[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Three Gradients

What I learned doing this assignment is I have no idea where this story is going in relation to a profound truth. Needs a lot of work.

EMOTIONAL GRADIENT: Desired Change

EXCITEMENT EMOTION–Samantha is excited to discover that her new rescue dog, Mellow, can “read people.”
Action—She takes Mellow to the office on Bring Your Dog to Work Day. Has first experience with him being able to communicate people’s true intentions to her.
Challenge/Weakness—She’s overly ambitious. When Mellow communicates with her, she experiments by using him to get something she wants that will advance her career.
DOUBT EMOTION—Samantha doubts this communication could really be happening.
Action—She introduces Mellow to her bestie, Ellie, and asks her to help prove or disprove Mellow’s psychic abilitites.
Challenge/Weakness—Because Samantha tends to be dismissive, after Mellow tells her about Ellie’s secret crush at work, Ellie denies it. Samantha believes Ellie instead of Mellow.
HOPE EMOTION—Samantha hopes Mellow could help her read what their boss wants and win his favor for a promotion.
Action—She makes sure Mellow can hear her boss talk about something he wants Samantha to do for him. Then brings the boss the completed assignment before he’s even asked for it. This delights and surprises him.
Challenge/Weakness—Samantha’s tendency to be manipulative is reinforced by successfully using Mellow to achieve the outcome she wants at work.
DISCOURAGEMENT EMOTION—Samantha concludes that Mellow likes Dan more than her.
Action—Samantha invites Dan for dinner & sees him give Mellow yummy treats she’s never heard of. Mellow goes nuts over them. She writes down the name of the treat & where to find them.
Challenge/Weakness—She misses the big picture. It’s not about the treats. It’s about Samantha’s ambition overriding everything in her life, including giving real love and attention to Mellow.

COURAGE EMOTION—Even though dogs weren’t invited, Samantha brings Mellow on a company picnic to find out more about what she must do to get the promotion
Action—She uses Mellow’s favorite treat to entice him to spy on her boss. But Dan also gives them to Mellow and overeating makes the dog sick. He throws up on the boss. And Dan
Challenge/Weakness—She’s been dismissive and ignored Mellow’s discomfort to focus on plowing ahead with her power-grabbing strategy.

TRIUMPH EMOTION—Samantha gets the promotion she’s always wanted.
Action—She realizes Mellow’s health and friendship mean more to her than using this gifted dog to get ahead at work or for dating Dan.
Challenge/Weakness—Her insecurity dissolves as she decides to turn down the promotion. Instead, she goes for more personal satisfaction doing animal communication full-time.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is that it got me thinking in new ways about the story and profound truths it could convey.

Transformational journey logline.

An ambitious animal communicator (Samantha) must fall from positions of power in her personal and professional lives until she expands her understanding that animals are nuanced in consciousness, creativity, and free will—in other words, they know more than even she realizes.

Change Agent and how that character fits the role. Their vision: – Their past experience that fits that vision:

Ellie is Samantha’s best friend and confidante at work. She’s tried climbing the corporate ladder but has only been burned in the process. She sees Samantha being lured into power positions that don’t satisfy her emotionally or creatively. She wants to help her become truly fulfilled but Samantha will dump her if she tells her what she doesn’t want to hear.

Transformable Character(s) and how that character or characters fit the role.

Samantha is desperate for an outer power that she mistakes as a way to fulfill her inner feelings of powerlessness. She’s been able to communicate with animals since childhood—a natural talent. But until now, she didn’t realize this could be a way of gaining the power positions she craves.

Mellow is a highly conscious rescue dog Samantha has recently adopted. His heightened sensory abilities enable him to see people’s true hearts. He’s used this skill to stay alive but didn’t know it could also help him get things he really wants, even if he has to deceive Samantha.

The Oppression and how The it works in your story.

Samantha’s ambitions have turned into a need and a want that drive her to manipulate and do whatever it takes to get ahead. Her Oppression is a workplace that doesn’t advance women into the high power positions.

Betraying Character and how that character fits the role.

Daniel is Samantha’s and Ellie’s new coworker who is equally, if not more, ambitious than Samantha. He’s also a charming guy Samantha is both competing and falling in love with. But only Mellow has figured out that Daniel can’t be trusted.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment is the movie structure starts to pop into place as I’m creating the transformational journey of the main character.

Logline for the transformational journey:
An egotistical animal communicator must fall from positions of power in her personal and professional lives until she expands her understanding that animals are nuanced in consciousness, creativity, and free will.

Old Ways:
Superiority complex
Controlling
Manipulative
Insecure
Overly ambitious
Know-it-all
Dismissive
Projects her thoughts and feelings on to others
Misses the bigger picture

New Ways:
Humble
Expanded awareness
More flexible
Less opinionated
Willing to be detached about outcomes
Empathetic
Supportive and encouraging
Filled with awe at the possibilities

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is the Audience Arc is importantly different from the Character Arc.

Profound truth:
Animals have more awareness than most people realize.

The change the movie will cause with an audience:
Audience starts looking at the animals in their homes and environment and start wondering what and how much animals really know.

Entertainment Vehicle that will tell this story:
Metaphor and The Cause is the Background

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson's Analysis of Groundhog Day

What I learned doing this assignment is how the detail in setups and payoffs helped to deliver the messages of the movie without having to spell out everything.

[Linda Anderson]

1. Linda Anderson

2. I agree to the terms of this 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.

[Linda Anderson]

Hi Everyone,

1. My name is Linda Anderson.
2. I wrote four scripts. None are ready to market yet. But I had two stage plays produced.
3. I write about things I care about deeply. I want to improve characters and plots that will get messages out in entertaining and impactful ways.
4. My husband and I wrote a series of books with true stories from all over the world about the extraordinary ways animal and people connect with and help each other. One book became a NYT bestseller and I'm adapting it into a screenplay.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Pitch Fest Pitch

What I learned is I’m still figuring out how to be more concise with describing the acts.

Pitch Fest Pitch.

1. Credibility: Adapted from a New York Times bestselling memoir

2. Genre and title: Drama/Biopic; Ticket to Life

3. One or two sentence hook: An ex-cop is plagued with PTSD and now has a brain aneurysm that can burst instantly. He’s rescued an abandoned dog with PTSD, and the only way these two can survive is to heal each other.

4. Budget range: $15 million to $30 million

5. Actors for the lead roles:

· Matthew McConaughey—his story of rescuing animals is in the award-winning book I wrote about animal rescue during Hurricane Katrina. In Matthew’s memoir, he frequently mentions Ms. Hud, the dog he lived and traveled with for many years.

· Sarah Michelle Geller—she has four rescue dogs and is spokesperson for a pet food company. I think she’d like this role if she gets to kiss Matthew McConaughey.

· Birds & Animals Unlimited—I interviewed A+ animal trainers from this company for a book I wrote with American Humane Association about training animals for film and television. I have a great trainer to recommend who is currently reading the screenplay.

6. Acts of the story:

Act 1: Meet three main characters, Allen, his wife Linda, and Leaf, the troubled dog they rescue. The story opens with Allen, as a rookie cop, being ambushed by a fugitive aiming a gun at him. A decade later he has PTSD from unresolved traumas of being in constant danger for eight years in a high-crime beat. Now, he and Linda are authors of a popular series of books about the human-animal bond. They adopt Leaf who turns their home-life into a war zone and risks being euthanized when a neighbor calls animal control. Allen gets news he has a brain aneurysm that could rupture anytime. But worse than death, he fears becoming an invalid like his rage-filled father who had a mid-life stroke and was permanently disabled.

Act 2: To keep Linda from being emotional or crying, Allen composes a “Fact Sheet” with only neutral or positive outcomes for aneurysms and brain surgery. They go to see the neurosurgeon, Dr. Nelson, who tells them that further tests at the hospital that morning showed Allen also has a blood clot aimed at his heart and lungs. Attempting to deal with all this bad news alone, Allen’s PTSD nightmares and flashbacks intensify. He’s determined to help Leaf feel safe and loved with late-night calming sessions and dog park interactions that strengthen their relationship. Allen wakes up one morning from a vivid nightmare that shows “The Building of Life” and that he doesn’t have a ticket to it. He can’t comprehend what Leaf is trying to do, when the dog makes a mysterious response to the dream he’s heard Allen recalling. At the end of Act 2, Allen gets news that his former trainer and friend, Officer Miller, has been killed in the line of duty, and interprets that death as a harbinger of his own fate.

Act 3: Allen creates “The Manual” for Linda to use when she becomes his caretaker, or widow. Leaf follows Allen’s advice at dog park to “be nice” by showing empathy for a rescued dog and falling in love with bulldog, Ethel. As one of many points in their parallel journey, Allen decides to listen to Linda’s advice and also be nice. He reaches out to ask his family and close friends to be with Linda and him at the hospital. Before surgery, in a vision, Allen sees Leaf deliver the elusive ticket to the Building of Life. The surgery takes five times longer than expected and it looks as if Allen had a stroke. He survives brain surgery but at home, he’s so determined to prove he won’t become an invalid that he risks his life and sabotages recovery. When Allen shouldn’t be driving, Leaf brings him back from the brink of having an accident in heavy traffic. The act ends with Leaf nearly dying due to onset of pancreatitis. Now, it’s Allen’s turn to save Leaf’s life.

Act 4: (Resolutions): Leaf is knocked over by a soccer ball and once again, shows his resilience. Allen and Linda take dance lessons now that they’ve learned to enjoy life instead of work all the time. Allen inches toward making peace with his father. He writes a memoir about the miracles that occurred when he and Leaf rescued each other.

How it ends (setup / payoff):

Allen, a very private person with trust issues has past trauma from eight years of constant high-danger police work and disturbing memories of his abusive father. The abandoned dog Allen rescued, Leaf, has abandonment issues that result in “fear-aggression.” In the last scene, Allen, Leaf, and his wife, Linda, are at the book launch for Allen’s inspiring memoir about the dual journey of Leaf and him, two damaged souls who came together at exactly the right time to heal each other. While Allen and Linda greet attendees, Leaf, now a well-adjusted, healthy, and confident dog, gives “pawtographs” and poses for photos.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Phone Pitch

What I learned from this lesson is that doing these pitches is feeling more real and possible.

Strategy: Lead with a strong business hook.

Script for phone call pitch:

Hi, I’m Linda Anderson and I have the rights to and adapted a New York Times bestselling memoir. I’m wondering if I could give you a quick pitch for the screenplay.

A: Not yes, but hell, yes!

This is a drama-biopic called Ticket to Life. It’s about an ex-cop who’s plagued with PTSD and now has a brain aneurysm that can burst instantly. He’s rescued an abandoned dog with PTSD, and the only way these two damaged guys can survive is to heal each other.

–STOP–

3. Answers to producer questions:

Budget range? Probably $15 to $30 million depending on
the actors

Main roles?

Matthew McConaughey—his story of rescuing animals is in the award-winning book I wrote about the largest animal rescue in history after Hurricane Katrina. In Matthew’s memoir, he frequently mentions Ms. Hud, the dog who was his companion for many years of livin’ and travelin’. Alright. Alright. Alright.

Sarah Michelle Geller—when she’s not slaying vampires, she has four rescue dogs and is spokesperson for a pet food company. I think she’d like this role if she gets to kiss Matthew McConaughey.

Birds & Animals Unlimited—I interviewed A-list animal trainers from this company for a book I wrote with American Humane Association about training animals for film and television. I have a great trainer to recommend who is currently reading the screenplay.

How many pages is the script? 100

Who else has seen this? Contests, my husband, and the
dog next door who read it on one of her out-of-body experiences

Why do you think this fits our company?

Your company produced an award-winning movie about a man in law enforcement and the healing relationship between him and a troubled dog.

How does the movie end?

Allen, a very private person with trust issues has past trauma from eight years of constant high-danger police work and disturbing memories of his abusive father. The abandoned dog Allen rescued, Leaf, has abandonment issues that result in “fear-aggression.” In the last scene, Allen, Leaf, and his wife, Linda, are at the book launch for Allen’s inspiring memoir about the dual journey of Leaf and him, two damaged souls who came together at exactly the right time to heal each other. While Allen and Linda greet attendees, Leaf, now a well-adjusted, healthy, and confident dog, gives “pawtographs” and poses for photos.

[Linda Anderson]

Module 10, Lesson 7, ASSIGNMENT, Write a Great Query Letter

Linda Anderson’s Query Letter

What I learned doing this assignment is it took some thought not to be repetitive of the logline and synopsis.

***

“Drop it! Drop it!” rookie cop Allen Anderson yells while fumbling for his gun. Will backup arrive before the fugitive who ambushed him shoots to kill?

Allen will survive this close call in the mid-90s and hundreds of others—so many that his wife, Linda, calls him “Miracle Man.” Over eight years, night after night, he rushes from call to call in a high-crime inner city beat where he subdues perpetrators with brain over brawn instead of excessive force.

A decade later, Allen is plagued with first-responder PTSD—nightmares, flashbacks, and depression. Now, in 2016, he and Linda live in Minneapolis. Like the 90% of homes with pets, who view them as family members, they’ve opened their hearts to animal companions. And been inspired to write the successful Angel Animals series of books about the human-animal bond.

The couple recently rescued Leaf, an abandoned cocker spaniel, who also has PTSD, and gets reported to animal control with a warning about euthanization. Unlike their previous gentle dogs, this troubled guy has blasted their home into a war zone.

Soon after Leaf enters his life, Allen gets diagnosed with a brain aneurysm that could burst instantly. Leaving him disabled like his rage-filled father after a mid-life stroke—something Allen sees as a fate worse than death. Brain surgery is delayed when a blood clot is found to be aimed at his heart. Allen’s and Leaf’s story takes major twists and turns that show the only way they’ll both survive is to become battle buddies and heal each other.

Ticket to Life is adapted from A Dog Named Leaf, a New York Times bestseller that Allen and I wrote. I’ve also had produced stage plays, national awards, and animal books published in multiple languages. More bio at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lindacanderson/ .

I co-authored Animal Stars: Behind the Scenes with Your Favorite Animal Actors with Robin Ganzert, PhD, president of American Humane Association, Film & TV Division. I interviewed A-list animal trainers for the book and can recommend a perfect one for this production.

If the story intrigues you, I’d be happy to send the script.

Contact Information:

Phones: xxx

Email: lcanderson.writer@gmail.com

Mailing address: xxx

Thanks for considering this request.

Linda Anderson

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch

What I learned doing this assignment is I probably wrote these 50 times and have 50 more times to go.

Main Hook

Ticket to Life is the true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and a brain aneurysm who rescues an abandoned dog with PTSD. The only way they can both survive is to heal each other.

Elevator Pitch

I’m adapting a New York Times bestselling true story about an ex-cop and an abandoned dog who both have PTSD and save each other’s lives.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Synopsis Hooks

What I learned doing this assignment is this probably needs to be shorter, but here it is.

Title: Ticket to Life

Written by Linda Anderson

Genre: Drama/Biopic

What could go wrong? A rookie cop in the mid-90s drives alone in his squad car, patrolling his beat in a high-crime inner city housing project, during the dangerous overnight shift, after he’s been rushing from one intense call after another.

That night, Allen Anderson (COP ALLEN), a military veteran who became a cop because he wants to help people, answers a dispatcher’s call without waiting for backup. He’s ambushed by a fugitive aiming a gun at him. His trainer, OFFICER MILLER, arrives in time to keep him from being killed.

This one, like every other night, Allen is repeatedly exposed to violence and threats to his life. For eight years and long after he leaves the force, he’s stifled his traumatic memories and emotions.

Decades later, in 2016, ALLEN is plagued with night terrors. Most people at that time (and even today) don’t know first responders, like Allen, often haven’t processed their traumatic experiences, or that PTSD is causing their nightmares, flashbacks, and depression.

Allen and his wife, LINDA, now live in Minneapolis. They’ve filled their home with the love of pets and become authors of a popular series of books about the human-animal bond. Their books hit literature gold by selling internationally. They especially appeal to people living in the 70% of American homes that have pets, and the 90% of those homes where pets are viewed as family members. It’s a time when people are increasingly intrigued by what pets know, think, feel, and are capable of. The Andersons’ books give them satisfying answers.

Allen’s and Linda’s lives are about to change drastically when they rescue an abandoned cocker spaniel they name LEAF. Dumped at an animal shelter in the middle of the night, unwanted, unloved, and distrustful; Leaf will turn their home into a war zone. Because, like Allen, Leaf also suffers from PTSD. Through touching, funny, courageous, heart-opening moments, an unbreakable bond builds between these two damaged souls.

However, Leaf is faced with being euthanized after a neighbor reports him to animal control as “vicious,” the veterinarian labels him “fear-aggressive,” and the groomer doesn’t want him to come back.

Shortly after adopting Leaf, Allen finds out he has a brain aneurysm that could kill him instantly and he needs brain surgery. The news evokes his greatest fear—becoming like his rage-filled father who had a stroke, was disabled for life, and hated him. As a reminder of how close he is to death; Allen gets news that his former trainer and friend, Officer Miller, has been shot and killed.

Now Allen and Leaf become battle buddies, locked together in a fight for their lives.

After Allen is told that brain surgery must be delayed because he also has a blood clot aimed at his heart and lungs, he has a vivid, realistic nightmare that jolts him to the core. It reveals he’s been denied a ticket to “The Building of Life.” Like his dog, he’s being left behind as worthless. But it will be Leaf who finds a creative and convincing way to inwardly and outwardly deliver Allen’s ticket.

Although Allen survives the tough brain surgery, fear of becoming an invalid like his father kicks in even stronger. Self-sabotaging his recovery and putting his life at risk, he tries to prove he doesn’t need any help and will keep his promise to always protect Leaf. However, he finally welcomes Leaf’s and Linda’s support to rise from past pain and accept love and joy.

Just as Allen’s life is turning in a positive, healing direction, Leaf gets pancreatitis, a disease that nearly kills him. Allen is determined to overcome every obstacle and save the life of the dog he credits with saving his.

With a desire to inspire hope in others, Allen and Linda write a memoir about how inner and outer experiences, even miracles, allowed Allen and Leaf to rescue each other. At the bookstore launch Allen speaks to attendees and expresses gratitude for what he’s learned from this cute, floppy-eared dog. Leaf sits with Linda at the book-signing table to give “pawtographs.”

The book they wrote, A Dog Named Leaf, will go on to become a New York Times bestseller.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s 10 Most Interesting Things

What I learned doing this assignment is how hard it still is to be concise. Working on it.

10 most interesting things about “Ticket to Life”

1. In this true story, Allen, an ex-cop plagued with PTSD, has a brain aneurysm that could kill him instantly. His antagonist/change agent is Leaf, an abandoned cocker spaniel rescue dog, who’s turned his home into a war zone. They’re in parallel battles to either heal or lose everything.

2. Allen and Leaf suffer the effects of severe past traumas, or PTSD. They come together at exactly the right time and circumstances to save each other’s lives.

3. For eight years, Allen served as a cop in a dangerous, high-crime area. Years later, he and his wife, Linda, have become authors of a popular series of books about the benefits of spiritual and emotional bonds between people and animals. They’re about to live out the theme of their books, as inner and outer experiences result in impossible miracles.

4. When Allen finds out he has a brain aneurysm and needs brain surgery. The news evokes his greatest fear—becoming like his rage-filled father who had a stroke and was disabled for life.

5. Prior to Allen’s brain surgery, a vivid, realistic nightmare jolts him to the core by revealing he won’t get a ticket to the “Building of Life.” Like the dog he rescued, he’s being left behind as worthless. But it’s Leaf who finds a way to deliver Allen’s ticket.

6. Leaf is reported to animal control, putting him in danger of being euthanized. Allen and Linda try to help him overcome fear aggression from past traumas.

7. After Leaf proves to be a driving force in keeping Allen alive, he gets pancreatitis and nearly dies before Allen and Linda can rush him to the vet’s office. Now, they must team up to help Leaf survive the deadly disease.

8. Current relevancy: Suicide is the second leading cause of death within law enforcement. One of four first responders struggle with PTSD. Cops and ex-cops often suffer the shame and stigma of unprocessed trauma. This true story gives a new twist on the kind of person who becomes a beat cop, what it can really be like in high-crime areas, and how police officers serve their communities without firing a gun at anybody.

9. Wide international audience: 70% of US homes have pets. 90% view them as family members. 69 million have dogs. The success of Allen and Linda Anderson’s animal books with spiritual themes (not specific to any religion) are published in multiple languages. It shows pets and animals speak a universal language of love that crosses countries, cultures, & languages. More than ever, people are intrigued by what their animal companions know, think, feel, and are capable of.

10. The screenplay is adapted from the New York Times bestselling memoir, “A Dog Named Leaf.” It follows in the paw prints of books where a relationship with a broken dog rescues the person, e.g. Marley & Me, Dog (Channing Tatum, Netflix), Dog Gone (Rob Lowe), Netflix), Rescued by Ruby (Netflix), A Dog’s Journey, A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Way Home, etc. A plus in this story for animal-loving film-viewers—the dog doesn’t die in the end but gives paw-print autographs at the bookstore launch of Allen’s book about their healing journey.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Marketable Components

What I learned doing this assignment is how to tie the major elements of the story together in a clearer, more compelling way for a pitch.

Title: Ticket to Life

Genre: Drama, Biopic

Current logline:

Based on a New York Times bestselling memoir. An ex-cop, plagued with PTSD, gets news he has an unruptured brain aneurysm that will erupt at any time, and the surgery to repair it could debilitate him for life—making him like his rage-filled father, who suffered a massive mid-life stroke and became an invalid. He’s recently adopted an abandoned, year-old, emotionally damaged rescue dog whose fear-aggression will get him euthanized, if he attacks or bites someone. Together, this man and this dog, like comrades facing the ultimate battle, meet at exactly the right time for the miracle of saving each other’s lives.

Components of Marketability:

Unique: The beats of this story parallel each other as the male protagonist and his rescued dog have similar past issues of being in fear for their lives and emotionally abandoned. In present day, they both are facing death together, like battle buddies with obstacles and challenges. They are learning from and healing each other in their physical and inner lives.

True: Based on a New York Times bestselling memoir. The author wrote a series with her husband (the protagonist of this story) of popular books about the human-animal bond and they have a worldwide following.

Wide Audience Appeal: Main characters (buddy movie)—an ex-cop with PTSD and an emotionally damaged rescue dog have a dual journey of life-threatening situations, healing, and saving each other’s lives. Millions of people with relate. Seventy percent of U.S. homes have pets. Ninety percent of people with pets view them as family members. Sixty-million homes have dogs. Pets are the universal language of love that crosses countries, cultures, and languages.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Project and Market

What I learned today is something I already knew—these concepts and pitches are hard to write concisely and well.

Genre: Drama-Biopic

Title: Ticket to Life

Concept: An ex-cop with PTSD and an emotionally damaged abandoned dog save each other’s lives and heal their deepest wounds.

Most attractive about your story:

This true story became a New York Times bestselling memoir. With the man and dog’s parallel life-and-death journeys, it busts myths about differences between how people and animals experience and heal from trauma.

Target FIRST — Managers. I want to sell this screenplay as the start of a career in screenwriting.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Loves Character Depth!

Vision:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is I had significant breakthroughs in this assignment. More to come. Need to keep digging deeper.

Depth Tool 1: Lay out your character storylines and elevate.

I used Final Draft Beat Sheet to figure out storylines for the whole screenplay. Then I could isolate scenes and beats for each of the lead characters. This helped a lot.

Mainly worked on what lead character wants and how to show he achieved his goal.

Depth Tool 2: What are they hiding from me?

Got a stronger grasp on the layer below the predominant layer of fear in the lead character.

Depth Tool 3: How can this story trigger the character?

Let me count the ways. So many triggers in this story that would send anyone into a major panic, but I added a few more.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda is Cliché Busting!

Vision: Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is I was aware of avoiding clichés and worked on this before coming to the lesson. At this point, didn’t have much to rewrite. May find more later.

List of Changes

Cliché: Cop talking to Prostitute who’s asking him not to arrest her.

New Version: Prostitute warning rookie cop about being too good at his job and describing his smooth style. Drug dealer is out to get him.

Cliché: PTSD dream

New Version: Husband (ex-cop) and wife have ritual for bringing him out of a PTSD dream without getting hurt.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Solved Character Problems!

Vision: Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that some of the points in the lead characters’ profiles aren’t strongly coming through in the script. I want to work through the upcoming character lessons before deciding to keep, change, or heighten these traits in the script.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Structure Solutions!

Vision: Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that it was good to make these changes now. I made changes to the outline to match the revised script.

List of the changes to your script:

* Added more focus on PTSD for Protagonist and Antagonist to heighten conflict and dual journey.

* Moved scenes around for better dramatic effect.

* Added or broke up scenes for pacing and clarity.

* Deleted scenes that didn’t match the pitch.

* Rewrote the pitch to give it more focus and simplicity.

Pitch: Based on a New York Times bestselling memoir—an ex-cop with PTSD rescues an abandoned cocker spaniel and together, they battle to stay alive and heal each other’s wounds.

* Ratcheted up the conflict in each scene.

* Rearranged some turning points to have a stronger climax and resolution.

* Increased main characters’ transformations.

* Made ending stronger.

* Revised opening scene to make it shorter and more of an open loop.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Pilot Structure

What I learned doing this assignment is I probably need to make the turning points more outrageous but they’re not coming to me yet.

First draft of pilot Acts.

Teaser:

Essence: Louise’s over-the-top reaction to having her memoir rejected

Turning Point: Blinded by tears, Louise plunges her bicycle into Derrick’s car

Act 1:

Essence: Each main character has been rejected and is a loser in an important way.

Turning Point: Introduce all lead characters and their worlds.

Act 2:

Essence: Louise and Derrick connect when she plows into his car. The accident prompts them to tell the truth to each other about what failures their lives are.

Turning Point: Derrick waits with Louise while she’s in hospital observation. The sequence of events about her dream of being a famous author and finding out her memoir had been rejected shows how she became hysterical. Derrick tells Louise his real life story as a “recovering” alcoholic. Louise is uninterested, even annoyed. He needs her to care.

Act 3:

Essence: Louise and Derrick each switch to secretly lying to each other.

Turning Point: To gain Louise’s attention, Derrick passes off Chester’s (Derrick’s crime boss father) life story as his own. Louise is so impressed that she resolves to steal Derrick’s/Chester’s life and write a fake memoir that will make her a bestseller.

Act 4:

Essence: Derrick wants Louise to care about him. Louise wants to use Derrick to make her a successful author.

Turning Point: Derrick offers to teach Louise clowning. Spice up her life so she has a more interesting memoir to rewrite. She accepts his invitation in order to spend time secretly interviewing him and cover up her deception.

Act 5: Lock In

Essence: The stakes are raised.

Turning Point: Louise gets medical report that she has age-related macular degeneration and may be going blind. Now she’s working against time to achieve her dreams. Derrick hides a bottle in the glove compartment of his car. Feels desperate to connect with Louise before he drinks himself to death.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson Has Finished Act 4!

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is by writing forward and releasing the need to edit as I go, my creativity increases and ideas for improvement pop in to my imagination unannounced.

How it is going:

It felt great to have the outline and high concept to guide me through the outline and first draft. Things went smoothly when I gave up the need to have long periods of time for writing and wrote in spurts from the outline.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Big Picture Components

What I learned doing this assignment is this pilot showed effective ways to introduce main characters without being overwhelming or using too much exposition.

Basic Series Info:

Series Title: Reboot

SERIES INFO:

World: production of an old/new tv series at a studio

Main mystery: Will a reboot of this old series work in current times?

Impossible Goal: reboot the old sitcom as edgy instead of dated and nice with the same actors from the original

Main Conflict: fighting for the soul of the story—will it be edgy or more of the same?

Second Mystery: Why reboot it now?

Season 1 Arc: from a dysfunctional cast with unresolved issues, forced back together, to a successful tv series that is relevant to today’s world.

Season 1 Protagonist Internal Journey: From Hannah, the showrunner’s, conflict with her father (Gordon), the show’s originator, to healing their relationship and collaborating on a successful show.

Basic Pilot Info:

PILOT INFO:

Pilot Conflict: The actors need this job but hate working with Gordon.

Characters Introduced: Introduced throughout the pilot in natural circumstance: —arriving on studio parking lot

-Reed at coffee shop with the girlfriend he’s leaving to work on the show

-posing for a recreation of the promotional poster

-when meeting the showrunner

Inciting Incident of Season 1: Hannah pitches the reboot as edgy Hulu producers and gets hired.

[Linda Anderson]

Gave a more thorough reply to #14 Lesson below.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Episode Titles

What I learned doing this assignment is I had a lot of breakthroughs in getting to the essence of the series and episodes.

Episode Titles:

1 Rejecting “A Life Well-Lived”

2 Clueless Clowns

3 Hidden Talents and Secrets

4 Best-Seller Dreams Dashed

5 The Deception Club Confesses

6 On the Bestseller Track

7 Book Trailer to Hell

8 On the Run to New York

9 Clueless Clowns in Hiding

10 The Book Launch That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson Presents Non-Stop Intrigue

What I learned doing this assignment is that it’s hard to keep these aspects of the bible from not being repetitious.

I went back through the elements and kept asking myself if I’d added the intrigue and interest. This allowed things to keep changing and hopefully, get better.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Intrigue Patterns

What I learned doing this assignment is I thought I’d be rewriting one sentence but wound up rewriting the entire Summary, using the Intrigue Patterns.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s TV Pitch Bible Investigation

What I learned doing this assignment is how much this exercise improved my TV Pitch Bible.

Rewritten TV Pitch Bible Sections:

Episode Time Length—changed from half-our to one-hour comedy because there was too much story for a half-hour.

Character Descriptions—made most changes on main character to add more intriguing traits and not repeat plot details

Episode Descriptions—came up with more interesting ways to move the lead characters and plot forward consistently

Five Seasons—cut down on repetition and included more interesting layers and twists

Summary—needs more work but made improvements in hooks and open loops

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Show Summary

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s hard to tell if this veers into book report or has enough of the interest techniques and intrigue.

Title: Rejected

Format: Half-Hour Comedy

By L. C. Anderson

Summary

Newspaper fact-checker, Louise Reynolds, wrote a memoir called “A Well-Lived Life.” It’s a tribute to a woman who, other than mourning her husband’s untimely death, has never moved outside her comfort zone. Omitted from the book are a fraught relationship with her loser grown daughter, Jan, the unknown fact that her husband planned to dump her, and her hidden talents, such as sometimes hearing conversations between inanimate objects. With hopes of becoming a bestselling author, she submitted her manuscript to NYC editor, Candice.

Ambitious editor, Candice, slums through her slush file one day, reads Louise’s memoir, and sends the author a snarky rejection letter citing as reason that her life as too boring to read about, much less, publish. Candice’s letter confirms Louise’s greatest fears—her life is meaningless and she’s worthless.

Louise plunges into mid-life-crisis hysteria. Blinded by tears and subconsciously suicidal, Louise slams her bicycle into the car of Derrick. He’s the young condo neighbor she hates for playing loud music long past her usual bedtime.

Rattled by the accident, Derrick drives Louise to the ER. While visiting her in the hospital, Derrick talks about his life as a recovering alcoholic and instructor at a professional clown school. She hatches a plan to write a fake memoir with his more exciting life story and use “Derrick” as her pen name. She also resolves to rewrite her memoir and spice it up with new experiences. Then she’ll be on her way to a successful career as author of two bestsellers.

What Louise doesn’t know is that when she secretly interviewed Derrick for the fake memoir, he lied. Instead of his, he told her the story of his estranged father, Chester, a crime boss in witness protection, who testified against the crime syndicate. A pre-publication book trailer goes online. It catches attention from corrupt FBI hitman, Mark. Derrick and Louise must go on the run to meet Candice in NYC while doing clown gigs to hide in plain sight. Louise’s life has become anything but ordinary or well-lived.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Episode Descriptions

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s hard to distinguish between hitting the right intrigue notes and book reporting.

Title: Rejected

Format: Half-hour comedy

By: L. C. Anderson

Episode 1:

Louise plunges into a midlife crisis when her memoir, “A Life Well-Lived,” gets a snarky rejection letter from Candice who says it’s too boring and bland. Having the dream of becoming a bestselling author crushed confirms that Louise’s life is worthless. Blinded by hysterical crying over the rejection, she crashes her bicycle into Derrick’s car.

After Derrick tells Louise what she thinks are interesting things about himself, she decides to steal his much cooler life story and write a fake memoir, using “Derrick” as her pen name. To secretly interview him for the book, she enrolls in his course at the professional clown school where he’s an instructor. But he lies by answering her questions with details from Chester’s crime-boss experiences. Without their realizing it, the fake memoir will endanger all of them. It will get them killed if it’s a bestseller.

Episode 2:

After clowning sessions, Derrick talks to Louise about what it’s like to testify against a crime syndicate and hide in witness protection. Louise quickly takes notes on the information for chapters in the fake memoir.

Jan manipulates her mother into letting her move in, so she can save money and pursue an acting career. With the pain of Louise’s own rejection fresh, she agrees to support her daughter’s dream and empathizes with Jan never getting roles she auditions for. Jan gets suspicious about Louise befriending Derrick and why her mother, who has never come out of her comfort zone, is becoming a clown. Louise’s excuse is that she’s rewriting her memoir and has to spice up her life to make it publishable.

Episode 3:

Louise and Derrick go on clown gigs. She’s starting to enjoy herself and him more than she thought possible. Louise tells Derrick about her secret talent and demonstrates it: sometimes she hears conversations of inanimate objects.

On the day Louise prints out and completes the fake memoir, she hides a copy in a secret hiding spot and discovers love letters between her late husband and a female coworker. Before he died, he planned to dump Louise and run away with the woman. Devastated, she takes out her rage on Jan’s whining about her life and crushes her daughter with unasked-for advice. Louise emails the manuscript to a different editor at Candice’s publishing company.

Episode 4:

Jan finds the fake memoir and reads it. Now she views Derrick’s bad-boy image as adventuresome and dangerous. Jan is furious with Louise for stealing his life story. She goes to Derrick’s condo, intent on telling him the truth, but finds him, shaky and vulnerable, talking with his AA sponsor Jake.

Derrick’s memoir creates a buzz at the publishing company. Candice manipulates to get the editor, who Louise sent it to, fired and her replaced as the book’s editor. Derrick tells Louise that talking to her has made him determined to find Chester. He wants his father back.

Episode 5:

Louise realizes Derrick has been drinking on one of their clown gigs. When she drives Derrick home, he tells her his secret wound—he killed his sister in a drunk-driving accident. When Louise plowed into his car, it reminded him of the worst moment of his life. Chester has never forgiven him. Derrick’s shame makes Louise feel remorseful for passing it off his life story as her own.

At home, Louise breaks down and tells Jan about the deception and that her father had intended to divorce her. Jan tries to convince Louise to tell Derrick about the memoir. But they both acknowledge that if he finds out the truth, he could have a full relapse over Louise’s betrayal.

Episode 6:

Candice falls in love with Derrick via the fake memoir. She sees it as her ticket to a promotion and having her own imprint. She offers a contract and advance money to Derrick aka Louise but insists on an in-person meeting in NYC.

Candice maneuvers the marketing department into creating an amazing pre-publication teaser for the book online. She sends a preview link of the book trailer to Louise. Louise is now in a major bind about the need to confess her deception to Derrick.

Episode 7:

Before Louise can come clean, Jan sees the book trailer. She finds out Louise set up a fake bank account to deposit advance money for the book. It will come in payments after Louise turns in the edited manuscript and the book launches. Jan believes Louise should cut her in on the advance. Louise refuses. Jan confesses to Derrick that she loves him and by the way, her mother is going to make a lot of money off of selling his life story.

At an obscure FBI office, Mark’s coworkers ridicule and reject him as a bumbling incompetent. He comes across the book trailer online and reports the valuable information to his crime boss, thinking “Derrick” is Chester’s pen name.

Episode 8:

The crime boss sends Mark to kill Derrick/Chester for having testified against the syndicate. In a near-miss, Mark attempts to kill Derrick without seeing his face.

Derrick blackmails Louise into going on the run with him to escape Mark. Either she uses the advance money to finance his escape or he’ll tell Candice the memoir is a fake. Louise convinces him to go to NYC and meet with Candice or none of them will get the money. To be near Derrick and con Louise into cutting her in on the advance money, Jan runs with them. Before they leave, Louise, feeling the need to have something go her way, calls the woman her husband was having an affair with and says she’s sending their love letters to the woman’s husband.

Episode 9:

Derrick and Louise do clown gigs to hide in plain sight from Mark on the trip to NYC. Louise disguises their locations with her skilled fact-checking and research skills. Her ability to hear inanimate objects alerts her to Mark getting closer to finding them.

Candice finishes editing Derrick’s book and emails it to Louise. Now Louise can collect the next advance payment. On their journey to NYC, Derrick confides in Jan about Chester’s rejection. Jan surreptitiously figures out Chester is an online con man and finds his merchandise website.

Episode 10:

Derrick is everything Candice hoped he would be. He introduces Louise and Jan as his assistants. Candice schedules a book launch at an off-Broadway theater and invites her boss to witness her smashing success.

Publicity for the launch clues Mark into where he can assassinate Derrick. Jan contacts Chester and begs him to save Derrick. Chester still loves his son. He quickly leaves his witness-protection home, goes deeper into hiding, and figures out a plan.

Episode 11:

At the launch, Chester stops Mark from killing Derrick. Louise reveals the truth. The audience, reviewers, and Candice’s boss love the added intrigue and think it’s another chapter in Derrick’s exciting true-life story. Candice covers up that the memoir is a fake and promises a sequel and a TV series. Jan perks up at the idea of starring as Louise in the series.

Louise wonders, if the book becomes a major bestseller or series, what the crime syndicate will do to them. Jan is scared she can’t successfully compete with Candice for Derrick’s love. Derrick’s hopes are raised that he and Chester will reconcile. Louise recognizes that she could write a new bestselling memoir to now include her clown experiences, running for her life, and an array of her hidden talents—much more now than “a life well-lived”.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Episode List Rough Draft

What I learned doing this assignment is I’m starting to feel more organized.

Season 1 Episodes<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> with Main Events

1. Louise, a newspaper fact-checker, plunges into a midlife crisis when her memoir gets rejected by Candice, a NYC editor, because her life story is too boring.

· Hysterically crying over the rejection, Louise crashes her bicycle into Derrick’s car

· Louise guilts Derrick into helping her recover

· She decides to steal Derrick’s life story to write a new memoir that will sell

2. Derrick, a recovering alcoholic, thinks he’s a screw-up so starts lying to Louise by telling her the exciting life story of Chester, his crime-boss father in witness protection

· Louise’s daughter, Jan, fakes a job loss and being dumped by her boyfriend for Louise to let her move in and pursue an acting career

· Jan gets suspicious about Louise’s motives for befriending Derrick

· Louise accepts Derrick’s invitation to spice up her life story by going to the professional clown school where he’s an instructor

3. Louise starts to enjoy Derrick more in spite of herself.

· Louise and Derrick go on clown gigs and she starts to loosen up.

· Louise tells Derrick about her secret (and demonstrates it)—she sometimes hears conversations of inanimate objects

· Louise diminishes Jan’s drama over being rejected for acting auditions and roles.

· Louise completes the fake memoir and puts Derrick’s byline on it

· Louise sends the fake memoir to a different editor at Candice’s publishing company

4. Jan finds the memoir, reads it, and falls in love with Derrick.

· Derrick’s memoir creates a buzz at the company

· Candice manipulates to get the editor fired and replaces her

· Derrick locates Chester in hiding. Chester rejects him.

· Rejected, Derrick starts drinking again and lies to his AA sponsor Jake

5. Louise realizes Derrick is drunk on one of their clown gigs.

· Louise drives Derrick home. He tells her his secret wound—he killed his sister in a drunk-driving accident. Chester has never forgiven him for it.

· Louise sees how much pain Derrick is in and feels remorse for stealing his life story and passing it off as her own

· Louise breaks down and tells Jan what she did. Jan is furious with her.

6. Mark, a supremely inept and corrupt FBI agent on the take from the crime syndicate, feeds valuable information to his crime boss.

· Mark’s coworkers ridicule and reject him as a bumbling incompetent

· Mark saves the money he gets from the crime boss to be able to retire in style and leave the FBI job he hates.

· Candice falls in love with (bad boy) Derrick via the fake memoir.

· She offers a contract and advance money to him aka Louise but insists on an in-person meeting in NYC

· Candice sees the memoir as her ticket to promotion and gets it put on the publisher’s bestseller track

7. Candice talks the marketing department into place am amazing pre-publication teaser for the book online.

· Candice sends a link to the book trailer to Louise

· Louise realizes she has to confess what she did to Derrick.

· Before Louise can come clean, furious Jan betrays Louise, tells Derrick about the deception in an attempt to make him love her

· Derrick and Louise have it out. He confesses he told her Chester’s story, not his.

· Mark comes across the book’s trailer and reports it to his crime boss, thinking Derrick is Chester’s pen name.

8. The crime syndicate sends Mark to kill Derrick/Chester for having testified against it.

· In a near-miss, Mark attempts to kill Derrick without seeing his face.

· Derrick blackmails Louise into going on the run with him so she can transfer advance money while he tries to get to NYC without Mark killing him.

· To be near Derrick and con Louise into cutting her in on the advance money, Jan goes on the run with them.

9. Derrick and Louise do clown gigs to hide in plain sight from Mark on the trip to NYC.

· Louise saves them several times with her fact-checking skills and ability to hear inanimate objects

· Derrick tells Jan about Chester’s rejection

· Jan figures out Chester is an online con man and contacts him

· Jan begs Chester to save Derrick from the crime syndicate

· Chester realizes he still loves his son

· Chester goes deeper into hiding and figures out a plan

10. In NYC, Derrick is everything Candice hoped he would be. He introduces Louise as his assistant.

· Candice schedules a book launch is scheduled at an off-Broadway theater and invites her boss.

· Publicity for the launch clues Mark into where he can assassinate Derrick.

· At the launch, Chester manages to stop Mark from killing Derrick.

· The truth is revealed about their deception and crime syndicate chasing them

11. Louise, Derrick’s, Jan’s, Chester’s, Candice’s, and Marks story lines conclude with open loops.

· The audience, reviewers, and Candice’s boss love the added intrigue and think it’s part of Derrick’s true-life exciting story

· If the book becomes a major bestseller, what will the crime syndicate do to Louise and Derrick?

· Who will win Derrick’s love—Jan or Candice?

· Will Derrick fall off the wagon again if Chester cuts him off again?

· Does Jan having got Chester to help them make Louise start seeing her value?

· Will Louise ever write the real story of her life which now includes her clown experiences, a recognition of her hidden talents such as hearing inanimate objects talking.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Five Seasons

What I learned doing this assignment is this stuff is hard to do well. I’ve gained new admiration for people who are great at creating successful series.

Series: Rejected

Format/Genre: Half-hour comedy

By: L. C. Anderson

Season 1: Rejection Is a Bitch

A newspaper fact-checker (Louise) has bestselling author dreams and a mid-life crisis when a NYC editor (Candice) rejects her boring memoir. Feeling worthless and not recognizing her unique talents, she secretly steals her young neighbor’s (Derrick’s) more interesting life story to write a new book that will sell. A recovering alcoholic who thinks he’s a failure; Derrick lies to Louise by answering her questions about his life with the story of his father (Chester) who testified against a crime syndicate and lives in witness protection.

Louise sends the fake memoir to Candice, using Derrick as her pen name. The lonely editor falls in love with his bad-boy image. She manipulates the book onto the publisher’s bestseller track. If Candice finds out it’s a fake, she’d demand Louise return the advance money and charge her with fraud. Or the deception could help her get promoted at the publishing company.

When the book’s launch in NYC gets notoriety, Chester, who rejected his son, must come out of hiding and save Derrick from a corrupt FBI hitman (Mark) who the crime syndicate sent to silence him. The truth about the deception comes out at the launch. The revelation that Louise and Derrick are being chased by the syndicate makes readers love art imitating life. Will Louise and Derrick survive if the book catapults to the top of bestseller lists and they go from rejection to major success?

Season 2: The Me I’ve Never Let You See

Derrick becomes a publishing superstar with his fake memoir and the crime syndicate putting him on its most-wanted list. Louise, shamed by stealing his life, works as his remorseful assistant to write his true life story life as a recovering alcoholic, tea expert, and rejected son of a crime boss. On the side, she’s gaining authentic writing chops while writing a new, more dramatic version of her true life story.

It’s galling her that Derrick has fame, fortune, and validation that his life matters while she’s working in obscurity and still supporting her grown daughter, Jan, a rejected actor. Now, though, her life is full of adventures with professional clown gigs and running from the crime syndicate.

Her new book is so interesting with odd quirks, such as sometimes being able to hear inanimate objects talking to each other, and hidden twists and turns she’s never told anyone. Her writing is so good now that the book could become a bestseller and overshadow Derrick’s new memoir.

Season 3: Who’s on Top?

Louise’s new memoir includes her shame and remorse about stealing Derrick’s life. These confessions make the book a big hit, because everybody’s ashamed of something. Her strange new involvements as a professional clown and top target of the crime syndicate spur creation of a popular video game. Derrick’s new memoir is tanking and now he’s assisting Louise. A streamer wants to turn it into a series, starring her daughter, Jan.

Louise is transforming from lack of confidence about having an boring and mundane life to readers who feel rejected relating to her. Now she and Derrick compete for best book-event venues and media coverage. But are they one-book wonders? Candice pesters them for next books. How do they build on what their memoirs have started? Will the TV series put Louise’s life and career over the top?

Season 4: Comfort Zone and Beyond

Louise, Derrick, and Jan start a nonprofit organization, Comfort Zone Training (CZT) to help rejected people and clowns reclaim their power. They’re coming out of their own comfort zones of believing they must compete with each other to figuring out how to give meaningful service.

Now they’re drowning in a sea of people who relate and also don’t recognize their value. Although Louise, Derrick, and Jan have shared life experiences of rejection, failure, and disrespect they don’t have a clue how to manage a foundation servicing people with so many needs. CZT could turn into one more chance for the three of them to view themselves as losers.

From contest losers, failed marriages, and overlooked lives, the foundation’s clients are motivated to start helping each other rise above rejection. Will it grow? Will it last?

Season 5: Loving Yourself Is Rich

CZT becomes a worldwide phenomenon. Louise, Derrick, and Jan are celebrities of sorts. From their personal journeys of rejection to redemption they are creating a system that works for other people to becoming hugely successful.

But the trio isn’t ready for unforeseen consequences of being viewed as gurus and celebrities. They need to find a balance and ways to be happy with the journey versus extremes of fame. Derrick and Jan start to appreciate each other in new ways that are blossoming into a lasting love. Chester manages to come out of witness protection by making peace with the crime syndicate. He and Derrick are forging a father-son relationship. Louise is thrilled when Jan wins an Emmy for the portrayal of Louise in the TV series.

With the growth and self-reflection each of them has gained, they figure out that valuing their own uniqueness is gold. To live a contented life, they don’t need acceptance or rejection from anyone. Loving and being loved by people who are important to them is the greatest validation.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Character Descriptions

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s hard to focus mainly on character descriptions without 1) bringing in plot lines and 2) repeating information from one character to another.

Louise

A newspaper fact-checker, aspiring author, and mother is desperate to achieve her dreams of writing a best-selling book. She hides low self-esteem and need for outer validation with a superior attitude as in unasked-for advice. Fueling Louise’s mid-life crisis, a snide NYC editor rejects Louise’s memoir for chronically a too bland and boring life.

In a rage of smashed dreams, Louise decides to steal the life story of her free spirited young condo neighbor, a recovering alcoholic. Pretending to admire him, she takes classes at the professional clown school where he’s an instructor. When the fake memoir gets accepted for publication, Derrick confesses he’s been lying to her and telling the life story of his father, Chester, a crime boss in witness protection.

Derrick and Louise have to go on the run to hide from Mark, a corrupt FBI agent dispatched by the crime syndicate to kill Derrick aka Chester who testified against them. The overlooked and unique talents Louise didn’t bother to include in her memoir are now exactly what she needs to survive.

Derrick

A young, reckless cool guy, Derrick shares a condo wall with Louise and keeps her up all night playing Goth rock music. He’s a semi-recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon when overly stressed. A few years ago, while driving drunk, he had an accident that killed his younger sister. His father never forgave him. His only solace is doing gigs as a professional clown to help him forget by making people laugh.

After Louise goes into hysterics over her memoir rejection, she plows her bicycle into Derrick’s car. It brings up all his lingering shame and remorse over causing his sister’s death. When Louise starts asking questions about his life, because he subconsciously longs for his father’s love, Derrick steals mob boss Chester’s life story, and passes it off as his own.

He’s furious with Louise’s deceit and quick to blackmail her into using the publishing advance money to escape a rogue FBI agent the crime syndicate dispatched to kill him for revealing secrets. His bad boy image in the fake memoir turns out to be a turn-on for his lonely NYC editor to fall in love with him and manipulate the fake memoir onto the bestseller track. Will it destroy him if/when the truth comes out?

Jan

Jan is Louise’s grown daughter—a self-proclaimed loser who would do anything to get her mother’s unconditional love and respect. She’s determined to become a famous actor but is driven by anger at Louise for not supporting her dreams. After constant rejections for call-backs and auditions in LA, she tells Louise she needs to move in with her because she was dumped by her deadbeat boyfriend and lost her job. The truth is that she wants Louise to support her while she’s pursuing an acting career in the Midwest with less competition.

When Jan meets Louise’s condo neighbor, Derrick, she views him as the confident free spirit she aspires to be. After discovering Louise has stolen Derrick’s life story to write a fake memoir, she tries to win his love by betraying her mother and becoming his ally.

Jan joins Derrick and Louise on the run from the FBI agent because she also wants Louise’s book advance money. When the trio make it to NYC for Derrick to meet the editor in person, she’s big-time jealous to find out that Candice is now her rival for Derrick’s love. Will Jan realize her dreams of acting success, gaining Louise’s approval, and winning Derrick?

Candice

Candice is the NYC editor who passes on Louise’s memoir with a snarky rejection letter. She’s heartless with the power to crush writers’ dreams. Merciless with underlings, she’s ruthless in her demands. Ambition clouds her judgment as she attempts to advance in the publishing company where she’s a senior editor. The owner holds out the carrot that if she can produce a money-making bestseller, she’ll get her own imprint.

A workaholic who is always getting rejected by powerful men, she’s intrigued by Derrick’s fake life story as Chester, the crime boss. She demands he come to NYC to meet her in person. This is the bestseller she’s been waiting to take her to fame and maybe, the man of her dreams.

After beginning to suspect Derrick didn’t write the book, she has to cover up her mistake in acquiring it. Can she manipulate the book on to the bestseller track without being it being discovered as a fake and destroying her publishing career?

Mark

A corrupt FBI agent, Mark is on the take from a crime syndicate. Laughably inept and disrespected, he’s overly sensitive and copes by being obsequious to superiors who ridicule him. Somehow he manages to stumble on enough valuable information to keep his position as the crime syndicate boss’s flunky. Mark saves the easy money for retirement from his dead-end job. His dream is to become an expert fly fisherman.

After Mark spots pre-publicity for a memoir about a crime boss in witness protection, the details make him believe Derrick is actually Chester, who testified against the syndicate. He’s eager for the important job of killing Derrick for his crime boss.

Mark chases Derrick, Louise, and Jan from the Midwest to NYC who hide from him in plain sight by doing professional clown gigs. In NYC Mark makes plans to assassinate Derrick during the book’s hyped-up launch at an off-Broadway theater and maybe even get a promotion and more money from the syndicate.

Chester

Chester is Derrick’s crime-boss father and his major source of rejection and shame. Chester has shut his son out of his life and continues to grieve for his daughter. He wants to find a safe place to live the rest of his life without hiding. He occupies his time playing car-chase video games.

Although Chester appears to live as a law-abiding neighbor in a quiet neighborhood, he’s still a grifter doing online scams. When Jan locates him via one of his online merchandise accounts, she tells him about the fake memoir and Mark’s attempts to kill Derrick. Does Chester still love his son enough to save his life?

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Intriguing Concept and World

What I learned doing this assignment is I think I’m starting to get a grasp on this concept and how it can shine.

Concept:

A newspaper fact-checker has bestselling author dreams and a mid-life crisis when a NYC editor rejects her boring memoir. She steals her neighbor’s more interesting life story to get a fake memoir published, which forces her into becoming a professional clown and going on the run to escape a corrupt FBI agent.

World of this show.

Unique Sub-World: professional clowning, NYC publishing, and crime syndicate

Previously unexplored: through a woman who’s never gone outside her comfort zone

The unknown: professional clown school

The unseen: inside how a cutthroat editor manipulates a book onto the bestseller track

Unheard of Dangers: a corrupt FBI agent on the take from a crime syndicate

Reason to explore it: Unappreciated talents and skills are exactly what’s needed for her and others to survive. She was crushed when her memoir was snarkily rejected, but with much more self-discovery and adventures ahead, she’s not boring after all.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson has completed the BW Framework!

What I learned doing this process is it forced me to sort out the plot, subplots, and characters. A work in progress.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Creating Irony!

What I learned doing this assignment is the stronger the irony, the greater the drama.

ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show—The Righteous Gemstones

Ironic Scenes:

*Easter Sunday spectacular with light and rock-music show vs. sincere prayer

*Jessie preaches about Judas while Gideon is betraying him with the heist

*Scotty does the heist by himself and forces Gideon to help him

*Judy wants recognition but when Eli offers to feature her, she turns him down.

*Gideon foregoes revenge on his father but Scotty destroys the relationship.

ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show Discovering Irony

20 situations or character components that could go opposite to create irony.

*Louise believes her life is bland and boring but her unique experiences and skills are what’s needed for her to write a terrific memoir.

*Louise lives an orderly life as a fact-checker but she goes to clown school when she wants a more exciting life to write about.

*Jan wants to be a value with her own dreams but Louise doesn’t recognize the parallels in how they show up in the world.

*Derrick needs to forgive himself but he’s stealing his life story to impress Louise.

*Candice wants to be respected in the publishing industry but she initially turns down the one author who will get her to the top in the company.

*Mark wants to have enough money to retire from his thankless FBI job but the crime boss who hires him is playing games and deriding him too.

*Chester has managed to stay alive by being in witness protection but to save his and his son’s lives he has to emerge.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is there’s a lot more twists and turns for the character and plot to make the series bingeworthy but this was a start.

Series: Righteous Gemstones

PLOT LAYERS

How the blackmail video got made

Eli wants Judy to perform at the Easter service and Jessie to do the main sermon.

The Easter service goes off as an audience-pleasing spectacle.

Twist: Gideon decides not to portray his family.

CHARACTER LAYERS

Each character has their own goals for Gemstone ministry that have nothing to do with the church’s mission. Instead, it’s all about the money.

Gideon plans the heist lets Scotty, the blackmailer, into the Gemstone compound.

Judy betrays BJ. He leaves her.

Jessie thinks Gideon is gay, and it’s OK.

***

ASSIGNMENT 2, Creating Intriguing Layers, Your Show

List of possible PLOT LAYERS:

*Major scheme revealed—Louise passes off Derrick’s life story as her memoir

*Mystery revealed—Mark, FBI agent

*Thought the story was one thing, but it is another—looks like Louise is seeking validation from others but she’s the one who has to validate herself and her daughter. Mark. who is on the take from a crime syndicate, investigates Derrick after reading a blurb about the upcoming book and seeing it could lead to finding and doing away with Derrick’s father from a rival crime syndicate.

*Major shift in Meaning—Louise’s life was well-lived and she has skills and talents for survival

*Hidden history—Candice, NY editor who rejected her real memoir, doesn’t know Louise–not Derrick–is the author, when Louise submits it to a different editor who is in competition with Candice

*Hidden plan—Louise subtly interviews and takes notes on Derrick’s life because it’s much more interesting than hers

*Major betrayal—Derrick lies and is giving Louise details of his crime-boss father’s life. Jan betrays Louise when she finds out her mother stole his life for the new memoir.

List of possible CHARACTER layers.

*Secret identity—Louise is assuming Derrick’s identity; Derrick is assuming his father’s identity. Mark is employed by the FBI as a low-level investigator but working for a crime syndicate.

*Character intrigue—Louise’s lack of self-confidence affects her daughter’s future as well as her. Derrick’s alcoholism and shame fuels his need to be anything other than himself. Jan’s anger at her mother’s rejection leads to taking Derrick’s side over protecting Louise. Mark’s derision by his boss and coworkers causes him to be easy to seduce into a life of easy crime money.

*Hidden relationships and conspiracies—Now, both Jan and Candice are falling in love with Derrick

*Hidden Character history—After Louise’s husband died, she discovered he was having an affair with a younger woman at his office and had made plans to run off with her and end their marriage.

Possible sequence of reveals.

Plot Surface (sequence of reveals):

*Layer 1: Candice rejects Louise’s memoir with snarky comments about how bland a life she’s lived and plunges Louise into a rage

*Layer 2: Derrick didn’t hit Louise on her bicycle. In a rage, she ran into his car.

*Layer 3: Derrick is hiding his shaky resolve to stop drinking.

*Layer 4: Louise takes advantage of Derrick’s remorse over the accident to get him to make repairs in her condo that her dead husband used to take care of

*Layer 5: Jan’s breakup with her boyfriend and job loss leads her to sweet-talk Louise into letting her move in with her

*Layer 6: Derrick’s father, Chester, who is a crime boss in witness protection because he testified against the competing crime syndicate that employs Mark.

*Layer 7: Derrick starts telling Louise about his wild life. She’s intrigued.

*Layer 8: Louise gets the idea to write Derrick’s memoir and present it as her own. She starts taking notes and secretly tapes interviews with him. She doesn’t know Derrick has morphed into telling Chester’s life story instead of his.

*Layer 9: Jan is listening to the interviews and falling in love with Derrick.

*Layer 10: Derrick feels sorry for Louise’s book getting rejected. Invites her to join him in clown school so she can rev up her memoir with clown gigs.

*Layer 11: Louise submits Derrick’s life story to Candice’s competitor at the publisher company and it is enthusiastically accepted with a modest advance.

*Layer 12: Jan figures out Louise’s deception and tells Derrick.

*Layer 13: The marketing staff circulates an advance blurb to hype the book.

*Layer 14: Mark sees the blurb and alerts his crime syndicate boss. He thinks the author is Chester. Mark and the boss plot to find Chester and eliminate him for testifying.

*Layer 15: After a terrifying visit from the crime syndicate in the connected condo he shares with Louise, Louise confesses her deception to him and Jan. They all must go on the run.

*Layer 16: Derrick, Louise, and Jan set up clown gigs for Derrick and Louise and work their way to New York.

*Layer 17: The memoir is getting big buzz for prerelease. Candice reads it and is smitten with Derrick. She manages to move the competing editor who signed him out of her job and take over as editor of the memoir. She asks to meet Derrick in NYC.

*Layer 18: Candice is surprised when her assistant finds that Derrick and Louise have the same street address and city. She’s getting suspicious.

*Layer 19: Louise finds skills she learned as a fact-checker to be valuable for life on the run from the crime syndicate.

*Layer 20: Louise and Jan are starting to have more respect for each other. Jan shares her dreams of becoming an actress.

*Layer 21: Candice and Derrick meet. He has to keep up the deception and the stress is driving him back to drink.

*Layer 22: Chester hears about the upcoming book. He has to find Derrick and stop him from going any further with it or the syndicate will kill him.

*Layer 23: Mark is trying to find Derrick and picking up the clown-gigs trail.

*Layer 24: Now Candice and Jan are both in love with Derrick. He wants Louise to tell Candice the he didn’t write the book. Louise agrees. Jan doesn’t want her to. She’s already been spending most of the advance money for it. Louise tells Derrick it’s too late to stop.

*Layer 25: The book is published. Derrick must promote it on talk shows and interviews. It’s a bigger sensation than anyone imagined. Candice is ecstatic and looks like she’ll get the big promotion and her own imprint at the company.

*Layer 26: Mark, Chester, Louise, and Jan are in the audience for the book launch in New York. Mark is there to kill Derrick. Chester is there to protect him. Louise is there to bask in the glory of Derrick’s success. Jan is there to try and get a role in the movie adaptation that’s going to be made.

*Layer 27: Mark spots Chester in the audience. Puts the pieces together that Derrick must be his son. As the audience leaves or has their books autographed, Mark tries to catch Chester with his FBI badge flashing. Chester runs across the street with Mark chasing him. Mark gets hit by a car.

*Layer 28: Derrick is enjoying the spotlight and no longer wants Louise to confess to Candice. They’ll split the advance money and royalties. Derrick introduces Louise to Candice as his muse.

*Layer 29: Louise pitches Candice with a memoir about her new life as a clown. To please Derrick, Candice enthusiastically agrees to read it.

Character Surface (sequence of reveals):

*Layer 1: Louise’s lack of self-confidence causes her to have no interest or motivation for validating Jan’s hopes and dreams.

*Layer 2: After Louise’s husband, Raymond, dies, she finds evidence he was having an affair with a co-worker and planned to divorce Louise. It destroys her.

*Layer 3: Candice is a lonely workaholic whose ambitions exceed her grasp. She’s determined to advance in the publishing company by destroying the career of her most formidable competitor and taking over editing Derrick’s book.

*Layer 4: Derrick is sneaking drinks and slipping back into alcoholism.

*Layer 5: Mark’s coworkers ridicule his incompetence and he’s desperate to make a pile of cash from the crime syndicate so he can leave the FBI and never have to work a regular job again.

*Layer 6: Chester won’t forgive Mark for driving drunk and killing his daughter.

*Layer 7: When she has the chance for revenge against her mother, she takes it by telling Derrick that Louise stole his life.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Outline Exchange 1 (in the first line)

I am ready to exchange feedback. Thank you.

Title: Ticket to Live

Genre: Buddy-Movie Drama

Concept: Based on a bestselling memoir—an ex-cop with PTSD faces the greatest danger of his life after he rescues an abandoned dog who faces being euthanized. In their dual healing journey, they come together at exactly the right time for miracles to occur.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Outline Exchange 1

Linda and Michale are exchanging feedback, as of 8-18-22.

Linda and Sandra Nelles are exchanging feedback, as of 8-18-22.

Title: Ticket to Live

Genre: Buddy-Movie Drama

Concept: Based on a bestselling memoir—an ex-cop with PTSD faces the greatest danger of his life after he rescues an abandoned dog who faces being euthanized. In their dual healing journey, they come together at exactly the right time for miracles to occur.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Fascinating Scene Outlines!

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is the interest techniques helped to pull each scene together and make them convey conflict and subtext.

Slugline and short description of what happens in the scene.

NOTE: I did the assignment for all the scenes but only posted Act 1 here.

Opening

Scene 1:

Beginning: (Interesting Setting) 1996. In a dark inner city housing project, a drug dealer aims a gun at Allen’s head.

Middle: (Suspense) Allen’s mentor, Bruce, drives up with cop-car lights flashing.

Ending: (Uncomfortable Moment) After the arrest Bruce chastises Allen for making a dangerous rookie mistake by chasing without backup. Reminds him nothing is more important than going home.

Scene 2:

Beginning: (Uncertainty) Allen comes home at daybreak, still shaken, checks on his wife, Linda, and their two children and plays with the dog in hopes of calming himself.

Middle: (Superior Position) Linda wakes up and asks about his shift.

Ending: (Mislead) He doesn’t tell her that he almost got killed.

Inciting Incident

Scene 3:

Beginning: (Major Twist) Minneapolis, 2006. In their bedroom, Allen is having a violent PTSD dream memory of the opening scene.

Middle: (Surprise) In what appears to be a regular routine of Linda protecting herself, she jumps out of bed, moves away, waits, then gently wakes him.

Ending: (Superior Position) He brushes her off and won’t tell what he was dreaming.

Act 1

Scene 4:

Beginning: (Suspense) An abandoned cocker spaniel sits on the side of a road, drenched in storm.

Middle: (Mislead) Bikers on Harleys pick him up.

Ending: (Betrayal) Instead of keeping the dog, the bikers leave him at an animal shelter in an outdoor cage.

Scene 5:

Beginning: (Interesting Setting) With their bird and two cats watching them intently, Linda and Allen hang a portrait in their living room of their previous dog, Taylor, a yellow Labrador retriever.

Middle: (Internal Dilemma) Allen and Linda both miss Taylor but Allen can’t stop grieving over her death.

Ending: (Mislead) Linda suggests going to the animal shelter where they volunteer—just to look. Allen doesn’t like the idea.

Scene 6:

Beginning: (Suspense) Linda spots a super-cute cocker spaniel and convinces Allen to meet the dog.

Middle: (Reveal) After hearing “Harley’s” history, Allen still has doubts, but they impulsively adopt him.

Ending: (Intrigue) Linda inwardly sees a light surge through them as their new family unit forms.

Scene 7:

Beginning: (Superior Position) Harley growls at bikers on Harley motorcycles on the way home from the shelter.

Middle: (Major Twist) At the park, Harley jumps into a pile of autumn leaves. They decide to name him Leaf.

Ending: (Character changes radically) Allen promises to always take care of him.

Scene 8:

Beginning: (Interesting Setting) Before going home, Allen and Linda take Leaf to the pet store to buy dog food.

Middle: (Surprise) Leaf sniffs along lower shelves, picks out a stuffed toy, and carries it in his mouth to checkout.

Ending: (Uncomfortable Moment) Before leaving the store, Leaf pees on a display, and apologetic, Allen has to clean up.

Scene 9:

Beginning: (Mystery) Allen and Linda bring Leaf home and notice he lifts up his paws as if he’s stepping on to carpeted floors for the first time.

Middle: (Betrayal) The cats hiss at Leaf, and the bird squawks and flaps his wings while Linda tries to reassure them. She lets the cats run and hide upstairs and covers the bird.

Ending: (Intrigue) Leaf carries the pet-store toy in his mouth while looking confused and exploring the house.

Scene 10:

Beginning: (Surprise) First night, Leaf wakes up at midnight howling like a wolf.

Middle: (Cliffhanger) Allen walks Leaf outside. He doesn’t relieve himself. In the house, he immediately pees on the carpet. Linda cleans it up. They slump to the floor, exhausted and doubtful about their decision.

Ending: (Major Twist) Linda goes back to bed. Allen takes Leaf to his home office, puts him on his lap, presses him to his heart, and softly sings a soothing song. It works; Leaf falls asleep.

Scene 11:

Beginning: (Interesting setting) Allen takes Leaf for a walk around the neighborhood.

Middle: (Mystery) He growls at people and lunges at a large white man. He tries to bite bicycle tires. Allen is concerned.

Ending: (Uncertainty) At home, Leaf transforms into a playful dog. Allen talks with Linda about his fears that Leaf will bite someone and animal control will euthanize him.

Scene 12:

Beginning: (Suspense) Linda and Allen sit at two facing tables in the living room and dining room to do a remote radio interview about their Angel Animals books. Leaf sleeps in his crate.

Middle: (Uncomfortable Moment) When they talk about their premise—people have spiritual connections with animals—the host is skeptical. He considers it to be anthropomorphic.

Ending: (External Dilemma) Leaf wakes up and bounds into the living room and goes bonkers. Allen holds on to the phone while stopping Leaf from knocking over the lamp and howling. He has to take Leaf out of the room. Reluctantly, Linda finishes the interview alone.

Scene 13:

Beginning: (Interesting setting) Split screen show two scenes juxtaposed of Allen and Linda at their favorite coffee shop with captions, “BL = Before Leaf” and “AL = After Leaf. In the AL scene, Leaf is under the table.

Middle: (Uncertainty) The contrasting scenes of BL and AL show how drastically their lives have changed since adopting Leaf.

Ending: (Suspense) In AL scene, Allen reveals he’s having dizzy spells. Linda convinces him to see their family doctor.

Scene 14:

Beginning: (Misinterpretation) In front of the living room fireplace, Linda talks with bf, Arlene, a nurse, about Allen’s dizzy spells and schedule CAT scan. Linda brushes it off as due to lack of sleep. Allen walks Leaf in the middle of night, in frigid cold; then soothes him back to sleep.

Middle: (Uncertainty) Linda is glad Leaf and Allen are bonding but wonders if Leaf never returns her affection because she doesn’t spend as much time with him.

Ending: (Surprise) They’re interrupted by Leaf chasing the cats. Speedy sinks his claws into Leaf’s back. Leaf howls in pain. They separate Speedy and Leaf. Leaf runs to his crate.

Scene 15:

Beginning: (External Dilemma) Allen has another PTSD dream memory of an old man waving a gun from a front porch. Allen calmed him enough to drop the gun, and he didn’t have to shoot.

Middle: (Cliffhanger) This nightmare showed a different outcome with the man shooting Allen in the head.

Ending: (Internal Dilemma) After they go through their PTSD rituals, Allen tells her about the dream. They talk about their choices and regrets.

Turning Point 1:

Scene 16.

Beginning: (Suspense) Allen is at his day-job office in a meeting with coworker, Jose. Allen’s family doctor calls.

Middle: (Surprise) Allen moves to a deserted hallway to take it. The CAT scan showed he has an unruptured brain aneurysm that requires brain surgery. It could burst any time and cause a stroke. The doctor refers him to a neurosurgeon.

Ending: (Major Twist) After the call, Allen is shocked and has a meltdown with fears of dying or being permanently disabled like his father who had a stroke.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Scene Requirements

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that this was the hardest lesson in WIM so far but one of the most beneficial. Showed me where to cut and shape scenes.

Slugline and short description of what happens in the scene.

NOTE: I did the assignment for all the scenes but only posted Act 1 here.

Opening

1. Scene Arc: 1996. A drug dealer aims a gun at Allen’s head. His mentor, Bruce, drives up. Bruce chastises Allen for making a dangerous rookie mistake by chasing without backup.

EXT. INNER CITY HOUSING PROJECT – NIGHT

Essence: Allen chases a drug dealer without backup

Conflict: Gun pointed at Allen’s head; Bruce reprimanding him

Subtext: Allen miscalculates how much danger he’s in

Hope/fear: Allen hopes to catch the criminal. He fears getting shot in the head.

2. Scene Arc: Allen checks on his children and wife, Linda, and plays with his dog to help calm him. Linda wakes up and asks about his shift. He doesn’t tell her he almost got killed.

INT. ALLEN’S HOME – DAY

Essence: Allen needs to shake off the night’s near-death experience

Conflict: He doesn’t confide in his wife

Subtext: He’s very private and wants to protect Linda

Hope/fear: He hopes he’ll shake off what happened. He fears Linda will worry.

Inciting Incident

3. Scene Arc: Minneapolis, 2006. Allen suffers from PTSD and has a violent dream memory of the opening scene. Linda jumps out of bed and gently wakes him. He won’t talk about it.

INT. HOME – DAY

Essence: Ten years later, Allen’s violent police experiences result in PTSD nightmares.

Conflict: Linda’s safety is at stake when he thrashes around during PTSD

Subtext: He sees PTSD as a weakness

Hope/fear: He hopes the PTSD will go away. He fears he’ll never be healed.

Act 1

4. Scene Arc: An abandoned cocker spaniel sits on the side of a road, drenched in storm. Bikers on Harleys pick him up. They leave him at an animal shelter in an outdoor cage.

EXT. HIGHWAY – NIGHT

Essence: Bikers bring an abandoned cocker spaniel to an animal shelter and leave him there

Conflict: The loud motorcycle scares the dog.

Subtext: He doesn’t know what’s happening to him.

Hope/fear: He’s terrified.

5. Scene Arc: Linda and Allen hang a portrait of their previous dog, Taylor, with their bird and two cats watching. Allen can’t stop grieving over Taylor’s death. Linda suggests going to the animal shelter where they volunteer—just to look. Allen doesn’t like the idea.

INT. HOME – DAY

Essence: Allen and Linda are animal lovers with a pet family and they’re missing Taylor.

Conflict: Allen and Linda don’t agree that it’s time to look for another dog.

Subtext: Allen is super sensitive to loss of loved ones

Hope: Linda hopes a new dog will heal. Allen fears a new dog will make the pain worse.

6. Scene Arc: Linda spots a super-cute cocker spaniel and convinces Allen to meet the dog. After hearing “Harley’s” history, Allen still has doubts, but they impulsively adopt him. Linda inwardly sees a light surge through them as their new family unit forms.

INT. ANIMAL SHELTER – DAY

Essence: Allen and Linda adopt Harley

Conflict: Linda has to persuade Allen to meet the dog.

Subtext: Linda senses something significant about this dog entering their lives

Hope: Allen hopes he will give Harley a loving home. He fears loving and losing another dog.

7. Scene Arc: Harley growls at bikers on Harley motorcycles on the way home from the shelter. At the park, Harley jumps into a pile of autumn leaves. They decide to name him Leaf. Allen promises to always take care of him.

EXT. CAR AND PARK – DAY

Essence: Harley makes it clear the name the animal shelter gave him doesn’t fit.

Conflict: Leaf hates Harleys.

Subtext: Leaf has secrets and invisible wounds. Allen doesn’t make commitments lightly.

Hope: They want to give the dog a good home. They fear comparing him with Taylor.

8. Scene Arc: They take Leaf to the pet store for dog food. Leaf picks out a stuffed toy and carries it in his mouth to checkout. He pees on bags of dog food, and Allen has to clean up.

INT. PET FOOD STORY – DAY

Essence: Leaf’s first trip to the pet store shows he expresses strong preferences.

Conflict: Leaf’s peeing may mean he wont’ be easy to assimilate into their lifestyles.

Subtext: Leaf is an independent thinker.

Hope/Fear: Allen hopes Leaf will settle down. He fears a bumpy ride.

9. Scene Arc: Allen and Linda bring Leaf home. The cats hiss at him and the bird squawks. Leaf carries the toy in his mouth while looking confused and exploring the house.

INT. HOME – DAY

Essence: Leaf is introduced to the other pets. They instantly don’t like him there.

Conflict: The pets make it clear Leaf is an intruder.

Subtext: This might be Leaf’s first toy ever.

Hope/Fear: They hope Leaf and their other pets will work things out. They fear chaos.

10. Scene Arc: First night, Leaf wakes up at midnight howling like a wolf. Allen walks Leaf outside. He doesn’t relieve himself. Back in the house, he pees on the carpet. Allen takes Leaf to his home office, puts him on his lap, presses him to his heart, and sings a soothing song to him until Leaf falls asleep.

INT. HOME – DAY

Essence: Leaf shows he may have been only an outdoor dog.

Conflict: He may not be housebroken

Subtext: His loud howls express terror.

Hope/Fear: Allen hopes to help Leaf adjust to their home. He fears it’s going to be a tough slog.

11. Scene Arc: Allen takes Leaf for a walk. He growls at people and lunges at a large white man. He tries to bite bicycle tires. Allen is concerned. At home, Leaf wants to play.

EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY

Essence: Leaf shows aggression which may be triggered by his past.

Conflict: Leaf looks like he’ll bite when he’s scared.

Subtext: Leaf fears large white men. Bicycle tires look like motorcycle tires.

Hope/Fear: Allen hopes Leaf’s aggressiveness will subside. He fears Leaf will bite someone and be euthanized.

12. Scene Arc: Linda and Allen sit at two facing tables for a radio interview about the series of Angel Animals books they wrote. The host is skeptical about spiritual connections between people and animals. Allen holds on to the phone and Leaf as he knocks over the lamp and howls. Linda has to finish the interview alone.

INT. HOME – DAY

Essence: Leaf destroys a phoner interview for promoting Angel Animals books.

Conflict: Leaf reaks pandemonium. The host considers Angel Animals’s premise to be anthropomorphic.

Subtext: Allen struggles to handle Leaf’s severe emotional issues.

Hope/Fear: He hopes Leaf will support their mission. He fears not being able to promote the books if Leaf destroys their interviews.

13. Scene Arc: Split screen show two scenes juxtaposed of Allen and Linda at their favorite coffee shop with captions, “BL = Before Leaf” and “AL = After Leaf. In the AL scene, Leaf is under the table. The contrasting scenes show how their lives have changed. In AL scene, Allen reveals he’s having dizzy spells. Linda convinces him to see their family doctor.

INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY and EXT. COFFEE SHOP — DAY

Essence: Leaf’s issues have overtaken their lives and may be making Allen sick.

Conflict: Leaf has turned their home into a war zone.

Subtext: Allen is sensitive to not showing anger and scaring Leaf.

Hope/Fear: Allen hopes they can save their careers and his day job. Linda fears the dizzy spells mean Allen is under too much pressure.

14. Scene Arc. Linda tells her bf, Arlene, a nurse, that Allen’s having dizziness. He walks Leaf in the middle of every night in frigid cold, then sings to him until they both fall asleep. She wonders why Leaf never returns her affection. They’re interrupted by Leaf chasing the cats. Speedy sinks his claws into Leaf’s back. They separate them. Leaf runs to his crate.

INT. HOME – DAY

Essence: Arlene is Linda’s window character for hearing all that’s happening from her POV. Speedy uses his claws to teach Leaf to stop chasing.

Conflict: Speedy lets Leaf know he won’t tolerate chasing.

Subtext: Leaf has natural consequences to his alpha nature.

Hope/Fear: Linda hopes Speedy has fixed the problem. She fears Leaf will escalate.

15. Scene Arc: Allen has a PTSD dream memory of an old man waving a gun from a front porch. Allen didn’t have to shoot. This nightmare, though, showed a tragic outcome with the man shooting Allen in the head. Linda and Allen talk about constant and regrets.

INT. HOME – NIGHT

Essence: Allen’s PTSD dream shows an old man waving a gun and shooting him.

Conflict: Did he make right or wrong choices while doing police work?

Subtext: He lacks confidence in his decisions and actions.

Fear: He hopes he kept people safe and didn’t make situations worse. He fears he made mistakes.

Turning Point 1:

16. Scene Arc. Allen is meeting with coworker, Jose. Allen’s family doctor calls. He moves to a deserted hallway to take it. The CAT scan showed an unruptured brain aneurysm that requires brain surgery and could cause a stroke. Allen has a meltdown about the news.

INT. OFFICE – DAY

Essence: Allen gets news about an unruptured brain aneurysm and possible stroke

Conflict: His life will be destroyed.

Subtext: Childhood abuse and PTSD dreams of being shot in the head instill fear and dread

Hope/Fear: He hopes the aneurysm won’t burst. He fears dying or being permanently disabled like his father was after his stroke.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Big Picture Open Loops

What I learned doing this assignment is this exercise will be good to return to repeatedly as I’m learning more about the characters and their escapades.

ASSIGNMENT 1:

Series: The Righteous Gemstones

Early Big Picture Open Loops:

1.Who will be on top of the Gemstones Ministry?

2.Will Jessie succeed against the blackmailers?

3.Will Judy ever get Eli’s respect?

4.Is Uncle Billy getting revenge on Eli?

Episode Open Loops:

1. Judy disses Eli and Jessie tells him what she said.

2. Jessie looks like he’s vanquished the blackmailers. Gideon looks like he’s responding to Jessie’s attempts at having a relationship but in the end, he lets Scotty, the blackmailer, into the compound’s gate.

3. Judy pleads with Eli to let her shine but by the end, Eli is watching her shine on Uncle Billy’s stage instead.

4. Uncle Billy is putting on a great show with Judy that looks more entertaining than anything Eli is capable of doing.

ASSIGNMENT 2, Inviting Obsession, Open Loops

Top 5-8 Big Picture Open Loops for Pilot

Goal: Louise wants to become a best-selling author with a big advance and worldwide recognition.

Consequences: Will she be caught passing off Derrick’s memoir as her own?

Solving Problems: Because the NY editor has called the memoir about her life bland and boring, Louise will need to use talents and experience she’s dismissed as irrelevant to hide deceptions and keep her and Jan alive.

Relationships: Jan and Louise don’t respect each other. What will cause them to create a new bond of love and support as mother and grown daughter?

Danger/Survival Risks: How can Louise keep out of jail for fraud and not get Jan, Derrick, and herself killed by the corrupt FBI agent who is chasing them?

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Show Mysteries

What I learned doing this assignment is this is an area I need to do a lot more work on.

ASSIGNMENT 1:

Series: The Religious Gemstones

Big Picture Mysteries:

Why is Jessie’s wife so oblivious or feigning to be?

Why is Gideon so hateful to his family?

Why does Gideon stay subjugated to the blackmailer?

Will Uncle Billy get revenge on Eli for stealing Ami from him?

Will Judy get and keep Eli’s acceptance?

Smaller Mysteries:

Why are the siblings, especially Judy so angry?

Why is Gideon amused when Jessie one-ups the blackmailer?

Will Uncle Billy and Judy make a successful team?

ASSIGNMENT 2:

Create two mysteries for your show — one that shows up strong in the Pilot and the other that is revealed over time.

1. Shocking Event Mystery.

A. Shocking Event: Louise is so distraught over the rejection of her memoir that she rides her bicycle into an oncoming car driven by her neighbor, Derrick

B. Secret: Louise feels she’s actually been rejected for having a too bland and boring life. She suspects this is true and it fuels her mid-life crisis.

C. Investigation: Derrick rushes Louise to the emergency room and is trying to figure out why she ran into his car.

WWWWW and How:

Who: Louise and Derrick are condo neighbors with a shared wall.

What: Louise is chasing Derrick’s car because

When: After Louise receives the outlandishly snarky rejection letter from NY editor, Candice.

Where: The street outside their condo.

Parts Withheld: Louise is in a fit of anger and motivated to confront Derrick over being such a raucous and selfish person.

2. Over Time Mystery.

A. Cover up: Louise befriends Derrick so she can steal his life and write a new (highly successful) memoir under his assumed name.

B. Secret: Louise’s daughter, Jan, suspects her mother has an ulterior motive for suddenly befriending Derrick and joining him at clown school in order to have a less boring life.

C. Reveals:

*The secret reason Candice rejects Louise’s memoir is that it reminds her about her own failed life story.

*Derrick has been lying to Louise and telling her details of his crime-boss father’s life rather than his own.

*Derrick was responsible for driving drunk in an accident that killed his sister. His father won’t speak to him.

*Derrick is still sneaking drinks.

*Louise becomes aware that she has talents and skills that she thought made her life boring but are vital to her, Jan, and Derrick’s survival.

* Jan thinks she’s blackmailing Louise into sharing the book’s advance, but Louise has already started a special savings account with the book’s earnings to give to Jan.

D. WWWWW and How:

Who: Candice is the New York editor who rejected Louise’s manuscript for not being able to help her reach the goal of editing a hot bestselling book.

What: Mark is on the payroll of a major crime syndicate threatened by incriminating details in Derrick’s memoir that he stole from his crime-boss father who is in a witness protection program.

When: After Louise sends Derrick’s book to Candice.

Where: Derrick, Louise, and Jan’s Midwest condo, Candice’s New York office, Mark’s Washington, DC FBI office.

How: Derrick takes Louise and Jan with him when the book’s promotion comes out.

Parts Withheld: Candice convinced the head of marketing to fast-track Louise/Derrick’s book on the best-seller track which will result in massive publicity and major danger for Derrick, Louise, Jan, and Derrick’s father.

[Linda Anderson]

ASSIGNMENT 1:

The Righteous Gemstones:

Big Picture Empathy/Distress

Will the Gemstones survive and thrive after Ami’s death?

Will the Gemstones succeed in running the local ministers out of business?

Will the Gemstones find vanquish the blackmailers?

Will Judy ever be valued by Eli?

Will Jesse find out it’s Gideon who betrayed them?

Will Kelvin prove he deserves a leadership role?

Will Eli’s wife find out about his criminal and immoral acts?

Will the Gemstones ever respect BJ?

Can the Gemstones keep praying for God to cover up their crimes?

Will Uncle Bill take over Gemstone Ministry from Eli?

Episode Empathy/Distress

Will the Pastor be able to survive after the Gemstones force him to close his church?

Will Gideon overcome his need for revenge and stay in league with the blackmailer?

Module 1, Lesson 7, ASSIGNMENT 2, Empathy-Distress, The Binge Worthy Drug!

Linda Anderson’s Show Empathy/Distress

What I learned doing this assignment is although I was procrastinating to finish it, after I got into it and let myself create, it was a lot of fun.

High Concept/Main Conflict: A widowed newspaper fact-checker has a mid-life crisis when a New York editor rejects her boring memoir and to write a more exciting book, she steals the life of her young condo neighbor whose father is a major crime boss in witness protection.

Louise’s Empathy/Distress Situations:

A. Undeserved misfortune. Louise is so distraught when the editor rejects her memoir that she plows her bicycle into Derrick’s car.

B. External Character conflicts. Louise hates Derrick’s loud music keeping her awake late at night through their shared condo wall. She hates everything about him.

C. Plot intruding on life. Her daughter, Jan, moving in with her after her latest deadbeat boyfriend dumps her and she loses job. She’ll have to work hard to hide her deception from Jan.

D. Moral dilemmas. After a lifetime as a fact-checker making sure everything is accurate and true, Louise is driven to justify passing her subterfuge of passing Derrick’s experiences off as hers to get a bestselling book.

E. Forced decisions they’d never make. Louise would never have had the nerve to pretend to befriend Derrick and add more zest to her life story by joining him in his new job as a professional clown.

Derrick’s Empathy/Distress Situations:

A. Undeserved misfortune. His father, an infamous crime boss, won’t forgive him for driving the car that accidentally killed his daughter

B. External Character conflicts. He has no regard for his condo neighbor, Louise, and plays loud rock music late at night

C. Plot intruding on life. Louise plows into his car in a fit of anger after her memoir was rejected

D. Moral dilemmas. Does he continue to sneak drinks when he’s stressed?

E. Forced decisions they’d never make. He either has to take Louise and Jan on the run with him when an FBI agent starts chasing him or abandon them.

Jan’s Empathy/Distress Situations:

A. Undeserved misfortune. Louise assumes Jan is irresponsible without any conversation about what happened to cause Jan to need to move in with Louise.

B. External Character conflicts. Jan and her mother have completely different world views about what’s important in life.

C. Plot intruding on life. Jan falls in love with Derrick.

D. Moral dilemmas. Jan discovers Louise is stealing Derrick’s life and blackmails her mother into sharing the publishing advance for the new memoir.

E. Forced decisions they’d never make. Jan goes on the run with Derrick and Louise when the FBI agent starts chasing them because she needs to keep her “meal ticket” safe.

Candice’s Empathy/Distress Situations:

A. Undeserved misfortune. She’s working for a misogynistic publisher who doesn’t think women can be objective editors.

B. External Character conflicts. She’s in competition within her company to have a phenomenally successful book.

C. Plot intruding on life. In an effort to manipulate her into even more work hours, her publisher hints she may get her own imprint someday.

D. Moral dilemmas. She’s falling in love with Derrick while reading his “memoir” and is desperate to meet him.

E. Forced decisions they’d never make. When she starts to suspect Derrick isn’t for real, she sets wheels in motion to cover up the deception.

Mark’s Empathy/Distress Situations:

A. Undeserved misfortune. He put the competitor of a major crime boss into jail and drew unwanted attention to himself.

B. External Character conflicts. A major crime boss treats him like a flunky but keeps him on the payroll for bringing cases against his competitors.

C. Plot intruding on life. Derrick’s memoir best-selling sales trajectory brings out the secrets of the crime boss’s major competitor, which Derrick has stolen and passed off as his while telling “his story” to Louise.

D. Moral dilemmas. He’s always in the dark place of choosing to do the right thing for his FBI job, where he gets no respect, and making money from the crime boss so he can retire.

E. Forced decisions they’d never make. He has to find Derrick’s father and prosecute him, but first he has to find Derrick and stop the book from being published.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Show Relationship Map

What I learned doing this assignment is this was more fun creatively than I thought it would be.

Relationship Map for The Righteous Gemstones.

Lead Character Jessie and Relationship with Eli, Judy, and Ami

Jessie and Eli:

Surface: Jessie’s father

Common Ground: wants family to stay together

Conflict: needs Eli’s attention and approval

History: never feels appreciated by Eli

Subtext: Eli loves Jessie but focuses mainly on his weaknesses

Relationship Arc: from disrespect to encouragement

Jessie and Judy:

Surface: Jessie’s younger sister

Common Ground: both want to be favorite child

Conflict: competitive with major sibling rivalry

History: always sniping at each other except Judy is smarter than Jessie

Subtext: recognize they’re in the same low boat in their parents’ view

Relationship Arc: put each other down to cooperation

Jessie and Ami:

Surface: Jessie’s mother

Common Ground: both want kindness

Conflict: Jessie shocks her with his extreme bad behavior

History: Jessie doesn’t feel he’s important to her

Subtext: she forgives more than accepts him

Relationship Arc: lack of interest in bringing Jessie in line with his father to wanting them to be close

ASSIGNMENT 2:

Relationship Map with Main Character and Three Lead Characters

Main Character: Louise

Lead Character: Derrick

Surface: Louise’s condo neighbor

Common Ground: both willing to hide their true identities to get what they want from each other

Conflict: He’s Louise’s polar opposite with values and lifestyles

History: Derrick drives Louise crazy playing loud music she can hear through their shared condo wall late at night to disturb her

Subtext: They need each other to achieve what they want

Relationship Arc: From adversaries to teamwork

Lead Character: Candice

Surface: Editor Louise sent her memoir to for publication

Common Ground: They both want a wildly successful book

Conflict: Candice has no regard for Louise’s idea of the kind of life that makes an engaging memoir

History: Candice snarkily rejects Louise’s memoir

Subtext: Louise writes much cooler Derrick’s memoir and passes it off as hers

Relationship Arc: From hostile editor-author to matchmaker between Candice and Derrick and the key to Candice finding a “bad boy” who doesn’t bore her

Lead Character 4: Jan

Surface: Louise’s adult daughter

Common Ground: their reach exceeds their grasp; both have superiority complexes

Conflict: Louise views Jan as a failure in life and inferior to her

History: Jan’s latest failed relationship and job loss drive her to move in with Louise

Subtext: Neither of them see themselves as losers—only as misunderstood and unappreciated

Relationship Arc: from battling and putting each other down to saving each other’s lives

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Living Metaphors

What I learned doing this assignment is to add some elements to my current outline that reflect old/new profound changes to each of the main characters and make the metaphors stand out more clearly.

5 Should Work, But Doesn’t Challenges

1. Old Way: Tanji prays when he’s feeling distressed. Challenge: Prayer doesn’t change his feelings or the situations. New Way: Tanji witnesses a powerful divine intervention he hadn’t prayed for but which saved lives.

2. Old Way: Mario prays for God to smite the unbelievers. Challenge: Mario’s way of telling God what to do in his prayers fails him when God doesn’t comply. New Way: When Mario attempts suicide, Tanji’s love for him, not only his prayers, draws him back from the brink.

3. Old Way: Adiba smugly believes she’s succeeded when she uses their love bond and rational arguments to plead with her brother, Baqir, not to join the insurgents. Challenge: Baqir is too far into desire for power over love. New Way: Adiba has to take action to stop Baqir from killing himself when he stalks her at Camp Wolf and wants revenge on the infidels.

4. Old Way: Ray unleashes anger on the wrong people when not getting his way. Challenge: Bullying is Ray’s go-to tactic but it’s not working. New Way: Ray goes underhanded and recruits Mario and reports Tanji to his chaplain supervisor for fraternizing with Adiba.

5. Old Way: Tanji turns to his father, Rev. Wilkes, for comfort and advice. Challenge: Rev. Wilkes is only interested in Tanji saving souls and returning home. New Way: Tanji goes against his father’s beliefs and does a memorial service that is inclusive of prayers and practices for fallen soldiers of beliefs other than his father’s Christianity that says they’ll go to hell if they didn’t accept Jesus as their personal savior.

5 Living Metaphor Challenges

1. Tanji fires Mario’s M16 rifle with anger at God that he can’t/won’t acknowledge.

2. Mario looks at toppled crucifix over the camp chapel that’s been destroyed by insurgent bombing and vows to smite the unbelievers.

3. Letters and effects of the fallen soldiers tell touching stories of their lives and loves.

4. Skype call to Mario from wife of Camp Wolf soldier friend at home with PTSD presages Mario’s own terrors and pain.

5. Iraqi child with rock in his hand looks like a cell phone-detonator and symbolizes danger and confusion of the Iraq war, where it’s impossible to tell who is or isn’t the enemy.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Character Emotions

What I learned doing this assignment is this one revealed subtext as long as I stayed open to whatever came through.

Assignment 1

Emotional Profile for Example Show: Righteous Gemstones

Jessie

Hopes to run the Gemstone ministry.

Fears his bad deeds will catch up with him.

Wants to be the favorite child.

Needs to be secure and have his parents’ attention.

Base Negative Emotion is that he’s selfish and controlling.

His Public Mask is that he appears compliant with his parents.

Weakness is jealousy.

Triggers are completion, his parents showing preference to other siblings.

His Coping Mechanism is to strike out when he’s insecure.

Eli

Hopes to build a Gemstone ministry empire.

Fears his wife will side with her brother against him.

Wants to impress his wife with how successful he is.

Needs to be top dog in the ministry.

Base Negative Emotion is that he’s avaricious.

Public Mask is that he’s serving the Lord and holding his family together.

Weakness is neediness for his father’s and wife’s high esteem.

Triggers are competition, family disloyalty.

Coping Mechanism is manipulating his wife and others to get what he wants.

ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show

Louise

Situational: Louise’s Hope is to become a bestselling author of her memoir. Her Fear is that publishers won’t have the sense to recognize how remarkable a life she’s lived.

B. Motivation: Her Want is to be recognized as a successful author and intriguing woman. Her Need is to recognize her self-worth and qualities without outside validation.

C. Mask: Her Base Negative Emotion is a superior attitude. Her Public Mask is a humble person who is content with her life.

D. Her Weaknesses are dishonesty with herself and others, blindness to how alike she and her daughter are, and believing very few, if any, live up to her standards for fine intellect.

E. Her Triggers are rejection, stupid statements, feeling out of control whenever things get messy.

F. Her Coping Mechanism is to set people straight with unasked-for advice disguised as helpfulness.

Derrick

Situational: Derrick’s Hope is to be a free spirit and float through life, doing only what interests him at the moment. His Fear is that he’s the useless bum his father thinks he is.

B. Motivation: He Wants is to be left alone with his own self-destructive thoughts and actions. He Needs connection and knowing there are people who care about him.

C. Mask: His Base Negative Emotion is selfishness. His Public Mask is that he’s a reckless guy who doesn’t care about consequences.

D. His Weaknesses are being self-centered, insecure, and needing his father’s forgiveness and respect.

E. His Triggers are stressful situations, expectations, offers of a drink.

F. His Coping Mechanism is to drink, be irresponsible, and run away when he’s feeling inadequate.

Candice

Situational: Candice Hopes to have advance at the New York publishing company where she’s an editor and have her own imprint. She Fears not being valued.

B. Motivation: She Wants to have it all—a husband who adores and inspires her and a position as a revered editorial director. She Needs self-respect that isn’t predicated on others viewing her as successful.

C. Mask: Her Base Negative Emotion is being too harsh on people who can’t or won’t fight back. Her Public Mask is extremely competent.

D. Her Weaknesses are disregarding other people’s feelings, having her priorities skewed.

E. Her Triggers are being disrespected, ignored, and feeling lonely.

F. Her Coping Mechanism is to increase expectations by piling on more work for herself and others.

Mark

Situational: Mark’s Hope is to rise in organized crime to a position where he can stop working his boring day job with the FBI. He Fears getting caught living a double life.

B. Motivation: He Wants easy money. He Needs to be good at something that has purpose.

C. Mask: His Base Negative Emotion is deceiving and lying. His Public Mask is as a loyal worker and invaluable asset to the crime syndicate he covertly works for.

D. His Weaknesses are that he lies too easily, has no authentic relationships.

E. His Triggers are anyone who looks like they might figure out he’s a double agent, women he fantasizes rejecting him, being talked down to.

F. His Coping Mechanism is to move fast and unscrupulously to cover up his deceptions.

Jan

Situational: Jan Hopes to become a successful actor. She Fears if she can’t be good at something, her mother will view her as a failure even more than she already does.

B. Motivation: She Wants her mother to love her unconditionally. She Needs to find validation within herself.

C. Mask: Her Base Negative Emotion is suffering consequences of poor decisions, and promiscuous in relationships with men. Her Public Mask is flirtatious and confident.

D. Her Weaknesses are immaturity, neediness, overreliance on her mother.

E. Her Triggers are cool men who seem to like her, her mother’s criticisms, easily manipulated.

F. Her Coping Mechanism
is blasting through situations without thinking them through.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Intriguing Moments

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is there were more depth and intriguing moments in the script than I realized.

Title: Ticket to Live

Genre: Inspirational Film

Act 1-Allen doesn’t tell his supervisor/mentor that he’s going to chase an escaping criminal before backup arrives.

Act 1-Secret: When he gets home from night shift, Allen doesn’t tell Linda he almost got killed because he doesn’t want her to worry.

Act 1-Cover Up: Allen won’t talk about his violent ex-cop PTSD dream because it’s too painful to relive and would be a burden to her.

Act 1-Cover Up: Allen feigns disinterest in adopting abandoned dog but he’s avoiding going through pet loss again.

Act 1-Mystery: Why does Harley growl at Harleys?

Act 1-Mystery: Why is Leaf afraid of large white men?

Act 1-Hidden Identity: Leaf isn’t the cute little cocker spaniel he appears to be. He’s aggressive when he feels scared or cornered.

Act 1-Hidden Identify: Leaf shows he has the ability to love and trust.

Act 1-Scheme: Linda and Allen hide Leaf’s backstory from the animal communicator to see if what she says she hears from him is for real.

Act 1-Secret: Allen’s greatest fear is that the brain aneurysm will cause a stroke and result in a lifetime disability like his father.

Act 2-Scheme: Allen creates his fact sheet (The Memo) to hide from Linda how serious his situation is.

Act 2-Cover Up: Allen is so private, he won’t tell Linda how afraid he really is.

Act 2-Conspiracy: Allen asks his bf to take care of Linda if he dies from the brain aneurysm and/or blood clot.

Act 2-Mystery: Allen and Bob have a shared dream the night before his blood clot surgery.

Act 2-Scheme: Linda tells Arlene and Aubrey how to bribe Leaf with his favorite toy when they come to the house to take care of the dog while Allen is in surgery.

Act 2-Mystery: Allen doesn’t know why Leaf is tearing up slivers of newspaper and trying to give them to him after he tells Linda about his dream of not having a ticket for The Building of Life.

Act 3-Scheme: Allen and Linda take a basket of the animal books they wrote to the head nurse in neurology unit at the hospital to help make Allen visible and well cared for while he’s there recovering from brain surgery.

Act 3-Scheme: Allen and his sister Gail agree that he’ll say “Red Lobster” in ICU after surgery to prove his brain is still functional.

Act 3-Mystery: Allen has flash of inwardly seeing Leaf with the sliver of newspaper in his mouth like he did at home.

Act 3-Superior Position: Linda doesn’t know that inwardly Leaf delivered Allen’s ticket to The Building of Life seconds before the surgery began so is panicked when the surgeon calls a Code Blue.

Act 4-Consiracy: Linda protects Allen from Jose harassing him about needing to get back to work at their ailing company.

Act 4-Cover Up: Allen, on heavy steroids, falls when he gets out of bed without calling the nurse as he tries to convince himself he doesn’t need help.

Act 4-Scheme: Linda hides Allen’s car keys when he insists on driving Leaf to dog park even though it’s too soon in recovery for him to drive.

Act 4-Cover Up: Allen hides his brain surgery scar under a tan baseball cap. Linda gets information about nearest emergency room prior to Allen traveling for business too soon.

Act 4-Mystery: Leaf knows which button on the car radio to push with his paw to start playing the song Allen sings to soothe him when he’s stressed.

Act 4-Scheme: The dance instructor tells Linda and Allen that the test for their dance course isn’t designed for pass or fail but to show them how far they’ve come.

Act 4-Mystery: On a radio interview for Allen’s memoir about his dual journey with Leaf, he explains the spiritual connection and bonds of love that helped them heal each other.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Emotional Moments

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is how surprised I was by how many significant emotional moments were in the script and could also be elevated.

Title: Ticket to Live

Genre: Inspirational Family Film

Emotional Moments

Act 1:

Hidden Weakness. Allen is unsure of himself. In Atlanta on night shift, a criminal surprise-ambushes him and points a gun at his head. His mentor, Bruce, warns him about rookie-cop mistakes that could get him killed. Says nothing is as important as going home.

Emotional Dilemma. Allen needs comfort and support. At home that night, he hides that he nearly got killed. Doesn’t want his wife, Linda, to worry.

Distress. Ten years later he’s having a violent PTSD nightmare reliving the near-miss scene. Linda asks him to talk. He won’t. She’s worried.

Distress. Cocker spaniel abandoned on dark, rainy night. Picked up by Harley bikers. Dumped at animal shelter. Fears being alone and defenseless.

Surprise. They impulsively adopt the dog, named Harley. Linda feels shaft of light and warmth flash through them as the dog enters their family.

Love. Before going home, Harley jumps into pile of leaves and plays. They name him Leaf. Allen promises the dog he’ll always take care of him.

Excitement. Dog, now named Leaf, immediately attaches to a toy he chose for himself at pet store. Linda and Allen speculate this may be the first toy of his own.

Distress. Leaf turns their home into a war zone. His abandonment issues and aggressiveness upset whole family, including two resident cats and a cockatiel.

Sacrifice. Linda is giving up sleep and a clean and peaceful house for a dog she just met.

Success/Winning. Allen and Linda do a phone radio interview at home to promote their newest book in a series about spiritual connections people have with animals. They convey the esoteric concept to a very skeptical host.

Betrayal. Leaf nearly destroys the interview.

Moral Issue. Vet diagnoses Leaf as fear-aggressive. Warns he would be euthanized if he bites someone. Allen is torn between the truth and the commitment he made to keep Leaf safe.

Success/Winning. Speedy, the older cat, stops Leaf from chasing cats.

Bonding. Another PTSD dream. This time, Allen confides in her about the police incident that could turned to a regret in his nightmare. They talk about their regrets. Wonder if they did the right thing by adopting Leaf.

Love. Leaf has his own PTSD dreams, wakes up howling and trembling every night. Allen shows patience and tenderness walking the dog in frigid cold and snow and comforting him in his arms till he calms down.

Excitement. Wound. A savvy animal communicator nails Leaf’s wound of shame at being abandoned and thrown out like trash. They wonder if they can create a spiritual connection that could help him heal.

Wounds. At work, Allen gets a call from the doctor he saw about dizzy spells lately. The doctor tells him he has an unruptured brain aneurysm that could kill him if it breaks. He needs brain surgery. Triggers Allen’s memories of his father’s stroke and anger at being disabled for the rest of his life. Will this be his fate?

Act 2

Wounds. Allen Googles brain aneurysms and brain surgery and is horrified. He’s desperate to tone down Linda’s emotion and fears she’ll cry. He creates a “fact sheet.” Linda calls it a “memo” and can’t believe he’s telling her like this.

Bonding. Surprise. After months of Linda kissing Leaf on his head with no response, he surprises by kissing her for the first time.

Betrayal. After meeting with the neurosurgeon and finding out he has a second life-threatening condition with deep vein thrombosis and a blood clot aimed at his heart, Allen breaks down while alone in the car. His body and life have betrayed him.

Wounds. A series of vivid flashbacks reveal sources of Allen’s PTSD—violent police calls, his abusive career-military father calling him a baby for crying when he got hurt, as a child. Is his life worth living?

Sacrifice. Allen asks his best friend, Bob, to take care of Linda if he dies.

Moral Dilemma. Allen prepares “The Manual” with everything she’ll need to know how to do if he is disabled permanently or dies and his Last Will & Testament. It shocks her and causes her to have a meltdown. Does he want to live?

Wounds. Allen has profound dream that he’s denied a ticket to The Building of Life. Leaf listens to Allen tell Linda the awful dream. Afterwards, Leaf tears up newspaper slivers and follows Allen around, trying to give them to him. Allen gets annoyed and throws away the newspaper. Triggers his fear that his life is over and not worth saving.

Emotional Dilemma. Allen gets call from Atlanta that Bruce was killed in the line of duty. Another conflicting message. Bruce didn’t survive and go home. Will Allen?

Act 3

Love. Leaf learning how to be nice at dog park instead of alpha and aggressive reminds Allen he needs to be nice and reach out to his family. He calls children and family and asks them to come to Minneapolis and support Linda and him through the surgery. They are relieved.

Sacrifice. At the hotel where they’re staying the night before his surgery, Allen and Linda say goodbye to each other. Allen gives Linda his wedding ring to keep.

Success/Winning. Seconds before Allen goes unconscious, in his mind’s eye, he sees Leaf delivering his ticket to The Building of Life. He realizes the newspaper slivers were Leaf’s attempt a delivering the ticket. He’s assured he’ll survive this.

Distress. The surgery is a nail-biter. Much more involved and longer. A Code Blue is called for the surgeon’s nurse. Linda thinks Allen is dying.

Wound. After a week in the hospital, Allen has frontal lobe issues and reactions to heavy steroids. Thinks he’s Superman. Can’t be dependent like his father. Linda hides his car keys.

Moral Dilemma. Allen and Linda fight over him going on a trip too soon to save his failing company’s business with an important client. It’s a disaster.

Act 4

Love. Allen reassures Linda she can go to a cabin and finish writing the next book that’s due. Instead, he has an emergency conscious sedation surgery to remove the blood clot filter that was inserted before the brain surgery. He drives to and from the hospital on his own with Leaf in the car. In terrible pain and fury. Leaf comforts him by licking his neck and face all the way home. Linda rushes from the cabin and comes home. Allen admits he’s afraid and needs her help.

Success/Winning. Allen’s PTSD dreams from police work stop. He has one more about the surgery. This time, Leaf jumps on bed and helps him come back. He’s healng.

Courage. Leaf gets deadly pancreatitis. Must have special diet to survive. Allen commits to making all Leaf’s meals from scratch with recipes from the vet. Main ingredient is sweet potatoes. He gets known at local grocery store as “Sweet Potato Man” for buying piles of sweet potatoes every week.

Success/Winning. Allen writes memoir about his dual healing journey with Leaf. It’s a best-seller. He’s doing radio interview with same host as before. Host tells him the book is giving hope to him and people who face life-threatening situations. Animals can deliver a person’s ticket to live.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Reveals

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that I had a lot of reveals and setups strategically placed and added a few more.

Post: Not going to post a beat sheet. It’s too long and detailed for the forum—more like an outline. But I’m happy with how it’s shaping up.

Below is a current list of reveals and where they occur:

Title: Ticket to Live

Genre: Inspirational Family Film

1. Allen has recurring PTSD nightmares of his police experiences in Atlanta. (Opening)

2. 10 years later, living in Minneapolis, Allen and Linda do a radio interview that reveals they now write a series of books about the spiritual connections between people and animals. (Opening)

3. Still grieving the loss of their previous dog, Allen and Linda impulsively adopt an abandoned cocker spaniel from the animal shelter. (Inciting Incident)

4. Leaf, the emotionally damaged dog, turns their home into a war zone. (Act 1)

5. The vet diagnoses Leaf as fear-aggressive and puts a muzzle on him. (Act 1)

6. Leaf has his own PTSD dreams and severe separation anxiety. (Act 1)

7. Allen tells Linda he’s having dizzy spells and she convinces him to see a doctor. (Act 1)

8. Animal communicator says Leaf is confused. He’s saying, “I got left.” While they talk, Leaf’s body language shows he’s feeling shame. After the call, Leaf walks out of the room with his head down. (Act 1)

9. Doctor tells Allen he has an unruptured brain aneurysm that could cause a stroke any time.(Act 1, Turning Point 1)

10. Allen’s abusive career-military father had a stroke that left him disabled and incoherent, in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The same thing happening to Allen is his greatest fear.(Act 1, Turning Point 1)

11. Allen creates “The Memo” (he calls it a “fact sheet”). He’s determined to keep Linda from worrying and God-forbid, crying. (Act 2)

12. The neurosurgeon prepares Allen for brain surgery. Tells him the scan he ordered reveals Allen also has a blood clot aimed at his heart and lungs and it could cut loose any time and kill him instantly. (Act 2)

13. When Allen and Linda come home from the doctor visit, he stays in the car alone and has a series of ultrarealistic flashbacks that reveal the sources of his PTSD. Like screens flashing in his mind, he recalls violent police incidents, e.g. a young guy dying in his arms after being randomly shot. Another scene shows his abusive father, when he’s a little boy, deriding him as a baby for crying when he got hurt. The flashbacks cause Allen to wonder if his life is worthy living. (Act 2)

14. With Leaf at his feet, Allen creates “The Manual” to show Linda how to do everything with bills, passwords, etc. if he can’t function after the surgery or dies. (Act 2)

15. In an act of trust, Leaf jumps up on the bed and kisses Linda for the first time. (Act 2)

16. Allen and his bf Bob have a shared dream about how painful the surgery to insert an IV filter into the vein to keep the blood clot from traveling will be. (Act 2)

17. Allen has dream he can’t get a ticket to The Building of Life and won’t survive.(Act 2, Midpoint Turning Point 2)

18. Leaf has reaction to Allen’s nightmare about not getting a ticket to The Building of Life by tearing up slivers of newspaper and trying to deliver them. (Act 2, Midpoint Turning Point 2)

19. Allen gets news on a call at work that his mentor, Bruce, has been shot and killed while in the line of duty. Bruce didn’t make it back home. Will Allen? (Act 2, Midpoint turning Point 2)

20. Allen does everything he can to stay in charge, keeps emotions to himself, be overly protective of those he loves, and prepare for death or disability. He doesn’t want Linda to worry and confiding his feelings means he’s admitting he can’t handle the crisis. (Act 2, Plan in Action)

21. Linda has fear of not being good enough so she overworks and tries to be perfect. Her greatest fear is losing Allen. They’re a team. (Act 3)

22. Allen sees Leaf healing. Takes cues from Leaf’s journey & coping strategies. Reaches out to ask family to come to Minneapolis for the surgery. (Act 3, Rethink Everything)

23. Allen diverts his attention from the brain surgery by taking beautiful photos and videos of Leaf at Mississippi River dog park. Posts them on social media. He’s surprised by the level of positive response. A Leaf fan base begins to form. (Act 3, New Plan)

24. In the waiting room’s fish tank, Allen is shocked to glimpse a quick flash of Leaf looking at him with a sliver of newspaper in his mouth. Seconds before Allen goes under, he sees in his mind’s eye, Leaf delivering his ticket to The Building of Life. He realizes the newspaper slivers Leaf tried to give him at home were his way of delivering the ticket after listening to Allen’s dream. Allen’s assured he’ll survive this. (Act 3, Turning Point 3)

25. Allen gets called in for an emergency removal of the IV filter. He calls Linda to tell her. She’s terrified he’ll drive himself to and from the hospital instead of calling a cab. On the way home while Allen has a meltdown, Leaf jumps in the front seat and pushes the button on the car CD to play the soothing song Allen sang to him and licks his neck all the way home. Allen admits to Linda that he’s afraid and needs her help. It’s a start. (Act 4, Turning Point 4)

26. Leaf gets sick and is diagnosed with pancreatitis. (Resolution)

27. Leaf shows empathy at the pet food store for a little boy whose dog recently died. Allen doesn’t need to remind him to be nice. (Resolution)

28. Allen and Linda take dance lessons. (Resolution)

29. Allen overcomes his strong need for privacy to write a memoir and reveal all he’s been through with Leaf and him healing each other.

30. On a radio interview, it’s revealed the memoir is a bestseller and helping other people with their traumas and challenges. (Resolution)

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Character Action Tracks!

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that adding specific lead character actions tightens up the story and makes the transformational arc more visible.

Posting Beats: I’m not posting the beat sheet in this assignment. It’s too long and detailed now with so many ideas that came through. It will continue changing and getting better. May post it later in this process.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Intriguing Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is I’m going to need to let go and be much more outrageous for this premise and characters to become bingeworthy.

Sample Series: The Righteous Gemstones

Character Intrigue in the previous episodes:

Jessie: Secret—compromising video; tries to kill blackmailers

Kelvin: Competition—plotting to become favorite son

Julie: Deception—stole millions of dollars from Gemstone ministry; always in competition with her brothers

Eli: Hidden agendas—doesn’t trust his children to run the ministry and brings his brother-in-law in to take over the new church

Gideon: Conspiracies—setting up a big steal from his father

Next episode Character Intrigue used to create the need to see more episodes:

Jessie: tries to run blackmailer’s van off the road and kill them to hide cheating on his wife; sees two men running from overturned van. Will he find out one of the blackmailers is his son?

Kelvin: specializes in youth ministry and is tasked with saving major donor’s daughter from boyfriend. After it appears he’s succeeded, will he get involved with her?

Julie: is delighted when Kelvin falls out of favor with his father. Will this be her chance to ingratiate herself and become the favorite child?

Eli: always looking for ways to increase donations. When Kelvin saves major donor’s daughter, will it backfire?

Gideon: reports to his partner how much money the church makes every week. Will his father find out he’s the blackmailer and thief?

ASSIGNMENT 2

Inner Circle characters Intrigue Items

Character Name: Louise

Role: main character in a mid-life crisis

Hidden agendas: determined to become successful bestselling author

Competition: wants Derrick’s life because it’s much more interesting than hers and sends Derrick’s memoir to Candice, the editor who rejected Louise’s memoir

Conspiracies: eventually brings in her daughter, Jan, into the deception when the book starts to get buzz that attracts dangerous attention

Secrets: believes her life is worthless and she has no useful skills or talents

Deception: writes the new memoir using “Derrick” as her pen name; interviews and writes about him without his knowledge or permission

Wound: husband was having an affair before he died and intended to leave her

Secret Identity: Derrick

Character Name: Derrick

Role: Louise’s condo neighbor (they share a wall)

Hidden agendas: wants to find his father who’s been in hiding

Competition: wants to be disciplined and stable like Jake, his AA sponsor

Conspiracies: blackmails Louise and Jan into helping with his escape when the FBI agent, Mark, tries to kill him

Secrets: is responsible for the death of his sister in a drunk driving accident

Deception: answers questions from Louise about his “interesting” life with information and experiences from his crime-boss father’s life

Wound: debilitating guilt over killing his sister

Secret Identity: his father

Character Name: Candice

Role: editor at New York publishing company

Hidden agendas: determined to have her own imprint

Competition: works every angle in cutthroat world of NY publishing

Conspiracies: gets help from her assistant editor to move Derrick’s memoir into bestseller track

Secrets: she’s a lonely workaholic looking for love in all the wrong places

Deception: she’s falling in love with Derrick while working on his memoir

Wound: she’s been passed over for promotions because she’s perceived as not being ambitious

Secret Identity: an editor who’s frustrated that she’s not a great writer

Character Name: Mark

Role: FBI agent

Hidden agendas: ferrets out a major crime boss’s competitors so they can be eliminated

Competition: determined to rise in organized crime ranks and quit his boring job

Conspiracies: consorts with major crime syndicate

Secrets: he’s corrupt

Deception: uses job information to further his agendas

Wound: has reputation as inept in the agency; gets no respect

Secret Identity: flunky for major crime boss and the syndicate

Character Name: Jan

Role: Louise’s grown daughter

Hidden agendas: wants her mother to support her dream of becoming a famous actress

Competition: takes classes and goes on auditions with no success

Conspiracies: teams up with Louise to deceive Derrick and Candice when she finds out Louise is getting a big advance for Derrick’s memoir

Secrets: she thinks her mother is an overly controlling loser

Deception: goes on the run when Louise’s deception goes dangerously awry

Wound: wishes her mother admired and respected her (which she doesn’t)

Secret Identity: Actress

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Counterexamples

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s going to require plausible actions to show the changes in the lead character vs. dialogue.

Existing belief, Tanji, Main Character: Bought into his father’s teachings that only saved Christians can go to heaven.

5 Question Challenges to an Old Way.

1) If Adiba doesn’t believe Jesus is her personal savior does it mean she can’t understand Christian scriptures or the Bible?

2) Will a loving person like Adiba be barred from heaven because she isn’t a born-again Christian?

3) If Tanji can’t bring himself to condemn Adiba and Ray, does that make him a failed chaplain?

4) Could forcing himself to return home to his father’s ministry and ex-fiancé pull Tanji into conforming to their rigid version of Christianity?

5) Can a Christian chaplain be forgiven for doing memorial services and prayers for non-Christians? Is it his duty to do so?

5 Counterexamples to an Old Way.

1) Tanji and Adiba cooperate in composing letters to loved ones, regardless of differences in their beliefs.

2) Adiba respects and comforts Tanji when he’s at his lowest point.

3) Tanji listens and starts to get it when Adiba talks to him about Islam.

4) Tanji and other chaplains support each other and send him their prayers for the dead so Tanji can do an interfaith memorial service.

5) Tanji cremates Adiba’s body according to Muslim tradition and buries her Quran properly.

[Linda Anderson]

Righteous Gemstones 5 Star Model

What I learned doing this assignment is how valuable it is to set up lots of intriguing loose ends in the pilot.

5 Star Points

Big Picture Hook:

5000 Chinese being baptized by feuding brothers from the megachurch, Gemstone, with a disaster that involves drowning. The enormous amount of money being made is threatened by a new level of sibling rivalry.

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Amazing and Intriguing Character:

These are all dysfunctional family members who conflate religion with making money off gullible people. Each one has his or her own insecurities, fears, and challenges. They must either work together and stop fighting or destroy the gravy train for all of them.

Empathy / Distress:

Jess is being blackmailed and in the worst situation of his life that can bring down the whole empire. He kisses his rebellious son goodnight while the boy sleeps.

Kelvin can’t be all he thinks he’s cut out to be due to being dominated by Jess.

Judy gets left in the shadows all the time because she’s a girl and the father trusts only his sons.

Eli’s wife has died and he misses her terribly.

Layers/Open Loops:

Will the small town ministers where Gemstones are setting up their next megachurch swoop up their congregations?

What will happen to each of the siblings that either stretches or destroys them and the family?

Will this lucrative ministry be destroyed by scandal?

Who were the blackmailers?

Is it possible to keep successfully using a corrupt business model on a religious organization?

How much more dangerous and outrageous will these siblings and their spouses and father become to preserve their empire and grip on it?

Inviting Obsession:

When Cary goes to the hospital with a gun wounds will it cause questions about how he got shot?

Will the pastor figure out it was the Gemstones who tried to break into his house?

Were there cameras on the drop-off parking lot?

Will the siblings keep cooperating with or sabotaging each other?

What’s the real story with Eli’s wife?

Is there anything that will link the Gemstones to the blackmailers’ death?

Are the blackmailers really dead?

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Three Circles of Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is that I’m a long way from figuring out the story beats and characters so I have to be patient.

ASSIGNMENT 1

Example Show, The Righteous Gemstones:

A. Main Characters Circle: Jesse, Kelvin, Julie, Eli

B. Connected Circle: John, blackmailers, Gideon, Pontius & Jesse’s other son, Jesse’s wife, BJ (Julie’s fiancé), 3 band members (Levi, Gregory, & Q?)

C. Environment Circle: hospital nursing staff, hospital visitors, store owner, motel people, congregation, motel manager

Give us a quick list for each circle.

ASSIGNMENT 2:

Three circles of characters for my show:

A. Main Characters Circle: Louis, Derick, Jan,
FBI Agent <div>

B. Connected Circle: NY Editor, Derrick’s crime
boss father, clown school owner, Derrick’s AA sponsor, Louise’s
ex-husband, ex-husband’s new wife

C. Environment Circle: hospital staff, clowns,
party children, NY editor office staff, FBI office staff, people they
interact with while running away, AA meeting

One sentence description of each Main Character:

Louise: 55-year-old fact-checker for Midwest newspaper who’s having a mid-life crisis after her memoir is rejected for having lived too bland of a life.

Derrick: Louise’s condo neighbor, a recovering alcoholic with daddy issues and a love for loud rock music.

Jan: Louise’s daughter who disapproves of her mother for being so boring but moves back in with her after breaking up with her boyfriend and losing her job.

Mark: middle-aged FBI agent who has never had a significant case and wants to prove his prowess when he stumbles upon whereabouts of Derrick’s father—a dangerous crime boss.

Candice: NY editor who’s frustrated with lack of recognition and loneliness and takes it out on Louise’s memoir manuscript by rejecting it with major snarkiness.

</div>

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Engaging Main Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is how far this took me in figuring out the characters and conflicts.

ASSIGNMENT 1:

Show: The Righteous Gemstones

A. Role in the show:
Jesse, the oldest son of Gemstone ministry

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Puts entire family in jeopardy; has most trusted
position in the family

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?: Prays with convoluted belief that he’s due to have
Jesus make his misdeeds go away because he’s doing God’s work

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries is he crossing?: He’s being blackmailed with a compromising video and
attempts to kill the blackmailers

E. Unpredictable: What will he do next?: Has no moral compass when it comes to protecting
himself and getting money from the church’s followers. Will do whatever
helps him achieve his goals even to extreme measures.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?: He’s never measured up to his father’s expectations.

ASSIGNMENT 2:

Journey of your show.

Having her memoir rejected
via a supremely snarky letter from Candice, a New York editor, throws Louise
into a severe crisis. She’s determines to change everything about her bland and
boring life. So she can use a pen name to write a publishable memoir, she
steals the life of Derrick, her intriguing young condo neighbor and
“recovering” alcoholic. After Candice falls in love with Derrick’s memoir and
writes a pre-publication blurb about it, Mark, a corrupt FBI agent, who has
been hunting Derrick, Sr., a crime boss, mixes him up with Derrick, Jr.
Louise’s and her daughter, Janice’s, unexpected journey on the run with Derrick,
Jr. forces Louise to use resources and experience she’s acquired over decades to
keep all of them from getting killed. The whole scheme blows up when Derrick,
Sr. comes back into his son’s life. Louise comes to a new level of respect and
appreciation for the bland life she described in her rejected memoir.

Main characters that will sell your show?

Louise

A. Role in the show: Main character with mid-life crisis

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: She drives the story with decisions she makes due to low self-esteem and desperation. She’s a fact-checker for a local newspaper and is extremely accurate and precise.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?: She’s a widow who outwardly misses her husband but secretly has regular disturbing afterlife visits from him in which he denigrates and criticizes her, as he did throughout her marriage.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries is she crossing?: Without his knowledge or permission, stealing her neighbor’s life and writing about a new memoir, using his name.

E. Unpredictable: What will she do next?: The conflict between her well-regulated lifestyle and nature with Derrick’s chaotic life cause her to make choices that are totally out of her comfort zone.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?: She’s every middle-aged woman who wants a do-over of her life.

Derrick

A. Role in the show: Antagonist/Change Agent: Louise’s condo neighbor (they share a wall)

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: He’s Louise’s instrument for fulfilling her wish to have a life of adventure instead of the life she considers to have been boring. He’s an expert on teas.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?: As Louise subtly interviews him about his life, he morphs into stealing details of his father’s life—a man who is a infamous crime boss in hiding.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries is he crossing?: He’s a recovering alcoholic who loses his balance due to emotional issues with his father and regret over having accidently killed his sister while driving drunk.

E. Unpredictable: What will he do next?: Alcohol releases his inner monsters and fear fuels his need to go on the run when the FBI agent finds and threatens to kill him.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?: He’s a tortured young man who used to own a tea shop and has dyslexia.

Candice

A. Role in the show: Editor at NY publishing company who has a fit of anger about her life and takes it out on Louise by sarcastically trashing her memoir.

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Being a NY editor, she’s very precise and good at her job. She’s the key to Louise finding acceptance in legitimate publishing.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?: She dreams of being recognized as a top notch editor with her own imprint.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries is she crossing?: She’s getting emotionally involved in Derrick as she reads his memoir and acting unprofessional in efforts to meet him.

E. Unpredictable: What will she do next?: Because she has large ambitions, she’s willing to take risks on Derrick that her publisher wouldn’t like, including giving him a bigger advance than an inexperienced writer warrants and authorizing a huge marketing budget for the book.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?: She’s every young professional, lonely woman who is undervalued, overlooked, and underloved.

Mark

A. Role in the show: Corrupt FBI agent who threatens Derrick

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: He is the cause of Derrick, Louise, and Janice needing to go on the run and into hiding.

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?: He works for a competing crime boss and is tasked with killing Derrick, Jr. who he has confused with Derrick, Sr.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries is he crossing?: Involved in organized crime.

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?: Don’t know if/when he’ll figure out he has the wrong Derrick and what he’ll do when he does.

F. Empathetic: Why do we
care?:
He’s laughably inept at just about everything but endears himself to superiors
by being obsequies and anticipating and fulfilling their every need.

Janice

A. Role in the show: Louise’s grown daughter

B. Unique Purpose / Expertise: Breaks up with her boyfriend, loses her job in California, and moves back in with Louise

C. Intrigue: What is secret beneath the surface?: She believes Louise needs her and convinces herself that living with her mother is in both their best interests. She’s falling in love with Derrick.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries is she crossing?: Figures out Louise is stealing Derrick’s life and blackmails her mother with the information to get more money from the publishing advance.

E. Unpredictable: What will she do next?: When Louise has to go on the run with Derrick, she joins in the adventure to keep an eye on her meal ticket and occasionally tries to help and protect her out of a growing love and respect.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?: Louise has always tried to make a fantasy life and motives for Janice because the real daughter doesn’t fit into her well-regulated worldview.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Old Ways Challenge Chart

What I learned doing this assignment is showing the challenges to the lead character’s beliefs makes it work that he faces a crisis of faith in his situation.

Old: Tanji uses scripture quotes to fit any occasion.

New: Lineup of 20 standing rifles in Mortuary Tent takes Tanji over the edge and there’s no scripture quote that fits this.

Old: He used to be able to pull rank or be superior to do what he wants as a military chaplain lieutenant.

New: Ray is his same rank. Tanji can’t boss him around. Major overrides his plan to get the 20 soldiers’ effects on the convoy that is leaving Camp Wolf right away.

Old: He has been immersed in his religious beliefs and his father’s teachings that only the saved go to heaven.

New: He must pray for and memorialize soldiers of all faiths. No chaplain of their faith is there to do it.

Adiba is showing him love transcends rigid beliefs.

Old: He regularly caves in to what his father wants him to do.

New: Being a military chaplain in a war zone is challenging him to answer a higher calling and find his own service and purpose vs. taking over his father’s ministry at home.

Old: He isn’t confident or easy with showing emotion or giving comfort.

New: The sight of effects for the 20 fallen soldiers makes him angry enough to fire Mario’s rifle in a moment of rage.

He must accept Adiba’s help with writing compassionate letters to soldiers’ loved ones.

When Mario threatens suicide he must come through with empathy or they will all die.

Old: He would never consider a relationship with a non-Christian.

New: He falls in love with Adiba, a devout Muslim.

[Linda Anderson]

AGREE, in which case, you Reply to this topic and include three things at the top of the page:

1. Linda Anderson

2. I agree to the terms of this 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.

[Linda Anderson]

Hi Screenwriters,

My name is Linda Anderson. I’ve written 4 screenplays and 4 stage plays. In the Writing Incredible Movies class, I’m adapting into a screenplay, the New York Times bestselling memoir that my husband and I co-wrote. In this class I’m working on a TV pilot and series.

I’m co-author of 17 books about the remarkable relationships between people and animals. We wrote these books over a twenty-year period. They were published by numerous publishing companies and translated into multiple languages. It was quite a ride. I’m looking forward to learning all I can about how to write and sell successful screenplays and TV series. It’s on my bucket list!

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s New Outline Beats!

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is I don’t have a clue whether or not I did this right, but I’m letting go of perfectionism and posting it!

Plot of “Ticket to Live” as of 7-18-22

Act 1:

Opening:

Allen, as a rookie police officer in Atlanta, is ambushed by a criminal in the night aiming a gun at his head. His mentor/trainer, Bruce, tells him on the police radio that nothing is as important as going home.

Ten years later in Minneapolis, the opening image is shown to actually be Allen’s PTSD nightmare/memory. His wife, Linda, jumps out of bed for her safety and gently wakes him.

Inciting Incident:

A black cocker spaniel is abandoned on a lonely highway on a dark and rainy night. A couple of bikers on Harleys pick him up and dump him at an animal shelter.

Allen and Linda visit the shelter and impulsively adopt the abandoned dog. They discover he hates the name Harley so on their first walk, he rolls in a pile of leaves, and they name him Leaf.

Turning Point 1:

Leaf turns their home into a war zone, growls at strangers, chases the family’s cats. Allen and Linda go to the coffee shop and instead of how they used to talk about their business to-do lists, their only topic is Leaf and how to deal with his behavior.

Leaf howls like a wolf on cold and snowy Minnesota nights, waking up with PTSD dreams of his terrors. Allen walks Leaf. They come home and Allen holds Leaf in his arms in the recliner, in his office and sings a soothing song to him until Leaf stops trembling and falls asleep.

The groomer is poised to refuse seeing Leaf until she watches him and Linda on a walk, and Linda shows love to this emotionally damaged dog. The vet labels Leaf as fear aggressive and mussels him for treatments. If he bites someone, they risk animal control taking him away or even, euthanizing him.

Allen takes Leaf to the pet store where Leaf chooses what appears to be his first toy. When they come home, Leaf carries the toy everywhere and puts it on the front-room picture window ledge as if to attract a friendly dog walking by the house.

On a phone call with an animal communicator, she tells Allen and Linda that Leaf is confused. He tells her, “I got left.” His body language shows he’s feeling shame during the call.

At Allen’s day job with coworker Jose, he gets a call from his doctor who tells him he has a brain aneurysm that could burst at any time and requires brain surgery. The news reignites fears of becoming like his angry and abusive father, debilitated by a stroke for the rest of his life.

Act 2:

New plan:

Allen creates “The Memo” with factual information to keep Linda from being emotional and crying about the brain surgery. Linda freaks out but stoically pulls herself back together.

Linda talks with bf, Arlene, about what’s about to happen as her life blows up.

Leaf kisses Linda for the first time.

Allen and Linda visit the young-looking “Doogie Howser” neurosurgeon. The doctor tells Allen a sonogram showed he also has a blood clot, aimed at his heart, that could kill him instantly.

Plan in action:

Allen talks to bf, Bob, with his version of a very private guy talking to a friend. He asks Bob to take care of Linda if he dies.

Allen stuffs down his emotions with methodical plans for his demise. He takes breaks by focusing on helping Leaf with the dog’s PTSD and abandonment terrors.

Allen has realistic flashbacks of violent police incidents and fights with his abusive father. They cause him to wonder if he deserves to live.

He creates “The Manual” to show Linda how to do everything with bills, passwords, etc. in case she becomes a widow. Linda has a meltdown when Allen gives her The Manual.

With two surgeries (for blood clot and brain aneurism) to deal with, Allen and Linda juggle their home business of writing popular animal books, dealing with all of Leaf’s issues, and Allen’s day job that requires extensive travel. Linda, workaholic and perfectionist, is overwhelmed. They have lost all work-life balance—if they ever had it. She says there’s no time for play when Allen suggests they take dance lessons.

Linda and Allen coach Arlene and her husband, Aubrey, on coming to the house, without Leaf going ballistic, to take care of him and the other pets on the day of Allen’s blood-clot surgery.

Allen has a dream about the pain involved in having an IV filter inserted in his primary vein to keep the blood clot from traveling to his heart or brain. He wakes up to Bob calling to tell him he had the same dream that night and knows what he’s about to go through.

Midpoint Turning Point 2:

Allen has realistic dream of being denied a Ticket to The Building of Life, showing he won’t survive the surgery.

Allen tells Linda the dream with Leaf listening. Afterwards, Leaf tears up slivers of newspaper and tries to give him the pieces. Linda and Allen don’t know why and make him stop.

Act 3:

Rethink everything:

Leaf has an internal battle between whether he’ll choose love or power. Allen saves alpha Leaf from an attack by “Jaws” at dog park. He watches when Leaf falls in love with “Ethel.”

Allen gets news that his mentor, Bruce, has been shot and killed while in the line of duty. Bruce didn’t make it back home. Will Allen?

New plan:

Allen opens up to Linda and talks to her about how he’s really feeling. He overcomes his reluctance to “worry” loved ones and calls his grown children, mother, and sister in Atlanta and asks them to be there for his surgery.

He observes Leaf’s innate survival skills and growing capacity for empathy when he’s nice to a feeble old man at dog park. Together Leaf and Allen watch a long train go by and Allen releases his fears to let the train cars take them away.

Allen diverts his attention from the upcoming brain surgery by taking beautiful photos and videos of Leaf and posting them on social media. A Leaf fan base begins to form.

Allen and Linda, with Nurse Arlene’s instructions about what pre-surgery questions to ask, visit the neurology unit’s head nurse. They give her a basket of their pet books for her and the staff.

Turning Point 3:

Huge failure / Major shift:

With family now in Minneapolis, they go to Red Lobster for what his sister, Gail, calls his “last meal.” Allen promises after the surgery, he’ll say “Red Lobster” to Gail so she knows his brain is still functioning.

At the hospital, Allen takes off his wedding ring and gives it to Linda. He visits his loved ones in the waiting room so they can all say good-bye. In the waiting-room fish tank, he’s shocked to glimpse a quick flash of Leaf with a sliver of newspaper in his mouth.

Seconds before Allen goes under for the surgery, he sees in his mind’s eye, Leaf delivering his ticket to The Building of Life. Realizes the newspaper slivers Leaf had been trying to give him at home were the dog’s attempt at delivering the ticket.

The surgery is a nail-biter—much more involved and taking longer than expected. A Code Blue call to the operating room makes Linda think Allen is dying. Arlene and Linda go to the chapel and pray.

Linda is grateful Allen survived after the doctor tells her what a difficult surgery it turned out to be with the brain aneurysm looking as if it could burst at any time.

Allen’s visitors come into ICU one at a time. When Gail comes, Allen says, “Red Lobster.” Linda calls Bob to tell him Allen survived.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:

The head nurse comes in to check on Allen and tells him how much they all love his books. When Linda walks past the nurse’s desk at night on her way back to the hotel, she sees a nurse reading one of the books.

Allen’s boss and Jose visit his hospital room to assess whether Allen will be able to keep working and help save the failing company from going under. Linda is furious with them for being there and stressing out Allen

Linda gathers her confidence, inner strength, and patience to help Allen with his post-surgery severe frontal lobe problems and steroids (make him think he’s Superman). She uses The Manual to help her pay bills and keep their household going.

Allen and Linda fight over his traveling too soon for work with an important client. This is Allen needing to prove his life isn’t over. The trip is a disaster and setback for his healing.

Allen and Leaf drive in heavy traffic. Allen’s headache is pounding. He’s losing his temper in traffic. Leaf jumps in the front seat, pushes the button on the car CD to start the soothing song Allen always sang to him when Leaf was scared. It calms Allen.

Resolution:

During Allen’s brain-surgery damaged frontal-lobe rages, Leaf comforts and keeps him calm, spontaneously giving him the emotional support that trained dogs do for people with PTSD.

Leaf comforts Allen when he has PTSD dreams. It’s not only on Linda now to get Allen through these nighttime terrors. With support from Linda and Leaf, Allen confides the dream that shows his greatest fear about becoming like his abusive and disabled father.

Showing that he has the kind of fatherly love he never got, Allen dedicates himself to lovingly prepare all Leaf’s food fresh to keep the dog alive after he’s diagnosed with pancreatitis and can’t tolerate prescription dog food.

Leaf shows empathy at the pet food store for a little boy whose dog recently died.

Leisurely nature walks with Leaf, coffee shop visits, and playtime with their other pets improve Allen and Linda’s work-life balance. They take couples’ ballroom dance lessons with Leaf joining in their living room practice sessions and Linda having to learn how to let Allen lead.

Leaf’s fan club blossoms on social media. Allen interviews the groomer who showed extraordinary patience in keeping fear-aggressive Leaf as a client when he decides to writes about his and Leaf’s dual healing journey.

Allen’s memoir is published, with its beautiful photos of Leaf, and gives hope to others who face brain surgery and other life-threatening situations.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Beat Sheet – Draft 1

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is it was hard not to fill in more blanks but I tried to stay with only the beat sheet aspects that were asked for in this exercise.

DRAFT 1, Beat Sheet

Act 1:

Opening:

Allen, as a rookie police officer in Atlanta, is ambushed by a criminal in the night aiming a gun at his head. His mentor/trainer, Bruce, tells him on the police radio that nothing is as important as going home.

Ten years later in Minneapolis, the opening image is shown to actually be Allen’s PTSD nightmare/memory. His wife, Linda, as if in a regular routine, jumps out of bed for her safety and watches him thrashing. After he quiets down, she gently wakes him, slips back into bed, and comforts him.

Inciting Incident:

An emotionally damaged dog (black cocker spaniel) is abandoned on a lonely highway on a dark and rainy night. A couple of bikers on Harleys pick him up. They dump him at an animal shelter.

Allen and Linda visit the shelter, hear Leaf’s story, and impulsively adopt him. On the way home, they discover he hates Harleys and being called Harley so when they take him for his first walk in the park and he rolls around in a pile of leaves, they rename him Leaf.

Turning Point 1:

Leaf turns their home into a war zone, growls at strangers, chases the family’s cats, and if he bites someone, risks animal control taking him away or even, being euthanized.

Allen and Linda must juggle their home business of writing popular animal books and dealing with all of Leaf’s issues with Allen’s day job that requires extensive travel. Linda, workaholic and perfectionist, is overwhelmed. They have lost all work-life balance—if they ever had it. No time for play when Allen suggests they take dance lessons.

At Allen’s day job, he gets a call from his doctor who tells him he has a brain aneurysm that could burst at any time and requires brain surgery. The news reignites his fears of becoming like his angry and abusive father, debilitated by a stroke for the rest of his miserable life.

Act 2:

New plan:

Allen creates “The Memo” with factual information to keep Linda from being emotional and crying. Linda freaks out but stoically pulls herself back together.

Allen and Linda visit the young-looking “Doogie Howser” neurosurgeon and prep for brain surgery. The doctor tells Allen he also has a blood clot, aimed at his heart that could kill him instantly.

Plan in action:

Allen stuffs down his emotions with methodical plans for his demise. He takes breaks by focusing on helping Leaf with the dog’s PTSD and abandonment terrors.

He creates a Manual to show Linda (who hasn’t dealt much with the technical and financial aspects of their married life) how to do everything with bills, passwords, etc. in case she becomes a widow. Linda has a meltdown when Allen gives her The Manual.

Midpoint Turning Point 2:

Allen dreams he won’t survive the surgery. The dream shows he’s been denied a ticket to The Building of Life.

Allen tells Linda the dream with Leaf listening. Leaf starts tearing up little pieces of paper, following Allen everywhere, and trying to give him the pieces. Linda and Allen don’t know why Leaf is doing this and take newspapers off coffee table so he has to stop.

Act 3:

Rethink everything:

Allen has to face his fears, emotions, and intense need for privacy and independence now that he has very little control over what’s happening with him, Leaf, and Linda’s reactions to their situation.

Allen and Leaf continue to mirror each other’s deep wounds, fears, and emotional needs.

Allen gets news that his mentor, Bruce, has been shot and killed while in the line of duty. Bruce didn’t make it back home. Will Allen?

New plan:

Allen starts opening up to Linda and talking to her about how he’s feeling.

He begins observing Leaf’s innate survival skills for help with their mutual traumas.

Allen starts taking beautiful photos and videos of Leaf and posts them on social media. A Leaf fan base begins to form.

Turning Point 3:

Huge failure / Major shift: Leaf delivers Allen’s ticket to The Building of Life.

The surgery is a nail-biter—much more involved and taking longer than expected. A Code Blue call to the operating room makes Linda think Allen is dying.

Linda is grateful Allen survived after the doctor tells her what a difficult surgery it turned out to be with the brain aneurysm looking as if it could burst at any time.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:

Linda gathers her confidence, inner strength, and patience to help Allen with his post-surgery severe frontal lobe problems and steroids (make him think he’s Superman).

Allen and Linda fight over his traveling to work with his failing company’s important client. This is Allen needing to prove his life isn’t over. The trip is a disaster and setback for his healing.

Resolution:

During Allen’s surgery-related rages, Leaf comforts and keeps him calm, spontaneously giving him the emotional support that trained dogs do for people with PTSD.

Leaf gets pancreatitis and can’t tolerate prescription dog food. Allen lovingly starts routines of preparing all his food fresh to keep him alive.

Leaf learns to “be nice” and show empathy and friendliness to strangers and dogs at dog park.

Allen faces his greatest fear about becoming like his abusive and disabled father.

Leisurely nature walks with Leaf, coffee shop visits, and playtime with their other pets improve Allen and Linda’s work-life balance. They take couples’ ballroom dance lessons with Leaf joining in their living room practice sessions and Linda having to learn how to let Allen lead.

Leaf’s fan club blossoms on social media. Allen writes about his and Leaf’s dual journey.

Allen’s book gives hope to others who face brain surgery and other life-threatening situations.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Deeper Layer!

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is it’s a good way to flesh out the outline in a more meaningful way and not just with plot points.

Lead Character—Protagonist—Allen and Buddy/Antagonist/Change Agent Character–Leaf

Surface Layer: Allen deals with his life-threatening conditions and PTSD while trying to help a shattered rescue dog named Leaf.

Deeper Layer: Leaf deals with the terror of being abandoned and defenseless while helping Allen survive his life-threatening conditions and PTSD.

Major Reveal: Leaf delivers Allen’s ticket to The Building of Life just as Allen starts to go under anesthesia for brain surgery.

Influences Surface Story: Allen and Leaf transcend their fears and heal as they show empathy for each other. Allen walks Leaf through subzero Minnesota nights, holds him to his heart in his office recliner, and sings to comfort him after the dog keeps waking up with night terrors. Leaf jumps up to Allen’s side of the bed and licks his hand to bring Allen back from PTSD and nightmares of death and violence.

Hints: Depictions of Allen and Leaf’s emotions and issues mirror and parallel each other. Allen has to forgo his over-reactive need for privacy and independence when he needs help to survive. Leaf receives the first toy of his own, watches other dogs who might befriend him walk by the picture window, and puts the toy on the ledge as if inviting them to come and play with him.

Changes Reality: After Leaf delivers Allen’s ticket to The Building of Life, Allen realizes that Leaf was listening while Allen told Linda about the nightmare that showed him not getting the ticket. For days, Leaf tore up pieces of paper, followed Allen around, and tried to give him the ticket. The reality shifts to “What sentience and consciousness awareness is his dog capable of?”

Triangle Character—Linda

Surface Layer: Linda is a busy, independent, workaholic, driven professional author, wife, and mother who knows what she wants in life and sets goals and plans for achieving it all.

Deeper Layer: She’s never “good enough” and insecure about showing dependence on her husband and co-author Allen for emotional support, technical aspects of daily life and publishing, and completing her.

Major Reveal: She has a meltdown when Allen gives her the Manual he’s prepared for her in case he’s incapacitated or if she becomes his widow.

Influences Surface Story: Staying intensely busy and productive saps joy and lightness out of their lives with Linda’s insistence on putting work before play and being a perfectionist.

Hints: When someone asks Linda if she has a hobby, she’s stumped. Allen seizes the opportunity to tell her he wants them to take dance lessons. She says they don’t have time with book contracts and marketing projects due, pets’ needs to attend to, and an old house that’s falling apart.

Changes Reality: After she comes so close to losing Allen, Linda spends more quality time with Leaf and their other pets and takes couples’ ballroom dancing lessons with her husband where she has to learn how to let him lead.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Character Structure

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is that chiseling the story down to character transformation basics helped me get the tiger by the tail and hold on instead of trashing around, looking for direction and clarity.

Lead Character—Protagonist–Allen

Beginning: As a rookie cop, Allen has gun pointed at his head & his mentor reminds him about the importance of always being able to go home.

Inciting Incident: Allen with severe PTSD nighmares and anxiety disorders from brutal childhood tells Linda he’s having dizzy spells. Finds out he has an unruptured brain aneuyrism and needs brain surgery—another “gun” pointed at his head.

Turning Point 1: Allen and Linda adopt Leaf, an emotionally damaged year-old dog with big issues

Act 2: Allen and Linda visit neurosurgeon’s office and get prepared for brain surgery with outcomes that could clip the blood supply or leave him disabled for life or dead. He finds out he has a blood clot aimed at his heart.

Turning Point 2/Midpoint: Allen’s dream that he won’t survive the surgery. Can’t get a ticket to The Building of Life.

Act 3: Allen and Leaf reflect each other’s deep wounds as Allen prepares Linda to survive his loss

Turning Point 3: Leaf delivers Allen’s ticket to The Building of Life and he survives the brain surgery and blood clot.

Act 4 Climax: Allen has severe problems with frontal lobe after surgery. Leaf becomes instrumental in healing his emotional responses and wounds.

Resolution: Allen, Leaf, and Linda become stronger family unit, learning to live in the moment, have more fun and creativity, and healed self-confidence. Allen writes about his and Leaf’s dual journey, giving hope to others who face life-threatening situations.

Lead Character (Buddy Movie)—Antagonist/Change Agent–Leaf

Beginning: Leaf is abandoned on a highway, picked up by a couple on Harleys, and left at an animal shelter

Inciting Incident: Leaf is adopted by Allen and Linda and gets his name because he loves leaves

Turning Point 1: Leaf turns Allen and Linda’s home into a war zone. An animal communicator reveals Leaf is filled with shame at being left.

Act 2: Leaf has allies and situations that cause him to start healing his deep emotional wounds. He kisses Linda for the first time and bonds with his first toy.

Turning Point 2/Midpoint: Leaf delivers Allen’s ticket to The Building of Life.

Act 3: Leaf both comforts and challenges Allen’s coping abilities while he struggles to recover from brain surgery. He helps Allen with PTSD dreams.

Turning Point 3: Leaf gets pancreatitis and now his life is in danger.

Act 4 Climax: Leaf’s groomer reveals Leaf was fearful and aggressive, and paints a much bleaker picture of his deep emotional scars. He could have wound up back at the animal shelter and been euthanized.

Resolution: Allen prepares all Leaf’s meals from scratch, so Leaf survives pancreatitis. Lef becomes friendly with strangers, shows empathy to others, becomes a social media star, and turns into a wonderful family dog.

Triangle Character—Linda

Beginning: Linda greets Allen in the morning after the night shift when he was nearly shot. She can tell he’s hiding something to protect her from worrying.

Inciting Incident: Linda and Allen adopt Leaf.

Turning Point 1: Allen has to tell Linda he has a brain aneurysm and blood clot and needs brain surgery. “The Memo” he gives Linda about it freaks her out.

Act 2: Leaf declares war on Linda’s happy home. Stress mounts as surgery date approaches. Allen gives her “The Manual.” She faces becoming a widow with a very disturbed dog and tons of obligations. Overwhelmed.

Turning Point 2/Midpoint: Allen survives surgery but Linda has to help him heal with severe frontal lobe issues and while on steroids that make him believe he’s Superman.

Act 4 Climax: Allen goes back to travel-work too soon. She and Allen have big fight over it. Everything that’s going wrong with Allen’s and Leaf’s recoveries falls on her to cope with.

Resolution: Linda relocates her inner strength and independence. She finds ways to cope with Allen’s going back to work too soon, determination to drive the car, and reliance on Leaf for emotional support. They become a healing, happy, relaxed family, take dance lessons, and write a book that help others through life-threatening experiences.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Profound Ending

What I learned doing this assignment is how much easier it is to design the story when you know how it will end for the lead characters.

Profound Truth and how will it be delivered powerfully in your ending:

Accepting differences in spiritual beliefs brings out the love in everyone. This truth will be portrayed in the end when Lt. Chaplain Tanji Wilkes buries Adiba’s Quran.

How lead characters (Change Agent and Transformable Characters) come to an end in a way that represents the completed change:

Protagonist Transformable Character: Chaplain Tanji Wilkes listens deeply and nonjudgmentally instead of philosophizing or preaching when the seatmate, on his way back to US, shares a prayer with him that’s different from any he’s ever heard and tells him about a tragic situation with her daughter.

Antagonist Transformable Character: Lt. Ray Sloan threatens to kill Tanji if he doesn’t resign but relents when Tanji is sympathetic and understanding about Ray’s love for Adiba. Something breaks open in Ray, and he tells the Major that Tanji is a hero who saved Mario from committing suicide.

Change Agent Character: Adiba’s faith in the afterlife has been so strong that she appears to Mario during the confrontation between Ray and Tanji. The kindness of her apparition leads the three men to respond to love instead of fear and anger.

Change Agent Character: Mario’s rigid beliefs in religion and the military leads to betraying Tanji. He’s driven man with grief and rage over the discovery that his best friend Trey died in the bomb blast. When Tanji talks him down from committing suicide, Mario chooses life over death and love over hate. He the one who sees Adiba’s after-death appearance in the fight between Tanji and Ray.

Setup/payoffs that complete in the end of this movie, giving it deep meaning. Designing the inevitable ending and making it surprising:

Tanji: Setup is his conflicts with his father and old beliefs and philosophies that hold him back from being a nonjudgmental military chaplain to becoming a kind and empathetic minister with anyone, under any circumstances.

Ray: Setup is his conflicts with religion and God that make him hate Tanji and dismiss any good a chaplain could do in the military to calling the Major and requesting that Tanji be award the Medal of Freedom for saving Mario’s life.

Adiba: She is conflicted, as a devout Muslim who defies her insurgent brother, when she secretly falls in love with Christian Tanji and confesses her love to him before she dies.

Mario: He starts off as a macho young soldier with strong religious convictions, doing his job as chaplain assistant while resenting Tanji’s weakness and ends by letting Tanji talk him down from committing suicide over news that his best friend, Trey, died in the blast.

Parting Image/Line for Profound Truth:

Tanji buries Adiba’s Quran

Ray stops to look at the toppled crucifix at Camp Wolf before leaving the devastation. Prior to his exit, Ray tells Tanji, “I still don’t believe in your God, but I’m starting to believe in you.”

Adiba appears to Mario when Ray is about to kill Tanji.

Mario in suicide vest admits to Tanji that God may be bigger than his human mind understands.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Connection with Audience

What I learned doing this assignment is how important it is to establish audience factors within the first 30 minutes.

Characters to INTENTIONALLY create a connection with the audience:

Lt. Chaplain Tanji Wilkes (Protagonist)

Lt. Ray Sloan (Antagonist)

Lt. Chaplain Tanji Wilkes four ways to connect in first 30 minutes:

A. Relatability: He feels deep rage and sorrow upon seeing the effects of 20 fallen soldiers in Camp Wolf’s Mortuary tent after a massive bombing

B. Intrigue: As a military chaplain he’s unarmed, so it’s shocking when after viewing the carnage he asks the chaplain’s assistant for his rifle and fires it through a hole in the tent.

C. Empathy: He has heard and ministered to Mortuary soldiers and knows the devastating psychological and emotional price of sorting through fellow soldiers’ effects and writing to loved ones. He tries to find a way not to have to do this sacred task.

D. Likability: Tanji is bad at writing empathetic letters to loved ones because he’s an intellectual who philosophizes, isn’t in touch with his heart, and considers himself to be much less adapt at touchy-feely as his father, Rev. Wilkes.

Lt. Ray Sloan four ways to connect in first 30 minutes:

A. Relatability: He’s experienced what it’s like to be a “real” soldier and knows the danger and horrors they will face by being left behind at Camp Wolf to finish this ghastly task.

B. Intrigue: It’s not clear yet why he’s antagonist toward Tanji, in particular, and military chaplains, in general.

C. Empathy: He and Mario are the only ones armed, and he resents having to obey the order to stay behind and protect Tanji and Camp Wolf.

D. Likability: He comes across as a protector when he tells Adiba (the camp interpreter) that she must stay on the base and not return to her village for her own safety.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Supporting Characters

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is it’s going to be a challenge whittling down this story and supporting characters into a 90-minute screenplay.

Supporting Characters:

1. Arlene

2. Jose

3. Ralph

4. Otis

5. Dr. Nussbaum

6. Nurse Jodie

7. Dr. Williams

8. Bob

9. Nurse Rita

10. Dr. Porter

11. Patty

12. Taylor

Background Characters:

1. Aubrey

2. Dr. W.

3. Susan

4. Gail

5. Bobbie

6. Animal shelter volunteers and staff

7. Dog park dogs and people

8. Pet store dogs and customers

9. Hospital nurses (surgery)

10. Hospital doctor and nurses (remove filter)

11. Office people at Allen’s job

12. Grocery story cashier and customers

13. Obedience trainer

14. Dance instructor

15. Editor for Allen and Linda’s books

Support 1:

Name: Arlene

Role: Friend and nurse

Main purpose: Helps Allen with working through medical
system; Linda’s bestie and confidante

Value: window character for Linda; advises Allen on
questions to ask hospital nurses

Support 2:

Name: Jose

Role: Allen’s best friend at work

Main purpose: support at Allen’s office

Value: helps Allen keep his job with medical insurance;
a good listener

Support 3:

Name: Ralph

Role: Vice President of company where Allen works

Main purpose: keeps pressure on Allen to perform at
work

Value: Adversary–doesn’t like Allen but their failing
company needs his services to keep clients

Support 4:

Name: Otis

Role: Radio Host for “Dog Time”

Main purpose: Interviews Allen and Linda about their
new books

Value: Bookend radio interviews provide background for
extraordinary experiences in Allen and Linda’s unusual story and
philosophies

Support 5:

Name: Dr. Nussbaum

Role: Neurosurgeon

Main purpose: performs brain surgery on Allen

Value: gives information about the insanely delicate
procedure, risks, and possible outcomes

Support 6:

Name: Nurse Jodi

Role: Dr. Nussbaum’s nurse

Main purpose: liaison between Dr. N and Allen

Value: gives exposition about Allen’s blood clot to the
lungs, etc. and is called to emergency at the hospital during his brain
surgery

Support 7:

Name: Dr. Williams

Role: the surgeon for removing Allen’s blood clot
filter

Main purpose: removes filter

Value: adds drama and humor with pop rock music he
plays during surgery

Support 8:

Name: Bob

Role: Allen’s best personal friend

Main purpose: confidante and shared spiritual
understanding

Value: comfort and support with spiritual value from a
shared dream

Support 9:

Name: Nurse Rita

Role: Head Nurse, Neurosurgery Unit

Main purpose: Help people having brain surgery survive

Value: Pivotal in ensuring Allen gets best hospital
care; comic relief with Allen and Linda bringing her a basket (bribe) of
their animal books

Support 10:

Name: Dr. Porter

Role: Leaf’s veterinarian

Main purpose: medical care for Leaf

Value: real information on what Allen and Linda are
facing with Leaf’s emotional issues

Support 11:

Name: Patty

Role: Leaf’s groomer

Main purpose: grooms Leaf under worst conditions

Value: represents animal-services people who interacted
with Leaf; adds the element of what love and patience can do for healing a
broken dog

Support 12:

Name: Taylor

Role: Allen and Linda’s dog before Leaf

Main purpose: shows their love for pets as family
members; pivot point for starting their journey of writing books about
animals

Value: portrays the devastation of pet loss

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Character Profiles Part 2

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is this was a good exercise to help shape up a clearer vision of the lead characters.

Lead Character: Allen

A. The High Concept. An ex-cop with PTSD and an
abandoned dog with BIG issues team up to bring light into their darkest
places—based on a New York Times bestselling memoir.
B. This character’s journey. From very private
with low self-esteem to confident and looking forward to the next
adventures in life with his human and animal family.
C. The Actor Attractors for this character.
Repeatedly faces death and lifelong disabling situations. Complex mix of
intelligence, creativity, empathy, kindness, masculinity, and a strong
will to survive the most brutal battle of his life.

Lead Character: Leaf

A. The High Concept. An ex-cop with PTSD and an
abandoned dog with BIG issues team up to bring light into their darkest
places—based on a New York Times bestselling memoir.
B. This character’s journey. From abandoned,
fearful, and aggressive to loving, playful, and trusting.
C. The Actor Attractors for this character. Shows
what’s possible for healing of an emotionally damaged rescue dog who in
turn, rescues his rescuer.

Lead Character: Linda

A. The High Concept. An ex-cop with PTSD and an
abandoned dog with BIG issues team up to bring light into their darkest
places—based on a New York Times bestselling memoir.
B. This character’s journey. From reliant on, to
the point of dependency in some areas, on Allen as her husband and life
partner to more secure and independent.
C. The Actor Attractors for this character. Linda
must face her greatest fear of losing Allen, her husband and business partner,
as he faces conditions that could result in his death or lifelong
disability. She has to pull on physical, emotional, and spiritual
resources she never knew she had to help Allen and Leaf survive their
ordeals and save her family from disaster.

Profile components for each character.

Lead Character: Allen

7. Character Subtext: Withholding

He rarely wants to talk about all he’s going through even with his wife because he thinks she will worry or be upset.

8. Character Intrigue: Unspoken Wound

He fears becoming like his miserable father with permanent disability from a stroke.

9. Flaw: Overdoing

In his efforts to make everything better or perfect, he winds up often not getting the help he needs or being rebuffed by people he tries to help.

10. Values: Family, Love, Safety, Duty, Privacy
11. Character Dilemma:

He’s so protective of those he loves that he often neglects his own needs.

Lead Character: Leaf

7. Character Subtext: Distrusts people
8. Character Intrigue: Abandonment

His feelings of vulnerability make him fearful and overly protective.

9. Flaw: Overly Alpha

It’s hard for him to be nice to people or other dogs because he can’t trust anyone other than himself to be in charge of situations.

10. Values: Safety, Family, Love
11. Character Dilemma:

Fear of abandonment and not being powerful enough to take care of himself make him aggressive.

Lead Character: Linda

7. Character Subtext: Anxious to be in control; loves
fiercely
8. Character Intrigue: Insecurity

She never thinks she (or things) are good enough and is always trying to improve.

9. Flaw: Overachiever

She slips into being bossy in her relationships when she’s trying to make things perfect.

10. Values: Family, Love, Intelligence, Humor
11. Character Dilemma:

Insecurity causes her to try too hard to succeed at everything.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Transformational Structure

What I learned doing this assignment is it takes many attempts to shape a story for main characters to believably transform on their journeys.

Transformational Logline:

A military chaplain on his first tour of duty becomes a hero while keeping a sacred promise to 20 fallen soldiers in a bombed-out 2004 Iraq military base where he suffers a crisis of faith and is sabotaged by an officer of the same rank who thinks chaplains aren’t worth spit.

MAIN CHARACTERS:

Change Agent: Lt. Ray Sloan has been assigned by the Major of Camp Wolf to keep safe the chaplain, his assistant, and the base interpreter after an insurgent’s bomb destroys it and kills 20 soldiers. A bully-with-a-gun, he’s furious with God, if there even is a God.

Transformational Character(s):

Chaplain Lt. Tanji Wilkes, a young military chaplain, is the main Transformable Character. He must stay behind when the base is evacuated and do Mortuary duties for 20 fallen soldiers. It’s a devastating task that shakes everything he’s learned from his old-time minister father and divinity school education.

Adiba, the Muslim Iraqi interpreter for Camp Wolf. She clings to the promise of immigrating to America (where the streets are paved with gold) in exchange for serving US military in Iraq. Her faith in Islam is unshakable, but her brother is joining their village’s Sunni insurgents. A budding love for Tanji puts her into crisis of forbidden longing for an Infidel.

Mario Chavez, Tanji’s Chaplain’s Assistant, is an ultra-religious young guy who has concluded that although he’d die to protect the unarmed chaplain, Tanji isn’t cut out for a war-zone and is a danger to himself and others.

MM #1 – Pages 1 – 15 – Our hero’s status quo, his ordinary world, ends with an inciting incident or “call to adventure,” introducing the story’s main tension.

FADE IN

Tanji and Mario view ghastly lineup of 20 standing riles with bloodied helmets and soldiers’ effects in Mortuary Tent. Tanji tries to find right scripture passage to say. Overcome with grief and anger, instead of praying, he asks for Mario’s M16 rifle and fires into the sky through a big hole in the tent.

Mario sees toppled crucifix at bombed-out chapel. Prays to smite the unbelievers who did this.

In desert outside the base, Adiba quarrels with her brother, Baqir, about returning to Camp Wolf. She pleads with him not to join the village’s Sunni insurgents who view American infidels as invaders.

Turning Point: Call to Adventure.

Ray tells Tanji and Mario that Major has commanded them to stay behind, go through soldiers’ effects, and contact loved ones before news of the attack hits wire services. He’s furious at having to stay with them instead of joining the convoy back to Balad.

MM #2 – Pages 15 – 30 – Our hero’s denial of the call, and his gradually being “locked into” the conflict brought on by this call.

Tanji and Mario exchange horror stories about what has happened to Mortuary soldiers—mental breakdowns, even suicides.

Tanji goes to Internet Café and finds a working computer. Emails his father, Rev. Wilkes, about the assignment. Rev. Wilkes emails back that Tanji has no business being there to fight “Bush’s War.” The whole congregation is praying for him to come home.

Turning Point: Locked in.

Adiba arrives at camp. Ray allows her to enter. Tanji joins them as Ray promises to ask the Major to speed up her application to immigrate to America. Tanji thanks Adiba for all the help she gave him when he had to minister to wounded Iraqi’s and comfort their families. Ray and Tanji have harsh words over Ray’s refusal to let Adiba go back to her village because it would endanger all of them. Ray tells Tanji to get back to “God’s work.” Adiba can help him.

MM #3 – Pages 30 – 45 – Our hero’s first attempts to solve his problem, the first things that anyone with this problem would try, appealing to outside authority to help him. Ends when all these avenues are shut to our hero.

Mario, Tanji, and Adiba look through remnants of reference books and notes on how to do prayers and rituals for dead for soldiers of various religions.

Mario and Ray sort through debris, looking for more soldiers’ effects.

Tanji and Adiba sort through effects of first ten soldiers in Mortuary Tent and read final letters tucked inside dead soldiers’ helmets. Adiba takes notes for letters that Tanji must write to loved ones. Tanji spouts scripture and doctrine. Adiba isn’t impressed. Tanji confesses he’s not like his father who is touchy-feely and great at giving comfort.

Adiba tells Tanji that Baqir will come looking for her when she doesn’t return to the village.

Turning Point: Standard ways fail.

Tanji gets on walkie-talkie and tells Major he, Mario, and Ray will load effects into the convoy. Sort it all out in Balad. Major angrily tells Tanji they can’t leave anything behind that is useful to the enemy. Threatens Tanji with a court martial if he doesn’t do his job. Convoys can be heard leaving.

MM #4 – Pages 45 — 60 – Our hero spawns a bigger plan. He prepares for it, gathers what materials and allies he may need, then puts the plan into action — only to have it go horribly wrong, usually due to certain vital information the hero lacked about the forces of antagonism allied against him.

While Tanji organizes for packing effects of the first ten soldiers, VO (thoughts in his mind) delivers snippets from his preachy sermons to base soldiers. It contrasts with images of what it’s really like after a bomb destroys the base and kills or injures soldiers he’s grown to care about.

Mario finds photo of him and his best friend, Trey, in happy times. Breaks down in tears.

Mario and Ray research and find chaplains on bases where fallen soldiers’ families live. Mario keeps trying to find out if anyone has seen Trey.

Turning Point: Plan backfires.

Mario gets a Skype call from the girlfriend of one of his buddies, Matt, about Matt’s PTSD. This war’s not over when soldiers return home.

Ray grabs one of Tanji’s letters and starts reading it out loud. Ridicules how stiff and stupid it is.

Tanji gets email back from a mother with thoughts about her son’s untimely death. Her attitude is more real than the theological things Tanji wrote to her. He confides in Adiba that he’s not good at giving comfort like his father, Rev. Wilkes. The old-time preacher is disappointed that Tanji didn’t take over their South Carolina congregation but went into the military to fight “Bush’s War”.

Adiba offers to help Tanji put more heart into his letters. Considering Adiba is a Muslim, Tanji doesn’t think she can help him write to Christians. He tells her his father’s attitude that only believers who accept Jesus as their personal savior will go to heaven. Adiba asks if that’s what he believes. He doesn’t know anymore. Mario tells Tanji he’ll pray to Jesus to help him stay a true believer. Adiba is rebuffed. Ray warns her about sanctimonious Tanji.

MM #5 – Pages 60 — 75 – Having created his plan to solve his problem WITHOUT changing, our hero is confronted by his need to change, eyes now open to his own weaknesses, driven by the antagonist to change or die. He retreats to lick his wounds.

Montage: Tanji, Adiba, and Mario process five more soldiers’ effects and letters. Adiba asks Tanji to read the final letter he wrote to Rev. Wilkes. Adiba tenderly comforts Tanji. Mario looks disgusted.

Rev. Wilkes gets through on a phone call to Tanji. In a VO, he asks how many souls Tanji has saved over there. Tells him Tanji’s ex-fiancé, Felicity, wants to get back together and still loves him. They both want him to come home and tend to the needs of their flock in South Carolina. Adiba hears Tanji talking about Felicity. After the call, he tells Adiba why things didn’t work out with Felicity.

Ray and Mario become closer when Ray says he’ll help Mario find out what happened to Trey. Mario confides that he’s worried Adiba and Tanji are getting romantically involved. It would endanger both of them in anyone finds out. After Mario leaves, Ray calls Battalion Chaplain Commander Jim and reports Tanji as a rogue chaplain who is putting their mission at risk with a female military translator.

Father Jim, calls Tanji (VO) from another base. Tanji confides he’s going through a crisis of faith. Father Jim asks about what’s happening with Adiba. Tanji realizes Ray must have told him. Father Jim offers Tanji the possibility of serving soldiers and families on a base in the US if he’s not cut out for war-zone ministry.

Felicity does a Skype call to tell Tanji his father has had a heart attack and is in the hospital. They want him to take an emergency family leave. She makes a play for the two of them to start things up again. It was a mistake to break off their engagement.

An Iraqi child stands at the camp entrance. He’s in shadow and can’t be seen well. Mario yells at the boy to go away. Child holds up something in his hand that could be a bomb. Mario points rifle at the boy. Tanji begins to recite a prayer from scriptures. Adiba tells him to do something!

Tanji puts down his bible. Screws up his courage and carefully approaches the child. Asks him to show what’s in his hand. Adiba translates Tanji’s request. The boy swings his arm back to throw. A shaft of light mysteriously comes through the clouds. Reveals the kid is holding a rock, not detonation devise. The boy asks for candy. Tanji reaches in his pocket and throws candy. The child catches it, smiles, and runs away.

Mario is shaken that he came so close to killing a child. Attributes the light’s sudden appearance to Tanji’s powerful prayers. Tanji says the light shone on the boy after he acted on what he knew to do intuitively. He was listening to guidance from God.

Mario tells Ray about the miraculous light and Tanji’s powerful prayers. Ray tells Mario that the Major used to ask him to say prayers for men going out on the convoys. Ray had bowed his head—not because he thinks prayer is powerful but in solidarity with the other soldiers. Ray gives backstory about being a believer as a young boy. Being in war zones has purged all that from him. Mario says that although Ray is a nonbeliever, he’ll pray for his soul. Ray tells him not to bother. He’s already in hell.

Turning Point: The decision to change.

Baqir, from a distance, sees Adiba with Tanji outside the Mortuary Tent. He’s furious and yells at his sister. Tanji shouts to Baqir that God loves all of them. Baqir asks if the infidels are holding her captive or has she just been brainwashed? Ray and Mario rush out to shoot Baqir. Tanji shields Baqir by standing between him and Ray and Mario. Adiba pleads with Ray not to kill her brother. Baqir runs. Ray shoots at the fleeing shadow. He says that now Baqir will tell insurgents the base isn’t deserted. Adiba assures him Baqir would never do that. He loves her.

MM #6

– Pages 75 – 90 – Our hero spawns a new plan, but now he’s ready to change. He puts this plan into action…and is very nearly destroyed by it. And then…a revelation.

VO with Tanji calling chaplains from other bases, Sam (Jewish), Ibrahim (Muslim), Lucinda (female Christian) to exchange information and make requests from each other. Tanji asks them to email prayers for the dead from their faiths.

Montage: Tanji, Adiba, and Mario process five more soldiers’ effects and letters. In an awkward effort to be more open to religious beliefs he doesn’t understand, he talks with Adiba about Islam, and women. Adiba admires how Tanji is growing and sees his progress in becoming more open to hers and other beliefs.

Tanji in Chaplain’s Tent goes through dark night of soul agony. Mario comes in and asks what’s wrong. Tanji has a moment of honesty with Mario when he tells him nothing about God or his religions makes sense to him anymore in this senseless carnage. Mario leaves, shocked.

Ray tells Adiba he has news about her request to go to America. Needs to see her in his tent. Ray not-so-subtly comes on to her. Hints he can move her request along faster if she’s nicer to him.

Ray recruits Mario to report to him on what’s happening with Tanji and Adiba. Mario is disappointed and angry at Tanji’s weakness and loss of faith as a true believer. He recalls his own and other soldiers’ reasons for going to war &amp; what Camp Wolf used to be like. None of them are being fulfilled.

Adiba, trembling, tells Tanji about Ray blackmailing her. Tanji wants to confront Ray. Adiba

stops him. They have important work to finish here. Adiba looks at Tanji’s picture of Felicity.

When his back is turned, she turns it down on the shelf.

Turning Point: Plan backfires

To give every fallen soldier their due before God, Tanji gathers Mario and Adiba to help him conduct a Memorial Service. They stand in front of a soldier’s helmet and effects. One contains aminiature Torah. Tanji reads the Jewish Prayer for the Dead for this soldier. Adiba does a prayer for the dead Muslim soldier. Mario does a Christian prayer for the dead. Ray comes in and watches. Disgusted. Not into their “prayers”.

Showing that Tanji realizes being a chaplain involves accepting nonbelievers and ministering to them too. He asks Ray what he’d like to do to honor these fallen soldiers in the memorial service. Ray does the traditional call and response for fallen soldiers but without gun salute that would attract the enemy.

While Mario and Ray work on packing and labeling the remaining soldiers’ effects for shipment home, Adiba struggles to get snacks out of the broken vending machines. She carries them in her backpack out of the tent.

In the Chaplain’s Tent, Adiba arranges the snacks into a makeshift dinner setting. When Tanji comes in, she tells him she’s prepared dinner for them. He’s worried about his father and has applied for the family emergency leave. In moments of truth, they acknowledge feelings for each other. Tanji doesn’t know how a life together in America with two different religions and cultures will work out or how his father will react, but he’s willing to figure it out. They kiss.

Turning Point: The ultimate failure.

Baqir is inside the Camp Wolf gate. Ray yells at him. Adiba, Tanji, and Mario run to them. Baqir accuses Adiba of betraying the Prophet. He’s wearing a bomb vest. Ray tries to shoot Baqir without killing all of them. Adiba runs to Baqir. Mario holds Tanji back from running after her. Baqir presses the detonator. Kills himself. Shrapnel hits Adiba and Mario. Adiba dies in Tanji’s arms.

Ray tends to Mario’s light wound and tells him he holds Tanji responsible for Adiba’s death. He’s going to get rid of that guy if it’s the last thing he ever does.

MM #7 – Pages 90 – 105 – The revelation allows our hero to see victory, and he rejoins the battle with a new fervor, finally turning the tables on his antagonist and arriving at apparent victory. And then the tables turn one more time!

Tanji, Ray, and Mario cremate Adiba’s body according to Muslim tradition.

Ray confronts Tanji and reminds them they’re in an isolated base where no one will ever know what really happened. Accidental death? Stepping on an IED? Anything is possible. Maybe Tanji’s God will perform a miracle and save his useless life.

Tanji talks on the phone to Ibrahim about Adiba’s death and says he doesn’t know what to do with her Quran. Tanji follows Ibrahim’s instructions for burying Adiba’s Quran.

Mario finds Trey’s helmet and final letter in the debris.

Tanji and Ray hear Mario screaming in agony over Trey’s death and run to him. Mario has a breakdown and barricades himself in the Mortuary tent. Ray tells Tanji to go to tent to try and talk Mario down. They can both die in there and this will finally be over.

Tanji finds Mario loaded up with ammunition, ready to blow himself up.

Turning Point: Apparent victory.

Tanji talks Mario out of killing himself and Tanji by blowing up his vest. Walks him from the tent into Ray’s custody. Ray puts grief-stricken Mario in cuffs.

Ray quickly calls the Major and arranges for choppers to fly in and take Mario to Balad hospital for psychiatric care and remove the cataloged fallen soldiers’s effects for sending to their loved ones.

MM #8 – Pages 105 – 120 – The hero puts down the antagonist’s last attempt to defeat him, wraps up his story and any sub-plots, and moves into the new world he and his story have created.

Tanji finishes packing the little that’s left of his possessions. He carefully packs the wrappers from his and Adiba’s only romantic dinner and lovingly packs Adiba’s hijab.

Ray barges into the Chaplain’s tent and sedates Mario. With the three of them alone, Ray tells Tanji how much he hates everything Tanji stands for. He goes to the phone and says he’s calling Father Jim. If Tanji doesn’t tell the Chaplain commander that he’s going home on a family emergency leave and staying there, Ray will shoot Tanji and Mario now.

Tanji spots Mario’s rifle on the floor. Ray puts down his rifle. He taunts Tanji to go ahead and lunge for Mario’s rifle. Chaplains aren’t supposed to be armed. If Tanji kills him, that will be the end of his military career anyway.

Simultaneously Ray and Tanji look at Adiba’s hijab in Tanji’s suitcase. Ray angrily admits he loved Adiba too.

Mario wakes up from the sedation. He’s disoriented. He takes in Ray and Tanji’s standoff. He shouts that Adiba is there with them. Tanji and Ray look in the direction Mario is staring. They see nothing. Tanji says he won’t talk to Ray about God’s love, but love is love. And somehow, they both found it here in this brutal war.

Sounds of helicopters landing in the background. The three men agree to try to heal in their own ways. Ray tells Tanji he still doesn’t believe in God but maybe he’s starting to believe in Tanji.

After Tanji picks up his suitcase and escorts Mario out of the tent, Ray calls Father Jim. Tells him Tanji is a hero for what he did to save Mario. Says Father Jim should recommend Tanji for a Soldier’s Medal for bravery.

Turning Point: New status quo.

On a plane, Tanji is seated next to a Female Passenger. What starts off as plane-seat chit-chat turns into Tanji telling her that he’s a military chaplain on his first tour of duty in Iraq. She says she’s a member of the clergy in her religion. They talk a little about what it was like in Iraq.

The Woman tells Tanji her daughter had leukemia and a bone marrow transplant this year. Tanji explains that in the past he would have tried to recall the perfect scripture passage to comfort her. Now, he just wants to open a sacred space for her to talk so he can listen deeply. They get into a short philosophical discussion about why bad things happen and the afterlife. Her beliefs are different from Tanji’s religious dogmas.

They exchange cards with spiritual prayers, taught in their respective faiths. The Female Passenger tells Tanji that the prayer she gave him doesn’t tell God what to do. She compliments Tanji on how empathetic he is and nonjudgmental about beliefs that are different from his faith traditions. She tells him that he’ll must be an excellent chaplain. Tanji nods silently. Smiles. Then tells her that he’s found his purpose, his calling.

Without saying it, we know now that he will return to Iraq a better and more experienced chaplain for soldiers at war and those who come home, damaged from their battles.

FADE OUT

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Character Profiles Part 1

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is how important it is to synch character profiles with the high concept.

Lead Character: Allen

A. The High Concept. An ex-cop with PTSD and an
abandoned dog with BIG issues team up to bring light into their darkest
places—based on a New York Times bestselling memoir.

B. This character’s journey. From very private
with low self-esteem to confident and looking forward to the next
adventures in life with his human and animal family.

C. The Actor Attractors for this character.
Repeatedly faces death and lifelong disabling situations. Complex mix of
intelligence, creativity, empathy, kindness, masculinity, and a strong
will to survive the most brutal battle of his life.

11 parts of the profile for Allen.

1. Role in the Story:
Protagonist

2. Age range and Description: Starts at age 30, moves to age 40

3. Core Traits:
Stoic, Determined, Quick-Witted, Imaginative

4. Motivation; Want/Need:
He wants to survive intact. He needs to overcome deep-seated fears and
attitudes from his childhood and police work.

5. Wound:
Made to believe his life is worthless

6. Likability, Relatability, Empathy:

Likability: Allen deeply takes in his supervisor Bruce’s comment about police work after a particularly harrowing and dangerous experience: “Nothing is as important as coming home.”

Relatability: When he comes home after a night shift where he’s almost been killed, he’s clearly distressed and shaken but tries to have normalcy with family routine.

Empathy: When his wife gets up for breakfast and asks him how his shift went, he doesn’t have the heart to tell her what happened so she won’t worry.

7. Character Subtext: Withholding

He rarely wants to talk about all he’s going through even with his wife because he thinks she will worry or be upset.

8. Character Intrigue: Unspoken Wound

He fears becoming like his miserable father with permanent disability from a stroke.

9. Flaw: Overdoing

In his efforts to make everything better or perfect, he winds up often not getting the help he needs or being rebuffed by people he tries to help.

10. Values: Family, Love, Safety, Duty, Privacy

11. Character Dilemma:

He’s so protective of those he loves that he often neglects his own needs.

Lead Character: Leaf

A. The High Concept. An ex-cop with PTSD and an
abandoned dog with BIG issues team up to bring light into their darkest
places—based on a New York Times bestselling memoir.

B. This character’s journey. From abandoned,
fearful, and aggressive to loving, playful, and trusting. C. <u style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The Actor Attractors for this character. Shows
what’s possible for healing of an emotionally damaged rescue dog who in
turn, rescues his rescuer.

11 parts of the profile for Leaf.

1. Role in the Story: Antagonist

2. Age range and Description: 1 year old

3. Core Traits: Alpha, Distrustful, Perceptive

4. Motivation; Want/Need: Leaf wants to never be abandoned again. He needs to overcome his fear and distrustfulness.

5. Wound: Made to believe his life is worthless

6. Likability, Relatability, Empathy:

Likability: Leaf (who the shelter named Harley) jumps into a pile of leaves and rolls in delight on his first walk at the lake after being adopted.

Relatability: In what is obviously his first time inside a pet store or having a toy of his own, Leaf sniffs on bottom-shelf dog toys, pees on one, then picks up in his mouth a stuffed wiener-dog toy, and carries it to Allen as if saying, “I want this one.”

Empathy: First scene with Leaf shows him abandoned at night on the side of a highway, in the rain, all alone in the world.

7. Character Subtext: Distrusts people

8. Character Intrigue: Abandonment

His feelings of vulnerability make him fearful and overly protective.

9. Flaw: Overly Alpha

It’s hard for him to be nice to people or other dogs because he can’t trust anyone other than himself to be in charge of situations.

10. Values: Safety, Family, Love

11. Character Dilemma:

Fear of abandonment and not being powerful enough to take care of himself make him aggressive.

Lead Character: Linda

A. The High Concept. An ex-cop with PTSD and an
abandoned dog with BIG issues team up to bring light into their darkest
places—based on a New York Times bestselling memoir.

B. This character’s journey. From reliant on, to
the point of dependency in some areas, on Allen as her husband and life
partner to more secure and independent.

C. The Actor Attractors for this character. Linda
must face her greatest fear of losing Allen, her husband and business partner,
as he faces conditions that could result in his death or lifelong
disability. She has to pull on physical, emotional, and spiritual
resources she never knew she had to help Allen and Leaf survive their
ordeals and save her family from disaster.

6 parts of the profile for Linda.

1. Role in the Story: Triangle

2. Age range and Description: Starts at age 30, moves to 40

3. Core Traits: Intelligent, Driven, Loves Deeply

4. Motivation; Want/Need: Linda wants Allen and Leaf to survive. She needs to develop confidence in herself as key in all areas for holding her family together.

5. Wound: Made to believe she’s never good enough.

6. Likability, Relatability, Empathy:

Likability: Linda takes care of everybody in her family with nurturing and caring about the details of their lives.

Relatability: When Allen won’t talk to her about what happened on the night shift of his police job, she’s worried.

Empathy: First scene with Linda facing her fears of losing Allen and comforting him and herself with the fact that so far, he’s been “Miracle Man”.

7. Character Subtext: Anxious to be in control; loves
fiercely

8. Character Intrigue: Insecurity

She never thinks she (or things) are good enough and is always trying to improve.

9. Flaw: Overachiever

She slips into being bossy in her relationships when she’s trying to make things perfect.

10. Values: Family, Love, Intelligence, Humor

11. Character Dilemma:

Insecurity causes her to try too hard to succeed at everything.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Likability/Relatability/Empathy

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is how important these first impressions of the characters is to the audience wanting to root for them and take their journey.

Protagonist: Allen

Likability: Allen deeply takes in his supervisor Bruce’s comment about police work after a particularly harrowing and dangerous experience: “Nothing is as important as coming home.”

Relatability: When he comes home after a night shift where he’s almost been killed, he’s clearly distressed and shaken but tries to have normalcy with family routine—puts his gun in a locked safe on a high shelf, changes clothes, checks on sleeping wife and children, plays tug with the dog, puts birdseed in the birdfeeder.

Empathy: When his wife gets up for breakfast and asks him how his shift went, he doesn’t have the heart to tell her what happened so she won’t worry.

Antagonist: Leaf

Likability: Leaf jumps into a pile of leaves and rolls in delight on his first walk at the lake after being adopted.

Relatability: In what is obviously his first time inside a pet store, he sniffs on bottom-shelf dog toys, pees in excitement on one, then pick up in his mouth a stuffed wiener-dog toy, and carries it to Allen as if saying, “I want this one.”

Empathy: First scene with Leaf shows him abandoned on the side of a night highway, in the rain, all alone in the world.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Character Intrigue

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is tying the subtext to character layers made it easier to identify and figure out how they show up in the story.

Character
Name: Allen

Role:
Protagonist

Hidden
agendas: Sees healing Leaf as healing himself

Secrets:
Vivid inner world of imagination and spiritual experiences

Unspoken
Wound: echoes of his father’s abuse and PTSD in his self-talk

Shows Up: After his brain aneurism diagnosis, Allen has sudden slide show in his mind of memories that depict major events and regrets of his life.

***

Character
Name: Leaf

Role:
Antagonist

Competition:
alpha dog; highly competitive with other dogs

Secrets:
understands more than most people think are possible for a dog

Unspoken
Wound: abandonment has left him emotionally damaged—fearful, aggressive

Shows Up: On Leaf’s first visit to the vet, he has to be muzzled and the vet puts in the medical records that he’s “fear-aggressive”.

***

Character
Name: Linda

Role:
Supporting character for both Allen and Leaf

Hidden
agendas: wants to do everything she can to help Allen and Leaf heal

Secrets:
wants more independence but is unsure how much responsibility she can or
wants to handle

Unspoken
Wound: introversion and lack of confidence she hides in professions that
require her to be outgoing and project confidence
Secret
Identity:

Shows Up: When Allen insists on driving, she always acquiesces but after his surgery and being on steroids (which make him think he’s king of the world), she hides his car keys and drives Allen and Leaf to their favorite dog park.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Subtext Characters

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is the subtext exercise helped me with the transformational journey of the lead characters through the 4 acts.

Example Movie/Series:

Movie Title: The Offer <div>

Character Name: Al Ruddy

Subtext Identity: Overestimating His Abilities
Subtext Trait: Covers by using his creativity to
negotiate impossible situations

Subtext Logline: Al Ruddy has the tendency to
overestimate his abilities and covers it by being the finding a multitude
of creative subterfuges to overcome obstacles, but when the Mafia takes
over his movie, he has to admit he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Possible Areas of Subtext:Subtext Identity: Overestimating His Abilities

Subtext Trait: Covers by creating subterfuges to
overcome obstacles

ACT 1: Determines to produce The Godfather even though
this is his first film

ACT 2: Gets involved with the Mafia with consequences
he’s never imagined

ACT 3: Goes behind the back of studio VP, Bob Evans,
to do what it takes to get the movie made

ACT 4: Filches only 1 of 2 prints of the finished film
to do a special screening of the movie for the Mafia so they don’t insist
on coming to the premiere

Lead #1:

Movie Title: Ticket to Live </div><div>

Character Name: Allen

Subtext Identity: Distrustful Wound

Subtext Trait: Covers by always taking charge of difficult
situations

Subtext Logline: Allen has a Distrustful Wound and
covers it by taking charge of difficult situations, but when he’s facing
the most fateful times of his life, he has to accept help from his wife
and the abandoned dog, Leaf, who now relies on him for healing.

Possible Areas of Subtext:

· Subtext Identity: Distrustful Wound

· Subtext Trait: Covers by always taking charge of difficult situations

· ACT 1: Allen adopts Leaf and promises to always take care of him

· ACT 2: When Allen finds out he has two life-threatening conditions and a vivid nightmare that he’s doomed, he creates The Manual for his wife in case he dies

· ACT 3: Allen refuses to stay home for the required amount of time to heal and plunges back into work and travel to show he’s OK

· ACT 4: To sort out all that has happened to him and possibly help others, Allen writes a memoir about the dual journey with Leaf serving as his mirror and healer.

Lead #2:

Movie Title: Ticket to Live </div>

Character Name: Leaf

Subtext Identity: Abandonment Wound

Subtext Trait: Covers by going macho/alpha when he
feels threatened

Subtext Logline: Leaf has an abandonment issue wound
and covers it by appearing to be ready to take on a world that has been cruel
to him.

Possible Areas of Subtext:

Subtext Identity: Abandonment Wound

Subtext Trait: Covers by appearing to be ready to take
on a world that has been cruel to him

ACT 1: Turns Allen’s peaceful home into a war zone

ACT 2: Gets into fights at dog park

ACT 3: Shows Allen how to control post-surgery
outbursts

ACT 4: Competes like a fighter at dog training class
and wins all the prizes

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Actor Attractors!

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is it’s hard to develop a dog as a lead-character antagonist because although this dog is unique and complex, dogs are honest, without a lot of subtext.

Lead Character Name: Allen

Role: (Protagonist or Antagonist) Protagonist

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it? A man who’s been in a profession where he’s had to repeatedly face death and survive, is left with emotional wounds from his experiences. Now he’s in a brutal battle for survival where his crucial support and responsibility come from a dog who is as emotionally damaged as he is.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story? He’s a complex mix of intelligence, creativity, masculinity, and a strong will to survive even through the worst situations.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead could take in the script? He and his wife adopt an abandoned dog who is emotionally damaged and makes their life hell. Then he finds out he may wind up as disabled as his father, who had a major stroke, or die in the attempt to save his life.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor? Showing him as a cop in a standoff with a drug-crazed man who aims a gun at Allen’s head.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range? With a tender, sensitive, PTSD-type personality, he goes from mainly relying on survival instincts to dealing emotionally and spiritually with fears and wounds that hide beneath the surface of his life’s decisions.

6. What subtext can the actor play? Beneath high capability in his professional life, lies a man who has experienced maximum fear and stress since an abusive childhood and while doing police work as an inner city cop. The fear and anger come out unexpectedly and in ways that rock his family life and the goals he’s set for his life.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have? Relationship with a dog who has many of his same issues and relationship with the wife who is also co-author of the series of books he writes about animals.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented? He’s a one-word answer kind of guy when it comes to expressing or being in touch with his true emotions.

9. What could make this character special and unique? The spiritual nature of his relationship with the dog, Leaf, transcends what usually comes through in stories that involve animals. Allen’s respect and compassion for Leaf, as an individual with his own thoughts, feelings, and fears will be relatable to anyone who has had that one special dog who stole their heart.

Lead Character Name: Leaf

Role: (Protagonist or Antagonist) Antagonist

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it? This is a dual journey of a man who must face the biggest challenges of his life and an abandoned dog who must heal or risk being euthanized.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story? He’s a dog who alternates between cute and lovable and a holy terror.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead could take in the script? Leaf responds to Allen’s spiritual practices in ways not usually associated with a human-dog relationship. At night, when he’s most terrified and howling, Allen holds Leaf on his lap, with the dog’s head against his heart, while Allen chants an ancient mantra of love that comforts both of them.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor? (in this case, the “Actor” will be a professional animal trainer) It’s hard to train a dog to be naughty on cue but with the right dog, amazing displays of animal consciousness occur in filming scenes.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range? Leaf transforms from a fearful, confused, distrustful dog to a companion who senses Allen needs him as a healing partner.

6. What subtext can the actor play? The trainer will need to get the dog to misbehave while continuing to be needy and fun. Leaf needs a lot of attention.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have? Leaf grows to love and trust Allen but it’s a journey that has all the attributes of an antagonist except they come out of his fear, not out of hatred.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented? He barks, literally! Possibly, there’ll be a voiceover that tells what he’s thinking. During a scene with an animal communicator, he tells her in his simple way about having been “left.”

9. What could make this character special and unique? Dogs as damaged as Leaf often can’t adjust to life in a family or to ever trust humans again. Because of the emotional similarities that shape both man and dog, they pull together to help each other survive and heal.

Lead Character Name: Linda

Role: (Protagonist or Antagonist) Support Lead Characters

1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it? Linda hasn’t been fully in touch with the effects of Allen’s PTSD because he’s kept so much of his cop experiences to himself, hidden and buried. Now she must help him through the most brutal challenge where she’s with him facing death with the emotional issues coming to the surface.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story? Linda is Allen’s wife and co-author of the animal books they write together. She’s the one who encourages him to take a second look at Leaf, the cute cocker spaniel, in the animal shelter.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead could take in the script? She doesn’t want to face the realities head-on but despite her fears, she supports Allen as he does all the practical tasks to prepare for the possibility of not surviving.

4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor? Linda and Allen walk around the animal shelter, just to look, when she realizes that the only thing that will comfort Allen after losing their yellow Lab of 12 years, will be to adopt a dog who needs a home.

5. What could be this character’s emotional range? She’s independent in most ways but dependent on Allen to take care of the couple’s bills and finances. During the lead-up and aftermath of Allen’s brain surgery, she has to step up to the plate and become confident.

6. What subtext can the actor play? Even though she’s terrified, Linda has to stay strong and flexible as she copes with Allen’s PTSD, new health dangers, impending surgeries, and their emotionally disturbed new dog.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character can have? Allen and Leaf are her most interesting relationships, but she’s besties with a Black female nurse who helps her through this highly stressful, high-stakes situation with Allen.

8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented? Linda is a take-charge person who clearly states her needs, wants, and opinions—even when not being asked.

9. What could make this character special and unique? The shared love between Allen and Linda has spilled over into their collaboration as authors and mutual but different ways of relating to Leaf.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Actor attractors for “Jerry and Marge Go Large”

Vision for success from this program: Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is it felt authentic to envision creating a role that would attract big-name actors.

Movie Title: Jerry and Marge Go Large (Paramount+)

Lead Character Name: Jerry Selbee

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role? Jerry is a complex character who goes from being a person who is isolated in his retirement to the person who saves his small town and everyone likes and admires.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie? He’s a math whiz who combines his skill with intuition in ways that are uncharacteristic. He’s feeling irrelevant and having trouble adjusting to retirement.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie? He uses math to identify a flaw in the state lottery and hides betting their retirement saves on winning big money.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor? Jerry and Marge drive their beat-up truck through a dying small town while laughing and talking about luck. The next scene shows him presenting a complicated math code he’s broken at a meeting of managers for the company he’s worked at for 42 years. It’s clear he’s appreciated for being a line manager but no one is sorry to see him retire.

5. What is this character’s emotional range? He’s enthralled with math and has a compulsive need to understand the reason behind everything but this is softened by his social awkwardness and dry sense of humor.

6. What subtext can the actor play? Jerry needs to learn how to have fun and take risks. He’s hiding his lottery gambling from Marge and chokes when she tells their friends that they never play the lottery. He must figure out how to deal with the Harvard U. student antagonist who wants to demolish him and his chances of helping his town have a comeback.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has? Jerry’s relationship with his wife, Marge, drives the movie forward.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented? He explains his actions and the mathematics behind them to the town’s bank teller as he’s secretly withdrawing savings to play the lottery.

9. What makes this character special and unique? Mathematical genius who has issues relating to his wife, son, and daughter because he’s so poor at picking up on cues about their needs.

10. (Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.)

Jerry tells Marge he’s playing the lotter y and has won $15,000 due to finding a flaw in the game. He’s shocked and delighted when instead of being angry, Marge wants them to follow this lottery strategy and have fun. It will do wonders for their relationship and give him a purpose in his retirement.

Movie Title: Jerry and Marge Go Large

Lead Character Name: Marge Selbee

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role? Marge is determined to move from the staid and rigid life she’s living now into taking risks, having fun, and revitalizing her marriage.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie? She has a great sense of humor that she shares with Jerry. They find the same things to be funny. She makes unexpected decisions.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie? She totally goes for winning the lottery by using Jerry’s math code-breaking skills. She gives 100% to their journey of renewal—going over the top as if it’s a crime caper and they are on the run.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor? In their beat-up truck with Jerry, laughing, and wondering about their future. Then at the dinner table with friends while Jerry speculates what he’ll do in retirement. She wants nothing to do with him horning in on her role of running the household or supervising.

5. What is this character’s emotional range? Marge starts as an older housewife who has everything just-so to using her creativity to win the lottery repeatedly.

6. What subtext can the actor play? She sees her husband is hiding something from her and tries to get him to talk. She knows he’s awkward with relationships and repeatedly helps him find ways to show others the qualities she loves about Jerry.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has? With Jerry

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented? In the scene where he confesses he’s betting on the lottery, she says, “It’s time to take a risk. . .Be a little stupid. . .We need something for us to talk about.”

9. What makes this character special and unique? She plays against what you’d expect the wife of a recent retiree would do, given they’re not financially independent and need more money.

10. (Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.) (Same as Jerry’s #10 above.)

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Genre Conventions

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned doing this assignment is it made me intensify the stakes and drama.

Title:
Ticket to Live

· Concept: The true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and an abandoned dog with BIG issues who team up to bring light into their darkest places.

Genre: Drama/Buddy Movie

Conventions for chosen genre:

· Purpose: emotional and interpersonal high stakes

· Character-Driven Journey: internal journey drives film’s events

· High Stakes Come from Within: struggles, obstacles, stakes from within vs. external pressures

· Emotionally Resonates: moved by characters’ emotions and experiences of events

· Challenging, Emotionally-Charged Situations: challenged to their core

· Real-Life Situations: grounded in reality

4-Act Structure: (New genre-inspired conventions are underlined)

Act 1:

Opening: Allen, as a police officer, is ambushed by a criminal aiming a gun at his head.

Inciting Incident: Allen’s doctor tells him he has a brain aneurysm that could burst at any time and requires brain surgery. He’s facing another type of gun pointed at his head and it triggers his PTSD from eight years of police-work in which violence was a steady factor.

Turning Point: Allen simultaneously commits to the severely emotionally damaged dog, Leaf, he’s recently rescued and brain surgery that debilitated his father for the rest of his life with a stroke from the same condition.

Act 2:

New plan: Allen stuffs down his emotions with methodical plans and paperwork to prepare for the possibility of his death, and tries to cope with Leaf’s emotional issues with dog training.

Plan in action: Allen creates a “memo” to tell his wife, Linda, about the condition and need for brain surgery and a Manual to show how to do everything with bills, etc. in case he dies. Their conversation about the surgery and possibility of dying ends with hugs and tears—exactly what he’d hope writing a “memo” to her with the facts would avoid. Leaf passes dog training classes but doesn’t get calmer at home or with strangers.

Midpoint Turning Point: Leaf and Allen are bonding, but the dog turns their home into a war zone, growls at strangers, bites the groomer, and risks being euthanized. Allen and Linda don’t know if Leaf bites or scares someone who reports the dog to animal control, will he be taken away before they can help him heal deep-seated fears from being abandoned? Now that Allen’s brain surgery is scheduled with a need for recovery time, he’s also in danger of losing his high-pressure job that requires travel and public speaking.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: Allen must face his fears and emotions and realizes he has very little control over the dog, Linda’s reactions to the situation, or the surgery outcomes.

New plan: Allen starts opening up to Linda about how he’s really feeling and begins looking at life from Leaf’s point of view to come to a greater understanding of how to survive. Stress and emotion are adversely affecting his chances of overcoming all the obstacles, so he’s renewing dedication to the spiritual practices that make him more centered and balanced.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Allen has a vivid, detailed dream that no one will give him a ticket to The Building of Life. He shares his dream with Linda in Leaf’s presence with Leaf afterward, tearing up newspaper into tiny pieces and trying to give them to Allen. Allen and Linda misinterpret his actions. Allen is told that now he also has a blood clot in a vein, aimed at his heart, that could kill him at any time. Fear mounts as he wonders, Will he die from the brain aneurysm bursting or a stroke from the blood clot?_PTSD memories haunt him more than ever. If he’s disabled, he’ll lose his job and health insurance.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Moments before Allen’s surgery, in his inner vision, Allen sees Leaf giving him his ticket to the Building of Life. He realizes this was what Leaf was trying to do when he tore up the newspaper into tiny pieces. The surgery is a nail-biter—much more involved and taking longer than expected. Linda is in the hospital chapel, hearing an emergency call for the neurosurgeon’s nurse to come to the operating room.

Resolution: Leaf becomes a key player in Allen’s touch-and-go recovery process. Allen accepts that he won’t be an invalid like his father and grows to trust Linda’s and Leaf’s love for him. He lets them help him heal and receive instead of always needing to be the one in charge. Bothe Allen and Leaf find their way from near-death and fear to renewed joy, trust, and love.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s 4 Act Transformational Structure

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned doing this assignment is sticking with the high points gave me more confidence in the structure.

· Concept: The true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and an abandoned dog with BIG issues who team up to bring light into their darkest places.

· Main Conflict: In this dual journey buddy movie, Allen and his dog, Leaf, are each challenged with emotional damage from their pasts as they face fears of Allen’s death or disability and the possibility of Leaf going back to the animal shelter or being euthanized.

· Old Ways, Allen, protagonist: Distrustful, introverted, emotionally damaged

· New Ways, Allen, protagonist: Open, resilient, optimistic, in charge of creating the life he wants for himself and his family

Act 1:

Opening: Allen, as a police officer, is ambushed by a criminal
aiming a gun at his head.
Inciting
Incident: Allen’s doctor tells him he
has a brain aneurysm that could burst at any time and requires brain
surgery.

Turning
Point: Allen commits to the surgery
even though his father was debilitated for the rest of his life with a
stroke from the same condition.

Act 2:

New
plan: Allen stuffs down his emotions
with methodical plans, paperwork, and coping with Leaf, the severely
emotionally damaged, abandoned dog he’s recently adopted to prepare for
the possibility of his death.

Plan
in action: Allen creates a “memo” to tell
his wife, Linda, about the condition and need for brain surgery and a Manual to show how to do everything with bills, etc. in case he dies.

Midpoint
Turning Point: Leaf and Allen are bonding,
but the dog turns their home into a war zone, growls at strangers, bites
the groomer, and risks animal control taking him away from his home or even,
being euthanized.

Act 3:

Rethink
everything: Allen has to face his fears
and emotions and realizes he has very little control over what’s happening
with him, the dog, and his wife’s reactions to the situation. </div><div>

New
plan: Allen starts opening up to Linda and looking at life from Leaf’s point of view to come to a greater
understanding of how to survive all this.

Turning
Point: Huge failure / Major shift:
Allen has a vivid, detailed dream that no one will give him a ticket to
The Building of Life. He shares his dream with Linda in Leaf’s presence
with startling consequences the couple misinterprets. Allen is told he
also now has a blood clot aimed at his heart that could kill him at any
time.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate
expression of the conflict:
Moments before Allen’s surgery, in his inner vision, Allen sees Leaf
giving him his ticket to the Building of Life. The surgery is a nail-biter—much
more involved and taking longer than expected with a Code Blue call.

Resolution: Leaf becomes a key player in Allen’s touch-and-go healing
and recovery, as he opens up emotionally and grows to trust Linda’s
and Leaf’s love for him.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Subtext Plot

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is I didn’t realize the potential for intriguing subtext until doing this lesson.

Concept: The true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and an abandoned dog with BIG issues who team up to bring light into their darkest place.

1) Layering: Allen is an ex-cop dealing with lingering PTSD and two new health issues that threaten his life. Underneath those fears lies the fact that his abusive career-military father had a stroke that left him disabled and incoherent, in a wheelchair, for the rest of his life. Will this also be Allen’s fate?

2) Superior Position: Allen and Linda don’t know that their emotionally damaged new rescue dog, Leaf, in his own creative way, reacts to Allen’s dream about impending death. They misinterpret Leaf’s actions. The true interpretation isn’t revealed to Allen until moments before he has the brain surgery that could kill or leave him in the same suffering state his father lived in for years after a stroke.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Transformational Journey

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is how terrific and helpful it is to identify these journeys and character arcs at the start of the outlining process.

Character Arc for Protagonist:

Arc Beginning: Allen is reliving a memory of an
incident as a cop with a gun pointed at his head when he was about to die.

Arc Ending: Allen and his adopted dog, Leaf, have
become good buddies who formed a human-animal friendship that healed
them both.

Internal/External Journey for Protagonist.

Internal Journey: From plagued by fear and anger to stronger,
more trusting, resilient, and loving

External Journey: From ex-cop with PTSD and two new threats to end his life to a person whose
relationship with a needy dog has pulled him through the toughest period
of his life.

Old Ways at the beginning and New Ways at the end for Protagonist.

Old Ways: Distrustful, introverted, emotionally damaged

New Ways: Open, resilient, optimistic, in charge of
creating the life he wants for himself and his family

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Intentional Lead Characters

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is this dual journey structure makes Life the Antagonist.

Concept Logline:

NOTE: This is a Buddy Movie with Two Characters Owning the Movie

What makes each of these characters unique:

Character: Allen is an ex-cop dealing with lingering PTSD who adopts
an emotionally shattered rescue dog shortly before the news that he has
two potentially fatal health issues—a brain aneurysm, which could rupture
at any time, and a blood clot aimed at his heart. <div>

Logline: The true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and an abandoned
dog with BIG issues who team up to bring light into their darkest place.

Unique:
Allen, with PTSD related to
policing and the new prospect of facing death or lifelong debilitation, struggles
to survive, while coping with an emotionally disturbed abandoned dog he
and his wife have recently adopted.

Character: Leaf is an abandoned, homeless dog with severe
separation anxiety and other fear-related issues who turns Allen’s home
into a war zone, which could result in again needing to fend for himself
in a loveless world.

Logline: The true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and an abandoned
dog with BIG issues who team up to bring light into their darkest place.

Unique:
Leaf’s fear-filled memories of people
in the past who betrayed him make the year-old dog deeply unable to adapt
and trust that this is his “forever” home.

</div>

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Linda Anderson.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Linda Anderson.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Title, Concept, and Character Structure!

Vision for your success from this program:

Audiences around the world view and love my meaningful screenplays—one of the most satisfying and energizing accomplishments of my life.

What I learned from doing this assignment is I didn’t know there was a Buddy Movie character structure. It’s perfect for my movie.

Title: Ticket to Live

Concept: An ex-cop with PTSD and an abandoned dog with BIG issues team up to bring light into their darkest places—based on a New York Times bestselling memoir.

Character Structure: Buddy Movie with Two Characters Owning the Story

[Linda Anderson]

Hi Screenwriters,

My name is Linda Anderson. I’ve written 4 screenplays and 4 stage plays. In this class, I’m hoping to adapt into a screenplay, the New York Times bestselling memoir that my husband and I co-wrote.

I’m co-author of 17 books about the remarkable relationships between people and animals. We wrote these books over a twenty-year period. They were published by numerous publishing companies and translated into multiple languages. It was quite a ride. Now that I’ve retired from that type of writing, I’m looking forward to learning all I can about how to write and sell successful screenplays. It’s on my bucket list!

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson

I agree to the terms of this release form.

GROUP 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.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by  Linda Anderson.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Three Gradients

I learned that the emotional gradients helped me (& the audience) connect better with the characters.

Using Emotional Gradient, Desired Change.

A. Emotion: Excitement

B. Action: Tanji convinces Major Sloan he do an impossible task. Sees it as an opportunity for proving his worth.

C. Challenge / Weakness: The one-week timeline and his lack of experience with what it will take to accomplish the task make him overconfident and naïve.

A. Emotion: Doubt

B. Action: Wasn’t expecting depth of sadness from going through effects of fallen soldiers and mourning loss of life.

C. Challenge / Weakness: Details of lives never allowed to be lived challenges his self-confident. He’s not good at coping with his emotions or those of others.

A. Emotion: Hope

B. Action: Adiba helps Tanji with encouragement and her spiritual perspective until he realizes he can do this.

C. Challenge / Weakness: Major Sloan and Rev. Wilkes don’t believe in Tanji and his intellectually distant ways of viewing how God works in people’s lives. He over-intellectualizes and relies too much on dogma.

A. Emotion: Discouragement

B. Action: Tanji is devastated by Adiba’s death and has a crisis of faith, dark night of soul.

C. Challenge/Weakness: He must trust that showing his true feelings to the battalion chaplain commander will give him support. His fallback position has always been an either/or kind of faith with no nuances.

A. Emotion: Courage

B. Action: Tanji pushes through to finish the task.

C. Challenge/Weakeness: Rebelling against Rev.Wilke’s ways and expectations instead of focusing on how he wants to minister as a war chaplain.

A. Emotion: Triumph

B. B. Action: Tanji stops Mario from committing suicide. Major Sloan awards him a service medal. Adiba communicates that she loves him.

C. Challenge/Weakness: Major Sloan must witness and accept Tanji as a hero. Tanji is not the touchy-feely type, like his father, but now he knows how to offer empathy and honesty in a highly emotional and dangerous situation

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Projects and Insights

Projects for this class:

1) K-9 Girl, family film, $1-5 million budget

2) Chaplains of War, contained movie war drama, $1-5 million budget

I learned from the opening teleconference that I have to write more great screenplays in the genre for which I want to have paid writing assignments.

[Linda Anderson]

Lesson 4-A Assignment

Linda’s Lead Characters

I learned that each of these questions has helped me continue to flesh out the characters, their interactions, and their personal journeys.

1. Transformational journey logline.

A military chaplain on his first tour of duty in Iraq rejects his father’s type of ministering and finds his own way to gain the respect he’s always wanted while suffering debilitating loss and eventually becoming a selfless hero.

2. Change Agent is base commander Major Sloan who just wants to get all his troops to safety after an insurgent’s bombing destroys most of Camp Wolf base. Nothing matters more than staying alive. This vision is based on years of war experience in Afghanistan and now, Iraq. It has hardened him into a man who is furious with God, if there even is a God.

3. Transformable Character(s):

Tanji, a young military chaplain, is the main Transformable Character because the dark night of soul he experiences doing Mortuary and ministerial duties plunges the other characters and himself into danger.

Major Sloan, the base commander, is a Transformable Character because his wound/secret is that he used to rely on a loving and protective God, but war has knocked all that out of him. Tanji is the key to his finding peace with a spirituality that doesn’t fit his old beliefs.

Mario (see below).

Adiba, the base Iraqi interpreter, is a Transformable Character because she clings to the promise of immigrating to America (where the streets are paved with gold) in exchange for helping Major Sloan communicate with people in her home village near the base. Her faith in Islam is unshakable, but her brother is joining the insurgents. A budding love for Christian Tanji puts her into crisis of a forbidden longing for an Infidel.

4. The Oppression is the relentless Iraq war where insurgents have destroyed most of Camp Wolf in a nighttime attack on this small, isolated base. If they discover anyone is still there, they will finish the job.

5. Betraying Character: Mario, Tanji’s Chaplain’s Assistant, is a reluctant turncoat who Major Sloan recruits to deliver information that will enable him to get Tanji out of Iraq. Mario has concluded that Tanji isn’t cut out to be a war-zone chaplain and is a danger to himself and others. Mario’s treachery of Tanji and loss of his best friend in the base attack puts him over the edge emotionally.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Transformational Journey

I learned to be more specific about the Old and New Ways to make the transformation more compelling

1. Tell us your logline for the transformational journey.

In 2004, a young military chaplain, on his first tour of duty in Iraq, persuades his war-hardened commander to let him and two others stay behind when their bombed-out base is evacuation, even though he’s risking all their lives to fulfill a sacred promise to 20 fallen soldiers.

2. Tell us what you see as the Old Ways.

Inexperienced, superiority complex, rejecting how his father taught him to minister, not good with warmth and relationships, intellectual approach to being a chaplain

3. Tell us what you see as the New Ways.

Wiser and more empathetic, nonjudgmental, knows the benefit of warmth in relationships, sees his father’s ways as an asset, in touch with his deep emotions, willing to put himself on the line for others

[Linda Anderson]

Hi Everyone. My name is Linda Anderson. I’ve written 4 screenplays, 4 stage plays, and 12 books.

My stage plays and books won national writing awards and were all produced at theaters and the books were published by publishing companies. One book became a New York Times bestseller. I don’t have any optioned or produced screenplays–yet. That’s what I’m hoping to learn how to do in this class.

I’ve been working a full-time job for six years but am now returning to my true love of writing creatively and sharing what I love with audiences. Very excited about it. Love ScreenwritingU classes.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson

I agree to the terms of this release form.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s First Three Decisions

I learned that I’m not sure if my Entertainment Vehicle is entertaining even though war stories are often very successful.

My three decisions are:

1. What is your profound truth?

Love is greater than dogma or a belief system

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?

How can we be more tolerant of people who don’t believe as we do? Of The Other?

3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?

Story is set in a war battleground where the stakes are life and death

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Analysis of Groundhog Day

I learned that I had a more satisfying experience of the movie when I analyzed the transformational journey and am learning the steps for how to create one in my own writing.

The Change/Transformational Journey: Phil transforms from a bored, sarcastic jerk who thinks nothing he does matters to a man who has found meaning in his life by loving and caring about others people.

Change Agent: Rita; she’s a producer and is unknowingly producing a new script for Phil’s life.

Transformable Character: Phil is such a self-centered egotist that he’s great for showing how caring about others makes life worth living.

Oppression: reliving the same day

Lured into the profound journey; connect with the story: Phil is so unhappy due to his own attitudes that it’s interesting to see how and why he will find happiness. And there’s the possibility of a love interest with Rita.

Characters who changed the most:

Phil: Old way–bored, sarcastic, believes nothing new ever happens in his life; New way: engaged, considerate, sincere, appreciates a life that involves relationships with others

Rita: Old way–superior attitude, rigid, naive; New way: willing to give Phil the space to change and grow, appreciative of his versatility

Gradients of change: Moved from

*glib

*self-serving and egotistical

*breaking all the rules

*manipulating to get what he wants from people

*failing miserably at break the loop with his old and desperate ways

*trying to get Rita to believe he’s a god

*making use of the time by taking piano lessons, helping people, even saving lives

*dropping the sarcasm and performing acts of kindness

*being beloved by the townspeople

*sincerely loving and being loved by Rita

Old ways challenged: being mean and sarcastic aren’t serving him well; starts feeling better about himself and life when he begins to care for and save the lives of the town homeless man, the boy falling from the tree, the insurance agent

Most profound moments:

He cares about the homeless man and is troubled when he dies the first time

When he’s truly falling in love with Rita and is deeply disappointed that he’s still in the loop

The party when Rita bids on him with everything in her checking account

Profound lines:

“Ned: What are you doing for dinner?” Phil: “Something else.”

“What if there isn’t a tomorrow?”

“If you only had one day to live, what do you do?”

“What do you want out of life?

“No matter what happens for the rest of my life, I’m happy now.”

Ending Payoff from Setups: Rita wants nothing to do with him and she’s in love with him by the end. He’s a jerk at the beginning and a nice guy at the end.

Profound Truth: Love makes an endless day happy and fulfilling.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Outline

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s good for a first draft but as I continue the SU coursework, it’s going to keep getting more focused and better.

Title: TBD

Genre: Drama, War story

Written by: Linda Anderson

Logline: In 2004, a young military chaplain, on his first tour of duty in Iraq, persuades his war-hardened commander to let him and two others stay behind when their bombed-out base is evacuated, even though he’s risking all their lives to fulfill a sacred promise to 20 fallen soldiers.

Concept: What if a chaplain in a dangerous war zone has to fulfill his commitment to fallen soldiers and their loved ones but he’s going through a dark night of soul?

Main Conflict: Serving in the military during the Iraq (Bush’s) War conflicts with a chaplain following in his father’s footsteps as pastor of a large southern congregation.

Act 1:

OPENING

Scene 1:

EXT. CAMP WOLF IRAQ—DAY

A demolished, evacuated FOB (Forward Operating Base). A few torn tents remain standing. Makeshift signs outside them say “Mortuary,” “Chaplains Tent,” “Command,” “Chapel,” and “Internet Cafe. The only thing left of the chapel is a crucifix flipped on its side amidst the rubble.

SUPERSCRIPT: 2004, Camp Wolf, Iraq

INCITING INCIDENT

Scene 2:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–DAY

A lineup of 20 standing rifles capped by soldiers’ helmets, with a small pile of effects and soldiers’ boots in front of each. The last one has only a rifle and boots.

Rev. TANJI WILKES looks at the display of all that remains of 20 fallen soldiers who were killed in a surprise insurgent attack on the small base. He makes a promise that he’ll find their families and loved ones and tell them what happened here.

Scene 3:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

While MAJOR SLOAN clears out debris, Tanji and his Chaplain’s Assistant, MARIO CHAVEZ, try to persuade him to let them stay behind and keep Tanji’s sacred promise to the fallen soldiers. Major Sloan, a war-hardened atheist, is a hard sell. They must stay to protect Tanji and the remains. Insurgents could attack again if they think someone is still there. IEDs and explosives could be hidden in the rubble. Still, he wants the families to have closure.

 

Scene 4:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ–DAY

Devout and devoted Mario tells Major Sloan he’s not enthusiastic about the plan but Tanji is an unarmed chaplain and relies on him to do his job. Going through remains spooks him out. Hasn’t heard anything from his best buddy, Trey, in the chaos of fast evacuation to a nearby base. Major Sloan reveals he doesn’t think chaplains are worth his spit. Tanji is too inexperienced to pull off this plan. Could get all of them killed.

Scene 5:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–DAY

The base’s Iraqi interpreter, ADIBA, arrives from the nearby village to see if there are any survivors after the bombing. Tanji is holding a soldier’s Quran. Asks Adiba to do a prayer for the Muslim soldier.

Major Sloan tells Adiba it’s not safe to return to her village. Too much anger that she helped Americans. Promises to apply for her to emigrate to America after serving as base translator. Tanji gets Major Sloan to let Adiba help with sifting through the soldiers’ effects.

After Major Sloan exists, Adiba reveals her greatest hope is to be an American girl.

Scene 6:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–DAY

Tanji and Adiba catalog and take notes on the soldiers’ effects. Adiba tells Tanji she fears her brother Baqir is being recruited by insurgent Sunnis. Tanji spouts scripture and some doctrine from divinity school. He confesses to not being like his father, REV. WILKES, who is great at giving personal comfort. Adiba reassures him he’ll get better at it with more experience.

Scene 7:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ–DAY

Mario researches and finds chaplains on bases where fallen soldiers families live. Keeps trying to find out if anyone at other bases in Iraq or the states have seen Trey. No one has.

Tanji struggles to write letters to forward to the chaplains so they can deliver the news to families. Adiba helps him put more of his heart into them. She asks Tanji to let her read the last letter he wrote to Rev. Wilkes. It reveals how Tanji knows he’s disappointed his father by not taking over their South Carolina congregation and ministry. Tanji says he needs his own ministry and mission, not his father’s and thinks being a military chaplain would do it for him.

He tells Adiba that instead of fulfillment, he’s seeing humans at their worst. Neither Tanji’s formal training nor the touchy-feely ways his father deals with his congregation work for him. He knows mortuary soldiers who break down with nightmares and PTSD from doing this job. Tanji tells Adiba about Rev. Wilkes’s belief that anyone who hasn’t accepted Jesus as their personal savior will go to hell. He rejects that view and has promised to be chaplain to all.

Mario overhears Tanji and Adiba. Prays to Jesus to help Tanji become a true believer again. Watching them confiding in each other, he looks worried.

Scene 8:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—DAY

Tanji finds a Jewish prayer for the dead in a pile of books that remain after the attack.

Scene 9:

INT. MORTUARY TENT—NIGHT

Tanji stands in front of a soldier’s helmet and effects, which contain a miniature Torah. He reads the Jewish Prayer for the Dead. Bows his head in prayer.

TURNING POINT:

Scene 10:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–NIGHT

A flare lights up a section of the base. Major Sloan shouts over loudspeaker for everyone to take cover. Adiba sees what looks like a man in the shadows. She hears BAQIR’S VOICE yelling to ask her if the American infidels are holding her captive. Before Major Sloan shoots at the shadow of Baqir, Adiba and Tanji plead with him not to kill her brother. Major Sloan shoots at the fleeing shadow. He says that now the insurgents know the base isn’t deserted.

Act 2:

Scene 11:

INT. INTERNET CAFE—DAY

Rev. Wilks gets through on a phone call to Tanji. He asks how many souls Tanji saved for Jesus over there in Bush’s war. Tells him Felicity, Tanji’s ex-fiancé, has told him that she still loves Tanji. They both want him to come home. Adiba enters and hears Tanji talking about Felicity. Tanji tells Adiba why things didn’t work out with Felicity.

Scene 12:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—NIGHT

Tanji’s chaplain battalion commander, Father Jim, calls from another base to find out how Tanji is doing. He’s heard about the attack on Camp Wolf. Tanji reveals his plunge into a dark night of soul. He’s losing his faith in a God he can trust to protect him.

Scene 13:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

Adiba asks if Major Sloan has gotten her approved to go to America. Tells him she’s in love with Tanji and wants to marry him. She’s anxious God will condemn her for loving an infidel and Baqir—the only family she has left–will disown her. Major Sloan is furious with Tanji for leading her on when he knows the risks.

NEW PLAN:

Scene 14:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

Against regulations, Major Sloan recruits Mario, to report back to him. He’s determined to get rid of Tanji.

PLAN IN ACTION:

Scene 15

EXT. CHAPEL TENT—NIGHT

Major Sloan commands Mario to help him pull out the toppled crucifix from the chapel, rants at God, and burns what’s left of it. He tells Mario that he used to believe but has seen too much and doesn’t trust in love anymore.

Scene 16:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—DAY

Adiba asks Mario to pry open a vending machine. She pulls out health bars, chips, and nuts while he watches. She asks him for a couple Military Rations packets. He gets them for her from a pile on the floor. When he asks what she’s doing, she says it’s a surprise for Tanji. He warns her against falling in love with Tanji if she wants Major Sloan to help her get to America.

Scene 17:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—DAY

Tanji writes to tell Felicity he can’t renew his relationship with her or join in her dreams of being a minister in an uptown church. He doesn’t know his future yet, but that’s not it.

Scene 18:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—NIGHT

Adiba brings a pot of stew, a couple of flashlights, and paper plates and arranges them on a folding table. This is her version of a romantic dinner. While they eat it, they tentatively talk about what could be in their future.

Scene 19:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—NIGHT

A mysterious light flashes from outside the tent. It seems otherworldly to Tanji and Adiba. It’s accompanied by a beautiful sound. Adiba concludes that God has smiled on them and their hopes for a future together.

MIDPOINT TURNING POINT:

Scene 20:

EXT. CHAPEL—NIGHT

The shadow of Baqir looms on a sand hill above Camp Wolf. He’s wearing a bomb vest. Baqir detonates the vest. Mario jumps on Tanji and shields him with his body, keeping him from being hurt, but Mario is bleeding. Adiba is struck by shrapnel. Tanji crawls out from under Mario and makes to Adiba. She’s too badly injured to tell him she loves him and dies in his arms.

Major Sloan finds them and pulls Tanji away from Adiba. He blames Tanji for her death and Mario’s injury.

 

Act 3:

Scene 21:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—NIGHT

Tanji is devastated at Adiba’s death. His prayers reveal his anger at a God who would allow such carnage.

Scene 22:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT–DAY

Mario, only slightly wounded and recovering, runs in to tell Tanji he has a phone call from the states. Tanji asks why Mario saved his life. Mario says it was his duty. Tanji thanks him but wonders if it would have been best for everyone if he’d died with Adiba. Mario realizes Tanji actually did love her.

RETHINK EVERYTHING:

Scene 23:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—DAY

Felicity calls Tanji to tell him Rev. Wilkes has had a heart attack and wants him to come home and take over the congregation.

Tanji calls Father Jim. Tells him about Adina’s loss. The pain of fulfilling his task for the fallen soldiers has broken him. Tells Father Jim about the spiritual experience the night of Adina’s death. Father Jim wonders if it could have God warning them of danger. Tanji rejects that interpretation. Why didn’t God save them? Admits he can’t handle being a military chaplain.

NEW PLAN:

Scene 24:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

Tanji tells Major Sloan he’s finished all but the last soldier’s notifications. There is only the rifle and shoes for the one left, and he can’t figure out this soldier’s identity. He requests an emergency family leave. Major Sloan tells him to make it permanent. He’s not cut out for a war zone. He’ll help make that happen.

INT. COMMAND TENT—DAY

Scene 25:

Major Sloan grills Mario about what he’s found that could make a case for dismissing Tanji from duty. Mario is conflicted about the betrayal. All he has is Tanji’s relationship with Adiba which is against regulations. Major Sloan says he’ll take it.

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ–DAY

Scene 26:

Mario is searching on the computer and anxious that he hasn’t heard from Trey. Tanji helps Mario in the search. Mario explains why Trey meant so much to him—a guy who has dozens of lovesick girls writing to him and makes Camp Wolf soldiers in the Internet Café laugh at his escapades. Trey showed Mario respect even when others ridiculed him for his fervent devotion to his God, duty, and country.

TURNING POINT:

Scene 27:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT–NIGHT

Tanji writes to Rev. Wilkes to tell him he’s coming home. He’s a failure in Iraq.

Act 4:

Scene 28:

EXT. CHAPEL–DAY

Mario finds Trey’s helmet at the bottom of a heap of rubble. He’s overcome with grief and rage.

FINAL PLAN:

Scene 29:

EXT. CHAPEL–DAY

Mario arms himself to commit suicide and maybe blow them all up. Major Sloan orders Tanji to let him take care of Mario. He may have to shoot him. Tanji argues that he’s the only one Tanji trusts, because chaplains don’t carry weapons. He disobeys command and goes to minister to Mario.

PLACEHOLDER:

Important and wise things Adiba and his father have told him in the past that now give him guidance on how to help Mario.

CLIMAX:

Scene 30:

EXT. CHAPEL–DAY

Tanji keeps Mario from blowing up Tanji and himself. Mario agrees to get psych help. Mario hands his weapons over to Tanji.

Tanji stops Major Sloan from shooting at Mario by telling him he’s now unarmed. Mario is crying as Tanji brings him to Major Sloan, who feels guilt over having conflicted him. Mario thanks him for saving his life.

RESOLUTION:

Scene 31:

INT. COMMAND TENT—DAY

Tanji has proven to Major Sloan and himself that he’s a courageous military chaplain. While Tanji is home on emergency leave, Major Sloan recommends him for a service medal for saving Mario.

EXT. CHAPEL—DAY

Scene 32:

At the ceremony where Major Sloan awards Tanji a medal, Adiba appears in the mist and declares her love for Tanji.

 

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—DAY

Scene 33:

Tanji speaks on the phone to his father. He tells him he’s finishing his tour of duty and has found his purpose. Rev. Wilkes understands what being his own man and serving God in his own way means to his son.

***

First thing to solve: Why does Major Sloan hate Tanji so much? Where does this become known?

Second thing to solve: What does Major Sloan do while the others work on the task? Does he eventually start helping? Why?

Third thing: How does Tanji communicate with the families? How many? (Idea: uses Skype phone to contact base chaplains where families live.)

Fourth thing: When does this start and finish? When do they find out there were no weapons of mass destruction? How to build in the events of the war?

Fifth: need more about how sifting through effects of fallen soldiers makes each character come to terms with life and death, what’s important to them, and a test of their faith

Sixth: more about the soldiers and lives they lived; how it relates to Tanji and his daddy issues; Tanji’s letter home

Seventh: anything about history of military chaplains? When? How? Add as Superscript to end of movie?

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Outline

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s good for a first draft but as I continue the SU coursework, it’s going to keep getting more focused and better.

Title: TBD

Genre: Drama, War story

Written by: Linda Anderson

Logline: In 2004, a young military chaplain, on his first tour of duty in Iraq, persuades his war-hardened commander to let him and two others stay behind when their bombed-out base is evacuated, even though he’s risking all their lives to fulfill a sacred promise to 20 fallen soldiers.

Concept: What if a chaplain in a dangerous war zone has to fulfill his commitment to fallen soldiers and their loved ones but he’s going through a dark night of soul?

Main Conflict: Serving in the military during the Iraq (Bush’s) War conflicts with a chaplain following in his father’s footsteps as pastor of a large southern congregation.

Act 1:

OPENING

Scene 1:

EXT. CAMP WOLF IRAQ—DAY

A demolished, evacuated FOB (Forward Operating Base). A few torn tents remain standing. Makeshift signs outside them say “Mortuary,” “Chaplains Tent,” “Command,” “Chapel,” and “Internet Cafe. The only thing left of the chapel is a crucifix flipped on its side amidst the rubble.

SUPERSCRIPT: 2004, Camp Wolf, Iraq

INCITING INCIDENT

Scene 2:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–DAY

A lineup of 20 standing rifles capped by soldiers’ helmets, with a small pile of effects and soldiers’ boots in front of each. The last one has only a rifle and boots.

Rev. TANJI WILKES looks at the display of all that remains of 20 fallen soldiers who were killed in a surprise insurgent attack on the small base. He makes a promise that he’ll find their families and loved ones and tell them what happened here.

Scene 3:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

While MAJOR SLOAN clears out debris, Tanji and his Chaplain’s Assistant, MARIO CHAVEZ, try to persuade him to let them stay behind and keep Tanji’s sacred promise to the fallen soldiers. Major Sloan, a war-hardened atheist, is a hard sell. They must stay to protect Tanji and the remains. Insurgents could attack again if they think someone is still there. IEDs and explosives could be hidden in the rubble. Still, he wants the families to have closure.

 

Scene 4:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ–DAY

Devout and devoted Mario tells Major Sloan he’s not enthusiastic about the plan but Tanji is an unarmed chaplain and relies on him to do his job. Going through remains spooks him out. Hasn’t heard anything from his best buddy, Trey, in the chaos of fast evacuation to a nearby base. Major Sloan reveals he doesn’t think chaplains are worth his spit. Tanji is too inexperienced to pull off this plan. Could get all of them killed.

Scene 5:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–DAY

The base’s Iraqi interpreter, ADIBA, arrives from the nearby village to see if there are any survivors after the bombing. Tanji is holding a soldier’s Quran. Asks Adiba to do a prayer for the Muslim soldier.

Major Sloan tells Adiba it’s not safe to return to her village. Too much anger that she helped Americans. Promises to apply for her to emigrate to America after serving as base translator. Tanji gets Major Sloan to let Adiba help with sifting through the soldiers’ effects.

After Major Sloan exists, Adiba reveals her greatest hope is to be an American girl.

Scene 6:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–DAY

Tanji and Adiba catalog and take notes on the soldiers’ effects. Adiba tells Tanji she fears her brother Baqir is being recruited by insurgent Sunnis. Tanji spouts scripture and some doctrine from divinity school. He confesses to not being like his father, REV. WILKES, who is great at giving personal comfort. Adiba reassures him he’ll get better at it with more experience.

Scene 7:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ–DAY

Mario researches and finds chaplains on bases where fallen soldiers families live. Keeps trying to find out if anyone at other bases in Iraq or the states have seen Trey. No one has.

Tanji struggles to write letters to forward to the chaplains so they can deliver the news to families. Adiba helps him put more of his heart into them. She asks Tanji to let her read the last letter he wrote to Rev. Wilkes. It reveals how Tanji knows he’s disappointed his father by not taking over their South Carolina congregation and ministry. Tanji says he needs his own ministry and mission, not his father’s and thinks being a military chaplain would do it for him.

He tells Adiba that instead of fulfillment, he’s seeing humans at their worst. Neither Tanji’s formal training nor the touchy-feely ways his father deals with his congregation work for him. He knows mortuary soldiers who break down with nightmares and PTSD from doing this job. Tanji tells Adiba about Rev. Wilkes’s belief that anyone who hasn’t accepted Jesus as their personal savior will go to hell. He rejects that view and has promised to be chaplain to all.

Mario overhears Tanji and Adiba. Prays to Jesus to help Tanji become a true believer again. Watching them confiding in each other, he looks worried.

Scene 8:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—DAY

Tanji finds a Jewish prayer for the dead in a pile of books that remain after the attack.

Scene 9:

INT. MORTUARY TENT—NIGHT

Tanji stands in front of a soldier’s helmet and effects, which contain a miniature Torah. He reads the Jewish Prayer for the Dead. Bows his head in prayer.

TURNING POINT:

Scene 10:

INT. MORTUARY TENT–NIGHT

A flare lights up a section of the base. Major Sloan shouts over loudspeaker for everyone to take cover. Adiba sees what looks like a man in the shadows. She hears BAQIR’S VOICE yelling to ask her if the American infidels are holding her captive. Before Major Sloan shoots at the shadow of Baqir, Adiba and Tanji plead with him not to kill her brother. Major Sloan shoots at the fleeing shadow. He says that now the insurgents know the base isn’t deserted.

Act 2:

Scene 11:

INT. INTERNET CAFE—DAY

Rev. Wilks gets through on a phone call to Tanji. He asks how many souls Tanji saved for Jesus over there in Bush’s war. Tells him Felicity, Tanji’s ex-fiancé, has told him that she still loves Tanji. They both want him to come home. Adiba enters and hears Tanji talking about Felicity. Tanji tells Adiba why things didn’t work out with Felicity.

Scene 12:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—NIGHT

Tanji’s chaplain battalion commander, Father Jim, calls from another base to find out how Tanji is doing. He’s heard about the attack on Camp Wolf. Tanji reveals his plunge into a dark night of soul. He’s losing his faith in a God he can trust to protect him.

Scene 13:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

Adiba asks if Major Sloan has gotten her approved to go to America. Tells him she’s in love with Tanji and wants to marry him. She’s anxious God will condemn her for loving an infidel and Baqir—the only family she has left–will disown her. Major Sloan is furious with Tanji for leading her on when he knows the risks.

NEW PLAN:

Scene 14:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

Against regulations, Major Sloan recruits Mario, to report back to him. He’s determined to get rid of Tanji.

PLAN IN ACTION:

Scene 15

EXT. CHAPEL TENT—NIGHT

Major Sloan commands Mario to help him pull out the toppled crucifix from the chapel, rants at God, and burns what’s left of it. He tells Mario that he used to believe but has seen too much and doesn’t trust in love anymore.

Scene 16:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—DAY

Adiba asks Mario to pry open a vending machine. She pulls out health bars, chips, and nuts while he watches. She asks him for a couple Military Rations packets. He gets them for her from a pile on the floor. When he asks what she’s doing, she says it’s a surprise for Tanji. He warns her against falling in love with Tanji if she wants Major Sloan to help her get to America.

Scene 17:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—DAY

Tanji writes to tell Felicity he can’t renew his relationship with her or join in her dreams of being a minister in an uptown church. He doesn’t know his future yet, but that’s not it.

Scene 18:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—NIGHT

Adiba brings a pot of stew, a couple of flashlights, and paper plates and arranges them on a folding table. This is her version of a romantic dinner. While they eat it, they tentatively talk about what could be in their future.

Scene 19:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—NIGHT

A mysterious light flashes from outside the tent. It seems otherworldly to Tanji and Adiba. It’s accompanied by a beautiful sound. Adiba concludes that God has smiled on them and their hopes for a future together.

MIDPOINT TURNING POINT:

Scene 20:

EXT. CHAPEL—NIGHT

The shadow of Baqir looms on a sand hill above Camp Wolf. He’s wearing a bomb vest. Baqir detonates the vest. Mario jumps on Tanji and shields him with his body, keeping him from being hurt, but Mario is bleeding. Adiba is struck by shrapnel. Tanji crawls out from under Mario and makes to Adiba. She’s too badly injured to tell him she loves him and dies in his arms.

Major Sloan finds them and pulls Tanji away from Adiba. He blames Tanji for her death and Mario’s injury.

 

Act 3:

Scene 21:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT—NIGHT

Tanji is devastated at Adiba’s death. His prayers reveal his anger at a God who would allow such carnage.

Scene 22:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT–DAY

Mario, only slightly wounded and recovering, runs in to tell Tanji he has a phone call from the states. Tanji asks why Mario saved his life. Mario says it was his duty. Tanji thanks him but wonders if it would have been best for everyone if he’d died with Adiba. Mario realizes Tanji actually did love her.

RETHINK EVERYTHING:

Scene 23:

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—DAY

Felicity calls Tanji to tell him Rev. Wilkes has had a heart attack and wants him to come home and take over the congregation.

Tanji calls Father Jim. Tells him about Adina’s loss. The pain of fulfilling his task for the fallen soldiers has broken him. Tells Father Jim about the spiritual experience the night of Adina’s death. Father Jim wonders if it could have God warning them of danger. Tanji rejects that interpretation. Why didn’t God save them? Admits he can’t handle being a military chaplain.

NEW PLAN:

Scene 24:

INT. COMMAND TENT–DAY

Tanji tells Major Sloan he’s finished all but the last soldier’s notifications. There is only the rifle and shoes for the one left, and he can’t figure out this soldier’s identity. He requests an emergency family leave. Major Sloan tells him to make it permanent. He’s not cut out for a war zone. He’ll help make that happen.

INT. COMMAND TENT—DAY

Scene 25:

Major Sloan grills Mario about what he’s found that could make a case for dismissing Tanji from duty. Mario is conflicted about the betrayal. All he has is Tanji’s relationship with Adiba which is against regulations. Major Sloan says he’ll take it.

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ–DAY

Scene 26:

Mario is searching on the computer and anxious that he hasn’t heard from Trey. Tanji helps Mario in the search. Mario explains why Trey meant so much to him—a guy who has dozens of lovesick girls writing to him and makes Camp Wolf soldiers in the Internet Café laugh at his escapades. Trey showed Mario respect even when others ridiculed him for his fervent devotion to his God, duty, and country.

TURNING POINT:

Scene 27:

INT. CHAPLAIN’S TENT–NIGHT

Tanji writes to Rev. Wilkes to tell him he’s coming home. He’s a failure in Iraq.

Act 4:

Scene 28:

EXT. CHAPEL–DAY

Mario finds Trey’s helmet at the bottom of a heap of rubble. He’s overcome with grief and rage.

FINAL PLAN:

Scene 29:

EXT. CHAPEL–DAY

Mario arms himself to commit suicide and maybe blow them all up. Major Sloan orders Tanji to let him take care of Mario. He may have to shoot him. Tanji argues that he’s the only one Tanji trusts, because chaplains don’t carry weapons. He disobeys command and goes to minister to Mario.

PLACEHOLDER:

Important and wise things Adiba and his father have told him in the past that now give him guidance on how to help Mario.

CLIMAX:

Scene 30:

EXT. CHAPEL–DAY

Tanji keeps Mario from blowing up Tanji and himself. Mario agrees to get psych help. Mario hands his weapons over to Tanji.

Tanji stops Major Sloan from shooting at Mario by telling him he’s now unarmed. Mario is crying as Tanji brings him to Major Sloan, who feels guilt over having conflicted him. Mario thanks him for saving his life.

RESOLUTION:

Scene 31:

INT. COMMAND TENT—DAY

Tanji has proven to Major Sloan and himself that he’s a courageous military chaplain. While Tanji is home on emergency leave, Major Sloan recommends him for a service medal for saving Mario.

EXT. CHAPEL—DAY

Scene 32:

At the ceremony where Major Sloan awards Tanji a medal, Adiba appears in the mist and declares her love for Tanji.

 

INT. INTERNET CAFÉ—DAY

Scene 33:

Tanji speaks on the phone to his father. He tells him he’s finishing his tour of duty and has found his purpose. Rev. Wilkes understands what being his own man and serving God in his own way means to his son.

***

First thing to solve: Why does Major Sloan hate Tanji so much? Where does this become known?

Second thing to solve: What does Major Sloan do while the others work on the task? Does he eventually start helping? Why?

Third thing: How does Tanji communicate with the families? How many? (Idea: uses Skype phone to contact base chaplains where families live.)

Fourth thing: When does this start and finish? When do they find out there were no weapons of mass destruction? How to build in the events of the war?

Fifth: need more about how sifting through effects of fallen soldiers makes each character come to terms with life and death, what’s important to them, and a test of their faith

Sixth: more about the soldiers and lives they lived; how it relates to Tanji and his daddy issues; Tanji’s letter home

Seventh: anything about history of military chaplains? When? How?

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Ready to Exchange Feedback Version 1

I’m behind the rest of the class, but if anyone else is still out there and wants to exchange feedback on our outlines, please reply to me at lindaander@aol.com.

LOGLINE: <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>In 2004, a young military chaplain, on his
first tour of duty in Iraq, persuades his war-hardened commander to let him and
two others stay behind when their bombed-out base is evacuated, even though he’s
risking all their lives to fulfill a sacred promise to 20 fallen soldiers.

[Linda Anderson]

Hi Everyone. My name is Linda Anderson. I’ve written 4 screenplays, 4 stage plays, and 12 books.

I’m hoping to translate the extensive research and interviewing I did for the first draft of my profound screenplay into compelling characters, action, plot, and transformational journeys.

My stage plays and books won national writing awards and were produced or published. One book became a New York Times bestseller. I’ve been working a full-time job for six years but am now returning to my true love of writing creatively and sharing what I love with audiences. Very excited about it. Love ScreenwritingU classes.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson

I agree to the terms of this release form.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Budget

I hadn’t thought much about budget and this made me consider more factors.

DECREASE

MAIN VARIABLES

• Number of Locations–2

• Expensive locations–1

• Number of characters–4

• Special effects–0

• Number of pages–110

• Crowd scenes–0

• Stunts, Chase scenes, and Fight scenes–0

• Special sets–2

SECONDARY VARIABLES

• Rights to music, brands, books, etc.–0

• Explosions and Firearm–1

• Kids — shorter work days, tutor on the set–0

• Animals – need a wrangler, more time to shoot, Humane Society–0

• Weather — Rain, snow, wind, tornados.–0

• Water and underwater scenes–0

• Night scenes–2

• Helicopters, aircraft, drone shots–1

• Green screen work–0

• Extensive Make-up–1

• Archival Footage–1

INCREASE

MAIN VARIABLES

• Number of Locations–6

• Expensive locations–3

• Number of characters–10

• Special effects–3

• Number of pages–120

• Crowd scenes–1

• Stunts, Chase scenes, and Fight scenes–3

• Special sets–4

SECONDARY VARIABLES

• Rights to music, brands, books, etc.–0

• Explosions and Firearm–4

• Kids — shorter work days, tutor on the set

• Animals – need a wrangler, more time to shoot, Humane Society

• Weather — Rain, snow, wind, tornados.1, wind

• Water and underwater scenes

• Night scenes–4

• Helicopters, aircraft, drone shots–3

• Green screen work–3

• Extensive Make-up–3

• Archival Footage–3

• Anything else dangerous that increases preparation time and/or Insurance.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Writes Great Hope/Fear!

I learned how much deeper this exercise can help me make the emotional journey of my characters.

Act 1:

HOPE: Tanji hopes he can finish the task of contacting families of 20 fallen soldiers.

FEAR: He’s watched Mortuary soldiers breaking down with nightmares and what could be permanent PTSD from doing this job.

HOPE: Major Sloan hopes the base looks deserted enough not to attract more bomb attacks.

FEAR: Insurgents could find out a few remained behind on the base and attack and/or IEDs could be hidden in the ruble.

HOPE: Adiba needs to keep working for the Americans to stay connected and get Major Sloan to complete her request for emigration.

FEAR: Adiba’s brother Baqir may come looking for her and do something crazy.

HOPE: Mario will keep Tanji and him safe during this one week they have to stay on the base.

FEAR: With no other backup, they are vulnerable for an attack that could kill all of them.

HOPE: The families will get some closure for their terrible losses.

FEAR: With only Tanji, Adiba, and Mario searching for the soldiers’ effects, they won’t be able to finish the task.

ACT 2

HOPE: Tanji is turning to his divinity training, his father’s ways of dealing with their congregation’s sufferings, and scriptures to help him with unexpected emotions over all this death and loss.

FEAR: He’s losing his faith in God and can’t reconcile experiences in a war zone with what he’s been taught about mercy and protection.

HOPE: Tanji is falling in love with Adiba and learning from her about spirituality vs. dogma.

FEAR: He can never fulfill his love for Adiba because of the differences between their religions and cultures.

HOPE: Mario wants his best buddy Trey to be safe on the next base where the survivors of Camp Wolf were taken after the bombing.

FEAR: He hasn’t been able to find Trey; he might have been hurt or killed.

HOPE: Adiba is falling in love with Tanji and wants to go to America and be his wife.

FEAR: She’ll be condemned by God and forever estranged from Baqir if she marries an infidel.

HOPE: Major Sloan longs to find solace in belief in a God he feels abandoned by and has rejected.

FEAR: He will never know he’s loved or that there’s any purpose to his life.

ACT 3

HOPE: Tanji sees a way out of facing his failure at chaplaincy by going home when his father has a heart attack.

FEAR: He’s giving up on a dream of finding his own mission in life and proving to himself that he’s not a worthless speck.

HOPE: Major Sloan has enough evidence to make a case to get a chaplain replacement and send Tanji back to the states.

FEAR: He’s broken military regulations by having Mario report to him on Tanji and could have serious repercussions.

HOPE: Mario found an unsent email Trey wrote and hopes it may mean he’s alive.

FEAR: Trey may not be alive.

HOPE: Tanji’s breakdown justifies for Mario that he betrayed him.

FEAR: Mario has made a big mistake and broken military regulations by betraying Tanji.

HOPE: Mario hasn’t found any of Trey’s effects or his helmet.

FEAR: He just hasn’t gone to the right spot yet.

ACT 4

HOPE: Tanji can talk Mario down from killing himself.

FEAR: He won’t succeed at talking Mario down and will also be killed.

HOPE: Major Sloan can command Tanji to back off from going into the chapel rubble to minister to him.

FEAR: Mario will kill himself and all of them.

HOPE: Adiba will be able to tell Tanji she loved him.

FEAR: She’ll never have that chance.

HOPE: Major Sloan will be able to make things right with Tanji and tell him he has helped to restore his faith in God.

FEAR: Tanji will never forgive Mario and him.

HOPE: Mario will get psychiatric help at the next military base.

FEAR: Mario won’t live through his breakdown or be court-martialed.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s 4 Act Structure

I learned that I’m still struggling with the structure but it’s starting to come together.

• Concept: A young Black military chaplain stays behind in an evacuated US military base in Iraq, and his antagonistic base commander allows only one week for him, his assistant, and base interpreter to keep a sacred promise to 20 fallen soldiers who died there in a surprise insurgent attack.

• Main Conflict: Tanji’s divinity-school training and motivation of rivalry with his preacher-father don’t prepare him to handle the war-zone pain, suffering, and danger that forces him to find his true mission in life.

2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.

Act 1:

• Opening: In a large tent in FOB Camp Wolf, 20 standing rifles capped by soldiers’ helmets, are lined up with a pile of effects in front of each

• Inciting Incident: Because it all happened so fast and too many soldiers were killed instantly, Tanji persuades a resistant Major Sloan to let him stay behind to finish finding effects of fallen soldiers and notify their families.

• Turning Point: The base is attacked again. Major Sloan suspects Adiba’s insurgent brother, Baqir, thinks the Americans are holding his sister captive.

Act 2:

• New plan: Against regulations, Major Sloan recruits Tanji’s chaplain assistant, Mario, to report back to him. He’s determined to get rid of Tanji, who’s put all of them in danger.

• Plan in action: Mario is conflicted about the betrayal but judgmental enough of Tanji to comply and anxious that he hasn’t heard from best friend, Trey, after everyone left base.

• Midpoint Turning Point: Baqir shows up with a bomb vest. Adiba is killed.

Act 3:

• Rethink everything: Tanji’s father has a heart attack and wants him to come home and take over his large congregation.

• New plan: Tanji breaks down with Mario and Major Sloan over Adiba, the pain of fulfilling his task for the fallen soldiers, and his broken beliefs. Mario finds unsent email from Trey in Internet Cafe.

• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Tanji tells his father that he’s coming home. He’s a failure in Iraq.

Act 4:

• Final plan: When Mario finds Trey’s effects in the rubble, Tanji disobeys command from Major Sloan to talk Mario down from committing suicide in the bombed-out chapel

• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Tanji keeps Mario from blowing up Tanji and himself. Mario agrees to get psych help.

Resolution: Tanji proves he’s a courageous military chaplain. Major Sloan recommends him for a service medal for saving Mario. Adiba appears in the mist and declares her love. Tanji stays to finish his tour of duty in Iraq. His father understands what finding his purpose means to his son.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Delivering Multiple Layers!

This exercise made the layers much more evident and cohesive.

Plot Layers

• Surface Layer: at a small army base in Iraq that is evacuated because it has just been bombed with 20 soldiers killed

• Beneath That: A military chaplain, Tanji, who is going through a dark night of soul as he faces more death and complexity than he’s ever encountered. Major Sloan, base commander, has no respect for him and wants him out of Iraq.

• How Revealed: Sifting through effects of each soldier, piecing together the lives they could have lived, Tanji breaks down in front of Mario, his chaplain’s assistant, and Adiba, the base’s Iraqi interpreter. Major Sloan witnesses and it solidifies his determination to get rid of Tanji.

Character Layers—Tanji

• Surface Layer: young, over-eager military chaplain on his first assignment in a war zone

• Beneath That: scared and doubting that there is a merciful and loving God who would allow such carnage

• How Revealed: his anguish comes out in private prayers and then during a breakdown as he is overwhelmed by the task of going through effects of 20 servicemen and woman and contacting their families with the sad news

Character Layers—Major Sloan

• Surface Layer: tough base commander who is trying to keep himself and his soldiers alive but not succeeding

• Beneath That: seething anger at Tanji for being useless in giving him comfort or helping him make sense of the senseless

• How Revealed: confrontation between Tanji and Major Sloan over Tanji’s request to stay on the base and finish the task of identifying the fallen soldiers and contacting their families

Character Layers—Adiba

• Surface Layer: gritty young girl who defies her brother and village by helping the Americans; wants to go back to US in exchange for being an interpreter

• Beneath That: torn between her brother, Baqir’s, hatred for all things American (the invaders) and her desire to be an American girl where the streets are paved with gold

• How Revealed: Major Sloan spots Baqir outside Camp Wolf; Adiba pleads with him not to shoot her brother; Baqir sees his sister is staying on base now & shouts his disgust

Character Layers—Mario

• Surface Layer: devoted Christian and patriot who joined up after 9-11; willing to give his life to save Tanji

• Beneath That: resentful that Tanji is losing his faith and considers him weak; bereft over not being able to find out what happened to his best friend, Trey

• How Revealed: Hears Tanji praying in the bombed-out chapel and expressing his anger in God; loves Trey like a brother (or maybe, more)

Location Layers

• Surface Layer: Camp Wolf, Iraq, 2004, bombed-out by Iraqi insurgents

• Beneath That: a place where each character can come to terms with what his/her purpose really is for being there

• How Revealed: sifting through effects of fallen soldiers makes the characters come to terms with life and death and what’s important to them; tests their faith to the limit

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Character Journeys

I’m learning more about how the characters’ conflicts and dilemmas interconnect with the events of the story.

TANJI

Beginning: Tanji is on his first assignment as a military chaplain in Iraq. Camp Wolf is being evacuated fast after 20 soldiers were killed in a surprise attack on the base. Tanji convinces Major Sloan to let him stay on the base and sort through the rubble to be able to contact fallen soldiers’ families.

Midpoint: Tanji is halfway through his impossible task of notifying families in only 1 week when the base is attacked again by Adiba’s brother, Baqir. Adiba is killed.

Turning Point 2: Major Sloan is determined to send Tanji back to the states. Against regulations about chaplain confidentiality, he recruits Mario to report back to him with information that might help him get rid of Tanji, whom he believes has no skills for serving in a dangerous war zone. Tanji’s father, Rev. Wilkes, has a heart attack at home.

Dilemma: Tanji wants to succeed on his own as a military chaplain and find his spiritual purpose but his father wants him to come home and take over their Southern Baptist congregation where he won’t be involved in a senseless war in Iraq.

3rd Act Climax: Mario attempts suicide. Tanji talks him down. Major begrudgingly sees Tanji’s worth.

Ending: Tanji goes to the next base and chooses to stay in Iraq. He’s found his purpose.

 

MAJOR RAY SLOAN

Beginning: A hardened atheist who’s seen too much, has to stay on the bombed-out base for a week while Tanji, an inexperienced chaplain, contacts families of fallen soldiers. He tells Adiba it’s not safe for her to return to her village. He’s applying for her to emigrate to America after serving as a translator.

Midpoint: Adiba’s brother, Baqir, attacks the base and accidentally kills his sister. Major Sloan was fond of her and finds himself feeling empathy for Tanji’s grief, but ultimately blames him for her death.

Turning Point 2: In his fury at Tanji over Adiba’s death, Major breaks regulations and recruits Mario, Tanji’s chaplain’s assistant, to report on him. He’s determined to get Tanji out of Iraq before he gets anyone else killed.

Dilemma: In a dark night of soul, Major believes only his toughness and skepticism can help him and others survive but he wants to believe there’s more to life than war and suffering.

3rd Act Climax: Major must back off when Tanji goes alone to talk Mario down from committing suicide. He realizes Tanji is the only one who can do the job. He feels guilty over conflicting Mario.

Ending: Major finishes moving what’s left of the base, along with Tanji and Mario, to the next camp where Mario will get psychiatric help and Tanji will get an award for bravery. Chaplains do have value.

ADIBA

Beginning: She’s a young Iraqi woman who went to a couple years of college in Boston and wants to be an American woman. She returns to Camp Wolf for her job as translator to discover the base has been attacked and 20 soldiers were killed. They are evacuating the survivors. She does a prayer for a Muslim soldier who died. Major Sloan tells her she can’t return to her village. She offers to help Tanji with his task.

Midpoint: Her brother, Baqir, in a suicide vest, blows himself and her up at the camp.

Turning Point 2: Tanji does the proper rituals for burying a Muslim and wraps her Quran. In a dream, Adiba comes to him and tells him she loves him.

Dilemma: She’s torn between Baqir and Tanji.

3rd Act Climax: Something Adiba told Mario helps him in his time of crisis to not kill himself.

Ending: Adiba, in the mist, watches as Major Sloan awards Tanji with a medal for his bravery in saving Mario’s life.

MARIO

Beginning: Mario is a devout, rule-following soldier who joined the military after September 11th. He’s devoted to his job but resents Tanji making him have to stay on the bombed-out base without his buddy, Trey, who he hopes survived the blast.

Midpoint: Mario protects Tanji from getting killed with Adiba

Turning Point 2: He has to agree with Major Sloan that Tanji is a danger to himself and others and will betray him. He finds Trey’s unsent email at the Internet café.

Dilemma: Does he betray Tanji and help Major make the case to send him back to the states or is Tanji winning him over with his strong desire to be a good chaplain?

3rd Act Climax: Mario has overwrought reaction to finding Trey’s effects and tries to kill himself.

Ending: Mario goes with Tanji and Major to the next base to see the psychologist and get help with impending PTSD.

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Character Depth

These characters are revealing more depth and layers than I anticipated.

TANJI Character Profile

Secret: He’s a young military chaplain whose fragile faith is being tested beyond his capacity

Wound: He’s estranged from his father, the minister of a large Southern Baptist church, over going to Iraq to fight Bush’s War

Motivation: He wants out of his father’s shadow and to carve out his own relationship with God and the soldiers who need him

Hidden Agenda: By taking on the impossible task of keeping his promise to fallen soldiers in only a week he’s allowed to stay on base, he wants to gain respect from his father, Major Sloan, and have self-respect

Dilemma: Staying on base after it’s been evacuated puts the interpreter, his assistant’s, and his life in danger

***

MAJOR SLOAN Character Profile

Secret: He thinks military chaplains and this one in particular aren’t worth his spit

Wound: War has moved him from a devout Christian to an atheist

Motivation: He’s trying to survive and not have anybody else killed on his base

Hidden Agenda: He wants to get Tanji out of Iraq before he can make any more soldiers soft with religious belief

Dilemma: Comfort soldiers with religion or toughen them up to the realities of war

Conspiracy: He’s trying to recruit the interpreter and chaplain’s asistant in his plan to show the chaplain is incompetent, even dangerous

***

ADIBA Character Profile

Secret: her brother in a newly recruited Iraqi insurgent

Wound: Americans accidently killed her parents when they bombed the village and destroyed her home

Motivation: She’s been told as an Iraqi interpreter, she’ll be able to emigrate to America

Hidden Agenda: If she keeps coming to the base and supplying food, the Major and chaplain will help her leave Iraq

Dilemma: Cooperation with Major Sloane to discredit Tanji or responding to her growing feelings for him

Conspiracy: Spying on Tanji to get the freedom she desperately needs

***

MARIO Character Profile

Secret: The chaplain is angering and disgusting him by having a crisis of faith

Wound: He’s a rigid rule-follower who other soldiers ridicule

Motivation: He’s there because he believes that he’s helping to avenge 9-11

Hidden Agenda: He’s convinced himself that reporting on the chaplain to the Major is the right thing to do

Dilemma: He’s starting to see and receive comfort from the chaplain now has to betray him

Conspiracy: He agrees to help the Major with his plan to get rid of the chaplain

[Linda Anderson]

Linda’s Right Characters

I learned that putting focus on how the characters enhance conflict with the situation and each other forces them to make a case for being in this story.

Contained Setting: a bombed-out, evacuated military base in Iraq

Main Characters:

Tanji: a young black military chaplain

Mario: Tanji’s chaplain assistant and bodyguard

Major Sloan: the base’s commanding officer

Adiba: Camp Wolf’s Iraqi interpreter

[Linda Anderson]

Day 2 Assignment, Linda’s Great Hook

“A. How did this process work for you? Made me get more specific about the basic components that would create compelling drama.

B. What did you learn doing this assignment?”

Concluded I hadn’t seen this before in a movie or play about the Iraq war

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson

I agree to the terms of this release form.

[Linda Anderson]

Hi Ian, I have a family drama too and am ready for feedback. I sent a request to you at Member Connect if you want to exchange information. My nickname is @linda-anderson. Thanks.

[Linda Anderson]

Hi Michale,

I’d like to exchange feedback with you for “Fireworks.” The description of my entry for “Ticket to Live” is below yours on this forum. I can’t figure out how to PM you. So my email is lindaander@aol.com.

If you’re interested, just send me an email. Thanks.

Linda Anderson