Lauren Yaffe
Forum Replies Created
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Lauren’s Character Structure
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Lauren’s Deeper Layer!
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Lauren’s Beat Sheet Draft #1
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Lauren’s Subtext Characters
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Lauren’s Actor attractors
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Lauren’s Actor attractors for ARRIVAL
What I learned from doing this assignment: How truly profoundly affected I was (re-)watching this movie. It felt life-changing. I want to do that with my own writing.
Movie Title: ARRIVAL
Lead Character Name: Louise Banks
1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role? Wise linguist who learns to communicate with aliens, saves the world, and gets a download about her own future.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie? She keeps moving forward in communicating with the aliens, despite her fears and the strange things happening to her.
3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie? Takes off helmet to speak to aliens, speaks Farsi, Chinese, and now Heptopod, puts hand up to aliens, is transported into alien space.
4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor? Louise is introduced as her baby is born then dies as a child.
5. What is this character’s emotional range? numb, playful, brave despite extreme fear, grieving, in love.
6. What subtext can the actor play? She knows future for her child.
7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has? With the aliens.
8. How is this character’s unique voice presented? Always trying to communicate and thinking about language; seeks unity.
9. What makes this character special and unique? She can communicate with aliens; she knows the future.
10. Scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model:
– First meeting with aliens – Louise is terrified but keeps moving forward.
Lauren’s Actor attractors for ARRIVAL- Louise is in field then suddenly inside the aliens’ space, speaking with them and learning that she will have child who will die young.
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Lauren’s Transformational Journey
My vision: I am a wildly successful, prolific A-list writer, creating profound bestselling, blockbuster, award-winning projects. I write, finish, and manifest projects in the world with lightning speed and ease.
What I learned from doing this assignment: I’m very grateful and excited to be developing the internal and external journeys with equal importance.
Protagonist Character Arc:
Arc Beginning: glib, over-confident, bored, numb, distracted, on auto-pilot
Arc Ending: alive, compassionate, open, present, good listener
Internal/External Journey
Internal Journey: from numb and on auto-pilot to compassionate and present.
External Journey: from renowned therapist who’s lost touch to compassionate true healer.
Old and New Ways
Old Ways: reliant on the Pandora Box, comfortable with modern conveniences, a shell of her younger self who invented the Pandora Box, takes relationships for granted.
New Ways: active and compassionate listener, shirt-sleeves kind of worker, appreciates others.
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Lauren’s Intentional Lead Characters
My vision: I am a wildly successful, prolific A-list writer, creating profound bestselling, blockbuster, award-winning projects. I write, finish, and manifest projects in the world with lightning speed and ease.
What I learned from doing this assignment: That I have a triangle character.
Character: Regina Linkwald
Logline: My protagonist is a therapist who has grown inured to her patients’ suffering.
Unique: Invented a patented “Pandora Box” that eradicates patients’ phobias.
Character: Cat Wyman
Logline: My antagonist is the protagonist’s mentee who idolizes the protagonist.
Unique: A hoarder who never throws anything away, including old research publications of Regina’s.
Character: Vivian Shlummer
Logline: My triangle character is a colleague of the protagonist’s who has always felt in Regina’s shadow.
Unique: Was the first user of the Pandora Box, which eradicated her phobia of eggs.
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Lauren’s Title, Concept, and Character Structure!
My vision: I am a wildly successful, prolific A-list writer, creating profound bestselling, blockbuster, award-winning projects. I write, finish, and manifest projects in the world with lightning speed and ease.
What I learned from doing this assignment: to shape my concept and title to wed to each other.
Title: PHOBIA SHMOBIA
Concept: A therapist who’s dismissive of her patients has her device for eradicating fears malfunction leaving her paralyzed by everyone’s phobias.
Character Structure: Protagonist versus Antagonist
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1. Lauren Yaffe here, hailing from Brooklyn, NY.
2. I’ve written 4 features, in various stages of completion, and 6 shorts.
3. My hopes for this class are to give me a kickstart out of the wheel-spinning stage I’ve been in for a while and back into a dedicated writing practice. I also hope to add new tools to my writer’s toolbox. I’m especially excited to share feedback with my WIM buddies, old and new!
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you? I love worms. My writing for children is often about worms and the natural world, aimed to inspire the world to compost!
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Lauren Yaffe.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by
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Lauren Yaffe, agree to the terms of this release form.
As a member of Writing Incredible Movies, 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, through social media, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, videos, 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.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Lauren Yaffe.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by
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Lori, I have not been on the forums yet, really, just playing catchup, but I went on today because I was having trouble understanding this assignment. Yours was the first I read and you not only made the assignment perfectly clear, I’m totally sold on your story! Great writing and plotting!
All best,
Lauren
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Claire, Both concepts are great. In YOU ALWAYS LOVE…, I particularly love that her wife is the antagonist. Gives a whole new meaning to the writer’s truism that you have to kill your darlings. 😉
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Woohoo!!! Thrilled to see you here, Claire! Brooklyn is in Da House!
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Hi Jill, So glad that you’ve recovered and are back on the horse!
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Hi Amechi! Happy to see you’re in the class. Hope you’re well.