Kelli Cooke
Forum Replies Created
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[PS80] Kelli Cooke:
What I learned doing this, is that re-watching a favorite movie for the sake of school work is equal to me playing hooky at doing real work for as many days as I can make it stretch out.
One of my favorite movies Man Up
Dramatic Question: will our main person find love again
Main Conflict: has been hurt by a past breakup
Dilemma: starts off lying to a potential suitor
Theme: rom/com
Man Up-2017 written by Tess Morris
1. Int: Hotel room-
Nancy is talking to herself in the mirror, imagining the meeting between her and the blind date she is being set up with at her friends engagement party.
2. Int: hotel room-
Nancy is in bed watching her favorite movie. Phone rings as room service is setting out food she has ordered. A pep talk from her sister puts her back on track
to attend the party, that she is avoiding.
3. Int: downstairs at the hotel-
Nancy arrives at the party. Set up where everything that can go wrong does.
4. Int: commuter train-
Nancy is on the phone, telling her sister how terrible the blind date was. Her sister is after Nancy to be back in time for their parents anniversary party.
Due to construction there are delays. Nancy meets another passenger who begins giving her unsolicited dating advice.
5. Int: commuter train-
Train stops, Nancy who had fallen asleep, wakes up with the noises of arrival at the station. The passenger who nosed in with advice has left her a book with a note to read it.
6. Int: train station-
Nancy runs down the platform to catch the girl to return the book. While looking for the books owner, is mistaken for it’s owner who was meeting someone for a blind date.
Nancy decides to pretend to be the other girl.
7. Outside: walking from the station across a bridge
Nancy (now as Jessica), strolls with the man whose name is Jack. They start getting to know each other, ‘Jessica’ pretending to be interested in the things Jack has been told
that the real Jessica is interested in.
8. Outside: at a street vendor:
Jack and ‘Jessica’ share a beer and pick another place to get a drink.
9. Int: themed pub:
The two do shots and then go to another place to go bowling
10. Int: bowling alley:
Things are going well with ‘Jessica’ and Jack till someone from her past recognizes her for who she is and threatens to reveal her to her date with blackmail tactics.
11. Int: ladies room of the bowling alley:
Nancy is found by Jack in a compromising situation (the embrace of the friend who threatened blackmail). Nancy comes clean, tells Jack she isn’t Jessica.
12. Int: bowling alley coat check:
Jack and Nancy are having words about her lying or at least avoiding the truth of who she is, that she planned to tell him because she really likes him.
It is discovered that Jack left his satchel at the previous pub and he has a notebook that she needs, it has the speech for her parents anniversary party in it.
13. Ext: streets of London:
He hails a cab, she says it’s not far that they could walk. Now they race each other to see who will get to the pub first.
14. Ext: Outside pub:
They arrive at the same time.
15. Int: pub is crowded
Jack has the barkeep look for his man-bag. Nancy goes to the loo to clean up after running, swimming, and biking to get to the pub (a symbolic representation of Jessica who is a triathlete) .
16. Int: at the bar
Jack and Nancy are parting ways when Jack’s ex wife and her boyfriend appear. Jack introduces Nancy as his girlfriend and they all grab a table to have drinks. Jack and his ex glare at each other
and snarky comments are exchanged.
17. Int: table in the pub
The two couples exchange verbal banter. Jack is still quite visibly hurt over how his marriage ended. Nancy asks him to dance and she advises him to put on a brave face and not show his ex-wife
how much it still effects him.
18. Int: at the bar
They do parting shot with the ex and her fella. Through a series of mistakes Nancy tosses her shot on the arm of the boyfriend, and the bar keep lights it on fire. Now Jack is laughing hysterically
and Nancy grabs a fire extinguisher to put out the fire (Nancy’s cover story was that she is a firewoman), instead of hitting the boyfriend who is on fire, she instead hits Jack’s ex
in the face with the fire suppressant substance that is in the extinguisher.
19. Ext: walking to the train station
Nancy is asking Jack to join her in going to her parents anniversary party that she is very late for, but Jack is looking at his phone and discovered that Jessica is still interested in meeting
him. So Jack didn’t hear Nancy, and they part neither one of them getting the other persons number.
20. Int: Nancy’s parents house, Anniversary party
Nancy comes in the door, she’s remembered the chocolate mousse that her mother asked for. She immediatley breaks down that she met a lovely man, but she made the mistake of pretending to be
his blind date, and the encounter ended poorly.
21. Ext: Side walk pop up bar
Jack and Jessica chatting, Jack quickly realizes he will have to explain everything he says to Jessica because of the age difference between the two of them. He suddenly realizes Nancy
suited him better. They understood each other. He tells Jessica he’s made a mistake and she helps him try to figure out how to find Nancy.
22. Int: Return to the bowling ally
Jack finds Nancy’s former school friend (Sean)and asks his help in finding Nancy.
23. Int: Red BMW
Childhood chum, Sean, takes Jack to where Nancy is. Guy drives at breakneck speeds, while 80’s power ballads play in the back ground
24. Int: Nancy’s parents house
Nancy sits sad and dejected, the after effect of tears still lingering about her eyes and face.
25. Ext: suburban neighborhood
Sean drops Jack, directing him to a house he says is Nancy’s parents.
26. Int: Nancy’s parents house
Knock on the door reveals Sean, and everyone there mistakes Sean for the guy Nancy is sad about. Sean hams it up, playing the part of lost boyfriend. Nancy grows sadder by the minute
27. Ext: Wrong house
Jack knocks on the door Sean directed him to, only to find its a party with a large group of drunk kids. Jack asks if they know Nancy, and goes to hold a girls hair out of her face as
she gets sick in the sink. One kid says he knows Nancy, that she used to be his babysitter when he was younger.
28. Ext: House lined, dark streets
Jack and his entourage of teens running through the streets shouting for Nancy. Jack notices the red BMW of Seans and heads for that house.
29. Int: sitting room full of friends and family
Nancy stands finally getting her whits about her, says a few lines of an impromptu speech, when the window opens across the sitting room and Jack crawls through the window. Where he takes over the speech!
He toasts to Nancy, to tricky ex wanna-be boyfriend Sean who sent him to the wrong house, and to a running theme in the movie “fuck the past”!
30. Int: hallway
Jack and Nancy have gone in the downstairs loo and are kissing and making out, while Sean listens at the door.
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What I’ve learned is I still have a long way to go in the learning to put together my thoughts in an outline!!
My concept is You Can’t Go Home. Working with the idea that where we grow up is often an illusion never as good or as bad as one remembers. Especially when a traumatic event make one leave and stay away.
Opening: Recently divorced woman returns to her hometown to take care of a ageing parent that needs help.
Inciting Incident: reopening a past hurt in her stroll down memory lane when she runs into someone who deeply
hurt her. She realizes that memory no longer holds her hostage.
By page 10 she’s reconnected with old friends from high school, some she’s outgrown, some she finds more in common with now through the growth that happens as one comes into adulthood, and a unlikely love triangle begins to unfold.
The close chum and the former quarterback jock both begin to attempt to woo her. The attentions of one she is flattered by the attentions of the other she is oblivious of.
mid point: inject new information that casts a shadow on both suitors (undecided what this is at the moment, still developing what this will look like for her)
2nd turn: one of the suitors hasn’t been honest about something that is very important to our leading lady, is found out
Crisis: the parents condition worsens or miraculously improves or there is a family falling out that brings some drama to
send the main character away
Climax: in
Resolution: progress
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Day 4
What I learned doing this assignment is that I am keeping things simple and I need to name my characters.
a. Concept: one moment doesn’t define our entire life
b. Dramatic Question: will our main character find love again
c. Main conflict: feeling like she belong nowhere
d. Dilemma: impossible choice
e. Theme: one can never go home again
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What I learned is that I have so much to work with that it is difficult to make a decision when presented with so many options!
My concept is “you can’t go home”. The idea that where you grew up is never as good or bad as we remember in our memories.
Third choice in this part is transformation, following the journey of the main character through her breakdown early in her life, to the break through that it wasn’t as terrible as it initially seemed.
Fourth option would be maturation. In this version I would change the timeline to a shorter number of years that she’d been away and avoided the hometown in order to bring the tension and plot into a tighter story.
(From yesterday:
The two that I think could work best for my story are the Quest and the Underdog.
For the Quest aspect my protagonist has searched for peace from feeling that this pivotal humiliation in high school followed her throughout her life. In returning to her hometown she finds her strength was there all along.
In the underdog version the love triangle would play a bigger part. Showcasing the two suiters and pitting them in more sharp contrast one to the other, at least to the main characters eyes.)
I am leaning toward Quest to work on for the duration of the Outlining module. But am undecided.
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[PS80] (Kelli Cooke) Day 2 Plotting and Outlining
What I learned doing this assignment is, there is so many wonderful options to work with. And I feel lucky that I can look through the formulas to play with each one and how they can work for different situations.
The two that I think could work best for my story are the Quest and the Underdog.
For the Quest aspect my protagonist has searched for peace from feeling that this pivotal
humiliation in high school followed her throughout her life. In returning to her hometown
she finds her strength was there all along.
In the underdog version the love triangle would play a bigger part. Showcasing the two suiters
and pitting them in more sharp contrast one to the other, at least to the main characters eyes.
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[PS80] Kelli Cooke Day 1
What I learned doing this assignment, is that I tend to over think even the simplest instructions. That realization is reoccurring. I am working on it!
My concept is “you can’t go home”. The idea that where you grew up is never as good or bad as
we remember in our memories.
Dramatic Triangle (Rom/com)
My protagonist is a recently divorced woman who is returning to her hometown to take care of aging parents. She stayed away
for the last 15 years because of the hurt caused to her from a dreadful prank that was played on her.
My antagonist is the former quarterback punk who cruelly pranked her in high school.
Secondary person of interest, childhood chum who always had a crush on main character, but he had
no confidence that she would be into him.
The main character had a nervous breakdown after the prank was played on her, spending summer after her senior year nearly catatonic.
Now she is returning to look after parents, following a nasty divorce. She finds the reasons she stayed away were valid, but seem
not so big of a deal now.
The former quarterback punk attempts to atone for the wrong he did. Seeing her as a object that he wishes to bestow
affection on now.
The chum reaches out to foster a new found friendship with main character, acknowledging the feelings of attraction
never went away.
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What did I learn in the teleconference?
I learned that it’s okay to be a beginner again, and again, and again as a necessary part of the progress.
I learned that it is better to write messy and unfettered over writing perfect. As a perfectionist this will truly be a learning curve for me.
I learned that nothing I’ve done up to this point in my life journey has adequately prepared me for the sweet bliss concept of the unedited, raw, free-flow nature of the easy way process.
I learned sitting still during a teleconference is difficult for me.
I learned it is okay to want to break out into the film industry, and that I don’t have to know Steven Spielberg to make it in Hollywood. (I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt, but—)
I learned to take a step back from being so critical of every movie I watch and instead to use each movie as an opportunity to learn more about the different processes that the writer/producer/film-maker applied for various outcomes.
I can’t wait to learn more as I move through this course and work through it as the absolute beginner that I am.
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Hello everyone
My name is Kelli, but I plan to change it once my mother is gone from this plane of existence.
I have written many stories and started at least a dozen books, screenplays are new to me. I am looking forward to diving in and whipping them into submission–or at least into something that can be submitted for consideration.
As far as unique, special, strange or unusual–
I won an axe throwing competition at a state renaissance faire, I was up against 40 men, and 8 other women! I placed first. The prize? A super crappy, brag-worthy sword.
I left a 20 year dead relationship to move to Connecticut to take a chance on love, or at least some great, hot sex for awhile (we got married a year later, together 7 years now). The month before I moved up I lived with a friend from high school, we were the perfect odd-couple. It was tons of fun.
I love to dance! English Country, Contra, belly, just put on some music so I can dance!!
I adore antiques, and describe my décor as ‘early-grandma’.
I thrift most everything we acquire, most recently a counter-top dishwasher which is a glorious thing for someone who doesn’t like to wash dishes by hand.
I’m a step-mom to several children who call me mom because their own egg-donors are terrible at the job. The oldest daughter is due with our first grandchild this October–super excited to spoil this kid rotten!
My father thinks he’s a patriot because he fought the government over paying taxes, ultimately doing time for tax evasion. He was in and out of prison from the time I was 8 till I was 15. What a shit head. So much to draw from for writing purposes.
I am a good listener when properly caffeinated.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Kelli Cooke.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by
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I, Kelli Cooke, agree to these terms
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.