit Olivia and silence Amanda
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Secrets: He has called a group of investigators to find out everything about Olivia and her team
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Deception: he lied to the President about Olivia’s motives and goal to get the President from wanting to see her. He has convinced the President that she is their enemy now
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Wound: the President tells him everything but didn’t tell him about the affair with Olivia. He’s also hurt that Olivia won’t come back so the President can be his happy self again
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Secret Identity: Liar, vengeful manipulator

2. Watch the next episode and see how Character Intrigue is being used to create the need to see more episodes.

Role: Pope and Associates
Hidden agendas: help a dictator’s wife escape the marriage
Competition: they are competing with the dictator for the physical possession of his wife
Conspiracies: figure out how to help the wife escape
Secrets: where to hide the wife. How to defend Amanda against the President and Cyrus
Deception: her team lied about not talking to the dictator’s wife after finding her. Olivia lied about taking Amanda to 20/20 to tell her story
Wound: Betrayed by the President bc he slept with an Aide
Secret Identity: Mistress which requires dishonesty and the lies will hurt her integrity with her team and clients

<font size=”2″>ASSIGNMENT 2</font>

What I learned doing this assignment is that characters have a deep layers and each layer has a specific purpose that drives them to do what they do

1. For your Inner Circle characters, fill in any of the Intrigue items that apply.

Character Name: The MayorRole: Mayor of the City
Hidden agendas: she’s using her position and influence with policy to avenge the city’s black population whose land was stolen by the elite, local politicians and their developer friends. It includes land stolen from her own family
Competition: power and influence. Her inexperience and forthright activism causes many to question her ability. She is working to overcome the influence the former mayor still has with some city council members and other leaders who like him. She is also fighting to be seen by her family as more than a community activist or puppet of her father.
Conspiracies: Her cousin (her campaign manager), father and older sister are helping her to strategize how to change policies, reveal the illegal and immoral practices that those people used to steal black people’s land
Secrets: she secretly hates her father for how hard he is on her, how he had caused division amongst her siblings with his tough personal and professional tactics and how his actions cost her mother her own career. She believes he did deceptive things to expand his wealth. If she reveals what they are, it would risk her family’s wealth and legacy in the community.
Deception: she lied to the public about putting their needs first; she lied to her diverse team, making them believe she is helping everyone bc her goal is to help those specific black people get their land back; she’s lying to city council when she supports or rejects policies bc her decisions are always based upon her next move to get their land back
Wound: she has a burn mark on her arm from when her grandfather’s house was bombed and they had to flee for their lives. She wants to avenge his pain and all of his losses: mental, physical and financial. They were instantly in poverty and had to rebuild from the ground up with no land, no insurance money, no real help. This traumatic incident led her to being an activist and getting into politics to right the wrong done to them and others like them. This makes her driven with blinders on, slow to trust others, strategic with every move.
Secret Identity: Activist with selfish ambitions. Her own agenda will slowly reveal itself as she makes decisions and policies that aren’t representative of the promises she made during campaigning
</div>

[Keema Mingo]

Assignment 1

Keema Mingo: Engaging characters that sell you show

A. Role in the show: Olivia Pope, owns and leads Pope and Associates<div>B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: fixes problems for the elite and wealthy
C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface? She had an affair with the president
D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? She isn’t always on the side or what is moral. She defends him ever she wants to believe. She has t told her team she had an affair with the president.
E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? She will tell the truth, intimidate, advise, scheme to win. She does extensive research to prove her point
F. Empathetic: Why do we care? She one of the good guys who did something really bad. I’m rooting for her to win what she wants

Assignment 2

Keema Mingo: “What I learned doing this assignment is that what sells the show isn’t the general, obvious details. It’s the deeper level ideas that matter.

Tell us the journey of your show: the mayor starts by playing by the rules and showing manners and consideration and grows into a leader who makes the hard decisions and keeps people in line. At the beginning of season one, she wants to change the game. After many fights and losing battles, by the end of season one, she decides to play the game.

2. Who are the main characters that will sell your show? The mayor, city manager, city council, city attorney, her assistant, developers, community activists

A. Role in the show: She is the newly elected mayor who takes her political activism and alienates the council in order to help the underdogs

B. Unique purpose/expertise: Purpose: She runs for mayor stating she wants to drain the political swamp but in reality, her goal is to stop developers from stealing more land from its black residents. Expertise: she combines her activism and business acumen to take down the people who have been driving the city to become a place of the haves and have nots.

C. Intrigue: What is the secret beneath the surface? She presents herself as a soft, flowery community activist but she is actually a strategic business woman. Targeting political figures and predatory business entities who have intimidated black people in order to steal their land, she learns the rules of the political game so she can destroy it from the inside out.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing? Is it right to use her political office to benefit a few people when she was elected to represent all of her constituents? She develops a lot enemies: those who are used to getting their way, new people who want to climb the ladder, those who expect her to be blindly loyal to party and culture

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next? The closer she gets to her goal, the more lines she has to cross. She has to make deals with the enemy to trap the enemy. Is avenging these people and dismantling the system worth alienating the whole and creating enemies?

F. Empathetic: Why do we care? W One of the families whose land was stolen was her grandfather’s land. She uses her political power to get back at those who were involved directly and indirectly. want to see a moral politician fight for the underdogs despite the hurdles and personal attacks they endure. What would it look like if black people actually got restitution for their pain?

</div>

[Keema Mingo]

Assignment 1

Keema Mingo: Three Circles of Characters

Keema Mingo: Circle of Characters (Scandal)

A. Main Characters Circle: Olivia, The President: Fitz

B. Connected Circle: Cyrus, Pres Sec: Billy: US Atty: David, The Team: Huck, Abby, Harrison, Steven, Quinn, Judge, Judge’s wife, Judge on Duty

C. Environment Circle: Amanda Tanner, The DC Madam, DC Reporter, President’s Wife

Assignment 2
Keema Mingo: Three Circles of Characters

“What I learned doing this assignment is there are 4 main players in the main characters circle.

1. Create the three circles of characters for your show.

A. Main Characters Circle:Mayor, Mayor Protemp, City Manager, City Attorney, Chief of Police, Certain City Council Members, AssistantB. Connected Circle:Mayor’s immediate family, Mayor’s In-Laws, City Council, Assistants, City Workers, Pastor, Cultural Groups, City Leaders, Developer, Neighborhood LeaderC. Environment Circle:
Citizens, Business Owners, School People, Church Members

2. Give us a one sentence description of each of the Main Characters.
*The mayor is the main character. She entered politics bc she cares about people but learns that she is a puppet in the grand scheme of local politics
*Mayor Pro Temp is driven to land the job of mayor, to be in charge and further their own career
*The City Attorney is a no nonsense, by the book person who doesn’t care about party affiliations but more so about getting the job done to the letter
*The Chief of Police is an old-school minded person who sees people as guilty before innocent and supports cops over community
*Some City Council Members vote along party lines and care more about lobbyists than the people because their goal is state government.
*Assistant works for all of the officials, knows all of the secrets and where the bodies lie. Driven, professional, loyal to the office, not the person

[Keema Mingo]

Keema Mingo: Scandal

What I learned is that inviting obsession is intentional and strategic. You have to write in a way that makes people want to come back and binge on the whole season.

1. Big picture hook:

*what is the big hook of the show?

The show is about a political fixer who can’t fix her personal life

2. Intriguing characters

*what makes the lead characters intriguing and interesting?

They call themselves “Gladiators in a Suit”. They handle business with precision. Non nonsense. Fast talking but very clear. They make it cool to do back door, dangerous deals. They have dynamic chemistry and each person’s purpose is evident.

Olivia Pope has a hypnotic spell on her team. People stop when her name is said bc of who she is and what she does. She is firm, bold, forthright and a great negotiator. She is a leader who has surrounded herself talented people who do her bidding and gets the job done by any means necessary. She follows her gut.

Harrison is clean cut, suave, focused, confident.

Tuck is the muscle. Mysterious. Loyal.

Abbey-investigator: she asks for what she wants and if she doesn’t get it, she throws dirt to influence the outcome. She isn’t easily moved by emotions when confronting people.

Steven-litigator, insecure

Quinn-new, inexperienced, nervous, eager to please, learning how things work

3. Empathy/Distress

*what situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?

For Olivia, being with the Russian mobsters and being short $3M the figuring out how to get by with the kj Neg they had been given without being shot or killed.

The main story is about with Amanda Tanner. The president wants to silence Amanda bc she claims they are having an affair. He says they aren’t. He lied and made Olivia doubt her fit bc she loves him.

She struggles to prove Sully is innocent and when she does, he sabotages it.

4. Open loops

*what questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?

Who is Quinn and why did Olivia hire her to work with them? Why did Olivia leave the White House? Why is she having an affair with the president? Why didn’t he tell his right hand man? Does his wife know about the affair?

5. Inviting obsession

*how does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?

We now want to know more about the affair and see what other cases she solves. Also, why is each person on her team…what did she save them from? What’s going to happen between Olivia and the president?

[Keema Mingo]

I, Keema Mingo, “I agree to the terms of this release form.”

1. Your name.

2. The words “I agree to the terms of this release form.”

3. Please leave the entire text below to confirm what you agree to.

OR

NOT AGREE, in which case, you hit “Reply to this topic” and type in the words “I’ll do the class privately.”

If you agree to the terms of the release form, then you can post your assignments into the group and your cohort can give feedback on them.

Also, if you don’t agree to this group confidentiality agreement, you’ll still need to sign an agreement that says you will keep the strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential.

GROUP RELEASE FORM

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

1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.

2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.

I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.

3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.

4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.

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

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

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Keema Mingo.

[Keema Mingo]

Hey everyone. I’m Keema Mingo. I have written about 8 scripts. I’ve taken many other writing classes including the ones I took when getting my MFA in Directing and Editing. I hope to learn how to master the true art of storytelling where I write projects that people become obsessed over the characters and storylines. Something unique about me: I started playing the drums at 13. I marched on the drum line in high school, at 2 HBCUs and I play a set.

[Keema Mingo]

Subject Line: Keema Mingo: Marketable Components

*What I learned doing this assignment is that having marketability transcends content and story. Highlighting market ability, gives the script, a higher chance of being sold, and making it Bingeable than just having a great story.

*Tell us your current logline. A newly elected and inexperienced black female mayor struggles to do her job as she navigates a tug-of-war between party politics, old school practices, and fulfilling her promises to her constituents.

*Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.

A. Unique.: shows black women in government and running a city. The cast is majority female, majority WOC. Most political shows feature men with a couple of women.

B. Great Title: no title yet

C. True.: inspired by true events (WOC running city governments)

D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event: Yes, black women and WOC are being elected to more local political offices bc constituents want new leadership with fresh ideas

E. It’s a first: yes, it’s the first political show that features WOC as the leaders and taste makers

F. Ultimate.:

G. Wide audience appeal.: yes. Local politics affect everyone

H. Adapted from a popular book.: no

I. Similarity to a box-office success.: not box office but TV shows like The West Wing, Scandal

J. A great role for a bankable actor.: yes. This is an opportunity for WOC who aren’t normally cast as leads to be given a chance to be a part of the ensemble cast

*Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate those two components for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through the two components.

*Two components: Unique and Timely. The crazy antics of local politicians have been all over the news lately. From infighting to bad policies to obvious back door deals with predatory developers, city council meetings have taken a turn for the worse because of party lines and personal vendettas. This series follows a group of women as they navigate the inner workings of local government and how the red tape, negotiations, party lines and identity politics impact the community as a whole. We’ve never seen a political show thru the eyes of female leadership

[Keema Mingo]

Subject Line: Keema Mingo: Marketable Components

*What I learned doing this assignment is that having marketability transcends content and story. Highlighting market ability, gives the script, a higher chance of being sold, and making it Bingeable than just having a great story.

*Tell us your current logline. A newly elected and inexperienced black female mayor struggles to do her job as she navigates a tug-of-war between party politics, old school practices, and fulfilling her promises to her constituents.

*Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.

A. Unique.: shows black women in government and running a city. The cast is majority female, majority WOC. Most political shows feature men with a couple of women. <div>
</div><div>B. Great Title: no title yet </div><div>
</div><div>C. True.: inspired by true events (WOC running city governments)</div><div>
</div><div>D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event: Yes, black women and WOC are being elected to more local political offices bc constituents want new leadership with fresh ideas </div><div>
</div><div>E. It’s a first: yes, it’s the first political show that features WOC as the leaders and taste makers</div><div>
</div><div>F. Ultimate.:</div><div>
</div><div>G. Wide audience appeal.: yes. Local politics affect everyone </div><div>
</div><div>H. Adapted from a popular book.: no</div><div>
</div><div>I. Similarity to a box-office success.: not box office but TV shows like The West Wing, Scandal</div><div>
</div><div>J. A great role for a bankable actor.: yes. This is an opportunity for WOC who aren’t normally cast as leads to be given a chance to be a part of the ensemble cast</div><div>

*Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate those two components for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through the two components.

*Two components: Unique and Timely. The crazy antics of local politicians have been all over the news lately. From infighting to bad policies to obvious back door deals with predatory developers, city council meetings have taken a turn for the worse because of party lines and personal vendettas. This series follows a group of women as they navigate the inner workings of local government and how the red tape, negotiations, party lines and identity politics impact the community as a whole. We’ve never seen a political show thru the eyes of female leadership

<div>
</div><div>

</div></div>

[Keema Mingo]

Scandal

What I learned is that inviting obsession is intentional and strategic. You have to write in a way that makes people want to come back and binge on the whole season.

1. Big picture hook:

*what is the big hook of the show?

The show is about a political fixer who can’t fix her personal life

2. Intriguing characters

*what makes the lead characters intriguing and interesting?

They call themselves “Gladiators in a Suit”. They handle business with precision. Non nonsense. Fast talking but very clear. They make it cool to do back door, dangerous deals. They have dynamic chemistry and each person’s purpose is evident.

Olivia Pope has a hypnotic spell on her team. People stop when her name is said bc of who she is and what she does. She is firm, bold, forthright and a great negotiator. She is a leader who has surrounded herself talented people who do her bidding and gets the job done by any means necessary. She follows her gut.

Harrison is clean cut, suave, focused, confident.

Tuck is the muscle. Mysterious. Loyal.

Abbey-investigator: she asks for what she wants and if she doesn’t get it, she throws dirt to influence the outcome. She isn’t easily moved by emotions when confronting people.

Steven-litigator, insecure

Quinn-new, inexperienced, nervous, eager to please, learning how things work

3. Empathy/Distress

*what situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?

For Olivia, being with the Russian mobsters and being short $3M the figuring out how to get by with the kj Neg they had been given without being shot or killed.

The main story is about with Amanda Tanner. The president wants to silence Amanda bc she claims they are having an affair. He says they aren’t. He lied and made Olivia doubt her fit bc she loves him.

She struggles to prove Sully is innocent and when she does, he sabotages it.

4. Open loops

*what questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?

Who is Quinn and why did Olivia hire her to work with them? Why did Olivia leave the White House? Why is she having an affair with the president? Why didn’t he tell his right hand man? Does his wife know about the affair?

5. Inviting obsession

*how does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?

We now want to know more about the affair and see what other cases she solves. Also, why is each person on her team…what did she save them from? What’s going to happen between Olivia and the President?

[Keema Mingo]

I, Keema Mingo, agree to the terms of this confidentiality agreement

[Keema Mingo]

Hi I’m Keema Mingo

I’ve written about 12 scripts

I’m working in a series and want the skills to make it binge-able. I want it to have the same respect and impact as TWD, Suits and Bridgerton.

Unique thing about me? I started playing the drums at 12 and marched on the drumline in high school. I later marched snare at NC A&T and Norfolk State. I play a set as well.