[leland teschler]

What I learned doing this assignment is that there are more ways to create empathy than I had considered.
LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
A. Other people like or respect the character.–Hero is a competent FBI agent, with a lot of undercover experience.
C. They’re trying to do something good.–Hero is trying to prevent a terrorist event with potentially large casualties.
D. Save the cat — rescue or do something good for someone else.– Hero saves restaurant owner’s kid from armed robber.
F. Kindness.–Hero befriends owner’s kid who has few friends.
G. Good moral decisions and actions. Being on the right side.–Hero puts the lives of those he works with before his own.
EMPATHY / DISTRESS
A. External Character conflicts.– Hero is looked down upon by other restaurant employees because of his low level position
C. Plot intruding on life.–Undercover work has taken an accumulated toll on Hero’s stress levels to a point where he wants a desk job.
D. Moral dilemmas.–Hero may have to chose between the lives of his fellow employees and the kid vs. the lives of those killed in a terrorist attack.

JUSTIFICATION
A.The Hero is the victim of attacks.–Hero is the butt of joke from other employees up the food chain.
D.The Villain or their representatives have trespassed.–

[leland teschler]

What I learned doing this assignment is that mapping out plots this way can reveal holes and suggest plot twists.
Opening scene: In the midst of an undercover assignment, hero finds out his cover is blown when thug pulls a gun. But the gun jams. We can hear hero’s thoughts: He seems to perceive the villain’s thoughts. Colleagues serving as his back-up arrive only after the hero has the situation in hand. Shaken at his near miss, the hero vows to put in for a transfer out of undercover work.
Inciting incident: Cut to Hero & colleagues disgustedly watching a raid by uninformed police—Unbeknownst to police, they’ve raided a terrorist cell under FBI surveillance, blowing the FBI operation. For the first time we see the Villain who has evaded the police raid. Thinking the raid was strictly a police action and not suspecting federal involvement, he moves his meetings to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.
First turning point at end of act 1: Hero & his FBI colleagues devise a new plan. As his last undercover assignment, Hero will go undercover get himself hired at the restaurant where the villain & his crew hang out as a way to discern their plans. But the hero must keep the civilians involved—restaurant employees, patrons, etc.–from being harmed while stopping the villains from carrying out a massive attack.
Midpoint: Hero’s low-level job at the restaurant makes him the butt of jokes and victimized by some restaurant staff, but not by the restaurant owner’s kid who Hero befriends. An armed robber shows up. Hero must decide whether to subdue the robber and risk blowing his cover, or to let harm befall owner’s kids. Hero uses unconventional weapons to dispatch the robber without alerting restaurant staff as to what’s going on.
Second turning point. Hero must manufacture situations that get him close enough to the terrorists to plant listening devices or to overhear their conversations. Hero and his colleagues thwart weapons buy in armed confrontation with villain agents. Villain begins to suspect he’s been sold out or has a leak, and fingers the restaurant as the source. Villain suspects a restaurant employee overheard his plan, but focuses on the wrong employee. He sends two thugs to do a hit which looks like a mugging. The hero dispatches both of them without blowing his cover. 
Crisis: Enraged, villain bears down on finding the leak and looks closely at restaurant staff. Befriends owner’s kid who accidentally gives clues leading to the hero. Villain takes workers hostage, including hero. 
Climax: In face-to-face fight, hero takes on villains, in so doing reveals his identity. Hero gets help from owner’s kid who speaks the villains’ language. Subdues the chief villain as the FBI arrives.
Resolution: Restaurant staff who gave Hero a hard time are humbled; Hero gets his desk job; kid he befriended stays in his life.

[leland teschler]

What I learned doing this assignment is that keeping a 3-act structure in mind can help in planning the action.

1. Opening – Hero is in a den of bad guys examining automatic weapons they bought. They think hero is one of them. We hear some of hero’s thoughts.
2. Inciting Incident—One of the bad guys says hero is a rat– hero gives the help word to the FBI agents listening. Gun fire ensues, almost killing the hero, before his FBI colleagues show up.
3. First Turning Point at end of Act 1– Hero says he’s done with undercover work after one too many close calls. His boss says ok, after one last assignment informing on a terrorist gang.
4. Mid-Point – Hero applies for low-level job in restaurant used by gang for meetings. Employees give him scut work, though restaurant owner’s kid thinks he is cool.
5. Second Turning Point at end of Act 2 – Hero stops a theft at the restaurant quietly, but kid sees it. Hero confides in owner’s kid that he can read minds, and that he isn’t who he seems to be.
6. Crisis – Hero thwarts a weapons buy accidentally gives hints that lead thugs toward the fact he is the rat.
7. Climax- Hero takes on entire gang when they try to firebomb the restaurant. The kid helps him by translating the thoughts of the thugs into English. Once again, his colleagues are late in providing backup support.
8. Resolution – Thugs are either dead or arrested. Hero’s real identity is revealed to restaurant staff who had given him a hard time. Hero gets a desk job. Kid stays in his life as a friend.

[leland teschler]

What I learned doing the action track is that varying in the action sequences can make for a more interesting movie script.
A. Considering the concept from Lesson 1, what action could naturally show up in this movie?–gun fights, knife fights, hand to hand combat, explosions
B. Considering the Mission and Villain Tracks, what action could work for this track? – combat scenes, unconventional weapon fights, bomb defusing, chase scenes, people thrown through windows, lethal version of food fights.
C. How can the action start well, build in the 2nd Act, and escalate to a climax in the 3rd Act?–Initial scene is an action sequence. Second act includes fights with run-of-the-mill thieves and thugs, then a thwarting of one of the villain’s plans. Third act climaxes in a confrontation with the main villain.
Action sequence
A. Near miss—On undercover assignment, hero finds out his cover is blown when thug pulls a gun. The thing that saves him is his ability to read the thug’s thoughts before the gun comes out.
Purpose: Reveals the hero’s ability to read minds; near miss shows why he wants to retire to a desk job
B. Street fight: Hero & colleagues watch villain’s meeting place get raided by uninformed police. Once again, an operation is blown.
Purpose: Sets up need for villain to change meeting place. Shows how easy it is for undercover operations to be compromised accidentally.
C. Confrontation: Hero subdues armed robber using unconventional weapons, without altering villains what’s going on.
Purpose: Gives a glimpse of hero’s skills—improvising weapons, using robber’s thoughts against him.
D. Rescue: Hero rescues owner’s kid from the French fryer in a creative way.
Purpose: Endears hero to little kid; lets hero reveal his slight-of-hand magic skills in conversation after the rescue; sets up kid for believing hero later when he reveals he can actually read minds.
E. Prelude: Hero thwarts weapons buy in armed confrontation with villain agents.
Purpose: Shows the hero’s weakness—he can’t read minds of people thinking on other languages; gives villains a hint that the hero is the one sabotaging their plans.
F. Finale: Hero takes on villains bent on killing him and entire staff. Gets help from kid who speaks the villains’ language.
Purpose: Gives the villains what they deserve. Reveals hero identity to restaurant staff who hassled him.

[leland teschler]

Lee’s villain track

What I learned in this lesson is that the villain track can form the backbone of the action in an action movie.

1. New Plan: Main Villain figures out FBI has found his hideout & is monitoring his conversations. What to do? He moves meetings to a restaurant
2. Suspicion: Villain arranges to buy guns in preparation for martyrdom event, but his buyers are arrested. Did someone sell him out? If so, who?
3. Find the rat: He suspects a restaurant employee overheard his plan, but focuses on the wrong employee. He sends two thugs to do a hit which looks like a mugging. The hero dispatches both of them without blowing his cover.
4. Double down: Enraged, villain bears down on finding the leak in his network. Starts looking closely at restaurant staff. Befriends owner’s kid who accidentally gives clues leading to the hero.
5. Retaliation and escalation: Villain barricades the restaurant and takes workers hostage, promises to kill them one-by-one until the rat comes forward.
6. Fitting end: In face-to-face fight, hero takes on villains one by one, reveals his identity. Subdues the chief villain as the FBI arrives.
7. Preexisting plan. Crooks: rip off the restaurant; terrorize the
   restaurant employees if necessary; Terrorists: take out a highly
   visible target with multiple fatalities; eliminate anyone who stands
   in the way.

• B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero? –
  Terrorists: bombs, guns, suicide bombers; crooks: guns, knives

• C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit
  that in this movie? Moral flexibility. An ethical code that lets
  them take actions that are ruthless and underhanded—no qualms
  about harming innocents. Psychological edge in the form of insights
  into police thinking. Also, surprise and deception and
  unpredictability.

• D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay
  for what they’ve done? Employees who hassled the hero are shamed
  when his true identity is revealed. Terrorists are done during a
  climactic gun battle at the restaurant

[leland teschler]

Lee’s hero mission track

What I learned doing this assignment is the mission is easier if you have a satisfying ending in mind at the beginning.

• Clear Mission: Stop terrorists from carrying out a massive attack
  with no harm to innocent bystanders

• Motivation: Hero wants to move away from undercover work with one
  last successful assignment. To do so, he can’t blow his cover.

• Inciting Incident: The hero is almost killed in his previous
  undercover assignment when his cover is blown and the pistol aimed
  at his head jams.

• First Action: Access to the terrorist’s home falls through. Quickly
  devising s a backup plan, hero gets himself hired by the restaurant
  where the terrorists hang out.

• Obstacle: Employees look down on him, the restaurant owner doesn’t
  trust him, hero must manufacture situations that get him close
  enough to the terrorists to plant listening devices and prevent
  their detection.

• Escalation: Armed thieves try to hold up the restaurant; Hero
  becomes attached to the kids of the owner and wants to protect
  them.

• Overwhelming Odds: His FBI colleagues are focused on terrorists and
  can’t help. He is on his own for dealing with ordinary thugs and
  thieves. In the middle of a robbery, terrorists figure out that the
  Hero is a wringer.

• New Plan: Forget cover status. Deadly force for thieves, terrorists.

• Full out Attack: Hero gets into a gun fight with terrorists before
  his colleagues can respond, as in opening scene.

• Success: Cover identity revealed to restaurant employees, terrorists
  vanquished.

[leland teschler]

Lee’s hero and villain

What I learned doing this assignment is that all aspects of the plot and characters need to be kept open throughout the process.

Concept:

• Hero Morally Right: Hero is fighting to stop terrorists and prevent
  a catastrophe

• Villain Morally Wrong: Wants to set off a dirty bomb in the heart of
  the city

Hero

• A. Unique Skill Set–skilled marksman, FBI training, worked in
  fast food as a kid. Extrapolation: What if the hero can read minds?

• B. Motivation—Prevent a disaster, keep the restaurant employees
  safe

• C. Secret or Wound—undercover status which must be maintained if
  he is to continue to be effective. Extrapolation: Nobody knows the hero can read minds.

Villain

• A. Unbeatable—Terrorist gang with ties to foreign hostile
  governments, well equipped.

• B. Plan/Goal– Conduct an event with heavy casualties that remains
  undetected until it happens.

• C. What they lose if Hero survives– Their freedom and martyrdom.

Impossible Mission – Hero
must learn what terrorists plan without being detected or harming the
bystanders he works with.

• A. Puts Hero in Action– Hero thwarts thieves and muggers one at a
  time to keep from being detected and drawing police attention to the
  restaurant.

• B. Demands They Go Beyond Their Best: Hero is in nonstop battles
  with hoodlums while watching terrorist plans take shape.

• C. Destroy the Villain—By foiling the plan, ultimately ending in a
  shootout at the restaurant.

[leland teschler]

Lee’s Action conventions

What I learned doing this assignment is that brainstorming after the initial idea may be the most important part of the creation process.

Highly skilled hero: Undercover cop who
gets a cover job at as a dishwasher/janitor to gather evidence of
terrorist taking place at a restaurant.

Demand for action: Thugs and thieves
also frequent the restaurant, and the hero must deal with them in a
way that doesn’t compromise his mission, hurt the store owners who he
has come to like, or reveal his true occupation.

Mission: Gather evidence of gang
activity taking place at the restaurant and make arrests.

Antagonist: Terrorists, thieves, thugs,
street hoods.

Escalating action: Robbery and mugging
attempts turn into fights that must take place without attracting a
lot of attention or revealing the hero’s true nature. Climaxing in a
showdown with heavily armed terrorists.

High concept: An undercover cop must
take down dangerous terrorists while keeping his fellow workers safe.