Leybe Diaz
Forum Replies Created
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MINORITY REPORT – Thriller Conventions:
What I learned doing this assignment is how to ask questions / brainstorm in search for layers and intrigue to create mystery and how to use this model.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
John Anderton, best cop of the DC police force, and chief who leads the pre-crime unit. Although he totally believes in the Pre-crime program and it’s commissioner Lamar whom he blindly trusts, the entire Pre crime ends up chasing him for killing Leo Crow in the future.
Dangerous Villain: Lamar Burgess director of the DC police experiment program called Pre-crime, presents himself as a close friend to John and his family, while he’s behind the set up against John, in which John looses his son and has to run for his life as the entire Pre-crime chases him as a killer.
Lamar will destroy anyone in order to save the Pre-crime experiment going.
High stakes: John’s life, his wife, the pre-cogs’s freedom.
Life and death situations: the pre-crime officers chase, the fight with Witwer, John inside the car while the car was being built, the spiders eye scan, John kidnapping Agatha and their subsequent chase by the pre- crime officers, John’s encounter with Leo Crow and John’s final encounter with Lamar.
This movie is thrilling because? Throughout the story, we are constantly worried for John after he’s being chased by the Pre-crime unit- he tries to prove his innocence and resolve the mystery behind his set up as he seeks answers to what happened to his son and Agatha’s mother?
Big Mystery: who is behind John’s set up/ why is he being set up of his partaking in Leo Crow? Will he kill Leo Crow? what happened to his son and Agatha’s mother?
Big Intrigue: The evil plan of Lamar to keep Pre-crime running: which has involved the murder of Agatha’s mother, Anne Lively John’s set up, John’s son missing and the killing of Danny Witwer.
Big Suspense: Will the pre-crime unit catch John? Will John be able to get the Minority Report he needs? Will he have a choice when facing Leo Crow? What will happen when at the final confrontation with Lamar?
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Leybe Díaz – Plot and Character Layers:
What I learned doing this assignment is that plot and character layers are completely necessary in creating obsession for a show, and how to use this model using questions to create more layers for my show.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
SCANDAL
PLOT LAYERS:
Major scheme revealed: Amanda and Billy were working together to black mail the President.
Mystery revealed: Billy killed Amanda and the journalist.
Thought the story was only about fixing scandals but it is a love story too.
Hidden history: Quinn was set up in the bomb explosion, and Olivia helped her get a new identity.
Major betrayal: Billy betrayed the President.
How and why did Olivia got Quinn out of prison?
CHARACTER LAYERS
Huck’s Secret identity
Quinn’s secret identity reveal
Character Intrigue: Olivia works with powerful people we don’t know, she made a phone call to save Quinn’s from dead penalty. How’s Olivia connected to the bomb explosion and why she protects Quinn?
Hidden relationships and conspiracies:
Billy and Amanda’s affair and conspiracy against the President.
Olivia and Huck’s conspiracy to save Quinn.
Hidden Character history: Quinn’s set up in the bomb explosion.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
HOME AIDE
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Plot Surface: Emma is a Waitress / social activist in financial need takes job as a home aide for Flora, a rich woman who suffers from a rare type of Alzheimer’s.
Layer 1:
Emma who has extraordinary cognitive abilities discovers big secrets about powerful people in society and how she goes after them and becomes a powerful politician at the same time.
Layer 2: Sabotage:
The relationship between Emma and Flora is sabotaging Isaac’s evil plans for Flora, as Flora starts improving after Emma arrives.
Layer 3: Conspiracy:
Isaac and Linda have secret plans to have Flora become a candidate for a nursing home where she would be killed.
Layer 4: Mystery:
Who killed Flora and Isaac’s father?
What are the crimes Emma is discovering about? And who are the criminals?
Layer 5: Hidden Agenda:
Once Emma accidentally starts discovering secrets about Flora, her family and her circle through Flora’s notes, she makes it her mission to find all the notes, messages and clues that Flora leaves around her house.
Layer 6: Major scheme revealed:
Emma is not a licensed home aide. She initially accepts the fake credentials Isaac gets for her.
Layer 7: The supervisor home visiting nurse discovers Isaac’s scheme about Emma not being a licensed home aide.
Will Emma be thrown out and get charges pressed against her?
What will happen to Isaac?
Layer 8: Meaning
In the surface this is the story of Emma’s journey in a world of survival, power and politics but the story is about how mental illness and brilliance are intertwined and manifest in different ways through the characters.
Layer 9: Hidden plan:
Isaac plans to get rid of Flora once he gets to take her to the nursing home.
Layer 10: Major betrayal: Rommate betrays Emma which gets her evicted and propels her to get the Home Aide job which would also provide a place to live.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Character Surface: Emma is a regular, ordinary woman, a waitress who has been helping her neighbors to fight the landlord on illegal evictions and rent increase, who becomes homeless after being betrayed by her own rommate. She doesn’t seem special nor successful in life.
Layer 1: Hidden Agenda:
Emma’s mission to find and decode all Flora’s fragmented written notes.
FBI special agent: To investigate Flora.
Isaac’s plans on killing Flora.
Layer 2: Hidden Character History: Emma’s trauma / failures and difficult upbringing.
Layer 3: Pre Alzheimer’s Flora was a ruthless, cold hearted, dark, Iron Lady who ran a criminal organization with her family.
After the illness she becomes a loving, joyful, caring and emotional woman.
Layer 4: Flora and Isaac shared criminal history.
Layer 5: Flora knows who murdered her father, she can’t remember but she was able to write it down on a sticky note.
Layer 6: Flora writes down memories of events from the past and her dreams for the future on sticky notes, and on random surfaces around her home as they arise from her mind, these don’t make sense to most people except for Emma, and later on for the FBI agent (who comes to notice them when it’s too late)
Layer 7:
Secret Identity:
Emma’s super fast mind had kept her from succeeding in her life, until she found a way to use it when she arrived at Flora’s home.
Layer 8: Isaac presents himself as the most charming, humble, caring family man and he’s a dangerous psychopath.
Layer 9: Wound: Her father also suffers from mental illness which caused pain to the family especially Emma who is deeply wounded.
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Leybe Díaz – Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is how irony can be created and how powerful its effect can be in making a story more engaging and fascinating!
ASSIGNMENT 1:
SCANDAL
Olivia Pope is the best fixer in Washington DC and she can’t fix her own life.
Olivia Pope & Associates is a firm of fixers, in which the fixers need fixing.
The President is the most powerful man of the free world and he can’t have the freedom nor the life he wants.
The First Lady Mellie, the most underestimated member of the team ends up saving the Presidency with America’s baby.
Olivia gives up love and happiness to continue being Olivia Pope.
The President is the ruler of the free world and yet he needs guidance from Olivia Pope, a DC fixer.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
The Home Aide
1- Emma takes a job as a home aide and ends up discovering the secrets the FBI is arduously after.
2- Flora was a ruthless, cold hearted, dark, Iron Lady who, after develops a rare case of dementia, becomes a loving, joyful, caring and emotional woman.
3- It took Flora to loose her memory to be happy, free and kind.
4- In order for Isaac to become the powerful man he’s become, he became a criminal.
5- Isaac secretly picks and brings Emma in as a tool to his evil plan against Flora and instead Emma becomes Flora’s savior.
6- An ordinary waitress who ends up being one of the nation’s top politicians and brings down a criminal ring down on her way to the top.
7- Flora’s own reflection in the mirror turns out to be the “person” she loves the most and whom she wants to spend the most time with.
8- Emma’s powerful gifted mind is also her burden.
9- Emma feels accepted for the first time in her life by Flora, a woman who has no memory.
10- Isaac presents himself as the most charming, humble, caring man and he’s a dangerous psychopath.
11- Emma seems like an ordinary, naive woman and she has extraordinary cognitive abilities.
12- The home visiting nurse who supervises Flora’s care is an FBI secret agent.
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Leybe Díaz – Big Picture Open Loops:
What I learned doing this assignment is how to look at the story from a discovery approach, to ask questions, to use this model to create open loops!
ASSIGNMENT 1
SCANDAL
1- Big Picture Open Loops established early in the season:
– Why did Olivia hire Quinn?
-Did Amanda Tanner have an affair with the President?
-Who is behind the Ananda Tanner blackmail?
-How is Olivia related to the White House and the President / What happened- why did she leave?
-What’s the nature of the relationship between Olivia and the President, an affair, true love, will they ever be together?/ The sex tape.
-Is Mellie aware of their love affair ?
2- How those open loops are being used to create the need to see future episodes:
We knew Quinn Perkins had a past with some secrets and that she wasn’t Qinnn Perkins, but who was she then? And why was she at the firm? some of the other characters would ask these questions themselves, along with us. Will Quinn’s true identity be revealed?
This open loop carried the show until the very end of the pilot, into the next episode when it was finally revealed, opening a new loop: What will happen to Quinn or the real person Quinn is, after her true identity is revealed?
The Amanda Tanner open loop was a big one, that generated many more other smaller loops until the very end of the pilot when we learned it was Billy who was blackmailing the President, and that he had an affair with Amanda and sent her to the WH.
-Olivia’s involvement with the White House and the President kept being revealed during the whole episode.
-The love story between Olivia and the President kept opening more loops in many ways, we saw how their love affair started and they came closer at the end of the pilot – showing it was true love and with that opening a bigger loop: Will they ever have a normal life together?
ASSIGNMENT 2:
1. Use this list to brainstorm big picture open loops for your first season that you will use to keep the audience captivated.
How will Emma perform as a home aide?
Will her lack of knowledge , training expose her and ruin Isaac’s plans and her big paycheck?
Why is Isaac hiring Emma to take care of his sister, going through the trouble of getting fake credentials and not hiring a professional HHA?
Will Mariza (the supervisor home visiting nurse) will catch Emma?
How will Emma get along will Flora and do the job to get all the money she needs.
Is Emma and Isaac will get caught at lying? What would the consequences be?
GOALS:
New goals:
Isaac offers Emma a big pay if she works as the home aide for his sister Flora, despite her lack of experience or training.
Emma needs the money and accepts the job and to pretend she’s a licensed home health aide as Isaac has asked her to.
As Emma becomes the Home Aide for Flora and she moves into Flora’s home she quickly notices the house is filled up with handwritten notes everywhere around the home, she starts connecting the information contained in them and starts discovering that both Isaac and Flora have been committing some big crimes.
Goals related to the big picture:
She secretly decides to keep digging and connecting Flora’s notes to find out more about the family’s crimes.
Crushed goals:
As she keeps learning about the crimes Isaac and the family she now works for.
What will she do with the information she discovers will she expose the criminals and possibly get killed or will she remain silent and allow the harm to continue?
Will she stay doing her job?
Will Isaac succeed at taking Flora to the nursing home?
Competition / conflict around goals:
Will she get caught by Isaac, Linda it the neighbor at gathering all this information?
CONSEQUENCES:
What could happen to Emma if Isaac discovers Emma is learning about his and his family criminal enterprises?
Will Flora be killed if she’s sent to the nursing home?
What effect will Emma have in Flora’s brain condition?
Good plans gone wrong:
Will Isaac be able to send Flora to the Nursing home and get her killed there?
SOLVING PROBLEMS:
Will Emma succeed at finding and connecting all the pieces from Flora’s fragmented notes, left scattered at her house?
How will she use this revelatory information?
Previous solutions cause new problems:
How bringing Emma to Flora’s house will flip Isaac’s plans for Flora?
RELATIONSHIPS:
How will Flora and Emma relationship be, will they get along Or Emma won’t be able to stay doing the job?
How will the relationship between Emma and Isaac change as Emma starts discovering his hidden criminal activities?
Will Emma help Flora get better and thus help her to stay home and avoiding the nursing home or will Emma be helping Isaac and contribute to Flora’s brain condition to worsen?
DANGER / SURVIVAL / RISKS:
If Emma is caught at knowing Isaac’s crimes will she get killed by him?
Will she be able to continue digging secrets along with doing her job as a the home aide.
How will her past trauma – PTSD be triggered and create more risks for her?
Top 8 Big Picture Open Loops that could be in my pilot:
1- What will Emma do with all the secrets she will discover?
2- Will she help the FBI?
3- Will Emma be caught as the FBI informant?
4- What are the criminal enterprises Isaac’s is involved with?
5- Who killed Flora’s Father/ how?
6- How Emma’s own psychological trauma / mental health affect her plans?
7- How will she be able to use her cognitive super powers?
8- How will this new relationship between Emma and Flora change the course of their lives?
Small Picture Open Loops:
4-Who are those involved in such crimes?
5-What ongoing crimes are they committing?
What’s the next criminal move they’ll have?
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Leybe Díaz – Show Mysteries:
What I learned doing this assignment is how to start designing mystery, intrigue right from the beginning. This model has helped me tremendously with generating ideas and exploring my story from different angles while maintaining things open.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Mysteries in Scandal:
Did Amanda Tanner sleep with the President, is she carrying the president’s baby?
Who are Amanda’s accomplices?
Who killed Amanda?
Why did Olivia leave the White House?How did Olivia and the President fall in love?
Who is blackmailing the President?
Who is Huck?
Who is Quinn Perkins? Why did Olivia hire Quinn?
Each episode opens up more and more questions.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
THE HOME AIDE
Mystery 1:
A. Shocking Event: The billionaire and patriarch of the Scherstein dinasty, Ismael Scherstein is found dead in his home.
B. Secret: His son Isaac Scherstein murdered him.
C. Investigation: FBI is conducting an investigation.
WHO killed: Isaac Scherstein
WHAT happened? A heated argument between father and son took place after Isaac found out he wasn’t going to become the successor of his father.
WHEN: Over the last month
WHERE: Ismael Scherstein was found dead at his home.
Part Withheld:
WHO did it?
WHY did he do it?
HOW did he do it?
Mystery 2:
Over Time Mysteries:
1- Who killed Ismael Scherstein?
2- what other crimes Flora knows about and writes about and who are the criminals involved?
3- Isaac’s plan to get rid of Flora and why?
A. Cover up:
Isaac Scherstein is presented as the role model family man, loving son and caring brother. He hires a home health aide to look after his ill sister.
Flora Scherstein is presented as fragile patient with a rare brain illness who is rapidly loosing her memory.
Emma Bala: Is presented as an ordinary woman of Hispanic descendants doing a common job among Hispanic women: Home attendant.
B. Secret:
Why did Isaac hired Emma as Flora’s home attendant, despite her complete lack of qualifications and experience for that job?
Isaac Scherstein became the manager of Flora’s health care under the supervision of her personal/ family attorney.
Isaac hired Emma, an unqualified home aide as a set up to have her fail at Flora’s care, so he could send Flora to a nursing home where he has made secret special arrangements, for Flora to “naturally” die.
It’s been legally stipulated that Flora could only be placed outside her residency for treatment if she no longer presents any progress at home.
Flora’s illness.
Emma’s psychological trauma.
C. Reveals:
Flora’s notes reveal clues about the crimes committed by the Schersteins family, including the murder of Ismael.
The names of people involved in such crimes.
Flora’s Illness (How did the illness started, what triggered it? Life before the illness.
Emma’s super juman gift and psychological trauma (PTSD)
What happened to her?
WHAT other crimes did the siblings committed? Money laundry, financial crimes, extortion, murders, etc.
WHO: Schersteins family
and some other importan high society people. Isaac and Flora.
WHEN: Last decade.
WHERE: In their home country and overseas.
WHY: Political power and financial gains.
Part Withheld:
HOW:
Encoded secrets in Flora’s notes:
What is the criminal enterprise that is going on in town?
Who are those involved?
What ongoing crimes are they committing? What’s the next criminal move they’ll make?
What will Emma do with all this information as she discovers and decodes Flora’s notes?
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Leybe Diaz.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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Hi everyone, my name is Leybe,
I’ve written one script, I love the thriller genre and hope to learn how to master it with this class! Wishing everyone an awesome learning and successful process!
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Leybe Díaz , as a member of this class, I agree to the GROUP RELEASE FORM:
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.
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Leybe Díaz – Show Empathy/Distress:
What I learned doing this assignment is: How to apply this model to create empathy and distress and how powerful this is for a show. This process helped create more depth in my story!
ASSIGNMENT 1:
SCANDAL:
A. Undeserved misfortune.
Olivia and the President are in love with each other but they can’t be together and have the normal life they want.
Quinn happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, when her boyfriend got murdered and she became a suspect, her true identity was at risk of being exposed.
B. External Character conflicts.
Intentional: Billy’s attacks to the President brings a lot of pain and distress to the President and his whole administration.
Unintentional: Olivia gets pain from the President’s involvement with Amanda.
C. Plot intruding on life.
The President is trying to do his job, Billy’s attacks caused him to consider his resignation.
D. Moral dilemmas.
Olivia’s dilema about weather to say she’s the woman on the sex tape to save the President from impeachment or to remain silent?
E. Forced decisions they’d never make.
Olivia giving up on having a normal life with Fitz and deciding to make a deal with Mellie to save the President from having to resign.
Billy killing Amanda and the young journalist to save himself.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
THE HOME AIDE
A. Undeserved misfortune: Emma: Becomes homeless after roommate betrays her. Looses her father to gang members. She carries a past trauma which interferes with her life.
Flora: Incurable rare brain illness.
B. External Character conflicts: Intentional: As Emma enters this new world of the super wealthy (the 1 %) and politics she faces war, getting attack after attack of all kinds from many adversaries, especially from Isaac who becomes her major opponent.
Unintentional: As Isaac tried to destroy Flora, this affects Emma, since she becomes close to Flora.
C. Plot intruding on life: Emma is set to win the war against her landlord and stop all the illegal evictions in the building in a gentrified neighborhood, but when her roommate secretly signs a deal with the landlord, which leaves her homeless and out of the building, she is the one being defeated.
D. Moral dilemmas: As Emma enters the world of Flora’s high society and she starts discovering hidden information about criminal activities done by powerful people including Flora, she faces the ongoing dilema about what to do with each piece of compromising information finds – weather to expose the powerful criminals and possibly get herself killed or allow them to continue doing more harm.
E. Forced decisions they’d never make: Emma having to accept a job offer from a stranger to work as a health aide, even though she has no training, qualifications or experience for the job, which requires her to move into the patient’s home.
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Leybe Díaz- Relationship Map
What I learned doing this assignment is how incredibly important the relationship among characters can be and how to apply this method on designing the relationship map, which ultimately will help me to create a better story and a better experience for the audience. Absolutely loved this assignment!
ASSIGNMENT 1:
SCANDAL Relationship Map
Olivia:
1-Fitz / 2- Syrus / 3- Quinn
Surface: 1- Former boss-employee / 2-Mentor, coworkers- / Boss-employee.
Common Ground: 1-Lovers, both care for the people, same political party. / 2- Used to work together, advising the President, share secrets, same political party, both are smart, strategic, ambitious 3- Both work solving crisis for clients, both attorneys, common secrets.
Conflict: 1- They’re in love with each other, Fitz is married. Olivia believes Fitz lied and had an affair with Amanda. Fitz believes Olivia wants to harm him/ his power with Amanda’s case. / 2-Syrus puts his job and political future first and still works for the President, believes Olivia is blackmailing the President with Amanda’s case- using a tape. / 3- Quinn is confused about how things are handled by Olivia and the firm.
History: 1- Olivia used to be Fitz advisor for his campaign and was a key player in his success at winning the election. / 2- Syrus was Olivia’s professor and mentor and brought her to work on Fitz’s campaign along with him and introduced her to Fitz. / 3- Olivia knows some secrets about Quinn and her true identity.
Subtext: 1- In love with each other / Lovers / 2- Competition, rivalry. / 3-conspirators.
Relationship Arc: 1-From campaign advisor relationship to lovers. / 2- From admiration, mentorship, complicity to opposition, distrust. / 3- From being the new girl in the firm, becoming a client of the firm after her boyfriend is murdered.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
“The Home Aide” – Relationship Map
Emma Bala:
1- Flora / 2- Isaac / 3- Lori
Surface: 1- Care giver-patient / 2- Employee- Boss / 3- Flora’s neighbor, acquaintances.
Common Ground: 1- Both emotional, joyful, and social outcasts. / 2- Both looking after Flora / 3- Both care about Flora.
Conflict: 1- Emma is discovering Flora’s secrets. / 2- Emma is learning about Isaac’s criminal activities and keeping it from him. / 3-Emma is keeping what she’s discovering at Flora’s home from Lori and Lori is hiding her true identity from Emma.
History: 1- Total strangers. / 2-Isaac met Emma at the restaurant where she worked as a waitress and hired her as the HHA for Flora. He had reasons to choose her. / 3- Total strangers, became acquainted after Emma became HHA for Flora .
Subtext: 1- Emma knows a lot about Flora’s past. / 2- pCompetition / 3- adversaries
Relationship Arc: 1- from Care giver / patient to a Symbiotic relationship / 2- From Boss/employee to major adversaries / 3- From acquaintances to adversaries.
Flora:
1-Isaac / 2- Albert / 3- Lori
Surface: 1- Siblings, brother / 2- Personal and family long time attorney. / 3-neighbors
Common Ground: 1-Siblings / 2-Group up in same social circles, both wealthy. / 3- Both have similar upbringings and live in same environment.
Conflict: 1- Isaac has a plan to get rid of Flora, wants her killed so he will keep all the inheritance as a sole heir. / 2-Flora has kept a lot of information legal and financial from Albert. / 3- Lori is spying on Flora, even before she got sick and Flora wasn’t aware.
History: 1- Flora was always the favorite child. Her father left some conditions in place on his will – involving Isaac’s inheritance, and gave full control to Flora./ 2- They were engaged when they were younger, Flora cheated and left him. / 3- Lori knows about Flora and her family more than what she appears to.
Subtext: 1- adversaries / 2- Albert loves Flora and has her full power of attorney over the family’s fortune. / 3-Adversaries
Relationship Arc: 1- From siblings, conspirators to adversaries. / 2- From lovers to allies. / 3-From neighbors to adversaries
Isaac :
1- Emma / 2- Linda / 3- Albert
Surface: 1- Boss- employee / 2- Marriage, wife / 3- family attorney- client
Common Ground: 1- Flora’s care / 2- Marriage / 3- Both wealthy, smart, same social circle.
Conflict: 1- Isaac needs Emma to fail at Flora’s care so she is taken to a nursing home where he’ll be able to get her killed. Emma needs Flora at her house for her to keep the job and discovering more secrets, which she’s keeping from Isaac. / 2- No longer in love with each other. Linda has her own agenda and wants her independence, both are having extramarital affairs. / 3- Albert is protecting Flora and her estate , Isaac wants to get rid of Flora to keep her part of the inheritance.
History: 1- Isaac met Emma at the restaurant where she worked as a waitress and offered her the Home aide job / 2- Linda used to work for Isaac’s family. / 3- They went to school together, rivalry.
Subtext: 1- Adversaries / 2- Conspirators / 3- Adversaries
Relationship Arc: 1- From boss – employee to adversaries / 2- From marriage to adversaries. / 3- From friends to adversaries.
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Leybe Díaz – Character Emotions.
What I learned doing this assignment is how to create characters that are more real, three dimensional and human.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
COMPILED PROFILES FOR THE SHOW SCANDAL
OLIVIA:
A. Hope: Being the savior. / Fear: Loosing her reputation, defeated.
B. Want: To always help her clients / Need: Being in control, winning.
C. Base Emotion: Fear / Public Mask: protector, defender.
D. Weaknesses: Fitz, too self-sufficient.
E. Triggers: Loss of loyalty, being lied to.
F. Coping Mechanism: Withdrawal, shutdown, work, Strategize, drinking wine.
FITZ:
A. Hope: Leaving a legacy as a president. Help the people / Fear: Failing as President.
B. Want: The presidency and Olivia. / Need: True love, passion.
C. Base Emotion: Inadequate / Public Mask: Charming, politician.
D. Weaknesses: Being in love with Olivia, extramarital relationship.
E. Triggers: Loss of loyalty, injustice.
F. Coping Mechanism: Having affairs.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
COMPILED PROFILES FOR MY SHOW “The Home Aide”
EMMA:
A. Hope: Make the needed money to ransom her dad and pay back rent / Fear: Loosing her father, going into a shelter, her family finding out she’s not successful, being a looser.
B. Want: To make her family proud, “to become someone in life” to make a difference / Need: To help her family, security.
C. Base Emotion: Pain, fear, powerless, depressed, worthless / Public Mask: Cheerful, over pleasing, joyful, confident.
D. Weaknesses: Pride, past wound, obsessive, need to control.
E. Triggers: Being disrespected, being lied and underestimated, wound, trauma.
F. Coping Mechanism: Shut down, avoid, withdraws, complex math solving problems, over using her mind.
FLORA:
A. Hope: Being together with “her best friend” (who happens to be her own reflection in the mirror.)
Fear: Being alone, loosing “her best friend”
B. Want: Control / Need: Love, company, attention, help.
C. Base Emotion: Confusion, fear, anger / Public Mask: Loving, caring, joyful, happy, youthful, playful.
D. Weaknesses: Powerless, brain illness, faulty short and long term memory, cognitive dysfunction.
E. Triggers: Her past, mistreatment, being left alone.
F. Coping Mechanism: Crying, anger, lashing out at people, talking to her “best friend” in the mirror.
ISAAC:
A. Hope: To be the sole heir / Fear: To loose his inheritance, his place in society, being poor, powerless.
B. Want: To get rid of Flora / Need: Power, love, acceptance.
C. Base Emotion: Rejected, pain, unloved, Weak / Public Mask: Confident, powerful, positive, charming.
D. Weaknesses: Wound, pain.
E. Triggers: Being rejected, under appreciated.
F. Coping Mechanism: Cheating, spending money, drinking, scheming, lying.
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Leybe Díaz – Intriguing Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is that as a writer I need to remain open and explore the characters without judgement; I’ve also learned how to use this model to accomplish that exploration process.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
1. Think about your Example Show. Make a list of the places you’ve already seen Character Intrigue in the previous episodes.
Scandal
Character Name: Olivia Pope
Role: Former campaign advisor to the president, best fixer in D.C. and founder of Olivia Pope & Associates.
Competition: With Cyrus.
Secrets: Olivia is full of secrets about herself, her associates and a lot of people she has helped.
Deception: She is not as tough as she needs to be seen by others.
Wound: Loving a married man. There seem to be other secret wounds.
2. Watch the next episode and see how Character Intrigue is being used to create the need to see more episodes.
Hidden agendas: Amanda seems to have her own hidden Agenda.
Competition: Cyrus is against Olivia. The president is going after Olivia Pope & Associates.
Conspiracy: Amanda seems to be conspiring with someone about something. Amanda got abducted from Olivia’s apartment.
Secrets: Amanda is not telling Olivia everything. Cyrus is keeping information from Billy and Olivia. Quinn is not telling the reporter she’s now dating, all she knows about Amanda.
Deception: Fitz seems guilty of having an affair with Amanda, but is he guilty?
Wound: Abby was a battered wife.
Secret Identity: Who is Quinn? What are the other Olivia’s associates hiding about their identities?
ASSIGNMENT 2
Character Name: Emma
Role: Emma: Hispanic. 30 year old. Waitress in desperate financial need, takes a job as a home attendant to assist Flora.
Hidden agendas: Find all the scatted sticky notes at Flora’s home to get as much information as she can before her job ends.
Competition: With Isaac and Linda. She secretly competes with her two very successful siblings, especially with her brother.
Conspiracies: With the neighbor.
Secrets: She’s not telling her family that she’s a waitress with financial troubles or that she’s a home attendant.
She’s hiding the valuable information she’s discovering from Flora from Isaac and Linda.
Deception: She’s deceiving Isaac and Linda and everyone else around her. Doesn’t trust anyone.
Wound: feels rejected and abandoned by her mother. Doesn’t have a good relationship with her family.
Secret Identity: She has super human cognitive abilities.
Character Name: Flora
Role: Flora: Wealthy, 50 years old woman who is our guide deep into the obscure world of her mental illness and brain dysfunction and the hidden criminal enterprises she was involved with along with some rich and powerful people in her circle.
Secrets: Flora is full of secrets about important and powerful people in her circle, including her brother and herself. As her memory was starting to leave her she wrote a lot of these secrets down on sticky notes, the information shows her fragmented mind and faulty memory at the time of writing.
Conspiracies: She was part of a big conspiracy (pre show / pre illness)
Deception: Her illness is deceptive. She was deceiving everyone around her ( pre show / pre illness)
Competition: There’s always been rivalry with her sister in law Linda.
Wound: Her two sons despise her.
Character Name: Isaac:
Role: Isaac: Flora’s brother and the restaurant’s customer who hires Emma.
Hidden agendas: To get rid of Flora.
Competition: For Flora’s money and total control of the family business. (against Flora’s long time personal attorney.)
Conspiracies: With his wife Linda and a lot of other people.
Secrets: He’s involved in criminal activities.
Deception: He’s deceiving his family, Flora, his associates and many others.
Wound: Rejection by his father.
Secret Identity: Criminal.
Character Name: Linda
Role: Linda: Isaac’s wife. Isaac’s first hand, secretly hates Flora.
Hidden agendas: To get rid of Flora. To leave Isaac. To secure her own separate financial future and position in society.
Competition: For her own independence and power.
Conspiracies: With Isaac to get rid of Flora. With the younger man she’s having an affair with and many others.
Secrets: Her extramarital affair.
Deception: Always deceiving Isaac, her family and everyone else.
Wound: Married for money and social status.
Secret Identity: A powerful, independent woman.
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Leybe Diaz – Engaging Main Characters Model.
What I learned doing this assignment is: How to make my characters more engaging by making them more interesting and complex and not to hold off, to explore different possibilities and angles about them and how to focus on the big picture – decisions first before trying to flesh out the characters too much. This model made it easier for me to generate more ideas. Love it!
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Scandal
Role in the show:
Olivia Pope: A fixer in D.C. founder of Olivia Pope & Associates. Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: The President of the US, married to Mellie Grant and in a extramarital relationship with Olivia Pope.
Unique Purpose / Expertise:
Olivia: Purpose: Power in Washington.
Expertise: She’s the best and most sought after D.C. fixer.
Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: Purpose: As the President, all the power drama and dynamics in the White House revolve around him.
Expertise: Governing and Holding power as the 44th President of the United States.
Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?
Olivia: She leads her team at cleaning the highest scandals of the top players in Washington while she’s at the very center of it all having an extra marital affair with Fitz the President of the United States. She ultimately seeks power.
Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He’s married, has extramarital relationships. He is in love with Olivia.
Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?
Olivia: She lies, manipulates and uses all possible trickery to get what she needs. She’s having an affair with the President.
Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He lies, sleeps around.
Unpredictable: What will they do next?
Olivia: She lives by her own rules. She was part of the master mind team behind the rigged elections that made Fitz President.
Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He ends up divorcing his wife.
F. Empathetic: Why do we care?
Olivia: She has a troubled, lonely personal life and complicated relationships. She’s in love with a married man who happens to be the President.
Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant: He seems to care about being a good President and he seems to truly love Olivia.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
The characters engaging model:
The Home Aide
Journey:
Is she a genius or mentally ill?
How a discouraged home health aide became a powerful, influential, super star politician in the nation.
Characters that sell this show: Emma and Flora.
Role in the show:
Emma: Hispanic. 30 year old discouraged waitress, finds out she’s getting evicted from her apartment and also that her dad has been kidnapped while visiting in Ecuador, accepts job offer to work as a Home Aide.
Flora: Wealthy, 50 years old woman who is our guide deep into the obscure world of mental illness and brain dysfunction and the hidden criminal enterprises of some rich and powerful players in her circle.
Unique Purpose / Expertise:
Emma:
Expertise: Visibly none, untrained in health care (which makes her the perfect candidate for the job as a home health aide for Flora.)
But she has hard to see super human cognitive mental abilities which she uses to decode hidden secrets at Flora’s home while working as a home aide.
Purpose: to get the funds to avoid eviction and ransom her dad.
Flora:
Expertise: As she was loosing her memory she wrote down the clues of schemes and criminal enterprises of top politicians
on post-it notes which are scatted in her home.
Purpose: She takes us into the world of her brain dysfunction and mental illness showing us a new perspective.
Intrigue: What is secret
beneath the surface?
Emma: She works as a home aide
For Flora but with each post- it she discovers and decodes in Flora’s house, she learns more and more secrets about some criminal enterprises involving powerful influential people in town, including Flora herself and and her brother.
What will she do with these secrets?
Flora: She’s the most youthful, playful, joyful, highly emotional free, 50 year old woman, but she suffers from a rare incurable version of Alzheimer’s which has caused her to loose most of her memory and cognition.
What type of person was she before her illness?
D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?
Emma: She keeps doing her job as a home aide and lying to her boss Flora’s brother wile secretly deciding and planing how to use the secrets she’s decoding to gain power and advance her life.
Flora:
She reveals clues of her partaking in criminal enterprises on the post-it notes.
Unpredictable: What will they do next?
Emma: The more she’s able to put the puzzle together the more risks she takes.
Flora: The clues on the post-it notes expose a lot of unexpected people and surprises.
Empathetic: Why do we care?
Emma: She’s in real financial troubles and needs to help her family.
Flora: She suffers from an incurable brain illness.
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Leybe Diaz’s Three Circles of Characters:
What I learned from doing this assignment is how to group characters and think of them as support systems / tools to help move the story and the journey of my main characters forward.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
The 3 Circles of Characters for Scandal:
Main Characters Circle: Olivia, Fitz, Cyrus, Quinn, Abby, Steven, Harrison, David.
Connected Circle: Mellie, Billy, Key staff for the president / WH, Key reporters. The Clients.
Environment Circle: White House staff, press, police, extras.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
3 Circles of Characters for my show
“The home aide”
(An innocent on a mission in a strange world.)
Main Characters Circle:
Emma Bala: Main character, the home aide. Works at a restaurant before she’s offered a job as a home health aide by a customer.
Flora Scherstein: The patient, suffers from a rare type of Alzheimer’s. Comes from a super wealthy family.
Isaac Scherstein: Flora’s brother who hires Emma.
Linda Scherstein: Isaac’s wife. Isaac’s first hand, secretly hates Flora.
Connected Circle:
Leo: Emma’s dad. Gets in troubles and needs Emma’s help.
Lucia: Emma’s mother: Desperate seeks help for her husband and demands it from Emma.
Sofia: Emma’s little sister, is also in danger.
Dan: Current Emma’s employer – Emma works as a waitress at his restaurant.
Sarah: Emma’s co worker also a waitress.
Laura Scherstein: Isaac’s daughter who is well married and has two children.
Ismael Scherstein: Isaac’s son, single, a psychologist with not much going on apparently.
Dr. Jagbhatt: A top, renowned neurologist who diagnosed and treats Flora.
Environment Circle:
Restaurant customers and staff.
Extended family members for Emma and Flora.
Isaac’s Associates.
Doctors office staff.
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Scandal’s 5 Star Points Analysis:
What I learned doing this assignment:
I gained a lot of insight on how the 5 star model plays out creating binge worthiness. Intriguing, amazing character like Olivia Pope can be a glue to the story, interest and excitement can be created by open loops and unsolved cases. Strategically pacing the information that is given to the audience.
In this first episode of Scandal I love how we enter this new subword of fixers in Washington through Quinn, the new girl, on her first day at the firm, she is our eyes and voice as she questions and discovers. Olivia has already established herself as the best fixer in town, she plays by her own rules and is not afraid of going against the established rules; the law or even the man she loves, The President.
What is the big hook of this show? Olivia, an ex White House employee has become the best fixer in Washington, with her own firm she leads her team into making problems disappear for her clients, so they can go on with their lives, but she seems to have a complicated life herself.
What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting? Olivia seems to be the best fixer in Washington, She’s confident, worshiped and powerful as she had influence on the White House. She dominates, operates at a very high level and plays by her own rules. Top players in Washington seek her services including The President. She’s not afraid of going against the big guys like the AG and The President himself in order to solve a case. She and her team do whatever it takes to help their clients, using manipulation, threatening, and other tricks, at times, putting themselves at risk, each team member seems to have a world of their own and seems to be hand picked by Olivia for a reason.
What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character? Olivia seems to be fighting for the truth, for what’s right, and she seems to be one of the good guys. Also she was the mistress of The President and walked away from the triangle relationship still loving him. Although she’s the best at helping her clients with their problems in life, she herself seems troubled, lonely and unhappy. She and her team members seem willing to take risks when solving cases.
What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season? How did Olivia Pope become so powerful in Washington? so influential? How did the relationship with the president start- Does the President really love her? Does the first lady know about their involvement? In what capacity did she work for the president? Why is she no longer working for him?
How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode? By the end of this pilot we have no doubt that Olivia and her team are the best at getting to the bottom of each case and solving it! and we also see the start of a new case: Amanda vs The President, the man Olivia seems to love and now feels betrayed by. Will Olivia really go after The President? what will be discovered? Is Amanda saying the truth? if so how this scandal will affect the president’s career, his life, the white house and the nation? Or will Olivia and the president get closer? How will this love story end?
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Hi everyone, my name is Leybe,
I’ve written one script.
I’m super happy to be a part of this class, already learning a lot and hoping by the end of it, I’ll have my show idea developed as a marketable BW show!
I speak 3 languages, started writing and directing plays at 10 yrs old, I’m also a painter and I’ve directed and produced several TV commercials and shorts.
I’m grateful for this class and for everyone here; wishing everybody an enjoyable, creative journey and endless success!
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I, Leybe Díaz agree to the terms of this group release form:
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.