Carol Kennedy
Forum Replies Created
-
Carol Kennedy: Key Business Decisions
What I learned doing this assignment is to think like a Producer and make sound business decisions.
NOTE: I’ve had to change my script focus due to an impending contract.1. Give us the decisions that are in your current High Budget script:
Genre: Dark Comedy
Title: Ruling Bodies
Concept: Congress has a serial
killer, and they are a voting member. <div>Audience: 25 and over Females
Budget: $2M to $5M
Lead Characters:
Sandra Warner, Congresswoman up
for election, struggling with alcoholism and mourning the recent death of
her beloved Senator father.David Chambers, strong, stoic father
figure to Sandra with a dark secret.Julie Lu, Sandra’s overly
ambitious assistant, sleeping her way to the top with Sandra’s nemesis.Debra Chambers, recovering
alcoholic, socialite wife of David, with body dysmorphia issues and an
unfiltered mouth.Kirsten Lexington, Sandra’s political
opponent who likes to spread conspiracy theories.Jerry Warner, Sandra’s crazy brother, recently released from prison, who Sandra
helped incarcerate. </div><div>Journey / Character Arc
In the midst of a reelection
campaign, Sandra must come to grips with the death of her father, her own
advanced alcoholism and a growing public tension as more politicians meet with
fatal ‘home accidents’. She’s a bad ass but losing her grip as alcoholism
takes over her sensibilities, cleverness, and tact.Opening
Opening is a murder and all we know is the Senator who is killed
apparently knows the killer.Ending: Sandra discovers the killer has been in her own back yard the whole time – and she’s not all that opposed to the killer’s motives.
</div>
-
ASSIGNMENT
What I learned about this assignment is the value of becoming a genre expert.Carol Ann Kennedy
Specialty — Dark Comedy (with strong female leads)
Do a quick Google search for “top (genre) movies.” Select two of the top movies in your genre to watch.
Don’t Look Up
Burn After Reading3. As you watch each movie, take notes on how that movie fulfills the key parts of your genre.
4. For each movie, tell us the following:
Genre: Dark Comedy
Title: Don’t Look Up
___________________________________________________
How it delivered on the genre conventions
Subject taboo
Deals with the impending end of the world as two astronomers discover an extinction-level comet heading straight towards earth with impact estimated in 6 months.Ironic Characters/Situations
As the two astronomers set out to ‘warn the world’ of their impending doom, they are met with a society more interested in social media ‘likes’, celebrity gossip, a President more interested in how she is doing in the polls and TV show hosts obsessed with ratings and their egos.
Laughing at dark themes/subject matter
The end of the world is nothing to laugh at; however, the movie takes you to the limits of absurd satire, from the idiot tasked to go up and blow the comet off course, to the clueless TV hosts who tell the two astronomers to ‘keep it light’ during their appearance to tell the world they have six months to live.BEATS THAT HIT THE CONVENTIONS
The President’s Office treats them like school children on a visit to the White House, not scientists with a very dark message for humanity.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s character has severe performance anxiety, and now he’s tasked with announcing a very dark message to the entire world.
Kate Dibiasky (Dibiasky Comet) and her desperate Xanax and pot-infused rages as no one will listen.
Kate finds, what might be, real love as the world is about to end.
Kate’s ex-boyfriend capitalizes on her infamy, tweeting and blogging negative things about being in a relationship with her.
_________________________________________________________Genre: Dark Comedy
Title: Burn After Reading
How it delivered on the genre conventions:
Outline of the movie, highlighting the parts that fulfill the genre:
Subject taboo
An alcoholic, CIA analyst
A woman obsessed with her weight and physical imageA ‘muscle head’ personal trainer who thinks he’s smarter than he is.
Ironic Characters/Situations
“Dim-bulb” employees of a gym are thrust into a dangerous world of blackmail and espionage, way out of their normal domain, when they discover a CD accidently left by a gym patron that contains the memoir of a CIA analyst.
Gym employee with body dysmorphia, just wanting money for her weight loss surgery and multiple planned cosmetic surgeries.
Brad Pitt plays a male bimbo, obsessed with his looks and a surface-level thinker.
Harry’s unexpected rage and erratic behavior quash their plans for an easy blackmail.
They try to sell the information to the Russians and with the promise of more files. They must break into Harry’s computer; which results in the death Chad.
Laughing at dark themes/subject matter
Blackmail
Murder/Violence
Body dysmorphia
EspionageInfidelity
All of the ‘uncomfortable’ themes above are touched upon, and yet, the movie still manages to send us into uproarious laughter, mainly due to the absurd, over the top characters.
-
Carol Kennedy’s Credibility is Going Up!
Here’s a very clear plan for building my credibility.
Use more options in IMDB – could use more training on this
Update my LinkedIn profile and link to my website
Update my website
Get Writing Assignments to postCREDIBILITY CHECKLIST
1. Your Writing Sample
‘Recommend’ from Coverage – Yes
Delivers on the genre in a strong way – Yes <div>Delivers on the business decisions – Yes
2. Screenwriting Accomplishments
Contest wins – No, but placed. </div>
Smaller deals (options, sales, writing assignments) – optioned
Larger deals not yet
<div>
Movies produced – One
3. The Google factor
Google your name. How many items on the first page show you as a professional screenwriter? NO
Buzz posts, interviews, news reports, etc.. I presented at the ABQ Film Incubator
4. Your Network
How many producers are in your network? 30 </div><div>
How many Connections do you have who are connected to producers? 40
5. Education specific to screenwriting
Degree in film or screenwriting – British National Film Institute </div><div>
Master Screenwriter Certificate program at ScreenwritingU YES
6. Borrowed Credibility
Represented by an agent or manager
NO </div><div>Working with a producer YES
Connected to a star – No, but mentored by two well-known Hollywood screenwriters.
Connected to a funding source – Producer7. IMDB CREDITS
Go to [url=”http://imdb.com/”]http://IMDB.com[/url] and search your name. What credits show up there for you? I’m there but not much else. How do these credits work anyway?
</div> -
Hi Everyone!
The two projects that I bring to the class are:
Tone Deaf – $2M to $3M
Georgia – $1M to $2M
I have learned that the most important thing to do is to graciously take feedback and use the opportunity to show how you can work collaboratively and efficiently.
-
Hi! I’m Carol!
I’ve written at least 7 scripts (probably more, as I’ve been writing all my life!)
I hope to secure writing assignments with the knowledge gained from this class.
There’s a lot of strange things about me, but the one thing people find most interesting is that I play the sitar and studied under Ravi Shankar’s disciple.
:)!!
-
Carol Kennedy
I agree to the terms of this release form. -
I learned clever ways to elevate the interactions between the Pro and Ant. All that has led up to where they are, their desires, motivations, goals, need to be cleverly ‘cast’ into the script. Dialogue should fit all of the above and, if coupled by the right environment, can lead to, not only great payoffs, but great set ups as well. Going back and looking at all of this in my current script as I have 2 very significant Ants and Pros.
-
What makes this scene fantastic is the unexpected reactions from what would be expected by someone getting their head bashed in by Batman. The Joker is just laughing, almost ‘getting off’ by Batman’s powers. The other interesting element of it is the Joker attempting to point out the similarities between the two and, in the end, how they are both alike (irony), even suggesting that they both should be against the same enemy. This seems to start to resonate a little with Batman, until Joker continues to spew venom from his mouth and he is reminded what a weasel this guy is. The motivation for Batman is to find out where he is holding the kidnapped victims. The motivation for Joker is to get out of this alive, even perhaps with a new ally. The taunting words by the Joker seem to be tempting Batman to beat him more, or join his forces. Such a great scene and the late Heath Ledger is brilliant.
-
This was great for me as I have now gone back and elevated my screenplay with character reveals that uplift the entire story. Character reveals bring a more layered element to characters and, when done well, can bring everything to life. It’s an element that I’ve learned is a critical difference between a good script and a GREAT script. Will work on this more on all of my screenplays.
-
I love that we are collectively being shocked by the reveal – both the audience and the character. His reaction mimics our reaction, along with the witnesses in the scene. And using something as mundane as a food tray to reveal it is also great irony, only increased when the bully comes after him. It’s also a ‘root for the underdog’ type of moment that we all love. The intensity level raises as we see the bully coming at him, but secretly know we are about to likely see more powers come to fruition and we do get that payoff big time.
-
I learned how subtext can really draw you in and, when coupled with irony, raises so many questions that you must find out what the answer is.
-
The not too subtle subtext here is racism. From her feeling his muscles and examining his physique characteristic of how slaves were treated, to the woman asking about the stereotype of black men’s size, we understand who is at the party. The other subtext is the interaction between the two black men, with one attempting to be relatable from a cultural standpoint and the other totally clueless about it. The scene brings up so many questions that you almost MUST continue watching as you start to feel like the main character “What the F..k?”
-
I learned that matching dialogue to contrasting environments can bring a scene to life.
-
LOL! A classic. She’s trying to convince a machismo, arrogant guy that he’s not all that great and has no idea about women and how most of them, at one time, have faked an orgasm. He’s pushing back, not having it, thinks she’s way off base because that’s never happened to him. He’s confident he knows women. She’s determined to show him different, and does…boy does she show him! She speaks in a matter of fact way about this personal subject that draws you in while doing something as mundane as eating a horrible looking sandwich. His confidence seems to wane as she makes her case in a simple, but effective way, finally making her case to the entire restaurant. Satisfied, she smiles, goes back to her sandwich. She proves her point in a dramatic, surprising way in contrast to the simple way the conversation began.
-
This taught me just how much you can do without a lot of dialogue. I learned a lot about Jack through his actions, rather than the dialogue. I will now go back and look at actions in my lead characters and if they are worthy of who the character is and what the script is trying to accomplish.
-
Jack starts out unsure, nearly in shock at the carnage around him. He doesn’t know what to do until he sees a
man calling for help stuck underneath the wreckage with an engine about to
blow. That’s when Jack’s Super Hero kicks
in. He suddenly becomes Jack the Unsure
to Jack the Leader, directing people on what to do, where to go, how to
help. When the pregnant woman is spotted
he rushes into action, comforting her, getting more help and directing her what
to do. We all want to be in an emergency
with someone like Jack. He’s courageous,
brave, compassionate, and a real leader.
We see who he really is when he sees people in distress and suffering. -
I learned some smart techniques in drawing the audience in simply with dialogue. I also learned how to cleverly ‘tie things off’ using contrast and irony, both in imagery and dialogue. It also made me look closer at themes and how you want to ‘leave an audience’.
-
Such a great scene! I think what makes this scene great is perspective. Usually when someone is dead or dying, we don’t hear a long monologue like this. He’s reviewing his life, which is in direct alignment with what he does throughout the film, but this time it’s from a sense of gratitude and not deprivation. His seemingly peaceful manner is also in stark contrast to the imagery of screaming and despair that we see on the screen, but in alignment to his nostalgia. And the irony of the end dialogue is that it kind of suddenly turns the camera on the viewer.
-
I learned how to enhance dialogue by the smallest of things like ‘don’t call me son’ and also inserting irony like telling Tom Cruise that ‘he can’t handle the truth’ when his role is responsible for exactly that. Irony helps build tension, the right irony helps create a scene. I’ll now go back and review this part of my script and make it better!
-
A Few Good Men — Taking Down Jessup
One of the most well-written scenes in movie history in my opinion. The characters both have a significant arcs in this scene with Kaffee appearing initially nervous bumbling and intimidated by the highly decorated Colonel and the Colonel appearing pompous, arrogant, and annoyed by this ridiculous investigation. They have conflicting views of the world that are clear:
COLONEL: Angry because he feels he is protecting him, his family and the country and can do whatever necessary to do so and ‘how dare he question HIM!
He feels a significant sacrifice he has made in his life for everyone and he should not only be honored because of it, but respected and never questionedKAFFEE: Believes in integrity and honor should be coupled with such. He’s emotionally invested in the case and feels a duty to find the truth and disclose it.
Here are several key dialogue points that make the scene so very good and continue to increase intension throughout:
Calling him ‘son’ and demanding he be addressed by his title – arrogance and intimidation.
“You snotty little bastard” heighten of tension.
“You can’t handle the truth” the irony to Tom Cruises role, condescending.
CLEAR ARC BOTH CHARACTERS MOVE TO:
Tom Cruise’s confidence at the end ‘don’t call me son’…you son of a bitch”
FINALLY:
The Colonel completely now out of control/lost his cool: I’m going to rip the eyes out of your head and piss in your dead skull.”Of course, none of the above could be accomplished without the clever and skill of both Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.
-
What I learned is turning points are so ‘delicious’ when they slowly creep up on you. All of these turning points had an eerie feeling that got more intense and just were able to draw us in so cleverly. Every turning point seemed to pose a question that we had to hang on to in order get the answer. I rewrote a few of my turning points using this idea making them all the better.
-
GET OUT: Mother/Smoking Scene: I don’t think we’ve ever seen these two together like this so it already builds intrigue. It works as the mother’s ‘weirdness’ creeps up slowly and gets more and more intense and she delves deeper into his psychic ‘pain’.
GET OUT: Seizure Scene: A lot of this works because of the unexpected and the irony of the scene. The weird, creepiness of the characters and their odd behavior increases the intrigue and mystery and the blood dripping down the nose draws you in, now we have to find out why that happened.
GET OUT: End twist; It works because he is cornered. The desperation to ‘get out’ increases and only intensifies by her supposed inability to find the keys with a backdrop of the creepy dialogue describing even more weirdness.
BRIDESMAIDS: This scene works because so much of it is ‘relateable’ – who hasn’t had a jealous friend at some point or themselves been a little jealous. And who hasn’t felt as if they were at the ‘breaking point’ where they felt they could just topple over the whole thing. You can just feel the hatred and intensity building and the reactions of the others is also relatable.
-
This is what I love about ALL art forms – the subtle nuances. The dialogue is amazing and draws you in but very quietly. The environment that they are in is in very stark contrast to the Dark Knight but dealing with a lot of similar issues, only under a different forum. I went back and added some of these elements to my script and it’s SOOO much better!
-
LESSON TWO 12 Angry Men
Watch 1st time for:
Basic scene components — Scene arc, situation, conflict, moving the story forward, entertainment value, and setups/payoffs.Invitation to the journey.
Conflict is when they have one person who doesn’t issue a guilty vote
The personalities of the men increase conflict, some confrontational, others unsure.
The urgency to ‘get on with it’ provides conflict to the ‘let’s sit and talk about it a while’.
Feelings about what the boy actually did and who he did it to (father).Watch 2nd time for:Challenging Situation·Interesting ActionIntriguing DialogueSomething inside this character needs to go on the journey.
Friction between the men who want to ‘get on with it’.
The b/g information on the kids increases the intrigue.
The battle between right/wrong and justice/ injustice
Big stakes; the life of a young boy. -
I looked back on a script that I am working on and realized that some things were too obvious, others were not. So, I rewrote it adding more irony and intrigue. It’s SOOO much better now!
-
Watch 1st time for:·THE DARK KNIGHT
The clown images offer an interesting, creepy visual and irony to a bank robbery.
They seem to be working together then…
We realize the guy they are talking about is there…and evil.
The cuts back and forth to the guy in the bank sitting calmly with the gun. Setup.Watch 2nd time for:·
Challenging Situation·- the
bank guy with a gun and the rigged safe.
Intrigue – who is the Joker who
planned this heist
Interesting Action – ruthless,
evil, violent, seemingly unmoved by it all
Intriguing Dialogue – talking
about the split/the planner guy.
Tone – just another day in the
park against horror.
Lures us into the Story – who
is the guy they are talking about/who are theyTwist at Conclusion of the
scene – the unexpected bus -
1. Carol Kennedy
2. “I agree to the terms of this release form.”
-
Hi! Im Carol and Ive written about 10 scripts…who’s counting…lol. I hope to become a better screenwriter, which is always my goal. Something unusual? Whats NOT unusual, but many find it weird that I play the sitar and own one that was actually played by the late great Ravi Shankar.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Carol Kennedy.
-
This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by